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'The Dirty Dozen' and Avoiding Pesticides in Produce

Pesticides: Why should you care and what to do about it

I don’t typically buy a lot of processed or packaged foods. I think it’s because my mother didn’t. At the time, I thought we were horribly deprived because we didn’t have potato chips and boxed mac and cheese. Now, I think “Thank you Mom!”

I try to buy unprocessed healthy foods for my family as much as possible, but when I come across a headline like “Study: A Link Between Pesticides and ADHD,” I wonder what is healthy. I start to think, I just want to give my child an apple for crying out loud!  An apple is healthy, right? Why do I need to do research into where the food is coming from and who grew it just to buy an apple!

Why should I care?

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Conventional methods of growing produce use pesticides and herbicides. Are these harmful to us? Do they even really make it into the produce we eat or does it stay in the soil? The answers: there are no clear answers. There are arguments on both sides of these questions.

According to the President’s Cancer Panel report in April 2010 (Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk:  What We Can Do Now),    “…both the consequences of cumulative lifetime exposure to known carcinogens and the interaction of specific environmental contaminants remain largely unstudied.”

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If the cancer risk wasn’t enough, some scientists believe that the exposure to pesticides can lead to reproductive and fetal development problems, neurological problems and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These effects also seem to be especially harmful to children and fetuses because their bodies are smaller and still developing. Others may disagree with these findings. Personally, I keep coming back to these two facts:

  1. If a product is used to kill a living thing (i.e. a pesticide is used to kill insects) do I want to be eating that substance? Not really.  
  2. Have they been proven safe, beyond any doubt, for humans? No. 

Until someone can tell me that these chemicals are safe for me and my family, I’m staying away when I can.

What Can I Do?

Organic produce is grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. Buying from local farms also reduces your risk as quite a few farms, although not certified organic, do use other methods to lessen their dependence on pesticides. Of course I want to feed my family the healthiest foods possible without chemicals. But our budget and availability sometimes stand in the way. How do I get the most bang for my buck?  What should I spend my organic dollars on and what can I skip?   

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) studied and ranked 49 fruits and vegetables to determine the best and the worst in terms of pesticides. You can use this guide to determine where to spend your organic dollars. 

The top offenders – "The Dirty Dozen" – are as follows:

  1. Celery (WORST)
  2. Peaches
  3. Strawberries
  4. Apples
  5. Blueberries (domestic)
  6. Nectarines
  7. Sweet Bell Peppers
  8. Spinach
  9. Cherries
  10. Kale/Collard Greens
  11. Potatoes
  12. Grapes (Imported)

If you eat a lot of apples, maybe buy those organic. You can also opt for one of the lesser contaminated items instead of one of the worst. For example, eat asparagus instead of spinach or sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes.

The "Clean 15," as the EWG calls them, are the fruits and vegetables lowest in pesticides. These are ones that the EWG suggests are OK to skip organic.

  1. Onions (BEST)
  2. Avocado
  3. Sweet Corn (Frozen)
  4. Pineapple
  5. Mangos
  6. Sweet Peas (Frozen)
  7. Asparagus
  8. Kiwi
  9. Cabbage
  10. Eggplant
  11. Cantaloupe (Domestic)
  12. Watermelon
  13. Grapefruit
  14. Sweet Potato
  15. Honeydew Melon

Make sure you always wash your produce, even when you aren’t going to eat the skin. This is more to remove any bacteria. The pesticides won't really wash off. To help you remember the above, the EWG has a pocket guide and an iPhone app.

The complete list will tell you where the other 22 fruits and veggies fall. Check this list for the foods you eat most often. Even though carrots aren't in The Dirty Dozen, they are the 15th worst vegetable in terms of pesticides. We eat them all the time so I buy these organic.   

One thing I definitely need to say is this: If you can't afford organic or can't find it, make sure you aren't substituting your fruits and veggies with other foods.  The EWG and many experts still agree that eating  fruits and vegetables (organic or not)  is extremely important. Sorry, you still need to eat your broccolli. Even if you aren't quite ready to shell out the extra money for organic, at least now you have a little more information to make your decision. I encourage you to do more of your own research. Let me know what you find.

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