Buy Organic if Possible
Some news from the Environmental Working Group:
By eating some of the most contaminated fruits and vegetables, you and your children are exposed to about 10 different pesticides a day, according to EWG. Fortunately, by avoiding the most-contaminated produce out there, and concentrating on the least contaminated instead, you can reduce your exposure to pesticides by almost 80 percent, and be exposed to less than 2 pesticides per day, EWG says.
With that in mind, if you’re trying to decide which food products to buy organic, focusing on those on the following 2009 list of the MOST contaminated fruits and vegetables would be money well spent.
The MOST Contaminated Fruits and Veggies (Buy These Organic)
1. Peach
2. Apple
3. Sweet Bell Pepper
4. Celery
5. Nectarine
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale
9. Lettuce
10. Grapes – Imported
11. Carrot
12. Pear
13. Collard Greens
14. Spinach
15. Potato
Peaches and apples had the most pesticides detected on a single sample, with nine pesticides on a single sample, followed by strawberries and imported grapes where eight pesticides were found on a single sample of each fruit, according to EWG.
On the flipside, the produce with the LEAST amount of pesticide residues were:
1. Onion
2. Avocado
3. Sweet corn (frozen)
4. Pineapple
5. Mango
6. Asparagus
7. Sweet peas (frozen)
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Papaya
12. Watermelon
13. Broccoli
14. Tomato
15. Sweet potato
How to Minimize Exposure:
The simplest way to ensure your produce is not contaminated with pesticides is to buy organic. By definition, organic produce must “abstain from the application of prohibited materials (including synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and sewage sludge) for 3 years prior to certification and then continually throughout their organic 
license.”
Next, whether you buy your produce organic or not, it’s important to wash it before you eat it. And you really don’t want to peel fruits and veggies like apples and potatoes because the skins contain a lot of the nutrients and antioxidants. Some pesticides are taken up internally into the plant, are in the fruit and cannot be washed off. Others are formulated to bind to the surface of the crop and do not easily wash off.
The best option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals. And grow your own if at all possible.
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Reader Comments
Thank you for identifying some of the personal health benefits that are associated with buying organic. The Organic Trade Association would just caution people against the idea of limiting their organic purchases to the list of items you outline in this blog. While establishing such limits may help to reduce the size of your personal food budget, it misses an important point: buying organic is about more than keeping pesticides out of our bodies. It is about supporting a system of sustainable agricultural management that promotes soil health and fertility through the use of such methods as crop rotation and cover cropping, which nourish plants, foster species diversity, help combat climate change, prevent damage to valuable water resources, and protect farmers and farmers’ families from exposure to harmful chemicals. In this sense, buying organic is a commitment to the bigger, more complex picture of which our personal health is a part.
I saw this particular report and it certainly makes for deep concerns. Added to this and also reported but not so widely is the effect that a certain ‘pesticide’ is having on the World’s population of the honeybee. The particular pesticide is produced by Bayer and is soaked onto seed before planting. It has been used for the last twenty years and is growing in popularity. Research has shown that bees that fly onto crops such as sunflowers become disoriented after only a few seconds and soon fall from the flower to the ground.
It is important that when purchasing flower or vegetable seeds for the garden to make sure that they have not been near any of these nicotine based products. It is a sad state of affairs when not only do we have to watch what we buy to eat but also what we sow. If we do not address the pesticide problems and bees carry on declining scientist say it will affect the plight of all of us.
I believe that the by product within the pesticide that may be causing these dramatic declines in the bee population is called clothianidin.
Pollys last blog post..Wild posy
Great post Dave. I hope you and Jan have a wonderful weekend. God bless.
Jodi
Jodis last blog post..I Must Be Late
“In this sense, buying organic is a commitment to the bigger, more complex picture of which our personal health is a part”.
How true. And, as I type this, I am reminded of the increasing use of the word ‘organic’ in contexts so disparate and widespread as interior design, learning and management…along with that other word that seems to have infiltrated our even most banal conversations…’surreal’…:-).
I am being flippant while being utterly serious about thinking, feeling and living organic.
Lucy Lopezs last blog post..How can I change my beliefs in order to support my affirmations?
I do wash my veggies, but had no idea they had that many different pesticides. Not good. I generally don’t buy the organic due to the cost; but have to reconsider that after reading your article. Good information.
Sandy
welcome mats always out, look forward to your visit
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What a great list. Very helpful indeed.
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