Love the taste of poison in the morning

Partly because I know you don't get news of much variety and partly because you mentioned wanting to buy organic and partly because I want to store this information in a manner that will ensure that I don't lose it - I am going to post this information I read in an article on CNN. (Here's the original link for my own reference:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/01/dirty.dozen.produce.pesticide/index.html?hpt=C1)

The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit group focused on public health. They scoured nearly 100,000 produce pesticide reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to determine what fruits and vegetables we eat have the highest, and lowest, amounts of chemical residue.

The group, a nonprofit focused on public health, scoured nearly 100,000 produce pesticide reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to determine what fruits and vegetables we eat have the highest, and lowest, amounts of chemical residue.

The group suggests limiting consumption of pesticides by purchasing organic for the 12 fruits and vegetables.


You can reduce your exposure to pesticides by up to 80 percent by buying the organic version of the Dirty Dozen. So without further ado, here they are:


The Dirty Dozen

Celery

Peaches

Strawberries

Apples

Domestic blueberries

Nectarines

Sweet bell peppers

Spinach, kale and collard greens

Cherries

Potatoes

Imported grapes

Lettuce



But never fear! Not all non-organic fruits and vegetables have a high pesticide level. Some produce has a strong outer layer that provides a defense against pesticide contamination. The group found a number of non-organic fruits and vegetables dubbed the "Clean 15" that contained little to no pesticides.
 
The Clean 15



Onions

Avocados

Sweet corn

Pineapples

Mango

Sweet peas

Asparagus

Kiwi fruit

Cabbage

Eggplant

Cantaloupe

Watermelon

Grapefruit

Sweet potatoes

Sweet onions


 
 
If you feel inclined to read what might seem to you like large amounts of text, I have included the rest of the article.
 
 
Can small amounts of pesticides hurt you?


The government says that consuming pesticides in low amounts doesn't harm you, but some studies show an association between pesticides and health problems such as cancer, attention-deficit (hyperactivity) disorder and nervous system disorders and say exposure could weaken immune systems.

The Environmental Working Group acknowledges that data from long-term studies aren't available but warns consumers of the potential dangers.

"Pesticides are designed to kill things. Why wait for 20 years to discover they are bad for us?" Rosenthal said.

Some doctors warn that children's growing brains are the most vulnerable to pesticides in food.

"A kid's brain goes through extraordinary development, and if pesticides get into the brain, it can cause damage," said Dr. Philip Landrigan, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.



Can pesticides be washed away?


Not necessarily. The pesticide tests mentioned above were conducted after the food had been power-washed by the USDA. Also, although some pesticides are found on the surface of foods, other pesticides may be taken up through the roots and into the plant and cannot be removed.

"We've found that washing doesn't do much," Rosenthal said. "Peeling can help, although you have to take into account that the pesticides are in the water, so they can be inside the fruit because of the soil."

All fresh produce, whether it's grown with or without pesticides, should be washed with water to remove dirt and potentially harmful bacteria. And health experts agree that when it comes to the Dirty Dozen list, choose organic if it's available.

"To the extent you can afford to do so, [parents] should simply buy organic, because there have been some very good studies that shows people who eat mostly organic food reduce 95 percent of pesticides [in their body] in two weeks," Landrigan said.



** On a side note, I will not rant and rave, but WHY I ask you, WHY are we as consumers so dispassionate about this? Why do we neglect and ignore the super powers we, as consumers, have? We drive the markets! There should be mass movements of outraged human beings taking matters into their own hands and growing their own food. I've taken a small step with my little container garden and it consoles me to a degree, but not nearly enough. Now to get the growth hormones out of our milk and antibiotics out of our meat!