Dirty Dozen" Produce Carries Up to 67 Pesticides per Serving, CNN Reports

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/health/news-article.aspx?storyid=156842&catid=10


(CNN) -- You may be ingesting up to 67 pesticides, if you're eating non-organic celery, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group.

The non-profit group, which focuses on public health, looked through nearly 100,000 produce pesticide reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to determine which fruits and vegetables have the highest and lowest amounts of chemical residue.

There are 12 fruits and vegetables dubbed the "Dirty Dozen," which contain 47 to 67 pesticides per serving. The foods are believed to be most susceptible because they have soft skin that tends to absorb more pesticides.

:snip:

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

The Dirty Dozen:

* Celery
* Peaches
* Strawberries
* Apples
* Domestic blueberries
* Nectarines
* Sweet bell peppers
* Spinach, kale and collard greens
* Cherries
* Potatoes
* Imported grapes
* Lettuce


A list of the *Clean 15* at the link above - with more information...

[XemaSab]

1. Collards, lettuce, and other greens

are really easy to grow.

A 4x4 foot box will totally set you up with more than you need. There's no need to roll the dice at the grocery store.

[nilram]

23. just seems to feed the slugs in my yard.

any advice?

[SpiralHawk]

2. Thanks a pantload, corporate persons (R)

for poisoning the land and the people in the pursuit of profit...keep your mutant, chem-saturated faux food facsimile 'product' off my fork.

[fasttense]

3. People are so use to pesticide ridden fruit and vegetables

that when organics have spots or minor bug damage they wont buy it and buy the pesticide laced products instead. The pesticides ensure perfect fruits and vegetables. They are a beauty to behold without marks from insects but it is merely a surface beauty that will poison you.

It is nearly impossible to grow organic produce without bug damage in the summer unless you use pesticides. So, all you folks who think you are buying organic and are eating perfect little fruits and vegetables in the summer, think again.

That said, small farmers usually try to minimize the amounts of pesticides they use. While most huge agribusiness farms don't think twice about dousing their fruits and vegetables with chemicals of any kind.

I find it interesting that Imported grapes made the list but not homegrown grapes.

[catgirl]

6. There are lots of organic veggies that look perfect

My zucchini, onions, raspberries and lettuce always looks perfect, among others.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. Non organic produce does not look 'perfect' it looks fake

And there is a huge difference between those two things. The factors that create the 'nip/tuck' perfection in produce are more numerous than just the pesticides, it starts with the variety you are growing, which is selected for looks, not insect resistance or even taste. Big problem.
On the other hand, I get local organic produce that is so gorgeous we sometime photograph it before we eat it.
"Small farm" is not a synonym for organic. Selling non organics as organic is illegal, just as selling anything with a false label is illegal. It is fraud. It is not something many farmers would do lightly. Just as in any other business, Farmer A will report Farmer B if Farmer B is defrauding the buyers, and getting a higher price for a faked version of what Farmer A actually has, or for selling the same produce as Farmer A at a higher price.
Unfair competition is not welcome in any business by the others in it. Few actual business people will stake their reputation on an act of fraud that makes a few quick bucks, which could so easily backfire. A certified organic farm gets inspected. It is a rigorous process. One does not merely stamp 'organic' on a package and send it out.

Farming is big business, even small farms are business. While I am sure there is fraud out there, what you are claiming is about as true as saying 'if you eat in restaurants, and you think you are getting beef, think again, dog meat is much cheaper, and that is what you are getting." It probably happens. But to claim it is the rule is absurd.

[napi21]

4. I found it strange that potatoes were on the dirty ones but Sweet potatoes weren't!

I wonder why?

[JCMach1]

12. Sweet potatoes don't require pesticides....

The plants are pretty tough.

[Scuba]

5. Why are we so afraid to eat a bug or two??? ...

...it's just protien.

[jp11]

8. I don't know where they've been or who they've been with and how much poop they have on them.

But if they were 'clean' bugs all dead and cooked or otherwise prepared I'd eat the little SOB's, in addition to all the ones I unwittingly eat.

[endless october]

7. growing my own, but...

...i don't believe that i'm going to be poisoned by grocery store produce should i choose to buy it.

other than the fact that Americans won't allow produce to be irradiated even though it is the safest way to prevent food poisoning. i suppose that's just one more area that Europe is far ahead of us.

[SpiralHawk]

9. Irradiation not only kills pathogens, it eliminates or distorts the life force in the food

Corporate industrial ag (R) is immersed in materialism, as is most of the consuming public. They think substance only: vitamins, minerals, calories, etc. But eating inert food -- like eating mutant food or chem-soaked food -- has a cumulative effect. It deadens the soul.

To stay healthy in body, mind and soul -- long-term -- human beings need food brimming with life force.

Have I got 'proof' in the form of scientific studies produced by corporate-funded Universities? Nope. And as long as the industrial ag corps are underwriting the 'research' I expect we'll never have it. We are instead compelled to rely on our own observations and common sense.

[Mimosa]

10. Spiral, I can tell when carrots are irradiated when they don't wither but fade out

Last year I'd bought some carrots which stayed in the fridge for 6 or 8 weeks and they never withered. They just 'glowed' and faded in a strange way. LOL

I didn't eat them I watched them. It was as if they were radioactive!

[Tesha]

19. Wow! I wonder what amazing thing must have happened to the carrots in *OUR* fridge!

We picked them out of our very own garden in October or so,
but didn't eat them all. Instead, we threw a couple of pounds of
the runts into a plastic bag, sealed it up, and tossed it in the
bottom of our backup "fridge", intending to eat them later in
the winter.

We never got around to it.

But they didn't wither or fade, just glowing in that orange carroty
sort of way. They must have lasted six months/26 or so weeks
without fading or withering!

And this spring (May), they started to sprout in the baggy, so we
put them back in the ground. And now we have growing carrots
that are way ahead of the veggies started from seed.

Some very mysterious force indeed must have affected these
carrots, lasting as long as they did without rotting. Do you
think it was all the radon from the NH soil?

Tesha

[JCMach1]

13. Sorry but 'life force of the food' deserves a facepaw

The force is strong in this carrot...

[endless october]

14. sorry, that is incorrect.

however, food with 0157 or salmonella can sure take a bite out of your own life force for a while.

all i ask for is a clearly marked irradiated alternative. that way, people who are informed can avoid food poisoning and those who want to risk it can both win.

[SpiralHawk]

17. Sorry, but your claim of incorrect is incorrect

You are, of course, welcome to all the mutant GMO chem-fertilized pesticide-sprayed processed preserved and irradiated facsimile industrial food product (R) you want to swallow. You can whack yourself upside the head with a hammer, too. Free will and all that sort of thing. I choose clean food.

[endless october]

18. "clean" food does not have viable 0157 on it.

i would like a clearly labeled irradiated alternative.

while food poisoning and risk of death might be "natural," i would prefer to not have explosive diarrhea and vomiting when it can be effectively and safely avoided.

[SpiralHawk]

20. Get yourself a spoon and a big old bowl of Viable 0157 if that's what you want

Your choice, matey. I choose clean food.

[endless october]

21. lol

[druidity33]

15. ever tried Bio-Dynamic produce?

Talk about vitality in vegetables! Amazing how long they keep in the fridge... i've had lettuce last 3 weeks without any affect! Of course it's damn near impossible to find a BD farm, but if you can i'd say give it a shot.

:)

[Donnachaidh]

22. at one time in this country *radium* was considered *safe*

and all sorts of scientists backed up that claim, too. So much so that some women were being treated for cervical cancer by having their uteruses packed with the stuff. "Perfectly Safe" :sarcasm:




I'll *wait* awhile on jumping on the *irradiated foods* bandwagon.

[Mimosa]

11. This is distressing. I live for kale, collards, spinach and greens. n/t