Pesticides and You

When I was in the working world, my professional life was all about children with special needs. And I frequently had to answer questions about diet and nutrition.  In truth, while I had some minimal education about nutrition in school, most of what I learned came either from being on Weight Watchers most of my adult life (OK, without much long term success!) or from my own reading.  I lived my own life for years as if Skittles and Ben and Jerry’s were 2 of the 4 major food groups. 

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the committed, amazing parents of the wonderful children I worked with for 25 years.  Because of their concerns about the effects of pesticides and other chemicals on their children’s development, I went out and educated myself beyond what I had learned in school (which was pretty much nothing).

So I want to share two resources with everyone.  One, which I have been using for years, is the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen, lists of foods that their research shows should be eaten only if grown organically and those that are OK to eat without the organic certification.  If you go to www.EWG.org there is a printable list for both.  Some people feel that the EWG goes too far in its recommendations; personally, I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Yesterday I read the latest edition of Consumer Reports (October 2020) where there is an excellent article about produce and pesticides.  I don’t know if you can access this article if you don’t subscribe to Consumer Reports, so here are the Cliff Notes:

• The Environmental Protection Agency is not stringent enough in its standards for what constitutes a “safe” pesticide exposure
• The 6 most concerning pesticides have either neurotoxic or hormone disruptor effects.  
• “Organic” products coming from Turkey are suspect
• Glyphosate was not included in this article because it is used predominantly in grains, not produce.  
  
  

The article has a list that looks at a range of fruits and vegetables and rates which ones have the least amount/number of pesticides in organic vs non-organically grown produce.  The article also compares domestically grown vs imported produce for pesticide contamination.   Their list does not correlate completely with the EWG’s Clean Fifteen and Dirty Dozen lists.  If you can get your hands on the article, it’s very informative, but if you can’t the EWG lists are printable and available free of charge.

TAKE HOME POINT – PAY ATTENTION TO THE PESTICIDES IN PRODUCE AND BUY ORGANIC WHEN IT COUNTS!