Eating organic food reduces the amount of toxic pesticides in our bodies. It’s grown without potentially harmful, long-lasting synthetic chemicals and is approved by the FDA after meeting rigorous standards.
In conventional grown food, however, synthetic or chemical means may have been used to fertilize soil, control weeds and insects, and prevent livestock disease. These non-organic foods often contain chemical and pesticide residue.
What’s the goal? It’s simple: Eat organic foods.
What to Do
Eat USDA certified organic fruits and veggies and avoid those with the highest pesticide residues: apples, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, red raspberries, strawberries, bell peppers, carrots, celery, green beans, hot peppers, potatoes and spinach.
The best way to accomplish this is by shopping at Natural Foods Markets and at neighborhood farmers’ markets for locally grown foods.
Safety Checklist
- Wash all fruits and vegetables (even organic) before eating to reduce surface traces of chemical residues, wax, and pesticides on non-organic produce.
- Choose your protein wisely: meat, eggs, milk products, and poultry that are hormone-free, antibiotic-free, free-range and/or fed with vegetarian feed.
- Avoid conventional dairy and meats: these are treated with artificial hormones and antibiotics that interfere can affect human health and development.
- Avoid foods high in sugar, high in fat, processed, and fast foods. Less processed foods are greater nutritional content and are less likely to contain artificial and chemical preservatives.
Safe Solutions
Whenever possible, choose Certified Organic beverages and foods. Certified Organic foods and beverages have met the following FDA standards:
For fruits, vegetables and grains:
- Safe soil, free of sewage sludge, lead salts and potassium chloride, among many other substances, for at least three years prior to the first organic harvest;
- No modification: genetically modified organisms, irradiation and additives are prohibited;
- Separate storage: handlers, food processors and food manufacturers must separate organic products from non-organic products and take steps to ensure that organic foods don't come into contact with forbidden chemicals or substances.
For meat, milk, eggs and other animal products:
- Timing: animals must be raised organically from the last third of gestation (for livestock) or no later than the second day of life (for poultry).
- Organic feed: livestock feed products must be 100 percent organically grown.
- Hormone- and antibiotic-free: sick animals must be treated—but if an animal has been treated with a prohibited medication, it can't be labeled and sold as organic.
- Outdoor access, including pasture land for animals that graze. Each animal must have shade, shelter, fresh air, direct sunlight and room to exercise appropriate for its species.
- No commingling. Organic animal products must be separated from non-organic products. Organic animal products must not come into contact with prohibited chemicals or substances.
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More Information
The term “natural” is not a regulated term. It does not mean Certified Organic. Commonly seen food labels "all natural", "free-range" or "hormone-free" signify that the food has been raised or grown humanely, only the "USDA Organic" label indicates that a food is certified organic.
Conventional agriculture includes the use of pesticides. Foods derived from these crops contain pesticide residues. We are exposed to pesticides when we consume these foods. Most of us have a body burden of pesticides. Of particular concern is that the exposure to multiple pesticides has not been thoroughly studied. Most risk analysis focus on a particular pesticide or class of pesticides, but do not evaluate the health effects caused by low level exposures to several pesticides.
While HCHW recommends choosing Certified Organic beverages and foods, switching to an all organic diet may not be possible. A good choice may be picking Certified Organic versions of the products typically found to have the highest pesticide residues. Vegetables and fruits generally found to have the highest pesticide residues include apples, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, red raspberries, strawberries, bell peppers, carrots, celery, green beans, hop peppers, potatoes, and spinach.
Strawberries are typically the most pesticide laden of all fruits and vegetables according most testing.
Research
- After extensive research, the EPA considers 60% of all herbicides, 90% of all fungicides and 30% of all insecticides as potential health risks.
- A 1993 National Research Council report states that children’s exposure to pesticides is primarily though their diet. Children are particularly susceptible to pesticide exposure because they consume more food on a per weight basis than adults do and because their bodies are still developing and maturing.
- One study published by University of California researchers found that newborn infants are as much as 65 to 164 times more vulnerable than adults to a pair of common agricultural pesticides.
- One study of Seattle school children showed that children fed an organic diet had one-sixth the levels of pesticide in their urine compared to children fed a non-organic diet. This study suggests that an organic diet may significantly reduce exposure to pesticides.
- A study by the Centers for Disease Control found that more than 90% of those tested carried a mixture of pesticides in their bodies. More significantly, some pesticides were found at higher levels in children.
- FDA testing of 2,464 apple samples between 1984 and 1991 identified the fungicide captan and the insecticide chlorpyrifos as two of the forty-eight pesticides most frequently found. However, many farms since that FDA’s testing have implemented less toxic pest management programs.
- The presence of chlorpyrifos is particularly troubling in apples because children eat so many apples during their childhood and because a study published by University of California researchers found that newborns were 131 to 164 more sensitive to chlorpyrifos than adults.
