SunToads Health News 275. Pesticide Contamination of Fruits and Vegetables

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At 05:43 PM 10/7/06, you wrote:

Source:

http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/1004-10.htm

 

 

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OCTOBER 3, 2006

2:16 PM

CONTACT: Environmental Working Group

(202) 667-6982

 

When Should You Buy

Organic?

Free Guide Ranks Pesticide Contamination of Fruits

and Vegetables

 

 

WASHINGTON - October 4 - If you're concerned about food safety, you

probably already look for organic produce at the supermarket. But if you

can't always buy organic, you can still dramatically lower your family's

exposure to chemical pesticides by choosing the least

pesticide-contaminated fruits and vegetables with the Shopper's Guide to

Pesticides in Produce.

The Shopper's Guide is a handy, wallet-size card that lists the

" Dirty Dozen " most contaminated fruits and vegetables, as well

as the 12 most " Consistently Clean " items. It's available for

free download at

www.foodnews.org.

The newest edition of the Guide comes in both English and Spanish

versions for the first time.

The Shopper's Guide was developed by Environmental Working Group (EWG),

based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce by

the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration

between 2000 and 2004. EWG's computer analysis found that consumers could

cut their pesticide exposure by almost 90 percent by avoiding the most

contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated

instead.

Eating the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables will expose a

person to about 15 pesticides a day, on average. Eating the 12 least

contaminated will expose a person to fewer than two pesticides a day.

 

" Federal produce tests tell us that some fruits and vegetables are

so likely to be contaminated with pesticides that you should always buy

them organic, " said Richard Wiles, EWG's senior vice president.

" Others are so consistently clean that you can eat them with less

concern. With the Shopper's Guide in your pocket, it's easy to tell which

is which. "

EWG's analysis of federal testing data found:

 

Peaches and apples topped the Dirty Dozen list. Almost 97 percent of

peaches tested positive for pesticides, and almost 87 percent had two or

more pesticide residues. About 92 percent of apples tested positive, and

79 percent had two or more pesticides. The rest of the Dirty Dozen

include sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries,

pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes. Onions, avocados, and sweet corn headed the Consistently Clean list.

For all three foods, more than 90 percent of the samples tested had no

detectable pesticide residues. Others on the Consistently Clean list

include pineapples, mango, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwi, bananas, cabbage,

broccoli, and papaya.

There is growing scientific consensus that small doses of pesticides can

adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal

development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects.

Because the toxic effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well

understood, or in some cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to

minimize exposure to pesticides whenever possible.

While washing and rinsing fresh produce can reduce levels of some

pesticides, it does not eliminate them. Peeling also reduces exposures,

but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the peel. The best

option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when

possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.

Although the Shopper's Guide only measures pesticide residues on produce,

buying organic also makes sense if you're concerned about bacterial

contamination. Organic farmers meet all the sanitation standards required

of conventional growers and, on, top of that, meet tight restrictions on

the use of compost and other organic material that do not apply to

conventional fruit and vegetable growers.

 

SunToads....... The above article failed to give a link for

the Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce.

Here are several links that may help. SunToads was unable to open up the

complete printable version.

http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php

http://www.foodnews.org/

 

http://www.foodnews.org/fulldataset.php

 

 

 

Test Results: Complete Data

Set

Rank (worst to best)

Commodity

 

Combined Score

 

Percentage of Samples Tested with Detectable Pesticides

 

Percentage of Samples With Two or More Pesticides

 

Average Number of Pesticides Found on a Sample

 

Average Amount (in ppm*) of All Pesticides Found

 

Maximum Number of Pesticides Found on a Single Sample

 

Number of Pesticides Found on the Commodity in Total

1 Peaches 100 96.6% 86.6% 3.1 1.134 9 42

2 Apples 89 92.1% 78.9% 2.5 0.901 9 37

3 Sweet Bell Peppers 86 81.5% 62.2% 2.4 0.138 11 64

4 Celery 85 94.1% 79.8% 3.0 0.413 9 30

5 Nectarines 84 97.3% 85.3% 3.0 0.576 7 26

6 Strawberries 82 92.1% 69.1% 2.2 0.843 8 35

7 Cherries 75 91.4% 75.8% 2.8 0.290 7 25

8 Pears 65 87.2% 47.4% 1.6 0.544 6 32

9 Grapes - Imported 65 85.3% 53.4% 1.7 0.291 7 32

10 Spinach 60 70.0% 31.2% 1.1 1.240 6 24

11 Lettuce 59 58.9% 33.0% 1.3 0.108 9 49

12 Potatoes 58 81.0% 18.0% 1.0 1.655 4 18

13 Carrots 57 81.7% 48.3% 1.6 0.046 6 31

14 Green Beans 53 65.4% 39.0% 1.3 0.187 6 34

15 Hot Peppers 53 55.0% 27.5% 1.0 0.290 6 51

16 Cucumbers 52 72.5% 31.7% 1.2 0.057 6 40

17 Raspberries 47 47.9% 23.3% 0.9 0.906 6 21

18 Plums 45 56.2% 10.2% 0.7 1.359 4 17

19 Grapes - Domestic 43 61.4% 21.8% 0.9 0.107 6 29

20 Oranges 42 83.3% 28.8% 1.2 0.084 4 15

21 Grapefruit 40 62.3% 22.6% 0.9 0.530 5 9

22 Tangerines 38 66.7% 33.3% 1.2 0.375 3 4

23 Mushrooms 37 60.2% 22.3% 0.9 0.158 5 16

24 Cantaloupe 34 54.9% 20.1% 0.8 0.028 4 21

25 Honeydew Melon 31 59.2% 14.2% 0.8 0.012 4 16

26 Tomatoes 30 46.9% 13.5% 0.6 0.029 5 16

27 Sweet Potatoes 30 58.4% 10.0% 0.7 0.198 3 17

28 Watermelons 28 29.4% 14.0% 0.5 0.028 6 18

29 Winter Squash 27 39.8% 12.6% 0.6 0.019 5 16

30 Cauliflower 27 72.4% 8.1% 0.8 0.004 3 4

31 Blueberries 24 27.5% 10.0% 0.4 0.327 4 11

32 Papaya 21 23.5% 5.0% 0.3 0.053 4 19

33 Broccoli 18 28.1% 3.2% 0.3 0.004 3 19

34 Cabbage 17 17.9% 4.8% 0.2 0.121 3 18

35 Bananas 16 41.7% 2.0% 0.4 0.029 2 7

36 Kiwi 14 15.3% 3.4% 0.2 0.160 3 8

37 Sweet Peas - Frozen 11 22.9% 2.3% 0.3 0.010 2 5

38 Asparagus 11 6.7% 0.6% 0.1 0.026 2 19

39 Mango 9 7.1% 0.5% 0.1 0.057 2 13

40 Pineapples 7 7.7% 0.6% 0.1 0.002 2 7

41 Sweet Corn - Frozen 2 3.8% 0.0% 0.0 0.005 1 3

42 Avocado 1 1.4% 0.0% 0.0 0.001 1 2

43 Onions 1 0.2% 0.0% 0.0 0.000 1 2

Note: We ranked a total of 46 different fruits and vegetables but grapes

are listed twice because we looked at both domestic and imported

samples.

* ppm means parts per million

Back to Full

Results

 

 

 

www.ewg.org

is the website for both Environmental Working Group and EWG Action Fund

 

 

Copyright 2006, Environmental Working Group. .

Headquarters 1436 U St. N.W., Suite 100 | Washington, DC 20009 || Contact Us

California Office 1904 Franklin St. Suite 703 | Oakland, CA 94612 || Contact Us

 

 

 

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