Lower Your Pesticide Load By 90%

How to Lower Your Pesticide Load:  The “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean Fifteen”

We can never be reminded of these facts too often.  The Environmental Working Group is a non-profit research group and it has established a list of twelve fruits and vegetables that consistently carry the highest pesticide loads.  They estimate that pesticide exposure can be reduced by up to 90% by avoiding the “Dirty Dozen” and emphasizing the “Clean Fifteen”.  Use these lists to help you decide which items are most important to buy organic. 

Remember, the toxic effects of these chemicals happen slowly over time, one small exposure after another.  So-called “expert” claims that there is “no definitive proof of harm” grows from the intellectually and morally bankrupt failure to accept the Precautionary Principle, which asserts that reasonable science-based concern for harm should trigger policy and behavioral change.  Otherwise, we can wait around forever for the ”definitive proof” as we count the sick and dying and special interests are spared the cost of cleaning up their acts.

THE DIRTY DOZEN                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             1) Peaches  2)  Apples  3) Bell peppers  4) Celery    5) Nectarines  6) Strawberries  7) Cherries  Kale  9)Lettuce  10) Grapes  11) Carrots  12)  Pears

THE CLEAN FIFTEEN  1) Onion  2) Avocado  3) Sweet Corn  4) Pineapple  5) Mango  6) Asparagus  7) Sweet Peas  Kiwi   9) Cabbage  10) Eggplant  11) Papaya    12) Watermelon  13) Broccoli  14) Tomatoes  15) Sweet Potatoes

COFFEE AND TEA  Most coffee consumed in this country is grown in countries with little or no regulatory standards on pesticides.  Non-organic tea is heavily sprayed.

Sources:  Environmental Working Group and Wise Traditions Spring 2010