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Organics - How to Prioritize
October 17, 2007

If you listen to all of the talk about organics and pesticides these days, your head is likely to start spinning. What should you do? How should you make your shopping choices?

Why Should You Care About Pesticides?

There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals 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.

Will Washing and Peeling Help?

Nearly all of the data used to create these lists already considers how people typically wash and prepare produce (for example, apples are washed before testing, bananas are peeled). While washing and rinsing fresh produce may 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.

Visit the Environmental Working Group’s Website to download their new Guide — now in its 5th edition — which features the 12 fruits and veggies with the most and least pesticides so you’ll know which ones to buy organic, and which conventionally-grown ones are okay when organic isn’t available.

Michelle Stern runs What’s Cooking, a Certified Green business in the SF Bay Area, that offers healthy cooking classes and gifts for kids and menu planning for families.

Copyright 2007 Organicpicks