Time Is Energy

A guide to eating "safer" fruits and veggies

As part of the process of becoming more aware of how our consumption can hurt us, it is usually good to get back to basics. The following is a list of common fruits and vegitables with a scoring based on the number and frequency of finding pesticides on them.

This is not a measure of the toxicity of the pesticide, just the presense of the pesticide (some of the items at the top of the list can have multiple different pesticites present).

Still we really need to make some changes to how we grow our food when 94% of apples tested had pesticides present, 82% of apples had multiple pesticides present, the highest number of pesticides in a single apple sample was 9 and over 50 different pesticides were found on apples.

And fruits and vegitables are (supposed to be) good for us!

Under the heading of "What can I do to reduce my risk?" the EWG says

Addressing the risks of pesticide exposure first and foremost requires
information, which is frequently made unavailable to the general public by the
government agencies. To counteract this trend for secrecy, EWG believes that:

People have a right to know what's in their food, so they can choose foods with less pesticides.
The government can and should take steps to dramatically reduce the number and amount of toxic chemicals, including pesticides, in the food supply.
Each of us can opt for food safety today by choosing to purchase produce low in pesticides and by buying organically-raised fruits and vegetables as frequently as possible. With this first step we can protect our families' health and preserve our own future and the future of the environment from the harmful effects of pesticides.

I should say so!

posted by Daniel @ 9:31 AM