Organic?

Kids and Pesticides Don’t Mix!

Unfortunately, the result of corporate farming in the United States is a food supply that is highly contaminated with pesticide residues.

If you buy commercial vegetables and fruits that are not organic, the least you should do is check to see what vegetables and fruits are giving your children the largest doses of pesticide residues every time they eat them, washed beforehand or not, and avoid them!

Here’s the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 Fruits and Vegetables Pesticides List from the Environmental Working Group.

If you eat 5 servings a day (as recommended), but from the list of foods most contaminated with pesticide residues, you are likely exposing your child to 14 different pesticides per day.  Do you wonder why the rate of ADHD in kids is so high in the US today? Autism? (which we know is not connected to vaccines).

Many other nerve disorders, reproductive problems, and general health problems can be traced to pesticide contamination, and no amount of washing can guarantee that the foods are clean. Scientific studies have shown that pesticides that leach into our rivers and streams are causing frogs to be born exclusively female. What are they doing to your child’s fragile reproductive system?

Vote with your pocketbook and buy organic or foods labeled pesticide-free! We know it’s more expensive but what is the value of your child’s brain and health? Find a farmer’s market where you can ask the farmer if pesticides are used on a specific crop.  Alternatively, select vegetables from the Clean 15 list that are less likely to be full of pesticide residues.

Please try to avoid the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and to eat the least contaminated produce.  Or buy organic versions of the 12 dirtiest ones. You will do your child’s developing brain and body the biggest favor possible.

We are lucky to have organizations like the Environmental Working Group looking carefully and scientifically at such issues. Please heed their warnings.

Please note: Eating conventionally-grown produce is better than not eating any fruits and vegetables at all.

The list above is designed to help you determine which fruits and vegetables have the most pesticide residues and are the most important to buy organic. If you avoid the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eat the least contaminated produce, you can lower your pesticide intake substantially and save your children’s health.

Visit our pages on Food Rules and Food, Inc. to learn lots more about simple things that we can do to protect ourselves and our children from food that is simply not worth eating.