Once again apples get rotten press coverage from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). This year, like the past two, EWG perpetuates its myth of this dangerous fruit.
- Why dangerous? Because of trace amounts of pesticides. How high the amounts? For the 2011 scare, the amount of pesticide detected was 2.5 percent of the EPA tolerance dose.
- YES- its worth repeating—2.5 percent of the EPA tolerance dose. Is this reason to alarm folks? Well, one reason might be the zeal to convince folks to buy organic.
“When given a choice, more consumers are choosing organic fruits and vegetables or using EWG's shopper's guide to find an easy affordable way to avoid toxic chemicals,” said Sonya Lunder, an EWG senior analyst. (1)
Most of the media pick up on this 'organic' sales pitch and parrot EWG's remarks without doing any checking on their own.
- New York Daily News- “If you want to reduce your intake of pesticides, choose organic apples, strawberries, grapes and celery, as an environmental group has singled out conventional produce as being the biggest carriers of insecticides.” (3)
- Mother Jones- “The real purpose of the Dirty Dozen—as well as its companion, the Clean Fifteen list of fruits and veggies with the least residues—is to help consumers decide which items are more important to buy organic.” (4)
- Huffington Post- “While health minded shoppers in the past may have balked at the price of some organic produce, the EWG notes a shifting attitude toward shopping. Will you be going organic?” (5)
What about the small percentage that had levels above EPA standards? Consumers need not fear even those. Such slight increases have no public health impact because EPA standards are exceedingly stringent so that even a child could be exposed at levels thousands of times higher without ill effect. (6)
Dr. Marion Nestle, author and professor of nutrition, says, a person would need to eat so much of the produce on the Dirty Dozen you can't even imagine. (7)
Angela Logomasini reports, “A research paper by University of Texas Professor Frank Cross highlights findings from a number of studies showing that the EPA's risk estimates overstate pesticide exposure by as much as 99,000 to 463,000 times actual exposure. As a result, standards are actually tens of thousands—maybe hundreds of thousands—times more stringent than necessary to protect public health. An occasional exceedance of a few parts per million makes no difference.” (6)
Regarding pesticides on organic food, Steve Savage points out, “Many consumers believe that by buying organic they are eliminating exposure to pesticide residues. This erroneous concept is often encouraged by some of those who market organic products or those who advocate for organic. There is a long list (1700 products) of the materials allowed on organic published by OMRI (Organic Material Review Institute). The pesticides on this list are definitely real pesticides (they kill pests) and so they have to be registered for use by the EPA like any other pesticide. (8)
So, with all the suggestions about buying organic, folks should be aware that just because its organic, it doesn't mean food is pesticide-fee. One-fourth of all fruits and vegetables marketed as organic had significant residues of synthetic pesticides on them, reports Alex Avery. Further, nearly a third of the time when the synthetic residues were found on organic produce, they were present at a concentration even higher than the average levels found on conventional fruits and vegetables. (9)
Therefore, it shouldn't surprise anybody that organic movement leader Peter Melchett once said, “Science doesn't tell us the answers so some of it we have to go on feelings.” (10)
When the science is against you, you go on whatever you've got. Use the FEAR tactic-false evidence appearing real!
The important thing to remember is that traces of pesticides that may be found on fruits and vegetables are of such a minute quantity that they should pose no concern to consumers, whether its conventional or organic crops.
One last item about pesticides is this: We get much more natural pesticides than synthetic pesticides in our diet and this has nothing to do with 'conventional' or 'organic' growers. Bruce Ames and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, report that about 99 percent of all pesticides in the human diet are natural pesticides from plants. All plants produce toxins to protect themselves against fungi, insects and animal predators such as man. Tens of thousands of these natural pesticides have been discovered, and every species of plant contains its own set of different toxins. (11)
References:
- Sara Sciammacco, “Apples top EWG's dirty dozen” ewg.org, April 22, 2013
- Joe Schwarcz, “Apple-picking of data leaves bad taste,” Montreal Gazette, June 25, 2011
- “Apples top Dirty Dozen list of most pesticide—laden fruits and vegetables,” nydailynews.com, April 26, 2013
- Tom Philpott, “Dirty Dozen list: great, but what about the farm workers?,” mortherjones.com, June 14, 2011
- “Dirty dozen: EWG releases 2013 list of most pesticide-heavy fruits and veggies,” huffingtonpost.com, April 22,2013
- Angela Logomasini, “The dangerous demonization of our food,” Competitive Enterprise Institute, August 4, 2012
- Kelly April, “Dirty dozen debate,” Los Angeles Times, June 22, 2011
- Steve Savage, “An unlikely pair: heavy metals and organic produce,” redgreenandblue.org, September 27, 2010
- Alex Avery, “Natural mistake,” Hudson Institute, May 29, 2002
- “Evidence mounts: organic crops underperform,” Center for Consumer Freedom, Canada Free Press, May 1, 2012
- B. N. Ames and L. S. Gold, “Paracelsus to parascience: the environmental cancer distraction,” Mutation Research, 44, 3, 2000
