Some go organic to avoid pesticides in their produce; others say there's no harm done
Riverside Press-Enterprise, Janet Zimmerman
Published May 29, 2005
Jozette Richardson searches out the produce specials at her Redlands
health-food store so she can afford to buy organic fruits and vegetables.
"I'm very health-conscious about what things I put in my body," said the Rancho Cucamonga resident, who worries about pesticides used on
conventionally grown crops.
Almost 40 percent of Americans are buying organic products, a market
that grew from $3.6 million in sales in 1997 to $10.4 million in 2003,
according to the Organic Trade Association.
For many like Richardson, the choice is driven by health concerns.
Organic fruits and vegetables contain 30 percent more disease-fighting
antioxidants than those grown conventionally, according to The Organic
Center for Education and Promotion. And they are virtually free of
pesticide residues.
"Pesticides are linked to cancer in peer-reviewed animal studies," said
Lauren Sucher, spokeswoman for the nonprofit Environmental Working
Group. "Choosing foods with lower pesticide residues or choosing organic is a great way of controlling your pesticide exposure."
The group analyzed more than 100,000 pesticide tests done over nine
years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug
Administration to rank the contamination of 46 fruits and vegetables.
They found the top offenders to be peaches, strawberries and apples. The least contaminated were sweet corn, avocados and pineapples.
Children and pregnant women, who are most susceptible to the ill effects of pesticides, should eat organic produce or choose from the less-contaminated fruits and vegetables grown conventionally, some experts said.
"I'd say to parents, if you can afford it, it's prudent to use organic produce when you can," said Sanna Delmonico, a registered dietician and editor of Tiny Tummies, a nutrition newsletter that goes out to parents and health professionals.
And if you can't find organic, minimize exposure by peeling produce when you can, or washing well with water and a vegetable brush, she said.
Pesticides have been linked to birth defects, low birth weights, abnormal neurological development and reproductive problems, according to the Environmental Working Group. Government standards for allowable levels of pesticide residues are based on adults, not children, Sucher said.
The group maintains that the government doesn't regulate pesticides enough, but those in the produce industry disagree.
Conventionally grown produce is "equally safe, nutritious and tasty,"
said Kathy Means, spokeswoman for the Produce Marketing Association, which represents 2,100 members, from organic and conventional growers to distributors and stores.
"All pesticide use is regulated, both at the state and federal level, sometimes the county level. These products are evaluated ... so their use is perfectly safe," Means said. "Any residues that remain are miniscule and they are taken into account when authorities say 'Eat more fruits and vegetables.' "
The group's report is irresponsible because it frightens people away from eating the recommended five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day, Means said.
The group misinterpreted data, she said, by assuming that every pesticide registered for a certain crop was used in the maximum dose.
"That doesn't necessarily reflect a real-world use," she said.
"The government would not allow there to be unsafe products on the store shelf."
But the Environmental Working Group said the government once thought now-banned pesticides, such as DDT, were safe, too.
Apple grower Devon Riley, part of the family that runs Riley's Farm in Oak Glen, sees both sides of the issue. He grows apples conventionally on nine acres at the family's farm, and leases 25 acres at Los Rios Rancho, where he uses organic methods.
At small operations such as his, where the majority of the crop is sold
locally, pesticide use is minimal, Riley said. He uses the least toxic chemical, which means he sprays more often for the codling moth, leaf hoppers, scales and mildew.
"We're pretty well regulated in what we can spray. People have a lot
more harmful stuff under their sinks than we can ever put out in the orchard," he said. "There's a little bit more alarm out there about pesticides than there needs to be."
As a father, Riley would rather his four children, ages 1 to 13, eat more fruits and vegetables, regardless of what kind they are.
"If I could get my kids to eat all those things, I'd be shoveling them
into them every day, organic or not."
