Pesticide Use on Fruits and Vegetables

Protecting Your Children from Pesticides-laden Produce

Jul 12, 2008

The government makes promises to keep the most harmful-to-humans pesticides off of food, however many fruits and vegetables are still saturated with them.

Reports from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration state that pesticides used on fruits and vegetables have been reduced 57 percent over the past several years but the general public believe there is still too much of the poison going into the bodies of children. Tests conducted in a study by Chensheng Lu and others at Emory University, have shown that the urine and saliva of children eating conventional foods have high level of biological markers of organophosphates. Some of these are chemicals that were created from nerve gas agents that were used in WWII.

One of the most dangerous of these is chlorpyrifos. The Environmental Protections Agency (EPA) reports are contradictory because it says on its website that it “acknowledged the special susceptibility and sensitivity of children to developmental and neurological effects from exposure to chlorpyrifos, “ but in another section reports that infants and children face no risks from the chemical. In the April 2006 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, Dr. Theodore Slotkin, a professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at Duke University points to bad outcomes in terms of effects on brain development and behavior from this chemical. The question remains how much of the neurotoxin does it take to cause damage.

Pesticides Effect on Children

According to the EPA, pesticides can effect children in a number of ways because their internal organs are still developing and maturing. The chemicals block the absorption of important food nutrients for normal healthy growth. If a child’s excretory system is not fully developed, the body may not fully remove pesticides.

Testing on children in Mercer Island, Washington, done by Chensheng Lu and a group of scientists from Emory University, described in a study reported in Environmental Health Perspectives indicated that when foods without malathion and chlorpyrifos are eliminated from the diet and replaced by chemical-free foods, the biological markers in the urine and saliva of children is reduced almost immediately.

The Fruits with the Worst Contamination

Fruits with detectable pesticides, beginning with the ones that have the maximum number of chemicals, include: peaches, apples, cranberries, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, grapes, pears, raspberries, plums, oranges, tangerines, cantaloupes, lemons, honeydew melons, grapefruit, watermelon, blueberries and papaya. Peaches and apples have the most pesticides on them while watermelon, papaya and blueberries have the least.

Vegetables with the Worst Contamination

Vegetables, ranging from the most heavily-laden with pesticides include: sweet bell peppers, celery, lettuce, spinach, potatoes, carrots, green beans, hot peppers, cucumbers, cauliflower, mushrooms, winter squash, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, eggplant and broccoli. Celery and lettuce have the most pesticides on them while eggplant and broccoli have the least.

Reducing the Effects of Pesticides

The cost of organic produce may not be affordable by everyone. One way of lessening the effects of pesticides is to avoid those that are the most heavily laden with the chemicals. Fruits and vegetables are vital to health because of their nutrients. Don’t eliminate them but rather choose those contaminated with the least amounts and number of pesticides. Pesticides effects on children cannot be eliminated, but they can be reduced.

The copyright of the article Pesticide Use on Fruits and Vegetables in Healthy Cooking is owned by Martha R. Gore. Permission to republish Pesticide Use on Fruits and Vegetables in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.