Senior Moment

[Billy Rose]

I can't remember if I post this here recently so here goes.

load on commercial produce.

The Full List: 43 Fruits & Veggies

RANK FRUIT OR VEGGIE SCORE

1 (worst) Peaches 100 (highest pesticide load)

2 Apples 89

3 Sweet Bell Peppers 86

4 Celery 85

5 Nectarines 84

6 Strawberries 82

7 Cherries 75

8 Pears 65

9 Grapes - Imported 65

10 Spinach 60

11 Lettuce 59

12 Potatoes 58

13 Carrots 57

14 Green Beans 53

15 Hot Peppers 53

16 Cucumbers 52

17 Raspberries 47

18 Plums 45

19 Grapes - Domestic 43

20 Oranges 42

21 Grapefruit 40

22 Tangerine 38

23 Mushrooms 37

24 Cantaloupe 34

25 Honeydew Melon 31

26 Tomatoes 30

27 Sweet Potatoes 30

28 Watermelon 28

29 Winter Squash 27

30 Cauliflower 27

31 Blueberries 24

32 Papaya 21

33 Broccoli 18

34 Cabbage 17

35 Bananas 16

36 Kiwi 14

37 Sweet peas - frozen 11

38 Asparagus 11

39 Mango 9

40 Pineapples 7

41 Sweet Corn - frozen 2

42 Avocado 1

43 (best) Onions 1 (lowest pesticide load)

Note: We ranked a total of 43 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because we looked at both domestic and imported samples.

- Billy Coloribus gustibus non disputatum (mostly)

[sherwindu]

As far as fruits are concerned, almost no pesticide penetrates the outer skin, so peeling fruits eliminates much of this problem. If the grower does his job right, he does not spray anything a few weeks before harvest. The sun will burn off almost all of the pesticide. Simple washing of fruit with even plain water removes a good deal of any latent pesticide. Soap would even be better. There is no guarantee that fruit labled organic has not been sprayed with chemicals. If an orchard is under a heavy insect attack, normal organic defenses will not do the job and they will spary to save their crop. After all, that is their livelihood and they can't afford to lose all their investment. The best insurance is to either peel or wash all store bought fruit.

Sherw> I can't remember if I post this here recently so here goes.

[dr-solo]

wasnt there some commercial rinse developed that would remove almost all the pesticide residue?

[Billy Rose]

Doesn't that sound a lot like the Chinese that shipped the melamine laced wheat gluten to us?

First thing, I have no connection with this web site. Secondly the following caveat is found at the web site:

Why Should You Care About Pesticides?

There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to pesticides whenever possible.

Will Washing and Peeling Help?

Nearly all of the data used to create these lists already considers how people typically wash and prepare produce (for example, apples are washed before testing, bananas are peeled). While washing and rinsing fresh produce may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not eliminate them. Peeling also reduces exposures, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the peel. The best option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.

------

Lastly, from my point of view, while the pesticides degrade, what are the synergistic effects are exerted by their residues on the environment?

Personally, I'll eat it because, for the most part, I have little choice but I have too many questions to be happy about it.

Coloribus gustibus non disputatum (mostly)

[Persephone]

It has been my understanding -- corrections welcome if fact-based -- that apples, e.g. among the most-sprayed fruits, have toxic seeds as well as skins.

Persrphone

If the grower does his job

But then they cannot sell the fruit as organic, nicht wahr?

At least until this Administration succeeds in their current scheme to allow much larger amounts of non-organic content into food labeled "Organic".

Quiz: How many are aware of this plan, and how many have protested to their elected officials?

After all, that is their livelihood and they can't afford

[Charlie]

"The USDA rules come with what appears to be an important consumer protection: Manufacturers can use nonorganic ingredients only if organic versions are not ?commercially available.?

But food makers have found a way around this barrier, in part because the USDA doesn?t enforce the rule directly. Instead, it depends on its certifying agents - 96 licensed organizations in the U.S. and overseas

- to decide for themselves what it means for a product to be available in organic form.

Despite years of discussion, the USDA has yet to provide certifiers with standardized guidelines for enforcing this rule.

?There is no effective mechanism for identifying a lack of organic ingredients,? complained executives of Pennsylvania Certified Organic, a nonprofit certifying agent, in a letter to the USDA. ?It is a very challenging task to ?prove a negative? regarding the organic supply.?

Large companies have a better chance of winning approval to use nonorganic ingredients because the amount they demand can exceed the small supply of organic equivalents, said Craig Minowa, environmental scientist for the Organic Consumers Assn."

Charlie

[Ann]

sherwindu expounded:

Why bother when you can buy organic?

[sherwindu]

I think ordinary dish soap would do the job. As I mentioned, if the grower or home orchardist stops spraying a few weeks before picking the fruit, the sun should burn off the pesticides and fungicides.

Sherw> wasnt there some commercial rinse developed that would remove almost

[sherwindu]

investment.

For pome fruits, they probably only washed them. Had they peeled them, the reduction of pesticide residue would have been greater.

Where is your evidence and data on exactly how much remains?

I am not an expectant mother, but personally do not feel I'm poisoning myself if I carefully wash store bought fruit. I also grow my own, and have better assurances that this fruit is safely harvested.

Probably a drop in the bucket. Of course, if spray materials are not handled properly, there can be contamination. The problem there is not the use of pesticides, but their abuse.

If you wash it well with soap, probably no problem. If you really are concerned, peel it. Don't think that the label 'organic' is going to protect you, as I mentioned there is no guarantee that pesticides were not used.

I went to this web site and found the data there misleading. There data is based on what percentage of fruit tested showed traces of pesticides. More meaningful would be a quantitative amount ot the pesticide found. I would feel safer eating a fruit or vegetable that had a high incidence of trace amounts of pesticide, than a fruit of vegetable with low occurrence of pesticides found yet of those found, the amounts of pesticides were very high. Another words, this analysis is misleading and tells us little to protect ourselves.

Sherwin D.

[sherwindu]

Your understanding, but where is your documentation?

Anyways, even if true (which I doubt), who eats the apple seeds?

Sherwin D.

[sherwindu]

Your assumption here is that there exists an organic equivalent for every pesticide and fungicide. Although organic methods sometimes work, sometimes they don't and orchardists don't want their crop destroyed or even heavily damaged.

Sherwin D.

[sherwindu]

As I stated in earlier posts, organic labels are not a guarantee that no pesticides were used on that product. However, they do give the grower and distributor a good excuse to jack up the price.

Sherw> sherwindu expounded:

[Charlie]

We're not on the same page. I wasn't assuming anything about pesticides and fungicides.

My response was in response to the issue of non-organic ingredients being allowed into organic foods... re: the recent legislation passed to benefit the big boys and a deliberate attempt to lower standards for organic foods.

[Charles]

Apple, along with a large number of other plants of Rosaceae, is listed in the "Poisonous Plants of California." The seeds are said to be toxic, nothing to do with spraying, just natural, organic amygdalin and prunasin. A person would have to et a lot of seeds to be affected.

[Ann]

sherwindu expounded:

Says a true chemical lover. Sorry, I'll take my chances with someone who grows organic - there are many of them, and I believe them, long before I'll believe you in saying how benign and wonderful the sprays are used in conventional fruit growing.

Oh, that's good. Malign the organic grower. The conventional growers are getting desperate, aren't they?

[Billy Rose]

So your saying that you don't disagree on the qualitative substance of the report, but its' lack of quantification? How much pesticide, an it's residues, in your food is acceptable to you? How much Escherichia coli (re: excrement) in your food is acceptable to you? Combine these with the pharmacopoeia and residues now found in drinking water and what quantity is acceptable to you? Given that we don't know the ramifications of interactions between the myriad of industrial chemicals released into the environment, how much more do you feel we can safely accept? Give that we don't know any of the above, what makes you confident that we can ingest more? LD 50 test?

A "free market" is based on informed consent. Where is the information? Where is the consent?

Not only is the Emperor naked but he looks a lot like Moloch. He who accepts human sacrifice.

- Billy Coloribus gustibus non disputatum (mostly)

[Billy Rose]

Hey, all you lemmings. Sherwin D. has found faith. Follow him.

- Billy Coloribus gustibus non disputatum (mostly)

[sherwindu]

A person would have to be pretty dumb to even eat one seed. The last time I heard of anyone having a problem eating apples was Snow White.

The leaves of rhubarb are also poisonous, but we can still eat the stalks, etc., etc.

Listing apples as a poisonous fruit is pretty stupid.

Sherwin D.

[sherwindu]

Never said I love chemicals. Just that they are necessary until the organic people can come up with something equivalent in insect and fungus protection.

Spoken like a true believer.

Well, somebody's making good money on people's fears. Maybe you have an explanation why organic labled food costs more?

[sherwindu]

So your saying that you don't disagree on the qualitative substance of

I neither agree or disagree with the report since I don't have any detailed information on how the study was run, or the people who did it. I just pointed out that important information was missing.

Unless you grow your own food, realistically you are going to be exposed to some degree of contamination. Unless you can quantify this, there is no logical way to choose what is safe, or not safe to eat.

I think our government agencies have specified all that. I have not made a detailed study of the subject, but I try and use common sense in what I will ingest, or not.

Oh boy, now we are mixing in religion. I'm out of here.

Sherwin D.