Noah McCrory
A healthy diet includes ample servings of fruits and vegetables, but not the unhealthy dose of pesticides found in about one in five products examined by Consumer Reports.
An examination of 59 common fruits and vegetables found that pesticides posed significant risks in 20% of them, from peppers, blueberries and green beans to potatoes and strawberries, according to discoveries published Thursday by the nonprofit consumer advocacy group.
In its most comprehensive review to date, CR said it analyzed seven years of data from the Department of Agriculture, which each year tests a selection of conventional and organic produce grown in or imported into the U.S. for pesticide residues.
“Our new results continue to raise red flags,” CR said in its report. In addition to finding unhealthy levels of chemicals used by farmers to control insects, fungi and weeds, one food item – green beans – contained residues of a pesticide whose use on vegetables had not been permitted in the US for more than a decade. .
Imported products, especially from Mexico, were particularly likely to contain risky levels of pesticide residues, CR concluded.
The good news? There is no need to worry about pesticides on nearly two-thirds of produce, including nearly all organic fruits and vegetables examined.
The analysis concluded that broccoli is a safe bet, for example, not because the vegetable contains no pesticide residues, but because the highest-risk chemicals were at low levels and in only a few samples.
Health problems arise from prolonged exposure to pesticides, or if exposure occurs during pregnancy or early childhood, according to James Rogers, a microbiologist who oversees food safety at CR.
CR advises that shoppers limit exposure to harmful pesticides, using its analysis to help determine, for example, when buying organic produce makes the most sense, given that it is often a substantially more expensive option.
The findings don’t mean that people need to completely cut high-risk foods from their diets, as eating them once in a while is fine, Rogers said. He advised swapping white potatoes for sweet potatoes or eating peas instead of green beans as healthy choices, “so you’re not always eating these riskier foods.”
“The best choice is to eat organic for the high-risk items,” Rogers told CBS MoneyWatch, citing blueberries as an example where paying more translates to fewer pesticides. “We recommend the USDA organic label because it is better regulated” compared to organic imports, he added.
Thousands of workers get sick of pesticide poisonings every year, and studies have linked workplace use of a variety of pesticides with an increased risk of health problems, including Parkinson’s diseasebreast cancer and diabetes.
