Every year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) releases its Dirty Dozen list of the fruits and vegetables with the most pesticides. And every year, many media outlets dutifully report on it, offering consumers what’s seen as the middle ground: Can’t afford to buy organic? Just avoid these foods.
The non-profit organization — which receives some funding from the organic food industry — has made headlines for its reports on other issues like lead in lipstick and chemicals in sunscreens, but the Dirty Dozen seems to be a perennial winner. “We think it’s notable that there are very big differences between the amounts of pesticides on the crops people eat, and that’s information that the government has generated — but it’s not formatted or presented in a way that’s [easily understandable],” says EWG senior analyst Sonya Lunder. “We’re helping people understand what has the most pesticides residue on it.”
The underlying concept — that less pesticide residue is better for you — is rarely questioned in these reports. After all, the concept is so solidly ingrained in our culture that nearly half of Canadians think organic food is both healthier and more nutritious. But are they right?
Does eating organic improve your health?
Though regulators around the world use slightly different definitions, organic produce is generally grown without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, and organic fruits and vegetables are not GMOs. You can generally trust that if you’re buying something labelled organic, it is, says Wendy Benson, a dietitian who co-authored an evidence summary for the Dietitians of Canada‘s Practice-Based Evidence in Nutrition on Organic Foods.
But that doesn’t mean organic food is free from pesticides. A 2014 Canadian analysis found that nearly half of the organic fruits and vegetables on our grocery-store shelves had synthetic pesticide residue on them from a variety of sources, including pesticides blowing over from neighbouring farms. And organic farms also use organic pesticides, which can be chemically similar to synthetic ones. One of the most popular organic pesticides is Bt, the same pesticide engineered into many GMO crops.
Despite this, it’s widely recognized that organic produce has significantly less synthetic pesticide residue on it. It’s not clear, however, that those levels are bad for your health. To find out if pesticide on produce is dangerous “from a toxicology standpoint, we’d want to look at the levels of pesticides on the food, the amounts, and the toxicity of the pesticide,” says Carl Winter, food toxicologist at The University of California, Davis.
In a 2011 study, Winter attempted to answer that question and look at the EWG’s Dirty Dozen in a more scientific way. He approximated how much pesticides people were ingesting by calculating the levels of pesticides detected on the top foods listed and how much of that food people generally ate. He then compared those numbers against the Environmental Protection Agency’s Reference Doses, which are 1/100th of the long-term levels that cause negative effects in lab animals. (Health Canada sets similar Maximum Residue Limits.)
Winter found the pesticide residues were at “very low levels” – in fact, for 75% of levels they looked at, people’s exposures would be one million times lower than the levels that show an effect on animals. Keep in mind, this is for the produce that was flagged by EWG as particularly pesticide-laden.
Benson agrees. “The Maximum Residue Limits give us a huge buffer zone,” she says. She points to an online calculator that shows how many servings of food a person would need to eat to reach the adverse effect level when the fruits and vegetables tested highest for pesticide residue. A child would need to eat 175 servings of blueberries in a day, for example. A woman would need to eat 529 servings of apples in a day to reach an unsafe level.
Are pesticides safe?
Animal studies like those done by the EPA are one good way of estimating the effects pesticides have on humans. But the best science looks directly for a connection, delving into whether people who eat organic foods are less likely to have certain diseases. Unfortunately, there are no long-term studies that compare the impacts of eating organic and conventional foods.
But, as a 2012 systematic review pointed out, there are a few short European observational studies that looked at the impact of eating organic on rates of disease. Two looked at whether organic diets in children affected the rates of eczema, wheezing and atopic sensitization, which leads to allergies, and another looked at a common cause of food poisoning. None found any difference between organic and non-organic diets.
Some people worry about the impacts of pesticides because of the effects seen on farm workers. And indeed, the pesticides farm workers are exposed to through their work have been known to cause miscarriages, birth defects, cancer, respiratory problems and memory disorders, among other things. One well publicized 2011 study of farm workers found that prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides was related to lower IQ scores in their children.
That and other studies have led to concerns over pesticide exposure in pregnant women and children. A 2014 systematic review looked at those studies and found that “prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides may affect neurodevelopment and behaviour in infancy and childhood as well as children’s cognitive and motor function” at levels equal to those found in the top 25% of the U.S. population. It also found that the results were too mixed to draw any conclusions about the impact after pregnancy, on babies and children eating non-organic food.
Is organic food more nutritious?
Another health reason people buy organic food is the belief that it contains more nutrients. This is hard to study, because organic produce is actually quite diverse in this way, with the amount of nutrients significantly affected by the quality of the soil, the growing conditions, and when the food is harvested, among other things.
Fortunately, despite this, it has been researched. Some studies have found organic produce is higher in vitamin C and phytochemicals, but the results have been mixed — and even if that’s true, the small differences are unlikely to make you healthier. A 2012 review found there were no differences in nutritional quality between organic and conventionally grown foods, with the exception of limited evidence suggesting there may be higher omega-3 fatty acids in organic milk, and higher phosphorus in organic produce. The latter is unlikely to have an effect on health, however, since as the study noted, “near-total starvation is needed to produce dietary phosphorus deficiency.”
More recently, a 2014 meta-analysis grabbed headlines by looking at nearly 350 global studies and finding that organic produce had more antioxidants. The study’s methods were the source of a bit of controversy — and more importantly, we’re not sure how well our bodies absorb antioxidants from those foods, if antioxidants actually improve our health, or how much of them we should be eating in the first place.
Bottom line: “If consumers are buying organic foods with the fundamental belief it’s more nutritious, or healthier, and paying a premium for it, they’re being misled,” says Benson, though she does recommend rinsing produce under water before eating it to help remove remaining pesticides and bacteria.
What’s the impact of talking about organics?
Discussing the impacts of organics leaves out — and may muddy — a larger issue, which is that Canadians don’t eat nearly enough produce, with only 40% of Canadians eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
After all, while the science behind organic foods is still in development, we do have substantial evidence that eating more fruits and vegetables can have a large impact on your health, significantly reducing your risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and obesity.
And there’s some concern that the message that fruits and vegetables are incredibly good for you could be overwhelmed by emphasizing organics and, by extension, the pesticide content of conventional produce. A study from the Johns Hopkins Centre for a Livable Future titled “They just say organic is healthier” looked into whether organic messaging could have a negative result. They interviewed shoppers in a poor neighbourhood in Baltimore, finding that organic messaging can conflict with other messages about eating healthier, leaving people confused.
As one person they interviewed put it: “They advertised something on TV, like an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But then last week they advertised on TV the most unsuspecting foods you would think would be dangerous to you because of the levels of pesticides in it. Apples were the third one.”
Since organic produce is more expensive than conventional kinds, there’s also a concern that people will buy organic fruits and vegetables, but less of them.
“One of my biggest concerns is that the negative publicity surrounding pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables may lead a lot of consumers to reduce their consumption, which is the worst thing they could do,” says Winter. “If you’re buying for health effect, than eat lots of fruits and vegetables, period.”
The comments section is closed.
Really Helpful.
Thank you so much :)
Thank you for your intellectual integrity here. I believe that agricultural practices that lower production per acre are irresponsible because more land is needed to create the same amount of food. The idea that organic food is better for the earth is therefore highly debatable.
i really like food network because it has a schedules so you can know when your favorite shows are gonna start and have great tips. organic food
I just wanted to let you all know that I added a new list. It has taken me awhile to let everyone know due to server issues. Everything should be back on track now.
So a lady I work with says they only eat organic foods because this keeps them from going to the doctors. I do believe the the crap that`s on or in our foods are bad for us. But will eating all organic foods keep us from getting cancer?
It’s in point of fact a great and useful piece of info. I’m glad that you simply shared this useful info with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
Very nice
Mahmoud
UJ
We are more confused everyday . Different doctors say different things. Every time you read something about food , there is something that completely contradicts it the next day…
You buy expensive organic grapes and you notice they are seedless..are they GMO free …I wonder ! There are so many
questions that need to be answered…but who can really be trusted in a world where money rules.
Hey there, mate! i found your post on google and i really liked it. i actually have an online organic food store, named Farmer uncle, and i have been looking for posts regarding organic food and health. I must say that you have written well and i can proudly share this to my team as well. cheers!
I remember going to my grandfather’s farm as a child.Organic food was not known much back then and everything seemed to be natural in the 1950’s and 60’s.At that time there was no GMO’s and high fructose corn syrup was not used in foods.and drinks.My grandparents did not use pesticides because they were very expensive.The chickens,pigs,geese and cattle were all free range,and we drank unpasteurized ,raw milk,and no one ever got sick from drinking the milk.During the hippie era young people where becoming health conscious and growing their own foods free from pesticides that were now entering the market.At this time farming was moving from ma and pa businesses to corporate farming,thus the quality of food was going down badly.The organic industry was formed in response to highly processed foods that cause cancer,obesity and other ailments.Life expectancy is not much better than before.It was found that people in the remote areas of Pakistan called the Hunza’s lived averagely to around 100 years old and women were still having babies well into their 80’s.These people lived a hard life and lived healthily free from all diseases and one of there foods was apricots and apricot seeds.It seems these days organic foods,and /or growing your own foods is the only safe way to live.I believe that proper eating habits from organics is the only way to cure all disease,and obesity.It is obvious that the FDA or governing body designed to protect the public from unscrupulous food manufacturers is not working and GMO’s are put into the public without many decades of study.
It’s not really just healthy but it’s also taste even better. I run blog and posted some cool facts & top 10 reasons to go organic, check it out: https://www.communitynaturalfoods.com/ten-reasons-go-organic
This is a pretty good discussion within its scope, but I think it’s best to realize that the scope of this article is extremely narrow. And it is a disservice to veer between wider and narrower scope. Don’t title an article with the phrase “organic food” and spend the entire article exclusively discussing fruits and vegetables without mention of meats, especially when, at your own admission, fruits and vegetables make up a minority of the average diet. This article amounts to a discussion of nutritional density and pesticides in fruits and vegetables, which does not comprise “organic food”. Grain? Fungi? Nuts? Processed foods (especially problematic because consumers don’t have control over how well they are cleaned before processing, resulting in maybe higher levels of pesticides, maybe not, who knows, the article on “organic food” has conveniently left this untouched)? So we see how moving between two scopes allows for the entirety of organic food to be disparaged because it stops people buying conventional apples. Look at your headers: “Does eating organic improve…” “Is organic food…” “… Talking about organics?” All beyond scope.
Great discussion! One aspect I would have liked to see included in this commentary is the environmental impact of conventional vs. organic farming and by extension the negative impact on humans. That is not only in the sense of climate change and water pollution, but also the direct impact conventional farms have on their immediate surrounding areas and their inhabitants who I believe are disproportionately low income (for example tailing ponds from livestock and water course destruction).
Great article! I agree that for the most part the general public is safe consuming fruits and vegetables grown using pesticides (although I’m not completely convinced about the long term potential I.e. Cancer and Alzheimer’s). Definitely the real risk is posed to the farmers and farming communities. Pesticides can contaminate soil, be dragged off to other areas by wind, and leach into well water. Although studies may suggest that specific levels of pesticides are tolerable for human consumption, I think it is worth pointing out that 1) these studies are done on mice or rats, not humans, and 2) these studies do not take into account pesticide byproducts (I.e. The breakdown of some pesticides into nitrite and nitrate compounds which can occur naturally in the environment (water, soil) or in our bodies during metabolism (liver and intestinal metabolism). A colleague of mine is currently investigating whether these pesticide byproducts and not the pesticides themselves may be posing a risk for PEI farming communities with higher cancer rates. I’ll keep you updated on the results! Bottom line, eating enough fruits and vegetables is definitely a priority, but if we can do it in a safe and responsible way that protects farmers and neighboring communities then I think that should be a sought after goal as well. Thanks for the great article!
Great topic, but I started to wonder about your agenda when you said that it’s not clear if synthetic pesticides are harmful to humans…really? When I read: “we’re not sure how well our bodies absorb antioxidants from those foods, if antioxidants actually improve our health” you lost all credibility with me.
https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/antioxidant-hype-and-reality/
Money quote: ” The science behind the role of oxidative stress in aging and neurodegenerative disorders and the modulation of oxidative stress by nutritional antioxidants is complex and has not yielded many confident therapeutic recommendations. And yet, by contrast, antioxidants are sold to the public with dramatic health claims as if they were well established. It is common for marketing hype to out pace scientific reality, especially when the science is complex and preliminary so that there is as yet no firm scientific consensus.”
Note that the article, and the study therein, are referring to supplementing with antioxidants — not eating foods with them in it. You’re right that there is some debate about antioxidants in general, but practically every study of isolated nutrients fails to find health benefits, except perhaps Vitamin D. There is simply a difference that we don’t fully understand between eating foods rich in nutrients/antioxidants and taking them as supplements.
It’s very possible that real foods that are higher in antioxidants have health benefits that you don’t see in extracted/synthesized antioxidants.
Can I get the link to this calculator Ms Benson refers to? I am giving a talk in September on this topic & would love to have this resource
Thank you
Wondering what is the best receipe that I can make to wash my vegetables and fruits without using a “kind” dishwashing liquid? Please send it to the below address if you have that receipe; or others.
I just researched this question myself: saltwater.
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-to-make-your-own-fruit-and-vegetable-wash/
Hi Polly, both experts I spoke to said just plain old running water would do the trick. Vanessa
This article’s messages are based on fact and my take is: eat lots of fruits and vegetables, wash them and know that they are safe for you to enjoy.
I belong to the 1% of individuals who is extremely sensitive to pesticide residues and rely on buying only organic fruit and vegetables. My first experience with psticide residue was from eating Florida oranges where within 15mins of consuming and orange I delveloped nurelogical symtoms. On searching the internet I discovered the symptoms were exactly the same that workers in Orchards in California and Florida have experienced. When shoping I take the time to read the labels which list the origin of the fruits or vegetables and avoid any that originate from these two states.
The main reason for choosing organic is that it is better for the environment. Plant root systems have membranes and essentially only take up nutrients the plant needs. Testing on Market Place revealed that imported vegetables had next to zero residual chemicals on their leaves or surfaces. The chemicals used are generally to kill insects and probably do harm to other animal life (and us) downstream. It is unlikely that organic vegetables are any healthier for us but they certainly are for the environment.
The bias of the authors is evident from the opening sentences of this article. But even so, a careful reading shows there is more to worry about in eating foods doused in pesticide than in eating those organically produced. “. . . the pesticides farm workers are exposed to through their work have been known to cause miscarriages, birth defects, cancer, respiratory problems and memory disorders, among other things,” report the authors. But, hey we shouldn’t worry because “a few short European observational studies” on the diet of some children didn’t spot any problems. The fact is, the best science has not reached any conclusions on the safety of pesticide use. Although we have learned, too late, the potential for disaster. This article is content to mention a few observational studies discounting the healthiness of organic foods but conveniently fails to mention documented instances where pesticides use actually made people sick. Remember Aldicarb, the insecticide used to kill pests on cotton and several food crops? Its use on citrus and potatoes was finally prohibited in 2015, 25 years after an outbreak of Aldicarb poisoning sickened more than 2,000 people who had eaten California watermelons. EPA documents showed that babies and children under five could have ingested levels of the insecticide through food and water that exceeded levels the agency considered safe, reported Scientific American. In fact, for infants, consumption of Aldicarb residue – mostly in potatoes, citrus and water could have reached 800 percent higher than the EPA’s level of concern for health effects, while children between the ages of one and fivefold could have ingested 300 percent more than the level of concern, according to an EPA memo, reported the magazine. And let’s not forget the impact the now banned DDT had on the environment and our bodies. What about 2,4-D? In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared it a possible human carcinogen, based on evidence that it damages human cells and, in a number of studies, caused cancer in laboratory animals. Could pesticides be playing a role in autoimmune disorders that the National Institute of Environment Health Sciences says “are becoming increasingly prevalent, for reasons unknown”? Certainly, there is no question that pesticide use has had a devastating impact on the environment. Colony Collapse Disorder in bees has been directly linked to Neonicotinoids. It is disingenuous of the authors to manufacture an argument against organics using a few scattered and suspect studies while ignoring the growing volumes of peer-reviewed research out there that shows the danger of pesticides. I would not presume to say that science has proven that organic food is safer, more nutritious and tastier, although that is my suspicion because there have been few independent studies and the issue is so complex. I would say, however, that with your health and the health of your loved ones on the line, it is simply smarter to avoid consuming something that has a very good chance of having a devastating impact on your health.
Good article that puts things in perspective. I’ve also noticed that a lot of the organic produce comes packaged in extra plastic, and from further away. I choose local produce when I can, whether organic or not.
Your forum in Healthy Debate is perfect for exploring issues like this – organic vs non-organic foods. This was a great discussion and you raised lots of important factors to consider about the food we eat. I wonder if you’ve written about agricultural/ecological sustainability – the other part of food debates – is there a difference in soil, air and water as a result of of these different methods for growing food? are there long-term implications that should be considered – and are they in any way related to the organic vs non-organic discussions? I suspect soil and crop scientists and ecologists could have another ‘healthy debate’ about that!
Hi Pat, I didn’t, although that issue is also in debate. (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/21/organic-farms-carbon-footprint-climate-change). We decided not to delve into it because, as you say, it’s probably an entire article on its own.
Great stuff