| Our Food and the Importance of Reading Ingredient Labels "Ninety percent of the diseases known to man are caused by cheap foodstuffs. You are what you eat." Nutritionist Dr. Victor Hugo Lindlahr, 1942 |
Rinsing reduces but does not eliminate these pesticides. Peeling helps, but reduces the nutrient levels as they are
often discarded with the skin. So what do we do? 'The best approach: eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and buy
organic when possible' or grow your own. - Environmental Working Group
Thanks to the practices of big agriculture and the factory farm, a lot of our food today is disgusting and or cruel.
The people of California took action and wrote prop 37 an initiative calling for truth in labeling or the California
Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act calling for the U.S. to join the nearly 50 other countries that allow
their citizens to choose between genetically engineered and non-genetically engineered food through the
enactment of laws requiring mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The mega companies
Monsanto, Dupont, Pepsico and Nestle spent $45 million to defeat the California measure, and though it did not
pass, it did wake many to join the fight to preserve our food supply. California Field Organizer of the Organic
Consumers Association, Zuri Allen states, “We may have lost this first major battle in California, but millions of
angry and energized consumers across the country are now joining together in a nationwide right to know
campaign which will ultimately drive genetically engineered crops and foods off the market.”
As more become aware of the current state of our food supply, projects like Alliance for a Healthier Generation,
What's on Your Plate Project and Keep Our Food Safe Org launched to educate the public and call for reform asking
for ranchers and farmers to raise sustainable food in ways that don't bankrupt the earth.
Interest in keeping chickens and urban farming has bloomed as more become aware of the dangers and take
action to embrace alternatives as they take up the call to 'eat organic, buy local and grow your own!' Families
across the country are utilizing yards, patios and balconies for family veggie plots growing their own peppers,
squash, herbs and tomatoes as even a few potted plants can create a high yield and what a better way to know
what is in your food than growing it yourself?
How can you help? Next time you are at the market, be mindful of your choices. There is an abundance of
dangerous chemicals, pesticides and GMOs contaminating our food. Educate yourself. Read ingredient list. Choose
organic if at all possible. Buy local supporting Farmers' markets and join the growing movement to grow your own.
Be aware of the initiatives calling for mandatory labeling and vote. Join the food movement. Add your voice to
those calling for reform.
Further Reading:
American Academy of Environmental Medicine, Genetically Modified Foods
Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen, Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant
genetically modified maize (Significant biochemical disturbances and physiological failures documented in this
work reveal the pathological effects of these GMO and R treatments in both sexes.)
Jeffery Smith, Are Genetically Engineered Foods Promoting Autism? http://issuu.com/arlyt/docs/autism_booklet/1
Help Guide Org, Understanding Organic Food Labels, Benefits, and Claims
Organic Consumers Org, Organic Foods on a Limited Budget
Natural News, Rid the body of dangerous Bt-toxin found in genetically modified food with these tips
PubMed, Maternal and fetal exposure to pesticides associated to genetically modified foods in Eastern Townships
of Quebec, Canada.
often discarded with the skin. So what do we do? 'The best approach: eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and buy
organic when possible' or grow your own. - Environmental Working Group
Thanks to the practices of big agriculture and the factory farm, a lot of our food today is disgusting and or cruel.
The people of California took action and wrote prop 37 an initiative calling for truth in labeling or the California
Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act calling for the U.S. to join the nearly 50 other countries that allow
their citizens to choose between genetically engineered and non-genetically engineered food through the
enactment of laws requiring mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The mega companies
Monsanto, Dupont, Pepsico and Nestle spent $45 million to defeat the California measure, and though it did not
pass, it did wake many to join the fight to preserve our food supply. California Field Organizer of the Organic
Consumers Association, Zuri Allen states, “We may have lost this first major battle in California, but millions of
angry and energized consumers across the country are now joining together in a nationwide right to know
campaign which will ultimately drive genetically engineered crops and foods off the market.”
As more become aware of the current state of our food supply, projects like Alliance for a Healthier Generation,
What's on Your Plate Project and Keep Our Food Safe Org launched to educate the public and call for reform asking
for ranchers and farmers to raise sustainable food in ways that don't bankrupt the earth.
Interest in keeping chickens and urban farming has bloomed as more become aware of the dangers and take
action to embrace alternatives as they take up the call to 'eat organic, buy local and grow your own!' Families
across the country are utilizing yards, patios and balconies for family veggie plots growing their own peppers,
squash, herbs and tomatoes as even a few potted plants can create a high yield and what a better way to know
what is in your food than growing it yourself?
How can you help? Next time you are at the market, be mindful of your choices. There is an abundance of
dangerous chemicals, pesticides and GMOs contaminating our food. Educate yourself. Read ingredient list. Choose
organic if at all possible. Buy local supporting Farmers' markets and join the growing movement to grow your own.
Be aware of the initiatives calling for mandatory labeling and vote. Join the food movement. Add your voice to
those calling for reform.
Further Reading:
American Academy of Environmental Medicine, Genetically Modified Foods
Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen, Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant
genetically modified maize (Significant biochemical disturbances and physiological failures documented in this
work reveal the pathological effects of these GMO and R treatments in both sexes.)
Jeffery Smith, Are Genetically Engineered Foods Promoting Autism? http://issuu.com/arlyt/docs/autism_booklet/1
Help Guide Org, Understanding Organic Food Labels, Benefits, and Claims
Organic Consumers Org, Organic Foods on a Limited Budget
Natural News, Rid the body of dangerous Bt-toxin found in genetically modified food with these tips
PubMed, Maternal and fetal exposure to pesticides associated to genetically modified foods in Eastern Townships
of Quebec, Canada.
|
some how this little gem of knowledge has been forgotten as the majority of today's populous settle for
convenience over nutrition, choosing a diet filled with fast-food meals and highly processed supermarket
fares unaware of the dangers lurking in these choices.
Indeed there is a proliferation of processed foods filling our markets, feeding the masses. Our food has
changed. The bread grandma made consisted of four ingredients: flour, water, yeast and salt. A modern
loaf might have over 23 ingredients, some unpronounceable. It's not enough to read labels. Today's
consumer must read ingredient lists because food items are often misrepresented. For example a bottle
calling itself honey might actually hold a larger percentage of corn syrup than actual honey, a bottle
labeled fruit juice only contain 5 percent real fruit juice, a container labeled mozzarella in olive oil, on
closer inspection, found to be cheese soaking in genetically modified canola oil. Trusted companies are
opting for profit over nutrition forcing the consumer to take time to carefully read each and every ingredient
list to avoid dangerous partially hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, artificial colors and
flavor enhancers known to be unhealthy. Chemicals like Sodium Nitrate, Monosodium Glutamate, Sucralose,
Saccharin, Aspartame, Acesulfame have become common additives and are sabotaging our diets as they
show up in everything from the beverage we choose down to the bread we eat.
Perhaps worst of all, the staples making up the bulk of our food supply are becoming increasingly
dangerous. Take our modern wheat, for example, the wheat in almost every pre-boxed grocery item, is an
18-inch tall cultivar that was genetically engineered the '60s. This modern wheat is a genetically modified
dwarf cultivated to increase yield, hence higher profits, as it produces more grains on less acreage than its
predecessor. This wheat is a toxic junk food and its prevalence in our diets has doctors across the country
issuing warnings against it consumption.
"The wheat of today is not the same grain our forebears ground into their daily bread... this thing being
sold to us called wheat—it ain’t wheat. It’s this stocky little high-yield plant, a distant relative of the
wheat our mothers used to bake muffins, genetically and biochemically light years removed from the wheat
of just 40 years ago.” writes Cardiologist Dr. William Davis in his book Wheat Belly. "This modern wheat is
a perfect, chronic poison and is the culprit behind many of today's illnesses." Davis cites this
'Frankengrain' as being the number one contributor to the nationwide obesity epidemic.
Dr. William Davis is not the only doctor warning of the dangers of wheat. Dr. Mark Hyman writes, "Wheat is
not only making you fat, but increasing your risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, depression
and more. This is not the wheat our grandparents used, the wheat in today’s foods is actually a
FrankenWheat, a scientifically engineered food product developed in the last 50 years."
Indeed the state of the American diet has medical experts alarmed. The American Academy of
Environmental Medicine (AAEM) issued a warning on May 19th 2009, calling for all "Physicians to educate
their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when
possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks." Citing that GM foods
'pose a serious health risk in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health,
metabolic, physiologic and genetic health and are without benefit.' You see wheat is not the only
genetically modified food to taint our food supply. Corn, soybeans, Canola and cottonseed oil are other big
offenders contaminating our foods. In fact 'between 1997 and 1999, gene-modified (GM) ingredients
suddenly appeared in 2/3rds of all US processed foods.' -Disabled World News (2009-09-22). But with no
need for labeling and a largely uninformed populace this infiltration has gone unnoticed by the masses and
now poses a serious threat to our nation's health. Why? Because these food were not modified to provide a
healthy alternative, but to resist weather changes, pests, insects and poor soil conditions, and perhaps
even more frightening, the risks of consuming these foods are still unknown. "The experiments simply
haven't been done and we now have become the guinea pigs," said Canadian geneticist David Suzuki.
"Anyone that says, 'Oh, we know that this is perfectly safe,' I say is either unbelievably stupid or
deliberately lying."
And GMO's are everywhere. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a naturally occurring bacterium found in the soil.
When insects eat it, their stomachs break open and they die. Agricultural giant Monsanto spliced a gene of
Bt with corn, soybeans and cotton, creating GMO's that they claimed were safe for consumption, that the
toxin would be destroyed within the digestive tract of mammals. However a recent study done by the
physicians at Sherbrooke University Hospital in Quebec, Canada discovered Bt-toxin in 93 percent of 30
pregnant women, 80 percent of umbilical cord blood of their babies and 67 percent of 39 women who were
not pregnant. Bt-toxin has also been linked to cancer, autism, severe food allergies and autoimmune
disease.
"When considering intestinal permeability, concern about the Bt-toxin in GMO crops looms large. This
poison is designed to create holes (pores) in the digestive tract of insects. That is how it kills them." --
Jeffrey M Smith, leading consumer advocate.
But that's not all, besides food additives and genetically modified foods, alarming amounts of poisons have
found their way onto our dinner plates. The use of pesticides were mass introduced into farming 70 years
ago, along with petrochemically-derived fertilizers that has nearly destroyed community-scale farming as it
created mega-corporations who now dominate our food industry poisoning the masses, creating generations
who suffer from a wide rang of diet related diseases among which are: cancer, digestive disorders:
including leaky gut syndrome, crones and inflammatory bowel disease, autism and Parkinson’s. This is a
known fact. Doctors across the country are reaching the same conclusions:
"The way we farm now is destructive of the soil, the environment and us," says Doug Gurian-Sherman, a
senior scientist with the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
“It appears there is a direct correlation between GMOs and autism.” --Arden Anderson, MD, PhD, MPH
“Twenty years ago, I didn’t even know what the word autism meant. It was rare.” -- Physician Jennifer
Armstrong
“We know food allergies are on the rise and also diseases related to common foods, like celiac disease.
Patients report that dairy products make them wheeze, or tomatoes give them joint pains. It’s as though
our food is harming us"--Family practitioner Myrto Ashe
One of these mega-corporations is Monsanto the maker of the herbicide Roundup. Roundup is a non-
selective and systemic herbicide that kills all types of vegetation with which it comes in contact, except for
plants that have been selectively bred to resist it. In April 2011 the Institute of Science in Society called
for a global ban on glyphosate, citing research showing the chemical has "extreme toxicity."
A 2012 study titled 'Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified
maize' released by a team of French researchers headed by Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen,
found that "rats fed a high dose lifetime diet of Monsanto’s genetically modified corn or exposed to its top-
selling weed killer Roundup suffered tumors and multiple organ damage." And this chemical is being used
everywhere! It is estimated that more than 100 million pounds of Roundup are used annually in the United
States alone. It is readily available for homeowner use and this chemical is NOT biodegradable as the
company originally promised. Residues remain in the soil, water, air and on our food! A French court found
the company guilty of false advertising on this claim as they found residues of glyphosate, the main active
ingredient in Roundup, appeared in new plants a year after the chemical's application. - reported by BBC
News in October 2009.
The increasing pressure from environmentalists, consumer groups and plant scientists has forced the EPA
to reexamine this issue. They have set a deadline of 2015 for determining if glyphosate should continue to
be sold or at very least regulated. The EPA is working closely with regulators in Canada as they also assess
the ongoing safety and effectiveness of the herbicide. "The agency plans to re-evaluate risks from
glyphosate and certain inert ingredients to humans and the environment during the registration review
process." - reported by EPA.
In a paper titled, Why Glyphosate should be Banned issued by the Institute of Science in Society, Dr Eva
Sirinathsinghji and Dr Mae-Wan Ho conclude, "There is a wealth of evidence on the health hazards of
glyphosate. Its approval, along with other hazardous chemicals, relies on systematic flaws in the EU and
US regulatory processes, which to this day, do not require evaluation by independent research, and instead
rely solely on the industry’s own studies. Approval is therefore often based on data not available to the
public or independent research scientists. Nevertheless, raw data has been obtained from the industry
through the courts, which, when re-analysed by independent scientists, also provide evidence of toxicity.
Taken together, glyphosate is implicated in birth and reproductive defects, endocrine disruption, cancers,
genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, respiratory problems, nausea, fever, allergies and skin problems….Monsanto is
proposing to raise permitted residual levels in lentils by 100 fold in the EU. This is clearly unacceptable.
Brazil has recently proposed a new bill that will ban many environmental toxins including glyphosate. A
global ban or phase-out of glyphosate use is a matter of urgency, and with that, widespread adoption of
non-GM sustainable agriculture."
Our diet is indeed killing us and it is killing our planet. Public interest groups across the county are rising
to stand against industrial agriculture. Consumer and environmental activists are raising their voices in
opposition to poisons and genetically engineered food. On June 19, 2012 the Center for Food Safety,
National Family Farm Coalition, ACLU, Sierra Club, Public Citizen, Organic Trade Association, Earth justice,
Organic Valley, Union of Concerned Scientists formally submitted a letter to the U.S. House of
Representatives Committee on Appropriations voicing strong and immediate opposition of the so-called
“farmer assurance provision” a provision that puts the nation’s farmers and food supply at risk.
The Environmental Watch Group (EWG) emerged as nation’s leading environmental health research and
advocacy organization that began testing samples and for the past eight years has published an updated
‘shopper’s guide’ based on a comprehensive analysis of government pesticide testing data of 45 different
fruit and vegetables. The guide includes the ‘dirty dozen:’ or the twelve foods most commonly
contaminated with pesticides. The findings are frightening. Take the innocent looking strawberry for
example. The EWG found 54 Pesticide Residues on a single sample: 9 of which where known carcinogens,
24 hormone disruptors, 11 neurotoxins and 12 that were known to inhibit development and act as
reproductive toxins.
The Dirty Dozen is a list of 12 fruits and vegetables that when conventionally grown are known to have the
highest pesticide levels according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization that
analyzes the results of government pesticide testing in the U.S... Because of their high pesticide levels it
is best to buy these organic.
convenience over nutrition, choosing a diet filled with fast-food meals and highly processed supermarket
fares unaware of the dangers lurking in these choices.
Indeed there is a proliferation of processed foods filling our markets, feeding the masses. Our food has
changed. The bread grandma made consisted of four ingredients: flour, water, yeast and salt. A modern
loaf might have over 23 ingredients, some unpronounceable. It's not enough to read labels. Today's
consumer must read ingredient lists because food items are often misrepresented. For example a bottle
calling itself honey might actually hold a larger percentage of corn syrup than actual honey, a bottle
labeled fruit juice only contain 5 percent real fruit juice, a container labeled mozzarella in olive oil, on
closer inspection, found to be cheese soaking in genetically modified canola oil. Trusted companies are
opting for profit over nutrition forcing the consumer to take time to carefully read each and every ingredient
list to avoid dangerous partially hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, artificial colors and
flavor enhancers known to be unhealthy. Chemicals like Sodium Nitrate, Monosodium Glutamate, Sucralose,
Saccharin, Aspartame, Acesulfame have become common additives and are sabotaging our diets as they
show up in everything from the beverage we choose down to the bread we eat.
Perhaps worst of all, the staples making up the bulk of our food supply are becoming increasingly
dangerous. Take our modern wheat, for example, the wheat in almost every pre-boxed grocery item, is an
18-inch tall cultivar that was genetically engineered the '60s. This modern wheat is a genetically modified
dwarf cultivated to increase yield, hence higher profits, as it produces more grains on less acreage than its
predecessor. This wheat is a toxic junk food and its prevalence in our diets has doctors across the country
issuing warnings against it consumption.
"The wheat of today is not the same grain our forebears ground into their daily bread... this thing being
sold to us called wheat—it ain’t wheat. It’s this stocky little high-yield plant, a distant relative of the
wheat our mothers used to bake muffins, genetically and biochemically light years removed from the wheat
of just 40 years ago.” writes Cardiologist Dr. William Davis in his book Wheat Belly. "This modern wheat is
a perfect, chronic poison and is the culprit behind many of today's illnesses." Davis cites this
'Frankengrain' as being the number one contributor to the nationwide obesity epidemic.
Dr. William Davis is not the only doctor warning of the dangers of wheat. Dr. Mark Hyman writes, "Wheat is
not only making you fat, but increasing your risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, depression
and more. This is not the wheat our grandparents used, the wheat in today’s foods is actually a
FrankenWheat, a scientifically engineered food product developed in the last 50 years."
Indeed the state of the American diet has medical experts alarmed. The American Academy of
Environmental Medicine (AAEM) issued a warning on May 19th 2009, calling for all "Physicians to educate
their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when
possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks." Citing that GM foods
'pose a serious health risk in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health,
metabolic, physiologic and genetic health and are without benefit.' You see wheat is not the only
genetically modified food to taint our food supply. Corn, soybeans, Canola and cottonseed oil are other big
offenders contaminating our foods. In fact 'between 1997 and 1999, gene-modified (GM) ingredients
suddenly appeared in 2/3rds of all US processed foods.' -Disabled World News (2009-09-22). But with no
need for labeling and a largely uninformed populace this infiltration has gone unnoticed by the masses and
now poses a serious threat to our nation's health. Why? Because these food were not modified to provide a
healthy alternative, but to resist weather changes, pests, insects and poor soil conditions, and perhaps
even more frightening, the risks of consuming these foods are still unknown. "The experiments simply
haven't been done and we now have become the guinea pigs," said Canadian geneticist David Suzuki.
"Anyone that says, 'Oh, we know that this is perfectly safe,' I say is either unbelievably stupid or
deliberately lying."
And GMO's are everywhere. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a naturally occurring bacterium found in the soil.
When insects eat it, their stomachs break open and they die. Agricultural giant Monsanto spliced a gene of
Bt with corn, soybeans and cotton, creating GMO's that they claimed were safe for consumption, that the
toxin would be destroyed within the digestive tract of mammals. However a recent study done by the
physicians at Sherbrooke University Hospital in Quebec, Canada discovered Bt-toxin in 93 percent of 30
pregnant women, 80 percent of umbilical cord blood of their babies and 67 percent of 39 women who were
not pregnant. Bt-toxin has also been linked to cancer, autism, severe food allergies and autoimmune
disease.
"When considering intestinal permeability, concern about the Bt-toxin in GMO crops looms large. This
poison is designed to create holes (pores) in the digestive tract of insects. That is how it kills them." --
Jeffrey M Smith, leading consumer advocate.
But that's not all, besides food additives and genetically modified foods, alarming amounts of poisons have
found their way onto our dinner plates. The use of pesticides were mass introduced into farming 70 years
ago, along with petrochemically-derived fertilizers that has nearly destroyed community-scale farming as it
created mega-corporations who now dominate our food industry poisoning the masses, creating generations
who suffer from a wide rang of diet related diseases among which are: cancer, digestive disorders:
including leaky gut syndrome, crones and inflammatory bowel disease, autism and Parkinson’s. This is a
known fact. Doctors across the country are reaching the same conclusions:
"The way we farm now is destructive of the soil, the environment and us," says Doug Gurian-Sherman, a
senior scientist with the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
“It appears there is a direct correlation between GMOs and autism.” --Arden Anderson, MD, PhD, MPH
“Twenty years ago, I didn’t even know what the word autism meant. It was rare.” -- Physician Jennifer
Armstrong
“We know food allergies are on the rise and also diseases related to common foods, like celiac disease.
Patients report that dairy products make them wheeze, or tomatoes give them joint pains. It’s as though
our food is harming us"--Family practitioner Myrto Ashe
One of these mega-corporations is Monsanto the maker of the herbicide Roundup. Roundup is a non-
selective and systemic herbicide that kills all types of vegetation with which it comes in contact, except for
plants that have been selectively bred to resist it. In April 2011 the Institute of Science in Society called
for a global ban on glyphosate, citing research showing the chemical has "extreme toxicity."
A 2012 study titled 'Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified
maize' released by a team of French researchers headed by Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen,
found that "rats fed a high dose lifetime diet of Monsanto’s genetically modified corn or exposed to its top-
selling weed killer Roundup suffered tumors and multiple organ damage." And this chemical is being used
everywhere! It is estimated that more than 100 million pounds of Roundup are used annually in the United
States alone. It is readily available for homeowner use and this chemical is NOT biodegradable as the
company originally promised. Residues remain in the soil, water, air and on our food! A French court found
the company guilty of false advertising on this claim as they found residues of glyphosate, the main active
ingredient in Roundup, appeared in new plants a year after the chemical's application. - reported by BBC
News in October 2009.
The increasing pressure from environmentalists, consumer groups and plant scientists has forced the EPA
to reexamine this issue. They have set a deadline of 2015 for determining if glyphosate should continue to
be sold or at very least regulated. The EPA is working closely with regulators in Canada as they also assess
the ongoing safety and effectiveness of the herbicide. "The agency plans to re-evaluate risks from
glyphosate and certain inert ingredients to humans and the environment during the registration review
process." - reported by EPA.
In a paper titled, Why Glyphosate should be Banned issued by the Institute of Science in Society, Dr Eva
Sirinathsinghji and Dr Mae-Wan Ho conclude, "There is a wealth of evidence on the health hazards of
glyphosate. Its approval, along with other hazardous chemicals, relies on systematic flaws in the EU and
US regulatory processes, which to this day, do not require evaluation by independent research, and instead
rely solely on the industry’s own studies. Approval is therefore often based on data not available to the
public or independent research scientists. Nevertheless, raw data has been obtained from the industry
through the courts, which, when re-analysed by independent scientists, also provide evidence of toxicity.
Taken together, glyphosate is implicated in birth and reproductive defects, endocrine disruption, cancers,
genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, respiratory problems, nausea, fever, allergies and skin problems….Monsanto is
proposing to raise permitted residual levels in lentils by 100 fold in the EU. This is clearly unacceptable.
Brazil has recently proposed a new bill that will ban many environmental toxins including glyphosate. A
global ban or phase-out of glyphosate use is a matter of urgency, and with that, widespread adoption of
non-GM sustainable agriculture."
Our diet is indeed killing us and it is killing our planet. Public interest groups across the county are rising
to stand against industrial agriculture. Consumer and environmental activists are raising their voices in
opposition to poisons and genetically engineered food. On June 19, 2012 the Center for Food Safety,
National Family Farm Coalition, ACLU, Sierra Club, Public Citizen, Organic Trade Association, Earth justice,
Organic Valley, Union of Concerned Scientists formally submitted a letter to the U.S. House of
Representatives Committee on Appropriations voicing strong and immediate opposition of the so-called
“farmer assurance provision” a provision that puts the nation’s farmers and food supply at risk.
The Environmental Watch Group (EWG) emerged as nation’s leading environmental health research and
advocacy organization that began testing samples and for the past eight years has published an updated
‘shopper’s guide’ based on a comprehensive analysis of government pesticide testing data of 45 different
fruit and vegetables. The guide includes the ‘dirty dozen:’ or the twelve foods most commonly
contaminated with pesticides. The findings are frightening. Take the innocent looking strawberry for
example. The EWG found 54 Pesticide Residues on a single sample: 9 of which where known carcinogens,
24 hormone disruptors, 11 neurotoxins and 12 that were known to inhibit development and act as
reproductive toxins.
The Dirty Dozen is a list of 12 fruits and vegetables that when conventionally grown are known to have the
highest pesticide levels according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization that
analyzes the results of government pesticide testing in the U.S... Because of their high pesticide levels it
is best to buy these organic.