Pesticides

The same fabricated ABC report which falsely claimed that organic food increased the risk of E. coli infection also played down the risk of pesticide residues, claiming (with data that did not exist) that pesticide levels were equal in both organic and non-organic produce. [47]

A New York Times investigation discovered that the two researchers who were commissioned to do the testing - Dr. Michael Doyle, a scientist with the University of Georgia, and Dr. Lester Crawford, director of Georgetown University's Center for Food and Nutrition Policy - never tested produce for pesticide residues for ABC. "All I agreed to do was test for indications of pathogens," Dr. Doyle said. "I didn't do tests for pesticides."

However, Dr. Crawford said that while he did not test produce for pesticides, he did test chicken - and found residues on the samples of conventional poultry but not on samples of organic poultry. Those findings were not mentioned in the ABC report.

Organic produce has been consistently proven to have a lower incidence and level of pesticide residues than non-organic produce, [13, 14, 15, 16] and that these result largely from environmental pollution from intensive agriculture. [17, 18]

Fruit and veg

In May 2002, the first detailed scientific analysis of organic fruits and vegetables showed that they contain only a third as many pesticide residues as conventionally grown foods. [49]

The findings are based on pesticide residue data collected on a wide variety of foods by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) from 1994 to 1999, tests conducted on food sold in California by the state's Department of Pesticide Regulation from 1989 through 1998, and tests by Consumers Union in 1997. The combined data covered more than 94,000 food samples from more than 20 crops; 1,291 (1.3 percent) of those samples were grown organically.

The Californian data found residues in 31 percent of the conventional food and 6.5 percent in organic food. Consumer Union tests found residues on 79 percent of the conventional samples and 27 percent on organic samples.

The USDA data showed that 73 percent of the conventionally grown foods had residues from at least one pesticide and were six times as likely as organic foods to contain multiple pesticide residues; only 23 percent of the organic samples had any residues.

The study also looked at why organic foods contained any pesticide residues. When residues of persistent pesticides that can remain in the soil decades after conversion to organic farming were excluded, the percentage of organic samples with residues dropped from 23 to 13 percent.

Dairy

The UK Government's Pesticide Residue Committee has found traces of the toxic pesticide lindane - linked to cancer and hormone disruption in humans - in 8 percent of non-organic milk. No traces of any kind of pesticide were found in the organic milk samples tested.

The committee also found traces of another dangerous pesticide, DDT, in non-organic butter. No traces were found in organic butter. DDT can affect the nervous system, may cause cancer and have a harmful effect on reproduction. [13]





Organic children are also low in pesticides

Government-set MRLs are universal - they apply equally to a 22-year-old athlete, a pregnant woman or a baby. But babies and children are at greater risk than healthy adults for several reasons: [21]

     • A child's immature kidneys are less able to break down toxins that can disrupt their growing nervous or endocrine systems. Exposure to pesticides during central nervous system development may lead to long-lasting effects on brain function and behavior.

     • Until the age of six, a child's body has more water and less fat than adult's. In an adult, fats trap and store pesticide residues, but in a child they are less able to do so, leaving more toxins circulating in the blood.

     • Children have greater exposure to pesticides because they eat and drink far more per kilogram of body weight than adults. They also eat more high-risk foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, which tend to have more pesticides applied during cultivation. A typical one-year-old child consumes 21 times more apple juice, 11 times more grape juice and 2-7 times more grapes, bananas, pears, carrots and broccoli than the average adult, according to the Consumers Union.

In January 1998, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization, released a controversial report entitled Overexposed: Organophosphate Insecticides in Children's Food, in which they concluded that 1 million children a day are being exposed to "unsafe levels of toxic pesticides in fruit, vegetables and baby food." Of the 1 million children described in the EWG's report, as many as 40,000-50,000 may ingest pesticides at levels 10 times higher than Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reference doses.

In 2001, a study of 110 children aged 2-5 in and around Seattle found measurable levels of organophosphate pesticide metabolites in the urine of all children sampled, with the exception of one child whose parents reported buying exclusively organic produce. [50]

A follow up study in 2002 compared organophosphate pesticide metabolite levels in the urine of children aged two to five years whose diets included either mostly organic or mostly conventional juices, fresh fruits and fresh vegetables. Organophosphate pesticides were selected for the study because of their widespread use, their reported presence as residues on foods frequently consumed by children, and their acute toxicity [51] Children with predominantly conventional diets had six- to nine-fold greater levels of organophosphate metabolites in their urine than did children with predominantly organic diets.

Pesticides reduce antioxidant levels

Pesticides also appear to indirectly harm human health by reducing the levels of antioxidants in food. Antioxidants act as a plant's natural defense against pests and also happen to be very good for our health. [52]

Researchers at the University of California, Davis found a significant increase in antioxidants in corn, strawberries and blackberries grown organically (using no pesticides or fertilizers) and sustainably (using fertilizers but no pesticides) versus those grown conventionally (using pesticides and fertilizers).

Sustainably grown corn contained 58.5 percent more antioxidants than conventionally grown corn. Organically and sustainably grown blackberries had approximately 50 percent more antioxidants than conventionally grown berries. Sustainably and organically grown strawberries showed about 19 percent more antioxidants than conventionally grown strawberries.

Organic produce also had more ascorbic acid, which the body converts to vitamin C.

Plants make antioxidants to protect themselves from dangers such as pests and competing plants. Pesticides used in conventional agriculture decrease the need for these natural defenses and so the amount of antioxidants produced falls.

The researchers are planning to repeat the study using other types of fruits and vegetables, and expect to see the same results.