The Environmental Working Group (EWG) not too long ago launched its 2023 “Soiled Dozen” and “Clear Fifteen” studies — catalogs of conventionally grown fruits and veggies with the best and lowest quantities of pesticide residue. It’s been 30 years since a Nationwide Academy of Sciences research warned of the potential risks of pesticide consumption by kids, and but almost 75 % of nonorganic produce nonetheless comprises doubtlessly dangerous pesticide residue.
Strawberries topped the “Soiled Dozen” listing for the seventh yr in row. And this yr’s research unveiled regarding chemical concentrations in blueberries and inexperienced beans, which supplanted celery and tomatoes in spots 11 and 12.
Virtually 80 % of blueberry samples contained two or extra pesticides. Essentially the most regarding chemical compounds are organophosphates, which might injury human and animal nervous methods and be notably dangerous to kids’s creating brains.
Greater than 70 % of inexperienced beans examined had at the least two pesticides, and all the surveyed crop contained 84 completely different pesticides. Some of the notable substances was acephate, an insecticide that the Environmental Safety Company ordered couldn’t be used on inexperienced beans supposed for human consumption over a decade in the past.
“Everybody — adults and youngsters — ought to eat extra vegetables and fruit, whether or not natural or not,” stated Alexis Temkin, PhD, an EWG toxicologist. “However within the ongoing absence of significant federal oversight, shoppers involved about pesticide publicity can use EWG’s Shopper’s Information to Pesticides in Produce to navigate the produce aisle in ways in which work finest for them and their households.”
Take management of what you set in your physique with this yr’s EWG “Soiled Dozen” and “Clear Fifteen” lists:
The Soiled Dozen: |
The Clear Fifteen: |
|
|
For a full listing of the place numerous fruits and veggies rank, go to the EWG web site.
