🌸
The Organic Bananas
are Loaded with Rotenone
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The Organic Bananas
are Loaded with Rotenone
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🌸
What is Rotenone
is an odorless, colorless, crystalline isoflavone used as a broad-spectrum insecticide,
piscicide, and pesticide.
It occurs naturally in the seeds and stems of several plants,
such as the jicama vine, and in the roots of several other members of the Fabaceae.
Wikipedia
🌸
What is Rotenone
is an odorless, colorless, crystalline isoflavone used as a broad-spectrum insecticide,
piscicide, and pesticide.
It occurs naturally in the seeds and stems of several plants,
such as the jicama vine, and in the roots of several other members of the Fabaceae.
Wikipedia
🌸
4 things that led to the myth
that organic farmers use more pesticides
than conventional farmers
Marc Brazeau
🌸
that organic farmers use more pesticides
than conventional farmers
Marc Brazeau
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🌸
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The Organic Bananas
are Loaded with Rotenone
🌸
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/05/22/4-things-myth-that-organic-farmers-use-more-pesticides-than-conventional-farmers/
🌸
The Organic Bananas
are Loaded with Rotenone
🌸
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/05/22/4-things-myth-that-organic-farmers-use-more-pesticides-than-conventional-farmers/
🌸
| Guide for Bananas . pdF |
The organic bananas are loaded with rotenone... and they over use it in the production of bananas... it is a nerve agent... but if bananas are out.. there is very little left to eat...
OMG ! Rotenone !
In this narrative, the highly toxic organic insecticide rotenone plays an outsized role in the story. Rotenone is a compound extracted from the roots of a number of different plants.
It is a broad spectrum insecticide, that is highly toxic to off-target insects, as well as being highly toxic to aquatic life, especially fish.
It functions by cutting off the cellular absorption of oxygen, so any organism that requires the cellular absorption of oxygen is going to find rotenone poisonous.
In humans and other mammals, it is considered moderately toxic, and it’s been implicated in the development of Parkinson’s Disease.
It’s pretty nasty stuff. And in the United States, it’s on the National Organic Program’s list of approved pesticides. The EPA hasn’t set a tolerance for residues. Yikes!
Just one thing.
The EPA deregistered rotenone for food crops in 2010, a process begun in March 2007. Phase out in the EU was begun in 2008 and wrapped up in 2013. It’s now only used to a piscicide to control invasive fish. And it fell out of favor in the late nineties. A 2006 report on botanical insecticides found that use had been on the wane. In California, about 440 pounds were used annually, mostly on lettuce and tomato crops.
So out of nearly 200 million pounds of pesticides applied on California farms in 2005,
440 of those were rotenone used on organic farms. Before it was taken completely off the market, organic farmers were using it sparingly, if not downright surgically, as a last resort.
Here’s a little more granular context for rotenone use in California (the center of organic farming in America, and especially in fruit and vegetable farming where the crops are more vulnerable to pests than in row crops grown in cooler regions) – a 2001 report by the Integrated Pest Management Database [PDF] on lettuce production in California logged 108 pounds of rotenone (and 126 pounds of pyrethrins) on lettuce.
That compares with 154,395 pounds of the fungicide maneb, 55,849 pounds of the fungicide fosetyl-aluminium, 48,175 pounds of the ozone layer depleting fumigant methyl bromide (phased out in 2005), 46,867 and 15,004 pounds respectively of diazinon and malathion of the rightly dreaded organophosphate class of insecticides, 33,927 pounds of the fairly nasty methomyl of the carbamate class of insecticides, 33,225 pounds of the herbicide propyzamide, and finally 3,475 and 1,787 pounds respectively of the organic insecticides spinosad and BT.
That’s just eight of the two and half dozen or so pesticides that were used on lettuce in California in 2001, but OMG!!! organic farmers used 108 pounds of rotenone and it’s vitally important to fear monger you about that to get back at dastardly organic marketers!
A search on the USDA QuickStats database confirms the scale of use and the trend. 1000-2000 pounds a year used nationally during the early nineties, dwindling amounts in the hundreds of pounds from 1996 to 2006 when it disappears completely from use.
Wait. There’s a catch. So, it turns out that rotenone, a nasty insecticide – though nowhere near as nasty as chlorpyrifos, a synthetic insecticide the Obama administration had slated to deregister because it negatively affects cognitive development in children and just got a new lease on life from the Trump administration – was an insecticide that was barely in use before it was taken off the market.
Meanwhile, Dow sells 5 million pounds of chlorpyrifos every year in the US.
That’s not a lot in the overall context of pesticide use, but it’s a lot more than 440 pounds. The use of chlorpyrifos is highly restricted in California, but that didn’t prevent more than 50 farmworkers outside of Bakersfield, CA from being poisoned a month after President Trump reversed the ban.
However, there is something you should know about current rotenone use.
OMG ! Rotenone !
In this narrative, the highly toxic organic insecticide rotenone plays an outsized role in the story. Rotenone is a compound extracted from the roots of a number of different plants.
It is a broad spectrum insecticide, that is highly toxic to off-target insects, as well as being highly toxic to aquatic life, especially fish.
It functions by cutting off the cellular absorption of oxygen, so any organism that requires the cellular absorption of oxygen is going to find rotenone poisonous.
In humans and other mammals, it is considered moderately toxic, and it’s been implicated in the development of Parkinson’s Disease.
It’s pretty nasty stuff. And in the United States, it’s on the National Organic Program’s list of approved pesticides. The EPA hasn’t set a tolerance for residues. Yikes!
Just one thing.
The EPA deregistered rotenone for food crops in 2010, a process begun in March 2007. Phase out in the EU was begun in 2008 and wrapped up in 2013. It’s now only used to a piscicide to control invasive fish. And it fell out of favor in the late nineties. A 2006 report on botanical insecticides found that use had been on the wane. In California, about 440 pounds were used annually, mostly on lettuce and tomato crops.
So out of nearly 200 million pounds of pesticides applied on California farms in 2005,
440 of those were rotenone used on organic farms. Before it was taken completely off the market, organic farmers were using it sparingly, if not downright surgically, as a last resort.
Here’s a little more granular context for rotenone use in California (the center of organic farming in America, and especially in fruit and vegetable farming where the crops are more vulnerable to pests than in row crops grown in cooler regions) – a 2001 report by the Integrated Pest Management Database [PDF] on lettuce production in California logged 108 pounds of rotenone (and 126 pounds of pyrethrins) on lettuce.
That compares with 154,395 pounds of the fungicide maneb, 55,849 pounds of the fungicide fosetyl-aluminium, 48,175 pounds of the ozone layer depleting fumigant methyl bromide (phased out in 2005), 46,867 and 15,004 pounds respectively of diazinon and malathion of the rightly dreaded organophosphate class of insecticides, 33,927 pounds of the fairly nasty methomyl of the carbamate class of insecticides, 33,225 pounds of the herbicide propyzamide, and finally 3,475 and 1,787 pounds respectively of the organic insecticides spinosad and BT.
That’s just eight of the two and half dozen or so pesticides that were used on lettuce in California in 2001, but OMG!!! organic farmers used 108 pounds of rotenone and it’s vitally important to fear monger you about that to get back at dastardly organic marketers!
A search on the USDA QuickStats database confirms the scale of use and the trend. 1000-2000 pounds a year used nationally during the early nineties, dwindling amounts in the hundreds of pounds from 1996 to 2006 when it disappears completely from use.
Wait. There’s a catch. So, it turns out that rotenone, a nasty insecticide – though nowhere near as nasty as chlorpyrifos, a synthetic insecticide the Obama administration had slated to deregister because it negatively affects cognitive development in children and just got a new lease on life from the Trump administration – was an insecticide that was barely in use before it was taken off the market.
Meanwhile, Dow sells 5 million pounds of chlorpyrifos every year in the US.
That’s not a lot in the overall context of pesticide use, but it’s a lot more than 440 pounds. The use of chlorpyrifos is highly restricted in California, but that didn’t prevent more than 50 farmworkers outside of Bakersfield, CA from being poisoned a month after President Trump reversed the ban.
However, there is something you should know about current rotenone use.
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https://www.promusa.org/Pesticides+used+in+banana+plantations+portal
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https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Figura-5-Sintomas-internos-de-la-marchitez-por-Fusarium-en-banano-A-Corte-transversal_fig3_256547836
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https://www.promusa.org/Pesticides+used+in+banana+plantations+portal
🌸
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Figura-5-Sintomas-internos-de-la-marchitez-por-Fusarium-en-banano-A-Corte-transversal_fig3_256547836
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Panama wilt ...
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Panama wilt ...
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Black streak disease ...
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There is something you should know
about current ROTENONE use
🌸
Black streak disease ...
🌸
There is something you should know
about current ROTENONE use
🌸
There is still one crop where rotenone use is still a legitimate
concern. Bananas.
Rotenone is still legal to use in the Central American
countries that export bananas to the US.
Rotenone is critical to organic banana production which is among the least sustainable crops and modes of production I can think of. Mass-market banana production isn’t particularly environmentally friendly to begin with, to say the least. They are shipped long distances. The Cavendish bananas (your standard sweet supermarket banana) are under attack from Black leaf streak disease and Panama disease among other fungal threats.
Fungicides and soil fumigants are not very effective in controlling the fungal disease. Instead, insecticides are used in a zero tolerance effort to control the insects that serve as vectors of the disease.
Organic production is done at higher altitudes and requires clean soil, as Panama disease can stay active in soil for years. Expanding organic production can mean clearing forests to lay claim to soil free of the pathogen. A zero tolerance policy for disease spreading insects means rotenone, since it is the most effective organic insecticide against those pests.
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is a citizen body that advises the National Organic Program (NOP) subsequently recommended prohibiting the use of rotenone in organic production, effective January 1, 2016, which would ostensibly put the kibosh on organic banana sales. The NOP has not taken their advisement as of yet. Whether that’s due to the influence of the banana lobby – Dole, Chiquita, Del Monte, et al, not a group to be trifled with – or some other reason is a matter of speculation.
Organic bananas and perhaps some other organic tropical fruits from those countries might be the one instance where “OMG! Rotenone!” could be justified.
But before proponents of conventional farming start to feel smug, consider that conventional banana farmers use an estimated average of 40 kgs of active ingredient per hectare, reaching a jaw-dropping 76 Kg per hectare in Belize.
Chlorpyrifos is the most commonly used insecticide in banana production, and as bad for the environment as rotenone is, I strongly feel that chlorpyrifos is a much more troubling insecticide.
As mentioned above, chlorpyrifos is strongly linked to developmental impairment in kids.
One study of the exposure of indigenous children living near banana plantations that used chlorpyrifos for insect control found for “more than half of the children their estimated intake exceeded the US EPA chronic population adjusted dose. For some, the acute population adjusted dose and the chronic reference dose were also exceeded.”
We’ll have to end on that sobering note. In the next installment, we’ll take a comparative look at organic and conventional orchard and vineyard production in the US.
concern. Bananas.
Rotenone is still legal to use in the Central American
countries that export bananas to the US.
Rotenone is critical to organic banana production which is among the least sustainable crops and modes of production I can think of. Mass-market banana production isn’t particularly environmentally friendly to begin with, to say the least. They are shipped long distances. The Cavendish bananas (your standard sweet supermarket banana) are under attack from Black leaf streak disease and Panama disease among other fungal threats.
Fungicides and soil fumigants are not very effective in controlling the fungal disease. Instead, insecticides are used in a zero tolerance effort to control the insects that serve as vectors of the disease.
Organic production is done at higher altitudes and requires clean soil, as Panama disease can stay active in soil for years. Expanding organic production can mean clearing forests to lay claim to soil free of the pathogen. A zero tolerance policy for disease spreading insects means rotenone, since it is the most effective organic insecticide against those pests.
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is a citizen body that advises the National Organic Program (NOP) subsequently recommended prohibiting the use of rotenone in organic production, effective January 1, 2016, which would ostensibly put the kibosh on organic banana sales. The NOP has not taken their advisement as of yet. Whether that’s due to the influence of the banana lobby – Dole, Chiquita, Del Monte, et al, not a group to be trifled with – or some other reason is a matter of speculation.
Organic bananas and perhaps some other organic tropical fruits from those countries might be the one instance where “OMG! Rotenone!” could be justified.
But before proponents of conventional farming start to feel smug, consider that conventional banana farmers use an estimated average of 40 kgs of active ingredient per hectare, reaching a jaw-dropping 76 Kg per hectare in Belize.
Chlorpyrifos is the most commonly used insecticide in banana production, and as bad for the environment as rotenone is, I strongly feel that chlorpyrifos is a much more troubling insecticide.
As mentioned above, chlorpyrifos is strongly linked to developmental impairment in kids.
One study of the exposure of indigenous children living near banana plantations that used chlorpyrifos for insect control found for “more than half of the children their estimated intake exceeded the US EPA chronic population adjusted dose. For some, the acute population adjusted dose and the chronic reference dose were also exceeded.”
We’ll have to end on that sobering note. In the next installment, we’ll take a comparative look at organic and conventional orchard and vineyard production in the US.
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🌸
Mangos
Mangos
🌸
🌸
Mangoes are laced with
at least 17 types of chemicals ...
unless they are organic
🌸
Determination of 17 Organophosphate Pesticide Residues in Mango by
Mango is worse than the banana!
🌸
Mangoes are laced with
at least 17 types of chemicals ...
unless they are organic
🌸
Determination of 17 Organophosphate Pesticide Residues in Mango by
Mango is worse than the banana!
🌸
🌸
Most pesticide residues find their way into the human body through fruits, vegetables, cereals, water and other food commodities.
Thus, analysis of pesticide residues in food commodities and other environmental samples have become an essential requirement for consumers, producers and food quality control authorities [5].
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Mexican Organics
https://www.pccmarkets.com/sound-consumer/2011-01/sc1101-mexican-organics/
🌸
Most pesticide residues find their way into the human body through fruits, vegetables, cereals, water and other food commodities.
Thus, analysis of pesticide residues in food commodities and other environmental samples have become an essential requirement for consumers, producers and food quality control authorities [5].
🌸
Mexican Organics
https://www.pccmarkets.com/sound-consumer/2011-01/sc1101-mexican-organics/
🌸
🌸
Determination of 17 Organophosphate Pesticide Residues
in Mango by Modified QuEChERS Extraction Method Using
GC-NPD/GC-MS and Hazard Index Estimation ...
🌸
Determination of 17 Organophosphate Pesticide Residues
in Mango by Modified QuEChERS Extraction Method Using
GC-NPD/GC-MS and Hazard Index Estimation ...
🌸
(Mangifera indica) is one of the most common and highly consumable tropical fruits of India.
It is rich in carotenoid, minerals, carbohydrates and vitamins. India ranked first in mango production in the world during 2010-11 [1].
Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, India, is the largest producer of mangoes producing around 3469.5 metric tons, the productivity being about 12.8 tones/hectare [2].
There are many insect pest pressures for mangos grown in this region of India requiring the use of pesticides to increase the productivity [3]. Therefore, for obtaining good quality and high productivity of mango fruits, the commercial cultivation of mango receive frequent application of various contact and systemic pesticides throughout the cropping season [4].
Most pesticide residues find their way into the human body through fruits, vegetables, cereals, water and other food commodities. Thus, analysis of pesticide residues in food commodities and other environmental samples have become an essential requirement for consumers, producers and food quality control authorities [5].
Due to increased use of pesticide in the orchard, pesticide residues may remain in the raw fruits and their products such as juices, nectar, jellies and ice cream ‘pose to be poisonous hazards to human health owing to their toxicity’ [6]–[7].
To increase foreign trade under WTO regime, it is imperative to produce pesticide free mango [8].
Organophosphates (OPs)
Among the various pesticides, organophosphates (OPs), are the most extensively used insecticides in many crops including mango.
Due to low persistence and high bio-efficiency of organophosphates, many farmers regularly use this group of pesticides for various vegetables and fruit crops. The continuous use of pesticides has caused deleterious effects the ecosystem [9]. Because of wide spread use of pesticides, the presence of their toxic residues have been reported in various environmental component/commodities [5], [10]–[11].
Public awareness of health hazards posed by pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables has led to the development of many analytical methods. [5], [7], [8], [12]–[16].
Method validation is an important requirement in chemical analysis. The analyst must generate information to show that a method intended for this purpose is capable of providing adequate specificity, accuracy and precision at relevant analyte concentrations in appropriate matrices. In the present study, an attempt has been made to validate modified QuEChERS method using ethyl acetate (EtOAc) for the extraction.
In the method QuEChERS is reported that the acetonitrile is not compatible with system of gas chromatography due to high volume spray, which significantly increases the internal pressure of the chromatographic system. So we adapt the QuEChERS method employing the ethyl acetate solvent.
Seventeen organophosphate pesticides like ...
dichlorvos,
phorate,
phorate-sulfone,
phorate-sulfoxid,
dimethoate,
diazinon,
methyl-parathion,
chlorpyrifos-methyl,
fenitrothion,
malathion,
chlorpyrifos,
chlorfenvinfos,
profenofos,
ethion,
edifenophos,
anilophos and phosalone in mango fruits were analysed
by Gas chromatography using Nitrogen Phosphorus Detector (GC-NPD).
Majority of these pesticides are being used in mango orchards during spraying [17]–[18].
The validated method has been applied to determined 17 OPs residues in three delicious varieties of mango like Deshehari, Langra and Safeda of Malihabad, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India as these varieties are prone to insect pests and consumed largely (Fig. 1), determining estimated daily intake (EDI) and hazard index of detected OPs residues for the consumption of mangoes by local population of Lucknow, India.
It is rich in carotenoid, minerals, carbohydrates and vitamins. India ranked first in mango production in the world during 2010-11 [1].
Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, India, is the largest producer of mangoes producing around 3469.5 metric tons, the productivity being about 12.8 tones/hectare [2].
There are many insect pest pressures for mangos grown in this region of India requiring the use of pesticides to increase the productivity [3]. Therefore, for obtaining good quality and high productivity of mango fruits, the commercial cultivation of mango receive frequent application of various contact and systemic pesticides throughout the cropping season [4].
Most pesticide residues find their way into the human body through fruits, vegetables, cereals, water and other food commodities. Thus, analysis of pesticide residues in food commodities and other environmental samples have become an essential requirement for consumers, producers and food quality control authorities [5].
Due to increased use of pesticide in the orchard, pesticide residues may remain in the raw fruits and their products such as juices, nectar, jellies and ice cream ‘pose to be poisonous hazards to human health owing to their toxicity’ [6]–[7].
To increase foreign trade under WTO regime, it is imperative to produce pesticide free mango [8].
Organophosphates (OPs)
Among the various pesticides, organophosphates (OPs), are the most extensively used insecticides in many crops including mango.
Due to low persistence and high bio-efficiency of organophosphates, many farmers regularly use this group of pesticides for various vegetables and fruit crops. The continuous use of pesticides has caused deleterious effects the ecosystem [9]. Because of wide spread use of pesticides, the presence of their toxic residues have been reported in various environmental component/commodities [5], [10]–[11].
Public awareness of health hazards posed by pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables has led to the development of many analytical methods. [5], [7], [8], [12]–[16].
Method validation is an important requirement in chemical analysis. The analyst must generate information to show that a method intended for this purpose is capable of providing adequate specificity, accuracy and precision at relevant analyte concentrations in appropriate matrices. In the present study, an attempt has been made to validate modified QuEChERS method using ethyl acetate (EtOAc) for the extraction.
In the method QuEChERS is reported that the acetonitrile is not compatible with system of gas chromatography due to high volume spray, which significantly increases the internal pressure of the chromatographic system. So we adapt the QuEChERS method employing the ethyl acetate solvent.
Seventeen organophosphate pesticides like ...
dichlorvos,
phorate,
phorate-sulfone,
phorate-sulfoxid,
dimethoate,
diazinon,
methyl-parathion,
chlorpyrifos-methyl,
fenitrothion,
malathion,
chlorpyrifos,
chlorfenvinfos,
profenofos,
ethion,
edifenophos,
anilophos and phosalone in mango fruits were analysed
by Gas chromatography using Nitrogen Phosphorus Detector (GC-NPD).
Majority of these pesticides are being used in mango orchards during spraying [17]–[18].
The validated method has been applied to determined 17 OPs residues in three delicious varieties of mango like Deshehari, Langra and Safeda of Malihabad, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India as these varieties are prone to insect pests and consumed largely (Fig. 1), determining estimated daily intake (EDI) and hazard index of detected OPs residues for the consumption of mangoes by local population of Lucknow, India.
🌸
MANGOS
🌸
Quick google search says some brands of prepackaged dried mango
samples showed a detection of lead.
🌸
The link I found showed that they were ...
Questions about Mexican organics?
PCC Community Markets
https://www.pccmarkets.com › sound-consumer › sc11...
🌸
The organic foods we import from Mexico
can be divided into three categories:
tropical products, such as coffee, cacao (chocolate), vanilla, agave, mangoes ...
🌸
Mexican (Organic) Mango Crop Update
Crespo Organic
https://www.underthemangotree.crespoorganic.com › m...
One grower described this season to me like this
“completely impossible to predict much of anything in the orchards.” Most agree that ...
🌸
BANNED AND HAZARDOUS PESTICIDES IN EUROPEAN ...
PAN Europe
https://www.pan-europe.info › sites › files
PDF
🌸
Therefore, the EU can import food grown
with the use of toxic pesticides
from these countries,
indirectly supporting the human and environmental ...
🌸
ORGANIC
DRIED MANGOES
"Organic" dried mangoes cause cancer and birth defects? P65 ...
🌸
Quick google search says some brands of prepackaged dried mango
samples showed a detection of lead.
🌸
MANGOS
🌸
Quick google search says some brands of prepackaged dried mango
samples showed a detection of lead.
🌸
The link I found showed that they were ...
Questions about Mexican organics?
PCC Community Markets
https://www.pccmarkets.com › sound-consumer › sc11...
🌸
The organic foods we import from Mexico
can be divided into three categories:
tropical products, such as coffee, cacao (chocolate), vanilla, agave, mangoes ...
🌸
Mexican (Organic) Mango Crop Update
Crespo Organic
https://www.underthemangotree.crespoorganic.com › m...
One grower described this season to me like this
“completely impossible to predict much of anything in the orchards.” Most agree that ...
🌸
BANNED AND HAZARDOUS PESTICIDES IN EUROPEAN ...
PAN Europe
https://www.pan-europe.info › sites › files
🌸
Therefore, the EU can import food grown
with the use of toxic pesticides
from these countries,
indirectly supporting the human and environmental ...
🌸
ORGANIC
DRIED MANGOES
"Organic" dried mangoes cause cancer and birth defects? P65 ...
🌸
Quick google search says some brands of prepackaged dried mango
samples showed a detection of lead.
🌸
🌸
Chemical Composition of Mango (Mangifera indica L.) Fruit
National Institutes of Health (NIH) (.gov)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › articles › PMC6807195
Fruit acidity of mango is attributed mainly to the content citric and malic acids
(Matheyambath et al., 2016),
🌸
Mexico Amends the National List of Permitted Substances ...
USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (.gov)
https://fas.usda.gov › data › mexico-mexico-amends-na...
Federal Registry published the amendments to Annex 1 of the National List of
Permitted Substances for Organic ...
Chemical Composition of Mango (Mangifera indica L.) Fruit
National Institutes of Health (NIH) (.gov)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › articles › PMC6807195
Fruit acidity of mango is attributed mainly to the content citric and malic acids
(Matheyambath et al., 2016),
🌸
Mexico Amends the National List of Permitted Substances ...
USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (.gov)
https://fas.usda.gov › data › mexico-mexico-amends-na...
Federal Registry published the amendments to Annex 1 of the National List of
Permitted Substances for Organic ...
🌸
MANGO PESTICIDES
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4014508/
🌸
Mangoes are laced with at least 17 types of chemicals ... unless they are organic
Determination of 17 Organophosphate Pesticide Residues in Mango by
🌸
Mango Lassi and Mango Fruit Flies in Mexico
Cooking in Mexico
https://kathleeniscookinginmexico.wordpress.com › ma...
🌸
Malathion and diazinon
are two of the chemical sprays used to treat mango trees.
According to one source, both of these pesticides “harmful ...
🌸
https://helloorganik.in/blogs/news/organic-mangoes-know-how-chemical-free-
🌸
MANGO PESTICIDES
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4014508/
🌸
Mangoes are laced with at least 17 types of chemicals ... unless they are organic
Determination of 17 Organophosphate Pesticide Residues in Mango by
🌸
Mango Lassi and Mango Fruit Flies in Mexico
Cooking in Mexico
https://kathleeniscookinginmexico.wordpress.com › ma...
🌸
Malathion and diazinon
are two of the chemical sprays used to treat mango trees.
According to one source, both of these pesticides “harmful ...
🌸
https://helloorganik.in/blogs/news/organic-mangoes-know-how-chemical-free-
🌸
🌸
The Caribbean islands poisoned
by a carcinogenic pesticide
CHLORDECONE
🌸
By Tim Whewell,
BBC News, Martinique
www.bbc.com/news/stories-54992051
🌸
The Caribbean islands poisoned
by a carcinogenic pesticide
CHLORDECONE
🌸
By Tim Whewell,
BBC News, Martinique
www.bbc.com/news/stories-54992051
🌸
🌸
The Caribbean islands poisoned by a carcinogenic pesticide
By Tim Whewell, BBC News, Martinique
www.bbc.com/news/stories-54992051
"First we were enslaved. Then we were poisoned." That's how many on Martinique see the history of their French Caribbean island that, to tourists, means sun, rum, and palm-fringed beaches. Slavery was abolished in 1848. But today the islanders are victims again - of a toxic pesticide called chlordecone that's poisoned the soil and water and been linked to unusually high rates of prostate cancer.
"They never told us it was dangerous," Ambroise Bertin says. "So people were working, because they wanted the money. We didn't have any instructions about what was, and wasn't, good. That's why a lot of people are poisoned." He's talking about chlordecone, a chemical in the form of a white powder that plantation workers were told to put under banana trees, to protect them from insects.
Ambroise did that job for many years.
Later, he got prostate cancer, a disease that is commoner on Martinique and its sister French island of Guadeloupe than anywhere else in the world.
And scientists blame chlordecone, a persistent organic pollutant related to DDT. It was authorised for use in the French West Indies long after its harmful effects became widely known.
"They used to tell us: don't eat or drink anything while you're putting it down," Ambroise, now 70, remembers. But that's the only clue he and other workers in Martinique's banana plantations in the 1970s, 80s and early 90s had about the possible danger. Few if any were told to wear gloves or masks. Now, many have suffered cancer and other illnesses.
Chlordecone is an endocrine disrupter, meaning it can affect hormonal systems.
One of the world's leading experts on the chemical, Prof Luc Multigner, of Rennes University in France, says epidemiological studies have shown increased risk of premature births and increased risk of adverse brain development in children at the exposure levels people in Martinique and Guadeloupe face through contaminated food consumption.
He also says: "There is enough toxicological and experimental data to conclude that chlordecone is carcinogenic."
Following a detailed study Prof Multigner and colleagues conducted on Guadeloupe in 2010, he estimates chlordecone is responsible for about 5-10% of prostate cancer cases in the French West Indies, amounting to between 50 to 100 new cases per year, out of a population of 800,000.
Chlordecone stays in the soil for decades, possibly for centuries. So more than 20 years after the chemical ceased to be used, much of the land on Martinique cannot be used for growing vegetables, even though bananas and other fruit on trees are safe.
Rivers and coastal waters are also contaminated, which means many fishermen cannot work. And 92% of Martinicans have traces of chlordecone in their blood.
"You try to have a healthy kind of life. So maybe you will limit the effects of the poison. But you are not sure," says historian Valy Edmond-Mariette, aged 31. "My friends and I were asking ourselves: do we really want children? Because if we give them breast milk, maybe they will have chlordecone in their blood. And I think nobody should be asking themselves this kind of question, because it's awful."
Production of chlordecone was stopped in the United States - where it was marketed as Kepone - as far back as 1975, after workers at a factory producing it in Virginia complained of uncontrollable shaking, blurred vision and sexual problems. In 1979, the World Health Organization classed the pesticide as potentially carcinogenic.
But in 1981 the French authorities authorised chlordecone for use in banana plantations in the French West Indies - and even though it was finally banned in 1990, growers lobbied for - and got - permission to carry on using stocks until 1993.
That's why - for many Martinicans - chlordecone stirs up painful historical memories. "A lot of people talk about chlordecone like a new kind of slavery," says Valy, whose own ancestors were enslaved.
For two centuries, until 1848, Martinique was a colony that depended on the production of sugar by enslaved people. And in the late 20th Century, some of the big banana growers who used chlordecone were the direct descendants of those slave-owning sugar exporters, part of a small white minority known as the békés.
"Those are still the same group of people who have uncontested domination of the land," says Guilaine Sabine, activist in a grassroots organisation called Zero Chlordecone Zero Poison. As well as campaigning for free blood tests for everyone on the island, members of the group have taken part in a new wave of protests over the last year aiming to draw attention to businesses that activists say have profited from the production and use of toxic pesticides.
The demonstrations have been small, and some protesters have been convicted of violence against the police. But they reflect wider anger over the slow pace of France's response to the chlordecone catastrophe.
It was only in 2018 - after more than 10 years of campaigning by French Caribbean politicians - that President Emmanuel Macron accepted the state's responsibility for what he called "an environmental scandal".
He said France had suffered "collective blindness" over the issue. A law to create a compensation fund for agricultural workers has now been passed. But payouts haven't started yet.
French President Emmanuel Macron was briefed on the pollution problem on a visit in 2018
Martinique is an integral part of France, but one of the island's MPs, Serge Letchimy, says it would never have taken the state so many years to react if there had been pollution on the same scale in Brittany, for example, or elsewhere in European France. "The issue is how overseas territories get treated. There's contempt, distance, condescension, lack of respect."
Prof Multigner says the original documents of the official body that authorised use of the pesticide in 1981 have disappeared for unknown reasons, hampering attempts to investigate how the decision was taken.
But the state's representative on Martinique, Prefect Stanislas Cazelles, insists there was no discrimination against the islanders.
"The Republic is on the side of the oppressed, of the weakest here, just as in the European part of France," he says.
The state is working to find ways to decontaminate the land - some scientists think chlordecone can potentially be biodegraded quite quickly - and ensure there is no trace of the pesticide in the food chain. And the prefect hopes the independent commission that will judge compensation claims will generally rule in favour of former farm workers who say they are victims of the pesticide.
Ambroise, who worked with chlordecone for so many years, had an operation to remove his cancer in 2015. But he still suffers from thyroid disease and other problems that may be connected to chlordecone's known effects on the hormonal system.
Meanwhile the historian, Valy, had blood cancer when she was just 25. Her doctor does not think it was due to chlordecone. But Valy says no-one can be sure.
By Tim Whewell, BBC News, Martinique
www.bbc.com/news/stories-54992051
"First we were enslaved. Then we were poisoned." That's how many on Martinique see the history of their French Caribbean island that, to tourists, means sun, rum, and palm-fringed beaches. Slavery was abolished in 1848. But today the islanders are victims again - of a toxic pesticide called chlordecone that's poisoned the soil and water and been linked to unusually high rates of prostate cancer.
"They never told us it was dangerous," Ambroise Bertin says. "So people were working, because they wanted the money. We didn't have any instructions about what was, and wasn't, good. That's why a lot of people are poisoned." He's talking about chlordecone, a chemical in the form of a white powder that plantation workers were told to put under banana trees, to protect them from insects.
Ambroise did that job for many years.
Later, he got prostate cancer, a disease that is commoner on Martinique and its sister French island of Guadeloupe than anywhere else in the world.
And scientists blame chlordecone, a persistent organic pollutant related to DDT. It was authorised for use in the French West Indies long after its harmful effects became widely known.
"They used to tell us: don't eat or drink anything while you're putting it down," Ambroise, now 70, remembers. But that's the only clue he and other workers in Martinique's banana plantations in the 1970s, 80s and early 90s had about the possible danger. Few if any were told to wear gloves or masks. Now, many have suffered cancer and other illnesses.
Chlordecone is an endocrine disrupter, meaning it can affect hormonal systems.
One of the world's leading experts on the chemical, Prof Luc Multigner, of Rennes University in France, says epidemiological studies have shown increased risk of premature births and increased risk of adverse brain development in children at the exposure levels people in Martinique and Guadeloupe face through contaminated food consumption.
He also says: "There is enough toxicological and experimental data to conclude that chlordecone is carcinogenic."
Following a detailed study Prof Multigner and colleagues conducted on Guadeloupe in 2010, he estimates chlordecone is responsible for about 5-10% of prostate cancer cases in the French West Indies, amounting to between 50 to 100 new cases per year, out of a population of 800,000.
- Listen to Martinique: The poisoning of paradise on Crossing Continents, on BBC Radio 4, on Monday 23 November at 20:30
- Or listen now online
- You can also download the Crossing Continents podcast
Chlordecone stays in the soil for decades, possibly for centuries. So more than 20 years after the chemical ceased to be used, much of the land on Martinique cannot be used for growing vegetables, even though bananas and other fruit on trees are safe.
Rivers and coastal waters are also contaminated, which means many fishermen cannot work. And 92% of Martinicans have traces of chlordecone in their blood.
"You try to have a healthy kind of life. So maybe you will limit the effects of the poison. But you are not sure," says historian Valy Edmond-Mariette, aged 31. "My friends and I were asking ourselves: do we really want children? Because if we give them breast milk, maybe they will have chlordecone in their blood. And I think nobody should be asking themselves this kind of question, because it's awful."
Production of chlordecone was stopped in the United States - where it was marketed as Kepone - as far back as 1975, after workers at a factory producing it in Virginia complained of uncontrollable shaking, blurred vision and sexual problems. In 1979, the World Health Organization classed the pesticide as potentially carcinogenic.
But in 1981 the French authorities authorised chlordecone for use in banana plantations in the French West Indies - and even though it was finally banned in 1990, growers lobbied for - and got - permission to carry on using stocks until 1993.
That's why - for many Martinicans - chlordecone stirs up painful historical memories. "A lot of people talk about chlordecone like a new kind of slavery," says Valy, whose own ancestors were enslaved.
For two centuries, until 1848, Martinique was a colony that depended on the production of sugar by enslaved people. And in the late 20th Century, some of the big banana growers who used chlordecone were the direct descendants of those slave-owning sugar exporters, part of a small white minority known as the békés.
"Those are still the same group of people who have uncontested domination of the land," says Guilaine Sabine, activist in a grassroots organisation called Zero Chlordecone Zero Poison. As well as campaigning for free blood tests for everyone on the island, members of the group have taken part in a new wave of protests over the last year aiming to draw attention to businesses that activists say have profited from the production and use of toxic pesticides.
The demonstrations have been small, and some protesters have been convicted of violence against the police. But they reflect wider anger over the slow pace of France's response to the chlordecone catastrophe.
It was only in 2018 - after more than 10 years of campaigning by French Caribbean politicians - that President Emmanuel Macron accepted the state's responsibility for what he called "an environmental scandal".
He said France had suffered "collective blindness" over the issue. A law to create a compensation fund for agricultural workers has now been passed. But payouts haven't started yet.
French President Emmanuel Macron was briefed on the pollution problem on a visit in 2018
Martinique is an integral part of France, but one of the island's MPs, Serge Letchimy, says it would never have taken the state so many years to react if there had been pollution on the same scale in Brittany, for example, or elsewhere in European France. "The issue is how overseas territories get treated. There's contempt, distance, condescension, lack of respect."
Prof Multigner says the original documents of the official body that authorised use of the pesticide in 1981 have disappeared for unknown reasons, hampering attempts to investigate how the decision was taken.
But the state's representative on Martinique, Prefect Stanislas Cazelles, insists there was no discrimination against the islanders.
"The Republic is on the side of the oppressed, of the weakest here, just as in the European part of France," he says.
The state is working to find ways to decontaminate the land - some scientists think chlordecone can potentially be biodegraded quite quickly - and ensure there is no trace of the pesticide in the food chain. And the prefect hopes the independent commission that will judge compensation claims will generally rule in favour of former farm workers who say they are victims of the pesticide.
Ambroise, who worked with chlordecone for so many years, had an operation to remove his cancer in 2015. But he still suffers from thyroid disease and other problems that may be connected to chlordecone's known effects on the hormonal system.
Meanwhile the historian, Valy, had blood cancer when she was just 25. Her doctor does not think it was due to chlordecone. But Valy says no-one can be sure.
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EWG’s 2024
Shopper’s Guide
to Pesticides in Produce™
By EWG Science Team
🌸
MARCH 20, 2024
EWG’s 2024
Shopper’s Guide
to Pesticides in Produce™
By EWG Science Team
🌸
MARCH 20, 2024
🌸
EWG's 2024 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce
EWG
https://www.ewg.org › foodnews › summary
EWG recommends consumers seeking fresh produce with low pesticide residues
buy organic versions of items on EWG's Dirty Dozen and either organic ...
🌸
EWG's 2024 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce
EWG
https://www.ewg.org › foodnews › summary
EWG recommends consumers seeking fresh produce with low pesticide residues
buy organic versions of items on EWG's Dirty Dozen and either organic ...
🌸
TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS
OVERVIEW
Non-organic produce is loaded with fungicides that may harm human hormone systems, EWG’s 2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ finds.
Across fruits and vegetables from EWG’s Dirty Dozen™ – the component of the Shopper’s Guide that identifies the 12 non-organic, or conventional, fresh produce with the most pesticides – four of the five most frequently detected chemicals the fungicides fludioxonil, pyraclostrobin, boscalid and pyrimethanil.
Two of these, fludioxonil and pyrimethanil, also show up in the highest average concentrations of any pesticides found on the Dirty Dozen. Both fungicides may be endocrine disruptors with potential to harm the male reproductive system.
Other fungicides are linked to similar health harms – and many others have not been adequately studied.
This year, EWG determined that 75 percent of all conventional fresh produce sampled had residues of potentially harmful pesticides. But for items on the Dirty Dozen, a whopping 95 percent of samples contain pesticides.
EWG’s 2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce analyzes data from tests conducted by the Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration on 47,510 samples of 46 fruits and vegetables.
The USDA peels or scrubs and washes produce samples before they’re tested, whereas the FDA removes only dirt first. Even after these steps, the agencies’ tests still found traces of 254 pesticides in all fruits and vegetables tested – and 209 of these were on Dirty Dozen produce.
That’s why the EWG Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce also includes the Clean Fifteen™, a list of the fruits and vegetables with very low or no pesticide residues.
EWG recommends consumers seeking fresh produce with low pesticide residues buy organic versions of items on EWG’s Dirty Dozen and either organic or non-organic versions of produce on the Clean Fifteen. There are also many organic and Clean Fifteen options in the frozen food aisle.
This year we also conducted an analysis of the USDA’s first round of new baby food tests, summarized below.
Everyone should eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, whether organic or conventionally grown. The health benefits of such a diet outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure.
FUNGICIDES ON EWG’S DIRTY DOZEN
Four of the five pesticides found most frequently on the Dirty Dozen are fungicides: fludioxonil, pyraclostrobin, boscalid and pyrimethanil.
Fungicides are applied on fruits and vegetables to prevent or kill fungal diseases like powdery mildew. They’re often applied after harvest to keep produce mold-free on its way to market. That’s likely why fungicide concentrations can be so high on some samples – higher than other pesticides applied earlier in the growing season.
Although the potential human health harms of fungicides aren’t as well studied as other pesticides, emerging evidence suggests many widely used fungicides may disrupt the hormone system.
These four are no exception, although more studies are needed for all of them to understand the risks they pose to humans, particularly children.
EWG’S 2024
DIRTY DOZEN
Of the 46 items included in our analysis, these 12 fruits and vegetables were most contaminated with pesticides:
Some Dirty Dozen highlights:
See the full list of all 2024 Shopper’s Guide fruits and vegetables.
EWG’S 2024
CLEAN FIFTEEN
These 15 types of produce had the lowest amounts of pesticide residues, according to EWG’s analysis of the most recent USDA data.
Some Clean Fifteen highlights:
See the full list of all Shopper’s Guide fruits and vegetables.
PESTICIDES IN BABY FOOD
In 2022, the USDA collected and tested several types of baby food, including sweet potatoes, green beans, peaches and pears, for pesticides. This is the first time the agency has sampled baby food for pesticides in over a decade.
The results, released in January 2024, show that non-organic baby foods are considerably less contaminated by pesticides than their whole fruit and vegetable counterparts, suggesting that baby food manufacturers and suppliers may be taking extra steps to reduce pesticides in baby food.
The USDA test results are largely consistent with what EWG found in our 2023 tests of baby food, which detected residues in 38 percent of products tested.
This is just the first round of results from a series of USDA tests that will be conducted through 2024. A more complete picture of these and a few other types of baby food (carrots, peas and applesauce) will be available next year, once more samples have been analyzed and the results released by the USDA.
Meanwhile, you can read a summary of our analysis of the USDA’s first round of baby food tests here.
PESTICIDES AND CHILDREN’S HEALTH
This year, the overall picture remains problematic: Too many pesticides are still found on too much of the produce millions of Americans eat every day.
Many peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown links between pesticides and human health problems. These findings raise important questions about the safety of pesticide mixtures found on produce. For example, research from Harvard University shows that consuming fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residues may lessen the benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption, including protection against cardiovascular disease and mortality.
But EWG is especially concerned about how pesticides can harm children’s health. A recent EWG investigation published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health found that the EPA has failed to adequately protect children from pesticides. For almost 90 percent of the most common pesticides, the agency has neglected to apply the Food Quality Protection Act–mandated children’s health safety factor to the allowable limits.
The threats pesticides pose to children’s health have been known since at least 1993 – over 30 years ago – when the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine published a landmark study warning of inadequate oversight.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents concerned about their children’s exposure to pesticides consult EWG’s Shopper’s Guide.
ABOUT EWG’S SHOPPER’S GUIDE
TO PESTICIDES IN PRODUCE
EWG's Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce is a suite of materials investigating the presence of pesticides in foods and the ways they could harm people, especially children – and to help consumers make the best, most informed choices for their families.
We’ve published the guide nearly every year since 2004.
EWG's Shopper’s Guide is designed to support people who would like to minimize their exposure to pesticides. It includes two well-known lists: the Dirty Dozen, or the 12 fresh non-organic, or conventional, fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues, as well as the Clean Fifteen, the conventionally grown fruits and vegetables with very low or no traces of pesticides.
Some pesticides have more data linking them to health concerns than others. These pesticides are particularly concerning for children, who are especially susceptible to many of the health harms associated with pesticide exposure.
The presence of so many different pesticides in foods is also problematic. There’s little data available about how multiple pesticides interact with each other in the body or how such mixtures could compound each chemical’s individual potential health harms. But the data we do have suggests that when chemicals are present in a mixture, they may be toxic to humans at lower levels than when alone.
When regulating pesticides, government bodies also consider them only one at a time. They don’t look at the potential total body burden for consumers.
MORE INFORMATION
Here are more resources from EWG’s 2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce:
Report Contents
GET THE GUIDE!
EWG helps protect your family from pesticides! Donate $15 today and EWG will send you our Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ bag tag FREE to say thank you.
- EWG’s 2024 Dirty Dozen™ is loaded with fungicides that can disrupt human hormone systems.
- This year, 75 percent of non-organic produce – and 95 percent of items on the Dirty Dozen – is coated with pesticides.
- Almost 65 percent of EWG’s 2024 Clean Fifteen™ fruit and vegetable samples had no detectable pesticide residues.
OVERVIEW
Non-organic produce is loaded with fungicides that may harm human hormone systems, EWG’s 2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ finds.
Across fruits and vegetables from EWG’s Dirty Dozen™ – the component of the Shopper’s Guide that identifies the 12 non-organic, or conventional, fresh produce with the most pesticides – four of the five most frequently detected chemicals the fungicides fludioxonil, pyraclostrobin, boscalid and pyrimethanil.
Two of these, fludioxonil and pyrimethanil, also show up in the highest average concentrations of any pesticides found on the Dirty Dozen. Both fungicides may be endocrine disruptors with potential to harm the male reproductive system.
Other fungicides are linked to similar health harms – and many others have not been adequately studied.
This year, EWG determined that 75 percent of all conventional fresh produce sampled had residues of potentially harmful pesticides. But for items on the Dirty Dozen, a whopping 95 percent of samples contain pesticides.
EWG’s 2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce analyzes data from tests conducted by the Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration on 47,510 samples of 46 fruits and vegetables.
The USDA peels or scrubs and washes produce samples before they’re tested, whereas the FDA removes only dirt first. Even after these steps, the agencies’ tests still found traces of 254 pesticides in all fruits and vegetables tested – and 209 of these were on Dirty Dozen produce.
That’s why the EWG Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce also includes the Clean Fifteen™, a list of the fruits and vegetables with very low or no pesticide residues.
EWG recommends consumers seeking fresh produce with low pesticide residues buy organic versions of items on EWG’s Dirty Dozen and either organic or non-organic versions of produce on the Clean Fifteen. There are also many organic and Clean Fifteen options in the frozen food aisle.
This year we also conducted an analysis of the USDA’s first round of new baby food tests, summarized below.
Everyone should eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, whether organic or conventionally grown. The health benefits of such a diet outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure.
- See the Dirty Dozen.
- See the Clean Fifteen.
FUNGICIDES ON EWG’S DIRTY DOZEN
Four of the five pesticides found most frequently on the Dirty Dozen are fungicides: fludioxonil, pyraclostrobin, boscalid and pyrimethanil.
Fungicides are applied on fruits and vegetables to prevent or kill fungal diseases like powdery mildew. They’re often applied after harvest to keep produce mold-free on its way to market. That’s likely why fungicide concentrations can be so high on some samples – higher than other pesticides applied earlier in the growing season.
Although the potential human health harms of fungicides aren’t as well studied as other pesticides, emerging evidence suggests many widely used fungicides may disrupt the hormone system.
These four are no exception, although more studies are needed for all of them to understand the risks they pose to humans, particularly children.
- Studies of fludioxonil have found it can act like estrogen, increasing the proliferation of breast cancer cells. It also has the potential to harm the male reproductive system. Fludioxonil is found on 90 percent of peaches and nearly 30 percent of Dirty Dozen samples.
- Pyrimethanil has been linked to thyroid disruption and might block androgen receptors in the body. Pyrimethanil was the most frequently detected pesticide on pears, showing up on 54 percent of samples.
- Some studies have suggested that pyraclostrobin could be associated with liver toxicity and metabolic disorders. Pyraclostrobin was found on 10 percent or more of each Dirty Dozen item, and about half of strawberry and cherry samples.
- In animal studies, boscalid has been linked to cancer and thyroid dysfunction, and it may also disrupt hormones. Boscalid was found on almost half of blueberry samples, and just over 50 percent of cherries and strawberries.
EWG’S 2024
DIRTY DOZEN
Of the 46 items included in our analysis, these 12 fruits and vegetables were most contaminated with pesticides:
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Kale, collard and mustard greens
- Grapes
- Peaches
- Pears
- Nectarines
- Apples
- Bell and hot peppers
- Cherries
- Blueberries
- Green beans
Some Dirty Dozen highlights:
- A total of 209 pesticides were found on Dirty Dozen items.
- Across all 12 items, 95 percent of samples had pesticides.
- Over 90 percent of samples of strawberries, apples, cherries, spinach, nectarines and grapes tested positive for residues of two or more pesticides.
- More than 50 pesticides were detected on samples from each item on the Dirty Dozen, except cherries.
- The most pesticides were found on kale, collard and mustard greens, with 103 individual chemicals found across the items in the category.
- Hot peppers and bell peppers were next, with 101.
- All of the produce on the Dirty Dozen had at least one sample with at least 13 pesticides — and some had as many as 23.
- The neurotoxic organophosphate insecticide acephate, prohibited from use on green beans in 2011, was detected on six percent of that crop’s samples.
See the full list of all 2024 Shopper’s Guide fruits and vegetables.
EWG’S 2024
CLEAN FIFTEEN
These 15 types of produce had the lowest amounts of pesticide residues, according to EWG’s analysis of the most recent USDA data.
- Avocados
- Sweet corn
- Pineapple
- Onions
- Papaya
- Sweet peas (frozen)
- Asparagus
- Honeydew melon
- Kiwi
- Cabbage
- Watermelon
- Mushrooms
- Mangoes
- Sweet potatoes
- Carrots
Some Clean Fifteen highlights:
- Almost 65 percent of Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples had no detectable pesticide residues.
- Avocados and sweet corn were the cleanest produce – less than 2 percent of samples of each showed any detectable pesticides.
- Just over 10 percent of Clean Fifteen fruit and vegetable samples had residues of two or more pesticides.
- No sample from the first six Clean Fifteen items tested positive for more than three pesticides.
See the full list of all Shopper’s Guide fruits and vegetables.
PESTICIDES IN BABY FOOD
In 2022, the USDA collected and tested several types of baby food, including sweet potatoes, green beans, peaches and pears, for pesticides. This is the first time the agency has sampled baby food for pesticides in over a decade.
The results, released in January 2024, show that non-organic baby foods are considerably less contaminated by pesticides than their whole fruit and vegetable counterparts, suggesting that baby food manufacturers and suppliers may be taking extra steps to reduce pesticides in baby food.
The USDA test results are largely consistent with what EWG found in our 2023 tests of baby food, which detected residues in 38 percent of products tested.
This is just the first round of results from a series of USDA tests that will be conducted through 2024. A more complete picture of these and a few other types of baby food (carrots, peas and applesauce) will be available next year, once more samples have been analyzed and the results released by the USDA.
Meanwhile, you can read a summary of our analysis of the USDA’s first round of baby food tests here.
PESTICIDES AND CHILDREN’S HEALTH
This year, the overall picture remains problematic: Too many pesticides are still found on too much of the produce millions of Americans eat every day.
Many peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown links between pesticides and human health problems. These findings raise important questions about the safety of pesticide mixtures found on produce. For example, research from Harvard University shows that consuming fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residues may lessen the benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption, including protection against cardiovascular disease and mortality.
But EWG is especially concerned about how pesticides can harm children’s health. A recent EWG investigation published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health found that the EPA has failed to adequately protect children from pesticides. For almost 90 percent of the most common pesticides, the agency has neglected to apply the Food Quality Protection Act–mandated children’s health safety factor to the allowable limits.
The threats pesticides pose to children’s health have been known since at least 1993 – over 30 years ago – when the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine published a landmark study warning of inadequate oversight.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents concerned about their children’s exposure to pesticides consult EWG’s Shopper’s Guide.
ABOUT EWG’S SHOPPER’S GUIDE
TO PESTICIDES IN PRODUCE
EWG's Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce is a suite of materials investigating the presence of pesticides in foods and the ways they could harm people, especially children – and to help consumers make the best, most informed choices for their families.
We’ve published the guide nearly every year since 2004.
EWG's Shopper’s Guide is designed to support people who would like to minimize their exposure to pesticides. It includes two well-known lists: the Dirty Dozen, or the 12 fresh non-organic, or conventional, fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues, as well as the Clean Fifteen, the conventionally grown fruits and vegetables with very low or no traces of pesticides.
Some pesticides have more data linking them to health concerns than others. These pesticides are particularly concerning for children, who are especially susceptible to many of the health harms associated with pesticide exposure.
The presence of so many different pesticides in foods is also problematic. There’s little data available about how multiple pesticides interact with each other in the body or how such mixtures could compound each chemical’s individual potential health harms. But the data we do have suggests that when chemicals are present in a mixture, they may be toxic to humans at lower levels than when alone.
When regulating pesticides, government bodies also consider them only one at a time. They don’t look at the potential total body burden for consumers.
MORE INFORMATION
Here are more resources from EWG’s 2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce:
- EWG: 30 years of research on pesticides and children’s health
- Why does EWG release its Shopper’s Guide each year?
- Complete lists of all tested fruits and vegetables
- Shopper’s Guide FAQs
- Methodology
Report Contents
- Fungicides on EWG’s Dirty Dozen
- The Dirty Dozen™
- The Clean Fifteen™
- Pesticides in baby food
- Pesticides and children’s health
- About EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce
- More information
GET THE GUIDE!
EWG helps protect your family from pesticides! Donate $15 today and EWG will send you our Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ bag tag FREE to say thank you.
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Frozen Mango from Costco
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Frozen Mango from Costco
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