<p>Being in a populated area of southern Cal, I have a ridiculous number of choices when buying fresh fruits and vegetables. Along with the three farmer’s markets that are available within a few miles, there are two Whole Foods and three Trader Joe’s within a ten minute drive from my house, as well as an upscale gourmet market. I also belong to a CSA that delivers a box of organic produce to my doorstep every other week, which is fresher and better tasting than all of the above. The lettuce from the CSA , for example, lasts a week longer in my refrigerator than the same type from a store and is more flavorful. It’s the same with the tomatoes, the corn, the apples- just about everything they deliver. Some items I try to buy organic, like apples, as they are supposed to be one of the fruits where it makes a difference as far as pesticide level, but I mainly am looking for freshness and taste. </p>
<p>I live in the Midwest where I need to drive 20+ miles for a locally sourced food market. It is work the drive however. I buy organic when it is not cost-prohibitive and buy local whenever possible. My sweet corn comes right out of the garden, as do my tomatoes. </p>
<p>I buy organic when I need get produce to encourage the declining use of pesticides which are bad for ecosystems, generally speaking. I think it all tastes the same. GMOs don’t bother me a bit, plants are bred and modified and cross bred endlessly for many good outcomes. But mostly, we have a co-op share from a local small farm, can and freeze like crazy, and buy seasonally. I also limit produce purchases in the grocery store to local or USA grown. I don’t need grapes out of season from Mexico or kiwi from New Zealand if it means a carbon footprint the size of Godzilla. </p>
<p>A good book: Tomorrow’s Table…addresses gmo/organics through the farm life and research of a couple who are a botanist/breeder and an small scale organic farmer. Really informative and no agenda.</p>
<p>Interesting looking book.</p>
<p>I’m surprised at the lack of concern over ingesting pesticides among some of the posters here. But then again, I hardly eat any processed foods and I never drink soda. Maybe I’m the outlier.</p>
<p>This is a reputable source on the produce that commonly contains chemical pesticides.</p>
<p><a href=“EWG's 2023 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce | Summary”>http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php</a></p>
<p>I figure that if NPR isn’t worried about pesticides on my apples, then I’m probably OK. I mean, if anybody is going to worry for me, it’s NPR…</p>
<p><a href=“Why You Shouldn't Panic About Pesticide In Produce : The Salt : NPR”>Why You Shouldn't Panic About Pesticide In Produce : The Salt : NPR;
<p>I’m more worried about e-coli contamination. That’s why I thoroughly wash my fresh fruits and veggies. </p>
<p>If any pesticide is going to kil me, it’s probably the DEET I slather on for hiking. Or the permethrin spray that I use to treat all my outdoor clothing. Or the deer ticks that would expose me to Lyme Disease if I didn’t. Heck, I’m wearing permethrin treated shorts and shirt right now, while I eat an allegedly insecticide doused apple for my midnight snack.</p>
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<p>I would read warnings from the Environmental Working Group with some degree of skepticism. In addition to warning me about the health risk from eating apples, they are also quite concerned about radiation from my cellphone…</p>
<p>Where’s my tinfoil hat?</p>
<p>I don’t drink sodas nor eat canned or processed food either. I do have SPAMs for earthquake food though. But I do pay for organic eggs and milk, I wonder if it’s a waste now?</p>
<p>Logically, the bigger danger of pesticides would be from ingesting meat from animals higher up the food chain rather than from produce. Which is a good reason to prefer grass-fed beef over chicken and pork. 
The problem with organic produce is that organic farming is lower-yielding than conventional farming, and therefore uses more land and water. This is apart from the larger doses of permitted (organic) pesticides and fertilizers that it requires. </p>
<p>Whether one chooses to eat organic or not, we need tighter controls on pesticide use, at least for the bees and butterflies and other wildlife.
And some pesticides are worse than others for the ecosystem. </p>
<p><a href=“Pesticides threaten birds and bees alike, study says”>http://phys.org/news/2014-06-pesticides-threaten-birds-bees-alike.html</a></p>
<p>Here’s a study that looks at the actual amount of pesticides found on EWG’s “dirty dozen”, comparing levels of pesticide contamination to the chronic reference dose for each pesticide (the amount you would have to be exposed to DAILY for your entire lifetime to present a health risk). </p>
<p><a href=“Dietary Exposure to Pesticide Residues from Commodities Alleged to Contain the Highest Contamination Levels - PMC”>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3135239/</a></p>
<p>They found that the worst of EWG’s dirty dozen had levels 49 times lower than the chronic reference dose. Most of the fruits and veggies in the EWG report had levels 1000 times below the chronic reference dose. And, this is before you remove most of the pesticide residue when you wash your fresh food…</p>
<p>In other words:</p>
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<p>The study has tables with the level of each pesticide and comparison to the chronic reference dose for each of the 12 fruits and veggies in the EWG “report”.</p>
<p>Interesting looking book.
I only drink certain brands of soda, ( my favorite is made by Homer soda)
They are not currently made by Nestle, thank god, because I am boycotting them until they stop bottling local water, & expect residents to pay for it after their wells are contaminated.
I happen to believe access to water is a human right.</p>
<p>I dont really eat processed food either and if I want to eat carrots, citrus, stone fruits or berries without resorting to my epi pen, I buy organic, as I am allergic to several of the neurotoxins that are used in agriculture.</p>
<p>Oh, and the chronic reference dose exposure limit established for each pesticide is 1000 times lower than the smallest amount shown to cause any harm in any animal study – a 1000 fold safety margin in establishing the safety limits. And the majority of the fruits and veggies are 1000 times lower than that.</p>
<p>Trust me, the risk to your health from eating processed food dwarfs the risk from eating fresh fruits and veggies. The celery and romaine lettuce are the least of our food worries.</p>
<p>It doesn’t really matter what the party line is, i know how my body reacts.
I had to give up a lot of foods until organic produce started to become easier to find, and it occurred to me to try them again.</p>
<p>I made the mistake recently of buying some stone fruits from a local fruit stand, but had to throw them out, because I couldn’t eat them & H didn’t like them.</p>
<p>I know it sounds like oral allergy syndrome, except I do not have the same problem with organic foods i grow myself, or get elsewhere.</p>
<p>I think you are more sensitive than others.</p>
<p>I can tell that the levels of certain pesticides or whatever in cherries went down significantly. I had to spend the megabicks on organic varieties for Mr B, but he can now eat the “inorganic” kind without getting upset stomach. </p>
<p>As far as nitrates in produce go, if I toss a watermelon into my shopping cart and it does not explode, it is good for eating. ;)</p>
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<p>Oh, please. What is wrong with being concerned about chemicals/radiation/etc.? Why should people blithely assume that everything in the food supply is OK to eat and that all the goods they purchase are safe? I don’t trust factory farms or corporations to look out for my or my family’s best interests. If I want to maintain a healthy skepticism and limit our exposure to things where the effects may not yet be known, that’s my choice–and it doesn’t make me a conspiracy theorist.</p>
<p>In my midwestern town, I am lucky to have two farmers’ markets and a Whole Foods in walking distance, along with several grocery stores that have a wide variety of organic and local produce, meats and cheese. I feel for people who aren’t able to exert as much control over what they buy due to lack of options. </p>
<p>I mainly buy organic products, particularly produce, because it just looks and tastes better than conventional produce. We have a co-op that I frequent from time to time but do periodically shop at Whole Foods (about an hour away for me). I am eating less and less meat and trying to increase my intake of fish and shellfish and try to avoid the factory farmed variety of meat (and fish) when I do buy it. </p>
<p>Having worked on some really unpleasant legal cases involving the treatment of animals that become our food, I have to feel like I’m doing something that doesn’t make me as culpable as the producer. Not sure if that’s the right way to phrase it, but I’d rather pay $14/lb for Polyface chicken than $1.99/lb for Tyson. </p>
<p>I don’t trust many sources of information, but I do trust Consumer Reports, and (if I recall correctly) they found few benefits. I note, in passing, that I certainly don’t trust Whole Foods as a source of health information, since they have aisles and aisles of fraudulent “health” products.</p>
<p>For fruits, it’s definitely worth it. Organic fruits taste much better. </p>
<p>Quite honestly, I wouldn’t trust any grocery store for health information. Whole Foods doesn’t have the monopoly on “fraudulent health products” and frankly, I’ve never looked in those aisles other than to find a probiotic my doctor recommended. Whole Foods is a corporation, just like any other grocery store. They simply offer choices to consumers who are interested in those types of products. I think it’s up to each one of us as consumers to choose, based upon our own research and belief system, what is best for us as individuals. </p>
<p>I pay 20 cents a pound more for organic bananas. Not because I’m worried about pesticides or think there’s some tremendous benefit to organic bananas - it’s because when they’re at my grocery store, they look like they’ve been handled better and are close to ready to eat, not lime green. They get eaten quickly and there’s far less waste than with the banana that sits on my kitchen counter for a week until it’s ready to eat. Same with berries. They just look a lot better. </p>