Pesticide residues found in 70% of produce sold in US even after washing

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/20/pesticide-residues-produce-even-after-washing-us

Pesticide residues found in 70% of produce sold in US even after washing

Emily Holden in Washington

Wed 20 Mar 2019 04.01 GMT

About 70% of fresh produce sold in the US has pesticide residues on it even after it is washed, according to a health advocacy group.

According to the Environmental Working Group’s annual analysis of US Department of Agriculture data, strawberries, spinach and kale are among the most pesticide-heavy produce, while avocados, sweetcorn and pineapples had the lowest level of residues.

More than 92% of kale tested contained two or more pesticide residues, according to the analysis, and a single sample of conventionally farmed kale could contain up to 18 different pesticides.

Dacthal – the most common pesticide found, which was detected in nearly 60% of kale samples, is banned in Europe and classified as a possible human carcinogen in the US.

“We definitely acknowledge and support that everybody should be eating healthy fruits and vegetables as part of their diet regardless of if they’re conventional or organic,” said Alexis Temkin, a toxicologist working with the EWG. “But what we try to highlight with the Shopper’s Guide to Produce is building on a body of evidence that shows mixtures of pesticides can have adverse effects.”

Other foods on the group’s “dirty dozen” list include grapes, cherries, apples, tomatoes and potatoes. In contrast, its “clean 15” list includes avocados, onions and cauliflower.

Leonardo Trasande, an environmental medicine specialist at the New York University medical school, called the EWG report “widely respected” and said it can inform shoppers who want to buy some organic fruits and vegetables, but would like to know which ones they could prioritize.
(snip)

[CentralMass]

1. Yikes.

[mitch96]

3. "Pesticide residues"

Ok... the sky is falling...... now how do we get the pesticides off said veg's??? I read somewhere a very dilute bleach solution will wash it off followed by a fresh water bath... Peel the potatoes although most of the nutrition is in the skin..
Or was that for salmonella?
Ok organic it is... And wash them too...
m

[CentralMass]

4. The article said that 90% of Anericans gave detectable levels of pesticides in their urine.

That is an alarming statistic.