Organic Means Less Pesticide Exposure

There are lots of good reasons for opting for organic. For instance:

More than one of those reasons hinge on a simple fact about organics: They don’t offer the super-sized, super-potent pesticide chemical cocktail industrially farmed crops provides.

Now, new research – “among the first to predict adult exposures to organophosphate pesticides based on people’s usual diets” – confirms this. According to LiveScience, the scientists found that

when matched on produce intake, people who reported eating organic fruits and veggies at least occasionally had significantly lower levels of pesticide residue in their urine than people who almost always ate conventionally grown produce.

Those who “often or always” ate organic fruits and vegetables averaged approximately 65 percent lower levels of pesticide metabolites in their urine than those who “rarely or never” ate organic.

That’s quite a difference! And keep in mind that this study only looked at organophosphates, not other pesticides that may have been used.

Organophosphates are extremely toxic. As one scientist described them to National Geographic, they’re “considered junior-strength nerve agents because they have the same mechanism of action as nerve gases like sarin.”

Probably not something you want to be eating a lot of on a regular basis…

See EWG’s latest Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce for more info on reducing your pesticide exposure from the foods you eat.