Organic on the Cheap

Here at Sierra, we often get letters from readers who say they can't afford to eat organically. Fortunately, you don't have to buy organic versions of every single food item to make a difference for your health and the planet.

The Environmental Working Group in DC has done a great job figuring out which fruits and vegetables are most and least contaminated with pesticides—and they even offer their findings on a wallet-sized card that you can download. If you're on a tight budget, make sure you at least buy the most contaminated items organically.

Since all produce is not created equal when it comes to pesticides, eating a wide variety of foods can also help you reduce your exposure to dangerous chemicals. This is all especially important for kids, since their growing bodies are more susceptible to toxic exposures.

According to Mission Organic 2010, if everyone in the country increased their organic consumption to just 10 percent of their diet, it would restore more than 6 billion pounds of carbon to our soil, and eliminate more than 2 million pounds of antibiotics used in livestock and more than 2 billion barrels of imported oil annually, not to mention significantly cleaning up our drinking water. Who says little changes can't have a big impact?

Comments

[janice]

I'm surprised to see corn on the list. It is sprayed up to 6 times a year with Atrizane - a known carcinogenic banned in 8 European countries.

[Jon Ritz]

The danger of pollutants is greater than many think it to be. In a study of women in South Korea, persistent organic compounds remained in their systems for over seven years! Environmental working group found in a survey adults and children that many of the toxins are passed to infants at rates higher than the concentrations found in the mother. These are known carcinogens that have multi-generational effects. If only for the children you might possibly have in the future, please try to minimize your exposure. You might want to find consultation on cleansing that can be done to reduce your body burden to accelerate the elimination of toxins from your body, while supporting the emunctory systems. It turns out that depending on your priorities, there might be several reasons to buy organic.

[Jennifer Hattam]

Thanks for the comments. The corn that EWG ranked highly is frozen sweet corn; that may or may not make a difference in the type of pesticides used. Their calculation is also based on pesticide residues on food, not tests of growing fields; as they explain in their methodology, "The philosophy behind the guide is simple: give consumers the information they need make choices to reduce pesticides in their diets. In this spirit, the Guide does not present a complex assessment of pesticide risks, but instead simply reflects the overall load of pesticides found on commonly eaten fruits and vegetables."

EWG has also done some interesting work on the overall body burden question:

http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden/

[Jennifer Hattam]

The Washington Post wrote about this topic on Sunday, adding tips for finding organic food at discount stores, getting coupons, and negotiating prices on flawed produce:

Five Ways to Buy Organic Cheaply
Sunday, June 17, 2007; Page M02
by Elissa Leibowitz Poma
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR2007061401953.html