My Review of EWG's 2019 Dirty Dozen & Clean 15

Read the entire EWG list and article here: https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/

My slide notes:

New to the list this year – Kale

·         Nearly 60 percent of kale samples sold in the U.S. were contaminated with residues of a pesticide the (EWG) Environmental Working Group considers a possible human carcinogen

·         The pesticide is DCPA, often marketed as Dacthal, which the EPA classified as a possible carcinogen in 1995 noting increases in liver and thyroid tumors.

·         In 2005, its major manufacturer voluntarily terminated its registration for use on several U.S. crops, after studies found that its breakdown products were highly persistent in the environment and could contaminate drinking water sources.

·         For these reasons, in 2009 the European Union prohibited all uses of Dacthal. Yet it is still used in the U.S. on crops including kale, broccoli, sweet potatoes, eggplant and turnips.

·         Kale has become very popular as a healthy, nutrient dense food – rich in vitamins and antioxidants. Due to this rise in popularity, the farming acreage of kale has grown by more than 56%.

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·         If you are going to eat kale, I strongly recommend choosing kale that is organically grown. And to maximize the nutritional benefits of the vitamins A, K and iron – look for recipes with ingredients like lemon juice, red peppers or tomatoes, which are rich in Vitamin C, since that helps the body absorb kale’s plentiful nutrients.

All about strawberries

The average American eats about eight pounds of fresh strawberries a year. That might be more where I live – home of the strawberry festival – an annual carnival all about celebrating delicious, juicy strawberries.

What is in a strawberry? If it’s not organic, your getting more than just sweet berry goodness.

·         Along with eating a conventionally grown strawberry, you’re also ingesting dozens of pesticides, including chemicals that have been linked to cancer and reproductive damage, or that are banned in Europe.

·         Conventionally grown strawberries tested by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2015 and 2016 contained an average of 7.8 different pesticides per sample, compared to 2.2 pesticides per sample for all other produce.

·         The vast majority of the fresh strawberries sold in the U.S. are grown in California, the state that most carefully tracks pesticide use. California data show that in 2015, nearly 300 pounds of pesticides were applied to each acre of strawberries – an astonishing amount, compared to about five pounds of pesticides per acre of corn, which is considered a pesticide-intensive crop.

·         The worst part about strawberries, is how they are grown. Soil is covered with plastic sheets and repeatedly saturated with poisonous gases to sterilize the fields before planting. These gases are fumigants and are acutely toxic gases that kill every living thing in the soil. Some of these fumigants were developed as chemical warfare agents, now banned by the Geneva Conventions. These toxic gases kill every weed, insect, pest, soil microbes, and every other living thing in it’s path.

·         After growers inject fumigants, they cover the fields with plastic tarps to keep the gas underground and away from people and animals. But fumigants can leak during application and from torn tarps, sending the deadly fumes adrift and endangering farm workers and people who live nearby. The next time you see a field workers in hazmat suits and gas masks, I hope you remember this? It is nasty, nasty stuff – and then we eat the crops grown in this soil.

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·         Washing won’t help – water content inside the berry

USDA tests found that strawberries were the fresh produce item most likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues, even after they are picked, rinsed in the field and washed before eating. For these reasons, in 2019, strawberries are once again at the top of the Dirty Dozen™ list.

·         For those of us who don’t want to eat pesticide residues and who want to stop fumigants from endangering farmworkers and neighbors of farms, buying organic is a small price to pay.

 Clean 15

Save this list, feel confident at the grocery store.