by guest blogger Alex Formuzis, of the Environmental Working Group
Chemical agribusiness has finally hit the ceiling over Environmental Working Group's (EWG's) Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce. The Alliance for Food and Farming (AFF), a front group for pesticide sprayers, is demanding that we cease publishing our list showing which fruits and vegetables carry the highest levels of pesticide residue.
Conventional growers would rather that consumers--that is, their customers--not have that information before they walked into the supermarket.
Millions of Americans have come to rely on EWG's Shopper's Guide so they can eat plenty of healthy organic and conventional fruits and veggies without a bunch of pesticides. The AFF will have none of it. Its members want EWG to take down the Dirty Dozen (listing the 12 most pesticide-laden sorts of produce) immediately!
We won't. And as long as the AFF's members continue to spray pesticides on food, EWG will continue to tell the public which crops carry the highest and lowest pesticide deposits.
The AFF has been trying to shut down consumers' access to our Shopper's Guide since 2010. That year, the group asked for and received nearly $200,000 in taxpayer dollars to launch its attack on the guide. First, members of the AFF lobbied top Obama administration officials to weaken the U.S. Department of Agriculture's annual pesticide residue tests, which EWG uses to compile the Shopper's Guide.
When that didn't work, AFF tried to convince people that eating pesticides posed no risks to health. It created a series of Web videos that showed conventional growers (pesticide sprayers) telling us so. That flopped.
Now the group has released a report using data collected from an Internet survey that claims EWG's Shopper's Guide, which has been used by millions of people to buy fruits and vegetables, is actually the reason Americans choose junk food over produce. The AFF's report, titled "Scared Fat," even suggests the Shopper's Guide is partly to blame for the exploding obesity epidemic in the U.S.
Ridiculous.
The AFF asked its survey participants to select factors they considered critical when buying fruits and vegetables (homage to the late Richard Dawson, longtime host of Family Feud: "Survey says!"): The number one concern--according to the AFF's own survey--was food tainted with dangerous bacteria like E.coli, listeria, and salmonella. The second most important factor was price. Concerns about pesticide residue came in third. An AFF panel of experts analyzed the poll results and concluded that "cost, availability, and preferences are much more significant factors [than pesticides] when it comes to purchasing fruits and vegetables."
Right. People who eat a Big Mac and fries instead of apples and spinach aren't making that choice because they read our Shopper's Guide. Do you know anybody who has ever said, "I was going to dive into a bowl of blueberries, but this pesticide report made me pick up a pizza and two liters of Mountain Dew."
Not likely.
On June 19th, the EWG released the new Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce. As we suspected, consumers around the country took notice because they are concerned about eating pesticides with their produce. Since its release, we have clocked more than 280,000 visits and half a million page views to the website. Some 62,000 people have "liked" it so far on Facebook, and it's been bouncing around Twitter at quite a clip.
The AFF's spray rigs are probably in a twist about recent sales figures for the organic food industry.
The April 27 edition of The Grower reported that sales of organic fruits and vegetables rose 11.7 percent last year, reaching $11.8 billion. It cited the Organic Trade Association's annual survey as saying this healthy increase marked the third straight year sales have risen by double digits. Meanwhile, sales for conventional (with pesticides) fruits and vegetables have remained relatively flat. Are the AFF's objections to EWG's Shopper's Guide actually driven by distress that the organic sector is sprinting ahead while conventional produce is stuck at the starting gate?
As the AFF's own report said, most survey respondents commented that they would address their own concerns about food safety this way: "I would buy more organic produce."
As EWG's president, Ken Cook, put it, "The explosive growth in market share for organic produce in recent years testifies to a simple fact that pesticide companies and the farmers who use their products just can't seem to grasp: People don't like to eat food contaminated by pesticides."
In recent years, a number of organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the President's Cancer Panel, along with noted public health experts, including physicians Philip Landrigan, Andrew Weil, Mehmet Oz, and Alan Greene, have urged Americans, especially young children and pregnant women, to reduce their dietary exposure to synthetic pesticides. A growing body of research has shown that pesticide exposure could pose adverse health effects in people. The only people who think we should eat more pesticides seem to be the members of the Alliance for Food and Farming.
You can stand with EWG as we fight against this latest assault by the AFF to deny concerned consumers the information they clearly want and rely on when shopping for healthy food for themselves and their families by clicking here.
Alex Formuzis is vice president for media relations at Environmental Working Group. He came to EWG in 2007 after nearly a decade as a senior communications aide to three members of the United States Senate. Prior to his time on Capitol Hill, he was in the public affairs shop of the Clinton Treasury Department and worked on state and national campaigns in his native Washington state
For more from Maria Rodale, go to www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com
Follow Maria Rodale on Twitter: www.twitter.com/farmkitchenblog
But stick chemicals like copper sulfate on organic food as pesticides and it's perfectly fine by the rules of organic production. Copper sulfate comes from the ground, but so does lead and asbestos. Apparently organic people would be ok with them too using this logic.
Organic is a scam.
-You are lacking in understanding on this HPF. Copper comes from the ground yes, but copper sulfate is a by product that is created industrially by using hot, concentrated sulfuric acid. The copper sulfate used as a fungicide is actually Copper sulfate pentahydrate.
"...but so does lead and asbestos"
-Here comes strawman HPF again. Making wild assertions and connections as always. Scorpion venom is "organic", doesn't mean anyone wants to eat it or spread it on their blueberry bushes...
"Organic is a scam"
-No not really. And plenty of organic farms do not use any Copper sulfate pentahydrate or any pesticides at all. But it comes down to the crop HPF, if you were a farmer you would know that. You always post in the most generalized terms as if all farming is equal.
The President’s Cancer Panel Report (linked above) offers a summary of precautionary steps to protect our families. The Pesticide Action Network also allows consumers to see what kinds of pesticide residues are likely to be in foods, and the related health risk. See: “What’s On My Food?” http://www.panna.org
Also, tune into Food Sleuth Radio to hear experts such as: Sandra Steingraber, Tyrone Hayes, Warren Porter, and Maria Rodale:www.kopn.org (click on Food Sleuth and scroll through the archives) for more on the dangers of pesticides.
Steingraber says: organic food is actually a bargain when you consider what you’re not getting.
We must question the outdated notion that the “dose makes the poison” or that high doses are most harmful. In fact, very low exposures to pesticides can have significant biological effects/harm.
Thanks to EWG for alerting consumers to the very real hazards of pesticides in our environment. After all, we're all in this together. Let’s err on the side of precaution and protect our children's future.
Finally, think critically about who is behind media messages; who stands to profit or gain?
Melinda Hemmelgarn, M.S., R.D.
Food Sleuth, LLC
Check it out: http://sf.blockshopper.com/news/story/2700158363-Lawyer_sells_4BD_home_in_San_Anselmo_for_1_08M
Don't you find it odd that there is a huge DONATE button every time they run up the flagpole with the shoppers guide? Just last week Ken sent out a newsletter asking for $120,000 in donations to fight against "corporate mega farms." IDK I don't think the EWG is strapped for cash.
And here is some info straight from the Ivy League (not an agenda-driven outfit like EWG)
http://web.pppmb.cals.cornell.edu/resourceguide/mfs/06copper.php
But, we have a simple question which we have asked of you before - You state, “Oh and eat your fruits and vegetables, organic or conventional. They’re good for you.” So, since you recommend eating conventionally grown produce, then you must agree that these foods are safe for consumption, correct?
We have even more questions for you, but we have yet to receive any answers from you. We listed those in a recent blog which we sent directly to you, Alex. You can find that blog at safefruitsandveggies.com.
Finally, our recommendation for consumers is simple. Eat more of both conventionally or organically grown fruits and veggies both are very safe and healthy. Remember, decades of nutritional research confirm that people who eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables enjoy better health and that research has been conducted using conventionally grown produce. If you're still concerned about residues, simply follow FDA's advice and wash them under running tap water. FDA clearly states you can often remove or eliminate any minute residues that may be present by washing them. So enjoy!
Any health benefit that would have been gained by the anti-oxidants is negated by the cancer causing chemicals that reside both inside and out on conventional, pesticide laden foods. We don’t eat “junk foods” and nor will we choose to eat natural foods tainted by junk.
So again, our recommendation is simple - eat more fruits and vegetables. Whether you choose organic or conventional, eating more fruits and veggies is a healthful habit.
@Cathleen....Nevermind you're too far out there... One thing though, what is a corporate tactic?
Whaaaa??? $200,000!!! Do they own stock in farming? Are they pointing blame because their sales are down? That's what is sounds like.
Clearly, we eat bad food for convenience and price- not because of pesticides. Now we are used to thinking pesticides are unavoidable. "Better" food on the go is just not the norm (unfortunately). Somebody do something about that- chefs, small businesses??? McD's- you got the cash- convert? Open a new one- expand???
If given the choice, at same cost, surely we'd all be organic. The further the wedge/distrust comes btwn consumers and the big farmers/growers the more people will start going to small farms or local farms. Is that why their #'s are suffering?
I wonder how they come to such conclusions? Just doesn't seem like complete thought or something. Why they are they slow to change to what consumers want? I will bet on price. Chemicals are cheap & farmers struggle to survive.
Thanks for the info. I just try and buy organic when I can. It is, unfortunately, a luxury to have 'pure' food. Just doesn't seem right.