The Dirty Dozen

Did you know that pesticides were exceptionally toxic to the Nervous System?  

Imagine trying to pick up a cup, blink an eye, catch a ball or pull your hand away from a hot doorknob and not feel it or not be able to move at all. This would be a compromise of the nervous system, a network of over 100 billion neurons.

It’s the peripheral nerves that have the task transporting information back and forth from your brain to your spinal cord. This pathway not only connects to our brain but to our organs as well.


Innately, people tend to protect our body and preserve function.

 So why aren’t we buying food to do the same?

The Environmental Protection Agency has banned the use of certain pesticides however, there are some of these toxic chemicals still detected on foods. Harmful organochlorine pesticides were found on fields that had phased them out in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Testing done in 2008 found these organochlorine toxins on soil growing domestic zucchini, summer squash and crookneck squash. 

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a non-profit organization that advocates policy to protect individual and global health. They have developed "Shoppers' Guide to Pesticides in Produce", an annual list to help guide us in buying safer produce.

In the United States, a chemical called diphenylamine, DPA for short, is applied after harvest to most apples and some pears. It is used to prevent skin discoloration during the months of cold storage.

DPA is banned in European countries as well as neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids are believed to change human brain development and it is thought that this may be a reason that honeybees and other beneficial insects are being killed.

Unlike our European counterparts, the U.S. has not moved toward safer agricultural measures. The Environmental Working Group continues to bring the dangers of our system to our attention.


 According to EWG:

• Every sample of imported nectarines and 99 percent of apple samples tested positive for at least one pesticide residue.
• The average potato had more pesticides by weight than any other food.
• A single grape sample contained 15 pesticides. Single samples of celery, cherry tomatoes, imported snap peas and strawberries showed 13 different pesticides a piece.

Use Caution when buying these foods: 2014 Dirty Dozen

These foods are best bought organic to avoid the pesticide contamination. Notice the similarities of the lists: 2014 vs 2013.

2013 Dirty Dozen List

 



  

Dirty Dozen PLUS™

For the third year, the Dirty Dozen list has included an extra "plus" category. This is due to the fact that they contain trace levels of highly hazardous pesticides. One caveat in the study revealed that hot peppers were frequently contaminated with insecticides toxic to the human nervous system. And the vegetables that are carried over from last year Plus list are Leafy Greens: collard greens and kale.


It is recommended by the EWG, that people who eat a lot of these foods buy organic instead.




They have also added a “plus” category of leafy greens and hot pepper this year.  

Greens such as kale and collards, have shown to frequently been contaminated with neuro-toxic pesticides.