food for thought/thought for food

as Spring produce begins to enter the market i find my self ruminating over pesticide. Our friends at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) have released their annual study of pesticide Contamination in foods. The EWG tracks the concentration of chemical pesticides that are known to have effects from skin, lung and eye irritation to hormonal system effects, nervous system damage and cancer-- even at levels deemed safe by FDA. You can check out their full list at http://www.foodnews.org/fulllist.php

The folks at EWG state that we can reduce our pesticide exposure by up to 80% by switching to organic only for the top 5 items and aiming for organic on the bottom 5.
Spring produce to only buy organic include Strawberries, lettuce, carrots, spinach and potatoes
these foods have some of the highest concentration of pesticides when purchased without the organic certification.
We should aim for organic in all foods, but Broccoli,sweet peas, asparagus and onions are great buys if you can't find organic; they contain the lowest concentration of pesticides of the foods EWG track