Infographic: Should all fruits and veggies be bought organic?

5 Comments

1. 

   Adam Kaniewski September 1, 2015 at 11:54 am · Reply

   I feel that I need to be forthright about the inherent danger in the title of this infographic. I really hope you consider changing it, taking it down, or posting some further information about why organic farming may cost more dollars, but is far superior to conventional farming for the sustainability and health of our environment, producers, pickers, shippers, and consumers.

   Saving a few pennies on a conventional avocado because… the skin is tough and “protects” the inside from pesticides, we don’t eat the skin, and by the time the produce is in our home most pesticides have rubbed off anyway… is not the way we should be thinking about our food. Each of the other pictured items have similarly deductive theories about why they, “aren’t worth buying organic,” that are patently false and equally dangerous.

   Every fruit & vegetable is worth producing, purchasing, and consuming organically. And as someone who has taste-tested them all conventional v. organic, I will attest to a clear quality superiority of all organically grown food.
   • 

     health enews editor September 1, 2015 at 1:24 pm · Reply

     Hi Adam,
     We thank you very much for your comments and we agree the title was unnecessarily direct. We have updated it. Your comments are very valid and we believe that putting out this information can be helpful for those who may choose not to purchase organic. Thanks for reading!
2. 

   Anonymous September 1, 2015 at 1:07 pm · Reply

   Maybe these fruits and vegetables have lower amounts of pesticides, but there are still the farmworkers who have to apply the pesticides and handle the fruits and vegetables that pesticides have been applied to. Do we just not care about them and their personal risk working with and around pesticides. Doesn’t seem right to me.
3. 

   Amanda September 1, 2015 at 6:32 pm · Reply

   I think it’s great. Thanks for the info. I try to only buy organic, but sometimes only non organic is available. Its good to keep in mind.
4. 

   Joy Holtz September 1, 2015 at 8:30 pm · Reply

   I am impressed by the thoughtfulness of the comments posted.

   Reading this article remind me of a brilliant experiment that a high schooler developed after her mother told her that eating organic was too expensive and that she would need proof before she would agree to changeher purchasing. The high schooler raised a group fruit flies on organic produce and and another group on conventional produce. The insects that ate organically were healthier and lived longer. The mother immediately began purchasing organically grown foods. The experiment has been repeated by researchers with the same results. I’ll post a the link to the research results of one such experiment below.

   http://blog.smu.edu/research/2013/03/25/fruit-flies-fed-organic-diets-are-healthier-than-flies-fed-nonorganic-diets-study-finds/

   The residual pesticides on fruits and vegetables is one thing, but is anyone testing for systemic pesticides?