A healthy diet includes adequate servings of fruits and vegetables, but not the unhealthy doses of pesticides found in about one in five products surveyed by Consumer Reports.
A study of 59 common fruits and vegetables found that pesticides posed significant risks in 20% of them, from bell peppers, blueberries and green beans to potatoes and strawberries, according to findings published Thursday by the nonprofit consumer advocacy group.
In its most comprehensive study to date, CR said it analyzed seven years of data from the Department of Agriculture, which each year tests a selection of conventional and organic produce grown or imported in the U.S. for pesticide residues.
“Our new results continue to raise red flags,” CR said in its report. In addition to finding unhealthy levels of chemicals used by farmers to control insects, mold and weeds, one food – green beans – contained residues of a pesticide that has been banned from use on vegetables in the US for more than a decade.
Imported products, especially from Mexico, would carry particularly risky levels of pesticide residues, CR found.
The good news? You don’t have to worry about pesticides in almost two-thirds of produce, including almost all organic fruits and vegetables surveyed.
For example, the analysis found that broccoli was a safe bet, not because the vegetable contained no pesticide residues, but because higher-risk chemicals were present in low amounts and only present in a few samples.
Health problems arise from long-term exposure to pesticides, or if the exposure occurs during pregnancy or early childhood, according to James Rogers, a microbiologist who oversees food safety at CR.
CR recommends that consumers limit exposure to harmful pesticides by using the analysis to help determine, for example, when buying organic makes the most sense, as this is often a significantly more expensive option.
The findings don’t mean people should completely eliminate higher-risk foods from their diets, because eating them occasionally is fine, Rogers said. He recommended swapping white potatoes for sweet potatoes, or eating peas instead of green beans, as a healthy choice, “so you’re not eating those riskier foods every time.”
“The best choice is to eat organic for the very high-risk produce,” Rogers told CBS MoneyWatch, citing blueberries as an example where paying more translates to fewer pesticides. “We recommend the USDA organic label because it is better regulated” than organic imports, he added.
Thousands of workers fall ill every year from pesticide poisoning, and studies have linked the use of a variety of pesticides at work with a higher risk of health problems, including Parkinson’s disease, breast cancer and diabetes.
