“Healthy” Fruits and Vegetables May be Harmful to Your Kids


By Rochelle Davis,
Executive Director, Generation Green

Overuse of pesticides takes its greatest toll on children. Relative to their size and weight, children eat more food and drink more fluids than adults do, exposing them to a greater amount of toxins. For example, infants under age one consume fifteen times more apple products per unit of body weight than the national average. According to the Environmental Working Group, apple products alone are responsible for exposing more than half of the nation’s children to unsafe levels of organophosphate pesticides every day.

Children absorb and handle toxins differently than adults, too. For instance, children absorb about 50 percent of the lead to which they are exposed while adults absorb only 10 to 15 percent. Children also have a greater relative exposure to environmental toxins because they crawl, play outside, and put things in their mouths more than adults do. In studying eight carcinogenic (cancer-causing) pesticides, the National Resources Defense Council found that, on average, preschoolers received four times greater exposure to carcinogenic pesticides than adults.

The problem is that pesticide exposure has been linked to certain cancers, birth defects, and immune disorders. Protect your children—and yourself—by choosing organic and low-pesticide produce whenever possible.

The Generation Green monthly column previews the forthcoming Generation Green Cookbook. It provides articles, features and recipes to help parents become educated about children’s environmental health issues, and to make fun, healthy foods for their children. Generation Green is a nonprofit organization that helps parents protect children from harmful effects of toxins in foods, homes and the world in general. Learn more at www.generationgreen.org

Produce with the highest/lowest pesticide levels

According to the Environmental Working Group, the following items have the highest levels of pesticides: Apples, Peaches, Strawberries, Spinach, Pears, Grapes (imported), Sweet Peppers, Celery, Red Raspberries, Cherries, Green Beans, and Oranges (in order of most to least).

Those fruits and vegetables with the lowest levels of pesticides are: Corn, Onions, Cauliflower, Mangoes, Peas, Pineapple, Watermelon, Cabbage, Kiwi, Broccoli, Bananas, and Plums (in order of least to most).

Read more about environmental safety at www.generationgreen.org