(AmericanProsperity.com) – Pesticides are often used on fruits and vegetables to help combat pests like bugs and worms, but it’s been known for years that these pesticides contain many dangerous ingredients and chemicals that can be bad for people. Some pesticides and chemicals have been banned in the United States but farmers will use alternatives that are just as dangerous.
Consumer Reports has been looking into pesticides and their effect on produce for many years now. James E Rogers, who oversees food safety at Consumer Reports, said “It’s two steps forward and one step back – and sometimes even two steps back.”
Just recently, Consumer Reports analyzed seven years of data to bring up a comprehensive review of pesticides on crops. They looked at almost sixty different fruits and vegetables from fresh versions, dried ones, and canned options as well.
According to the study, pesticides pose a high risk in twenty percent of the crops that they analyzed. Some of the more popular choices they looked into were blueberries, bell peppers, green beans, potatoes, and strawberries. The report showed that green beans actually had residue from a chemical pesticide that hadn’t been allowed in the United States for a decade.
With all this said, the report did show that most of the crops did not have residue from pesticides and that nearly all of the organic options had no residue left over, and with that Rogers says, “That makes it easier to identify the problems and develop targeted solutions.”
The Consumer Reports analysis was gathered with data from the Environmental Protection Agency which collects data on pesticides. The risk with the pesticides on produce is not high for most of the foods and the EPA says that consumers are still safe to eat multiple servings of this produce per day and have no adverse effects. Ten foods pose a higher risk and it’s said that children and pregnant women should consume less of those, while others should still be aware of their consumption as well.
Copyright 2024, AmericanProsperity.com
