Running head: PESTICIDES

Differences between Organic and Commercially Grown Foods

Melanie Davis
Western Washington University

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Introduction
One would think eating unprocessed, conventionally grown but fresh foods is the way to go to
eat and be healthy. It is true that eating fresh foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean meat and dairy
is considerably better for your health. As it is, processed foods can have high saturated fat
content, be high in sugar, and contain hardly any nutritional value in them. This also contributes
to health problems such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and a number of
other health issues. However, consumers are concerned that buying fruits and vegetables that
arent organically grown can cause adverse health effects. Organic foods are such that dont
use chemicals, pesticides, hormones, or antibiotics in the production of the foods. Animals that
are used for meat, poultry, and dairy arent given antibiotics or hormones. The produce that we
buy commercially from grocery stores use chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which is poison
used to keep bugs, fungus, disease, rodents and weeds from eating and destroying the foods. This
is to increase mass food production and decrease loss of food related to these common problems.
Interestingly, according to University of Washington (2016), pesticide residue can be found in
vegetable and fruit juices as well. However there is concern that the pesticides and chemicals can
cause problems that affect the consumers health. Consumers are also concerned about the food
animals such as cows, pigs etc eat that have pesticides on it that are carried over into and affect
the meat and dairy that we consume. In this paper I will discuss the research that has been found
on potential health effects that pesticides have on consumers health, along with other interesting
facts about organic and commercially grown food.
USDA Guidelines and Business Incentives for Obtaining Organic Certification
The USDA defines organic as growing or producing food naturally without using chemicals or
pesticides, and other natural ways that dont contribute to environmental pollution. Most farmers

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and organizations that want to call their food organic that they handle, grow, and produce must
obtain USDA organic certification. In order to become USDA organic certified, the guidelines
that farmers and organizations must meet are: they
must preserve natural resources and biodiversity, support animal health and welfare,
provide access to the outdoors so that animals can exercise their natural behaviors, only
use approved materials, do not use genetically modified ingredients, receive annual onsite
inspections, and separate organic food from non-organic food (USDA, 2016, p. 1).
A benefit of becoming organic certified is that farmers and organizations are paid a high amount
of money for their certified organically grown crops and food. A benefit for consumers to know
they are buying real organically grown, raised food is that the USDA will conduct inspections
and residue testing to ensure the food was grown using all natural organic methods. They foods
will get an official marker that identifies them as being certifiably USDA organically grown.
Other agencies who are involved in ensuring quality organic food is manufactured according to
organic guidelines are the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) along with the USDA National Organic Program (University of
Washington, 2016). Each year according to USDA (2016), farmers are required to create a farm
plan and undergo an inspection of their farm and soil to ensure they are following and abiding by
the USDA law requirements. The USDA follows up on all complaints of USDA certified farmers
and businesses, and they are dealt with accordingly. Complaints are filed directly with the USDA
on their official website. Farmers and organizations that dont follow the guidelines will be
disciplined and their certification could be jeopardized if they dont fix their violations or
discrepancies.

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Buildup of Pesticides in Children

According to Vogt (2012), children, preschool age in particular, are more susceptible to health
effects caused by exposure to toxic chemicals than older children and adults. Faust (2015)
explains the reason there is such concern about children and pesticide consumption is because a
child's body is much smaller than that of an adult and it takes a longer amount of time and is not
as effective at ridding the body of the pesticides. Therefore, pesticide residue can build up in the
child to toxic levels that can adversely affect them.
To show these effects of pesticide build up from foods with pesticide residue below the EPA legal
limit, Vogt conducted a risk assessment research report including both children and adult
participants. They compared exposure estimates for eleven toxic compounds commonly used in
commercial pesticides. These compounds were acrylamide, arsenic, lead, mercury, chlorpyrifos,
permethrin, endosulfan, dieldrin, chlordane, DDE, and dioxin. Vogt (2013) stated these
chemicals have been linked to cancer, liver toxicity, neurological damage as well as other health
problems. Vogt (2012) was able to access chemical levels from previous studies conducted on
food from publicly available databases. What Vogt found was that all the children (100%) in this
risk assessment report study exceeded the cancer benchmark levels for arsenic, dieldrin, DDE,
and dioxins. Preschool age children had significantly higher amounts of six of the eleven toxic
compounds compared to school age children (Vogt, 2012). In this particular study, the greatest
exposure to these chemicals were from non organic fresh foods such as tomatoes, peaches,
apples, peppers, grapes, lettuce, broccoli, strawberries, spinach, pears, green beans, celery and
dairy (Vogt, 2012).

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Pesticides and Chemicals on Food

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), (2016), a study conducted in 2014 by
the USDA inspected 10,750 non organically grown produce, and found that almost three quarters
of the fruits and vegetables tested, tested positive for pesticide residue. Below are the results of
the 2014 USDA Pesticide Data Program (PDP) inspection:

Savage, S. (2016). USDA annual report: Pesticide residues on food well below amounts dangerous to humans. Genetic Literacy
Program, Science Trumps Ideology. Retrieved from Geneticliteracyprogram.org.

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Each year the USDA and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decide which foods are going
to be tested and alternate the foods each year. This USDA Pesticide Data Program conducts
inspections and monitors foods to ensure they are below the pesticide residue limit set by the
EPA. Overall 146 different pesticides were found on these fruits and vegetables, and the residue
was still present on the food even after being washed and sometimes even after the fruit or
vegetable was peeled (EWG, 2016). According to EWG (2016), for this year 2016, fruits and
vegetables were tested throughout the year in different states to represent the entire United
States. The ones that consistently tested positive for increasingly higher amounts of pesticides
than any other produce tested were grapes, cherries, strawberries, nectarines, apples, celery,
spinach, sweet bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Specific findings during
this particular testing were that 98% of the apples, nectarine, strawberries, and peaches tested
positive for at least one pesticide residue. Potatoes had an increased amount of pesticides by
weight compared to any other produce (EWC, 2016). Adversely, there are a number of foods that
are consistently found to have less amounts of pesticide residue saturation on them according to
the EWC. These fresh foods are considered the clean 15 by the EWC and consist of pineapple,
avocados, sweet peas (frozen), eggplant, cauliflower, cabbage, honey dew melon, sweet corn,
asparagus, onion, grapefruit, papaya, cantaloupe, kiwi and mangoes (EWC, 2016).
To decrease the amount of pesticide consumption Faust (2015) recommends growing your own
garden or buy from farmers markets as they tend to have less amounts if any, pesticide residue on
them than if you were to buy from a commercial grocery store. Also buying U.S. grown fruits
and vegetables decreases the amount of pesticide exposure because the U.S. have laws and legal
limits on the amount of pesticide residue allowed on foods. Other countries may not follow the
U.S. guidelines and so may have more than the legal amount of pesticide residue allowed. This

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amount of residue is hard to really know, as less than 1 percent of imported foods are tested by
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before they are distributed to commercial stores (Neff et
al., 2012).
Benefits from organic foods
Organic foods are foods grown without pesticides, chemicals, growth hormones, or artificial
fertilizers. They are foods that are grown using all natural farming methods such as composting,
companion planting, and crop rotation. Companion planting is a natural pest control method.
To show the potential health benefits from eating organic foods, an interesting study using fruit
flies as subjects was conducted. The fruit flies were raised on either conventionally or
organically grown produce such as bananas, raisins, potatoes, and soybeans. The flies underwent
a variety of tests that determined the health of the flies. Chhabra, (2013) found that flies raised
on organically grown food had increased fertility and a longer lifespan. These results were
similar to the results found by Vogt (2013) related to the effects on humans from chemicals used
on non organic foods. The effects from chemicals consisted of cancer, liver toxicity, as well as
decreased fertility as seen in the fruit fly study. The flies raised on the organically grown food,
pesticide and chemical free, showed a greater amount of activity as well as an increased amount
of resistance to stress compared to the flies grown on the non organic foods. These results were
similar to the effects on humans and demonstrates the potential health effects from consuming
foods with high pesticide residue, which according to the USDA, (2016) is not common because
of the EPA pesticide residue tolerance level.
How to rid food of Pesticides
Just by trimming the leafy ends of celery stalks can decrease the amount of pesticide
consumption by 90 percent! Removing the outer leaves of leafy vegetables such as cabbage and

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lettuce significantly reduce pesticide residue (Faust, 2015). But the number one recommended
most effective way to rid your fresh foods of pesticide residue is to wash them under water for
about 15-20 seconds (Faust, 2015). Wash your foods even if you are going to peel or cook them.
According to the EPA washing, peeling and cooking will decrease the amount of pesticide
residue but may not eliminate the presence altogether. Another way to reduce your intake of
pesticide residue is to buy a variety of fruits and vegetables as most are sprayed with different
pesticides. By doing so minimizes the buildup of the same type of pesticide in your body (Faust,
2015).
Health Effects of Pesticides
After all of the research conducted on amounts of pesticide residue found on fresh fruits and
vegetables, the tests show the majority of amounts are below the standard safety level set by the
EPA, and does not pose a health hazard. In fact, according to the USDA (2016) from the 2014
PDP summary, more than 99% of the samples tested had less than the EPA legal amount of
pesticide residue. According to the USDA (2016), before a pesticide is able to come to the U.S.
and be used, it is first tested by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure it poses no
unreasonable health risk or environmental hazard. The EPA sets a tolerance level for the
specific type of pesticide residue that is allowed to be on fresh produce. All of the testing
conducted on foods including fresh fruits and vegetables is done through the Pesticide Data
Program (PDP). These pesticide residue results are given to the USDA and FDA every month
(USDA, 2016). The legal amount of pesticides acceptable on raw foods is called the Maximum
Residue Level (MRL) and is established by the EPA.

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Conclusion
Strategies to reduce exposure to chemicals used in commercially raised and grown foods, is to
eat organic produce and dairy, consume less animal derived foods including meat, dairy and fish
to decrease the amount of natural organic pollutants and metals. Growing your own garden or
buying from farmers markets may reduce the amount of pesticide residue found on commercially
bought produce. Another very important strategy to reduce intake of pesticide residue is to wash
your produce using only water. Not only commercially grown produce or commercially raised
food has chemicals added to preserve the quality. Processed packaged foods also contain many
additives to lengthen the shelf life and preserve the food longer. Therefore by reducing the intake
of processed foods such as chips, cookies, packaged meals, and other processed carbohydrates
will reduce the intake of acrylamide, a toxic chemical commonly found in these types of foods.
Nearly all produce tested for pesticide residue has less than the tolerance amount of residue set
by the EPA, which according to the EPA will not cause any health effects at these levels.
Therefore if buying organic is too expensive try buying the clean 15 non organically grown
foods which consistently tend to have less pesticide residue. To decrease the amount of buildup
of the same types of pesticides in your body at one time, it is recommended to eat a variety of
fruits and vegetables as different varieties use different pesticides. Fresh fruits and vegetables are
essential for our diets, therefore any U.S. commercially grown produce is better than not
consuming any fresh foods at all.

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References
Chhabra, R., Kolli, S., Bauer, S. (2013). Organically grown food provides health benefits to
Drosophila melanogaster. PloS one, 8(1). Retrieved from
http://onesearch.library.wwu.edu/WWU:TN_medline23326371
EWG. (2016). EWGs 2016 shopper's guide to pesticides in produce. EWG Executive Summary.
Retrieved from https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php
Faust, V. (2015). What you need to know about pesticides, fresh produce. Philadelphia Tribune,
131(78). Retrieved from
http://onesearch.library.wwu.edu/WWU:TN_proquest1709562035
Neff, R., Hartle, J., Laestadius, L., Dolan, K., Rosenthal, A., Nachman, K. (2012). A comparative
study of allowable pesticide residue levels on produce in the united states. Globalization
and Health, 8, 2-2. doi:10.1186/1744-8603-8-2
Savage, S. (2016). USDA annual report: Pesticide residues on food well below amounts
dangerous to humans. Genetic Literacy Program, Science Trumps Ideology. Retrieved
from Geneticliteracyprogram.org.
University of Washington. (2016). Health risks of pesticides in foods. Center for Ecogenetics
and Environmental Health. Retrieved from
https://depts.washington.edu/ceeh/downloads/FF_Pesticides.pdf
USDA (2016). Organic agriculture. USDA United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved
from http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?
contentidonly=true&contentid=organic-agriculture.html

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USDA (2016). What consumers should know 2014 pesticide data program annual summary.
United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved from
https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/PDP%202014%20Annual
%20Summary%20Consumers.pdf
Vogt, R., Bennett, D., Cassady, D., Frost, J., Ritz, B., Hertz-Picciotto, I. (2013). California's
children face higher health risks from contaminants in food than adults. Environmental
Health News. Retrieved from
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/2012/12/2013-0522-californiafood-pesticides-kids-higher-adults/
Vogt, R., Bennett, D., Cassady, D., Frost, J., Ritz, B., Hertz-Picciotto, I. (2012). Cancer and noncancer health effects from food contaminant exposures for children and adults in
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