Tag Archives: pesticides

EWG’s 2012 Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen

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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is an American environmental organization that works to protect the public from toxic chemicals in our food, water, and everyday products.  As busy moms with busy schedules, it’s often difficult to pay attention to or keep track of every single thing we consume and use.  Even if we do take the time to read labels carefully and thoroughly, at least half of the time we don’t know what to look for or what ingredients are red flags.  To guide us in making better informed and knowledgeable choices in our daily lives  –

Below are links to the EWG’s 2012 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, EWG’s 2012 Sunscreen Guide, EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database, and EWG’s Tips for Safer Products:

Download the Guide | EWG’s 2012 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™

EWG’s 2012 Sunscreen Guide

EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database

EWG’s Tips For Safer Products

Pick safer products

Your body

Your teeth

Your lips

Your skin + the sun

Your hair

Your nails

Your kids

For babies and young children

For teens

For women

For men

Over-the-counter drugs and personal care products

Buyer beware: Less common ingredients with significant health concerns

Ingredients derived from animals

I am Spinach

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You know those days when you eat like a complete slob? Chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup and a coffee for breakfast. Slice of pizza on the run for lunch with a tall sugary beverage to wash it down. Fast forward to a big juicy cheeseburger with fries for dinner. And of course, a 100 calorie snack pack for the wind down during Grey’s Anatomy (don’t want to fill up too much before bed). If the old adage, “You are what you eat” is true then on those days you are a sugar filled, g.m.o. flowin’, gluten-overloaded mess, with a side of caffeine. Maybe you should make it up to yourself by going vegetarian for a week.

Tonight, I am proud to say I am spinach. I made a gigantic spinach salad for dinner and it was delicioso. In essence, I am “organic” spinach.

If I were conventional spinach, I would be Permethrin, Imidacloprid, DDE, Spinosad A, Spinosad D, Cypermethrin, Flonicamid, Boscalid, Methoxyfenozide, Pyraclostrobin, DDT and much more. In fact, a total of 48 pesticide residues were found on spinach as reported in the 2009 USDA Pesticide Data Program.

Human health effects known from these pesticides include: 8 known or probable carcinogens, 25 suspected hormone disrupters, 8 neurotoxins, and 6 developmental or reproductive toxins. Environmental effects include 23 honeybee toxins. Pretty crazy stuff, right? Believe me, it gets crazier.

A new study out of Harvard shows that even small amounts of a common pesticide class can have dramatic effects on brain chemistry. Organophosphate insecticides (OP’s) are among the most widely used pesticides in the U.S. & have long been known to be particularly toxic for children. This is the first study to examine their effects across a representative population with average levels of exposure. Finding :: Kids with above-average pesticide exposures are 2x as likely to have ADHD.

So think of this post the next time you are at the grocery store buying your fruits and veggies. Below is the 2011 Shopper’s Guide from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) to help you on your journey to becoming an organic freak like me. You can also find out what’s on your food? at Pesticide Action Network .  What’s On My Food? is a searchable database designed to make the public problem of pesticide exposure visible and more understandable.
Hope you all have a happy & healthy day.
  dr. lisa.

I am spinach.

by

You know those days when you eat like a complete slob? Chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup and a coffee for breakfast. Slice of pizza on the run for lunch with a tall sugary beverage to wash it down. Fast forward to a big juicy cheeseburger with fries for dinner. And of course, a 100 calorie snack pack for the wind down during Grey’s Anatomy (don’t want to fill up too much before bed). If the old adage, “You are what you eat” is true then on those days you are a sugar filled, g.m.o. flowin’, gluten-overloaded mess, with a side of caffeine. Maybe you should make it up to yourself by going vegetarian for a week.

Tonight, I am proud to say I am spinach. I made a gigantic spinach salad for dinner and it was delicioso. In essence, I am “organic” spinach.

If I were conventional spinach, I would be Permethrin, Imidacloprid, DDE, Spinosad A, Spinosad D, Cypermethrin, Flonicamid, Boscalid, Methoxyfenozide, Pyraclostrobin,

Cyfluthrin, DDT and much more. In fact, a total of 48 pesticide residues were found on spinach as reported in the 2009 USDA Pesticide Data Program. Human health effects known from these pesticides include: 8 known or probable carcinogens, 25 suspected hormone disrupters, 8 neurotoxins, and 6 developmental or reproductive toxins. Environmental effects include 23 honeybee toxins. Pretty crazy stuff, right? Believe me, it gets crazier.

A new study out of Harvard shows that even small amounts of a common pesticide class can have dramatic effects on brain chemistry. Organophosphate insecticides (OP’s) are among the most widely used pesticides in the U.S. & have long been known to be particularly toxic for children. This is the first study to examine their effects across a representative population with average levels of exposure. Finding :: Kids with above-average pesticide exposures are 2x as likely to have ADHD.

So think of this post the next time you are at the grocery store buying your fruits and veggies. Below is a shoppers guide to help you on your journey to becoming an organic freak like me. You can also find out what’s on your food? at Pesticide Action Network .  What’s On My Food? is a searchable database designed to make the public problem of pesticide exposure visible and more understandable.
Hope you all have a happy. healthy. weekend.
yours in health.  dr. lisa.