Natural News Blogs 45% of organic fruits and vegetables contains Pesticide
University of Manitoba, says that if the money is being spent to avoid pesticide residues and have access to food which is healthy, the answer is probably “No”. His statement follows a report from a food inspection agency in Canada that found 45 percent of the organic fruits and vegetables they tested in the past two years contained pesticide residues.
This finding comes on the heels of a USDA assessment that found nearly 20 percent of organic lettuce tested positive for pesticide residues. Spinosad, a pesticide marketed by Down Chemical, was found in high concentrations. It is a chemical created from a soil bacterium that destroys the nervous systems of insects. In the USDA tests, ten times more spinosad was found on organic lettuce than was found on the conventionally grown fruits and vegetables tested.
Other potent natural chemicals frequently found on organic produce include pyrethrin, derived from chrysanthemums, and azadirachtin, derived from the Asian neem tree. Residues from some of the less hazardous synthetic pesticides can also be found on organic produce, especially in the U.S. where the standards for the use of the word organic are less stringent than in Canada.
