(NC) Food fear-mongering is widespread today as consumers are looking to learn more about where their food comes from. A good example is the “dirty dozen” — a list published every year by an environmental group in the United States that promotes consumption of organic foods. It includes 12 fruits and vegetables the group says consumers should avoid, due to what they claim are high pesticide residue levels.

Rest assured that science has largely proven this to be untrue. While it's true that residues are in fact present, they are in such minute quantities that they do not pose a risk to consumers eating those fruits and vegetables.

The American website www.safefruitsandveggies.com has put this in perspective: a child could eat 154 apples in a day without any effect, even if the apples had the highest pesticide residue levels permitted by the United States Department of Agriculture.

In fact, according to Dr. Steve Savage, plant pathologist and science expert, many studies have shown that the anti-cancer benefits of eating fruits and vegetables far outweigh any minuscule risk associated with pesticides.

www.newscanada.com