The Environmental Working Group recently released it’s 2023 Dirty Dozen list. This annual propaganda allegedly ranks the fresh produce with the highest levels of pesticide residues. EWG urges consumers to buy organic versions of those crops. This year strawberries and spinach topped the organization’s list.
The problem is that the list is all a dirty lie. Science doesn’t support it. The list doesn’t include any risk analysis–that is, the risk of pesticide exposure is greatly outweighed by the benefits of consuming enough produce. And we know that these lists actually discourage people from eating more fruits and vegetables. It also stands in stark contrast to the USDA’s annual list that always confirms our food supply is safe and healthy.
In other words, it’s a bunch of bull. But when has that ever stopped radical activists from spewing disinformation?
This year was a bit different though. Hidden within the organization’s full-of-nonsense press release was this little gem from EWG’s in-house toxicologist, Alexis Temkin, Ph.D.:
“Everyone – adults and kids – should eat more fruits and vegetables, whether organic or not. . .A produce-rich diet provides many health benefits.
Environmental Working Group, Press Release, March 15, 2023
Someone pick me up off the floor. Did EWG actually admit that what’s important is eating more produce…whether organic or conventional???
EWG buried the statement in the press release. So if you aren’t paying attention, it’s easy to miss. But to my knowledge, this isn’t something EWG has ever come clean about before. It certainly hasn’t included it in the Dirty Dozen press release. Have the voices of its critics finally grown so loud that EWG felt compelled to soften its disinformation?
This feels like such a win. Will EWG finally end this garbage? Nope, of course not. EWG uses fear to raise money, and it won’t end this cash cow because it’s too well known (and, hence, lucrative). But it is a crack. It means that EWG has felt the pressure and voices speaking against it, and it understood it had to acknowledge it in some way.
That, my friends, is a silver lining.
Unfortunately the list will continue to discourage people from doing what they admit is the right thing for their health. Maybe the lining is silverish
No doubt, unfortunately. But at least they finally had to say it.
I so appreciate your clear thinking, scientific approach confronting the organic fear driven nonsense spewed these days. Keep up the good work and your support of traditional farmers. God bless your work and your team!
I used to be an avid gardener, but as i aged it became more difficult. I still
garden in raised beds where I can still plant a few things, but I still buy
non-organic produce in the stores as it costs much less. I am also
pro-GMO. It was a shame what people did to golden rice to delay its
acceptance for 20 years.