The new "dirty dozen" list of produce

The answer is to let small farmers come back and stop the government from forcing farmers not to grow, so they can keep the price up. That is what they did with wheat, when we shipped it all to the poor countries and why bread is $5.00 a loaf, and milk as high when we have all the land in the world and nobody in this country should ever be hungry.
Another thing, it pays people to get a piece of land, of their own, however small, it doesn't matter. Anyone can grow anything. Look at the Amish, I happen to live near them.
My son wanted me to grow my own food as he is concerned about a third world war and the oil crisis and shops closing down and people killing each other for food. And for me to go to higher ground.
Well anyway, I figured that I would have a green thumb as my dad did. I took a piece of land I had where I lived. It was a high piece in a wooden frame, four feet by four feet to start and I started small the first year, with radishes, onions (put onions all around the edge to ward off the insects etc.) basil and tomatoes. I put one little $2.50 basil plant in that you buy from the supermarket to eat. This thing grew like a weed and spread. Also runner beans and taught them to grow upwards and also planted a little mint as well.
I gave it some fertilizer to thrive on and lovely black topsoil.
Next season I was going to be an old hand at this, I put in exactly four seeds of cucumbers, two rows of seeds of lettuce, one tomato plant, two rows of radishes, onions all around and picked them for salads while they were young. Two rows of seeds of basil, all very careful as to not crowd everything and give it room to grow.
Water generously all the time and gave it one time of miracle grow, like a quarter of a teaspoon on it. Always pick out the weeds faithfully. Put the cucumber seeds with a pot over it so the leaves would grow upwards and gently pulled them off when they got too big and also grew some eggplants. And afterwards some squash (little ones).
You cut the lettuce when they come up with some scissors and then you get another crop again and then let it go to seed and pull up.
The secret of proper growth is to let the roots breath and don't overcrowd.
I had the best salad garden that I have ever tasted and the lettuce was superb and I had never grown a garden before in my life, except watch my dad and helped him with his roses and grapes.
I cannot tell you how rewarding it is to grow your own. We have become a nation of machines and soon we will be all bionic and people will be all Robots for the privileged few to live a so called normal life.
Anyone can grow anything, all you need is a bit of soil, enrich with natural compost heap and you have all the sun in the world, worms that aerate the soil and watch and look and see your miracle garden grow. Be it food or flowers. It will be beautiful.

the corporations are ruining this country on every level. When will enough...be enough?

We have a garden every spring. I love all the vegetables we grow. We do not use fertilizers .

when a child, parents had an acre size garden, corn, potatoes, strawberries, you name it, and several fruit trees that gave us wonderful sweets, apples, apricots, pears,cherries, etc, and we had a lot of chickens, and always had couple calves, and dad liked to fish, so we ate fresh food, mom canned like a factory all summer, we stored our onions and potatoes we dug in the chicken house on a wire shelf, and we had a meat plant down on hwy that would process our beef and wrap it and dad paid for a drawer there to keep it in and another drawer we put our chickens (fixed them ourselves and that's a messy chore) in and mother canned the other stuff, didn't she have a fun job? ha we brushed our teeth with baking soda (if I remember right) and since bathroom was outside, we had a wash tub bath every week, but usually a pan scrub daily, ha, and went barefoot except for church or such, got new shoes in fall for school but always had a good pair for church, etc, mom had a wringer washer and hung clothes outside and "ironed" , yes ladies, not rushing to get them out of dryer before they wrinkle when dry, ha, heated the 4 rm house with a stove in "front room" and mom cooked with a coal oil stove, and we ate biscuits and cornbread, and got milk from a farmer nearby. My grandchildren and grt grandchildren seem to be raised on "fast foods", I know mom's work nowadays to make ends meet I guess and to buy all the stuff they think they can't live without, but I remember dad had a shoelast and resoled our shoes if necessary, ah I imagine most today wouldn't believe all this, but it was like that, and I had a wonderful happy childhood without the "stuff" today (television, movies, computer gadgets, etc) , thanks for the memories.......a grt grandparent now

I disagree with the person that posted the comment:
"It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you peel it, the pesticides are thrown away with the peel. So you wash anything that doesn't have a peel that much better."
True, the pesticides are sprayed on the outside, but when it rains the pesticides are washed down into the soil, through the roots and back up into the fruit. Contaminated dirt doesn't go away, its' toxicity increases over the years of pesticide use, and so do the levels that make it inside the fruit or vegetable.

This is why our children are getting sick, cancer is on the rise... when will it be ok to shop in a grocery store again? scary

How can corn be on top of your 'clean list' as in the usa, along with soya and a rapidly increasing list, it is genetically perverted (or what is euphemistically termed 'genetically modified').

Also referring to 'wasting money ' on organic food is environmentally and socially highly irresponsible.
Even without pesticides and herbicides, growing 'food' with fertilizers destroys the soil ecology, requiring an increasing amount of fertiliser each year to 'make up', and justifying more genetically perverted seeds. Not to mention that non organic produce is very compromised concerning nutritional value

I feel the way I do about chemicals and pesticides because I used to work in agriculture and with veterinarians. After watching several veterinarians die of weird forms of cancer, in part from their exposure to drenches and pesticides used on animals, I came to the conlusion that anything I can do to lower my exposure would be a benefit. Plus, having lived in agricultural areas of America, I know that the highest rates of cancer are in people who live at the margins of mass agriculture because of exposure to pesticide drift, and toxins in the water table.

wait til you get cancer, then you might pay more attention...salmonella gets into farmland from water that has picked up animal excrement being in close proximity...being natural has nothing to do with it...its how the water and land are managed...as a matter of fact, natural means nothing..its a marketing term...

Please educate yourself a little more about this subject before claiming that it's nonsense. There is an epidemic of overuse of pesticides and chemicals in general in the USA (as well as other developed countries). Why do you think there is an epidemic of children with asthma, autism and other developmental disorders, which cannot be explained by genetics (or vaccines). Parent's goal should be to reduce the "overall" chemical load in the household. There are far more chemicals introduced from the personal care products you use in the house and that is where I would focus your reduction to begin with. This is the single most important database that you should educate yourself about.

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

Wow. So much anger over a little bit of valid info. If you want to eat your pesticide laden inorganic food, do so. Those of us who do care what we put in our bodies, earth and water table can buy organic, buy local and grow our own organic gardens. I make an effort to buy/grow the dirty dozen in organic form and like knowing what is low pesticide so I can buy either conventional or organic as it becomes seasonally available. No one is forcing you to not bring pesticides into your home, or lives, or feed them to your children. So calm down. Everything isn't a conspiracy.

E Coil is a painful way to be sick or die. We use cider vingar to clean fruit and veggies. You would be surprised the stuff comes off in the water. I have been in food service for 31 years. Believe me you dont want to eat dirty veggies and fruit.

Agree, stupid article. Wash your stuff. I'd be more concerned with getting something with e-coli that doesn't wash away. Hmmm, I gave some apple to a baby possum, didn't wash it. Wonder if that's why he's not been around since.

any fruit or veggie that has an unsoakable skin (peppers, apples, pears, etc) gets a thorough washing with antibacterial soap from me...the rest are rinsed in water. Have you ever seen some of the people who pick that stuff up at the store to inspect it? I'm not worried about the pesticides, I'm worried everyone at the store didn't wash their hands before they fondled the fruit!

The problem with peeling etc. is, all that's good about an apple and other fruits an veggies is thrown out with it.
Tubers, potatoes etc, are under ground but still suck up nutrients along with the water an any pesticide thats in the water. far as I know, unless you grow your own, we're stuck with the pesticides. I've been watching some "Green" programs, reading blogs etc, an have learned tons of good ways to grow lots of fruits an veggies in very small spaces by growing them hydroponically in tubes an stacking them upwards. So many new ideas on growing your own an surprisingly easy.

Did you see this line in the last paragraph?
Organic produce is grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.

SO THAT MEANS THEY CAN USE BIOLOGICAL INSECTICIDES, fungicides AND FERTILIZERS. TAKE PYRETHRIN BIOLOGICAL INSECTICIDE IT IS MADE FROM THE Pyrethrum Daisy FLOWER AND SEED PODS. Pyrethrin is a neurotoxin, attacking the nervous system of all insects and humans that are exposed to it when spraying it if not protected from it. the best thing about it is that it breaks down rather quickly in sun lite so there is little to no residuals left on the plant like the synthetics.
So if you think that organic means no pesticides at all your wrong it means just no synthetic pesticides and fungicides and fertilizers.

Yes, washing and peeling your fruit and vegetables is good but the problem is if systemic pesticides are used washing and peeling doesn't help as the pesticides go right into the fruit and vegetables.. Systemic pesticides are used to poison whatever wants to eat the insides of fruits and vegetables so if it is meant to poison them what is it doing to us? It may not kill you but maybe it's the cause of some chronic diseases.and other health problems.

actually the EWG doesn't test the peel if its not usually eaten. There are also lots of nutrients in the skin so if you decide you would rather peel an apple than buy an organic one than you are missing out on lots of nutrients. I think organic fruits and veggies taste so much better too. Don't knock it 'til you tried it. Well worth the extra couple of cents

I dip my fruits and vegetables in a basin of water with baking soda, let it stand for a few mins then rinse thoroughly :) works for me

And moving on.....