(NaturalNews) Even small doses of pesticides and related chemicals can cause adverse health effects in people who consume them, and especially during periods of fetal development. Pregnant women should carefully consider eating fruits and vegetables that were grown under unknown circumstances that may have allowed pesticides and residue to infiltrate the fruit or vegetable. But, what can you do? Will washing and peeling help?
The way in which most fruit and vegetables are prepared in many cases gets rid of much of the pesticide contamination if it exists. Peeling oranges and bananas, for example, gets rid of the protecting coating of the fruit that may contain harmful pesticides. But, with the peel of some fruits containing the highest nutrient content, that is an unwise decision in many cases. One great answer is to try and choose organic produce whenever possible to reduce contamination of possible pesticides as much as possible.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) published a ranking of the top 43 fruits and vegetables with the highest and lowest contamination levels, which is below. EWG's team of scientists, engineers, policy experts, lawyers and computer programmers pore over government data, legal documents, scientific studies and our own laboratory tests to expose threats to health and the environment -- and to assist in finding solutions.
The top-10 worst offenders tested by the EWG: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes and spinach.
See the full data set from the EWG by clicking here.
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