Do you have these bananas today?
There are two health-related reasons to buy organic fruits and vegetables, quite aside from the environmental factors: First, many non-organic fruits and vegetables contain pesticide residues that you end up feeding to your family. Secondly - and in my view, more importantly - the farmworkers who grow those fruits and vegetables, often some of the poorest and most vulnerable families, are exposed to *unquestionably* toxic doses of those pesticides in the course of their daily work. Just search for keywords such as "pesticides", "farmworkers", "cancer" together to get a long and terrible list of the consequences of non-organic agriculture.
A lot of times, I decide which fruits and vegetables are worth the extra money for organic certification based on whether they're generally tested as being high in pesticide residues. For example, grocery-store onions are consistently tested as having almost no pesticides in them, whether they're organic or not. In the case of onions this makes perfect sense, of course, as there are almost no pests that like onions - in fact, like many organic gardeners, I grow onions specifically to disgust pests away from my other vegetables!
One of the only fruits I don't always buy organic is bananas, for the same reason - you can eat almost all the conventional bananas you want without pesticides showing up in your urine. This is not true for most other popular fruits, in particular peaches and apples, both of which leave measurable levels of pesticides in the bodily fluids of the people who eat them.
I always thought the reason conventional bananas were safe was for the same reason as onions - that they were a food that could easily be grown with few pesticides. Sadly, it turns out this is not true. Bananas are safe to eat because the only people who are getting poisoned are the ones growing them. The toxin is called dibromochloropropane, and it's been illegal for most uses in the U.S. since 1979. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7015501) I was alerted to this by the newsletter of the organic grocer I deal with, and followed their links to a documentary on this topic. Even if you don't like to watch this kind of documentary, please have a look at the story behind "Bananas!", or follow the links to their references at the bottom of this page: http://www.bananasthemovie.com/show/the-facts
Please choose organic and fair-trade bananas.
A lot of times, I decide which fruits and vegetables are worth the extra money for organic certification based on whether they're generally tested as being high in pesticide residues. For example, grocery-store onions are consistently tested as having almost no pesticides in them, whether they're organic or not. In the case of onions this makes perfect sense, of course, as there are almost no pests that like onions - in fact, like many organic gardeners, I grow onions specifically to disgust pests away from my other vegetables!
One of the only fruits I don't always buy organic is bananas, for the same reason - you can eat almost all the conventional bananas you want without pesticides showing up in your urine. This is not true for most other popular fruits, in particular peaches and apples, both of which leave measurable levels of pesticides in the bodily fluids of the people who eat them.
I always thought the reason conventional bananas were safe was for the same reason as onions - that they were a food that could easily be grown with few pesticides. Sadly, it turns out this is not true. Bananas are safe to eat because the only people who are getting poisoned are the ones growing them. The toxin is called dibromochloropropane, and it's been illegal for most uses in the U.S. since 1979. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7015501) I was alerted to this by the newsletter of the organic grocer I deal with, and followed their links to a documentary on this topic. Even if you don't like to watch this kind of documentary, please have a look at the story behind "Bananas!", or follow the links to their references at the bottom of this page: http://www.bananasthemovie.com/show/the-facts
Please choose organic and fair-trade bananas.