Nowadays, deciding what kind of food to buy, may it be an organic food or not can be a problem. Standard versions of food are found to be cheaper than Produce grown without the use of pesticides costs, and it is evident that in our society, not everyone has the means of buying it every time. But, does it really mean that shopping for organic food is all or nothing?
Good thing, that the answer is No. Pesticide Action Network (PAN UK), a campaigning charity, claims that it's still possible to selectively shop for organic produce. Depending on the farming method and other factors, it has been discovered that some foods are even worse for having pesticide residue than others. So, switching to organic for food makes sense if all-organic shopping isn't possible especially for those food that are most affected by chemicals, and sticking with standard versions of the least affected.
The Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food (Prif) in the UK does their regular tests on a wide range of fruit, vegetables, starchy food, grains and even on animal products to analyze hundreds of different pesticides and also to check whether they are within legal and safe limits. In order to make sure pesticides don't pose an unacceptable threat to human health or the environment, and that any pesticide leftovers are safe for consumption, it is being evaluated first before it can be approved.
However, little is known about the long terms effects of regularly consuming low doses of pesticide residue. According to PAN UK's Nick Mole, around 60 per cent of fruit and vegetables has pesticide residue on it.
As Mole describes it, say for example, when a person eats an apple, obviously, it isn't going to kill him, but as for the long term health impact of low doses that it can generate, that's what hasn't been discovered yet. Mole recommends that anyone who considers switching to organic, should also consider that those food with traces of more than one pesticide are actually those which have the biggest potential concern.
