The riskiest fruits & veggies in your shopping cart

[Consumer Reports]   Dear Friend, In our ongoing work to make sure your family has the safest food and water possible, Consumer Reports just completed our most comprehensive review ever of pesticides in produce. The good news: there’s little to worry about in nearly two-thirds of the 59 different fruits and vegetables we looked at, and in nearly all of the organic ones. The not-so-good news: pesticides posed significant risks in 20 percent of foods we examined – including popular ones like blueberries, green beans, bell peppers and potatoes – primarily from two classes of pesticide chemicals on the market that are linked to an increased risk of cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The reality is, we don’t need this extra health risk, since the vast majority of fruits and vegetables are already grown without hazardous pesticides. [Join with us in urging the Environmental Protection Agency to ban these two classes of dangerous pesticides on food crops!]( the most effective and simple step the EPA can take to reduce your family’s overall pesticide risk.  [Help Ban These Pesticides »](  Our review of seven years of USDA data found that two broad classes of pesticide chemicals – organophosphates and carbamates – pose the greatest health hazards. These chemicals became popular after DDT and related pesticides were phased out in the 1970s and 1980s, but health concerns soon followed. The EPA took some steps to rein in their use, but many organophosphates and carbamates are still used on certain fruits and vegetables. Blueberries, considered a ‘superfood’ because of their nutrients, are rated a ‘very high’ risk in our study because of contaminants from a type of organophosphate. Until recently, this chemical rarely appeared in tests, but it has since become a main contributor of pesticide risk, as farmers switch from banned pesticides to similar ones still on the market – often posing even greater harm. “We just don’t need these two classes of pesticides. And the foods American consumers eat every day would be much, much safer without them,” says Brian Ronholm, CR’s director of food policy. Let’s make sure you and your family can enjoy fruits and vegetables without the added risk of these pesticides. [Join us in urging the EPA to ban them from all food crops!](  [Help Ban These Pesticides »]( After you sign the petition, we’ll send you links to our findings, and which fruits and vegetables pose the lowest and highest risk. Thank you for joining with us in this important effort, and please share this with friends and family so they can join you in taking action, too. Meg Bohne Consumer Reports [Unsubscribe from Consumer Reports action alerts.]( © 2022 Consumer Reports, 101 Truman Avenue, Yonkers, NY, 10703 [Contact Consumer Reports](