This Could Cause Permanent Damage to Your Child’s Health

One of the most important things you can do for your health is to eat organic food.  Laboratory studies show that pesticides can cause health problems, such as birth defects, nerve damage, cancer, and other effects that might occur over a long period of time.  There are especially high risks for children.  The below information is from the EPA website in regards to pesticide dangers for children:

Infants and children may be especially sensitive to health risks posed by pesticides for several reasons:

• their internal organs are still developing and maturing,
• in relation to their body weight, infants and children eat and drink more than adults, possibly increasing their exposure to pesticides in food and water.
• certain behaviors–such as playing on floors or lawns or putting objects in their mouths–increase a child’s exposure to pesticides used in homes and yards.

Pesticides may harm a developing child by blocking the absorption of important food nutrients necessary for normal healthy growth. Another way pesticides may cause harm is if a child’s excretory system is not fully developed, the body may not fully remove pesticides. Also, there are “critical periods” in human development when exposure to a toxin can permanently alter the way an individual’s biological system operates.

For these reasons, and as specifically required under the Food Quality Protection Act (1996) , EPA carefully evaluates children’s exposure to pesticide residues in and on foods they most commonly eat, i.e., apples and apple juice, orange juice, potatoes, tomatoes, soybean oil, sugar, eggs, pork, chicken and beef. EPA is also evaluating new and existing pesticides to ensure that they can be used with a reasonable certainty of no harm to adults as well as infants and children. 

Usually government agencies don’t say things like this becuase it interferes with big businesses.  There are a lot of financial ties between big corporations and the government which is why it’s hard to beleive it when the government tells us things are safe.  When there is a governement agency like the EPA is saying that something is not safe it means it’s pretty serious.

One major reason why people are hesitant to buy organic food is the cost.  In reality this isn’t a really good reason becuase eating a lot of pesticde ridden food will lead to health problems which will be much more costly then organic food.  One great way to save some money on the grocery bill is to follow the Enviornmental Working Group’s Pesticide in Produce Guide.  This will show you which fruits and veggies you must buy organic and which you can get away with buying conventional if organic is not available or not affordable.

Personally, I buy all organic all the time unless I am away from home or in a place where I can’t get organic.  This is so important for your health and especially your children’s health.

This post is listed in KellytheKitchenKop’s Real Food Wednesdays

Here is another great blog post on Toxins in our life, great information here!

Tags: enviornmental working group, organic, pesticides, save money, toxins