Why This Mom Boycotts Organic and Will Never Shop at Whole Foods

[HuckleB]

19. Re: Pesticide Residues

"Scientists find the safe daily intake level, "No Observable Effects Level (NOEL)," and build in a 100 fold or more margin of safety. This procedure sets a legal residue level. If the maximum possible exposure to a chemical is less than the legal residue level, the EPA grants a tolerance.

...

Bruce Ames, Director of the Environmental Health Sciences Center at the University of California, has analyzed pesticides in detail. He concluded that more than 99 percent of the pesticides in the human diet are naturally occurring chemicals that plants and other organisms produce to defend themselves. The notion that a poison, by virtue of occurring naturally, is somehow better, safer, or gentler to the environment is hardly logical."

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef009.asp