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Physicans Recommend to Reduce Pesticide Exposure for Children But Don’t Specifically Encourage Organic Food
A primary reason that people eat organic is because they don’t want to consume food that has been sprayed with toxic pesticides. This is especially important for children since their bodies are still developing and are very sensitive to poisonous chemicals.
Despite what the chemical industry would like us to believe – that chemicals are safe – the President’s Cancer Panel report says otherwise.
“The Panel was particularly concerned to find that the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated. With nearly 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, many of which are used by millions of Americans in their daily lives and are un- or understudied and largely unregulated, exposure to potential environmental carcinogens is widespread.”
With 41% of the U.S. population expected to get cancer and 21% of the U.S. population expected to die of cancer, one recommendation made by the President’s Cancer Panel was to choose “food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers.”
In its recently released report, The American Academy of Pediatrics also believes that pesticides pose a grave danger to children.
The report says that “acute poisoning risks (from pesticides) are clear, and the understanding of chronic health implications from both acute and chronic exposure are emerging. Epidemiologic evidence demonstrates associations between early life exposure to pesticides and pediatric cancers, decreased cognitive function, and behavioral problems. Related animal toxicology studies provide supportive biological plausibility for these findings.”
It then goes on to say that “children encounter pesticides daily in air, food, dust, and soil and on surfaces through home and public lawn or garden application, household insecticide use, application to pets, and agricultural product residues. For many children, diet may be the most influential source, as illustrated by an intervention study that placed children on an organic diet (produced without pesticides) and observed drastic and immediate decrease in urinary excretion of pesticide metabolites.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics clearly recognizes that food is a major source of pesticides but in its list of recommendations to physicians it says to “ask parents about pesticide use in or around the home to help determine the need for providing targeted anticipatory guidance. Recommend use of minimal-risk products, safe storage practices, and application of IPM (least toxic methods), whenever possible.”
MY TAKE
Clearly, there is a huge disconnect between what the The American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledges (food is a major source of pesticides, organic food can dramatically reduce pesticide levels) and what The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends (no specific recommendation to encourage the use of pesticide-free or organic food).
Even though The American Academy of Pediatrics does come out and say that pesticide exposure for children must be reduced, this organization falls very, very short by not recommending pesticide-free or organic food.
The fact that it does not do this is not only bewildering but demonstrates that it isn’t doing everything that it can to protect the health of children.
This is just more evidence that parents must take full responsibility for determining the type of food that they need to be feeding to their kids.
And to get an answer as to what food this should be, all a person has to do is look at what The President’s Cancer Panel and The American Academy of Pediatrics are saying about the dangers of pesticides.
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If you haven’t done so, please read this post: Dirty Dozen List is Announced, Pro-Pesticide Groups are Outraged