My Response to the Dirty Dozen

I had an interesting encounter on social media today. As always, I was relaxing for a while during my lunch break between my town job and my farm work and as I often do, I was casually scrolling through Facebook. A post from a radio station I follow suddenly caught my eye, and I stared at the post in disbelief. The post shared 2019's Dirty Dozen list and the recipe for a produce wash. After taking a moment to calm myself, I clicked into the comments and left my response, as you can see in the picture below.

This next picture is the reply I received.

Overall, a fairly civil conversation. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the station host quite understood why I have a problem with her sharing this misinformation with all of the station's followers.

In case you don't know, every year the Environmental Working Group (EWG) puts out the "Dirty Dozen" list, along with a "Clean Fifteen" list. These list the twelve fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of pesticide residue, and the fifteen fruits and veggies with the lowest levels, according to research done by the EWG. The EWG encourages people to buy the organic versions of the Dirty Dozen. Actually, they encourage people to buy the organic version of all produce. They do recognize, however, that organic produce is expensive, so for those who are afraid to buy any produce now, they recommend buying organic versions of the "dirtiest" fruits and veggies, while sticking to the "cleanest" ones if you must buy conventionally raised produce.

I have so many issues with the EWG and it's Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen Lists, but I'll try to stick to just the ones that really get me seething mad. This is not just a rant, mind you. I'm writing this blog post for a purpose; I want you, my readers, to know what this list is really about and why you don't need to shop in fear.

Issue 1: The Information is Misleading and the Science is Shoddy.

Evidence that the EWG's scientific findings are suspect

Issue 2: The EWG is funded mainly by organic groups and businesses. This creates bias.

Funding information straight from the EWG's "About Us" section of their website

Issue 3: The misleading information is having real and negative effects on buying habits.

A Screenshot from the EWG's Dirty Dozen FAQ Page

A scholarly article on the detrimental effect that lists such as the "Dirty Dozen" have on the diets of low-income consumers

Issue 4: The lists ignore Organic Pesticides. Again, this shows bias.

A few of the approved organic pesticides that producers can and do use

Want to know more? Ask a farmer - both organic and conventional farmers should be able to tell you why lists like the "Dirty Dozen" hurt us all. We don't need fear to sell our food.