Dietary Exposure to Pesticide Residues from Contaminated Commodities
Author Information
Author(s): Carl K. Winter, Josh M. Katz
Primary Institution: University of California
Hypothesis
How do pesticide residues in the 'Dirty Dozen' commodities affect consumer exposure?
Conclusion
Consumer exposures to the most frequently detected pesticides on the 'Dirty Dozen' list are negligible and do not justify the claims made by the Environmental Working Group.
Supporting Evidence
- Only one of the 120 exposure estimates exceeded 1% of the RfD.
- Three quarters of the pesticide/commodity combinations demonstrated exposure estimates below 0.01% of the RfD.
- 40.8% had exposure estimates below 0.001% of the RfD.
Takeaway
Eating fruits and vegetables from the 'Dirty Dozen' list won't harm you because the pesticides on them are at very low levels.
Methodology
Probabilistic modeling was used to estimate dietary exposure to pesticides based on USDA data.
Potential Biases
The methodology used by the Environmental Working Group to rank commodities lacks scientific credibility.
Limitations
The study only analyzed residues from a limited time frame and may not account for all pesticide exposure.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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