That New Organic Study Doesn't Really Show Lower Pesticide Levels

A new study claims an organic diet can significantly reduce pesticide levels, but the research doesn’t hold up.Published February 12 in the journal Environmental Research, the authors of the study tested pesticide levels in the urine of 16 study participants, before and after switching to an organic diet, and found pesticide levels decreased after the switch. But there’s more to the story. The study primarily tested for the kinds of pesticides allowed in conventional agriculture, and not the pesticides allowed on organic farms. So what the study actually shows is fairly obvious: people won’t flush out what they aren’t eating.The study also doesn’t say anything about whether there’s ahealth risk associated with conventional pesticide residues, since the mere presence of a chemical in urine isn’t necessarily an unhealthy or dangerous sign.