05/03/06 pesticides into perspective

All the hype and marketing for organic produce can leave consumers with the misconception that produce grown conventionally contains harmful pesticide residue levels. The Foods Standard Agency, an impartial body established by the government to monitor food safety, reports that there have been no known deaths from pesticide residue on fruits and vegetables. In fact the "natural" (catch the word natural), carcinogens in a cup of coffee are far more toxic than any pesticides residue on US produce. To put it into perspective, a 132 pound adult would have to eat 396,000 lbs of bananas each day to be above the safety levels established by the federal government while a forty pound child would need to consume 524 apples a day to be in any kind of risk. If you want to talk risk and food, what and how much we eat, accounts for more than 100,000 deaths a year just from heart disease and cancers alone, not even counting diabetes. Kind of puts it into perspective doesn't it?