[Enesta Jones] 
Hello, and welcome to EPA's 
Green Scene, an environmental 
podcast you can
take with you.  
I'm Enesta Jones of EPA's 
Office of Public Affairs.
Have you ever wondered if it's 
better to buy organic fruit 
because it's free
of pesticides?
Because organic is usually 
more expensive, it may not 
be in your budget. 
So as a parent, you may ask, 
"If I don't buy organic fruit, 
is there a way to limit 
my child's exposure to 
pesticide residues?"
Yes, according to EPA. 
Joining me today to talk 
about pesticides and food 
is Toiya Goodlow, a chemist 
in EPA's Office of  
Pesticide Programs. 
Toiya, welcome
to the show.
[Toiya Goodlow] 
Thank you for having me. 
[Enesta Jones] 
So, Toiya, let's start 
with the good news. 
The United States has the safest 
food supply in the world.
What is EPA doing to ensure that 
food, even when it has pesticide 
residues on it, is 
still safe to eat? 
[Toiya Goodlow] 
Well, before I let you know 
about EPA's specific role, 
I should note that we work 
collaboratively with the 
Food and Drug Administration and 
the United States Department of 
Agriculture to keep our 
food supply safe. 
Now, on to EPA's work. 
It is important to note that 
before any pesticide can be 
registered for use on food, EPA 
has to approve the pesticide, 
or the chemical, 
for this use.
Extensive tests are submitted 
to the agency, and the results 
are considered, and we use that 
information to make sure that 
no harm will result from the use 
of that pesticide for people, 
wildlife, fish or plants. 
But we don't stop 
at new pesticides.
We also look back at pesticides 
registered before November 1984, 
to make sure that they are up 
to date with today's current 
safety standards.
[Enesta Jones] 
Let me make sure I'm 
understanding this correctly. 
Even when pesticides are applied 
legally and in accordance with 
label directions, there's 
still some pesticide 
residue left over.  
Is that right?
[Toiya Goodlow] 
Yes, that's correct. 
There still may be some residual 
pesticide residues left on 
foods, and this could be on 
fresh produce such as apples 
and tomatoes, or on 
processed foods like 
ketchup and applesauce.  
But that's why we at EPA, 
we set maximum residue limits, 
or tolerances, as we 
like to call them.
And these tolerances are based 
on the toxicity of the 
pesticide, how and when it's 
applied, and also the residues 
that we expect to be present 
on treated foods.
And we use all this information 
to set our tolerance level 
values, which are legally 
enforceable standards. 
[Enesta Jones] 
As I understand it, children 
are more susceptible to adverse 
health affects, more 
so than adults.
Is this the case 
with pesticides?
[Toiya Goodlow] 
Yes, this is true 
for some cases. 
Children may be more susceptible 
to pesticide exposure, 
and this is because their 
internal organs are still 
developing and maturing.
It's also because, in relation 
to their body weights, 
they consume more food and drink 
more water than we do as adults, 
and that can lead to increased 
pesticide exposure.
And the last thing is just 
their common behaviors.
Children like to play in the 
yard or be on the floor and 
put things in their mouth, 
and that could also lead 
to increased exposure.
But at the EPA, we make sure 
to consider all these special 
considerations for 
children's health.
For example, we routinely look 
at commonly eaten children's 
foods, and this could be apple 
juice, orange juice, potatoes 
and meats like chicken and beef 
and poultry, everything.
We look at -- we consider the 
child's entire diet to make 
sure the pesticide 
is still safe.
And in addition to children, 
we also look at special 
subpopulations such as females 
of childbearing age.
[Enesta Jones] 
And are there special steps 
that consumers like you and 
I can take to ensure that we 
are not exposing ourselves 
to pesticides 
on our food? 
[Toiya Goodlow] 
Absolutely.
There are some simple steps 
that we can all take, 
and I'm sure many of us 
are doing them already.
Let's start with this fruit 
that we have here.
You want to make sure that you 
wash all of your fruits and 
vegetables, all your fresh 
fruits and vegetables, 
so before we were to consume 
these apples or these berries, 
we want to make sure we wash 
them under running water. 
[Enesta Jones] 
Cold, hot, doesn't matter? 
[Toiya Goodlow] 
I prefer cold but it doesn't 
really matter, as long as you 
wash and scrub the fruit to 
reduce that pesticide exposure. 
[Enesta Jones] 
Any other tips?
[Toiya Goodlow] 
Oh, yes.
Of course, you could also peel 
and trim your vegetables, 
and carrots and celery are 
examples of veggies that we 
commonly trim, and this could 
also reduce the amount of dirt 
that's left on the food and 
reduce pesticide exposure.
Another tip would be to trim fat 
from meat and also the skin from 
poultry and fish.
And that is because some 
pesticides accumulate in 
the fatty tissues 
of the animal.
Another thing that you can do 
that we all do is to just cook 
our foods, and this reduces 
the pesticide exposure for 
some chemicals.
And lastly, and maybe most 
importantly, just eat 
a variety of foods from 
a variety of sources 
because this could reduce your 
exposure to a single pesticide 
on a single type 
of food.
[Enesta Jones] 
Organic food -- it's 
becoming very popular. 
Can you tell us more about 
how farmers grow their 
crops organically? 
[Toiya Goodlow] 
Yes, organically grown food 
is food that is grown and 
processed without the use 
of synthetic pesticides. 
And these are the pesticides 
that we registered, 
ones that you can find anywhere 
in your hardware stores or at 
Home Depot.
And farmers that choose to grow 
organically use natural 
fertilizers and pesticides.
And this could include natural 
predators such as insects that 
eat other insects, and so you'll 
find at your grocery stores and 
at your local farmer's market 
that a lot of people are 
increasingly providing organic 
foods to try to reduce 
pesticide exposure.
[Enesta Jones] 
While we're on the topic 
of grocery stores, I have 
a girlfriend -- she's decided 
that she's going to start 
buying her food from California 
versus Chile because she's 
hearing that there are different 
safety standards domestically.
Is that fact
or fiction?
[Toiya Goodlow] 
That's fiction.
Basically, this probably 
derives from the government's 
recent ruling to publish 
the nation of origin on 
the produce so we'll know as 
consumers where our produce 
is grown, but it's EPA's job to 
regulate the amount of pesticide 
residues on all foods that are 
sold in the United States, 
and this is both domestic 
and imported food.
And, like I mentioned earlier, 
our sister agencies, 
the FDA and the USDA, also work 
with us to make sure that these 
safety standards
are upheld.
[Enesta Jones] 
I'm not a gardener, Toiya, 
but I know many of our 
listeners are.  
Is gardening another way to 
ensure that our food is safer?
[Toiya Goodlow] 
Well, I'm not a gardener 
either, but I know many 
do enjoy the hobby, and yes, 
it can be a way to reduce 
pesticide exposure, but it's 
important for the gardeners 
out there to remember two things 
when planning their garden.
The first is to make sure that 
their garden is located away 
from the neighbors, where 
pesticide drift could occur.
And this is because if they 
use pesticides, synthetic 
pesticides, the exposure can, 
I guess, drift over to 
your garden.
And the second thing is to make 
sure if your home is treated 
for pests regularly, you want 
to make sure that your garden 
is also away from
that location.
[Enesta Jones] 
A lot of information, 
but Toiya, what's the 
take-away here?  
Go organic, not go organic? 
[Toiya Goodlow] 
Well, the take-away here is 
yes, there are low levels 
of pesticides present on our 
foods but with a few simple 
tips like we talked about, 
the washing and peeling 
and cooking your foods and 
deriving them from a variety 
of sources, you can reduce 
your pesticide exposure.
[Enesta Jones] 
Eating is something that we 
all have to do, so thank you 
for being here today, Toiya, to 
share this helpful information.
And for more on pesticides 
and food, please visit 
www.epa.gov/pesticides.
See you next time 
on Green Scene.