In a 2010 meeting between the pesticide industry and the Obama Administration, the pesticide industry revealed its objective that government food testing data (like the USDA pesticide residue data EWG uses to create our Shopper’s Guide to Produce) be spun to emphasize the safety of pesticide residues on conventional produce.

Why?

They’re worried you know too much. See, if people know about the health (and environmental) downsides of pesticides, they might, well, not want to eat them. In their own (self-interested, your-health-is-not-their-first-priority) words in this high-level meeting:

‘[W]e want to see if we can figure out that whatever data is out there be less likely to be misconstrued and misinterpreted. We’re trying to make sure that anyone who reads [USDA’s pesticide residue report] sees — as do all the people in the room — that there is no risk associated with the consumption of fresh produce due to pesticide residues.’

But are pesticides really safe? Should fruits and veggie eaters everywhere breath a sigh of relief because there’s ‘no risk,’ as the pesticide guys want you to believe? Not so fast.

The science does not say ‘no risk’

Industry’s task spinning pesticides got a bit more difficult today, when a group […]