Tests carried out by the Camden Food and Drink Association showed that organic potatoes contained 26% more zinc; organic tomatoes 17.5% more vitamin C and 25% more vitamin A; and organic apples 11% more vitamin C. (Optimum Nutrition for Babies and Young Children, Lucy Burney).

Early in 1995 the US Environmental Working Group organised tests to measure the incidence of pesticides in jars of baby food made by Heinz, Beech Nut and Gerber. The tests detected 16 different pesticides, including eight possible cancer promoters, eight that affect brain function and five which disrupt the hormonal system. Two or more pesticides were found in 18 per cent of the samples.(Optimum Nutrition for Babies and Young Children, Lucy Burney)

Dr Vyvyan Howard of the University of Liverpool has stated: ‘One of the most positive things we can do is eat organic food. This considerably reduces the “body burden” of toxic chemicals in both parent and child. Organic food in its many forms avoids all the possible exposures to pesticides during growing, harvesting and storing food before you eat it.’ (Organic Living, Michael van Straten)

“Our children are born with a deposit of pesticides and other foreign chemicals in their bodies, caused by a shift of maternal pesticide ‘body burden’ through the placenta; after birth, children ‘inherit’ further load through breastfeeding. Pesticides have a cumulative multigenerational destructive impact on human health, especially behaviour. Pesticides are a serious threat to the physical, emotional and mental development of children and future generations.” According to a report from the Environmental Illness Society of Canada. (www.theorganicreport.com)

A study conducted by the University of Washington Department of Environmental Health to assess preschool children’s organophosphorus pesticide exposure in the Seattle Metropolitan area made an interesting discovery: the only child whose urine contained no measurable pesticide metabolites lives in a family that buys exclusively organic produce and does not use any pesticides at home. (www.theorganicreport.com)