Food that is grown organically is free from all the toxins that are used commonly in conventional farming practices. Examples of such toxins include pesticides (some of which have been classified by the federal authorities as carcinogenic), solvents such as benzene and toluene, and some heavy metals such as lead and mercury. Evidence from the scientific community has shown that:

• Solvents damage our white blood cells and in so doing reduce our immune system's ability to resist and fight infections;
• Heavy metals damage nerve function, leading to diseases like multiple sclerosis and the lowering of one's IQ. They also block hemoglobin production leading to anemia.
  As such, while eliminating our exposure to these dangerous substances, organically grown foods contain higher levels of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

In two separate reports, both the Natural Resources Defense Council (1989) and the Environmental Working Group (1998) found that millions of American children are exposed to levels of pesticides through their food that surpass limits considered to be safe. Some of these pesticides are known to contain neurotoxins. Neurotoxins have the ability to cause harm to the developing brain and nervous system. Additionally, some researchers feel that children and adolescents may be especially vulnerable to the cancer-causing effects of certain pesticides since the body is more sensitive to the impact of these materials during periods of high growth rates and breast development.

The concern for the effects of agricultural chemicals on children's health seems so evident that even the U.S. government has taken steps to protect our nation's young. In 1996, Congress passed the Food Quality Protection Act requiring that all pesticides applied to foods be safe for infants and children. Organic foods that are strictly controlled for substances harmful to health can play a major role in assuring the health of our children

Eating organic foods provides children with "dramatic and immediate" protection from exposure to two organophosphate pesticides that have been linked to harmful neurological effects in animals and humans, shows a study funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency and published in the September 2005 issue of Environmental Health Perspective. The pesticides - malathion and chlorpyrifos - which have been restricted or banned for home use, are widely used on a variety of crops, and according to the annual survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pesticides Data Program, residues of these organophosphate pesticides are still detected in common food items usually by young children.

Yes, and significantly more. Proof of their superiority has been demonstrated in numerous studies. In 1998, a review of 34 studies comparing the nutritional content of organic versus non-organic food was published in the peer-reviewed, MEDLINE-indexed journal Alternative Therapies (Volume 4, No. 1, pgs. 58-69). In this review, organic food was found to have higher protein quality in all comparisons, higher levels of vitamin C in 58 % of all studies, 5 - 20% higher mineral levels for all but two minerals. In some cases, the mineral levels were dramatically higher in organically-grown foods - as much as three times higher in one study involving iron content.

Organic foods may also contain more flavonoids than conventionally grown foods, according to Danish research published in the August 2003 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Results indicated a significantly higher content of the flavonoid quercitin in the organic produce compared to the conventionally grown diet.

A review of 41 studies comparing the nutritional value of organically to conventionally grown fruits, vegetables and grains, also indicates organic crops provide substantially more of several nutrients, including:

• 27.0 % more vitamin C
• 21.1 % more iron
• 29.3 % more magnesium
• 13.6 % more phosphorus

Over 3,000 high-risk toxins routinely present in the U.S. food supply are, by law, excluded from organic food, including:

• Pesticides: By far the largest groups of toxins to be largely prohibited from organically grown foods are synthetic pesticides, which are found virtually everywhere else in the food supply. Several hundred different chemicals and several thousand brand-name pesticide products are legally used in commercial food production in the U.S. Act of 1992; the Environmental Protection Agency had classified 73 pesticides authorized for agricultural use as potential carcinogens (cancer-causing agents). And pesticides don't just remain where they are applied. A 1996 study by the Environmental Working Group found 96% of all water samples taken from 748 towns across the U.S. contained the pesticide atrazine, and at least 20 different chemical pesticides are routinely present in municipal tap water across the U.S.
• Heavy metals: The toxic metals cadmium, lead, and mercury enter the food supply through industrial pollution of soil and groundwater and through machinery used in food processing and packaging. Cadmium, which can be concentrated in plant tissues at levels higher than those in soils, has been linked to lung, prostate and testicular cancers. Despite lead's long-recognized serious adverse impact on health, especially that of young children, lead solder is still used to seal tin cans, imparting the lead residues found in many canned foods. Even low levels of lead are harmful and are associated with decreased intelligence, impaired neurobehavioral development, decreased stature and growth, and impaired hearing. Mercury is toxic to brain cells and has been linked to autism and Alzheimer's disease.
• Solvents: Used to dissolve food components and produce food additives, solvents are also virtually omnipresent in commercially processed food. Solvents, such as benzene and toluene have been linked to numerous cancers. Benzene, specifically, has been repeatedly associated with rheumatoid arthritis - an auto-immune condition involving pain and degeneration in the joints that affects over 2 million adults in the U.S.

Not only are these toxic substances harmful singly, but when combined, as they are in commercially grown and processed food, and in the human body where they accumulate, their effects have been found to be magnified as much as a 1000-fold.

If you can't make a complete switch to organic, the solution is to prioritize. According to the Environmental Working Group, families can reduce their pesticide exposure by 80 percent just by avoiding the most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating only the cleanest. Families consuming five daily servings of fruits and vegetables from the least contaminated produce would ingest less than two pesticides daily. The chart below lists the "dirty" dozen and "not-so-dirty" dozen.

Dirty dozen Highest in pesticide residue Try to buy organic	Not-so-dirty-dozen Lowest in pesticide residue Okay for conventionally grown
Peaches	Papayas
Apples	Broccoli
Sweet bell peppers	Cabbage
Celery	Bananas
Nectarines	Kiwifruit
Strawberries	Sweet peas (frozen)
Cherries	Asparagus
Pears	Mangoes
Grapes (imported)	Pineapple
Spinach	Sweet corn (frozen)
Lettuce	Avocados
Potatoes	Onions