I’ve long known that strawberries are one of the most contaminated fruits and to avoid non-organic ones at all cost.  A friend sent me a link to a news article explaining why and, upon doing my own research on it, I’m pretty freaked out about eating any non-organic strawberries or products made with them.  It’s important to keep in mind that I’m talking about strawberries in whole fruit form and also to anything that contains them– jam/preserves, yogurt, etc.  What the government allows to be sprayed on these crops that feed us is really disturbing. (Not to mention how disturbing it is that a human being applies these chemicals and then works the field that they were sprayed in.  It’s so sad that these people are then coated in these carcinogenic pesticides that will probably give him/her cancer one day when they don’t have health insurance and don’t even make a decent wage for their efforts.  This little tangent is besides the point, though.  But seriously, if you live near me in California, take a little drive down highway 101 near Salinas and head over to towards the coast and you’ll see what I mean.  This is where my local strawberries come from.)

Strawberries were treated with a seriously hazardous pesticide called methyl bromide.  Methyl bromide has been banned for a few years now because it is found to deplete the ozone layer.  That’s bad news right there… so enter it’s equally as hazardous-to-our-health cousin methyl iodide.  Methyl iodide does the same thing methyl bromide does (kill every living organism in the soil) without the ozone depletion.  Still, exposure to methyl iodide has been found to cause thyroid toxicity, neurological damage and fetal loss in lab animals.  The U.S. EPA has classified methyl iodide as Group C: Possible human carcinogen, while the State of California has determined under Proposition 65 that methyl iodide is a carcinogen.

So why would the federal government who thinks methyl iodide is possibly a human carcinogen allow it to be used on our food?  Well– and I need to point out that I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist– it wasn’t too difficult to find out the reason:

According to Treehugger.com, “the chemical will be manufactured by Arysta LifeScience Corp. (under the catchy name “Midas”) – whose former chief executive is now the EPA’s chief administrator for the northwest region – for use on fields growing tomatoes, peppers, trees and strawberries (amongst others).”

(Incidentally, this is not the first instance I’ve heard of the government being in bed with private companies.  The above is just one example and it’s all got me questioning everything– from food to vaccines.)

Guys, I’ve barely scratched the surface here.  I spent a few minutes poking around and found all this information.  If you’re buying non-organic strawberries (and tomatoes, peppers, etc), chances are really good that it’s being treated with methyl iodide.  And since it’s a fumigant (I think that means it’s a gas?), does this mean that all those stalls at the farmer’s markets or places along the highways that advertise as being “no spray” are using this stuff?  Sure, it’s not a liquid that is being sprayed onto the crops, but would they intentionally deceive people concerned enough to ask?  I get it that it’s hard and costly to become “certified organic,” but if I ask the person selling the fruit if they are organic and they reply “no spray,” I personally take that to mean it’s semi-organic.  Like organic without the government stamp “certified organic.”  NOT ANYMORE!

Are you reading this, husband of mine?  This is why I’m so picky/neurotic over the food we eat and what we feed our kids.  And this is just about strawberries– I haven’t even researched in depth any other fruit or vegetable.  For me and my family, our new rule is all organic all the time.  No exceptions.  I encourage you all to take yourself to your favorite search engine and type “methyl iodide strawberries” and quickly glance over the results.