Monday, September 1, 2014

Am I The Scarecrow?


I write this post today as a person who previously had little issue with purchasing non-organic apples (apples are specific to the nature of my thoughts). For as long as I can remember I've been eating and enjoying apples. The range over the years has included McIntosh, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Gala, Fuji, and probably others. Of course there have been times when I've let one go past it's time and it was mealy, or have allowed myself to buy one or a few that were not yet quite where they should have been. I have forgiven produce sellers of such faults as these because, when picking for such a mass amount of people, many that are not on the same scale as others will slip through.
My tolerance of faults has reached its max as of yesterday. I have been having issues with produce from Sanwa, as I have probably mentioned before, and I had thought maybe I'd grown allergic to the skin of pineapple (which probably is true with how my skin reacts to touching the pineapple plant at work). However, after numerous times of eating apples and ending up with my thumb, index, and middle finger swollen and burning I realize I am now allergic to whatever pesticides are being used. What is most odd is I do a vinegar lemon juice wash (I am strongly considering adding baking soda for more of a scrubbing effect)... and it works well enough for other produce (I taste a difference in berries-- they're sweeter after I wash them!). I'm fortunate that my lips and throat don't noticeably react to the pesticides but I was thinking about the skin on my fingers... and it has be wondering: if my skin reacts so, who is to say that it does not negatively impact my insides? Obvious it is nothing instantly fatal but what about in the long run?
We all know that companies can only look so far into the effects of using a product-- many companies have not been around long enough to have sufficient testing to see how their products effect the human body. It's very frustrating to be an American with open eyes-- to see the truth more and more about the food given to you.
I'm not going to go on an all-organic super hippie shpeal or anything like that, all I'm saying is that I don't think I should be eating apples anymore unless they're organic (so... apples much less often because I'm pretty sure the organic ones cost twice as much per pound).

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