The Organic Effect This Exercise pertains to a 2015 study¹which took a Swedish family that ate a conventional diet (non-organic), and then had them eat only organic for two weeks. Pesticide concentrations for several different pesticides were measured in g/g creatinine by testing morning urine. Multiple measurements²were taken for each person before the switch to organic foods, and then again after participants had been eating organic for at least one week. The results are pretty compelling, and are summarized in a short video³which as of this writing has had over 30 million views online. The data are visualized in Figure 1 for eight different detected pesticides, and can be found inOrganicEffect. How do pesticide levels in the body differ after eating organic versus non-organic?

24D 3-PBA 35DC CCC 60 Concentration (mcg/g cit) Concentration (mcg/g crt) Concentration (mcg/g crt) Concentration (mcg/g crt) 0 200 403 600 20 40 60 O O Non-Organic Organic Non-Organic Organic Non-Organic Organic Non-Organic Organic ETU Mepiquat Propamocarb TCP CO 120 150 Concentration (mog/g crt) Concentration (mog/g crt) Concentration (mog/g crt) Concentration (mog/g crt) 8 O O O Non-Organic Organic Non-Organic Organic Non-Organic Organic Non-Organic Organic Figure 1