Poison Apple Petition Delivered to EPA
Last week, Mommy Greenest delivered 661 signatures in support of our Poison Apple petition. The letter that we sent to Gina McCarthy is below. Our petition, which focused on better regulating toxic chemical pesticides on apples, is just part of a larger movement. Similar actions from amazing organizations such as the Center for Food Safety recently helped to end the use of antibiotics in organic apple and pear production. Antibiotics in organic? I was surprised, too.
Poison Apples
I grew up on “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” My most vivid grade-school history lesson centered around Johnny Appleseed. I truly believe that something can be “as American as apple pie.” But a recent statistic made me worry that American apples aren’t safe, anymore. A new report from the Environmental Working Group found that 80% of apples are coated with a pesticide that’s banned in Europe because it could be carcinogenic. European regulators are worried too—so worried about the connection between diphenylamine and nitrosamines, a family of potent cancer-causing chemicals, that they banned the use of DPA on apples and pears in June 2012. That’s why I started a petition…
