Recent market reports suggest that American consumers are beginning to understand that organic milk is healthier for them and the environment. But first, a little background… In 2013 we worked on a paper that reported significantly higher concentrations of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids in organic vs. conventional milk. A follow up study in 2018 revealed […]
Bayer Reaches Deal with Massachusetts Attorney General Over Allegations of Misleading Consumers about Pesticide Risks
The Attorney General (AG) of the State of Massachusetts has succeeded, for what is believed to be the first time, in getting a pesticide giant to change they way they communicate with the public about pesticide risks to the environment. As this press release describes how the state accused Bayer of misleading consumers about the […]
2020 Dietary Risk Index Paper in “Environmental Health”
“The dietary risk index system: a tool to track pesticide dietary risks” Co-authors: Charles Benbrook and Don Davis Published: October 14, 2020 in Environmental Health. Full Citation: Benbrook, Charles M., & Davis, Donald R.; “The dietary risk index system: a tool to track pesticide dietary risks;” Environmental Health, 2020, 19(1); DOI: 10.1186/s12940-020-00657-z. Access the full-text […]
The DRI — A New Tool for Tracking Pesticides in Food
By: Chuck Benbrook A milestone in my career occurred on October 14, 2020 with the publication of “The dietary risk index system: a tool to track pesticide dietary risks” in the peer reviewed journal Environmental Health. This paper was written with my friend and co-author Dr. Donald Davis. It is the culmination of work started in 1985, […]
Why Promoting Organic Integrity Must Become a Top Priority for USDA
Hygeia Analytics has featured news and blogs on organic integrity the last two weeks, beginning with our August 27th coverage of the cover story “Produce Without Pesticides” in the October 2020 issue of Consumer Reports. On that same day Hygeia was proud to share an excellent guest blog by Larry Jacobs, founder and President of […]
Guest Blog: Finding the Root Cause of Organic Fraud
By: Brian Baker Brian is a scientist specializing in organic practices, standards, and regulations. He has analyzed the impacts of organic food and farming on the environment and human well-being for several decades. Demand for organic food in the US continues to grow, but the domestic supply has been unable to keep pace. Sales […]
So What About the Integrity of the U.S. Organic Grain Supply?
On March 6, 2017, Hygeia posted a guest blog by Lynn Clarkson, then President of Clarkson Grain, one of the largest suppliers of U.S. grown organic and non-GMO grain and soybeans in the domestic and global market. His blog was based on a letter Lynn had sent to several newly minted Trump Administration officials, in […]
Guest Blog: Organic Food & Pesticide Residues, One Grower’s Perspective
Note from Hygeia — We invited Larry Jacobs (far right in photo), founder and president of Del Cabo and Jacobs Farm, to share his experiences in producing organic herbs and vegetables free of non-compliant pesticide residues. His history with illegal pesticides on organic foods spans decades. He has lost crops and markets in his company’s […]
Consumer Reports Takes on Reducing Pesticide Dietary Risks
The 10-page cover story in the October, 2020 issue of Consumer Reports provides clear guidance to consumers hoping to reduce their daily dose of pesticides via their diet. CR developed and applied a data-driven system to quantify the risk levels in a serving of 49 different foods. It then applied quantitative risk benchmarks in a […]
Three Ways to Calculate DRI Values
For a given pesticide-food combination, the DRI-Mean (DRI-M) is calculated based on the “mean of the positives” residue level. Process From all samples of a given food tested in a given year, the DRI system selects those samples with a quantified residue of each pesticide. Then, across just these positive samples, the system calculates the […]