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Pesticides and Your Health
Should You Go Organic While Pregnant?
By Jenn Director Knudsen
The day after Christmas 1997 – and after six months of trying – Lynette Bisconti finally had a positive pregnancy test. But only two weeks after that joyous result, she got one far more devastating: she learned she not only had breast cancer, but a particularly virulent form that had already spread to her lymph nodes.
She and her husband, Frank, were utterly shocked. "We were devastated," says Bisconti of Menomonee Falls, Wis. "It was the best and worst of my entire world, in two weeks."
Bisconti immediately set about treating her cancer and adopting a lifestyle she believed would keep her – and her unborn child – as healthy as possible for the long-term. She committed to going organic, she says, "to reduce the toxic load on my system to stay alive."
A pregnant woman's reason for choosing to eat only organic produce and products may not be fueled by as drastic a reason as Bisconti's, but more and more people – expectant mothers included – are going organic.
Is it a good idea while pregnant? Some say yes – contaminated food byproducts can pass through the placenta and may have an adverse effect on the developing fetus. Others say organic isn't necessary and is too costly – it's enough to follow safe food handling procedures while eating a balanced diet of non-organic, or conventional, foods.
Dr. Barry Boyd, medical oncologist and director of Integrative Medicine at the Greenwich Hospital, Yale Health System in Greenwich, Conn., says organic foods are grown without the use of synthetic chemicals in the ground or in substances sprayed on crops, either as fertilizer or as pest control.
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