<p>A new release from the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis details a study that undermines the conclusions of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) which listed blueberries as a "Dirty Dozen" fruit and to urged consumers to avoid it. The Davis study states that "the methodology used to create the 'Dirty Dozen' list does not appear to follow any established scientific procedures," an argument that has been supported by similar agencies.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>The EWG’s original study suggested that the pesticide levels in conventional blueberries made them harmful to both the environment and the consumer. The results from the tests at the University of California, Davis directly contradict those assertions. Mark Villata, Executive Director of the North American Blueberry Council, said "We have long known that blueberries are among the healthiest of foods. The UC Davis study comes as no surprise to us. We hope it will open the eyes of unsuspecting consumers who have many good reasons to eat blueberries and other commodities on the list, but were given misleading information by the Environmental Working Group about a level of risk from consuming them. We now know that is not true."</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Furthermore, the new information casts doubt about the legitimacy of the “Dirty Dozen” list as a whole; It states: “"Results from this study strongly suggest that consumer exposures to the ten most common pesticides found on the 'Dirty Dozen' commodities are several orders of magnitude below levels required to cause any biological effect." The result is that consumers avoid foods healthy, nutritious foods for fear of chemicals that are virtually nonexistent.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>The complete UC Davis study is available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3135239/</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
