Nothing like finding something in your email that totally grabs your attention--for me, this morning, it was this list of facts from The Organic Center's March 2009 report --  That First Step – Organic Food and a Healthier Future

• Two-thirds of U.S. teenagers have at least one of the five conditions that constitute metabolic syndrome.
  Exposure to pesticides during pregnancy increases the risk of premature birth, low-birth weight, neurological problems, and diabetes.
  French fries are the most common vegetable consumed by children who are at least 18 months old.
  Lactating cows on a majority of conventional dairy farms are given six or more hormone injections annually to synchronize their heat cycles in an effort to improve the success rate of artificial insemination.  Some are given 12 or more injections in a single year.
  People that closely follow a traditional Mediterranean diet reduce their risk of diabetes by 83%.
  Organically managed Muscadine grapes can produce five-fold higher concentrations of the phytochemical resveratrol, compared to nearby conventionally managed Muscadine grapes sprayed nine times with fungicides.  Moreover, the heightened production of resveratrol can result in roughly comparable suppression of plant disease.
  When the first list of pesticides known to be endocrine disruptors was published in 1993, it included 35 pesticides representing about 20% of the commercially important pesticides at that time.  Today, there are 180 pesticides on that list, accounting for over half of the pounds of pesticides applied in the U.S. and globally.
  Nine of the top ten pesticide dietary risk drivers are endocrine disruptors.

Okay, I am now ready for the brown rice and steamed veggies diet....once I stop feeling sickened by these facts.

PS Summary file posted below for the other data geeks.