The Cornucopia Institute released a report today making the compelling case for protecting children’s health and development by choosing organic foods over their conventional, chemically grown and produced counterparts.

The report, Protecting Children’s Health: Choosing Organic Food to Avoid GMOs and Agricultural Chemicals, cites scientific data from numerous peer-reviewed, published studies that all point to the importance of protecting children from pesticide exposure.

“We wanted to compile the scientific data on organic vs. conventional foods and make it accessible to parents and other caregivers,” says Mark A. Kastel, Cornucopia’s codirector. “Parents are fortunate that an alternative to pesticide- and drug-intensive agriculture exists. We can opt out of Big Ag’s uncontrolled experiment on our children by choosing organic foods.”

The “organic” label on foods is federally regulated and third-party certified. Organic farmers are strictly prohibited from using most synthetic inputs, including neurologically toxic pesticides and a host of synthetic drugs, including antibiotics, hormones, and other growth promoters administered to livestock.

“I recommend that pregnant women and parents of young children feed them organic whenever possible,” says Victoria Maizes, MD, executive director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and professor of Clinical Medicine, Family and Community Medicine, and Public Health at the University of Arizona.