When is organic worth the extra cost?

If your family is like most, you'd love to eat organic all the time. And why not? Not very many of us are comfortable with pesticides, many of which were approved decades ago, when smoking was a great idea and seat belts were just a suggestion.

The hormones in our meat and dairy products have many of us worried as well, never mind the antibiotics in feed that might be contributing to antibiotic resistance.

But most of us simply can't afford to go organic all the time -- especially in this economy. For those in small towns, 100 per cent organic is not even an option, with the pickings at local stores slim.

So if you have to make choices, which grocery items are worth the extra money for organic and which aren't?

The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., has come up with a list of the produce items that are most worth buying organic, as well as those that probably aren't because they have such few pesticide residues.

Dirty Dozen Buy these organic	Clean 15 Lowest in pesticides
1. Peaches	1. Onion
2. Apples	2. Avocado
3. Sweet bell peppers	3. Sweet Corn
4. Celery	4. Pineapple
5. Nectarines	5. Mango
6. Strawberries	6. Asparagus
7. Cherries	7. Sweet Peas
8. Pears	8. Kiwi
9. Grapes (imported)	9. Cabbage
10. Spinach	10. Eggplant
11. Lettuce	11. Papaya
12. Potatoes	12. Watermelon
	13. Broccoli
	14. Tomato
	15. Watermelon