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4. You’re pregnant—or feeding someone who is.

It’s nearly impossible to entirely avoid exposure to pesticides in some form or another, from tainted dust in the air to field runoff in drinking water, but the less contact during pregnancy the better. Eating organic foods during this critical time reduces the overall toxic load of such chemicals on a woman’s developing child. That matters now and later: Pesticides are linked to gestational diabetes in expectant mothers, low birth weight, and increased risk for ADHD in children.

What’s more, studies indicate that babies exposed in utero to common organophosphate pesticides (the same chemicals used in nerve agents during World War II and now widely used in agricultural and household insecticides) have lower IQs beginning at 12 months and continuing into early childhood. Brain scans show that these chemicals can significantly alter the structure of the developing brain.