Environmental campaigners have been branded as 'scaremongers' for their latest attempts at fundraising.
A mail out from Friends of the Earth has caused outrage within the fresh produce industry for what it describes as playing on peoples fears over pesticide residues.
The FoE letter, sent out to supporters, claimed its independent research revealed that internationally agreed safety levels on pesticides can be breached, even when legal government set limits of pesticide residues were met.
It stated: "Most worryingly, we found that up to 200 children a day could be consuming potentially dangerous levels of pesticides, simply by eating a single apple or pear."
The letter goes on to ask for a donation of £15 to 'help protect your health' by ensuring FoE has the funds to lobby government on the issue.
David Southwell, spokesman for the British Retail Consortium, said: "This is an appalling piece of scaremongering, playing on people's fear of food safety, particularly in relation to children.
"We all know that the pesticide regime in the UK and the EU is incredibly well regulated. This strikes us as a piece of scaremongering propaganda linked to fund raising."
The letter has also angered producers, and Adrian Barlow, chief executive of English Apples and Pears, branded it as scare tactics.
"There are huge safety margins built into the maximum residue levels. The Pesticides Safety Directorate will set the maximum levels as x, but the level of harmful effect will be many times that figure.
"The whole thing is extremely damaging and misleading. What it's doing can only be best described as scare tactics and inevitably this kind of propaganda will have some effect on consumers and will simply make them move away from eating fruit and veg."
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "The health benefits of eating fruit and vegetables outweigh any health risks from pesticides."
However Friends of the Earth stood by their claims and defended its mail out. Sandra Bell, pesticides campaigner, said the letter had been sent to FoE supporters and was not aimed at the general public.
"The government tests blended batches and not individual fruit, but some individual fruit can contain much higher levels of pesticides than others. This means that with the government testing, the fruit could still be within the established MRL but still above internationally agreed safety levels. Growers are often not even aware they are exceeding the limits."
She refuted claims they were trying to put people off eating fruit and veg and said the mail out encouraged people to buy British produce above imported.
"We clearly state people should not reduce their consumption. We urge people to eat organic or British produce. We need government action on the issue, for the FSA or the DoH to say its not a problem, I find that alarming."
She also said retailers needed to help growers reduce the use of pesticides by being more flexible on cosmetic standards.
Alan McCutchion, president of the Fresh Produce Consortium, said: "This sort of thing doesn't bring anyone any benefit. If things are taken to too much of an extreme the public won't know what they can or can't eat.
"We're happy to get closer to Friend of the Earth and have a dialogue with them to share views and information to avoid things like this."
