organic vs regular

for years, i have steadfastly refused to buy organic anything.  to me, it seemed like an excuse for produce markets and distributors to jack up the prices on already-expensive fresh fruits and vegetables.  i scoffed at people who switched to wholly-organic lifestyles.  it all just seemed so silly to me.  plus, my mom (a food chemist) and one of our closest friends (a food scientist) both say that the label "organic" doesn't really mean much. 

and then i got pregnant.  and i started worrying about the things i was putting in my body.  so i decided i wouldn't go fully-organic, but started buying things that are on the "dirty dozen" list as organic.  everything else, though, i still buy as regular.  basically, what's on the dirty dozen list are items that have a soft skin or a bumpy surface that you will actually ingest.  but even as i was shopping for produce using the app on my phone, it didn't really make sense to me.  how could apples and bell peppers be considered "dirty" but tomatoes aren't?  and mushrooms?  those things are like sponges!  they soak up everything!  and yet they're listed on the "clean fifteen."  but i stuck to my app and bought organic strawberries and blueberries and bell peppers.

this weekend, when i talked to my mom, she again told me that buying organic is silly, especially with produce.  just because they don't use pesticides doesn't mean that they're cleaner.  in fact, often times, their cleaning practices are worse because they don't use pesticides - they feel like they don't need to clean as well because there are no chemicals on it.  so i'm going to go back to buying regular produce and cleaning it all myself. 

what are your thoughts or organic vs regular foods?