Top 5 Green Products Not to Buy

This story was originally published on AOL on June 23, 2008.

AS MANY ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY shoppers soon discover, going green costs some serious green.

A 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid, for example, will set you back close to $7,600 more than its conventional counterpart. Meanwhile, a gallon of Safeway-brand organic skim milk costs $2 more than the regular $3.99-a-gallon skim. In some instances, it's easy to argue that the extra expense is worth it: The hybrid Honda, for example, gets an extra 15 miles to the gallon and the organic milk doesn't contain potentially harmful pesticides, antibiotics and synthetic hormones. But that's not the case with all green products. While some are downright overpriced, others have yet to prove that they will beneficially impact the planet.

Here are five green goods that aren't worth the added cash:

Problem is that OLED is so cutting edge that it's both pricey and unpredictable, cautions Havlik. The thin screens are fragile, with no guarantee that they'll hold up to regular consumer use. It doesn't help that the lone model on the market, Sony's tiny 11-inch XEL-1, costs an eye-popping $2,500, plus about $8 annually in electricity consumption. In comparison, a 42-inch Philips LCD TV costs about $1,300, plus $29 to run. Prices should come down in a few years, once OLED technology becomes more mainstream. In the meantime, stick with LCD and plasma HDTVs. (Read our story to learn more about buying high-def television sets.)

Save your cash on these "green" grocery items:

"Organic" seafood. Talk about a fish tale, says Stewart. Although you'll see the term "organic" slapped on fish at supermarkets and restaurants, there's actually no such thing. "There is no USDA certification for seafood," she says. "There are too many variables you can't control, like water quality." (Other products that earn the government's organic certification are grown without the use of pesticides, fertilizers, hormones and other chemicals or pollutants, and processed without radiation or additives.) Even farmed fish, like salmon, may require wild food sources — another disqualifier because that feed may have been exposed to pesticides and other pollutants.

Low-pesticide produce. Not all fruits and vegetables are laden with pesticides. Some, like broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower and onions, naturally repel pests. "They just don't need a lot of pesticides," says Stewart. Others, like oranges, avocados, bananas and pineapples, have thick inedible peels that provide a nice barrier and significantly reduce consumer exposure to harmful chemicals.

Hormone-free poultry, pork and eggs. Don't pay extra for chicken just because it has a "hormone-free" sticker on the package. The Food and Drug Administration already requires these foods to be hormone free, citing concerns that the animals may not metabolize synthetic hormones quickly, leading to unsafe levels in the edible tissue, says Stewart. (Pork and poultry products typically use antibiotics to spur animal growth, she says. If you're concerned about chemicals making it into your packaged pork and poultry, look for antibiotic-free food instead.)

(Read our story here for more tips on how to decipher green product labeling).