Spring Break
Organic farming: healthy or harmful?
Ian Bezek
Issue date: 2/17/09 Section: Opinion
The organic foods movement has rode a wave of popularity to become an important part of our food supply. No longer the domain of merely a few hippies, organic farming has gone mainstream, with stores like Whole Foods and even traditional grocery stores getting on board.
But does organic farming really provide the sorts of benefits that its boosters claim? By and large, the results of the organic movement fail to meet the lofty rhetoric its supporters use.
The most important claim of all, of course, is healthiness. I'd guess that the majority of people that extensively purchase organic food assume that it is far healthier than conventionally produced food.
However, studies that tried to support that claim came back mixed. One study found that organic foods contained higher vitamin content than conventionally grown products. But a large number of studies and experts have come out taking the opposite position.
Take John Krebs, former head of Britain's Food Standards Agency. In a speech, after explaining why people often chose to purchase organic foods, he said, "Now for the question 'Is organic food better for you?' In our view, the current scientific evidence does not show that organic food is any safer or more nutritious than conventionally produced food."
He went on to state that Britain is not alone in this finding and that both France and Sweden's food safety agencies found no difference in organic food.
Later in his speech, he talked about pesticides, chemicals that are frequently criticized, often in hysterical tones, by those who are suspicious of conventional food.
Of pesticides, Krebs said, "It is also possible to produce conventionally grown fruit and vegetables with minimal residues. In fact, residues are not detected in about 70 percent of produce sampled by the Pesticides Residue Committee. And remember that the committee tends to focus on problem crops."
At least as far is produce is concerned, if the idea of pesticides bothers you, simply washing the produce before eating it will get rid of most all the residue. This idea isn't exactly revolutionary; produce can have bacteria such as E-coli on them, so washing your produce is always a good idea.
But does organic farming really provide the sorts of benefits that its boosters claim? By and large, the results of the organic movement fail to meet the lofty rhetoric its supporters use.
The most important claim of all, of course, is healthiness. I'd guess that the majority of people that extensively purchase organic food assume that it is far healthier than conventionally produced food.
However, studies that tried to support that claim came back mixed. One study found that organic foods contained higher vitamin content than conventionally grown products. But a large number of studies and experts have come out taking the opposite position.
Take John Krebs, former head of Britain's Food Standards Agency. In a speech, after explaining why people often chose to purchase organic foods, he said, "Now for the question 'Is organic food better for you?' In our view, the current scientific evidence does not show that organic food is any safer or more nutritious than conventionally produced food."
He went on to state that Britain is not alone in this finding and that both France and Sweden's food safety agencies found no difference in organic food.
Later in his speech, he talked about pesticides, chemicals that are frequently criticized, often in hysterical tones, by those who are suspicious of conventional food.
Of pesticides, Krebs said, "It is also possible to produce conventionally grown fruit and vegetables with minimal residues. In fact, residues are not detected in about 70 percent of produce sampled by the Pesticides Residue Committee. And remember that the committee tends to focus on problem crops."
At least as far is produce is concerned, if the idea of pesticides bothers you, simply washing the produce before eating it will get rid of most all the residue. This idea isn't exactly revolutionary; produce can have bacteria such as E-coli on them, so washing your produce is always a good idea.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
cam hamilton
posted 2/24/09 @ 9:41 PM MST
Here is a place to do more research on the cost / benefits of "organic" farming: seedsavers.org/
As for lower crop yields from organic farming:
squarefootgardening. (Continued…)
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