Organic Food 101

Lesson 4: Why should you eat it?

Your Health and the Environment

My family decided to eat organic, beginning in the 1970s, not because there were pesticide residues on the food. That is probably an important factor in most people's decision to eat organically. But our decision was based on the belief that organic production was good for the earth. And it was based on the decision that organic agriculture was better for the farmers and farm workers who were in the fields every day. Eating organic was like a vote for the earth.

But, as I said in the first section of this lesson, our bodies are not disconnected from the broader environment - - - the air, water, and soil. So, in this final section, I'd like to consider some of the cons and pros regarding personal health and organically produced food. I'll take the health of our bodies to be an indicator of the health of the agricultural system. We are each the coal miner's canary in a cage, so to speak.

Dennis Avery has spent his career attacking assertions and research findings that organically produced food is better for you and the environment. One of his principle claims is that organic farmers apply manure to their crops. Bacteria in the manure, he says, puts consumers at risk to food borne illness such as that brought on by e. coli bacteria. I compost the manure before I apply it to my fields, as do all the organic farmers I know. I also put compost on my fields in the spring, before planting. Most farmers do that also. Some farmers may put compost along the edges of growing plants but Avery never talks about compost. He's always referred to raw manure. Farmers simply don't apply raw manure to crops.

On May 18, 2002 Ronnie Cummins, of the Organic Consumers Association, and Avery both had columns printed in the Charlotte (NC) Observer. Cummins made a number of points about the overall safety and healthfulness of organic foods. Cummins said organic food sales are growing faster than any other segment of the food industry because consumers know they are safer. Here are some of the reasons he gave for the growing preference for organics:

"Consumers worry about filthy slaughterhouses, e-coli, salmonella and fecal contamination. The CDC estimates that 76 million American suffer food poisoning every year. There are no documented cases of organic meat, poultry or dairy products setting off a food poisoning outbreak in the United States."

"Consumers are concerned about toxic sewage used as fertilizer on conventional farms. Organic farming prohibits the use of sewage sludge."

"Consumers worry about untested and unlabelled genetically engineered food ingredients in common supermarket items. Genetically engineered ingredients are now found in 60 percent to 75 percent of all U.S. foods. Although polls indicate 90 percent of Americans want labels on gene-altered foods, government and industry refuse to label. Organic production forbids genetic engineering."

Cummins also points out that consumers are turning to organics because organic certification doesn't allow antibiotic use. The use of antibiotics to promote growth and prevent disease in livestock and poultry has caused the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. Eating organically certified meat is better for you.

"Meat with the USDA organic label will come from animals that haven't been routinely fed antibiotics and growth hormones, and whose feed wasn't grown with synthetic pesticides or fertilizers," write the authors of Is Our Food Safe.

Eating organic eliminates, or minimizes, the risk from poisoning from heavy metals found in sewage sludge, the unknowns of genetically modified food, the ingestion of hormone residues, and the exposure to mutant bacteria strains. It also reduces the exposure to insecticide and fungicide residues.

"Residues from potentially carcinogenic pesticides are left behind on some of our favorite fruits and vegetables - in 1998, the FDA found pesticide residues in over 35 percent of the food tested. Many U.S. products have tested as being more toxic than those from other countries. What's worse, current standards for pesticides in food do not yet include specific protection for fetuses, infants, or young children despite major changes to federal pesticide laws in 1996 requiring such reforms," write the authors of Fatal Harvest.

Reduced or eliminated pesticides, antibiotics, GMOs, and other weapons from industrial agriculture's arsenal are better for the environment - and better for your health and well being.

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