A new look at organic food

[Kärnfysikern]

http://www.junkscience.com/foxnews/fn122900.htm

Organic Schmorganic
By Steven Milloy
Copyright 2000 Fox News
December 29, 2000, FoxNews.com

Organic foods are now an official, “USDA-approved” scam. The U.S. Department of Agriculture just issued regulations defining what foods may be labeled “organic.”

The regulations provide that fruits, vegetables and meat and dairy products may not be labeled as “organic” if they are produced with the use of pesticides, irradiation, genetic engineering, growth hormones, or sewage sludge.

Foods that meet the USDA criteria may carry the “USDA Organic” seal as early as next summer.

"Let me be clear about one other thing. The organic label is a marketing tool. It is not a statement about food safety. Nor is “organic” a value judgment about nutrition or quality,” said Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman in announcing the new rules.

Secretary Glickman’s disclaimer is amply supported by scientific evidence and our experience with non-organic or “conventional” foods.

No data indicates legally applied pesticides have caused even one health problem despite more than 50 years of use on agricultural crops — a fact that has even been acknowledged by leading pesticide critic Dr. Phil Landrigan of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.

By killing dangerous foodborne pathogens such as E.coli and listeria, irradiation reduces the risk of food poisoning. Biotech foods approved for human consumption are evaluated for safety before they are allowed to be marketed. Meat and dairy products produced from cows supplemented with growth hormones are physically indistinguishable from meat and dairy products from un-supplemented cows.

Foods grown with treated sewage sludge may seem unsavory, but is organic food grown with cow manure any more appealing? In any event, food grown in treated sewage sludge isn’t a safety problem.

Despite Secretary Glickman’s disclaimer, the rule is intended to do just what he says it isn’t. About one-half of the public already believes that organic foods are healthier, safer and better for the environment, according to opinion surveys. The USDA label only serves to validate and encourage these beliefs. The label doesn’t carry Secretary Glickman’s disclaimer.

That’s why the organic foods industry and its henchmen are so pleased about the new U.S.-government-sanctioned myth. Many activists make livings promoting fear campaigns around safe food while at the same time having personal financial interests in alternative, organic products that benefit from those fear campaigns:

Secretary Glickman announced the new rules at a recently opened Fresh Fields supermarket in Washington, D.C. Fresh Fields is owned by Whole Foods Market, Inc, an organic foods business that pushed for the labeling requirement and markets itself by scaring the public about conventional foods.

Greenpeace just entered the organic foods business, announcing that it will license a line of 12 organic products in Brazil.

After years of spreading fear about biotechnology, Lord Peter Melchett quit as head of Greenpeace UK to join Iceland Foods, a major UK organic grocer that supports Greenpeace. The UK Advertising Standards Authority censured Iceland Foods in May for a supermarket brochure that spread fear about biotech foods, even alleging that biotech foods were linked with deaths.

The Greenpeace-organic foods industry cabal operates in the U.S., too.

Greenpeace’s U.S. and U.K. operations share the same public relations outfit, Fenton Communications — the firm credited with starting the 1989 hysteria over alar in apples. Fenton represents organic foods businesses, such as ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc., working to scare consumers about dairy products from cows treated with recombinant bovine growth hormone.

Mark Ritchie, a key organizers of anti-biotech and anti-conventional agriculture activist campaigns through the Institute for Agriculture Trade Policy, Genetically Engineered Food Alert, Crop Choice Coalition and biotech_activist Listserv, also runs a for-profit organic coffee company whose sales increase with each new food scare.

Craig Winters, an activist demanding labels on biotechnology-produced foods, is also a lobbyist and marketing consultant to the organic food industry. Mr. Winters has publicly stated his goal is to achieve a ban on biotechnology crops through labels. His list of organic and natural products financial ties is easily found at his web site, yet few challenge his motives.

The president and members of the board of directors of Genetic-ID, the firm now famous for helping Friends of the Earth discover that some taco shells contained unapproved — but safe — biotech corn, also run a wide range of organic and natural products and services companies.

They belong to a quasi-religious cult that promotes organic agriculture and a political movement, the Natural Law Party. The NLP platform promotes organic methods and attacks biotechnology.

Each food scare they help promote with clients such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace increases the cash flow into their various other interests.

Where does this cash come from? Consumers who are suckered into buying organic.

Organic foods cost an average of 57 percent more than conventional foods, according to Consumer Reports. These higher costs could amount to $4,000 annually for a family of four, according to the USDA.

Organic foods should just be labeled. “Ripoff!”

Steven Milloy is a biostatistician, lawyer, adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and publisher of JunkScience.com.

[novastepp]

hmmm. good read, i had a lady do a speech on organic foods last fall, and i noticed that some ingredients on her example foods seemed to be...well... a little less than natural.

[kman]

just skimmed through the article, so basically there is no such thing as organic food?. I mean I try and eat organic and Have seen many studies that prove it to be healtier. It just make more sense not to eat food that has pesticides in it, and shoT up with steriods. I think some companies might claim they are organic and might not be. Also organic meat is hands taste better. whole foods is great

[ascendant]

great read bro. i do have to say the article makes pretty good points, but it is not accurate, or at bare minimum is misleading.

though i do not have any studies on hand indicating the negative health effects pesticides and other "non-organic" products have, obviously pesticides are toxic and if we consumed them in large quantities, it would most likely kill us. now, no matter how well you wash the fruits/veggies, a small amount of those pesticides have been absorbed by the produce and you will be digesting them. no need to get technical here, but common sense would indicate it's similar to smoking... though the toxins are in very small quantities and don't have any immediate negative health effects, taking in small quantities of toxins over time certainly will have a negative impact on our bodies in the long run.

in addition, i know there has been innumerable confirmed studies indicating that organic foods contain far more micronutrients in comparison to non-organic. the numbers are substantial, and considering most of us consume fruits and veggies for those micronutrients, in a sense, we're getting more for our money with the organic foods nutritionally. if you're looking at quantity, yes, organic is more expensive. but, when you break it down to what counts, organic is well worth the extra cost and you would more likely get far more nutrients within the produce from organic for the same (if not less) money.

a big thing to take into consideration is even though most big businesses that are in the food industry would like you to believe otherwise, the general publics overall health is at a decline. though we tend to live longer, more and more people every year are becoming dependent on more and more meds to stay alive. we're not improving, we're declining. most people at age 70 and up aren't "living" IMO. they're barely clinging onto life, and in a drug-induced daze thanks to the pharmaceutical industry.

meds are only covering up that fact. obviously something has to be causing the increases in illness and general decline in health. though inactivity due to technological advances is obviously a contributing factor, i certainly think all the food on the market nowadays is certainly contributing as well. personally, i believe non-organic produce may very well be a part of it, but i'd have to do some research on the subject to be certain.

one thing i do unquestionably find interesting about the information is that it shows you that even though most people promoting organic foods make it seem as if they're genuinely concerned about peoples health, many of them are no better than any other big business and are simply targeting you with their financially motivated propaganda.

[Kärnfysikern]

great read bro. i do have to say the article makes pretty good points, but it is not accurate, or at bare minimum is misleading.

though i do not have any studies on hand indicating the negative health effects pesticides and other "non-organic" products have, obviously pesticides are toxic and if we consumed them in large quantities, it would most likely kill us. now, no matter how well you wash the fruits/veggies, a small amount of those pesticides have been absorbed by the produce and you will be digesting them. no need to get technical here, but common sense would indicate it's similar to smoking... though the toxins are in very small quantities and don't have any immediate negative health effects, taking in small quantities of toxins over time certainly will have a negative impact on our bodies in the long run.

Yeah thats why I am a big supporter of GMO food so they can use just one more friendly pesticide in smaller dosages.
I guess the best way to know if the pesticides are harmfull or not is a big study on the farmers that is using them. Its safe to say that they are exposed to it the most.

Also some of the pesticides degrade into non toxic compounds fairly quickly. I dont know if there already is pesticides like that around. But they should develop one that degrades within say a day or two so that the pesticide isnt left in the fruit when its on the shelfs.

in addition, i know there has been innumerable confirmed studies indicating that organic foods contain far more micronutrients in comparison to non-organic. the numbers are substantial, and considering most of us consume fruits and veggies for those micronutrients, in a sense, we're getting more for our money with the organic foods nutritionally. if you're looking at quantity, yes, organic is more expensive. but, when you break it down to what counts, organic is well worth the extra cost and you would more likely get far more nutrients within the produce from organic for the same (if not less) money.

Agreed. But this is more a matter of what is used as a fertiliser on the non organic farms. If they used better fertilisers the mineral and vitamin content would be the same. Honestly I have no clue why they dont do that. I guess better fertilisers cost a few cents more

a big thing to take into consideration is even though most big businesses that are in the food industry would like you to believe otherwise, the general publics overall health is at a decline. though we tend to live longer, more and more people every year are becoming dependent on more and more meds to stay alive. we're not improving, we're declining. most people at age 70 and up aren't "living" IMO. they're barely clinging onto life, and in a drug-induced daze thanks to the pharmaceutical industry.

meds are only covering up that fact. obviously something has to be causing the increases in illness and general decline in health. though inactivity due to technological advances is obviously a contributing factor, i certainly think all the food on the market nowadays is certainly contributing as well. personally, i believe non-organic produce may very well be a part of it, but i'd have to do some research on the subject to be certain.

Defenelty agree. Something is fishy in todays society. I put most of the blame on the refined sugars and trans fats though. But we certanly live in a environment swamped with toxins. Especialy those living in the larger cities.

one thing i do unquestionably find interesting about the information is that it shows you that even though most people promoting organic foods make it seem as if they're genuinely concerned about peoples health, many of them are no better than any other big business and are simply targeting you with their financially motivated propaganda.

Yeah. IMO greenpeace and similar(se my signature lol) is no better than the companies they are against. Most environmental groups are just a bunch of nutcases that have no grip on reality and know nothing at all about the science and technology they hate so much. They do far more harm than good.

Its very interesting to read the articles on this page http://www.greenspirit.com/index.cfm its the page of greenpeace co founder Patrick Moore. He withdrew from greenpeace because fanatics took over it.

The one thing that makes me buy organic fruits though is that they taste SO MUCH BETTER.

[ascendant]

Yeah thats why I am a big supporter of GMO food so they can use just one more friendly pesticide in smaller dosages.
I guess the best way to know if the pesticides are harmfull or not is a big study on the farmers that is using them. Its safe to say that they are exposed to it the most.

excellent call. as far as testing the farmers though, not sure if you meant the actual owners of the farms or the field hands there. most of the farm owners would be well more aware of the potential dangers of exposure to the pesticides and would try to stay away from them as much as possible or at least take necessary precautionary measures. their field hands on the other hand would most likely have significant exposure and that would be a great place to start. never thought of that, but a great idea johan.

Also some of the pesticides degrade into non toxic compounds fairly quickly. I dont know if there already is pesticides like that around. But they should develop one that degrades within say a day or two so that the pesticide isnt left in the fruit when its on the shelfs.

interesting. honestly, i don't know that much about the pesticides and exactly how they work. however, even if the pesticides do break down into non-toxic components by the time they hit the shelves, there's still the after-effects of them having been there. they may be a contributing factor towards the nutrient deficiency and the dulling of the taste, though i do agree with what you said in regards to that possibly simply being caused by the fertilizers used for organic foods.

who knows what kind of chemical interactions can happen depending on the produce and pesticide? even if the pesticide breaks down to non-toxic chemicals in a lab, on certain produce, there may be certain things found in that produce that may lengthen that breakdown time, or make it breakdown into something different.

also, you are what you eat, and that produce is consuming those pesticides which i would imagine must have at least some kind of negative health effects on that produce which will in turn affect us.

Agreed. But this is more a matter of what is used as a fertiliser on the non organic farms. If they used better fertilisers the mineral and vitamin content would be the same. Honestly I have no clue why they dont do that. I guess better fertilisers cost a few cents more

yea, god forbid big business doesn't make that extra $5000 a year by using fertilizer. don't really know if that alone would be the solution to the problems, but it would be interesting to see if that would improve the nutritional content and taste back to where it should be or if the pesticides would still leave it deficient in either area?

Yeah. IMO greenpeace and similar(se my signature lol) is no better than the companies they are against. Most environmental groups are just a bunch of nutcases that have no grip on reality and know nothing at all about the science and technology they hate so much. They do far more harm than good.

yea, i actually never knew what that "greenpeace" thing in your sig was about till this post. now i know. completely agree with all this. they need to research more into what they're arguing against. i see so many arguments about using "all natural" products which are just completely incorrect. yes, they will get simple-minded tree-huggers with their methods, but they need to be more honest, as in time they're killing many of their reputations by giving out false information. not to say they're any worse than other big business, but they're certainly no better.

Its very interesting to read the articles on this page http://www.greenspirit.com/index.cfm its the page of greenpeace co founder Patrick Moore. He withdrew from greenpeace because fanatics took over it.

to be honest, i don't even wanna know about all the drama there, lol. i know you well enough to just take your word on it bro. the guys just need to spend less time hugging trees and more time in labs proving themselves instead of just getting high and making something up.

The one thing that makes me buy organic fruits though is that they taste SO MUCH BETTER.

i couldn't agree more. between that, the higher nutritional content, along with other health concerns, i do buy organic when i can. however, i don't buy 100% organic cause i'm just not a fanatic about it. if the health food store has some organic produce i need, great. if not, i'm getting it at my local walmart/publix.

hey, great talking with you again johan. interesting read, and gave a lot more info on some things i just never even thought to look into. hopefully down the road more extensive studies will be done on all this to help clarify all the facts behind both organic and non-organic.