Why Organics
Why Organics
Organic Food Contains More Nutrients
More Excellent Reasons To Eat Organic Produce
Ladybugs at Risk!
Children and the Danger of Multiple Residues of Pesticides
Pesticides and Human Illness
Herbicide Resistant "Frankenweeds" Emerge in Canadian Canola Fields
Why Organics
Consumers worldwide are seeking Certified Organic foods as an alternative food choice. Why?
- Organic foods are nutritious and taste great!
- Organically grown foods are produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, hormones or antibiotics.
- Organic certification is the consumer's guarantee that foods are grown and handled according to strict standards that are verified by independent organizations.
- Certified Organic foods are not irradiated and do not contain genetically modified organisms.
- Organic farmers work with nature to replenish the soil for a sustainable future.
Organic Food Contains More Nutrients
According to a study conducted by Bob L. Smith in the Journal of Applied Nutrition, organic foods contain more nutritional value than conventional foods.
Over a two year period, both types of food were selected from a variety of stores and analyzed at the Doctor's Data Laboratories, Inc. in West Chicago.
Element levels in apples, pears, potatoes, wheat and corn were plotted on charts to show the differences between organic and conventional foods.
The organic pears, apples, potatoes and wheat contained, on average, over 90% more of the nutritional elements. If sweet corn levels are included, the average difference is two and one half times.
These elements include: calcium, iodine, copper, potassium, magnesium and sodium. Levels of "bad" elements such as aluminum, cadmium, lead and mercury were also traced and, overall, conventional foods contained more of these "bad" elements.
While the author is clear to indicate the study's limitations due to factors beyond the study's control, such as post harvest handling, the author still concludes that there is significant nutritional difference between the two food types.
For consumers already committed to organics, Smith's study confirms what the taste buds already discovered: organic food is more nutritious. (Journal of Applied Nutrition, Volume 45, Number 1, 1993, p.35-39).
More Excellent Reasons To Eat Organic Produce
This interesting article from eatwellfarms.com in California is another confirmation of the many good reasons to eat organic and reasons to avoid conventional produce.
Our exposure to man-made chemicals in the food we eat is suspected of being a major factor in today's increased risk to cancer. We may try to cut down on processed fast-foods and eat more fruits and vegetables, but even that sensible step can be self-defeating. Non-organically grown spinach, for example, contains more pesticide residue than almost any other fruit or vegetable.
In fact, the Environmental Working Group found that "more than half of the total dietary risk from pesticides...was concentrated in just 12 crops. The pesticides that were found in these foods are classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as probable human carcinogens, nervous system poisons and endocrine system disrupters."
Twelve most contaminated foods:
1. Strawberries
2. Green and Red Bell Peppers
2. Spinach (tie)
4. Cherries (U.S.)
5. Peaches
6. Cantaloupe (Mexico)
7. Celery
8. Apples
9. Apricots
10. Green beans
11. Grapes (Chilean)
12. Cucumbers
But all the news isn't bad. Awareness is growing about the value of organic foods. And if you're eating Ladybug goodies, you are on the right track!
Ladybugs at Risk!
According to Mark Ritchie, president of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, ladybug populations are declining due to genetically modified Bt corn crops. In rural Michigan, ladybugs are an important biological control organism on a variety of crops. Observers have reported that the populations of those local ladybug that feed heavily on corn pollen were at very low levels for the second year in a row. BT corn has been planted in adjoining fields for the last two years. (Eco-Farm and Garden, Fall 1999)
What is BT corn?
This transgenic corn carries a gene for Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a soil bacterium that is toxic to the European corn borer (ECB).
These new corn hybrids make their own insecticide to protect against ECBs. Bt corn accounted for more than 25% of the 80 million acres of corn planted in the U.S. in 1998.
Organic corn and produce, on the other hand, is ladybug friendly and is NOT genetically
Children and the Danger of Multiple Residues of Pesticides.
Children of ages one through five eat about three times more food per unit of body weight than the national average.
An analysis of the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) data on 4,500 supermarket samples of 19 fruits and vegetables taken from 1990 through 1992 found that more than 80 percent of peach, apple, and celery con't on page 2 samples contained residues of more than one pesticide; 10 percent of the servings, even after washing and preparation, had four or more pesticides on them. (Environmental Working Group (EWG), "Washed, Peeled--Contaminated," 1994)
Synthetic pesticide poisons are capable of disrupting the normal functioning of every major organ system in the body, but the nervous system is the most likely target.
Young children are much more vulnerable to the lethal effects of synthetic pesticide poisons, than adults. In testimony before the U. S. Senate Committee on Pesticides in 1992, Herbert Needleman, M. D., said: "There is no question that pesticides impair children's brain functions as insidiously as lead ... When the brain is developing, it lays down connecting pathways. Introducing poisons, such as those contained in pesticides, can fundamentally and irrevocably throw this critical neurological development process off course."
Exposures to volatile synthetic pesticide poisons (even at extremely low levels) are capable of accumulating in the fatty tissue of the body and of causing malignancies and/or persistent over-stimulation of the central nervous system and alterations in brain activity. Children exposed to synthetic pesticide poisons will have more ear infections, colds, bouts of pneumonia, asthma and flu and are likely to become chemically hypersensitive.
Some pesticide-poisoned youngsters will develop chronic, life-long health problems that manifest in reproductive problems and degenerative diseases. Several recent studies have reported on a relationship between childhood pesticide exposure and an increased incidence of brain cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, leukemia and immune system suppression. Sources: National Research Council, "Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children," National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1993. For copies, call 800-624-6242. Needleman, Herbert L., M.D.
Pesticides and Human Illness
Cherie Pitre decided to switch to organic food when her struggle to prevent painful and itchy hives did not respond to a variety of prescription drugs. Within a month of eating organic food, the itchiness stopped and within a year she was fully recovered. (Macleans, Feb. 7, 2000)
Lorna, an organic blueberry farmer in Matsqui, observes her customers testing blueberries for pesticides. As she explains, "They go to another farm and eat 10 berries and they will swell up. People who have those kinds of sensitivities will know right away so they will come and eat here all day."(Welling, August 2000).
"More than half of the total dietary risk from pesticides...is concentrated in just 12 crops: strawberries, green and red bell peppers, spinach, cherries, peaches, cantaloupe, celery, apples, apricots, green beans, grapes and cucumbers. The pesticides found in these foods are classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as probable human carcinogens, nervous system poisons and endocrine system disrupters."
A report published in the scientific journal The Lancet (Dec.18/99) suggests a link between exposure to organochlorine compounds, such as DDT and PCB's, used in pesticides, and cancer of the pancreas.
A recent study by Swedish oncologists has revealed clear links between some of the world's biggest selling herbicides (e.g. Round-up) to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), a form of cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, there has been an alarming 80% increase in incidences of NHL since the early 1970's.
Herbicide Resistant "Frankenweeds" Emerge in Canadian Canola Fields
[More good reasons to eat GMO-free ORGANIC produce.]
Scientists have long said the use of herbicide-tolerant canola would eventually, according to this story, result in super-resistant plants. Now they've been proven right.
The story says that volunteer canola resistant to three herbicide-tolerant canola systems has been found in a field in northern Alberta. Alberta Agriculture canola specialist Phil Thomas was quoted as saying, "We knew it was going to happen. It was only a matter of when."
A series of chemical and DNA tests confirm the weeds in Tony Huether's field near Sexsmith are resistant to Roundup, Liberty and Pursuit chemicals. Canola scientist Keith Downey, who created modern canola, says the triple-resistant canola isn't a great problem, adding, "We haven't created a superweed or anything like that." He said that adding 2,4-D or a similar herbicide to a chemical mix will kill any wayward weeds, noting, "I don't think it means anything to consumers." [note: 2,4-D is a toxic herbicide]
Still, the story says, farmers like Huether have begun to question the technology that led to the canola stew in his field. The gene crossings have prompted him to stop growing genetically modified canola, adding, "I wouldn't say I'd never do it again, but the way I feel, it's for the best interest of the consumer that I don't."
The story says that Huether seeded two fields of canola in 1997. On the west side of a county road he planted Quest, a canola tolerant of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. On the east side of the road he planted 20 acres of Innovator, a canola tolerant of Aventis's Liberty herbicide. The rest of the 140-acre field was planted to a Smart canola tolerant to Cyanamid's Pursuit and Odyssey herbicides. The two fields are about 30 metres apart. The year after he planted the field, he discovered volunteer weeds resistant to Roundup where none had been planted. Double resistance was confirmed the first year. The next year, triple resistance was confirmed.
The mixing of all three herbicide-tolerant types has been blamed on a combination of bees and wind that carry pollen between plants in fields too close together. Huether was further cited as saying he is bothered by the secrecy surrounding the field tests adding, "Many plants were taken and a lot of seeds taken and grown out in the lab and sprayed with herbicide, and DNA tests done on it, and the results are not being made public. I feel that should be made public." Huether points his finger at the close relationship between chemical companies and government scientists, stating, "It's hush hush because research is funded to a large extent by big business. I'm losing more and more confidence in the whole system of research and how things are approved." John Huffman, an Alberta Agriculture crop specialist who worked with Huether to identify the problems, was cited as saying the report will likely be released in two weeks. Article adapted from original written on Feb.10/00 in the Western Producer by Mary MacArthur.www.producer.com /articles/20000210/news/20000210news01.html
bugus@ladybugorganics.com