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| Why Organic? |
| 1. |
Organic food contains more nutrients |
| | According to a recent study by the Globe and Mail and CTV News of the nutrient
quality of fruit and vegetables, compared to 50 years ago, today’s regular fruit and vegetables
contain dramatically less vitamins and minerals. The average potato has lost 100% of its vitamin A,
57% of its vitamin C and iron, 28% of its calcium, 50% of its riboflavin, and 18% of its thiamin.
Out of seven key nutrients studied, only niacin levels increased. Similar results applied to 24
other fruits and vegetables. For broccoli, all seven nutrients fell, including a 63% decrease in
calcium and a 34% decrease in iron. No wonder we are gulping down the supplements.
In April 2001, however, a US study examined 41 comparisons of the nutrient levels in organic and
regular foods. In every case, the organic crops had higher nutrient levels - 27% more vitamin C,
29% more iron, 14% more phosphorus. At the June 2001 meeting of the American Chemical Society,
a chemistry professor reported that organic oranges contained up to 30% more vitamin C than regular
oranges, even though they are half the size. (Conventional orange trees are fed nitrogen fertilizer,
causing the fruit to absorb more water, which makes them bigger.) In a French study, a cancer specialist
studying the nutrient qualities of food grown in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France showed that
for the twelve foods where his study is complete, the organic foods showed increased quantities of
vitamins A, C, E, and the B group, increased elements such as zinc, increased minerals such as calcium,
and increased fibre. |
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| 2. |
Protect Future Generation |
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Children receive four times the exposure than an adult to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food. The food choice you make now will impact your child's health in the future. |
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| 3. |
Keep Chemicals off Your Plate |
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Many pesticides approved for use by the EPA were registered before
extensive research linking these chemicals to cancer and other diseases had been established. Now
the EPA considers that 60% of all herbicides, 90% of all fungicides and 30% insecticides are
carcinogenic. A 1987 National Academy of Sciences report estimate that pesticides might cause an
extra 1.4 million cancer cases among Americans over their lifetimes. The bottom line is that
pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms, and can also be harmful to humans.
In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated in birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutation.
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| 4. |
Organic food helps fight cancer, stroke and heart problems |
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In a recent study, Scottish scientists found that organic vegetable
soups contain almost six times as much salicylic acid as nonorganic vegetable soups. Eleven brands
of organic soup had 117 nanograms per gram, versus just 20 nanograms in 24 types of non-organic soup.
Salicylic acid is the main ingredient in aspirin; it helps fight hardening of the arteries and bowel
cancer, and is produced naturally in plants as a defence against stress and disease. If plants don’t
have to resist bugs because of pesticide use, they generate less salicylic acid, and pass less on to us.
The same scientists found significantly higher concentrations of salicylic acid in the blood of
vegetarian Buddhist monks, compared with meat-eaters.
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| 5. |
Protect Water Quality |
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Water makes up two-thirds of our body mass and covers three-fourths of
the planet. Despite its importance, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), estimates pesticides
(some cancer-causing) contaminate the ground water in 38 states, polluting the primary source of
drinking water for more than half the country's population. |
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| 6. |
Save Energy |
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Farms have changed drastically in the last three generations, from the
family based small businesses dependent on human energy to large scale factory farms highly dependent
on fossil fuels. Modern farming methods uses more petroleum than any other single industry, consuming
12 percent of the country's total energy supply. More energy is now used to produce synthetic fertilizers
than to till, cultivate, and harvest all the crops in the United States. Organic farming is still mainly
based on labour-intensive practices such as weeding by hand and using green manures and crop covers
rather than synthetic inputs. Organic produce also tends to travel a shorter distance from the farm to
your plate. |
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| 7. |
Prevent Soil Erosion |
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The Soil Conservation Service Estimates that more than three billion tons of topsoil
are eroded from the United States croplands each year. That means soil is eroding seven times faster than
it is built up naturally. Soil is the foundation of the food chain in organic farming. But in conventional
farming the soil is used more as a medium for holding plants in a vertical position so they can be chemically
fertilized. As a result, American and Canadian farms are suffering from the worst soil erosion in history. |
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| 8. |
Protect Farm Workers Health |
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A National Cancer Institute study found that farmers exposed to herbicides had a greater factor of six,
than non-farmers of contracting cancer. In California, reported pesticide poisonings among farm workers have risen an average of 14%
a year since 1973, and doubled between 1975 and 1985. Field workers suffer the highest rates of occupational illness in the state.
Farm workers health also is a serious problem in developing nations, where pesticides can be poorly regulated. An estimated 1 million
people are poisoned annually by pesticides. Several of the pesticides banned from use in the United States are still manufactured
here for export to other countries. |
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| 9. |
Help Small Farmers |
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Although more and more large scale farms are making the conversion to organic practices, most organic
farms are small independently owned and operated family farms of less than 100 acres. It's estimated that the United States has lost
more than 650,000 family farms in the past decade. With the US Department of Agriculture predicting that half of this country's farm
production will come from 1% of farms by the year 2000. Organic farming could become one of the few hopes left for family farms. |
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| 10. |
Support a True Economy |
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Although organic food might seem more expensive than conventional foods, conventional food prices do
not reflect hidden cost borne by taxpayers, including nearly $74 billion in federal subsidies in 1988. Other hidden costs include
pesticide regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and clean up, and environmental damage. |
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Reference
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