Organic Food is No Better?

Researchers at Stanford University wrote in the Annals of Internal Medicine, on September 4, 2012, that organic food is not better for human consumption, only more expensive.

Scientists tend to study events in isolation and draw far-reaching conclusions.  Such observations usually have narrow applications that really are more applicable to the internal analytical structure of their originating proposition than to the actual performance of that conclusion in an operating structure with many other factors present.

Let's take a closer look:  Organic is different from non-organic in at least four basic ways.

Pesticides.  There are no pesticides designed to kill “bugs” or “insects”.  Pesticides are poisons with one of three major areas of attack:  1)  The central nervous system, including the brain and spinal chord.  2) the lung and breathing capabilities.  3)  The reproductive system.  They apply to bugs, insects, dogs, cats, children, people.  Everyone knows that an apple a day will keep the doctor away – but apples transmit the highest amount of pesticides to human consumers of any produce. Look up the "Dirty Dozen" on the web. Other members of that list include strawberries, potatoes, spinach, and blueberries.  Be informed. There ARE things you can do to protect your body and that of your family and children.  And you can eat those items if they are organic.

Fertilizers.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs, twelve of the most widely-sold fertilizers used in the U.S. have ingredients know and proven to cause cancer.  Also many fertilizers are made from waste water treatment facilities and and include toxic heavy metals.  Many of these attributes are transferred through to the internal structure of the plant and cannot be "washed off".

Antibiotics.  Antibiotics used in the treatment of medical patients have begun to lose their effectiveness.  New “Superbugs” are also beginning to make their presence known.  These “superbugs” are really not “new” but mainly they are the old “bugs” that have mutated and “learned” how to resist those antibiotics.  The more antibiotics we use as a nation, the more germs will evolve to resist those antibiotics and develop new capabilities.  Now, notice that 80% of ALL the antibodies used in the United States are used on farms to help the animals grow faster, and also to live in the dirty and overcrowded facilities now characteristic of American non-organic farms.  This is especially true for the newer “factory farms”.

Preservatives.  Not added for the benefit of any consumer, but to increase the profit of the producer and marketer.  Many have been associated with brain problems (benzoate, for example),   high cholesterol levels (such as butylates), birth defects (red dye 40), many with skin problems (artificial sweeteners used in soft drinks), and a number of others associated with cancer.  

Even though these various toxin amounts are small they will have some effect on all systems they encounter.  They may also be eliminated more slowly than necessary, and while their effect on a person in their 30s, 40s or 50s may be undetectable for twenty or more years, they may be more noticeable in older people.  In young children these substances may prevent the development of only some of the child’s faculties thus leading to other developmental problems  caused not directly by the toxin but by the delayed development of that faculty, and that will continue to cascade.  And of course, damage to the reproductive system of a child who is two to twelve years old, will not be observable for another ten to twenty (or more) years.  And then any connection between a problem in a child, and its cause in its parent, ten or twenty years later, will be lost in time.