Eating organic simply means eating the way nature intended food to be. It is the way the world ate for centuries. The more recent style of production is referred to as "conventional," though organic production has been the convention for a much greater period of time. There was never a need to label food as organic until we stated producing toxic food.
It would make more sense to label food as toxic, including a list of pesticides and other chemicals used to grow the food, rather than need to label normal food as "organic."
When buying organic you make sure that your food does not have enormous amounts of pesticides, has no hormones or antibiotics and is respectful for the earth and environment.
Organic is better for you because you receive:
• Better tasting food. Better nourishment for the soil, goes into the plant and ends on our plate, revealing better flavor.
• Much higher nutrition levels (up to 19 times than non-organic).
• Healthier food. Save yourself from all the possible sicknesses and problems that chemicals, hormones and antibiotics might cause. A 1987 National Academy of Sciences report estimated that pesticides might cause an extra 4 million cancer cases among Americans. In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated in birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutations. The EPA considers 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of all fungicides and 30 percent of all insecticides carcinogenic.
• Look for the “9”. The product number on the sticker on the produce has to begin with a 9 if it is organic.
Organic farms are better for the planet:
• Non-organic food farms suffer from the worst soil erosion in history.
• Protect water quality. Ground water is contaminated with pesticides (some cancer causing) in 38 states, the main source of drinking water for more than half of the country’s population.
• Modern farming uses more petroleum than any other single industry, consuming 12 percent of the country’s totally energy supply. Organic farming is still based on hard human work, from weeding to green manure and cover crops, instead of synthetic fertilizers.
• Most organic farms today are still small and family owned.
• Support a healthy economy. Even though organic might seem more expensive, in reality, it costs more to produce non-organic food (when you include pesticide regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and cleanup, and environmental damage including estimated $74 billion annually in federal subsidies).
• Some food is GMO (Genetically modified), i.e. a lab-invented food. Most common GMO food is soy, corn and canola. This food has fewer nutrients, less flavor and is heavily sprayed. A food that is only good to the pocket of its inventors. Buying organic ensures you dot not get GMO food. Anecdote: I went to a big chain supermarket to buy tomatoes. They did not have organic, so I asked the kind employee if he knows how good these tomatoes are. Many times a farm is in process of becoming organic, or does not spray, but is too small to pay for the organic certification. He highly recommended the tomatoes. He said they are great and can last for at least 2 weeks. Hmmm, I thought, how can that be? Ah, he said. They are made with pig genes in them so they can withstand heavy spraying and will not perish easily. So for all of you that eat Kosher or Halal, watch out! You might be a eating a sinful tomato!
For more information visit:
www.ccof.org
www.organic.org
http://www.organicconsumers.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment