Stop Your Whining, The Time Has Come to Go 100% Organic.
What are the tangible differences between only eating organic vegetables and fruit compared to eating only conventionally grown vegetables and fruit?
There is a huge difference in the amount of pesticides I will have in my urine. If I had a garden, this could be a bonus — having very easy access both to liquid fertilizer, water, and bug spray; but for me, and I guess for most people, the risks outweigh the utility.
PRICE
The price difference is growing smaller every year. Organic crops are actually expected to be cheaper to produce in a few years because of the ever rising price on artificial fertilizers. This price hike is caused by rising oil prices and increased bio-fuel production. 1
It could be argued that food should not be bought according to the principle “Cheaper is better” — unless we want to risk ending up with melamine in milk or industrial waste in animal feed and cramped conditions for animals. Not to mention a wrecked immune system and a shorter life.
QUALITY
Conventionally grown vegetables also have much lower nutrient values. This was a controversial issue a couple of years ago, but now there is a lot of good studies showing there is a dramatic difference in a whole range of nutrients.
Danish studies have even shown that rats fed organically produced food sleep better, have stronger immune systems and are slimmer. I don’t find that a least bit surprising. Want to lose weight? Go organic, or you will never make it in the long run. 2
The Environmental Working Group and the Natural Resources Defense Council have found that millions of American children are exposed to levels of pesticides that exceed the safety limits.
You would think that there must be some kind of gain involved in using expensive synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and there is: organic farming usually is more labor intensive.
YIELDS
Yields on farms using conventional synthetic fertilizers and pesticides have been declining for the last 20 years. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use has increased to be seven times higher over the last forty years, pesticide use has increased 3-fold and still crop yields goes down. Conventional farming disturb the processes in which nitrogen-fixing bacteria enrich the soil. Crop yields from organic and conventional farms are now about the same in developed countries, and in developing countries, modern organic farming methods could double or triple the amount of food produced in the same amount of space.
CONCLUSION
The verdict is in. There is no doubt anymore. You don’t want to have anything to do with pesticides and conventional fertilizers. The consequence of this realization for me is that I now only buy organic produce. In the rare case that there are only conventionally grown tomatoes to be found, I don’t buy any tomatoes at all. I give my hard earned money only to stores that have a good selection of organic products.
What would happen if a large number of people would do the same thing?
It is a tremendously strong signal to send. And it feels good to punish the food industry for their constant assaults on health and sustainability.
It just ticks me off. Are we supposed to accept the rising levels of developmental problems like, ADD, ADHD, autism etc among children, when we know pesticides and other environmental toxins are responsible? Even the smallest increase in risk of childhood cancer is totally unacceptable.
Fifty different pesticides are used on apples and up to nine different pesticides have been found on a single apple. Who in their right mind would give children a cocktail of hundreds of different pesticides when it has been scientifically proven that these substances have effects at even the lowest levels?
Bees are dying at unprecedented rates and pesticides are suspected of being a factor. A third of all food we put in our mouth has been produced as a result of bee pollination, so it is not as if the demise of honey bees will go unnoticed…
No, the time is right for drastic change. I will not buy a single toxic vegetable or fruit anymore. Even if this means I have to grow them myself or find a farmer that will grow them for me locally. I don’t care about the convenience of having mountains of dirt-cheap industrially produced toxic semi-vegetables in the supermarket if it puts my children in harms way.
- 1 The impact of rising oil prices on organic and non-organic farm profitability – a study by Andersons for the Soil Association, August 2008. ¶
- 2 Industry programmed Our Kids for Obesity, Newswyrdy. ¶
