Why Eat Organic?
Conventional and even so-called natural farming routinely douses each acre of an average agricultural crop with 25 pounds of pesticides. But a large number of common crops are deluged with an alarming 300 to 500 pounds of pesticides per acre, and are systematically sprayed by up to 39 different toxic chemicals.
Consequently, according to the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, the pesticides that don’t remain on the targeted crops may do any number of things, including reach surface waters as they are transported over the land’s surface by rainwater runoff; reach groundwater as they are leached into the soil; vaporize and be released into the atmosphere impacting air quality, and get absorbed by the plants themselves.
There are many implications to the possibility that plants are absorbing these pesticides. A plant absorbs most of its nutrients from the soil. The roots of a plant are like straws that soak up nutrients in the soil as well as surrounding chemical pollutants. It’s a cycle with the possibility of dire ramifications: plant ingests toxins, then you ingest and digest the plant. And consider this: during a lifetime, the average American eats about 35 tons of food. So if you’re not eating organic, all of this contributes to what is called the toxic-chemical body burden.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control released reports that indicate the average American carries a potentially harmful accumulation, or “body burden,” of toxic chemicals, pesticides and other environmental contaminants stored in his or her body. Moreover, the U.S. EPA concludes that children are especially sensitive to health risks posed by pesticides because their bodies, brains, internal organs, and immune and reproductive systems are still developing and maturing. Also, in relation to their body weight, children eat and drink more than adults, thereby increasing their exposure to pesticides in food and water.
So, what can you do to protect your children? Dr. Alan Greene, pediatric expert on the clinical faculty at the Stanford University School of Medicine, states, “Feeding children organic food is something simple and practical parents can do right now to protect their children and help them build healthy bodies.”
An eye-opening study funded by the EPA validates Greene’s claim. In the study, children were divided into two groups: those who ate conventional foods and those who ate organic foods. All urine for 24 hours was collected from each child. The children who ate conventional diets had pesticide concentrations in their urine nine times higher than the children who ate organic. These levels indicated that they had “exceeded ‘safe’ exposure levels set by the U.S. EPA and were at increased risk to their health.” During the first three days and last seven days of the study, these children (ages 3 to 11) ate their normal diets. During the middle five days, they were given organic items: fruits, vegetables, juices and wheat- and corn-based processed items, including cereal and pasta. Average pesticide levels in the children’s urine “decreased to non-detectable levels immediately after the introduction of organic diets and remained non-detectable until conventional diets were introduced.”
Gandhi said, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” There is no panacea or silver bullet that will immediately cure the world’s health and environmental problems. However, organic methods have scientifically been proven to be an integral part of the solution. And we urgently need to take an active role in becoming part of the solutions rather than perpetuating the problems. As it has often been said, we’re not inheriting this planet from our mothers and fathers, but borrowing it from our children and grandchildren.
Bob Schminky is the director of marketing and sales for Danny’s Organic Marketplace, Northern Ohio’s only all-organic grocery store located at 8900 Mentor Ave. in Mentor, Ohio. For more information, call 440-255-3141 or visit www.dannysorganic.com.