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Article #8: The nutritional value of the organic food

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Everywhere we look we see maximum residue level in most studies, it
‘organicà is not strictly correct to claim that
ƒÆ’¢â‚¬â„¢. conventional food is more contaminated
From the supermarket shelves to headline than organic food. There are studies
news, showing a lower pesticide content in
‘organicà organic food and others that show no
ƒÆ’¢â‚¬â„¢ is difference in pesticide content.
a term that is fast flooding our domestic Organochlorine pesticides provide a valid
kitchens, has high priority on our platform for research as they are
political agenda and is part of our persistent and degrade very slowly and
everyday lives. When we consider what are thus more likely to remain as
organic produce represents to us, we know residues than other kinds of pesticides.
that organic carrots invariably cost more However, when no one knows what long-term
than conventionally grown carrots and effect pesticides may have on our health,
that we should be extra-cautious when
‘organicà Government advisors say that pesticide
ƒÆ’¢â‚¬â„¢ residue levels are safe.
produce seems to be the buzzword amongst Some Hard Evidence Against Pesticides The
top chefs of today, but do we know what banning of lindane across the EU shows
bearing eating an organic diet has on our considerable action against its
health and well-being? Is organic food detrimental effects.
nutritionally ‘We have
‘betterà been warning for many years that lindane
ƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ for should be
us? Is it safer? Is there any evidence? bannedâ€â„Ã
This abundance of ‚¢, said David Buffin of PAN UK.
‘organicà ‘This
ƒÆ’¢â‚¬â„¢, insecticide was developed in the 1940s
lack of public knowledge, the nutritional when cheap and relatively hazardous
validity debate and the controversy chemicals were considered acceptable. It
surrounding the topic led me to look into should have no place in the 21st
it further. In knowing that the century.â€ââ€Å
consumption of organic food is a ¾Ã‚¢ Lindane has been described by the
relatively new phenomenon, there can be International Agency for Research on
little or no research that has been Cancer as a possible human carcinogen and
carried out on people who have eaten has been linked with breast cancer and
organically for a prolonged period of birth defects. The Standing
time, therefore making it difficult to Committeeâ€ââ€
access the health benefits. This makes a žÂ¢s vote followed a report written
starting point for analysis somewhat for the EU by the Austrian government in
sceptical. With this, we must consider 1998, which concluded that there was no
that it is aspects of lifestyle on the safe limit of exposure for lindane and
whole that add consequence to an recommended a Europe-wide ban.
individualâ€ââ₠Data from published literature suggests
¬Å¾Ã‚¢s health and well-being. that: •
(Editorâ€â lindane can have effects on female
¢s note: see especially the previous hormone levels, and can also affect
article Which Food is Best?). sexual behaviour;
When we live in a world of toxins and • oral
contamination, in order to evaluate a dose levels of greater than or equal to
personâ€â„à 10mg/kg body weight/day cause behavioural
‚¢s changes in developing rats;
‘healthà • lindane
ƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ induces increased irritability and
status we must account not only for impairs spontaneous and conditioned
nutrition but for everything from air and behaviour in rats;
water pollution to stress levels and •
genetic influence. However, whilst there epidemiology studies examined in the
is no sound research history on the report included toxic effects on blood,
nutritional values of organic food, on genes, and association with cancer or
judging by the increasing levels of birth defects. None of the studies
organic farm conversion in the UK provided causal links because of either
– insufficient details of dose or exposure
180,000ha1 in 1999 to 540,191 ha2 to lindane or because exposure to other
currently chemicals (mostly other organochlorines)
– occurred simultaneously;
it is clear that there is a steep marked •
increase in popularity. carcinogenicity studies in mice indicate
Similarly, in the US, organic food sales that exposure to lindane increased the
are currently at about $6 billion with incidence of liver and lung tumours.
future growth rate estimated at 20-25%. Despite these suggestions, it is
The Soil Association has developed from important to remember that the report
the philosophy where says none of the mouse cancer studies
‘organic were fully adequate because of deficient
agriculture is a safe, sustainable experimental design and insufficient
farming system, producing healthy crops documentation on the results.
without damage to the The Debate over the Nutritional Value of
environmentâ€âââ Organic Food When the Food Standards
‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ and Agency produced a paper in September
‘animals 2000, suggesting there is no evidence in
are reared without the routine use of the support of the nutritional superiority of
array of drugs, antibiotics and wormers organic food, or of its relative safety,
which form the foundation of most an extreme reaction was provoked. The
conventional livestock HDRAâ€â„ÂÂ
farmingâ€â„ ¢s (Henry Doubleday Research Association)
¢; it has become the official stamp of Chief Executive, Alan Gear, was amongst
organic produce in the UK. With this we those who attacked the paper as being
can be sure that the growing of an misleading and inaccurate.
organic vegetable avoids the use of “I
artificial chemical fertilizers and can’
pesticides on the land. t imagine how the Food Standards Agency
We know, therefore, not so much what the reached its
vegetable does contain but rather what it conclusions,â€ïÂ
does not contain. ¿Â¾ said Mr Gear.
Is Pesticide-Free Organic Food Safer Than “Only
Conventionally Farmed Foods? Most of our last year a House of Lords report on
food is produced on an industrial scale, organic farming referred to a review of
using artificial fertilizers 150 scientific investigations that
– confirmed that organic vegetables
which leach into and contaminate generally contain higher levels of
groundwater, lakes and streams vitamins and less nitrate. And a new
– report from the Food and Agriculture
and pesticide, herbicide and fungicide Organization has shown that organic foods
chemicals, which carry poison/ hazardous have lower levels of pesticides and
warnings on their containers and require veterinary drug
protective clothing and a licence when residues.â€ï¿Ã
used. The cumulative long-term effects of ‚¾ He went on,
exposure to pesticides in our daily lives “I
are still vastly unknown. However, some would have thought it self-evident that
pesticides, like lindane and carbendazim, crops produced using pesticides, however
which until now have been used in the UK, carefully applied, are more likely to
are known to have hormone-disrupting contain harmful residues than organic
effects. crops where such chemicals are banned.
Also, last year, the Royal Society The
published a report on hormone-disrupting Governmentâ€âââ‚
chemicals and recommended a precautionary ¬Å¾Ã‚¢s own regular monitoring of foods
approach. In particular they said that for pesticides typically detects residues
measures should be taken to ensure in a third of all
pregnant samples.â€ï¿Â
womenâ€℠¾ HDRA, which is in the middle of a
¢s exposure to these chemicals is detailed review of scientific evidence
reduced. By eating organic food exposure published worldwide on the difference
to xenoestrogens is reduced and therefore between organic and chemically grown
the risk of hormone disruption is food, has found that, unlike here in the
minimized. UK, a considerable amount of research is
A diet of organic food should eliminate under way on the continent. The HDRA
the main source of exposure to study should be completed by the end of
pesticides. Such is the emphasis on the year and the key findings will be
eliminating pesticides from food that made public. More sophisticated
charities such as Sustain analytical techniques are being developed
– which show up subtle differences between
the alliance for better food and farming organic and conventional produce. What is
– needed, though, is more work into
are running campaigns like the Organic potential links between the quality of
Food & Farming Targets Bill. This aims to food and health.
‘have a Warning
strategy in place to ensure 30% of land –
is in organic production and 20% of the Supermarket manipulation The availability
food we eat is organic by of supermarket organic food is speeding
2010â€℠up faster than we know what to do with
¢. Sustain consider that demand for it. The manipulation of information in
organic food in the UK is growing at 40% marketing campaigns includes an organic
each year, but around 70% of organic food range of burgers, chips, cakes and
is imported. biscuits. Whilst we are learning the
In this case our UK farmers are clearly benefits of fresh organic foods,
losing out and this is the motivation supermarkets are misleading us into
behind the Targets Bill where aims for believing that if a burger is marked
increased organic production are ‘organicÃ
calculated by looking at the current ƒÆ’¢â‚¬â„¢
growth in demand and by studying the then it is good for us.
progress of other European countries. According to the Food Commission, 50% of
Sweden, which has the greatest proportion teenagers today eat three or four burgers
of in-conversion organic land, currently every week and so it seems vital, in the
11.2%, set targets during the 1990s. first instance, to educate towards a
Sustain see these targets as realistic healthy, balanced diet. Due to market
and achievable goals for the UK manipulation, we must be extra careful in
Government to work towards, and where our understanding of nutritionally
enquiries to the Organic Conversion healthy organic foods.
Information Service (OCIS) for England Plastic packaging retains organic
have more than doubled, from 111 in integrity by reducing cross-contamination
February 1997 to 290 in February 2000, and creating a micro-climate. The
the interest is most definitely there. micro-climate helps to retain moisture
In September 2000, Friends of the Earth (especially effective with leafy
published news from a government report vegetables such as lettuce and cabbages);
that there has been a significant however, as it also preserves the produce
increase in the quantity of fresh fruit for longer, we should be aware of the
and vegetables containing pesticide shelf-life of organic vegetables in our
residues. Traces of pesticides were found supermarkets. After three or four days
in 43% of fresh fruit and vegetable the nutritional value of organic
samples. Last vegetables can be in deficit due to the
yearâ€℠damaging effects of decay. In this case,
¢s figure was 33%. The results are the potential benefits, as perceived by
contained in the 1999 report from the researchers at Rutgers University, USA,
Working Party on Pesticide Residues. of organic foods having an 87% higher
Sandra Bell, Real Food Campaigner at content of magnesium, potassium,
Friends of the Earth, said: manganese, iron and copper,13 are
‘The effectively lost. We should therefore be
public will be dismayed to learn that careful to examine our packaged organic
almost half the fresh fruit and vegetables before buying.
vegetables they are eating contain In early 2000 there were reports in the
pesticidesâ€ââ₠press that a team from the University of
¬Å¾Ã‚¢. Copenhagen had found conclusive evidence
Farmers and local authorities together that organically grown plants contained
used nearly 25,744 tonnes of pesticide higher levels of nutrients than those
active ingredients in the UK during 1999, grown by conventional methods. However,
made up of some 400 different pesticide we must bear in mind that this was a very
chemicals. A proportion of this total specific study looking only at one small
ends up in water sources and therefore component, polyphenols, in a few foods.14
infiltrates into our conventionally It is clearly undeniable that there are
farmed food chain. However, regulators large gaps in the research on the health
are now realizing that the presence of benefits of organic food. The best way to
some pesticides in water, however fill these gaps would be to carry out
carefully farmers use them, is almost well-designed epidemiological studies of
inevitable even on organic farms. Careful health outcomes in people. The next best
use can reduce the amount of pollution, way is to improve the quality of the
but can never prevent it completely. In nutrient content studies by agreeing a
fact, each year it costs water companies protocol that takes all the important
over L100m to clean up pesticides from variables into account and that avoids
our water the biases of many of the existing
– comparative studies. Such variables
this cost is passed on in water bills. include the array of products used for
Levels of Pesticide Residues analysis, the moisture content of the
– food (this affects the levels of all
Proving Unsafe? Although rare, pesticide nutrients), the age of the samples, the
residues have been detected in organic soil the food was grown in and how the
food in some MAFF surveys. Organic food food was stored, processed and cooked
can be contaminated with pesticides by before it was analysed.
cultivation on previously contaminated One thing is certain, modern living
soil; by unauthorized use of pesticides continually bombards us with chemicals
by the organic farmer; by spray drift –
from nearby conventional farms; by so if we can make certain choices that
application of contaminated sewerage result in putting less of these into our
sludge or by contamination during bodies, why not make them. By eating
transport, processing and storage. fresh organic foods we are making those
As pesticide levels in conventional food choices.
have been either negligible or below the






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