10 Reasons to Eat Organic Food
Protect Future Generations
Children receive four times the exposure than an adult to
at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food.
The food choice you make now will impact your child's health
in the future.
Prevent Soil Erosion
The Soil Conservation Service estimates that more than three
billion tons of topsoil are eroded from the United States
croplands each year. That means soil is eroding seven times
faster than it is built up naturally. Soil is the foundation
of the food chain in organic farming. But in conventional
farming the soil is used more as a medium for holding plants
in a verticle position so they can be chemically fertilized.
As a result, American farms are suffering from the worst soil
erosion in history.
Protect Water Quality
Water makes up two-third of our body mass and covers three-fourths
of the planet. Despite its importance, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), estimates pesticides (some cancer causing) contaminate
the ground water in 38 states, polluting the primary source
of drinking water for more than half the country's population.
Save Energy
American farms have changed drastically in the last three
generations, from the family based small businesses dependent
on human energy to large scale factory farms highly dependent
on fossil fuels. Modern farming uses more petroleum than any
other single industry, consuming 12 percent of the country's
total energy supply. More energy is now used to produce synthetic
fertilizers than to till, cultivate, and harvest all the crops
in the United States. Organic farming is still mainly based
on labor-intensive practices such as weeding by hand and using
green manures and crop covers rather than synthetic inputs.
Organic produce also tends to travel a shorter distance from
the farm to your plate.
Keep Chemicals Off Your Plate
Many pesticides approved for use by the EPA were registered
before extensive research linking these chemicals to cancer
and other diseases had been established. Now the EPA considers
that 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of all fungicides
and 30 percent of all inscecticides are carcinogenic. A 1987
National Academy of Sciences report estimated that pesticides
might cause an extras 1.4 million cancer cases among Americans
over their lifetimes. The bottom line is that pesticides are
poisons designed to kill living organisms, and can also be
harmful to humans. In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated
in birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutation.
Protect Farm Worker's Health
A Natural Cancer Institute study found that farmers exposed
to herbicides had a greater risk, by a factor of six, than
non-farmers of contracting cancer. In California, reported
pesticide poisinings among farm workers have risen an average
of 14 percent a year since 1973, and doubled between 1975
and 1985. Field workers suffer the highest rates of occupational
illness in the state. Farm worker health also is a serious
problem in developing nations, where pesticide use can be
poorly regulated. An estimated 1 million people are poisoned
annually by pesticides. Several of the pesticides banned
from use in the United States are still manufactured here
for export to other countries.
Help Small Farmers
Although more and more large scale farms are making the conversion
to organic practices, most organic farms are small independently
owned and operated family farms of less than 100 acres. It's
estimated that the United States has lost more than 650,000
family farms in the past decade. And with the US Department
of Agriculture predicting that half of this country's farm
production will come from 1 percent of farms by the year 2000,
organic farming could become one of the few hopes left for
family farms.
Support a True Economy
Although organic foods might seem more expensive than conventional
foods, conventional food prices do not reflect hidden cost
borne by taxpayers, including nearly $74 billion in federal
subsidies in 1988. Other hidden costs include pesticide regulation
and testing, hazardous waste disposal and clean up, and environmental
damage.
Promote Biodiversity
Mono cropping is the practice of planting large plots of land
with the same crop year after year. While this approach tripled
farm production between 1950 and 1970, the lack of natural
diversity of plant life has left the soil lacking in natural
minerals and nutrients. To replace the nutrients, chemical
fertilizers are used, often in increasing amounts.
To Taste Better Flavor
There's a good reason many chef's use organic foods in their
recipes. They taste better. Organic farming starts with the
nutrients of the soil which eventually leads to the nurishment
of the plant and ultimately our palates.
Taken from Organic Times, Spring
1992
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