Organic Foods

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Organic Foods
Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Should Be
2006-02-01
Article Written by: Risa

The trend of organic foods has been growing in a frenzy across America. Major supermarkets, such as Publix and Wal-Mart, now offer a selection of organic foods and a plethora of natural food markets exist to choose from in the Daytona area. Personal health concerns have been on the rise as the general public becomes more educated on common harmful methods of food production. The dangerous, but widely used, approaches of agribusiness corporations are polluting our bodies and our environment at an alarming rate. More and more people are turning to the greater safety of natural foods.

The term “organic food” refers to techniques used in production. Certified organic standards require that no food labeled “organic” can be treated with chemical pesticides, radiation, genetic engineering, or have any contact with sewage sludge. Before 1940, almost all farming was organic. As industrialization bloomed, chemists isolated what they believed to be the most important nutrients in soil. In an effort by commercial food producers to maximize efficiency and profit, synthetic fertilizers were made. Most commercial fertilizers contain high levels of toxins including, but not limited to, arsenic, lead, mercury and dioxin. All four of these examples have been proven to cause serious health problems in humans. Often the toxic levels found in these fertilizers were so high that they couldn’t legally be sent to a public landfill. Current commercial agriculture uses extravagant amounts of precious freshwater. Additionally, recent studies show that as much as 90% of all the surface water in the U.S. now contains some pesticide residue washed off from farming fields.

Dramatically negative statistics have emerged regarding commercial cultivation and its results. Some non-organic farmers, such as some conventional rice farmers, frequently set fire to fields after harvest. The reasoning behind this practice is to reduce disease and insect problems. Unfortunately, the resulting emissions contribute greenhouse gases to our air. Furthermore, while in storage and transit, grains and flours are often fumigated. The residue may then be transferred to people while they are consuming these products. Is a fumigated food really what you want in your stomach?

Organic farmers plant different crops year to year, which discourages bugs that are generally attracted to one specific crop. Rotating crops that way diminishes the need for unsafe manufactured fertilizer, which then lowers water and air pollution. Reaping the same crop year after year also depletes essential soil nutrients and lowers the amount that the crop will actually produce. Even more distressing is that non-organic farming reduces the crop’s nutritional content. For example, studies have discovered that organically grown foods had higher average levels of 21 different important nutrients, including Vitamin C and Iron.

Of the 70,000 chemicals used every day in the U.S., only about 250 can be tested for in humans. What we already know about the small fraction we can test for is a little frightening. DDT, which was the first modern pesticide, was banned in the U.S. in 1972, mostly due to the enormously negative impact it had on the environment and on health. Today, however, it is still made right here in America and exported to be used in other countries as pest control. Ironically, some of that food is then shipped back to the U.S. and allowed for distribution and consumption. Natural foods contain none of this threat due to the certified organic standards. Heavy metals are also noticeably lower in natural foods. For example, aluminum, which has been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, appears 40% less. Mercury, which has been linked to neurological damage, averaged 25% lower. These are only a few on a long list of heavy metals and chemicals that are present in the everyday foods we purchase at grocery stores.

As concerned as we should be individually, focus should also be spotlighted on children, for whom adults generally influence food choices. Even small amounts of pesticides can disrupt the endocrine system (which regulates many important bodily functions) and nervous system (which includes the brain and controls most responses to internal and external stimulus). These disruptions occur at crucial points of human development. Recent studies state that by age 5, millions of children have ingested up to 35% of an entire lifetime dose of cancerous insecticides from the food they eat. Research also dictates that from 1973 to 1990 nervous system and brain cancers soared 32% in children and leukemia rose 27%. Blame has been attributed to the residue on the foods they eat.

In 1987, the Environmental Protection Agency stated that pesticide residue in food is amongst America’s top three most serious health hazards. Commercial agriculture has made few improvements since then. Natural foods frequently cost more, but extra tax dollars often pay for hazardous waste clean up and environmental damage caused by conventional farming.

Not sure where to find a good selection of organic foods? No problem. The greater Daytona Beach area boasts plenty of options. As previously stated, major supermarkets, such as Publix, Wal-Mart, and Winn-Dixie offer organic meat and fresh and canned organic produce. Harvest House Market in Port Orange can give a more complete offering, including many environmentally friendly household items. There is also an organic produce stand on Canal St. in New Smyrna Beach. Not to mention Love Whole Foods in Ormond, one of the largest selections in the area. The list goes on, so try organic foods. They may hold the key to health and prosperity in not only our future, but our present as well!

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