Are Organic Foods Really Any Safer?

Thalia Assuras Reports Some Scientists Believe Organic Foods Are No Healthier

(CBS)  Shannon Kelly and her husband Eric are about as organic as it gets.

“Organic to the point of being a zealot, yeah,” says Shannon.

After Shannon was diagnosed with cancer eight years ago, the couple started eating organic foods which, to be certified, are grown with few pesticides and no hormones or antibiotics. They believe it's part of the reason she has gotten better.

“My skin looks better. My hair looks better. My fingernails are stronger than they used to be. I mean, it's sort of crazy stuff but at the same time I don't know what to point to,” she says.

The couple is so sure organic is best, they spend 20 percent of their income - far more than the U.S. average -- on what are much more expensive foods.

“I am paying triple, and I really don't care,” says Eric.

Organic sales are surging 20 percent a year in the U.S. The total annual take: some $14 billion. But are organics really healthier and safer for you than so-called conventionally grown foods? The answer might surprise you.

“The idea that somehow eating organic foods is going to make you healthier, I think is just wishful thinking,” says Mark Kantor, a professor of nutrition at the University of Maryland.

He says a crop grown under organic conditions has less pesticide residue than conventionally grown crops. But he says both kinds of crops have only harmless amounts.

“There is no health advantage,” he says, adding “There's really no evidence that you are going to be any healthier in terms of pesticides.”

As for the relative risks of contamination from potentially deadly bacteria like e-coli, Kantor says that organic crops are just as vulnerable to the bacteria as any other plants.

“There really isn't any major difference in contamination between organically grown produce and conventional produce. It's not really isn't an issue.”

Shannon and Eric know that, and that it's critical to handle all food properly.

“I'm still washing my vegetables before I do any preparation with them,” says Eric. “I'm not just kind of taking things and eating them straight out of the bag.”

But they're still convinced organics are the way to go.

“My take on it is, that if you can get away from any man-made additives in food, you've got an advantage,” says Eric.

More and more mainstream retailers are stocking their shelves with organics. But be sure to read the labels and look for the U.S. Department of Agriculture label. There's a lot out there that's called "organic" but does not, in fact, meet federal standards.

[andor3]

Organics are not necessarily more expensive.

It's that our accounting system is broken--it assumes natural resources, clean air and water, and consumer health are all available forever in infinite quantity and there is no cost to using them up or damaging them. It assumes that the cost of producing a crop is only what the farmer pays. But every ounce of pesticide or fertilizer runoff is an expense. Things like carbon trading are bringing this in line.

Maybe if farmers had to pay a pesticide tax the cost of organics would align with reality.

[talkingham]

Evidently many university nutrition departments are bascially bought and sold by the mainstream food industry which funds many studies which are the "bread and butter' of university researchers and departments. How else could the huge issue of trans fats remained under the radar so long without these wonderful trained nutritionists staying mum on the issue until it became a mainstream issue among consumers?

These are the same nutirtionists and MDs who advised heart patients to eat veggie oil magarines laoded with 35% trans fats for years and years.

Evidently theydo not deviate from the talking points with which they are provided by the food industry.

[gaye5]

Above Mark Kantor says that...
%u201CThere is no health advantage,%u201D he says, adding %u201CThere's really no evidence that you are going to be any healthier in terms of pesticides.%u201D
and this guy is a proffessor of nutrition at the University of Maryland.

Wow, all around us we have the evidence of how people are recovering from illness which Dr's say that they are going to die from, and he says that there is no evidence...and this man is a proffessor of nutition??? I would rather take this evidence than any scientific study with their fudging of data etc...
There might not be any scientific evidence on health products but centuries of the evidence from people getting well and seeing how sick people are today even with all our medical advances is enough for me...

[terrapin78]

If these chemicals are not present in the foods, then chemicals WITHOUT a doubt cannot hurt me. Or affect the flavour of the food negatively.

[xenalily]

It is unfortunate that organic fruits and vegetables cannot be more affordable. I eat them when they are on sale at my local grocery store, and they have much better color and flavor than other produce. However, I eat a good diet, with a lot of fresh produce and I can't say that I ever get sick or feel tired. I am not saying that pesticides are good for you, but in this case it should be up to the individual. There are also hormones in meat and in a lot of dairy and it is extremely difficult to monitor every single thing you eat. Ideally it would be great if we could all grow our own fruits and veggies but that is completely unrealistic. I only wish that organic foods weren't so expensive so that people could enjoy them more.

[ecuadoriana]

Of course spraying chemicals is dangerous & unhealthy! No one would spray Raid on their food & then eat it!

The same deadly poisons that are killing the insects, the soil, birds & other wild life (either directly or indirectly from eating poisoned insects & animals), polluting the water from the run off... are the same ones going into your body.

Of course scientists, with their reliance on funding- donations from chemical companies for instance, will be biased & want to promote their benefactors!

I've been growing my own veggies & some fruit organically for years (what I can't grow myself I buy from local organic farmers). I never spray anything on them, I don't use manure. The compost comes from the kitchen scraps from the food I've grown. I don't pull out all of the weeds because it gives the insects a choice of what to eat. If you pull all the weeds then all they have left to munch on is your veggie plants! I rotate the crops & plant insect repelling flowers in with the veggies. I grow only what I need & can share w/friends- that way the "surplus" isn't rotting away somewhere in a warehouse!

[ecuadoriana]

Of course spraying chemicals is dangerous & unhealthy! No one would spray Raid on their food & then eat it!

The same deadly poisons that are killing the insects, the soil, birds & other wild life (either directly or indirectly from eating poisoned insects & animals), polluting the water from the run off... are the same ones going into your body.

Of course scientists, with their reliance on funding- donations from chemical companies for instance, will be biased & want to promote their benefactors!

I've been growing my own veggies & some fruit organically for years (what I can't grow myself I buy from local organic farmers). I never spray anything on them, I don't use manure. The compost comes from the kitchen scraps from the food I've grown. I don't pull out all of the weeds because it gives the insects a choice of what to eat. If you pull all the weeds then all they have left to munch on is your veggie plants! I rotate the crops & plant insect repelling flowers in with the veggies. I grow only what I need & can share w/friends- that way the "surplus" isn't rotting away somewhere in a warehouse!

[karlpound]

One thing not being mentioned here, is you can't feed the world on organic anyway. Spraying chemicals may not be ideal, but everybody in the world can't afford to eat organic; so it beats the alternative of starvation. Its a simple supply and demand issue; you can't get the crop yields growing organically. If every crop was organic there would be a much smaller supply of the basic foods that feed us and the rest of the world.

[ecuadoriana]

Of course spraying chemicals is dangerous & unhealthy! No one would spray Raid on their food & then eat it!

The same deadly poisons that are killing the insects, the soil, birds & other wild life (either directly or indirectly from eating poisoned insects & animals), polluting the water from the run off... are the same ones going into your body.

Of course scientists, with their reliance on funding- donations from chemical companies for instance, will be biased & want to promote their benefactors!

I've been growing my own veggies & some fruit organically for years (what I can't grow myself I buy from local organic farmers). I never spray anything on them, I don't use manure. The compost comes from the kitchen scraps from the food I've grown. I don't pull out all of the weeds because it gives the insects a choice of what to eat. If you pull all the weeds then all they have left to munch on is your veggie plants! I rotate the crops & plant insect repelling flowers in with the veggies. I grow only what I need & can share w/friends- that way the "surplus" isn't rotting away somewhere in a warehouse!

[talkingham]

Corn is one fo th emost sprayed products around and variants of it are in almost every boxed or sweetened food products sold in the USA. Residues of pesticide in corn in addition to the huge amounts of corn products Americans consume without even knowing it are a problem few people are aware of because of the pwoer of the corn lobby.

And I agree the writer of this article is a one-sided jerk who had no intention of writing an article based on fact about organics. I don't always buy organic but I do when possible. Perhaps the author of this article could follow it up with an article bougth and paid for by the food industry on how high frutose corn syrup is better for you than natural sweetners.