The June 7, 2004 issue of Time magazine devoted a series of articles on the growing food and obesity crisis in America. In his article, "How We Grew So Big" by Michael D. Lemonick, he discusses how farmers now grow food by high-tech means to make food tastier. This has, once again, made the word organic one of those buzz words. What, exactly, is organic? Can anything truly be organic today?

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), products labeled "Made with Organic Ingredients" must be at least 70 percent organic. Official USDA labels on foods, however, are only given for those with 85 percent or higher (some other sources listed the cutoff as 90 percent).

Organic foods are those grown without hormones, antibiotics, herbicides, insecticides or genetic modification. This usually includes fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meat products. Animals used for meat products are raised on organic feed and are free of antibiotics and growth hormones. Vegetable and fruits are grown in fields that are carefully balanced for the environment. For example, organic farmers will use mulch or manure to smother and control weeds instead of using weed killing herbicides.

It was the invention of refrigerators and freezers that ushered in food processing and added preservatives, snowballing to its present form. Before then, most everything was home grown and organic. Sugar and high-fructose corn syrup is added to much of our processed foods (drinks are the most thought of, but high-fructose corn syrup is also added to many other foods, such as ketchup) simply to make the food taste better. Processed foods, TV dinners and fast food restaurants really took off from when they were first introduced, as people were fascinated with convenience. Today, though, there have been sporadic pushes to go back to the organic way of growing food.

There are several reasons to chose organic. Many people say it's the fear of disease as that's makes them willing to buy organic. According to Eric Schlosser in his novel, Fast Food Nation, approximately 200,000 people in the United States get sick by a food-borne disease every day and many more are never reported to the proper authorities. There have been several food borne illnesses in the news lately: mad cow disease found in a cow in Washington State; mercury poisoning in fish; chickens being destroyed in Texas where bird flu was found and hepatitis found in green onions at restaurants in the east. However, some surveys have shown that US beef consumption has remained steady even with the the mad cow scares in December.

The fear of food-borne illnesses is not the only reason to go organic. Some people believe that feeding children organic foods reduces childhood illnesses, such as ear infections. There are also several recent studies pointing toward cancer and other long-term illnesses being aggravated or even started by chemicals added to food.

In his book, The Truth About Breast Cancer, Joseph Keon finds that, "Studies have shown that foods grown organically have a greater nutritional value than conventionally grown foods. At Rutgers University, researchers studied the mineral quality of conventional produce and organic produce and discovered that, on average, the organically grown foods had an 87 percent higher content of magnesium, potassium, manganese, iron and copper. Organic tomatoes were found to yield 500% more calcium than conventional tomatoes."

I f that is the case, however, why don't more people eat organic? Most experts agree it is due to cost. Organic is usually more expensive than other products.

Fortunately, there are several ways to cut costs. You can grow your own food, whether in your backyard plot or in an urban community garden available in a majority of cities. Farmer's markets and food cooperatives are also more and more common. There you can buy anything from vegetables, fruits, grains in bulk and other homemade items. A lot of people who frequent farmer's markets or co-ops will buy in bulk and can what they can't immediately use in order to have cheaper organic eats all year long.

Before you make the switch or not, it is best to read all the facts. Know what you are consuming and what its long and short-term effects will be on your system. To the left is a list of links that can guide you farther in your study of the Organic vs. Conventional debate.

Effects of Hormones &
Pesticides in Food

Most dairy cows today are injected with the growth hormone Rbst (also known as rbGH), which increases the production of milk. According to a report in The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin By Peter Hardin (February 2, 2004):

"The greatest human safety issue regarding consumption of milk from rbGH-injected cows focuses on a secondary hormone: insulin-like growth factor-one, called IGF-1.

Growth hormones (natural and synthetic) regulate bodily production of IGF-1. IGF-1 is a miraculous, blood-borne "messenger" hormone that regulates cellular growth and function. Increased growth hormone levels (natural or synthetic) mean more IGF-1-spurring metabolism in mammary tissue, bones and elsewhere.

Structurally, IGF-1 is identical for cows and humans. Some IGF-1 naturally occurs in cow's milk. Data suggest higher IGF-1 levels are found in rbGH-injected cows' milk, compared to normal milk. Thousands of research studies probing potential links between IGF-1 and cancer development have been published in scientific and medical journals."

Currently, rbST and rbGH are being condemned by scientists in Europe as causing cancer. Canada has outlawed the use of the hormones in dairy cows, after studies found the residual affects of the hormones were harmful to humans.

The Agribusiness Examiner May 7, 2004, Issue #3446 reports "The poultry industry's widespread use of drugs to raise chickens is exposing people who eat them to more arsenic than previously estimated, according to a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In a paper published [May 3] in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, Ellen K. Silbergeld said arsenic-laced drugs intended to keep the birds healthy might pose an increased risk of cancer for consumers. She also said the drugs could create manure that is contaminating Eastern Shore ground water." > Read the Full Story

> From Pesticide Action Network
Toxic Pesticides Above "Safe" Levels in Many US Residents,May 11, 2004:

"None of us choose to have hazardous pesticides in our bodies," said Kristin Schafer of PANNA and lead author of the report. "Yet CDC found pesticides in 100% of the people who had both blood and urine tested. The average person in this group carried a toxic cocktail of 13 of the 23 pesticides we analyzed."

Many of the pesticides found in the test subjects have been linked to serious short- and long-term health effects including infertility, birth defects and childhood and adult cancer.

"While the government develops safety levels for each chemical separately, this study shows that in the real world we are exposed to multiple chemicals simultaneously," explained Margaret Reeves, of PANNA. "The synergistic effects of multiple exposures are unknown, but a growing body of research suggests that even at very low levels, the combination of these chemicals can be harmful to our health." > Read the Full Story

Additional Resources:
> CNN Special Report
> US Department of Agriculture
> Healthy Me
> Vegetarian Organic Delights
> Pure Food
> Whole Foods
> Organic Kitchen
> About

Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser
Foods that Heal, by Maureen Salaman
The Truth about Breast Cancer, by Joseph Keon, Ph.D.