Organics: Are they worth the $$? - natural foods

Vegetarian Times, Nov, 1999 by Susan Jane Cheney

Anyone who's ever shopped for organic fruits and vegetables and paid two to three times the price of conventionally grown produce has had to ask whether it's worth it. Is that $1 organic lemon really that much better than the three-for-a-buck ones? I've always felt that it was--for myself and the planet--but never analyzed the arguments. I got the chance to, however, when I faced one of the most ardent and vocal opponents of organic food in North America: my father-in-law, George.

My longtime dedication to organic food so irked George that family gatherings routinely turned into a sparring match. We couldn't even agree on our terms. George maintained that all food was organic because it was derived from living organisms. He insisted that he had eaten chemically treated produce all his life and was none the worse for it. These organic labels were a blatant ruse, he insisted, just a scheme to charge more for the same onion, carrot or strawberry you could get for a quarter the price at the A&P. George's cynicism forced me to evaluate the issues I'd long taken for granted and do my homework in earnest. For starters, what exactly is "organic" produce? What makes it preferable to conventionally grown food? And how can you be sure that the produce they say is organic actually is?

LACING UP THE GLOVES

Once I conceded that all food was "organic" by his definition, George was willing to acknowledge that others use the word in a more specific way to describe food produced without the use of chemicals during its growth, harvest, storage and shipping. But George's next point of contention wasn't so easily settled: Why not just rinse off the pesticides, fertilizers and other allegedly harmful chemicals? I explained that while it may be possible to get some of the pesticides off, they aren't completely water-soluble for an obvious reason. Farmers don't want them washed off the crops every time it rains. Furthermore, many chemicals routinely used in farming can penetrate the fruit or vegetable skin and therefore can't be washed off. Peeling helps remove them but eliminates valuable nutrients in the process. And if a wax coating is used to enhance the appearance of a fruit or vegetable, it not only seals in pesticides, but the wax itself may contain fungicides, coloring agents and other potentially unhealthy substances.

George found my arguments sound but hard to believe. How could such a large proportion of our nation's foodstuffs be poison-laced produce? Would the government allow this if there were real, proven dangers? Well, the scientific community does acknowledge that some pesticides commonly used in farming are probable carcinogens, toxic to the human nervous system and disruptive to the endocrine system when consumed at unsafe levels. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) even classifies them as such. The controversial question is, What levels are "unsafe"? The EPA deems the pesticide level found in conventionally grown produce to be safe, but not everyone accepts that decree.

The problem with the EPA's assessment is that each pesticide is evaluated according to its individual risk; the combined effects of various chemicals have never been formally determined. In reality, many different pesticides are commonly found on single servings of fresh fruits and vegetables. On top of that, tolerance levels are typically calculated for adults. They don't adequately protect children, who consume a greater amount relative to their body weight and whose organs are less fully developed. In 1993, the National Academy of Science released the results of a five-year study that confirmed that infants and children are generally more susceptible to pesticides than adults.

AND THE LIST GOES ON

Another reason to eat organic foods is that they taste better. Alice Waters opened her world-renowned Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, Calif., more than 25 years ago with the idea of serving food made from the finest ingredients. She found the best organic farm to grow fresh, seasonal, locally grown produce for her restaurant and gradually added other organic suppliers. Today her model has been adopted by many of America's top chefs and restaurants.

Waters and many other advocates of organic farming also have a commitment to sustainable agriculture, an approach to farming that collaborates with nature to sustain a healthy environment instead of merely "mining" it. Organic methods--such as use of compost and beneficial insects--enhance rather than deplete soil fertility, prevent soil erosion and control pests without poisons. Sustainable techniques also prevent the problem of fertilizer run-off into surface and ground water. Organic farming is labor-intensive, but, on the other hand, it saves the tremendous amount of energy required to produce, distribute and apply synthetic fertilizers.

Organic farming practices also promote biodiversity--the perpetuation of a broad variety of plant species. This simultaneously preserves the balance of nature, ensures extensive consumer choice and protects our long-term food supply. An agriculture that depends too heavily on a few varieties can be devastated if one of those varieties falls victim to some kind of fungus or pest, as happened during the great potato blight in 19th-century Ireland.