Take two carrots, one bog standard from a grocery store and one covered with muck from a pesticide free farm, leave them together for a week or two, checking them every couple of days. The results: not surprisingly both will have rotted but how differently. The one from the farm will have rotted in patches from the outside in. After a few days you could probably just cut the rotted bits off and use the rest of the vegetable. The grocery store carrot will have rotted from the inside out. It probably looks pristinely orange on the outside for longer but the inside turns to pulp. I don't know about anyone else but this gives me an icky feeling.
The recent UK FSA Organic review report http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/organicreviewreport.pdf tested organic and non-organic vegetables for their nutritional content only. As it clearly states it did not set out to review the potential health impacts of contaminants such as pesticide and fungicide. Surely it is to avoid these poisons that most people who do buy organic?
If a pesticide will burn your skin what is it doing to your stomach, constantly, in small quantities, over years? There have been many studies showing that most samples of human breastmilk contain pesticides. http://www.dioxins.com/pdf/biological/biological06.pdf being just one of them. Just to be clear though - even contaminated breastmilk is still a hundred thousand times better for your baby than formula. Due to the nature of living life and the human being's amazing power of survival despite the odds, it is not possible to conduct a study showing that if you eat non organic foods you will get cancer or develop Alzheimers and if you eat organic you won't. It is all about minimizing the risk. Your grocery store carrot is still better chopped up and given to your children in their lunch box than giving them a chocolate biscuit but a pesticide-free one will be even better.
I find as a general rule of thumb, things eaten in as close to their natural state as possible are usually a healthier, tastier choice. If you have access to organic veg for an affordable price or can grow your own - great. But if you have to run to the shop at the last minute for your carrots - at least you're cooking a dinner with vegetables.
I would like to see Ireland as a country declare itself completely Organic and ban pesticides, fungicides and herbicides as well as antibiotics for animals. I think we are in a unique position to do this and the exporting and tourist potential from this would be huge. Maybe even get us out of debt. A romantic vision - certainly but I'd be more comfortable about living in this grey rainy climate if I knew all my and my children's food was safe and toxin free and I would be more proud to call myself Irish if the image was green and organic.
The recent UK FSA Organic review report http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/organicreviewreport.pdf tested organic and non-organic vegetables for their nutritional content only. As it clearly states it did not set out to review the potential health impacts of contaminants such as pesticide and fungicide. Surely it is to avoid these poisons that most people who do buy organic?
If a pesticide will burn your skin what is it doing to your stomach, constantly, in small quantities, over years? There have been many studies showing that most samples of human breastmilk contain pesticides. http://www.dioxins.com/pdf/biological/biological06.pdf being just one of them. Just to be clear though - even contaminated breastmilk is still a hundred thousand times better for your baby than formula. Due to the nature of living life and the human being's amazing power of survival despite the odds, it is not possible to conduct a study showing that if you eat non organic foods you will get cancer or develop Alzheimers and if you eat organic you won't. It is all about minimizing the risk. Your grocery store carrot is still better chopped up and given to your children in their lunch box than giving them a chocolate biscuit but a pesticide-free one will be even better.
I find as a general rule of thumb, things eaten in as close to their natural state as possible are usually a healthier, tastier choice. If you have access to organic veg for an affordable price or can grow your own - great. But if you have to run to the shop at the last minute for your carrots - at least you're cooking a dinner with vegetables.
I would like to see Ireland as a country declare itself completely Organic and ban pesticides, fungicides and herbicides as well as antibiotics for animals. I think we are in a unique position to do this and the exporting and tourist potential from this would be huge. Maybe even get us out of debt. A romantic vision - certainly but I'd be more comfortable about living in this grey rainy climate if I knew all my and my children's food was safe and toxin free and I would be more proud to call myself Irish if the image was green and organic.
