OT: Reasons to Grow Your Own Garden

[Guest guest]

Hi y'all,

 

Seems even the so-called Organic products are not totally safe. But

then, I doubt if breathing the air in most places is either.

 

Y'all keep smiling, Butch http://www.AV-AT.com

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Study Finds Far Less Pesticide Residue on Organic Produce

 

By MARIAN BURROS

 

[T] he first detailed scientific analysis of organic fruits and

vegetables, published today, shows that they contain a third as many

pesticide residues as conventionally grown foods.

 

The findings, published in the Food Additives and Contaminants Journal,

confirmed what consumers of organic food have taken for granted but did

not settle the argument over whether organic food is safer than

conventional food treated with chemical pesticides.

 

The debate gained prominence in February 2000 when John Stossel, a

correspondent on the ABC News program " 20/20, " reported that testing had

proved that the levels of pesticide residues in conventional produce

were similar to those in organic produce, making organic claims a fraud.

Though Mr. Stossel retracted his statement -- such testing had never

been conducted -- his report alarmed proponents of organic agriculture

and those like Consumers Union who do not oppose the use of synthetic

pesticides but want stricter standards.

 

Edward Groth III, a senior scientist at Consumers Union and a co-author

of the report, said: " There have been some very strong opinions voiced

about organic produce that haven't been based on data and have confused

the issue. This report shows rather convincingly and compellingly that

organic foods are much less likely to have any residues; that when they

have residues they have fewer and that the levels of the residues are

generally lower. "

 

The findings are based on pesticide residue data collected on a wide

variety of foods by the United States Department of Agriculture from

1994 to 1999, tests conducted on food sold in California by the state's

Department of Pesticide Regulation from 1989 through 1998, and tests by

Consumers Union in 1997. The combined data covered more than 94,000 food

samples from more than 20 crops; 1,291 of those samples were organically

grown, about 1.3 percent.

 

The Agriculture Department data showed that 73 percent of the

conventionally grown foods had residue from at least one pesticide and

were six times as likely as organic to contain multiple pesticide

residues; only 23 percent of the organic samples of the same groups had

any residues.

 

The California data found residues in 31 percent of the conventional

food and 6.5 percent in the organic. Consumer Union tests found residues

on 79 percent of the conventional samples and 27 percent on the organic.

 

FULL ARTICLE: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/08/science/08PEST.html?