When It's OK Not to Buy Organic

10-11-2007 @3:48PM LYNDA said... I like to buy as many organic foods as I can stretch my grocery dollars, but I have to admit, not all produce are created equal. My biggest organic letdown are avocados. I have purchased them in a number of states to prepare meals and every single time I peel these avocados, (you know...like 10 for $10.00) every one of them have rot spots inside. I always buy conventional avocados and BTW, I return the rotten to the core ones to the store w/receipt in hand and exchange them for the non-organic ones.
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10-11-2007 @3:50PM Joanne said... Eating organic is a choice that people make for a variety of reasons, for their own health, taste or better for the environment. Therefore I think a study that tells us it's "OK" not to buy organic is misguided. Organic growing methods are better for the environment so if you want to be environmentally friendly then support organic farming. Taste is a preference so everyone is on there own. Health is also an individual situation and although conventionally grown food is fine for some people others can not tolerate it and must eat organic. And regardless of what any studies show some people have found through trial and error that they personally cannot eat anything but organic. And so, to each their own. Support local agriculture and if you're concerned about the environment, support worldwide organic farming.
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10-11-2007 @4:11PM judith said... It would be nice if those of you who continuously make ridiculous claims about organic food ( pro and con ) would mention WHERE YOU GET YOUR INFORMATION FROM. Some of these postings ( i.e. "organic food is healthier, safer, and environmentally friendly" )are absolutely laughable. Quote from a medical journal and not from junk science reports funded by special interest groups. It is true that the British government in re to nutrition did issue an official and very strong statement that these perceived differences between standard and organic foods DO NOT EXIST. I also question the person who tried to associate obesity with conventional food consumption. Why, when consumption of organic foods have increased (from 1% to an estimated 5-7% ), so has the number of obese people? If what you're saying is true, we should have less obese people, not more..... If you disagree, you are entitled to your opinions, but they are not facts that can be backed up by reliable evidence. If you want to buy organic, that's your business---just make sure that it's ONLY locally grown, otherwise it is not environmentally friendly. DO research where your food comes from. Many organic farms are allowed to use copper fertilizer, which is very hazardous to health. With little to no government oversight, no one knows what is being used for organic pesticide, but I can tell you that treating crops with copper is cheap and readily available to the farmers, who are surely in business to make a profit. I also wonder about the quality of the water used for irrigation of ALL crops. I personally don't buy organic--I see it as a personal choice. The real enemy is not the way that our food is grown, but the junk science that perpetuates ridiculous food scares. We have allowed our media to turn our country into a nation of fear. Stop buying into this nonsense and maybe the "research shows..." articles will disappear. Educate yourselves about how research is conducted, and what it takes for a hypothesis to become FACT, and you will find that about 99% of what we read is FALSE. I think that all of us, no matter what our views may be, will agree to a simple rule of thumb--"Eat everything with moderation, exercise enough to burn off your intake."
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10-11-2007 @6:29PM Organicmania said... Has anyone found a link to the actual article by Weil? I searched his site and couldn't find it. First, I find it hard to believe that he didn't credit the EWG. Their work on ranking produce is well known. AOL should have recognized this too, and credited the excellent team at EWG. Second, the points made about the same dirty water being used for both organic and conventional crops is VERY interesting. It makes perfect sense, but it's not something I had thought of before. I'll be looking into this....Lynn@organicmania.com
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10-11-2007 @6:11PM Tom said... The current craze on buying organic food is one of the biggest scams on consumers in the past 50 years. But there are suckers born every minute, so I can sit back and 'rake in more money'
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10-11-2007 @10:25PM shane said... I think everyone this forum should give this book a read its by Malcolm Beck, Lessons in Nature.
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10-11-2007 @10:38PM shane said... The problem with using non-organic fertilizers and pesticides is that over time the soils and pollution are going to get worse and worse. Eventually humans will become weaker. We start to eat unhealthy plants and animals that eat unhealthy plants which only makes us more unhealthy. Unfortunately because of the whole "green go organic tread" they can charge high prices. And with no government oversight, no telling if the produce is actually organic or not. Maybe Congress could do something to make it a more mandatory way of farming, but I m sure someone in Congress gets a big check or expensive present from the fertilizer companies.
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