Struwwelpeter: organic or not

AN interesting blog by Jean Moolman – an intelligent American housewife.

“When my son was a baby, organic was a synonym for edible. If the apples I found at the grocery store weren’t certified, I wasn’t buying them.

“I knew that conventional produce could harbour traces of pesticides, and I’d read that pesticides could affect brain development. Sure, the details of this association were hazy. I didn’t know how many pesticides my son might ingest from strawberries, nor did I know whether that amount would do him any harm.

“But in a way, it didn’t matter: shelling out a bit more cash to minimise the risks, whatever they were, seemed worth it to me.

“Fast-forward two years and my son is eating strawberries for breakfast. I support the principles of organic farming, for sure, but it can be hard to consistently pay $7 for a pint of something he’ll go through in two days.

“Plus, I can’t help but wonder whether giving my son organic food really makes a difference to his health, considering that he’s been known to lick the bottom of his shoes, kiss my poop-sniffing dog and eat crackers, someone else’s, off of the preschool floor.

“Instead of continuing to wonder, I decided to dig into the literature and talk to toxicologists, horticulturists, risk experts. What I’ve discovered has totally surprised me – let’s just say I’m going to be a little more relaxed about what I serve kid No 2.

“I want to start off by saying that this column is not about whether organic agriculture is worth supporting for its environmental benefits (I think it is) or whether we as a society should care about the chemicals found in our foods and household products (I think we should).

“This column is about whether it’s worth buying organic produce for your kids specifically because you think the pesticides on conventional produce could harm them. Does giving my son organic food really make a difference to his health?

“It seems fairly clear that organic fruits and veggies don’t hold a major nutritional edge over conventional ones except in that they may contain fewer nitrates and more vitamin C, but there’s little evidence that these differences translate into actual health benefits.

“It’s also difficult to broadly compare the nutrients found in organically versus conventionally grown foods because geography and individual farm practices can impact growth drastically.

“So, let’s focus on that other major claim about organic food – that it’s healthier, particularly for kids, because it contains fewer pesticides. First, let’s start with the fact that organic does not mean pesticide-free.

“As scientist and writer Christie Wilcox explains in several eye-opening blog posts over at Scientific American, organic farmers can and often do use pesticides. The difference is that conventional farmers are allowed to use synthetic pesticides, whereas organic farmers are (mostly) limited to ‘natural’ ones, chosen primarily because they break down easily in the environment and are less likely to pollute land and water.

“I say ‘mostly’ because several synthetic chemicals are approved for use in organic farming, too.

“The assumption, of course, is that these natural pesticides are safer than the synthetic ones. Many of them are, but there are some notable exceptions. Rotenone, a pesticide allowed in organic farming, is far more toxic by weight than many synthetic pesticides. The US Environmental Protection Agency sets exposure limits for the amount of a chemical that individuals (including kids) can be exposed to per day without any adverse effects.

“For Rotenone, the EPA has determined that people should be exposed to no more than 0.004 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day. Let’s compare this toxicity to that of some commonly used synthetic pesticides, like the organophosphate pesticide Malathion.

“The non-profit Pesticide Action Network calls organophosphates ‘some of the most common and most toxic insecticides used today’ are deemed safe for Rotenone.

“In other words, by weight, the natural pesticide Rotenone is considered five times more harmful than synthetic pesticide Malathion. The EPA’s recommended exposure limit for Glyphosate, another widely used synthetic pesticide – you might know it as Roundup – is 0.1 milligrams per kilogram per day, which means it’s 25 times less toxic by weight than Rotenone.

“The synthetic pesticide Captan is 32.5 times less toxic than Rotenone, and another one, Pyrimethanil, is 42.5 times less toxic than Rotenone. “Rotenone is also not the only natural pesticide that out-ranks synthetic pesticides in terms of toxicity. The pyrethrins, a class of pesticides derived from chrysanthemums that are approved for use in organic farming, are more toxic by weight than Roundup, Captan and Pyrimethanil, too.

“Indeed, in a 1989 report, researchers at McGill grew apples using either a mixture of organically approved natural pesticides or a synthetic pesticide. They found that, using the natural pesticides, they could achieve a 75 per cent yield on their apples only if they sprayed the fruit at least six to seven times throughout the growing season.

“Using the synthetic pesticide, they could get a 90 per cent yield with just four sprays. Another more recent study compared the efficacy of two natural pesticides to two synthetic pesticides and found the organic ones to be much less effective against aphids (plant lice) than the synthetic ones.

“Ah, but what about all those studies that suggest that organic fruits and veggies harbour fewer pesticide residues than conventionally farmed produce does?

“Those studies only tested for synthetic pesticides. In the few studies that have also looked for natural pesticides – the USDA’s Pesticide Data Programme tested for them on organic lettuce in 2009, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation tested a handful of organic fruits and vegetables for certain natural and synthetic pesticides in 2010, and the USDA did an analysis of organic produce in 2010 – scientists have found that between 15 and 43 per cent of organic produce samples harbour measurable traces of either natural or synthetic pesticides or both.

“As far as findings other than that, yes, organic produce can be pesticide-tainted, too.

“So, now the question is: are these pesticides harmful to your kids? As any toxicologist will tell you, it’s the dose that makes the poison. In other words, just because both conventional and organic produce are sometimes laced with pesticides doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re doing anyone any harm.”