Organic is better.

Organic" is a term that I would like to refer to as producing food without the employment of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides. Though organic foods may be pricey, overall they have great benefits. Not only benefits for your own self being, but benefits on your environment and your planet, Earth. Now in order to completely understand this debate, you should be aware of the history of organic food. Organic food (farming actually) was first introduced in the 1920 by Rudolph Steiner, the father of Bio dynamics. Organic crops must be produced without conventional pesticides (including herbicides), synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, bioengineering, or ionizing radiation. Organically raised animals must be given organic feed and kept free of growth hormones and antibiotics. Organic farm animals must have access to the outdoors, including pastureland for grazing. Advocates say organic food is safer, possibly more nutritious, and often better tasting than non-organic food. They also say organic production is better for the environment and kinder to animals. 1) Organic is better for your health. "In a recent study, Scottish scientists found that organic vegetable soups contain almost six times as much salicylic acid as non-organic vegetable soups. Eleven brands of organic soup had 117 nanograms per gram, versus just 20 nanograms in 24 types of non-organic soup. Salicylic acid is the main ingredient in aspirin; it helps fight hardening of the arteries and bowel cancer, and is produced naturally in plants as a defence against stress and disease. If plants don't have to resist bugs because of pesticide-use, they generate less salicylic acid, and pass less on to us. The same scientists found significantly higher concentrations of salicylic acid in the blood of vegetarian Buddhist monks, compared with meat-eaters. According to a recent study by the Globe and Mail and CTV News of the nutrient quality of fruit and vegetables, compared to 50 years ago, today's regular fruit and vegetables contain dramatically less vitamins and minerals. The average potato has lost 100% of its vitamin A, 57% of its vitamin C and iron, 28% of its calcium, 50% of its riboflavin, and 18% of its thiamin. Out of seven key nutrients studied, only niacin levels increased. Similar results applied to 24 other fruits and vegetables. For broccoli, all seven nutrients fell, including a 63% decrease in calcium and a 34% decrease in iron. No wonder we are gulping down the supplements." 2) Organic is better for wildlife. 'A report by Britain's Soil Association shows that wildlife is substantially richer and more varied on organic than on conventional farms. A typical organic field has five times as many wild plants, 57% more species, and 44% more birds in cultivated areas than a regular farm. Two 1996 studies show that organic farms have twice as many skylarks, and twice as many butterflies. Every time we eat an organic lettuce or tomato, we help restore wildlife. " 3) Organic is safer. "Organic farming generates more jobs, produces more profits, and doesn't pollute groundwater with nitrogen run-off. Farmers in Canada, Kansas and Nebraska who use the pesticide 2,4-D suffer a higher rate of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (a cancer). The same applies to dogs which play on lawns that have been sprayed. In Sweden, exposure to phenoxy herbicides has been shown to increase the risk of contracting lymphomas six-fold. In the US, the death rates from myeloma (a cancer) are highest in rural farming areas. And so it goes on. Migrant farmworkers suffer an abnormally high rate of multiple myeloma, stomach, prostate and testicular cancer. Organic farming carries none of these risks. There is a strong association between breast cancer and exposure to chemical pesticides. Atrazine, a common ingredient in pesticides, causes breast cancer in rats, chromosomal breakdown in the ovaries of hamsters, and hind-limb deformities in frogs. A Finnish study showed that women whose breasts stored the highest levels of a lindane-like residue were ten times more likely to have breast cancer than women with lower levels. (Lindane is a pesticide). " We can end all this by shifting to organic food. We can be healthier. Our children can be healthier. Our farmers and farm workers can be healthier. Frogs, worms, butterflies, skylarks and the soil itself can be healthier. All that it takes is to turn away from chemically grown food, and embrace organic food. As said by Guy Dauncey, the author of Earthfuture: Stories from a Sustainable World. Need Sources? http://www.saskschools.ca... http://www.earthfuture.com... http://www.webmd.com...