Organic Foods
Saladmaster Health Systems work wondrously to
preserve the vitamins and minerals in fresh food and vegetables,
but those nutrients must be in the food in the first place before they
can be preserved. By purchasing organic produce you start out with
more vitamins and minerals in the food you prepare, and with the Saladmaster
Health System you end up with 93% of these nutrients in your meals you
serve at the table.
A perfect complement to avoiding the dangerous
metals of cheap cookware is avoiding the dangerous chemicals in commercially
processed food. Organic food is grown without harsh chemicals and pesticides
and is grown in a natural healthy environment that contributes to higher
vitamins and nutrients in organic produce. Organic foods are available
in many specialty markets in larger cities. Do yourself and your family
a favor and invest in their future by growing or purchasing the highest
quality produce.
Rutgers University Study
Rutgers University has published a report entitled,
"Variations in Mineral Content in Vegetables" (Firman E. Bear report),
the summary of which is printed below. In this study, the inorganic vegetables
were purchased at a standard supermarket and are compared with organic
vegetables grown in naturally fertilized soil.
CONCLUSION: Commercially grown, inorganic vegetables
are very low in mineral and trace mineral content.
12 Most Contaminated Produce with Pesticides
- Buy These Organic!
1-Apples 2-Bell Peppers 3-Celery 4-Cherries
5-Grapes 6-Nectarines
7-Peaches 8-Pears 9-Potatoes 10-Red Raspberries
11-Spinach 12-Strawberries
When Should You Buy Organic???
Free Guide Ranks Pesticide Contamination
of Fruits and Vegetables
ENVIRONMENTAL
WORKING GROUP www.ewg.org/
Most Contaminated:
THE DIRTY DOZEN
Consistent with two previous EWG investigations,
fruits topped the list of the consistently most contaminated fruits and
vegetables, with seven of the 12 most contaminated foods. Among the top
six were four fruits, with peaches leading the list, then apples, nectarines
and strawberries. Cherries, pears, and imported grapes were the other three
fruits in the top 12. Among these seven fruits:
* Nectarines had the highest
percentage of samples test positive for pesticides (97.3 percent), followed
by peaches (96.6 percent) and apples (92.1 percent).
* Peaches had the highest
likelihood of multiple pesticides on a single sample — 86.6 percent had
two or more pesticide residues — followed by nectarines (85.3 percent)
and apples (78.9 percent).
* Sweet bell peppers had the
most pesticides detected on a single sample with eleven pesticides on a
single sample, followed by peaches and apples, where nine pesticides were
found on a single sample.
* Peaches had the most pesticides
overall with some combination of up to 42 pesticides found on the samples
tested, followed by apples with 37 pesticides strawberries with 35.
Sweet bell peppers, celery, spinach, lettuce,
and potatoes are the vegetables most likely to expose consumers to pesticides.
Among these five vegetables:
* Celery had the highest of
percentage of samples test positive for pesticides (94.1 percent), followed
by sweet bell peppers (81.5 percent) and potatoes (81.0 percent).
* Celery also had the highest
likelihood of multiple pesticides on a single vegetable (79.8 percent of
samples), followed by sweet bell peppers (62.2 percent) and lettuce (33
percent).
* Sweet bell peppers was the
vegetable with the most pesticides detected on a single sample (11 found
on one sample), followed by celery and lettuce (both with nine).
* Sweet bell peppers were
the vegetable with the most pesticides overall with 64, followed by lettuce
at 49 and celery with 30.
Least Contaminated:
CONSISTENTLY CLEAN
The vegetables least likely to have pesticides
on them are onions, sweet corn, asparagus, sweet peas, cabbage and broccoli.
* Nearly three-quarters of
the broccoli (71.9 percent), sweet pea (77.1 percent), and cabbage (82.1
percent) samples had no detectable pesticides. Among the other three vegetables
on the least contaminated list, there were no detectable residues on 90
percent or more of the samples.
* Multiple pesticide residues
are extremely rare on any of these least contaminated vegetables. Cabbage
had the highest likelihood, with a 4.8 percent chance of more than one
pesticide when ready to eat. Onions and corn both had the lowest chance
with zero samples containing more than one pesticide when eaten.
* The greatest number of pesticides
detected on a single sample of any of these low pesticide vegetables was
three as compared to 11 found on sweet bell peppers, the most contaminated
crop with the most residues.
 *
Broccoli and asparagus both had the most pesticides found on a single vegetable
crop at up to 19 pesticides but far fewer than the most contaminated vegetable,
sweet bell peppers, on which 64 were found.
The six fruits least likely to have pesticide
residues on them are avocados, pineapples, mangoes, kiwi, bananas, and
papaya.
* Fewer than 10 percent of
pineapple, mango, and avocado samples had detectable pesticides on them
and fewer than one percent of samples had more than one pesticide residue.
* Though 59 percent of bananas
had detectable pesticides, multiple residues are rare with only 2 percent
of samples containing more than one residue. Kiwi and papaya had residues
on 15.3 percent and 23.5 percent of samples, respectively, and just 3.4
percent and 5.0 percent of samples, respectively, had multiple pesticide
residues.
Why Should You Care About Pesticides?
There is growing consensus in the scientific community
that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect
people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood
when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic effects
of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some cases completely
unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to pesticides whenever
possible.
Will Washing and Peeling Help?
Nearly all of the data used to create these lists
already considers how people typically wash and prepare produce (for example,
apples are washed before testing, bananas are peeled). While washing and
rinsing fresh produce may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not
eliminate them. Peeling also reduces exposures, but valuable nutrients
often go down the drain with the peel. The best option is to eat a varied
diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure
to potentially harmful chemicals.
The Full List: 43 Fruits & Veggies
RANK FRUIT OR VEGGIE SCORE
1- (worst) Peaches 100 (highest pesticide load)
2- Apples 89
3- Sweet Bell Peppers 86
4- Celery 85
5- Nectarines 84
6- Strawberries 82
7- Cherries 75
8- Pears 65
9- Grapes - Imported 65
10- Spinach 60
11- Lettuce 59
12- Potatoes 58
13- Carrots 57
14- Green Beans 53
15- Hot Peppers 53
16- Cucumbers 52
17- Raspberries 47
18- Plums 45
19- Grapes - Domestic 43
20- Oranges 42
21- Grapefruit 40
22- Tangerine 38
23- Mushrooms 37
24- Cantaloupe 34
25- Honeydew Melon 31
26- Tomatoes 30
27- Sweet Potatoes 30
28- Watermelon 28
29- Winter Squash 27
30- Cauliflower 27
31- Blueberries 24
32- Papaya 21
33- Broccoli 18
34- Cabbage 17
35- Bananas 16
36- Kiwi 14
37- Sweet peas - frozen 11
38- Asparagus 11
39- Mango 9
40- Pineapples 7
41- Sweet Corn - frozen 2
42- Avocado 1
43- (best) Onions 1 (lowest pesticide load)
Why Organic Foods are Better for Health
Can organic foods really improve my health?
Yes. Organically grown food is your best way of reducing exposure to
toxins used in conventional agricultural practices. These toxins include
not only pesticides, many of which have been federally classified as potential
cancer-causing agents, but also heavy metals such as lead and mercury,
and solvents like benzene and toluene. Minimizing exposure to these toxins
is of major benefit to your health. Heavy metals damage nerve function,
contributing to diseases such as multiple sclerosis and lowering IQ, and
also block hemoglobin production, causing anemia. Solvents damage white
cells, lowering the immune system's ability to resist infections. In addition
to significantly lessening your exposure to these health-robbing substances,
organically grown foods have been shown to contain substantially higher
levels of nutrients such as protein, vitamin C and many minerals.
Research Suggests Organic Food is Better for Your Health
Rats fed organic food were significantly healthier than their peers
given conventionally-grown produce, shows research reported by the Danish
Institute of Agricultural Sciences, February 2005.
During the experiment, 36 rats were divided into three groups. All were
given potatoes, carrots, peas, green kale, apples, rapeseed oil, and the
same vitamin supplements. One group was fed organic food, another conventionally
grown food with high levels of fertilizer and some pesticide, and the third
group received minimally fertilized conventionally grown food.
Although pesticide residue was measured and found to be below detection
levels in all groups, the scientists found that the rats fed organically-grown
produce were measurably healthier, slept better, had stronger immune systems
and were less obese.
Lead researcher, Dr Kirsten Brandt, of Newcastle University's School
of Agriculture, was careful not to overstate the findings, but noted: "The
difference was so big it is very unlikely to be random. We gave the food
to the rats and then we measured what they were doing. We can say the reason
why the rats have different health was clearly due to the fact that there
was a different growing method, and this was enough for this result. If
we want to understand how and why, we need another study."
How do organic foods benefit cellular health?
DNA: Eating organically grown foods may help to better sustain health
since recent test tube animal research suggests that certain agricultural
chemicals used in the conventional method of growing food may have the
ability to cause genetic mutations that can lead to the development of
cancer. One example is pentachlorophenol (PCP) that has been found to be
able to cause DNA fragmentation in animals. Mitochondria: Eating organically
grown foods may help to better promote cellular health since several agricultural
chemicals used in the conventional growing of foods have been shown to
have a negative effect upon mitochondrial function. These chemicals include
paraquat, parathion, dinoseb and 2-4-D which have been found to affect
the mitochondria and cellular energy production in a variety of ways including
increasing membrane permeability, which exposes the mitochondria to damaging
free radicals, inhibiting a process known as coupling that is integral
to the efficient production of ATP. Cell Membrane: Since certain agricultural
chemicals may damage the structure and function of the cellular membrane,
eating organically grown foods can help to protect cellular health. The
insecticide endosulfan and the herbicide paraquat have been shown to oxidize
lipid molecules and therefore may damage the phospholipid component of
the cellular membrane. In animal studies, pesticides such as chlopyrifos,
endrin and fenthion have been shown to over stimulate enzymes involved
in chemical signaling causing imbalance that has been linked to conditions
such as atherosclerosis, psoriasis and inflammation.
How can organic foods contribute to children's health?
The negative health effects of conventionally grown foods, and therefore
the benefits of consuming organic foods, are not just limited to adults.
In fact, many experts feel that organic foods may be of paramount importance
in safeguarding the health of our children.
In two separate reports, both the Natural Resources Defense Council
(1989) and the Environmental Working Group (1998) found that millions of
American children are exposed to levels of pesticides through their food
that surpass limits considered to be safe. Some of these pesticides are
known to be neurotoxic, able to cause harm to the developing brain and
nervous system. Additionally, some researchers feel that children and adolescents
may be especially vulnerable to the cancer-causing effects of certain pesticides
since the body is more sensitive to the impact of these materials during
periods of high growth rates and breast development.
The concern for the effects of agricultural chemicals on children's
health seems so evident that even the U.S. government has taken steps to
protect our nation's young. In 1996, Congress passed the Food Quality Protection
Act requiring that all pesticides applied to foods be safe for infants
and children.
Organic foods that are strictly controlled for substances harmful to
health can play a major role in assuring the health of our children.
Eating Organic Dramatically Lowers Children's Exposure to Organophosphate
Pesticides
Eating organic foods provides children with "dramatic and immediate"
protection from exposure to two organophosphate pesticides that have been
linked to harmful neurological effects in animals and humans, shows a study
funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and published in the
September 2005 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.
The pesticides-malathion and chlorpyrifos-while restricted or banned
for home use, are widely used on a variety of crops, and according to the
annual survey by U.S. Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Program,
residues of these organophosphate pesticides are still routinely detected
in food items commonly consumed by young children.
Over a fifteen-day period, Dr. Chensheng "Alex" Lu and his colleagues
from Emory University, the University of Washington, and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention measured exposure to malathion and chlorpyrifos
in 23 elementary students in the Seattle area by testing their urine.
The participants, aged 3-11-years-old, were first monitored for three
days on their conventional diets before the researchers substituted most
of the children's conventional diets with organic foods for five consecutive
days. The children were then given their normal foods and monitored for
an additional seven days.
To ensure that any detectable change in dietary pesticide exposure would
be attributable to the organic food rather than the change in diet, the
researchers substituted organic foods that were the same items the children
would have normally eaten as part of their conventional diet. Organic food
items were substituted for the conventional diet of fresh fruits and vegetables,
juices, processed fruits or vegetables (e.g. salsa), and wheat-based or
corn-based products (i.e. pasta, cereal, popcorn, or chips).
"Immediately after substituting organic food items for the children's
normal diets, the concentration of the organophosphorus pesticides found
in their bodies decreased substantially to non-detectable levels until
the conventional diets were re-introduced," said Dr. Lu.
During the days when children consumed organic diets, most of their
urine samples contained zero concentration of the malathion metabolite.
However, once the children returned to their conventional diets, the average
malathion metabolite concentration increased to 1.6 parts per billion with
a concentration range from 5 to 263 parts per billion.
A similar trend was seen for chlorpyrifos. The average chlorpyrifos
metabolite concentration increased from one part per billion during the
organic diet days to six parts per billion when children consumed conventional
food.
A second study, published in the February 2006 issue of Environmental
Health Perspectives, confirmed these results. Once again, another group
of 23 children from the Seattle area aged 3-11 years participated. When
the conventionally grown foods in their diets were replaced with comparable
organically grown foods, concentrations of compounds in the children's
urine indicating exposure to organophosphate pesticides immediately dropped
to non-detectable levels and remained nondetectable until they once again
consumed conventionally grown foods.
The children were first monitored for three days on their normal diet.
Then, most of the conventionally grown items in their diets were replaced
with comparable organically grown items for 5 days. Substituted items included
fruits and vegetables, juices, processed fruit and vegetable products and
wheat or corn based products. Lastly, the children returned to their normal
diets for a further 7 days.
Researchers analyzed two spot daily urine samples, first-morning and
before-bedtime voids, throughout the 15-day study period. Urinary concentrations
of compounds indicating the children were ingesting the organophosphorus
pesticides, malathion and chlorpyrifos, became undetectable immediately
after the introduction of organic diets and remained undetectable until
the conventional diets were reintroduced.
The repetition of this research clearly demonstrates that an organic
diet provides a dramatic and immediate protective effect against exposures
to organophosphorus pesticides, which are commonly used in agricultural
production.
Organophosphate pesticides account for approximately half the insecticide
use in the United States and are applied to many conventionally grown foods
important in children's diets. Organophosphates work by poisoning the nervous
system in pests. When exposure to organophosphate pesticides is sufficiently
high, these neurological poisons can also interfere with the proper functioning
of the nervous system in humans.
Children are especially vulnerable to the toxic effects of organophosphate
pesticides because their bodies and brains are still growing. Even low
body levels of organophosphate neurotoxins can contribute to developmental
delays, behavioral problems, attention problems/hyperactivity, poor school
performance and learning disabilities.
In 2000, the Consumers Union reported that the conventionally grown
foods with the highest levels of pesticide residues were apples, peaches,
pears, grapes, strawberries, cantaloupe, green beans, winter squash and
spinach. The message is clear: to minimize your children's exposure to
pesticides, choose organic!
Are organic foods nutritionally superior to conventionally grown foods?
Yes, and significantly more. Proof of their superiority has been demonstrated
in numerous studies. In 1998, a review of 34 studies comparing the nutritional
content of organic versus non-organic food was published in the peer-reviewed,
MEDLINE-indexed journal Alternative Therapies (Volume 4, No. 1, pgs. 58-69).
In this review, organic food was found to have higher protein quality in
all comparisons, higher levels of vitamin C in 58% of all studies, 5-20%
higher mineral levels for all but two minerals. In some cases, the mineral
levels were dramatically higher in organically-grown foods-as much as three
times higher in one study involving iron content.
Organic foods may also contain more flavonoids than conventionally
grown foods, according to Danish research published in the August 2003
issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. In this study,
16 healthy non-smoking participants ranging in age from 21-35 years were
given either a diet high in organically or conventionally grown fruits
and vegetables for 22 days, after which they were switched over to the
other diet for another 22 days. After both dietary trials, the researchers
analyzed levels of flavonoids and other markers of antioxidant defenses
in the food and in the participants' blood and urine samples. Results indicated
a significantly higher content of the flavonoid quercitin in the organic
produce and in the subjects' urine samples when on the organic produce
diet, plus the subjects' urinary levels of another flavonoid, kaempferol,
were also much higher when on the organically grown compared to the conventionally
grown diet.
A review of 41 studies comparing the nutritional value of organically
to conventionally grown fruits, vegetables and grains, also indicates organic
crops provide substantially more of several nutrients, including:
* 27% more vitamin C
* 21.1% more iron
* 29.3% more magnesium
* 13.6% more phosphorus
The review also found that while 5 servings of organically grown vegetables
(lettuce, spinach, carrots, potatoes and cabbage) provided the daily recommended
intake of vitamin C for men and women, their conventionally grown counterparts
did not. Plus, organically grown foods contained 15.1% less nitrates than
conventionally grown foods. Nitrates, a major constituent of chemical fertilizers,
bind to hemoglobin and, particularly in infants, can significantly reduce
the body's ability to carry oxygen. For more information on nitrates, click
Nitrates - North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service
In another study whose findings are based on pesticide residue data
collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, organic fruits and vegetables
were shown to have only a third as many pesticide residues as their conventionally
grown counterparts. Study data, which covered more than 94,000 food samples
from more than 20 crops, showed 73% of conventionally grown foods sampled
had residue from at least one pesticide, while only 23% of organically
grown samples had any residues. When residues of persistent, long-banned
organochlorine insecticides such as DDT were excluded from the analysis,
organic samples with residues dropped from 23 to 13%. In contrast, more
than 90% of USDA's samples of conventionally grown apples, peaches, pears,
strawberries and celery had residues.
When it comes to choosing between organic or conventionally grown foods,
size is definitely not everything, suggests another study published in
Science Daily Magazine. Chemistry professor Theo Clark and undergraduate
students at Truman State University in Mississippi found organically grown
oranges contained up to 30% more vitamin C than those grown conventionally.
Reporting the results at the June 2, 2002, meeting of the American Chemical
Society, Clark said he had expected the conventionally grown oranges, which
were twice as large, to have twice the vitamin C as the organic versions.
Instead, chemical isolation combined with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
revealed the much higher level in organic oranges.
Why the big difference? Clark speculated that "with conventional oranges,
(farmers) use nitrogen fertilizers that cause an uptake of more water,
so it sort of dilutes the orange. You get a great big orange but it is
full of water and doesn't have as much nutritional value."
Eating organic may also help protect against chronic inflammation, a
major factor in both cardiovascular disease and colon cancer. Another study,
published in the European Journal of Nutrition, found that organic soups
sold in the UK contain almost 6 times as much salicylic acid as non-organic
soups. Salicylic acid, the compound responsible for the anti-inflammatory
action of aspirin, has been shown to help prevent hardening of the arteries
and bowel cancer. Researchers compared the salicylic acid content of 11
brands of organic soup to that found in non-organic varieties. The average
level of salicylic acid in 11 brands of organic vegetable soup was 117
nanograms per gram, compared with 20 nanograms per gram in 24 types of
non-organic soup. The highest level (1,040 nanograms per gram) was found
in an organic carrot and coriander soup. Four of the conventional soups
had no detectable levels of salicylic acid.
What substances do we avoid by eating organic food?
Over 3,000 high-risk toxins routinely present in the U.S. food supply
are, by law, excluded from organic food, including: Pesticides: By far
the largest group of toxins to be largely prohibited from organically grown
foods are synthetic pesticides, which are found virtually everywhere else
in the food supply. Several hundred different chemicals and several thousand
brand-name pesticide products are legally used in commercial food production
in the U.S. Act of 1992; the Environmental Protection Agency had classified
73 pesticides authorized for agricultural use as potential carcinogens
(cancer-causing agents). And pesticides don't just remain where they are
applied. A 1996 study by the Environmental Working Group found 96% of all
water samples taken from 748 towns across the U.S. contained the pesticide
atrazine, and at least 20 different chemical pesticides are routinely present
in municipal tap water across the U.S. Heavy metals: The toxic metals cadmium,
lead, and mercury enter the food supply through industrial pollution of
soil and groundwater and through machinery used in food processing and
packaging. Cadmium, which can be concentrated in plant tissues at levels
higher than those in soil, has been linked to lung, prostate and testicular
cancers. Despite lead's long-recognized serious adverse impact on health,
especially that of young children, lead solder is still used to seal tin
cans, imparting the lead residues found in many canned foods. Even low
levels of lead are harmful and are associated with decreased intelligence,
impaired neurobehavioral development, decreased stature and growth, and
impaired hearing. Mercury is toxic to brain cells and has been linked to
autism and Alzheimer's disease. Solvents: Used to dissolve food components
and produce food additives, solvents are also virtually omnipresent in
commercially processed food. Solvents, such as benzene and toluene have
been linked to numerous cancers. Benzene, specifically, has been repeatedly
associated with rheumatoid arthritis-an auto-immune condition involving
pain and degeneration in the joints that affects over 2 million adults
in the U.S.
Not only are these toxic substances harmful singly, but when combined,
as they are in commercially grown and processed food, and in the human
body where they accumulate, their effects have been found to be magnified
as much as a 1,000-fold.
Why Organicically Grown Foods Are Better for the Health of Our Planet
What are the environmental benefits of organic farming over conventional
farming methods?
Organically grown foods are cultivated using farming practices that
work to preserve and protect the environment.
Most conventional farming methods used today adhere to a chemical-dependent
model of agribusiness. Residues from conventional farming methods use toxic
chemicals that remain in the soil, leach into groundwater, and frequently
end up either on the skin or become internal constituents of commercially
grown foods. The predominant use of this model has resulted in adversely
affecting the earth's environment and the health of its inhabitants. These
methods have adversely affected:
* Soil quality
* Water purity
* Biodiversity
* Safety and health of farm workers
* Survival of small and family farms
* Connection to the land
* Taste and quality of foods
Organic farming is seen as the alternative to chemical farming. It is
often inaccurately and simplistically described as farming without the
use of pesticides. More accurately, it is a method of farming which partners
with nature rather than altering or controlling natural processes which
includes:
* Absence of use of dangerous synthetic pesticides,
herbicides and chemical fertilizers
* Improving soil quality
* Conserving and keeping up water quality
* Encouraging biodiversity
* Minimalizing the health and occupational hazards
to farm workers
* Maintaining a restorative and sustainable biosystem.
Organic Farming Significantly Improves Soil Quality
Results recently published from a long-term study conducted by researchers
at the Rodale Institute in Kutztown, PA, show that organic farming practices
help retain significantly more carbon in the soil, making the soil more
productive, better able to retain water, and helping to prevent global
warming.
Data gathered since 1981 from the Rodale Institute's experimental farms
in east-central Pennsylvania on organically grown corn and soybeans shows
that the soil retained 15-28% more carbon than conventionally farmed soil,
the equivalent of 1,000 pounds of carbon, or 3,500 pounds of carbon dioxide
per acre foot of soil. According to Paul Hepperly, research manager for
the Rodale Institute, converting the nation's 160 million acres of corn
and soybeans would significantly reduce the carbon dioxide produced each
year by the United States.
Some conventional growers have responded that the Rodale Institute's
numbers are too high to be believable, but Hepperly explains that his excellent
carbon sequestration results are due to the fact that organic farming keeps
a variety of crops in the field longer than conventional farming. "We grow
diversified crops in the organic system, and actually that looks like it's
more important than whether it's plowed or not," Hepperly said. "It's the
extended cropping season and the crops grown through a longer portion of
the season that seem to be very important for the trapping of carbon and
nitrogen in the soil. They're retaining the nutrients and building the
organic matter through a longer season." State Agriculture Secretary Dennis
Wolff and Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty said their
offices would build on the Rodale Institute research to help develop policies
that would allow farmers to benefit from environmentally sound practices.
Organic farming is highly preferable to conventional agriculture in
terms of its effects on the environment, confirms a study published in
the March 6 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.
The yearlong experiment, conducted in an established apple orchard on
a 4-acre site in the Yakima Valley of central Washington, used some trees
raised with conventional synthetic fertilizers; others grown organically
without pesticides, herbicides or artificial fertilization; and a third
group raised on integrated farming, which combines organic and conventional
agricultural techniques.
Each tree in all three groups was given the same amount of nitrogen
at two feedings, one in October and another in May. Organically grown trees
were fertilized with either composted chicken manure or alfalfa meal, while
conventionally raised plants were given calcium nitrate, a synthetic fertilizer
widely used by commercial apple growers. Trees raised using the integrated
system got a blend of equal parts chicken manure and calcium nitrate.
One goal of the study was to compare the amount of nitrogen leaching
into the soil from each of the four fertilizer treatments. Nitrogen fertilizers
release or break down into nitrates-chemical compounds plants need to build
proteins. When present in excess of the amounts needed by plants, however,
nitrates percolate through the soil, contaminating surface and groundwater
supplies.
Besides their harmful impact on aquatic life, high nitrate levels in
drinking water can cause serious illness in humans, particularly small
children. According to the PNAS study, nearly one of 10 domestic wells
in the United States sampled between 1993 and 2000 had nitrate concentrations
that exceeded the EPA's drinking water standards.
"Nitrogen compounds also enter our watersheds and have effects quite
distant from the fields in which they are applied, as for example in contaminating
water tables and causing biological dead zones at the mouths of major rivers,"
said study co-author Harold A. Mooney, the Paul S. Achilles Professor of
Environmental Biology at Stanford.
The researchers measured nitrate leaching during the entire year and
found it was 4.4 to 5.6 times higher in the conventional treatment than
in the two organic treatments, with the integrated treatment in between.
"The intensification of agricultural production over the past 60 years
and the subsequent increase in global nitrogen inputs have resulted in
substantial nitrogen pollution and ecological damage. The primary source
of nitrogen pollution comes from nitrogen-based agricultural fertilizers,
whose use is forecasted to double or almost triple by 2050," wrote study
co-authors.
The research team also compared the amount of nitrogen gas released
into the atmosphere by the four treatments. Nitrogen compounds from fertilizer
can enter the atmosphere and contribute to global warming.
Air samples collected in the orchard after the fall and spring fertilizations
revealed that organic and integrated soils emitted larger quantities of
an environmentally benign gas called dinitrogen (N2) than soils treated
with conventional synthetic fertilizer.
This may be due to the fact that the organic and integrated soils contained
active concentrations of denitrifying bacteria-naturally occurring microbes
that convert excess nitrates in the soil into N2 gas. Communities of denitrifying
microbes were much smaller and far less active and efficient in conventionally
treated soils.
Modern conventional farming practices have also led to nutrient-poor
food. The mineral content of vegetables has dropped significantly over
the last few decades. Today, you need to eat almost twice as many carrots
and three times as much broccoli to get the same of calcium you would have
received from one carrot in 1950. The lesson is clear: organically grown
foods are the clear choice to promote the health of both ourselves and
our planet.
How do conventional farming methods affect water quality?
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates pesticides (some which
are known to be cancer causing) contaminate the groundwater in 38 states,
polluting the primary source of drinking water for more than half the country's
population.
What is sustainable agriculture?
Sustainable agriculture is farming practices that preserve and protect
the future productivity and health of the environment. Sustainable agriculture
is, however, a wider topic than organic farming. The way food is processed,
packaged and transported may pose a threat to the environment, even when
the food was cultivated organically. For example, pretzels may be organic-meaning
95% of their ingredients are organically grown-but have been produced from
highly refined flour processed using energy-wasting machinery, packaged
in non-recyclable plastic, and shipped around the world using large amounts
of fossil fuel. Growing foods organically is, therefore, only the first
step in achieving sustainable agriculture. Most environmentalists and ecologists
and many individuals involved in the production of organic foods believe
that sustainable agriculture is necessary if we are to reach the long-term
goals of personal health and ecological balance.
In 1988 the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization adopted
the following official definition of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural
Development:
Sustainable development (in the agriculture, forestry
and fisheries sectors) should conserve land, water, plant and animal genetic
resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically
viable and socially acceptable.
In the 1990 Farm Bill, the U.S. Congress defined sustainable agriculture
as an integrated system of plant and animal production practices that:
* Satisfy human food and fiber needs
* Enhance environmental quality and the natural
resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends
* Make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources
and on-farm resources and integrates, where appropriate, natural biological
cycles and controls
* Sustain the economic viability of farm operations
* Enhance the quality of life for farmers and society
as a whole.
In 1992, during the UN Conference on Environment and Development, a
number of non-governmental organizations (NGO) drafted their own Sustainable
Agriculture Treaty which states:
Sustainable Agriculture is a model of social and
economic organization based on equitable and participatory vision of development
which recognizes the environment and natural resources as the foundation
of economic activity. Agriculture is sustainable when it is ecologically
sound, economically viable, socially just, culturally appropriate and based
on a holistic scientific approach.
Sustainable Agriculture preserves biodiversity, maintains
soil, fertility and water purity, conserves and improves the chemical,
physical and biological qualities of the soil, recycles natural resources
and conserves energy.
Sustainable Agriculture uses locally available renewable
resources, appropriate and affordable technologies, and minimizes the use
of external and purchased inputs, thereby increasing local independence
and self sufficiency and insuring a source of stable income for peasants,
family small farmers and rural communities, and integrates humans with
their environment. Sustainable Agriculture respects the ecological principles
of diversity and interdependence and uses the insights of modern science
to improve rather than displace the traditional wisdom accumulated over
centuries by innumerable farmers around the world.
Here are some links that might be of interest:
* Center for Vegan Organic
Education http://www.veganorganiced.org
A non-profit organization focused on education and research to teach about
healthy, sustainable vegan organic gardening techniques without the use
of animal products. The organization is the first in the U.S. to educate
farmers and home gardeners about growing vegetables with compassionate
methods. Learn about classes, internship and volunteer opportunities, farm
tours, product research and development, and their special soil conditioner.
* How
to Grow More Vegetables: And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other
Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine.
by John Jeavons
If you wish to grow your own organic food, here
are a few sources for seeds, etc.:
* Abundant Life Seeds - Vegetable,
flower, and herb seeds along with a great selection of garlic, seed potatoes,
and live plants.
* Bountiful
Gardens - Untreated open pollinated seed of heirloom quality for vegetables,
herbs, flowers, grains, green manure's, compost and carbon crops. Offering
Biointensive and Grow Biointensive™ sustainable organic seed.
* Peaceful
Valley Farm Supply - A comprehensive selection of organic fertilizers
and soil amendments, weed and pest controls, seeds (including cover crops),
season extenders, tools and more, presented in useful detail and without
hype.
* Seed
Savers Exchange - Non-profit organization that saves and shares the
heirloom seeds of our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can
be passed down through generations.
* Kitazawa
Seed - Oldest seed company in America specializing in Asian vegetable
seeds.
A good vegan and organic fertilizer is the Bio-bizz
Bio-grow and bio-bloom. This is what we use for our fruits and vegetables
and house plants. It is derived from molasses and kelp and works as well
as Miracle-gro or other chemical fertilizers. Your local nursery can order
it for you, or it is available online.
* Bio-bizz - Bio-grow and bio-bloom
(available
here)
M. Isis
Israel - Authorized Senior Dealer
Nor.
California
Foodture - Cooking for a Healthy Future
2005 ©
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