Celebrating Earth Week: Eating Organic

[Guest guest]

Good Morning!

 

Celebrating Earth Week: Eating Organic

" from the Health Education Alliance for Life and Longevity "

 

Organic farmers follow environmentally responsible business

practices. Organic cows are free of antibiotics used as routine

prevention. In comparison, 82 different drugs, including RBGH, are

found in conventional dairy farms. Ounce for ounce, organic fruits

and vegetables are twice as rich in certain nutrients compared to non-

organic produce, according to a recent study reported in the Journal

of Applied Nutrition.

 

Here are some thought-provoking figures about our food supply:

 

More than 20,000 pesticides are registered for use in the United

States. About 75% of the chemicals, some 2.2 billion pounds annually,

are used on more than 900,000 US farms at an annual cost of about

$8.3 billion, according to the Pesticide Action Network. Pesticide

sales have increased more than 2,700% since 1962 and US users now

account for one-third of the world pesticide market.

 

NBC News recently reported that 9000 people die each year in the US

due to food related illness. Our exposure to man-made chemicals in

the food we eat is suspected of being a major factor in today's

increased risk to cancer.

 

The Environmental Working Group found that " more than half of the

total dietary risk from pesticides...was concentrated in just 12

crops. The pesticides that were found in these foods are classified

by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as probable human

carcinogens, nervous system poisons and endocrine system disrupters. "

 

Groundwater contamination caused by pesticides has spread pollutants

to the world's rivers, lakes and oceans, killing fish, wildlife, and

aquatic plants.

 

Greenpeace states that " numerous studies show that many pesticides

cause health problems ranging from such long-term chronic effects as

cancer, genetic damage, birth defects, harm to the immune system,

kidneys and liver, to short-term acute effects such as nerve damage,

dizziness, nausea and fatigue. "

 

Some experts believe certain agricultural chemicals, such as toluene,

can be toxic to fetuses.

 

Sixty percent of all herbicides, 90% of all fungicides and 30% of all

insecticides are considered carcinogenic by the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA).

 

A 1987 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report estimated that

20,000 cases of cancer a year can be linked to US pesticide use.

 

Health experts long have warned of the dangers of high-fat foods that

can lead to heart disease or cancer. New studies show that each fatty

bite may also carry a dose of highly toxic chemicals.

 

Man-made chemicals, including traces of highly carcinogenic dioxins

released into the environment, are turning up in fast-food and

grocery store staples such as meat, fish and dairy products at levels

that exceed US government standards by 200% or more, according to

some studies.

 

" In industrialized countries you can avoid the intake of dioxins, to

a certain extent, by eating food that is low in fat, " says Dr. Arnold

Schecter, an international medical expert on dioxins and an advisor

to the World Health Organization (WHO). " But it is more desirable to

avoid producing dioxins in the first place. "

 

Dioxin is a toxic waste product formed when municipal and hazardous

waste is burned, and when chemicals containing chlorine, such as

pesticides and paper products, are manufactured. This product ends up

in the food chain. When an animal eats food that contains this toxic

chemical they accumulate in the fat.

 

Both WHO and the US Environmental Protection Agency agree that

dioxins cause cancer. " Besides cancer, minute amounts of these

chemicals have been shown to lead to nervous system and liver damage,

as well as to mimic hormones that disrupt reproduction and human

development, " says Schecter. " It is known that every person in every

industrialized country has dioxins in their blood...but since about

96% of the general population's exposure to dioxins is through food,

we wanted to see if certain kinds of food contained more dioxins than

others, " Schecter said.

 

While vegetables and fruits also contained trace amounts of these

chemicals, the dose was significantly less than high fat foods.

Advocacy groups such as the American Public Health Association (APHA)

believe that governments should be doing more to protect people's

health, especially in light of these new scientific findings.

 

Birth defects, learning disabilities and other development problems

have been linked to dioxin exposure, according to the studies. This

is because these chemicals " mimic " or " block " estrogen and

progesterone, natural hormones that instruct the body on how it

should develop. In just six months of breast feeding, a baby in the

United States will, on average, consume the EPA's maximum lifetime

dose of dioxin, Schecter says. Dioxins are also highly persistent in

the environment and extremely resistant to chemical or physical

breakdown.

 

Twelve highly contaminated foods according to some sources:

Strawberries, Green and Red Bell Peppers, Spinach, Cherries (US),

Peaches, Cantaloupe (Mexico), Celery, Apples, Apricots, Green beans,

Grapes (Chilean), Cucumbers.

 

 

Ten most important Organic Foods to Eat:

 

Baby Food - According to the National Academy of Sciences, federal

pesticide standards provide too little health protection.

 

Strawberries - A 1993 study by the Environmental Working Group found

that supermarket strawberries were the most heavily contaminated

fruit or vegetable in the US.

 

Rice - Water-soluble herbicides and insecticides have contaminated

the groundwater near rice fields. Buy organic rice from Eagle

Agricultural Products, Lundberg Family Farmers, or MacDougall's Wild

Rice.

 

Oats - In 1994, the FDA found illegal residues in a year's worth of

Cheerios from GM. Organic growers provide oats, millet, quinoa,

barley, couscous, amaranth, and spelt as healthy options.

 

Milk - Dairy companies inject cows with recombinant bovine growth

hormone. 79% of treated cows get clinical mastitis, a common udder

infection. Treating them with antibiotics increases the change of

residue in milk. Organic milk is widely available.

 

Bell Peppers - The FDA found that in 1993, 38% of the peppers from

Mexico, which provides 98% of the US, had two or more toxic

pesticides.

 

Bananas - Costa Rica uses 35% of the country's pesticide on banana

crops.

 

Green Beans - 60 pesticides are used on green beans. 10% of Mexican

green beans are contaminated with illegal pesticides.

 

Peaches - FDA cited peaches for above-average rates of illegal

pesticide violations; 5% of the crop was contaminated.

 

Apples - 36 different pesticides have been detected by the FDA. The

fungicide captan and the insecticide chlorpyrifos were among the 48

pesticides most frequently found in FDA testing between 1984 and

1991. After the Alar scare in the 80's, growers are leading the

integrated-pest management movement, which only resorts to chemicals

when mandatory.

 

 

For more information, please visit:

 

http://www.heall.com/body/askthedoctor/nutrition/organicfoods.html

 

 

Andrew Pacholyk, MS, L.Ac

Peacefulmind.com

Therapies for healing

mind, body, spirit