Letter to Parents Magazine
July 29, 2005
Having just finished the manuscript to a forthcoming book on the mythical benefits of organic food and farming (Harvest of Illusions: the myth of an organic utopia) and as the proud parent of a 16 month-old boy, I was thrilled to see that you have dared to take on the organic con industry in your August issue.
Now be prepared for the onslaught of irate hate mail from the organic industry’s foot soldiers and brain-washed consumers. Remain calm. Be brave. Stick to the science: the science says there is ZERO health or food safety benefit from organic foods. To assist you as the angry letters and phone calls start poring in, I’ve given you a few simple, factually correct responses:
Extensive testing by the USDA, California Department of Pesticide Regulation, and Consumers Union has shown that all foods have safe levels of pesticide residues. In fact, on average we’re exposed to less than 1% of the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), a level 100-1,000 times lower than a safe daily dose in the most sensitive animal species. In other words, we’re exposed to 1/1,000 to 1/10,000th the dose proven to cause no harm in the most sensitive animal species.
While research conducted by Consumer Union showed that one quarter of all organic fruits and vegetables carried detectable residues of synthetic pesticides (we don’t test for organic pesticides) and half of non-organic carried pesticide traces, all were well within safe levels. The reason we find these pesticide traces so often, even in organic foods, is because we can detect most pesticides at the part per billion level, equal to one second in 32 years or one inch in 16,000 miles. We can literally detect the chemical needle in the haystack. Mere detection doesn’t equal danger or risk.
Dr. Bruce Ames, inventor of the pesticide residue cancer risk test and recipient of the Presidential Science Medal (1999, Clinton), now says that 99.99% of the pesticidal chemicals we’re exposed to are natural, plant-produced chemicals and that these chemicals pose at least as great a THEORETICAL cancer risk as the tiny traces of synthetic pesticides—but that he and even the National Academy of Sciences says that neither pose risks great enough to worry about. Not when eating 5-7 servings of fresh fruits and veggies is thought to radically help prevent cancer and improve health.
If anything, organic produce poses a greater food safety risk considering that their primary fertilizer is manure, which happens to be the primary source of foodborne illness bacteria. Research from the U. of Wisconsin published last year found a four-fold higher bacterial contamination rate from organic produce at harvest than non-organic foods—entirely due to the difference in fertilizer choices and handling. But parents likely shouldn’t make too much of this, as the research is ongoing and did not examine foods purchased from supermarkets. As long as parents follow good kitchen hygiene practices (wash produce, don’t cross-contaminate by cutting meat and produce on the same cutting boards, wash hands, etc.) they and their children’s health should be fine.
I am happy to serve as a source for reliable and verifiable information on organic foods and pesticide residues in food, as I’ve been involved in researching and commenting on this issue for over a decade now. If I can be of any further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me or my office.
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