Proving the Benefits
As we move into the next phase of the revolution, one major opportunity will
be to further scientifically prove the benefits of organic agriculture, uncover the
negative effects of chemical farming, and—even more importantly—spread the
word about these findings in a way that speaks to today’s consumers.
In the last 10 years alone, hundreds of studies have come out in support of organic. As this evidence continues to mount, the science becomes harder for consumers and the government to ignore. Two recent reports, released this past
spring, illustrate this point.
The Cancer-Pesticide Link. In May 2010, the President’s Cancer Panel issued a
prestigious report that supports the need
to drastically reduce chemical exposure
in the American environment and diet.
Although the report—entitled Reducing
Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can
Do Now—never directly uses the “O”
word, it exhorts consumers to “choose
food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, and growth
hormones to help decrease their exposure to environmental chemicals that
can increase their risk of contracting
cancer.” What fits this description? Foods
produced using organic practices.
“Exposure to pesticides can be decreased by choosing, to the extent possible, food grown without pesticides or
chemical fertilizers…Similarly, exposure
to antibiotics, growth hormones, and
toxic run-off from livestock feed lots can
be minimized by eating free-range meat
raised without these medications,” states
the report, which was submitted to President Obama by Dr. LaSalle Leffall, Jr., an
oncologist and professor of surgery at
Howard University, and Dr. Margaret L. Kripke, an immunologist at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
“The American people—even before they are born—are bombarded continu-
ally with myriad combinations of these dangerous exposures,” the panel wrote in
a letter to President Obama. It added, “The Panel urges you most strongly to use
the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our
food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our nation’s
productivity, and devastate American lives.”
As Christine Bushway, OTA’s executive director, points out, “Organic food pro-
duction and processing represent the only system that uses certification and in-
spection to verify that these chemicals are not used on the farm—all the way to
our dinner tables.”
Pesticides and ADHD. On the heels of the President’s Cancer Panel report, a
study was published in the June issue of Pediatrics that concluded that exposure to
organophosphate pesticides at levels common among U.S. children may contribute to the prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in
these children.
“The Panel urges you most strongly to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our nation’s productivity, and evastate American lives.” —Excerpt from report from the Presidential Cancer Panel to President Obama
The article reported findings from
a study examining the association between urinary concentrations of
metabolites of organophosphates and
ADHD in children ages 8 to 15. Using
data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, researchers led by Maryse Bouchard, a
researcher in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
at the University of Montreal, analyzed
the levels of pesticide metabolites in
the urine of 1,139 children and found
that children with above-average levels
had roughly twice the odds of being diagnosed with ADHD.
“The findings in this new study are
compelling and support several other
studies linking exposures to OP insec-
ticides to neurological development
problems including ADHD and
autism,” says Dr. Charles Benbrook,
chief scientist of The Organic Center.
Benbrook adds, “Pregnant women
and children in America on average
consume two to three servings of food
containing residues of OP insecti-
cides, and those unlucky ones that
buy fruit and vegetables with relatively
high residues are clearly at increased
risk.”
Hopefully, this study—the largest of
its kind so far—will help consumers re-
alize that these chemicals are not
harmless, as was once believed by
many. Historically, organophosphates
were developed for use in chemical
warfare because they are known to be
toxic to the nervous system. These
same organophosphate compounds
are now used in agriculture to kill
pests, and are proving to be dangerous
to humans as well.
In coming years, it’s conceivable
that the environmental evidence linking chemical-based agriculture practices to health issues will become more
clear, proving conclusively the many
benefits that organic agriculture has to
offer farmers, the land, our water supply, the air, and ultimately, the health
of the planet and those living on it. As
