The majority of Americans believe that organic foods are healthier than food grown using conventional methods. The majority of Americans are wrong. Two systematic reviews, one from Stanford University and the other by a team of researchers based out of the United Kingdom, turned up no evidence that organic foods are more nutritious or lead to better health-related outcomes for consumers. But the idea that organic foods are healthier isnt even the largest myth out there. That title belongs to the widely held belief that organic farming does not use pesticides. A 2010 poll found that 69% of consumers believe that to be true. Among those who regularly purchase organic food, the notion is even more prevalent. A survey from the Soil Association found that as many as 95% of organic consumers in the UK buy organic to avoid pesticides. In fact, organic farmers do use pesticides. The only difference is that theyre natural instead of synthetic. At face value, the labels make it sound like the products they describe are worlds apart, but they arent. A pesticide, whether its natural or not, is a chemical with the purpose of killing insects (or warding off animals, or destroying weeds, or mitigating any other kind of pest, as our watchful commenters have correctly pointed out). Sadly, however, natural pesticides arent as effective, so organic farmers actually end up using more of them!*
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 06:23:30 +0000