A few of the myths that people who eat organic believe is:
- Organic farms are small and owned by local farmers.
- This is not true…although it used to be. Now big corporations are eating up the small organic farms. If there were 500 separately owned organic farms in the past…it is likely to be more like 50 now (not exact numbers). For example, General Mills owns the Cascadian Farms brand, Kraft owns Back to Nature and Boca Burger, and Kellogg's owns Morningstar Farms, to name a few. And with such high demand (in the past year, the market for organic milk outstripped the supply by 10 percent), these giant companies are importing organic ingredients as cheaply as possible — often from other countries. Whole Foods sold roughly $1 billion in produce last year; only about 16 percent was locally grown. So with all the CO2 spent in transport, some organics have questionable eco-virtues
- Some supporters of organic growing claim that the danger of conventional food lies in the residues of chemical pesticides.
- Since the organic pesticides and fungicides are less efficient than their modern synthetic counterparts, up to seven times as much of it must be used. Organic pesticides include rotenone, which has been shown to cause the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease and is a natural poison used in hunting by some native tribes; pyrethrum, which is carcinogenic; sabadilla, which is highly toxic to honeybees; and fermented urine, which I don't want on my food whether it causes any diseases or not. Supporters of organics claim that the much larger amounts of chemicals they use is OK because those chemicals are all-natural. But just because something is natural doesn't mean that it's safe or healthy — consider the examples of hemlock, mercury, lead, toadstools, box jellyfish neurotoxin, asbestos — not to mention a nearly infinite number of toxic bacteria and viruses (E. coli, salmonella, bubonic plague, smallpox). When you hear any product claim to be healthy because its ingredients are all natural, be skeptical. By no definition can "all natural" mean that a product is healthful.
The other thing is the idea that organic and free roaming animals are happier! Related once again to poultry, just because a claim says free roaming, it does not mean that the birds are outside romping and playing. They just have to have access to the outside…it does not mean they use it. If your food and water and temperature controlled environment happened to be indoors…where do you think you would stay. So these farms give these animals access to the outdoors and the animals hardly ever use them (if even at all).
And what about the thought that organic food is safer? What about the salmonella outbreak that was linked to products with peanuts. The plants in Texas and Georgia that were sending out contaminated peanut butter and ground peanut products had something else besides rodent infestation, mold and bird droppings. They also had federal organic certification.
Now, I admit that some…some organic foods may have additional nutritional benefits but this does not mean it’s safer.
