Benefits of Organics Foods?
Why should we choose organic foods? What are the benefits, why should we pay extra $$$ for food that we can get for so much cheaper?
Prior to world wars, economic booms, fast money, fast cars and fast foods eating organic foods and living organic lives wasn’t an issue. It was almost just the way food was produced. Post-war demand for high volumes of cheaper food and the development of pesticides (which was a byproduct of chemical weapon research) set the path we took with foods on a new route.
In the rush to meet high demands and make things grow faster we found chemical solutions to most things relating to food. Nitrate fertilizers were able to produce faster growing and higher yielding crops. Antibiotics did the same thing for animal products.
Pesticides negated the need for crop rotations to keep pests at bay meaning that the traditional feeding of soil through the use of manure, crop rotations and nitrogen fixing plants such as peas and beans were no longer used. This not only meant that the crops we were eating were chemically produced, but also that the soil and land were no longer filled with the usual nutrients.
Livestock was also pushed beyond its natural limits into ‘mass production’ mode with an emphasis on breeding animals that would grow fast and give high yields. The push for such conditions meant that animals needed more antibiotics in order to keep diseases away. Three generations later it seems as though the environment, farm animals and human health are all paying a very high price for cheap, fast food.
Although the benefits or eating organic foods may be argued by some, there is no doubt that eating organic foods reduces exposure to many chemicals. Mass-produced conventional crops are sprayed with a mix of chemicals both during productions and after their harvest. Not many studies have been done about the effect of taking in tiny amounts of a variety of different chemicals and pesticides (known as the cocktail effect). Some preliminary studies in the US have confirmed that the combined effects of different chemicals is far greater than the sum of their parts – certain current monitoring programs do not take this into account in the approval process for ‘safe’ levels of chemicals in foods.
The short term effect of eating chemically induced foods is not a great concern in today’s society. However, the longer term effects (which nobody is certain of yet) shows that there have been many links between certain pesticides and such conditions as cancer, immune deficiencies, nerve damage and fertility problems. There are over 60 known carcinogens which are sprayed on food crops today.
It is a widely accepted fact that we all have pesticide residues in our bodies.
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are pollutants that accumulate in the body fat of people and animals. They are pesticides and other chemicals which don’t break down and degrade quickly in the human body.
They can be passed onto humans through the consumption of meat and milk and nursing mothers can pass residues onto their babies through breast feeding.
Some POP chemicals have been linked with increased birth defects, declining sperm counts, and sexual abnormalities. Some research even shows that babies exposed to low levels of these chemicals in the womb are in danger of suffering life-long health problems.
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