UK Study Misleads Public by Ignoring Documented Health
and Environmental Benefits of Organic Food
Chairman, President and CE-Yo, Stonyfield Farm
Posted: July 31, 2009 08:47 AM
As Stonyfield Farm President and CE-Yo, I believe that a new study
dismissing the health benefits of organics does in fact mislead an
increasingly savvy public by ignoring documented health and environmental
benefits of organic.
The supreme irony is that this study is getting an enormous amount of media
attention in part because of heightened consumer awareness of where our food
comes from, thanks to the popularity of the documentary "Food, Inc." and the
discussion it's triggering across the country. "Food, Inc." lays bare just
how bankrupt and dangerous our current food system really is, and what we
are allowed to know about it. The result is that consumers are looking more
critically than ever at studies like this.
I agree with the Organic Center (TOC), a non-profit industry think tank,
that the authors of the United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency (FSA) study
used old data and flawed logic in reaching the conclusion that organic food
is no healthier than conventional. TOC alleges that the UK study actually
downplayed the positive findings which favored organic food and did not
measure important nutrients such as antioxidants.
There are compelling studies that have shown organic foods higher in
beneficial antioxidants, substances or nutrients in our foods known to slow
or prevent heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer. A 2007
Newcastle University (UK) study concluded organic fruit and vegetables
contained up to 40% more antioxidants than non-organic varieties; organic
milk contained more than 60% more antioxidants and healthy fatty acids than
conventional. A 2007 study by the University of California found organic
tomatoes had elevated levels of up to 97% of two types of antioxidants.
Of greater concern to me is the fact the FSA ignores the environmental and
related health benefits of an organic farming system that avoids the use of
millions of pounds of toxic persistent pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer
and other chemicals that leach into soil, water and air.
The man leading the FSA review actually stated the differences in nutrient
content found between organic and conventionally produced food were
"unlikely to be of any public health relevance." Tell that to the people who
suffer a variety of health issues shown to be linked to pesticide use.
Public health is exactly what's at stake here.
I believe studies like the FSA report need to look beyond the dinner plate
and recognize that organic farming's avoidance of chemicals offers health
benefits beyond nutrition.
People choose organic foods not only for their well-documented nutritional
superiority, but also because those foods come from a system of sustainable
agriculture that avoids the use of toxic, persistent pesticides, herbicides
and fertilizers that pollute our soil, water and air, as well as our food.
According to USDA organic standards, no artificial hormones or antibiotics
are allowed for use on organic dairy farms. Organic regulations also
prohibit the use of toxic and persistent chemicals for growing and
maintaining pasture and in the production of grain and forage-based feeds.
Energy intensive synthetic chemical nitrogen fertilizer is also prohibited
in organic farming.
There are about 120,000 milking cows on organic dairy farms in the US, and
these farms avoid the use of an estimated 40 million pounds of fertilizer
and 758,000 pounds of pesticides on the 761,000 acres of farmland now used
to grow organic feed or organic pasture.
That means millions of pounds of chemicals NOT leaching into our soil, air
and water. Chemicals that have been linked in study after study to health
concerns ranging from premature births to the onset of Parkinson's Disease.
I believe that consumers are savvy enough now to be taking in all of this
information as they are making informed, educated decisions about their own
health, their family's health, and the health of the planet.
These UK findings will be challenged by consumers who more than ever are
educating themselves on how food is grown and processed.
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