The organic label is a powerful one indeed: Sales in the industry have enjoyed phenomenal twenty-percent-or-greater yearly growth since the early 2000s. The idea itself of choosing only natural products connects with people and the desire to eat healthy and live green. But should it? Are organic products actually free of pesticides and herbicides on their skins? Are they nutritionally superior to other types of food?
Unfortunately not. The official USDA organic label only bans specific human-designed pesticides and herbicides, such as Bt toxin. It still allows natural pesticides like arsenic, sulfur and copper compounds to be used on plants, and many organic farms use synthetic ammonium nitrate to boost crop yield.
This means that organic food can contain just as much or more pesticide residue than non-organic produce. It is just worded differently on the package. These organic pesticides are also less discriminatory regarding what they kill, and have a tendency to wipe out more insect species in a field (including beneficial predators such as ladybugs) than modern pesticide choices.
Bt compounds, for example, are inactivated and chemically inert until they are assembled into a functioning pesticide by specific enzymes in the pest bug’s stomach. They kill the pest but have no effect on vertebrate life, while arsenic and sulfur are unhealthy for all classes of organisms.
This misconception is quite common and is worth stressing: Organic foods are not pesticide free, and in many cases contain as much pesticide and herbicide residue as other types of crops. They are not grown without these yield-increasing technologies, they just have a different type of them. The USDA definition of organic food only excludes synthetic pesticides. Even some scientific studies that proclaim organic foods to be lower in pesticide only check for synthetic varieties. Natural pesticides, such as rotenone and boric acid, are just as thick on an organic apple skin as any other.
Then again, as long as that skin is washed before dinner, what’s the problem? Neither the USDA nor the scientific community can find a strong link between consumer health issues and the minute level of synthetic or natural pesticides typically found on fruits and vegetables in the United States. So if organic crops still have pesticides, are they nutritionally better for you than other food choices?
Not really, although not due to the pesticide question. Several comprehensive studies on organic crops, covering tens of thousands of samples over decades of time, have failed to find a solid link between organic foods and superior nutrition. The most recent investigation, funded by the International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems and published August 2008, tracked a number of trace nutritional elements across five types of crops and could not discern a difference between organic and non-organic produce.
Some types of organic crops, most notably leafy greens and vegetables, do seem to have slightly higher levels of vitamin C. The increase is still nowhere near the amount contained in a single vitamin supplement tablet. Ultimately, the consumer is left with produce that is up to 30% more expensive, but not significantly cleaner or healthier in the long run.
This is a complex issue difficult to cover quickly, and there are other legitimate points to consider, such as whether organic foods leave less of an environmental impact. However, judged only by decreased pesticide use or increased nutritional content, organic produce does not finish much ahead of the rest in any scientific study. Buy organic for the taste, not the health benefit.
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