Op Ed: Good Thing Chemicals In Our Food Is Ok
By: Amy Jeanroy
Published: September 4, 2012

It's a good thing that according to a study by Stamford University, there is no nutritional benefit to eating organic food. The Conventional Ag crowd is passing around virtual high fives and breathing a collective sigh of relief. It is always a relief, when you can find an excuse to keep going along as you are. After all, change is hard. It is difficult to make complete sweeping changes to the way that you have always done something, especially when that something is entwined with the pride of  family history. 
If your single reason for eating organic, was because you felt that there was more nutritional value in every bite, you may be feeling as if you were taken advantage of. In fact, you were. Eating organic food IS much more than a nutritional boost. It is better. Does that mean more vitamins and minerals? No. Does it mean healtheir for every aspect of that food? Yes.  Organic food is about so much more than that single bite. Organic is an entire lifestyle and thought process to every detail of a food's journey; from seed to plate. Of that journey, our job is to do the best we can, to grow the healthiest food in the healthiest soil, get it to the table as quickly as possible, no matter if it is our table on the farm, or the table of our neighbors. Growing and harvesting that food should be safe for the workers who tend to it. It should not contaminate the very air it is grown in, and for heavens sakes, no one should be at risk for neurological issues by coming in contact with it. Naturally, those things don't get a whole lot of air time. Good thing. 
The only part of organic that the mainstream advertisement industry embraced, was the health aspect. Apparently, the health of the workers, the land, the water, the animals, was too deep? It is interesting (and infuriating) to see the reality of food being hidden from the consumer. Without full disclosure, how is the consumer going to make honest choices?
 Now that that pesky health issue is taken care of, we can all go back to spraying and genetically altering and squeezing every last speck of profit out of every kernel we can. After all, what's the difference? 
Organic may not be more nutritionally better, but it is healthier.

Comments:
Abby Bean
September 5, 2012

"It is always a relief, when you can find an excuse to keep going along as you are. After all, change is hard. It is difficult to make complete sweeping changes to the way that you have always done something, especially when that something is entwined with the pride of family history." 
The same can be said for veganism.  Organic is better for you, not for the animals.
Lastly, a commercial-driven captcha?  LAME!