ORGANIC -VS- CONVENTIONAL

In this comparison, when discussing conventional and organic farms, we are referring to the standards by which the farms are held. Many organic farms go above and beyond certified organic standards and some have no local presence and barely make certification. Some conventional farms are small, locally engaged and farm responsibly without certification. An older wine vineyard for example, might resist certification because converting the handling and fermenting process would be cost prohibitive. It is probable that many of them have certified organic soil, seed and growing practices. This is where the conscientous, ingredient-savvy consumer can use common sense to see beyond labels. For the consumer who would prefer not to research each purchase, it is best to look for the USA certified organic label. Before researching these two paths of farming, I knew conventional farms were allowed to engage in practices that damage the environment, but I had no idea of the kind of damage they currently inflict on all of us. Of all non-organic farms, conventional factory farms are the most destructive and engage in almost all of the negative conventional methods listed in this comparison.

'Organic' is a labeling term that refers to the way agricultural products - food and fiber - are grown and processed.

• Organic food and fiber production is based on a system of farming that maintains and replenishes soil fertility without the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers.
• Organic foods are minimally processed without artificial ingredients, preservatives, or irradiation to maintain the integrity of the food.
• There are small family farms that claim to be organic but forgo the certification process due to cost. It is up to the consumer to gage whether this producer is a viable option.
• Due to hard work and diligence on the part of pre-2005 organic farms, the label has become quite lucrative to have and therefor is abused. For this reason, it is best to stick with a local brand that has been certified for more then a few years

'Certified Organic' means the item has been grown according to strict uniform standards that are verified by independent state or private organizations.

• Certification includes inspections of farm fields and processing facilities, detailed record keeping, and periodic testing of soil and water to ensure that growers and handlers are meeting the standards which have been set." -Organic Trade Association.

'Conventional' farms, a term that accounts for most farms, are free to use methods having little to do with prevention but rather medicalized reactionary farming. some conventional farms are safer them most and forgo organic certification due to cost among other reasons.

• They may use whatever means (within basic safety laws) to kill pests and maximize output: chemicals, synthetics, hormones or genetically-modified organisms.
• There's no check for sustainability or long term effects on the entire process from worker to consumer.
• More likely then not, this method of production engages in unsustainable practices that strip the soil of it's nutrients, contaminate the air with chemicals and fertilizer and our water with erosion induced runoff.

FARMS

Certified Organic

• Farms must produce according to strict standards that nurture rather then harm people, water, friendly living things, soil, the environment and of course, consumers.
• Standards vary slightly based on where they get their certification.(more info about trustworthy certifying organizations at the bottom.)

Conventional

• Conventional farms must adhere to very basic safety laws that speak to immediate need rather then prevention. They are allowed to and often do engage in practices that are damaging to all involved.
• They are free too apply harmful, non-biodegradeable, chemical pesticides, herbicides and fungicides to the plants, soil, air and water. these chemicals are applied at toxic levels that are harmful to the farmers, consumers and consequently most living things surrounding the plants and farms.

FOOD

Certified Organic

• Food must be raised, grown, processed, handled, processed ad packaged without toxic and persistent insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, herbicides, chemicals, growth hormones (RBGH), antibiotics, genetic modification (GMOs), and harmful residual residues.
• Strict organic standards must be followed.

Conventional

• As a means to maximum output, conventional farms use toxic chemicals, growth hormones and genetic modification during the production and transport of their food. As a result, harmful residues remain on the finished product. This is why it is good to wash produce before eating, but with conventional it doesn't make much difference since the product in it's entirety was exposed to harmful chemicals.

PRODUCE

Certified Organic

• Produce is under most circumstances allowed to naturally ripened with out use of toxic chemicals, wax or residue. As a result it tastes better.

Conventional

• Much produce is forced to ripen using temperature control and chemical methods, both decreasing the nutritional value and good taste of the produce.

LIVESTOCK

Certified Organic

• Livestock must be raised on certified organic food, handled and processed according to the cleanest and safest organic standards.
• Grass fed and finished (important), pasture raised livestock is given an optimal diet and gets plenty of exercise. As a result it is less fatty, antibiotic and hormone-free, loaded with Omega 3s, low in cholesterol and all the better for us. In this case- red meat cooked in a healthy way is always good for you.

Conventional

• Conventional livestock is confined in a small space and fed a high-fat grain diet. The animal gets fat and often, sick which results in an unhealthy animal unable to produce. This results in the frequent use of hormones and antibiotics and major compromise in taste, nutritional value and good health to the consumer.

POULTRY

Certified Organic

• Poultry must be raised on certified organic food, handled and processed according to the cleanest and safest organic standards.
• Why? Because they are healthy chickens.

Conventional

• "Most broilers are raised on litter in houses of 20,000 and more, while layers [eggs] are caged in houses of 40,000 to 100,000 birds. Unlike organic poultry, conventional poultry do not have access to outdoors and natural light." - USDA
• Translation: lots of poop eating and infection which results in unhealthy birds, tons of antibiotics and a runny watery egg that tastes bland and has less nutritional value.
• Conventional birds are fed food with animal bi-products. after CWMD- do we really want to play with that?

NUTRITION

Certified Organic

• When purchased locally, food such as produce and eggs are higher in nutritional value because of the short trip it took to get to your plate.

Conventional

• On rare occasions one will find a factory farm selling locally. The amount of energy used and nutrition lost in the hundreds or thousands of miles trip from farm to plate is tremendous.

In a nutshell, YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT! If you eat food that was healthy when alive, it will serve you well and contribute to your good health when you eat it.

TEXTILES/FIBERS

Certified Organic

• Much like organic food agriculture, organic fiber growing methods support biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, improving the quality of the soil, using less water and helping to prevent groundwater pollution.
• Organic cotton does not use chemicals in growing or processing and is the healthiest solution for the planet's ecosystem and the health of our speesees.
• it is possible that an organic material being imported into the US be treated with methyl bromide as a means to keep foreign organisms from arriving as well. While organic labeled companies are working for alternative means to the same end there is good news for the consumer. "gases such as methyl bromide do not chemically bond with clothing fibers. They just become trapped in air spaces and washing and airing the clothing will remove the pollutants. clothing should always be laundered after purchasing and before wearing. Imagine the handling and messy environments during manufacturing, shipping, and storage that your new shirt or skirt has endured before arriving in your home. If you are machine or hand washing your new organic clothes, allow the washing machine or sink to fill with cool water, add your favorite eco-laundry detergent, and allow your new garments to soak for an hour or two before completing the wash cycle. Dry the garment appropriately and then allow the garment to air out for a few hours before wearing or storing in your closet." - lotus organics
• The safest choice is to buy certified organic garments made in the USA when available. we will see more USA grown and made goods in the near future.
• While the most sustainable of the fibrous plants, bamboo and hemp are self protective, nurturing and need very little to grow, they currently are ONLY available as imports. Unless the manufacturer consciously prevents the exporter from treating the fabric, it could to be treated with methyl bromide.

Conventional

• 25% of the worlds pesticides are sprayed on cotton, causing devastation to the health of farmers, workers, our land, air, water and the health of people living in conventional cotton-growing areas.
• Once cotton is spun and knit into a garment, conventional products are subjected to toxic dyes that are cheaper to produce, nickel-containing metals, and other chemical finishes. Dioxin, a bi-product of bleach, is used to whiten conventional clothing, and formaldehyde is used keep it looking nice in stores. these chemicals outgas and are absorbed into a persons skin and respiratory system.
• The use of methyl bromide is commonplace.
• the risk of damage to workers in conventional fiber growing and manufacturing operations is extremely high.

METHODS

Certified Organic

• Certified organic farms are required to use methods that carefully nurture life and growth.
• Typically they use "cover crops", meaning after a harvest, the farmer plants a different crop that replenishes the soil and keeps it fertile.
• HEALTHY soil = abundance of living microbes and organisms that contribute to good soil structure and release, transform, and transfer nutrients.
• OPTIMAL water absorption
• NO erosion
• NO farm runoff into our drinking water
• FEW fertilizers but ORGANIC when used
• HEALTHY crops.
• CARBON control

Conventional

• Grow a single crop year after year, deteriorating the soil
• Continual use of chemicals and synthetics that deteriorate that healthy soil
• Deterioration of soil
• Bleak environment to try to grow healthy agriculture
• Nutrient-rich microbes diminish
• The ground loses its ability to hold water
• More run-off results
• Run off into the groundwater (wells, basins, rivers, etc.), which supplies about 30% of our fresh water.
• The topsoil easily erodes.
• According to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 60-80% of farmland around the world is "moderately to seriously degraded" and harmful to agricultural productivity.
• The only way to maintain production levels long-term is to use more fertilizers, which causes an even larger global problem. Conventional farming is not sustainable to soil health.

FERTILIZER

Certified Organic

• Cover crops, blanketing, and a well suited environment reduces the need for assistance from fertilizers and pest controls.
• When needed growers can use organic fertilizers and pest controls.

Conventional - (when diagnosed with lung cancer, my husbands non-smoking grandmother was told it was common to see people living in the "fertilizer belt" get this type of cancer.)

• Growers may use recycled municipal sewage sludge in fertilizers.
• Sludge frequently includes Milorganite or Nitrohumus, Cadmium (and other metals), PCBs, pesticides, asbestos, industrial solvents, and petroleum byproducts
• cadmium is an enzyme poison, blocking energy production in the mitochondria and competing with zinc and selenium. It is associated with increases of lung and prostate cancer. It also damages the lining cells of the arteries, promotes inflammation, and interferes with blood vessel wall structure, all of which contribute to an increased risk of vascular disease.
• Cadmium poses a serious health threat. A recent article evaluated 246 women with breast cancer and compared them with 254 case controls. Urine samples were tested for Cd, and the researchers found that women with the highest level of Cd in the urine had twice the risk of developing breast cancer compared to women with the lowest urinary excretion. The researchers screened out other risk factors by interviewing the subjects.
• Cadmium has estrogenic effects, stimulating breast and uterine cells. In estrogen responsive cancers, Cd has similar effects to estrogen exposure, causing proliferation of cancer cells. Cd induces oxygen free radicals, and it inhibits DNA repair, both of which contribute to its carcinogenic activity. Even low environmental exposures contribute to this risk. Environmental studies also show an association of Cd exposure with pancreatic cancer.
• Grains and green vegetables readily take up Cadmium from the soil.
• "Ammonia (NH3) is used as a fertilizer and reacts with water to form a strong alkali that may damage the corneas and airways. It can reach toxic levels in animal buildings and may produce chronic bronchitis, bronchial reactivity, pulmonary fibrosis or bronchiolitis obliterans. Oxides of nitrogen (NO, NO2, N204) are found in freshly filled silos and may cause death from asphyxia, laryngospasm, or delayed pulmonary edema. More commonly, they cause irritative symptoms (silo fillers disease), and farmers and silo workers who do not take adequate precautions are at risk when they enter the silo within 10 days after it has been filled." http://www.nutramed.com/asthma/agriculture.htm

HEALTH and SAFTEY

Certified Organic

• Growers do not engage in practices that cause or contribute to any known health conditions or disease
• Growers foster good health for all humans involved from worker and neighbor to consumer, for the livestock and produce, for the soil, water, air and surrounding eco-systems.

Conventional

• Growers engage in practices that expose the workers, neighbors, handlers, consumers, livestock, produce, soil, air, water and surrounding eco-systems to harmful levels of toxic chemicals, growth hormones and antibiotics.
• Growers use toxic pesticides, herbicides and organic natural materials at harmful levels. Inhalation of these chemicals can cause inflammatory reactions (bronchitis, asthma, and/or bronchiolitis) in the airway or lung tissue reactions - alveolitis, pulmonary edema and pulmonary fibrosis.
• At risk: 6.5 million farm workers and those who process, handle, transport, and service food products enroute to the marketplace.
• Also at risk are residents of rural areas who are exposed to dusts distributed by winds, sometimes hundreds of kilometers distant from the source of airborne contamination.
• Most toxic chemicals involved in conventional farming and all the ways they are applicable contribute to poor environmental health and human disease.
• Cadmium (cd) is one of the many harmful toxins found in conventional fertilizer
• Cadmium is an enzyme poison, blocking energy production in the mitochondria and competing with zinc and selenium. It is associated with increases of lung and prostate cancer. It also damages the lining cells of the arteries, promotes inflammation, and interferes with blood vessel wall structure, all of which contribute to an increased risk of vascular disease.
• Cadmium poses a serious health threat. A recent article evaluated 246 women with breast cancer and compared them with 254 case controls. Urine samples were tested for Cadmium, and the researchers found that women with the highest level of Cadmium in the urine had twice the risk of developing breast cancer compared to women with the lowest urinary excretion. The researchers screened out other risk factors by interviewing the subjects.
• Cadmium has estrogenic effects, stimulating breast and uterine cells. In estrogen responsive cancers, Cadmium has similar effects to estrogen exposure, causing proliferation of cancer cells. Cadmium induces oxygen free radicals, and it inhibits DNA repair, both of which contribute to its carcinogenic activity. Even low environmental exposures contribute to this risk.
• Environmental studies also show an association of Cadmium exposure with pancreatic cancer.
Grains and green vegetables readily take up Cadmium from the soil.

8 PATHWAYS TO US, AT THE VERY LEAST

When a harmful chemical is applied to the air and soil it then begins a journey with several paths to consumers. Lets view an example and just for an added dose of common reality, the consumer is pregnant. see below:

1. Chemical is applied to soil or plant
2. Toxin moves from air to worker to fetus
3. Toxin moves from air to breathing consumer to fetus
4. Toxin moves from air to plant to soil to water to animals to consumer to fetus
5. Toxin moves from plant to produce to worker to handler to packager to consumer to fetus
6. Toxin moves from plant to animal to handler to packager to consumer to fetus
7. Toxin moves from soil to water to consumer to fetus
8. Toxin moves from air and water to neighboring woods to wild animals to hunter to consumer to fetus

GROWTH HORMONES

The short of it:

1. Adding hormones to our livestock and dairy animals poses the threat of cancer, among other problems in humans
2. We know too little about the dangerous effects of adding hormones to our food
3. No sufficient testing was done to rule out any long-term dangers
4. The drug company that produces these hormones (monsanto) strong armed the FDA into passing the hormone as "safe" after tests were conducted by monsanto's scientists only
5. Thats right - strong armed. the best way to solve this problem? Don't support it. Buy certified organic.

The long of it:
Bovine somatotropin (abbreviated bST and BST) is a protein hormone produced in the pituitary glands of cattle. It is also called bovine growth hormone, or rBGH.

rBGH is the more common term for the controversial growth hormone given to conventional dairy cows in order to maximize their milk output. rBGH is bovine somatotropin, a protein produced in the pituitary gland of cows. Monsanto, one of the largest drug companies in the world, is the only company to market rBGH under the brand name, Prosilac.

Monsanto's studies show use of rBGH in cows increases bovine insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in milk, a structure that is identical in cows and humans. Several studies have shown that increased levels of IGF lead to an increased risk of cancer. Studies done on lung cancer cells show that drugs inhibiting IGF signaling can be of potential interest in cancer therapy.

It is a known fact that many FDA scientists were pressured to leave their positions after expressing resistance to approval of Monsanto's rBGH.

Monsanto is currently engaged in legal battled in attempt to keep companies from labeling their products "free of rBGH, bST, BST or Prosilac."

• rBGH ( bST and BST) significantly increases the risk of bovine mastitis, infection of the mammary glands, which leads to frequent use of antibiotics. It is illegal to sell milk containing antibiotics.
• rBGH ( bST and BST) significantly increases the risk of lameness
• rBGH increases the levels of chemicals in milk that increase the risk of CANCER to the consumer
• rBGH is banned in every developed country except the U.S. including Canada, Japan, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia

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