The obvious benefit of growing organic food is significantly lower usage of pesticides. The negative health effects of pesticides are startling.
These are a few excerpts:
Pesticides Exposure Associated With Parkinson's Disease
For immediate release: Monday, June 26, 2006
hsph.harvard.edu
Boston, MA -- In the first large-scale, prospective study to examine possible links between chronic, low-dose exposure to pesticides and Parkinson’s disease (PD), researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have shown that individuals reporting exposure to pesticides had a 70 percent higher incidence of PD than those not reporting exposure. No increased risk of PD was found from reported exposure to other occupational hazards, including asbestos, coal or stone dust, chemicals, acids, or solvents. The study will appear in the July issue of Annals of Neurology and also appears online via Wiley Interscience
Birth Defects Higher in Babies Born to Families
Living near Farming Areas using Pesticides
chem-tox.com
SOURCE: Environmental Health Perspectives
Volume 111(9):1259-1264, July, 2003
Babies born to families living near wheat growing agricultural areas using chemical pesticides have been found to have a 65% greater risk of having birth defects related to the circulatory/respiratory system. The pesticide category believed to be the culprit is known as chlorophenoxy herbicides that contain the chemical 2,4-D.
Mosquito Control - Lawn & Agricultural Pesticides
Linked to Immune System Weakening and Frog Mutations
chem-tox.com
SOURCE: Article below appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle
by Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer
Original journal article appeared in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 99(15):9900-9904, July 23, 2002
Raising new questions about the environmental risks of some widely used farm chemicals, scientists are reporting today the first evidence linking agricultural runoff to grotesque hind-limb deformities in frogs. Researchers said frogs appear to be made more vulnerable to a common parasite when exposed to the pesticides atrazine and malathion. The parasite, a burrowing trematode worm, tends to infect the hindquarters of developing tadpoles. Atrazine is part of a family of chemicals that rank among the world's most widely used weed killers. Malathion is commonly applied to control mosquitoes and other insects, and pharmaceutical grades are approved for killing head lice. Both products are controversial but considered safe for commercial use in the United States.
etc... etc.. etc...
chem-tox.com
Then check out the effects of antibiotics introduced through non organic meat.
MEAT EATERS FACE DRUG IMMUNITY SCARE
sydney.indymedia.org
PEOPLE who eat chicken, minced beef, pork chops and lettuce may develop an immunity to the drugs used to treat potentially fatal conditions such as meningitis and pneumonia.
Seven years after a landmark report by the Joint Expert Technical Advisory Committee on Antibiotic Resistance warned of drug immunity being passed through the food chain from animals to humans, an investigation is to be launched to measure the risk to consumers.
Scientists have long warned that the overuse of antibiotics, such as growth promoters in chicken, cattle and pigs, can breed drug-resistant bugs that may impede antibiotic treatments of diseases in humans. ...
Keep Antibiotics Working
keepantibioticsworking.com
Antibiotic Resistance Threatens Public Health
Doctors depend on antibiotics to treat illnesses caused by bacteria, from pneumonia to meningitis and other life-threatening infections. The effectiveness of many antibiotics has begun to wane, the legacy of decades of unnecessary overuse in both human medicine and agriculture.
Go to that site for much more information.
And then this to top it off:
New Study Shows Vegetables Fertilized with Manure are Contaminated with Antibiotics Given to Livestock, Pose Potential Human Health Threat
releases.usnewswire.com
11/7/2005 11:31:00 AM
...
ST. PAUL, Minn., Nov. 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Antibiotics given to livestock can end up in vegetables - posing a potential health threat to consumers who eat them - according to a groundbreaking study published online in the Journal of Environmental Quality ( jeq.scijournals.org ). In the study, corn, cabbage, and green onions absorbed chlortetracycline from manure fertilizer obtained from pigs that were given this antibiotic.
Chlortetracycline is a member of the tetracycline class of antibiotics that are used in human medicine to treat upper respiratory tract infections and other illnesses. Tetracyclines and other antibiotics also are used as feed additives in poultry, hogs and beef cattle. Feed additives are not used to treat disease, but to promote slightly faster growth and to compensate for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on industrial-scale farms. As the study points out, when antibiotics are ingested they can spur the bacteria naturally present in the intestinal tract, including types of bacteria that can cause serious disease, to become drug-resistant. ...
Obviously lots more on the net if you are interested. |
