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To: ild who wrote (55509)	8/28/2006 11:48:44 PM
From: regli	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

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.

To: ild who wrote (55509)	8/29/2006 1:22:50 AM
From: regli	Respond to of 116555

Supermarkets dig in for organic food battle news.independent.co.uk By Susie Mesure, Retail Correspondent Published: 29 August 2006 Organic food, normally associated with liberal pacifists, has become the latest battleground in the UK's supermarket wars, with J Sainsbury and Waitrose each vying to out-green the other ahead of national organic fortnight, which starts next week. Both chains like to see themselves as organic pioneers, fighting over the accolade of being the UK's first supermarket group to have offered customers organically grown produce: Waitrose says it launched the genre in 1983, while Sainsbury's claims it has made the category its own since 1986. Both groups punch above their weight in the organic sector, although again Waitrose insists it lands a harder blow. The smaller chain, which is owned by John Lewis Partnership, says that despite only having a 4 per cent share of the UK's grocery market it controls four times as much of the country's organic grocery sales. Meanwhile, Sainsbury's has 30 per cent of the organic market, twice as much as its share of the overall grocery market. Shoppers are increasingly keen to trace the provenance of their food, demanding more than just ever-cheaper prices. This has catapulted the organic sector from a niche market into the mainstream in just a few years. The Soil Association, the leading certification body, recently predicted the £1.2bn sector would be worth £2bn by the end of the decade. Sainsbury's is attempting to stretch the market by expanding its organic range into ready meals for the first time. It is adding pizzas and soups to its SO organic own-label, which it relaunched last year. It has tripled the number of organic lines that it stocks during the period to 1,000. But Waitrose intends to do better. From next month, when it will relaunch its own range, customers will be able to complete "100 per cent" of their weekly shop organically. It says its range stretches to 1,500 lines, including meals-to-go and snacks. Data compiled for Sainsbury's by AC Neilson show that the chain enjoyed a 18.4 per cent leap in annual sales of organic food in the 12 months to July. The other front to open up in the organic supermarket wars is between Tesco and Sainsbury's, who are both launching organic produce box schemes within days of each other. Both groups are testing the market for an online box scheme, replicating the existing offers in the market from small companies such as Abel & Cole and one-man bands who source directly from local farms. Even Asda has got in on the organic act. Its parent, Wal-Mart, recently announced plans to raise its own organic game in a move that has worried the US organic food movement. Andy Bond, Asda's chief executive, is going to announce a new series of sustainable initiatives tomorrow. Ronnie Cummins, of the Organic Consumers Association, a US lobby group, is among those who are concerned Wal-Mart will destroy the ethical ideals of the movement, which is more devoted to eco-friendly practices than the bottom lines of the world's biggest retailers.