Organic, is that the real question?

I have been reading the conversation between Mr. Clarke and Mr. Preston and the ensuing passions that have arisen about our food.

The organic farmer says that his food is better for us because it has no herbicides or pesticides used in the production of that food. Mr. Clarke says that he looked at French and Swedish studies that discount that notion, showing no scientific proof to support that fact.

I found several studies on the web about a particular case in Sweden. Huffington Post (fairly reliable, I think) reported on the case of a Swedish family of five (three children and two adults) who for the first week of a three-week study ate regular food (read here, farmed with the use of fertilizers and pesticides).

Their urine was collected each and every day and the SERI (Swedish Environmental Research Institute) tested it. Levels of heavy metals and other nasty ingredients were identified and entered onto a graph.

For the next two weeks that same family ate only organic food. The urine was collected every day and presented to the SERI for analysis.

The difference was noted, duly noted. The amounts of pesticides and herbicides found in the first week were 50 per cent higher in the urine than what was found in Weeks 2 and 3.

Cadmium was the highest amount of heavy metal that was found in the samples of pre-organic diet. Cadmium has been linked to higher incidences of certain cancers and cardiovascular disease.

I look at the neighborhood that I live in, and I can show you a complete circle of people who have all perished from cancer, and they were all next-door neighbours to each other, a little too creepy for me.

Unfortunately, this Swedish study was instigated and controlled by a major Swedish grocery chain named Coop.

For as many studies show that organic is better for you, there are just as many that show that there is no difference.

An interesting fact about organic versus non-organic is how the plants themselves act when there is or isn’t the use of herbicide or pesticide.

A non-organic plant only has to enjoy the sun and grow to its heart’s content. The organic plant has to be weary of attack from not only pests but also weeds. This plant will produce its own toxins to fight off invaders. Some of these natural toxins are more dangerous to humans than the pesticides and herbicides. For instance, the potato, the most basic of food, will produce a substance known as solanine. This solanine is produced when the potato starts to turn green, ingest too much of this and you will become very ill indeed.

Food is not enjoyed to the extent that it should be. There are no family dinners. There are too many “fast food” drive-throughs. I think when Henry Ford was inventing the automobile he probably wasn’t giving much thought as to where the cup holder should be, or will this vehicle be low enough to get under the height restriction bar. There is a commercial on TV (that nefarious box that has ruined the dinner routine, why is the news on at 6 p.m., when we should be eating a meal?) that touts the non-use of antibiotics in their pork products. This particular chain names all of its burgers after members of the family. I am sorry, but how they get away with that is beyond me. Hog farming is probably more of a factory farm than some beef cattle farms.

Those hogs are commodities and everything must be done to keep that animal alive until it is of prime weight for slaughter. I remember reading an ad for 100 year-old chickens for sale, good for the soup pot. Soup pot, more like pease pottage hot, pease pottage cold, pease pottage in the pot, nine days old; I am sure that childhood rhyme was based on the stewing of ancient hens. Of course the ad meant, 100 one-year-old hens; but such is the language of selling. In France, where food and the eating experience is more like a love affair, they sell their chickens with the heads still on. That way you can see exactly what sort of chicken you are buying. Some chickens are better for meat than others.

I could go on and on about food production and presentation, but instead I would recommend two great books to read so that you may educate yourself, rather than rely on fourth hand, possibly biased information.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan is a must-read. Even though it focuses on the American farming practice, much of it is relative to Canadian farming practices, only Canadian farmers are not subsidized by the government like the American farmers are.

You may be surprised how much of the food market is controlled by Wall Street.

The other, read is by Peter Singer, called The Animal Liberation. If you are queasy by nature, you might want to skip the second read.

On a final note, farming, any kind of farming, is a business. There are huge costs, whether the farmer goes organic or not. There is a bottom line and profit margins; sometimes the profit margin is marginal to say the least.

Many families still try to make a living by farming, feeding not only themselves but also the masses. If you thought about the amount of food that is produced, processed and consumed each and every day, well, you couldn’t. It is that huge of an amount. To be or not to be organic, well that is up to you. The studies are out there, some coming to the conclusion that organic is better and just as many saying there is no difference. After all it is only a matter of taste… right?