Organic Groceries - Health Insurance From The Grocery StoreOrganic groceries; are they really worth the extra cost? Lately, the price of everything from gas to a carton of eggs has risen to ridiculous levels. Today’s consumers are having to make cut backs in every area of their budgets. If there is one thing that you don’t want to skimp on, it’s what you put in your body. Buying organic groceries, especially today, is more important than ever. With the cost of everything on the rise, the consumer isn’t the only one making cutbacks. Businesses are downsizing and, not surprisingly, some of the cutbacks they are making will directly affect the product or service that they offer. Conventional products do not have the strictly regulated standards that organically grown foods do. How important is this? If you’ve been keeping up with the recent reports of food recalls, it seems that quality control is becoming a growing concern. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s organic certification program restricts the use of antibiotics and hormones in animals, and pesticides on produce. The only fertilizer allowed is natural manure. Results from a scientific study done in 2006 proved that being exposed to pesticides, even very low levels, increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease by up to 70%. A recent article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed findings that pesticide “drift” from nearby farms had been a major source of acute illness in almost 900 school children during a four year period. If that many people can be affected from “drift” and pesticides are known to cause illness and disease, why would we purposely choose products laden with these poisons and put them in our bodies? Washing the produce isn’t the answer either. Foods such as peaches, apples, nectarines, peppers, strawberries, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes, just to name a few, easily absorb pesticides and therefore have a high residue count. This can not be simply washed or even scrubbed off of the surface of the produce. Fertilizers that are used by non-organic farmers are highly toxic and are responsible for many major illnesses. Many fertilizers are now made with recycled hazardous industrial waste and have tested positive for substances such a lead, mercury, and even arsenic. The California Public Interest Research Group and Washington’s Safe Food and Fertilizer Organization tested twenty nine fertilizers from twelve states for toxic metals. The results were alarming. All twenty nine fertilizers contained over twenty toxic heavy metals. On the other hand, valid data has been compiled showing that organic crops, on the average, do have higher levels of vitamin C, antioxidants, and trace minerals. They also have more nutrients per serving size since organic food isn’t “swelled with water”, which is an effect of artificial fertilizers. Superior nutritional value, along with the toxic dangers of conventional foods should be enough to keep organic groceries in all of our budgets. Organic groceries are not a luxury; they are a health insurance policy that we can’t afford to miss out on. Return To Organic Food Is
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