“While ‘only natural’ is appealing as a marketing message, it is not the best guide for how to farm with minimal environmental impact.” Continue reading
Category Archives: Organic food
Science Fair Project: Organic produce healthier — for fruit flies
Sadly for this young scientist, nutrient levels in organic and conventional produce are the same, regardless of what happened to the fruit flies. Possibly lower pesticides residues may have had something to do with fruit fly health — but that’s pesticides’ raison d’etre. Kudos for creativity, though! Continue reading
Posted in Organic food
Whole Foods: Products will carry GMO labeling
If Whole Foods is going to start labeling things, then how about also labeling the organic and homeopathic junk it sells? Continue reading
Posted in Biotechnology, Organic food
Food Poisoning: Organic greens (again)
Gotta love a business model that prioritizes mythical risks from pesticides over real risks of bacteria. Continue reading
Posted in Food poisoning, Organic food
German neo-Nazis take to organic farming
Birds of a feather. Continue reading
Posted in Organic food
Organic food: no better for you, or the planet
For organic farmers, bad news comes in twos this week. Organic crops seem to be no more nutritious than conventional ones, and are not necessarily great for the planet either. Continue reading
Why have we fallen out of love with organic food?
Bigger question is how anyone came to fall for the organic scam in the first place. Continue reading
BBC: Organic food ‘not any healthier’
Eating organic food will not make you healthier, according to researchers at Stanford University, although it could cut your exposure to pesticides. Continue reading
USDA panel gets altered-crops pay plan
For the life of me I can’t understand why we pander to the organic scammers. Are we to compensate snake oil salesmen if beneficial products are mixed with fakes? Not a good idea? Neither is pandering to the “accidental is better” crowd, whether they are the perpetrators of the fraud or simply the food superstitious who have been duped. Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology, Food labeling, Organic food
Tagged anti development, fear of modernity, food superstition
Dumb as a doorknob: A new guide to good, cheap,and low-pesticide, food
What does it take to educate the public – and dopey food writers – that “natural foods” contain far more pesticides than the trivial synthetic applications which might leave a residue on produce? See page 5 (3rd page of pdf) of Bruce Ames’ paper to find:
About 99.9 percent of the chemicals humans ingest are natural. The amounts of synthetic pesticide residues in plant food are insignificant compared to the amount of natural pesticides produced by plants themselves. Of all dietary pesticides that humans eat, 99.99 percent are natural: they are chemicals produced by plants to defend themselves against fungi, insects, and other animal predators.
We have estimated that on average Americans ingest roughly 5,000 to 10,000 different natural pesticides and their breakdown products. Americans eat about 1,500 mg of natural pesticides per person per day, which is about 10,000 times more than the 0.09 mg they consume of synthetic pesticide residues.
Emphasis mine. Continue reading
Activists at their most offensive: INSIGHT-Big Food girds for California GMO fight
This assault brought to you by Big Organic Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology, Food labeling, Organic food
Tagged food superstition, irrational fears
Canada ready to unveil plan to ease trade of genetically modified foods
Canada is set to unveil to the world its proposal to permit traces of unapproved genetically modified organisms in imported foods, even as government officials admit they don’t trust all countries “equally” when it comes to how they approve use of the organisms. Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology, Development, Organic food
Tagged fear of modernity, food superstition
Oregon seed, farm groups sue state over GMO canola
Sorry but “organic” isn’t an industry, it’s a marketing scam. Worse it deliberately fosters fear as a marketing strategy and I have exactly zero sympathy with it or its perpetrators. If “organic” agriculture ceased to exist there would be no loss to the world whatsoever. Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology, Organic food
Tagged anti development, food superstition
Pierre Desrochers and Hiroko Shimizu: Debating Locavores: Food to Energy to Smart Action (response to critics)
“Locavores” believe that food produced near final consumers is superior in myriads of ways to distant imports. While they might disagree among themselves on what exactly constitutes a “local foodshed” (a 100-mile radius or the whole state of California?), they have for the most part internalized long standing populist and romantic grievances against modern agricultural science, fossil fuels, large corporations and globalization. Continue reading
Local food is trendy, but is it really more eco-friendly?
Which is better for the environment and the economy — a tomato grown nearby or one from the supermarket? Continue reading
Mischa Popoff: Organic Activists Endanger Your Health
Are organic activists preventing the effective control of mosquitoes in your area? Maybe it’s time to stand up to them, because mosquitoes are more than a mere nuisance; they can be deadly! Continue reading
Wal-Mart OK with selling genetically modified sweet corn
“Rejecting entreaties from consumers and activists, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says it has no objection to selling a new crop of genetically modified sweet corn created by biotech giant Monsanto.“
Good. Let products stand or fall on what consumers buy, not on campaigns run by big organic trying to frighten people into paying exorbitant prices for inferior produce and limit competition from improved low-cost produce. Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Biotechnology, Development, Organic food
Supreme Court: Pesticide drift isn’t trespassing
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that chemicals drifting from one farm to another do not constitute trespassing under state law, a decision that could make it harder for organic farmers to seek relief if crops are damaged by pesticide drift. Continue reading
Battle over genetically engineered food heading to voters
“A fight over genetically engineered foods has been heating up in the nation’s grocery aisles. Now it’s headed for the ballot box.“
Quite a propaganda coup for organic food scammers and shameless anti-capitalist activists. Continue reading
Elaine Watson: Is the food industry under attack from an ‘NGO/media complex’?
With NGOs increasingly turning their attention to food production – and often doing a better job than the food industry of engaging with the media – the debate about issues from biotechnology to BPA will only become more polarized, one author has predicted. Continue reading
