From Dave Mastio, deputy editorial page editor of the Washington Times:
Right now, someone nearby is buying organic bean sprouts. It may be the last thing he ever does. Last week’s E. coli outbreak in Germany — potentially traced to an organic farm — was more deadly than the largest nuclear disaster of the last quarter-century.
Indeed, in the past two years, two public safety stories have dominated global news headlines – an explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and a nuclear power plant meltdown in Japan. Yet in the recent German organic-food-disease outbreak, nearly twice as many people already have died as in the two other industrial disasters combined…
Definitely not being beansprouts any time soon!
I noticed Mr. Mastio’s comment to the effect that E coli deaths during the past 2 years exceed all nuclear deaths by a factor of 2. I do not doubt the truth of that but observe that he has compared apples to oranges. Not all E coli deaths are the result of organic foods. Many have been caused by improperly prepared meat for example.
Faulty comparisons is something that I often see in the Washington Post as that paper tries to exaggerate some risk in order to promote its political agenda. I believe that the Washington Times is normally more responsible than that and am disappointed to see the Times use this cheap trick.
Since we don’t eat glass, iron, platinum, paladium or plutonium, I thought all food was “organic” 😉