Go Organic! Top ten reasons to eat organic food:

We all know organic food is healthier and better for the environment. But just how healthy is it and what environmental impacts can be reduced by going organic? Here's a list of ten reasons to switch to organic food.

Excerpted from an article by Sylvia Tawse:

1. Protect Future Generations - The average child receives four times more exposure than an adult to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food. Food choices you make now will impact your child's future health.
   
   
2. Prevent Soil Erosion - The Soil Conservation Service estimates more than three billion tons of topsoil are eroded from United States croplands each year. That means soil erodes seven times faster than it's built up naturally.
   
   
3. Protect Water Quality - Water makes up two-thirds of our body mass and covers three-fourths of the planet. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates pesticides - some of which are cancer causing - contaminate the groundwater in 38 states, polluting the primary source of drinking water for more than half the country's population.
   
   
4. Save Energy - Modem farming uses more petroleum than any other single industry, consuming 12% of the country's total energy supply. More energy is now used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate, and harvest all the crops in the United States.
   
   
5. Keep Chemicals Off Your Plate - Many pesticides approved for agricultural use were registered long before extensive research linking these chemicals to cancer and other diseases had been established. Now the Environmental Protection Agency considers 60% of all herbicides, 90% of all fungicides, and 30% of all insecticides carcinogenic. The bottom line is that pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms and can also harm humans. In addition to cancer, pesticides are implicated in birth defects, nerve damage, and genetic mutations.
   
   
6. Protect Farm Workers - A National Cancer Institute study found that farmers exposed to herbicides had six times more risk than non-farmers of contracting cancer. In California, reported pesticide poisonings indicate farm workers suffer the highest rates of occupational illness in the state. An estimated one million people are poisoned annually by pesticides.
   
   
7. Help Small Farmers - It's estimated the United States has lost more than 650,000 family farms in the past decade. And with the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicting that all of this country's farm production will come from 1% of farms by the year 2000, organic farming could be one of the few survival tactics left for family farms.
   
   
8. Support a True Economy - Although organic foods might seem more expensive than conventional foods, conventional food prices don't reflect hidden costs borne by taxpayers, including nearly $74 billion in federal subsidies in 1988. Other hidden costs include pesticide regulation and testing, hazardous waste disposal and cleanup, and environmental damage. For instance, if you add in the environmental and social costs of irrigation to a head of lettuce, its price would range between $2 and $3.
   
   
9. Promote Biodiversity - Mono-cropping is the practice of planting large plots of land with the same crop year after year. This approach leads to soil which is lacking in natural minerals and nutrients. To replace the nutrients, chemical fertilizers are used, often in increasing amounts. Single crops are also much more susceptible to pests, making farmers more reliant on pesticides. Despite a tenfold increase in the use of pesticides between 1947 and 1974, crop losses due to insects have doubled partly because some insects have become genetically resistant to certain pesticides.
   
   
10. Tastes Better and Is Better for You - There's a good reason why many chefs use organic foods -- can you imagine growing beautiful food from nourishing organic soil, preparing the food and presenting it on the table -- then taking a can of bug killer and spraying in on the food before eating? Do you think it would affect the taste? Do you think it would affect your body? Imagine if that pest killer was part of what made the plant grow.

Organics Resources
There are many resources on organics available in bookstores and on-line. This list is just to get you started.

Lifecycles
A youth-driven organization geared towards education and building community connections through hands-on projects furthering local and global food security.

EarthSave Canada
A youth-driven organization geared towards education and building community connections through hands-on projects furthering local and global food security.

Canadian Organic Growers
The national information network for organic gardeners, farmers, and consumers .

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