Bad Parent: Organic Schmorganic
Why my family eats pesticide-sprayed, foreign-grown food.
by Jeanne Sager
April 24, 2009
Sure — if you could tell me that buying organic and only organic was the best thing for my daughter.
Except, no one can.
Not the USDA. They oversee organic labeling, but they've remained mum on putting their own seal of approval on the O word.
Not a lot of scientists either. They say it's good for you — don't get me wrong. But better for you than anything else could possibly be? Not yet.
A study by the Danish government's International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems last summer found no differences in the nutrients present in the crops after harvest; nor was there any evidence that lab rats retained different levels of the nutrients
depending on how the foodstuffs were grown. And no matter how many organic ingredients get piled into the mixing bowl, if you're making a cake, you're still not making health food.
The truth? I can't afford it.It's all compelling evidence. And yet, none of it represents the real reason I'm apathetic about organic. The truth? I can't afford it.
What I can afford are cotton jeans that breathe versus polyblends that don't. I can afford healthy foods for my daughter — the whole grains, the fresh vegetables straight from the farmers' market in the summer and the grocery store in the winter. The more
money I save by not buying organic, the more I have left to spend on broccoli and sweet peas — foods that actually fall on the Environmental Working Groups (EWG) list of the dozen "consistently clean" foods they say you can feel pretty safe purchasing, even when
they're not organic.
In case you haven't heard, the economy is having a few problems at the moment. And considering the Organics Consumer Association itself puts the prices of organic products anywhere from fifty to one hundred percent higher than non-organics, I have had to
make some tough choices along the way. As long as buying pesticide-free means making nursery school tuition harder to pay this month, or my daughter needs a new pair of shoes, I'm okay with buying that non-organic bunch of bananas.
About the Author
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Jeanne Sager is a freelance writer and photographer living in upstate New York with her husband and daughter, Jillian. She maintains a blog of her award-winning columns at jeannesager.blogspot.com. |
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