Organic/Food Products

Organic food and products are good for business for many reasons.

Although there is much debate about either the health implications or taste implications of using pesticides, there is little debate about the impact that pesticides are having on the environment.

Pesticides can suppress the immune system. In a 1996 report, Repetto and Baliga cite epidemiologic evidence of an association between pesticide exposure and increased incidence of human disease, particularly those diseases to which immunocompromised individuals are especially prone.

The list of pesticides that are suspected endocrine disruptors includes atrazine and alachlor, two of the most commonly applied herbicides on corn and soybean crops in the United States. Just over one-half of the herbicides used in the United States in 1991 were applied to corn, soybeans, or cotton.

Many pesticides have not been tested for their toxicity, and testing in the past has focused on acute effects rather than long-term effects. In an inventory of commonly used chemicals in 1984, the National Research Council found that data required for complete health hazard evaluations were available for only 10% of pesticides.

Human exposure to pesticides can come through residues in food--either on or within fruits and vegetables, or in the tissues of fish and animals we eat--through contaminated drinking water, and through the air we breathe (because of "pesticide drift" from the spraying of fields or lawns).

Some pesticides accumulate up the food chain, or "bioaccumulate." A 1967 study found that DDT levels were 20,000 times higher in one fish species than they were in the surrounding sea water, and 520,000 times higher in fish-eating cormorants. So, when humans eat foods higher on the food chain (more meat, milk, cheese, and eggs and fewer plant foods), they increase their exposure to bioaccumulated pesticides. Link

Pesticides can contaminate drinking water supplies. It costs water companies many millions every year to remove pesticide residues from drinking water, and these costs are passed onto customers. Groundwater supplies nearly a third of drinking water (increasing to over 70 per cent in the south-east of England). Once groundwater is polluted it remains contaminated for many decades and is costly or impossible to clean up. Link

Cultivated plants grown in genetically homogenous monocultures do not possess the necessary ecological defense mechanisms to tolerate the impact of pest outbreaks. Modern agriculturists have selected crops mainly for high yields and high palatability, making them more susceptible to pests by sacrificing natural resistance for productivity (Altieri 1995). As modern agricultural practices reduce or eliminate the resources and opportunities for natural enemies of pests, their numbers decline, decreasing the biological suppression of pests. Due to this lack of natural controls, an investment of about $40 billion in pesticide control is incurred yearly by U.S. farmers, which is estimated to save approximately $16 billion in U.S. crops.

However, the indirect costs of pesticide use to the environment and public health have to be balanced against these benefits. Based on the available data, the environmental costs (impacts on wildlife, pollinators, natural enemies, fisheries, water, and development of resistance) and social costs (human poisonings and illnesses) of pesticide use reach about $8 billion each year (Pimentel and Lehman 1993).  Link