Name
Professor
Eng-120
Date

Is Organic Better

The controversy over organic farming and organic food has been going strong for years now. When people think of organic food, they think of crops that were grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers and crops that were not genetically altered. People think of organic meet as animals that were not given antibiotics, hormones or other chemicals; and were raised on a natural organic diet. While some people debate on whether or not the new way of organic farming is healthy, worth the price, or any better than conventional farming; it is not really new at all. The conventional way of farming with chemical fertilizers and pesticides only started at “the beginning of the Industrial Revolution” (2:649-651). The ideas of producing chemical, manmade fertilizers came about because there was a need to be able to mass produce a fertilizer at a price that was affordable. This allowed farms to expand in order to mass produce crops that were much needed in order to feed the ever growing population. However, once something becomes mass produced you also have big companies and politics involved. The USDA has come up with a set of rules and regulations, yet the rules are lax enough that food companies are getting away with claiming their product is organic, when in fact it may not truly be organic. The agencies that are responsible for enforcing these rules and regulations have not taken much interest in doing so either. Without strict, enforced rules and regulations it is not possible to form an educated decision on the true benefits of organic foods.
In the Indian Journal of Medical Research, Uauy states that, “there is currently no evidence of major differences in nutritional content between production regimens”. This assumption was reached after analyzing scientific data that was collected by other researchers. Uauy and his colleges’ went through many different case studies ruling out many that contained very incomplete data before they found the few that they used in their analysis. Throughout the article, the point is made clear that the information that is available is still rather incomplete, not to mention taken in uncontrolled environments. Uauy insists that there is no evidence that proves there is any indication that organic foods are any healthier for consumers.
Contrary to the information stated in Uauy’s reports, Deborah Rich’s article from Earth Island Journal states, “data gathered by the British government from the 1930s to the 1980s on the mineral contents of 20 raw fruits and vegetables” showed “ levels of calcium, magnesium, copper, and sodium in vegetables, and of magnesium, iron, copper, and potassium in fruit had dropped significantly.” The article goes on to state that this finding directly correlates with the increase of “synthetic nitrogen and pesticide use on farms”. Other areas that are discussed are the possibility that conventionally raised crops are adding to the population’s health problems by depleting the potentially healthful benefits that are naturally present in our food.
After searching many articles, the