More alt.nonsense

If paying more for organic food makes you feel good, that's fine. But for all that extra cost, it's not doing anything for your health.

But standards for labeling organically-produced agricultural products don't address food safety or nutrition, just how the food is grown.

Organic food is more likely to carry pathogenic bacteria, such as salmonella and E. coli, because of the type of fertilizer that organic farmers use, Avery said. He also said that some of the natural pesticides used in organic farming are quite toxic.

For example, organic farmers are allowed to treat fungal diseases with copper solutions and remain within guidelines. Copper, which is toxic, is the 18th most used pesticide in the U.S. and stays in the soil forever, unlike modern biodegradable pesticides.

Avery singles out organic milk in particular as being no better, saying labs have not found “one detectable difference whatsoever.” Despite this, he said, his wife is the only woman in her circle of mothers with young children who serves her kids conventional milk. Link

At its heart, the organic food craze is another Luddite reaction to modern science. We have the technology to produce food and medicine that is untainted and effective. But some feel that somehow the use of modern technology to produce the food makes it bad.