There are many benefits to 'going organic'

By Laurie Bomba, Kansas City Star, Nov 11.

E. Thomas McClanahan suspects that shoppers who buy organic foods are doing so merely for "psychological reassurance" or as a "penance for the excesses of consumerism."

His opening paragraph seeks to alarm readers with the price of organic maple syrup compared with the store brand. If he had read the labels, he'd know that the reason the high-end organic syrup costs 10 dollars is that it's actually maple syrup, distilled from the slow-dripping sap of sugar maple trees. Organic or not, maple syrup is expensive to produce, and is therefore expensive to buy. The corn-syrup-based imitation he bought at one-tenth the price is something else entirely.

The vast majority of organic foods are not priced like delicacies, and they are rapidly making their way beyond the shelves of natural and gourmet markets and into the aisles of discount grocers and price clubs.

While not everyone is able to jump on the organic bandwagon yet, those of us who do go out of our way - geographically and financially - to buy organic foods have many legitimate reasons for doing so.

read more (KansasCity.com)

Official: Organic Really is Better

Jon Ungoed-Thomas, Sunday Times, London, October 28.

THE biggest study into organic food has found that it is more nutritious than ordinary produce and may help to lengthen people's lives.

The evidence from the £12m four-year project will end years of debate and is likely to overturn government advice that eating organic food is no more than a lifestyle choice.

The study found that organic fruit and vegetables contained as much as 40% more antioxidants, which scientists believe can cut the risk of cancer and heart disease, Britain's biggest killers. They also had higher levels of beneficial minerals such as iron and zinc.

Read more (The Sunday Times)

Organic, and Tastier: The Rat's Nose Knows

By Harold McGee, New York Times, October 3, 2007.

In any controversy it can be helpful to consider the views of disinterested parties. So, on the subject of agricultural policy and practice, it's worth noting that an unimpeachably neutral group has joined the ranks of those who prefer organic foods over foods produced with the help of synthetic chemicals. That group is 40 Swiss rats.

A team of Swiss and Austrian scientists recently concluded a 21-year study of organic wheat production. As an "integrative method" for assessing quality, they gave lab animals a choice of biscuits made from organic or conventional wheat. The rats ate significantly more of the former. The authors call this result remarkable, because they found the two wheats to be very similar in chemical composition and baking performance.

read more (New York Times)