Dialogue of Sources

JD: Lately, there has been quite a discussion about whether organic foods are better than non-organic foods or if the two are equal. I have brought in some farmers and experts to let us know their opinion on the difference between the two. Organic Farmers and Growers are a leading UK organic control that inspect and license organic food and farming. Jenni Snook is a natural health and personal development expert against the use of organic foods. I also brought in a specialist, H. Young, to give us some feedback and see what he believes is best. So first I would just like to start off by asking you, where do each of you stand on the issue against organic food?

OFG: It has been such a battle to get shoppers to trust us and to buy organic products. The biggest argument we hear, 25% of our respondents, is that non-organic is just as good as organic. What we do not understand is how you cannot see that organic food is better. We need to get our respondents to understand what our organic products offer. We take pride in our methods of producing our products and protecting our animals welfare. It is not that our products are of better quality, but rather the pride we take in the way that our food is produced. Maybe if our responders knew that we are not responsible for soil depletion, or that we let our animals range outdoors, or that we do not use poisonous herbicides they would think differently.

JS: People go back and forth as to whether or not organic is better than non-organic. A study done in 2002 showed that some organics revealed some pesticide residue as well, which means that organic food still needs to be washed just like non-organic. Some chemists believe that any chemical food residue does not cause cancer, but there has been studies to show that half of all natural chemicals do cause cancer. As for the soil depletion it is found that it is not due to the organic product, but rather to the crop rotation done while growing the plant. It is harder for organic farms to keep mold, pests, and other diseases from their crops which results in a greater crop loss and causing these farmers to take longer a time and more land to produce their products. As for treating the animals better I believe that all farmers care about there animals and would treat them with respect. I think the only time that you see people mistreating their animals is when the business grows too big and they are focusing more on the money.

HY: The term organic means different things in different countries because each country has its own guidelines as to what can be declared organic, but in most countries the rate of organic farmers is going up. The main thing agreed upon in most countries is that organic food does not contain any GMOs whatsoever. A GMO is a genetically modified organism, and it goes against everything that organic is all about. In fact some countries are starting to ban GMOs all together. Some countries in Europe have been banned all together. Farmers use the GMOs to inject genes so that the crop or animal will produce pesticides all on its own. As for the studies that say that there is pesticides in organics, it is almost nearly impossible because people from the health department check in on all of the organic farms to make sure that they are running them properly. As for the natural pesticides or chemicals that people think organic farmers use, they really rarely use them at all. If they do it is just to fight pests, and they need to get permission from the health department before they do so. Jenni is right on the mistreatment of animals. Most farmers love their animals and would never do anything to harm them. Research has shown that mostly the mistreatment of animals have been found in bigger industries that care more about getting the product and the money.