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Green Living Now News, Edition Seventeen

Organic Food Reduced Pesticide Levels In Children Down To Zero

I don't know about you but sometimes as I load up my grocery cart with organic food, a little part of me wonders if this food is really better than the conventional stuff. Common sense tells me that it is much better not to eat toxic chemicals with my food, whether or not there is a scientific study to prove this. I'm even feeding my 10-month-old Premarin colt (young horse), Koko, organic oats.

Well, now it's official, eating organic produce and grains can reduce the pesticides in your body down to zero. That's what researchers found in 2003 when they studied 23 children from the Seattle area, ages 3-11. Researchers were looking for two pesticides, Malathion and chlorpyrifos (their use is banned in residential areas) in the urine of these children during a 15-day period. The children alternated between their regular diets, and diets that featured organic fruits, vegetables and grain products. After just a few days of eating organic foods, the children's pesticide levels dropped down to zero. Wow! And, once they switched back to their conventional diets, the levels went up again. Fascinating, huh?

Apparently there was also another earlier study done that looked at pesticide levels in 110 children. Only one child was pesticide free-the one that ate organic food regularly.

In 2002, the Consumer's Union research team showed that organic foods really do have less pesticides than conventional. In the peer-reviewed journal, Food Additives and Contaminants, this detailed scientific study was published. The Consumer's Union tested foods in 1997; the Pesticide Program of the USDA surveyed pesticide residues in a large variety of foods in the U.S. market from 1994-1999; and the CA Dept. of Pesticide Regulation surveyed residues in foods sold in CA in 1989. All of this data covered over 94,000 food samples from 20 different crops. 1,291 of the samples were organically grown.

So, what were the results?

The USDA data showed that 73% of the conventional foods had at least one pesticide residue. Only 23 % of the organic samples had any residues (but why did they have any at all? I'll tell you in a minute, stay with me…). But at least they were at lower levels than the conventional food. What's worse, the conventional foods were 6 times as likely as organic to have multiple pesticide residues. Over 90% of the conventional apples, peaches, pears, strawberries and celery had pesticide residues. The Consumer's Union tests found pesticide residues in over 79% of the food, and 27% of organically grown food. Multiple residues were ten times more common in the conventional food than the organic.

Why does organic food have any pesticide residues?

Did this question pop into your mind as you were reading? It did for me. So, here's the answer-persistent banned pesticides that still remain in soils (when you take these out of the analysis the pesticide residues in the organic food dropped to 13%), drift from neighboring non-organic farms, and possibly the mislabeling of organic foods that were really conventional. Yikes. The first two reasons are entirely predictable; the last one scares me the most. That's why I look for food that is certified organic by some organization that I recognize, such as Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), Oregon Tilth, and California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). Also, I prefer locally grown organic foods from farms that I know in the area. That's why I love the farmer's market, our local organic farm with a cash box on the honor system, and growing organic food myself.

Sources:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/print?id=1642533
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3076638/
http://www.consumersunion.org/food/organicpr.htm
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T044100.asp
http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/ehpstudy.pdf

2. Think Twice About The Ice

This is a real news story actually. A 12-year-old girl at the Benito Middle School in Florida got some shocking results in her science project for the New Tampa School science fair. And, here it is: There were more bacteria, including E-coli, in fast food restaurant ice than the toilet water from the same restaurants. Yes, I'm serious. Seventh grader, Jasmine Roberts, compared the ice used in the drinks to the water from the restaurant's toilet bowls. Seventy percent of the time the ice had more bacteria than the toilet water.

The project:

Jasmine visited five restaurants located near the University of South Florida (USF). The ice that she collected came from self-service dispensers inside the restaurants, and the ice that was served in drinks from the drive through windows. The toilet water samples came from the same restaurants. Each sample was placed in a sterile container and was tested at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, where she volunteers.

The results:

· In 4 out of the 5 restaurants, the self-serve ice samples had more bacteria than the toilet water
· 3 of the 5 cups of ice from the drive through windows had more bacteria than the toilet water
· 3 out of the 5 restaurants ice tested positive for E-coli, which basically comes from the poop of warm-blooded animals (such as the restaurant employees. Now those signs that are up in every restaurant reminding employees to wash their hands after each visit to the restroom have more significance.)
· Health symptoms from E-coli are cramps and diarrhea. E-coli can cause intestinal illness and a serious kidney condition, hemolytic uremic syndrome, in rare cases.

Possible theories for contamination of the ice:

The machines weren't cleaned properly and/or someone was touching the ice with dirty hands.

Though the bacteria levels found were within an "acceptable level", according to a private lab that tests drinking water, I can't believe that any level of E-coli bacteria is acceptable. The good news is that the restaurant owners were notified, were surprised by the results, and are using the information to make changes. Oddly, they all said that they clean the machines regularly.

Next time I eat out I'll be sure to pass on the ice in my beverage. Why take any chances?

Sources:

http://www.mercola.com/2006/feb/28/fast_food_beverages_might_be_worse_than_toilet_water.htm

http://news.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBQOZP9MJE.html

3. The Battle Over Food Labeling Laws: It's Who You Know…

What do House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, all have in common? They all have family, friends, or former staff members who are lobbying for a bill, named the National Uniformity for Food Act, that critics says will remove approximately 200 food label warnings that protect consumers. Specifically it would do away with laws such as California's Proposition 65, which requires manufacturers to place labels on foods that warn consumers if the items contain various chemicals, including those that can cause cancer or birth defects. Prop 65 was approved by two-thirds of California voters in 1986, and has forced manufacturers to change their products to meet the higher standards, which is a good thing for consumers. For example, bottled water companies have cut arsenic levels, bakers have removed potential carcinogen, potassium bromate, from many breads, doughnuts and other baked goods. California's attorney general, Bill Lockyer, said that Prop 65 has been successful in getting manufacturers to reformulate their products. The law has also inspired other states to create tougher labeling laws on food that are more stringent than the federal standards.

If passed, the law (National Uniformity for Food Act) would prevent states from introducing food standards that differ from federal regulations put forth by the Food and Drug Administration. Supporters of the bill say it will impose a national set of standards that would be more helpful to consumers than the current patchwork of state laws. Essentially it prevents states from giving warnings that go beyond the federal rules. Anything that takes away information from consumers is a bad thing, in my opinion. The only ones benefiting from this bill would be the food industry.

Though it passed in the House of Representatives on Wednesday (3/15/06) 283 votes to 139, it has yet to find a Senator willing to support it. This doesn't stop it from going forward, but it does give the impression that it does not have widespread support. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which has yet to take any action on it.

The Corporations and trade groups that support this bill contributed more than $3 million to members of Congress in the 2005-2006 election cycle, and $31 million since 1998, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Unfortunately money seems to be doing a lot of talking in Washington, more now than ever. According to reports filed with Congress, the bill's lobbyists include (Majority Whip) Roy Blunt's wife, Abigail, who works for the parent of Kraft foods, Altria. A spokesperson for Blunt said that his wife didn't lobby any house members but might have contacted some members of the Senate. Okay…and then there's Chief of Staff, Andy Card's brother, Brad, who has lobbied on food labeling issues for the Food Products Association. Andy Igrejas, from Washington-based National Environmental Trust, said this about it, "It's a perfect storm of insider access, big money and bad policy. They're sweeping away 200 state laws without a hearing, all because very wealthy interests want them to." Seems to me that this type of behavior has been endemic of the last five years in Washington. Never before in my memory has an administration worked so hard to reward corporations and take away protections for the American people. Industry seems to be writing the new laws and regulations being put into place by the Bush Administration, without any debate or input from opposing consumer interest groups, or the public. For example, here's what's coming down the pipeline, according to the National Resources Defense Council:

1. The Administration has issued new rules that would allow 20,000 aging power plants, oil refineries and other polluters to evade pollution controls required by law. That means more pollution in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the fish we eat, and the land we grow food on.
2. More oil and gas drilling in our most treasured landscapes, it's now their number one priority on public lands. Goodbye wildlife rich forests of the Greater Yellowstone Park, see ya world-famous cliff walls of Utah's Redrock canyons, asta la vista Dinosaur National Monument in Utah.
3. Forest Service has issued a new rule that gives it the power to open all 155 national forests to logging, mining and drilling without having to ensure the survival of the native wildlife.
4. In 2005, the Bush administration issued a new rule that treated mercury (one of the world's most dangerous substances) pollution from power plants as NOT hazardous.
5. The Bush Administration has approved permits to let mining companies bulldoze 5,000 acres of the Florida Everglades, even dynamiting them with open-pit rock mines.
For a much more detailed list, go to: http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/science/default.asp

Sources:

http://www.dailyjournal.com/newswire/index.cfm?sid=1967650510&tkn=pdkcukxV&eid=816956&evid=1&scid=35895

http://msnbc.com/id/117/print/1/displaymode/1098
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/science/default.asp
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_food_safety/001400.html
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_food_safety/003165.html

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