If you were asked to directly drink chemicals sprayed onto our fruits and vegetables would you do it? No. So why still do so many people not eat organic food?

On average, organic food is 25% more nutritious in terms of vitamins and minerals than products from industrial agriculture.

Whilst organic food can be more expensive (like recently seeing a $9.00 celery, when you balance it out, say with a vegetarian dish it can be cheaper, than chemical food as part of lunch or dinner. Then there is the huge hidden costs of chemicals to (personal health, climate change and environment of industrial food production.

Organic food should be compulsory - for farmers and the public. It's tasty and you'll love it - certainly later in life, when you live longer.

Nathan keep your "Organic" rubbish to yourself. Some latte sipping inner city type who bang's on about good food. You do not have a clue! I think the Greens supporters should be taken off of the grid and made to grow their own food. They would start starving and give us a rest from green fascism.Of course they would have to move from the inner city too as that is not at all natural. Now off to my bacon and eggs.

Oh dear.

>>Organic food should be compulsory<<

Yet another someone who thinks it is perfectly ok to insist how other people should live their lives.

As if there weren't already enough of them. Seriously, is it some kind of illness, this need to perch on a pedestal and preach at us?

Having an opinion is one thing. Telling everyone else that agreeing with your opinion should be compulsory, is entirely another.

I would like to know how you verify your organic food is for real.

Dear Nathan,

<<So why still do so many people not eat organic food?>>

You are right, Nathan, it's the money. I would love to treat myself with organic food all the time, but I've got to also look at my pocket.

Having to earn more so as to have enough to sustain an organic life-style through old age, requires being more immersed in the rat-race of employment today - which is even more toxic than those chemicals.

Or do you expect the government to give you enough to have organic food once you're old? then perhaps you'll be able to afford one celery for your birthday. I don't expect to ever receive anything from the government, nor is it moral to do so, so I must ration my savings.

<< It's tasty and you'll love it>>

It's tasty indeed when I can afford it and I love it already - but I wouldn't love it any more if it becomes compulsory.

NathanJ asks: "If you were asked to directly drink chemicals sprayed onto our fruits and vegetables would you do it? No. So why still do so many people not eat organic food?"

The answer is very simple: the toxicity of any given substance is determined by the dosage.

This page at Skepdic dispels the myths about the benefits of organic food: http://www.skepdic.com/organic.html

The quote at the beginning is particularly pertinent:
"People got in their head, well, if it's man-made somehow it's potentially dangerous, but if it's natural, it isn't. That doesn't really fit with anything we know about toxicology. When we understand how animals are resistant to chemicals, the mechanisms are all independent of whether it's natural or synthetic. And in fact, when you look at natural chemicals, half of those tested came out positive [for toxicity in humans]." --Bruce Ames