Oh dear, I just clicked on AJ Philip's first link, and guess what? Ha ha ha ha ha ... it comes from ... you guessed it ... a *CHEMICAL COMPANY* pushing *CHEMICALS*.

Yep, it's the Dow Chemical Company. Google the name folks, and the first thing you find right at the top of the page in a description of the company is, "Dow Chemical Company is a leader in specialty chemicals".

Ha ha ha ... just like the cigarette companies told the world for decades that tobacco was harmless.

Rehctub, this topic is not about the labeling accuracy of either organic or non organic food.

It's about the long term *HEALTH BENEFITS* of organic food

What don't you comprehend about that?

You may prefer a junk food diet and filling your rather large stomach with copious amounts of red meat. That's fine, you're entitled to eat yourself to death.

NathanJ,

Which part of which link did this contradict?

<<I was just reading your link and there were problems with it. For example, I recently bought organic spinach and I found a caterpillar on it. A lot of life, with no dead elements there - only life.>>

Note that I did acknowledge that not all organic foods have pesticide.

<<So imagine what the chemicals are doing to you, if they were killing insects like I've just mentioned?>>

All studies suggest that answer to this is “nothing” (nothing that one sip of coffee per year wouldn’t do anyway). If you have something that contradicts this, then please link me to it.

<<Why anyone would want food covered in toxic chemicals is beyond me...>>

That’s the thing, they’re not toxic (to us) in the doses that we ingest them. Toxicity is determined by dosage. Whether or not something is synthetic has been shown to be irrelevant. Even water is toxic if we have too much of it.

<<If organic fruits, foods and vegetables are not safe in Australia - we know they can't be sold - with our tight food safety standards.>>

I didn’t say they were unsafe; only that they can be more harmful than non-organic foods.

Nohj,

I didn't know who it was coming from.

<<Oh dear, I just clicked on AJ Philip's first link, and guess what? Ha ha ha ha ha ... it comes from ... you guessed it ... a *CHEMICAL COMPANY* pushing *CHEMICALS*.>>

And nor did I care because it was a peer-reviewed paper. No company can buy peer-reviewed research. Obviously it's in their interests to flaunt it. But that says nothing about its reliability.

AJ Phillips,

"Usually when pesticides are used, there is some toxicity and exposure, which results in a potential risk."

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/riskassess.htm

Chemicals are dangerous and we should stay away from them - and why would we want so many children exposed to chemicals on food - particularly packaged foods - I think that is terrible, let alone any fruits and vegetables they "might" be eating in todays age.

The other thing that people are not aware of is the use of food additives, in processed foods.

http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/the-top-12-harmful-food-additives-you-need-to-eliminate-from-your-diet/

There is no cultivated farmed soil in Australia that has not been exposed to chemicals and sprays. I try to grow without the use of sprays and fertilizers but the insects destroy most of the crop. The use of organic materials have secondary chemicals from housed animal, garden and human waste.

What certifies a farm organic?
Organic food cannot feed the World, unless it is GM to stop loss to insect infestation.