The other day I was talking with a friend of mine, who said to me “there are toxic pesticides in organic produce.” That didn’t sound quite right to me, so I did some research and found that while organic produce is not sprayed with synthetic (made from petroleum) pesticides, some of the natural pesticides allowed on organic produce have toxic effects.
I found an article on this at About Organic Produce. Here are some excerpts.
Contrary to what most people believe, “organic” does not automatically mean “pesticide-free” or “chemical-free”. In fact, under the laws of most states, organic farmers are allowed to use a wide variety of chemical sprays and powders on their crops.
So what does organic mean? It means that these pesticides, if used, must be derived from natural sources, not synthetically manufactured. Also, these pesticides must be applied using equipment that has not been used to apply any synthetic materials for the past three years, and the land being planted cannot have been treated with synthetic materials for that period either.
Most organic farmers (and even some conventional farmers, too) employ mechanical and cultural tools to help control pests. These include insect traps, careful crop selection (there are a growing number of disease-resistant varieties), and biological controls (such as predator insects and beneficial microorganisms).
When you test synthetic chemicals for their ability to cause cancer, you find that about half of them are carcinogenic.
Until recently, nobody bothered to look at natural chemicals (such as organic pesticides), because it was assumed that they posed little risk. But when the studies were done, the results were somewhat shocking: you find that about half of the natural chemicals studied are carcinogenic as well.
This is a case where everyone (consumers, farmers, researchers) made the same, dangerous mistake. We assumed that “natural” chemicals were automatically better and safer than synthetic materials, and we were wrong. It’s important that we be more prudent in our acceptance of “natural” as being innocuous and harmless.
Does this mean you shouldn’t eat organic produce? No. Any organic produce is going to be safer than conventional produce which for sure is sprayed with multiple unknown pesticides. But it does mean that you should be more vigilant about exactly what organic methods growers use. Right now “organic” is a broad term, but within that some growers may use toxic natural pesticides, while others use biological controls. We now need more disclosure on methods.
This points to the importance of knowing your grower, which brings us back to farmer’s markets and Community Supported Agriculture and, yes, growing your own organic produce in your own backyard. The organic produce most likely to have residues of toxic natural pesticides are the large monocrop organic growers, who are simply substituting natural pesticides for synthetic ones.
