Glis glis
Blog of a sleepy dormouse
The pesticides are affecting his brain ;)
Published January 7th, 2007 in science, wildlife newsI’m extremely worried about the mental state of our ”environmental” secretary:
‘No proof’ organic food is better
That’s got to be one of the most inappropriate, vague and unsupported statements ever! Organic food is not just about possible health benefits (although if people feel happier eating fruit and vegetables which don’t have their skins soaked in synthetic chemicals, that’s fine!), it’s about environmental benefits (you’d think that the environmental secretary might bear that in mind). In the UK, a country so pressured for space, it will never be viable to have 100% organic farming (anyway, DEFRA’s environmental stewardship schemes will have a wide-ranging positive effect if managed properly), but organic farmland habitat is hugely important to so many declining species. Unlike the health aspect, there’s plenty of scientific evidence for that. There’s a good review of all the relevant scientific studies by Hole et. al. (Biological Conservation, 2005).
As with a lot of things, food production is a highly complicated issue with lots of interlinking factors to take into account; Food miles, small vs. commercial farms, sustainability of food, packaging, fair trade, genetic engineering, land use… And organic farming is definately not perfect (toxic chemicals can still be used, albeit as a last resort). I personally think that support of small, local farms is important, and that organic vegetable box deliveries solve a lot of problems, helping to support recycling and organic, local farms.
5 Responses to “The pesticides are affecting his brain ;)”
- 1 Trackback on Jan 10th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
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[deletes half-written blog post]
I think he was talking about the health benefits specifically, which afaik doesn’t have much evidence going for it. Your response is an order of magnitude better than the industry responses, though. There’s little point them making statements which assume what they’re trying to prove!
Thanks for the Hole report info - I’ll have to check that out.
Indeed, that’s part of what I’m so annoyed about - that he’s attacked organic food as not being “better” which is an extremely all-encompassing phrase, when he’s actually just talking about health benefits which are only a (possible) happy side-effect of organic… I might do some research into the health side of things actually, I don’t really know much about that area (apart from a vague feeling that eating 5 portions of pesticides a day isn’t neccesarily a good thing)
Check your email =)
You have to be slightly cautious, though for some organic products (milk is a good example) have a bigger carbon footprint than non-organic equivalents.
Oh definitely, I agree - it’s all far too complicated, there’s so many factors to consider once you start!!
Thanks for the comment - I found the Defra/IGER/EFRC review paper (about carbon footprint etc.) because of it, I actually hadn’t come across it before, so it was an interesting read =)