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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

Organic food exposed
Issue 16 of Cosmos, August 2007
by Elizabeth Finkel

It’s a booming trend, driven by public perception that food produced  
minus pesticides and fertilisers is healthier and better for the  
planet. We examine the science to see if the evidence stacks up.

I love my local organic food store. From the moment I enter, I enjoy  
the aromas that greet me and the folksy look of the place. But is  
organic food really any better for me? The perceived wisdom is that  
it's more 'pure' and 'natural', devoid of disease-causing pesticides;  
that organic farming "generates healthy soils" and "doesn't poison  
ecosystems with toxic chemicals".

Organic food is riding a surge in popularity; across the globe, sales  
of organic food are burgeoning. The global market in 2006 was  
estimated at close to an impressive US$40 billion (A$47.9 billion) by  
Organic Monitor, an industry research body, and growing 20 per cent  
annually in the U.S. and Canada.

And where consumers go, the multinational food companies follow:  
everyone from Uncle Tobys to Kraft, Heinz, Kelloggs and even Coca- 
Cola has jumped on the bandwagon. And developing countries are  
joining in too: China's organic exports grew 200-fold in a decade to  
reach US$200 million in 2004. Australia is also a major exporter, and  
plans to increase its organic produce by 50 per cent by 2012.

But is this belief in organic food based on faith, or evidence?

THE SURPRISING FACT IS that this mass migration to organic food has  
not been on the back of scientific evidence. In fact, you'd be hard  
pressed to find comprehensive evidence that organic food is healthier  
– either for us or the planet. Nevertheless, in the public  
consciousness, organic farming is unquestioningly bundled with the  
reigning moral imperatives of sustainability, protecting the  
environment and reducing greenhouse gases.

Full article is at:

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1567