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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> For instance: we buy eggs that are from free-range hens that are fed  
> all organic feed and no antibiotics.

Both the benefits of the food choices outlined, health and environment, are 
legitimate benefits of buying organic and free-range.  I noted that Gene did 
not say USDA Certified Organic or Certified Free-Range.  And so it is true 
enough that *actual* (as opposed to 'certified') organic food has those 
benefits.

The wisdom of paying more to secure those benefits  is in direct proportion 
to the amount of certainty one has that the claims are true.  As is well 
known 
in circles such as this, food labeling words are for sale to the highest 
bidder and they rarely mean what the ordianry person means when using those 
words.  
The examples of 'vine ripe' and 'wheat bread' are well known.  But did you 
know what the term 'extra virgin olive oil' means?   Does it not conjure up 
the 
image of the very first pressing of the olive berries and even that pressing 
is very light (*extra* virgin).  In fact, it means nothing of the sort.  The 
grades of olive oil are classified by their pH.  The term 'extra virgin' 
refers 
to a certain range of acidity and that acidity can be achieved by any means 
whatever from the olive oil being first pressing to adding baking soda to it 
to 
neutralize the excess acid.  'Extra virgin' olive oil CAN be made from the 
spent hulls and seeds so long as the acidity fits the bought definition.

The bought and paid for terms 'organic' and 'free range' are the same.  They 
are meant, like all food labeling, to be deceptive.  Eggs can be labeled  
'free range' if the hens are kept in a completely enclosed metal building 
with a 
small concrete pad (like a dog kennel) where they could go for a few miniutes 
a 
day if they chose to.  The term 'organic' contains enough loop holes that 
even 30,000 acre agribusiness vegetable farms can qualify by making only a 
few 
minor adjustments in their practices.

That is, unless you persnally know the source of your food, you are guessing. 
 The extra money might be getting you healthier food and benefiting the 
Earth, or it might not.  With the proliferation of commercial agribusiness 
organic 
food producers, the odds are increadingly in the 'might not' category.

The first line of defense, of course, would be to grow your own.  Baring 
that, buy from  the people who are actually growing it, people you know well 
enough or are open enough for you to see that it is orgainic and free-range.  
Only 
if those fail, look to the label.  And if you are stuck with relying on the 
label, you are rolling the dice.   </HTML>