Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

I've been looking for a source on the Stossel fiasco, finally happened upon
it.

http://attra.org/attra-pub/manures.html

In February 2000, the issue of manure use on organic farms was highlighted
on the television news program 20/20. The segment suggested that
fertilization with livestock manures made organic foods more dangerous than
other food products in the marketplace. (4) The show's producers arranged
for a sampling of various organic and nonorganic vegetables from store
shelves and tested for the presence of E. coli. The samples of both organic
and nonorganic produce were generally free of serious contamination. The
exceptions were bagged sprouts and mesclun salad mix. Of these, more E.
coli contamination was observed on the organic samples. It was largely on
this basis that the news program challenged organic farming.

The attack was embarrassing to the organic industry and forced its
membership to undertake a lot of "damage control," despite the fact that
the allegations were contrived and based on poor science. The sampling was
not statistically significant (i.e., the same sampling done today might
produce the opposite result). The show failed to point out that the
specific test used does not distinguish between pathogenic and benign forms
of E. coli. Also ignored was the obvious fact that conventional farmers use
manure, too! Furthermore, the reporter failed to disclose the vested
interests of the individual bringing the charges (Dennis Avery of the
Hudson Institute—a "think tank" heavily funded by conventional
agriculture interests), presenting him instead as a former official with
the Agriculture Department. (5) John Stossel—the journalist responsible
for the 20/20 report—subsequently issued an apology and a correction. (6)
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paul tradingpost@lobo.net

Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.
--Henry David Thoreau