Isabella Sila
Jenifer Tinonga
First-Year Comp
18 November 2019
Is It Worthy Enough To Put In Your Body?
Abstract: “Is Organic Food Worth The Expense?”; This paper essentially uses the question of whether organic food is worth its prices as its core and brings in many other topics related to it. Some of the other topics that are being discussed in the paper are farmers, as well as how they are affected by the organic foods vs. non organic foods. This paper also goes over the actual benefits that come along consuming organic foods versus foods that are not grown organically. This is a topic that has been in discussion for a very long time, it’s a topic where people have many different opinions and perspectives about it. Another topic that takes over a large portion of the paper is “pesticides”. Pesticides are a huge part of the debate of whether or not organic foods are worth it. It goes over their effects and what their role is in the whole world of organic foods.
Organic Foods: The Debate
Organic food is defined by Google as “food produced by methods that comply with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming features practices that cycle resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity.” However, the significance of organic food vastly varies from person to person. There are groups of people that idolize organic food, to the point where their life and their diet completely revolves around it. On the other hand there are groups of people, who don’t see that there are any real benefits to consuming organic foods, especially when it comes with such a high price. The controversy on whether people should be consuming organic food vs. non organic foods has been going on for quite some time now. Like most things, there are many pros and many cons within this topic, there are many people who have many different opinions. One very important and common question that is often discussed is if organic foods are really worth their high expenses? After much research I found an abundance of answers to this simple question.
Pesticides, Farming, & More
Ocean Robbins, the CEO of Food Network Revolution, recently published an article on his blog this year regarding the cost of organic foods. This article is actually an excerpt from his book, “31-Day Food Revolution: Heal Your Body, Feel Great, & Transform Your World”. This excerpt was very detailed in the way that it not only goes over the high prices that come with organic foods, but also the production of both foods that are organic or non organic and the people that these foods affect, such as farmers. In his article he immediately addresses one of the biggest concerns that come with very costly organic foods, which is that not all people can afford to eat organically, “the cumulative impact of opting for a higher price can be overwhelming for many families struggling to make ends meet” (Robbins, 31-Day Food Revolution). Moving to the next portion of his article he discusses the pesticides used to produce non organic foods and the people that it affects the most, farmers. Farmers, do not have easy lives and are dedicated to producing our foods, despite being essentially poisoned on the job. “Pesticide exposure causes farmworkers to suffer more chemical-related injuries and illnesses than any other part of the workforce. The pesticides used to grow nonorganic food are a primary reason the average lifespan of a migrant farmworker in the U.S. has been reported to be as low as 49 years” (Robbins, 31-Day Food Revolution). This important to the discussion because it provides another benefit to producing and consuming organic foods. Like mentioned earlier, pesticides are used to produce foods that are non organic, and pesticides are what are literally killing our farmers. For example, Teri McCall went to bat for her husband in court after he passed, he was a farmer that was forced to work with pesticides that cause cancer. “She alleged that the company had known for years that exposure to glyphosate — the main ingredient in the agribusiness giant’s flagship weed killer — could cause cancer and other serious illnesses or injuries. And she blamed the company for her husband’s death” (Robbins, 31-Day Food Revolution). When organic foods are being grown, our farmers are not exposed to the harmful chemicals that they are when working with pesticides, which are used to grow non organic foods.
The Price is High
After going into further research, I found another article which was published in 2012 by “LearnVest”, which is a company made to help people manage their money. Their article definitely does not leans towards the side of organic foods being worth the cost for health reasons; “ A new study from Stanford, which seems to point out that organic foods aren’t more nutritious and don’t confer more health benefits than non-organic foods”. Dena Bravata, MD, MS, senior author of the paper at Stanford’s Center for Health Policy, began a project regarding the benefits of organic foods vs. conventional foods and was quite surprised with the results, she stated, “When we began this project, we thought that there would likely be some findings that would support the superiority of organics over conventional food”. What they actually found during their project was that although organic, these foods do not give us any real significant health benefits and aren’t as nutritious as they are praised to be.
Organic foods can range from about $0.13 to $0.36 more per pound of food, which on paper may not really seem like a lot but as they as every penny counts, these small differences in prices can really add up. For example, regular milk goes for about $3.50, on average, while organic milk will go for about $6.00, on average, that is almost double the price! However, the real question is for what? If they hold no real nutritious value compared to foods that are not organic, then why is there such a difference in prices? These are the questions I would really like the answer to myself. Well after continuing to read the Forbes articles I was able to get some answers.
Why Does “Organic” Cost More?
When researching this topic, it could be really easy to assume that organic food is a scam, our government is corrupt, and that they don’t really about us. Now that would all be a really dramatic jump to conclusions, when in reality that isn’t necessarily the case, no matter how it may seem. From the Forbe’s article I learned that “food is certified organic by the USDA only if it meets a long list of requirements, like being produced without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, or–in the case of meat–without routine use of antibiotics or growth hormones” (Forbes, paragraph 7). The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), would not just approve such foods if they weren’t worth it.
The End.
Overall, it can be said that the controversy of whether or not organic foods are worth all of the fuss, has many sides and many opinions. Everyone will always have something to say and after all my research, I have formed an opinion of my own. I believe that organic foods are definitely better than pesticide infested foods but I also believe that the cost should be lower so they are more accessible to everyone.
