"Organic" Is The Latin Word For "Grown In Pig Shit"

What is interesting is when the GMO movement is compared to "global warming deniers on the right." Cause I'm pretty sure those of us who are skeptical of the Al Gore-style AGW, the stuff in the previous IPCC report, have been vindicated in many of our concerns.

A better comparison would be the faddish liberal fascination with "biofuels", since both involve hijacking the food supply in the way that poor people would starve, all in pursuit of an idea of "science" that doesn't make sense once you think about things.

But...but...biodiversity is fuzzy and cute...

idiots have all the answers, intelligent people ask the questions!!!!

And the peanuts which are used to soak up all the pesticides from the ground in the crop rotations with cotton won't have to be banned in public and private skools because of the catastrophic allergic reactions and peanuts and their byproducts in food sources will return to being an excellent and cheap food again.

Not fair, confusing the issue with facts.

Your point? What is wrong with pig shit? Rich in nutrients, I would think, and safer than the human stuff which is widely used in so many parts of the world.

I don't object to genetically-modifying through selective-breeding or genetically-engineering with gene-splicing if it means that less pesticides, herbicides and other Ag-chemicals are used.

I want to ingest the lest amount of chemicals from any source. I don't care if someone claims that it's 'OK' to eat some chemical. Fact is, 3/5 of those people are going to die early from some form of cancer, so their opinion only pertains to people who are OK with that. I'm not. My family has the longevity gene and I want to stay healthy.

I don't care what anyone wants to put in their mouth or lungs, that's their choice. However I do want to see labeling on food that tells me the percent of ingredients, and country of origin.

I hate to break this to you, north_of_60, but EVERYTHING you eat or drink or breathe is "chemicals". Now "country of origin" may be valuable information, unless the producer for that food owns the right politicians and regulators...

Gotta love pig shit. Good source of ham.

If it tastes good....eat it because once you check the chemical make-up of anything it could ruin your appetite. Here for example is a organic carrot:

If an organic carrot were labeled with this (partial) list of its ingredients, how many of us would purchase one? It contains many chemicals that we might reject including Phytic Acid ( 52,700 ppm; a preservative with E number E391), Xanthotoxin (300 ppb; a drug with the trade name Oxsoralen), Oxalic Acid (56 ppm, a pesticide used to treat bee hives, fatal in humans at 71mg/kg), Methylamine (3,970 ppm, an industrial solvent and DEA controlled substance), and so on.

Carcinogenic, Cardiotoxic, CNS-Stimulant, CNS-Toxic, Contraceptive, Convulsant, Corrosive, Cytotoxic, Decongestant, Deliriant, Disinfectant, Diuretic, Expectorant, Fatal, Flatugenic, FPTase-Inhibitor, Genotoxic, Hallucinogenic, Hepatocarcinogenic, Hepatotoxic, Herbicide, Hormone, Hypnotic, Hypothalmic-Depressant, Immunosuppressant, Insect-Repellent, Insecticide, Irritant, Laxative, Lubricant, Motor-Depressant, Mosquitocide, Myorelaxant, Narcotic, Neuroexcitant, Neuroinhibitor, Neurotoxic, Ozone-Scavenger, Parasiticide, Perfume, Pesticide, Phototoxic, Pituitary Stimulant, Preservative, Refrigerant, Renotoxic Respiration Depressant, Rodent Poison, Sedative, Soap, Spermicide, Stimulant, Sunscreen, Sweetener, Surfactant, Termiticide, Testosteronigenic, Toxic, Tranquilizer, Tumorigenic, Tumor Promoter, Urine-Acidifier, Uterorelaxant, Vasodilator, Vasomotor Stimulant.

Mark Matis beat me to it. The problem isn't labeling, the problem is an overall lack of scientific literacy amongst the general populace.

All chemicals are toxic to humans whether "organic" or otherwise. The only thing that is important is at what dosage. In Mental Institutes for some patients, they would take away the faucet handles after turning the water off because some inmates would drink enough to cause a form of osmosis destabilizing their electrolytes resulting in death.

Peterj demonstrates above how plants utilize chemical weapons as a defense mechanism. If Carrots were manufactured, and you could add Broccoli, Potatoes and Peanuts and likely much more, they would never get bureaucratic approval for human consumption. There are about 150 compounds in your morning cup of coffee, 22 of which are known to be carcinogenic (at a high enough dose).

At zero toxicity (and this has been observed in levels of radiation as well), the immune system has no stimulation and health outcomes are worse than at higher (low dosage) environments up to an optimum dosage above which, outcomes become worse until ultimately lethal. This effect is known as Hormesis.

Toxicologists had traditionally assumed a linear no threshold relationship between zero and LD-50 (lethal dose 50% of the time) and food standards have been based on the conservative end of that continuum (likely too close to zero for optimum outcomes).

If one is paranoid of GMO products get a copy of a toxicological breakdown of the resulting food and compare it to a control. You'll likely find that it is a waste of time but the education might be beneficial.

"Organic" is Canadian for the produce that comes out of my own garden and those of the farmers I buy from. If you don't know where your food comes from, you may be eating far worse that "pig shite".

PeterJ, John Chittick:

Applause. Well said. Dittos.

I had a discussion regarding "organic" apples about 20 years ago the resulted in "we agree to disagree". My opponent couldn't understand why I had spend over an hour discussing the topic with him. And was gobsmacked when I said "because while you were talking with me you weren't peddling your poisons to my neighbours".

Large scale monoculture promotes bio-diversity!

That's actually quite funny...logically inconsistent, but funny.

Organic foods are not necessarily more nutritious, however they do have fewer chemicals, particularly pesticides and herbicides and lower concentrations of the ones that are present. This comes from tests on random samples taken at grocery stores. All of the items labelled organic were significantly less contaminated.

If you want to eat fruits or vegetables that are known to test with significant levels of contamination, you have cleaner options.

Nobody is forced to buy or eat organic food. Nor are we kept from buying a well aged single malt scotch, if that's what we prefer, for whatever reason.

thank you for all your efforts that you have put in this. Very interesting information. "Laugh at yourself first, before anyone else can." by Elsa Maxwell.

Heh. FIRST!!!

north_of_60, my point is that carrots, and EVERY OTHER FOOD YOU EAT OR FLUID YOU DRINK, are made up of chemicals. I'm too lazy to check, but I would expect those chemicals that peterj listed above are MADE by the carrots themselves, and as such are a characteristic trait of ALL carrots. Or are carrots not on your menu at all?

I toured Monsanto facilities in St. Louis a few years ago. Looking at their GMO boll weevil resistant plants vs. the natural, infested plants, their claim was that you would have to spray with chemicals fourteen times in the growing season to attain the same results. The claim of increasing RELATIVE biodiversity doesn't surprise me.

Penn and Teller go after the organic food industry because of the way the industry pedals illusion and prays on the gullible.
I like their little experiment with the banana. A regular banana is cut in half, placed on 2 plates with one labeled organic and one labeled conventional. Four out of five organic market shoppers will pick the banana labeled organic because it tastes better. Penn and Teller illustrate again and again that shoppers are buying an idea rather than anything backed by science and logic.

Sounds like the politics South of the Border as well, Nold.

This blog screamed about lack of integrity by the enviro-nazi suppressing the dissent so many times, but you are no better, as you are publishing pro-GM news only, totally ignoring research indicating GM food may be harmful. You are no better.

Hey septic,

The last time I checked, we as the human race do not eat cotton, or any form of cotton byproducts, but those are just the people I know.

I don't know you, but you do have the freedom to eat whatever you so choose.

http://www.cottonseed.com/publications/facts.asp

Cottonseed oil has been a part of the American diet for well over a century. Until the 1940's, it was the major vegetable oil produced in the United States. Now, with annual production averaging more than 1 billion pounds, Cottonseed oil ranks third in volume behind soybean and corn oil representing about 5-6% of the total domestic fat and oil supply.

Crisco is one well known product.

When it comes to lifestyle I believe this:

As Dr. James LeFanu, M.D. wrote in The Body Politics:

So mouthwashes have been implicated in oral cancer, aluminum saucepans have been associated with dementia, keeping cats with multiple sclerosis, alcohol with cancers of the breast and oesophagus, coffee with cancer of the pancreas, sun exposure with skin cancer, and a high-fat diet with virtually everything. This technique is so fertile that for one illness alone, coronary heart disease, there are now no less than 240 personal risk factors [which have grown to 1,000 since he wrote this] which range from not eating enough garlic to being bald, from having an intelligent wife to having an unloving one, from drinking too much milk to drinking too little, from coffee and chlorinated water, and so on, and on and on. These “risk factors” are for the most part shallow and contradictory, but that does not matter because, like the never-ending drip of water on a stone, they penetrate the public consciousness, engendering the belief that our everyday habits are treacherous and that virtually anything can harm someone.

We are all born with that famous stamp, "Best before........"

Thanks Strad!

Knew when I put that out there I should have taken the time to make sure...haste makes waste...

Intelligent adults understand the significance and importance of the concept of 'context' when having a discussion.
When the discussion specifically refers to 'pesticides, herbicides and other Ag-chemicals', then it's obvious to an intelligent adult that chemicals in that context are contaminant chemicals not constituent chemicals. Those who wish to play childish games of semantics should find another venue for their amusement.

I beg you to explain, north_of_60, the difference between Oxalic Acid as a pesticide, and Oxalic Acid as a natural chemical found in carrots. Other than the concentration, of course, which can be varied GREATLY by an action as simple as WASHING the produce.