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Organic: A Choice For Our Children
As parents, we want to feed our children healthy food. What parent would turn down the chance to give a child delicious, healthy food that is convenient, a good money value, that the child loves - and then responds with a, "Thank you, Mommy, that was great! May I help clean up?"
In practice, though, many powerful forces determine our food choices. Our children have tasted artificially flavored, partially hydrogenated, day-glow snack foods and clamor for more. Our kids tell us that their friends' "parents let them eat" the latest processed food fashion. Huge sums of money pay for artists, musicians, toy manufacturers, psychologists, and marketers to work together to carefully manipulate your child's food preferences.
We're busy and want something simple, quick, and preferably inexpensive. We return to the ruts of the unhealthy foods we ate ourselves as kids or that we know our own kids will like. We feel guilty because of our busy lifestyles and don't want to say "no" to our kids - especially if it means yet another battle.
And the last straw - we hear conflicting information about what is healthy. High carb or low carb? Low fat is good for kids. Low fat is bad for kids. Sugar doesn't affect behavior. Sugar causes ADHD. Aspartame is totally safe. Airplane pilots aren't allowed to eat foods containing aspartame because it affects their judgment.
Phew! What's a parent to do? Thankfully, making healthier food choices is simple and clear. Increasing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in the diet makes the diet healthier. Especially in our antibiotic-flooded age, eating foods that contain live active cultures of beneficial bacteria makes our diet healthier. Decreasing artificial chemicals in the diet and the environment, makes us all healthier.
Nutrition is not an all-or-none activity. The goal is to keep making choices that make the diet a little better.
A Stitch in Time
DDT used in the United States before 1966 may have caused an epidemic of premature births that has only now been detected! According to a fascinating study published in the July 14, 2001 issue of The Lancet, scientists who studied stored cord blood samples from mothers who had delivered at that time found elevated levels of DDT breakdown products among the group who had premature deliveries or low birth weight infants. This would make DDT responsible for a host of medical problems and the deaths of many children - but the link wasn't proven until more than 30 years later! DDT use in the United States was stopped in 1972 because it caused reproductive damage to birds (the bald eagle and brown pelican were nearly extinct), but DDT is still widely used in developing countries for insect control. I'm certain that the dangers of some chemicals in common use in the United States today will be proven in the future. I believe that toxic chemicals are one of the biggest health threats to our children. We may not prove the links until they are grown, but we must not wait until then to provide them with safe food, water, air, homes, and schools.
On a personal note, my wife has now recovered from a very malignant form of breast cancer. She has no family history of the disease, but toxic chemicals were used on her farm when she was a child.
What we now call 'conventional farming' is actually something very new. In the 20th century, our naïve optimism about science led to the over-exuberant use of antibiotics, infant formulas, surgery, pesticides, hormones, and fossil fuels. It's time to bring this back into balance.
Organic food has long been the standard for human nutrition. In contrast, many chemicals and hormones introduced post World War II do not have proven long-term safety. Some of them may be fine. Time will tell. I prefer organic for children where there is a good choice.
With the dramatic increase in organic farming in recent years, the new generation of organic farmers is developing innovative and earth friendly ways to increase yields and improve flavor. What is organic and why is it so important for our children?
Organic Defined
Organic refers to the way agricultural products - food and fiber - are grown and processed. It is an ecological system that relies on healthy, rich soil to produce plants that resist pests and diseases. Organic farming prohibits the use of toxic and persistent chemicals in favor of innovative practices that work with nature, instead of against it, such as crop rotation, cover crop planting, beneficial insect release and composting. In the case of livestock, no antibiotics or synthetic hormones are permitted. Organic production also prohibits the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Organic practices mean:
- No pesticides to contaminate our soil and water or injure farm workers
- No fertilizers to runoff and contaminate rivers, lakes and oceans
- A healthier and more sustainable environment for us all
Pesticides In Our Food and Environment
Chemicals used in conventional farming pose many risks to human health. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged with evaluating pesticides and setting "acceptable risk" levels of exposure. EPA's tests have largely been conducted on fully grown adult men or non-human animal species, exposing them to one chemical at a time. Evidence now shows that chemicals in combination - the way we are usually exposed to them in everyday life - may exponentially increase health risk.
Additionally, many EPA-approved pesticides were registered long before extensive research linked these chemicals to cancer and other diseases. Now the EPA considers 33% of all pesticides as potentially cancer-causing.
Why Organic Especially for Children?
Children are developing organs to last a lifetime. Due to their smaller size, fast-growing speedy metabolisms, and less varied diets, infants and children are more vulnerable to health and developmental damage. In 1993, a congressionally mandated study by the National Academy of Sciences expressed concern that existing methods of risk evaluation for pesticide exposure were failing children. More recently, the Consumers Union and Environmental Working Group have released studies confirming that children are overexposed even if their exposure is within legal limits.
The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 mandated a review of agricultural chemicals in light of this new information about risk assessment. Included in this act is a requirement to impose a 10-fold margin of safety to protect children when setting standards for the use of pesticides on food. While safety standards have become more strict, buying organic products, if they are available and you can afford them, and supporting organic agriculture may be your best protection.
Why Does Organic Cost More?
Organic products do tend to cost more than their conventional counterparts. To some extent, this is changing as production capacity and demand for organic products increase, improving production efficiencies and lowering prices at the checkout. In addition, many involved in organic are striving for a sustainable agricultural system - one which is ecologically sound as well as economically viable. Paying farmers a fair price for their products is an important tenet for many involved in organic agriculture.
Raising a family on a budget can pose challenges at times. Watching pennies and doing "the right thing" for our families can sometime seem in conflict. For example, in the case of organic foods and fibers, it's understandable to question if the benefits are really worth the extra cost. Looking beyond the price of an organic product and considering the true value, may shed light on the subject. When considering products for your children, organic may indeed be a far better value.
An Opportunity to Support a Healthier Tomorrow
Our children are our most treasured resources, and we have the opportunity to protect them. By reducing toxic exposure, organic products can help us raise healthy, strong children. Through nurturing the soil and keeping toxic and persistent chemicals out of the environment, organic agriculture is one thing we can support to help us pass along a healthy and safe planet for future generations. The cost may be a little more, but the value for you and your family may be far greater.
Related Topics:
- How to Eat Organic Foods on a Budget
- Organic Buying Power
- Health eHome
- Going Green: Eco-Friendly Tips & Advice
- Get the Parenting & Children's Health newsletter in your inbox weekly
Labels: chemicals, children's health, environment, healthy diet, organic, pesticides
4 Comments:
You are what you eat..
The age old saying.. that is so true oh how true it really is. The diet can really make someone healthier and even lesson the age of the body.
As for our children scientific proof and shear visual observation of a child raised organically and a child raised on standard grocery store food. The difference immediately observed is that the child raised organically has not matured as much as the other child physically, mentally.
Children should have the choice of whether to grow up so fast, have sex at 6, 7, or 8. Food grown in other countries and meat with hormones is detrimental to our bodies. It does cause illness, why do you think cancer, diabetes, down syndrome, etc, etc have become prevalent. Please feed our children and our next leaders healthy.
The author of this article apparently has not read the actual USDA regulations concerning what is considered organic.
1. There is only a limit on synthetic pesticides, organic pesticides such as nicotine which is harmful to insects and humans alike, or rotene which is deadly to aquatic life such as fish are perfectly legal, (there go our lakes and oceans) as are many synthetic compounds. the USDA maintains a National Allowed Chemicals list outlining synthetic chemicals approved for use in organic farming. The list is not short. Citing the EPA studies is fine as long as you acknowledge that "organic" pesticides show the same prevalence of illness as the synthetic counterparts.
2. Additionally livestock may be vaccinated in the same fashions as their non organic brethren, and in cases of illness and threat of the spread of disease antibiotics are approved for use. Again refer to the National list of allowed chemicals maintained by the USDA. The machinery, and processes used for harvesting is no different than conventional methods except the machinery must not have come into contact with synthetic substances for at least 3 years.
3. The price of organics is directly linked to less efficient agricultural practices that yield less edible food, which does result in some price differentiation, but primarily is from markups given to products by manufacturers to generate revenue. The organic title sells well these days especially to the niche groups who have become disillusioned with the "all natural" market.
Finally the author uses purely anecdotal evidence when discussing his wife, since he provides no evidence beyond a loose correlation. I can do the same, my grandmother died of cancer, she also had built houses using lead paint, and asbestos, and she smoked, and she ate foods laced with DDT, oh did I mention that none else in her family had a history of cancer? I could correlate any or all of these things, oh but she was also 80 when she died. Anecdotal evidence is a sure red flag that this blogger doesn't have a clue.
Secondly
Celeste your comment is wholly in factual. The is no visible or scientific difference proven between children who grow up eating "grocery store food" and organic (isn't organic food sold in grocery stores?). Two children who grow up eating a similar diet, one being organic and one being not organic, have no physiological differences. By this I do not mean one child eats apples the other Big Macs. That another argument all together. Also the argument is not about where the food is grown, but how it is grown. The location doesn't matter because the USDA will not allow food that is not grown to its standards to be sold in the market place, the exception being niche markets such as Indian food stores and the like. Secondly the food eaten by our parents and grandparents were heavily sprayed with the often harmful pesticides, but their generations were not subject to the same massive obesity problems we have now. (Federal organics regulation began in 1990) While some chemicals have been found to be harmful and have since been removed from common use, most others have little or no evidence of dangerous agents. The seeming prevalence of cancer, diabetes and down syndrome (of which non are related), is a result of many things the biggest being advanced medicine which is more adept at identifying the problem. Some illnesses such as diabetes has been linked to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, and excessive caloric consumption, and has not been related to the quality of organic vs. conventional farming techniques. And any link to sex practices is silly, since 1000 years ago when all food was "organic" children were often married and had children by 13 or 14. The average lifespan being only30-40 years old.
It is very important to stay on top of your health and have a check up at least once a year to ensure that you remain healthy. Many health problems are curable but you need to catch them in time. Do not wait to go see a doctor because it may be too late. I have always gone to Call a Nurse for all of my health concerns. Whenever I have a question I call Call a Nurse and they are always very polite and knowledgeable.
I feel like this was a really informative article- plus, it cannot hurt to eat organic! However, i do agree with jess when she says that organic products are marked up higher because of the label. I was looking for some organic foods that are cost friendly that my kids would eat and came across this blog called guffly and they have some candy and fruitsnacks featured that i think are great! to me, it looks like my kids would totally eat them and not know the difference and they are not that expensive!!
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