Food For Thought: Debating Organics
Over at the Dish, Patrick Appell linked to Ezra Klein’s back and forth with Grist’s Tom Philpott about the benefits, or lack thereof, of organic food versus “conventional” food.
The exchange was initiated by this interaction between Klein and a Post reader,
Santa Fe, N.M.: I saw a report today on a study finding that organic food isn’t any healthier than conventional food. Is buying organic a waste of money, in your opinion?
Ezra Klein: Honestly? Yes. It’s definitely not healthier, at least not according to any study I’ve seen. There’s some argument that it’s more environmentally friendly. But it’s not something that I’m convinced is worth a premium. I’d rather buy from a local farm that uses some pesticides than a major producers who has gone organic.
To which Philpott responds by saying,
Well, Ezra, here is a study, released last year by the U.S.-based Organic Center, that comes to a conclusion quite different from the U.K. agency’s findings. It’s called “New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods.” The Organic Center recently released a cogent rebuttal to the U.K. findings as well.True, the Organic Center is funded by Big Organic companies like Dean Foods (owner of Horizon Dairy) and Whole Foods, which have an interest in promoting organics as healthier. But I’ve never seen the Center’s scholarship successfully challenged.
Klein counters with,
At any rate, the hard evidence of health benefits for organic foods has been mixed at best. There are no long-term studies showing that consumption of organic foods will make people healthier over a long period of time. That’s not to say organic foods are bad. They may taste better, or be more environmentally friendly. And we may even eventually find that they are healthier. But I’m much more worried about getting people to eat fruits and vegetables in general than I am about getting fruit and vegetable eaters to switch to organics. And what we do know is that organic produce is more expensive and harder to find.
The two then get into a discussion of the environmental impacts of organic farming (Klein, Phillpot), all of which is a fine discussion as far as it goes. When it comes to discussion food and the agricultural industry environmental and nutritional components are important factors to consider and flesh out. But I think Klein and Philpott’s discussion misses, at least for me, one of the most fundamental desires and benefits of an organic diet: knowing just what you’re consuming. [Read more →]
August 17, 2009 35 Comments
