So, what’s the real deal with organic foods these days? Maybe your parents are on a health kick or your school cafeteria has started serving some organic choices for lunch – KW’s got the goods on going organic.
GMOs
These days, lots of non-organic produce (fruits and vegetables) are GMOs – Genetically Modified Organisms. That means the field they grew in was sprayed with a chemical that’s designed to kill every living thing on the land (insects and other plants, like weeds). Then, special, genetically modified plants that are able to grow without being affected by the chemical spray are planted in the field. Basically, the only things that can grow, live and survive on that piece of sprayed land are the genetically modified plants. Considering we eat these things and put them in our bodies, that doesn’t sound too healthy – does it?
The truth is, the chemicals sprayed on these fields suck all the nutrients out of the soil and ruin the land. Worst of all, not enough time has passed since food producers started spraying fields and growing genetically modified plants for researchers and scientists to be able to condut studies that could tell us if there are any long-term health effects on humans.
Meats & Dairy
All that and we haven't even talked about two other important food groups yet! Most animals raised for meat, especially beef, are pumped full of fake hormones to make them grow faster and be leaner (that means more meat on them and less fat). Many scientists have linked this with the fact more and more girls are starting puberty a lot earlier than normal.
Cows that are raised for meat and milk are injected with antibiotics over and over again, even though they are healthy, to make sure they don't get sick and become a problem for the company that owns them. All these hormones and antibiotics end up in your meat, milk and cheese – and then in you and your blood!
Organic 101
Basically, organically grown foods and organically raised meat and dairy cows eliminate all the bad practices used to grow and produce genetically modified foods. Organic produce grows in fields that aren’t sprayed with any poisons or toxins, naturally. Cows and other meat-producing animals, as well as dairy cows, are allowed to grow and mature naturally, and aren’t given unhealthy injections just to make them produce more food for us to eat.
By going organic, you’re choosing to eat naturally – and more healthy.
Here are KW’s top-10 reasons to go organic:
- Protect Future Generations: Kids are four times more likely to be exposed to cancer-causing pesticides in food than adults.
- Prevent Soil Erosion: 3 billion tons of soil erode (i.e. disappear) from crop land in the U.S. each year because of bad farming practices that ignore the things soil needs to stay healthy.
- Protect Water Quality: The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that pesticides pollute the drinking water of more than 50% of Americans.
- Keep Chemicals Off Your Plate: Pesticides are poisons that kill living things and can also be harmful to humans.
- Protect Farm Workers’ Health: The pesticides that farmers use and work with each day have been known to cause cancer in many farmers.
- Save Energy More: A huge amount of energy today is used to make fake fertilizer to grow all the crops in the U.S.
- Help Small Farmers: Most organic farms are small family farms that need your support to stay alive.
- Support True Economy: Organic foods might seem expensive, but think of all those tax dollars your parents pay that go toward cleaning up the hazardous waste and environmental damage caused by conventional (GMO-based) farming.
- Promote Biodiversity Planting: The same type of plant (crop) is often planted in a GMO field year after year after year, and the lack of natural diversity of plant life in these fields has negatively affected soil quality.
- Flavor & Nourishment: Organic farming starts with the nourishment of the soil, which produces nourished – and nourishing – food for you.
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