Category Archives: Organic Food

Never Mind the Earth-Lovers, GM Food is What the World Badly Needs

Steven King
Irish Examiner.com
Published July 23, 2008

IN Gulliver’s Travels, the King of Bobdingnag — the land of the giants — claimed that whoever could make two ears of corn grow where only one grew before was a greater patriot than all the politicians put together.

It’s sad to note then that nearly 300 years on from the publication of Swift’s satire, the politicians are still standing in the way of an agricultural technology that has the potential to do just that. Continue reading Never Mind the Earth-Lovers, GM Food is What the World Badly Needs

Scientist Debunks Myth of Organic Nutritional Superiority

New York, NY — July 21, 2008. The latest attempt by proponents of organic agriculture to prove that organically grown crops are nutritionally superior to conventional ones has failed, according to Joseph D. Rosen, Ph.D., emeritus professor of Food Toxicology at Rutgers University and a scientific advisor to the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH). Continue reading Scientist Debunks Myth of Organic Nutritional Superiority

No Difference in Conventional, rbST-Free and Organic Milk

No Differences Found in the Composition of Conventional, rbST-Free and Organic Milk

Terry D. Etherton

A new scientific study by Vicini et al. published in the July issue of the prestigious Journal of the American Dietetic Association (JADA) reports the results of the first in-depth survey study comparing retail milk for quality, nutritional value and levels of different milk hormones, including bovine somatotropin (bST). The study that we published found that there were “no meaningful differences” in the composition of milk with the three different label claims. Continue reading No Difference in Conventional, rbST-Free and Organic Milk

Science Behind Reported Benefits of Organic Milk

Rusty Bishop, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Dairy Research
Professor, Department of Food Science
University of Wisconsin – Madison

I. Executive Summary

Organic milk and dairy foods advocates have been very aggressive in their advertising, promotion and sales using statements and “facts” that lack scientific validity. Some of this information is true within a given context, while much is false and/or misleading. Science does not support the health, nutrition, or safety claims made by the organic industry. Actually, toxin levels have been shown to be higher in organic foods due to ineffective pesticide treatment of organic grain crops. In the one area where there exists a potential nutritional advantage of organic milk, such as increased levels of CLA, omega-3 fatty acids, and other antioxidants, access to fresh, high quality pasture is the key, not whether the production system is organic or conventional. Continue reading Science Behind Reported Benefits of Organic Milk

Organic Food for Thought – Reasons Why You Should Buy Regular Goods

Jackie Avner
Colorado Voices writer from Highlands Ranch

The Denver Post
July 29, 2007 Sunday

I don’t like to buy organic food products, and avoid them at all cost. It is a principled decision reached through careful consideration of effects of organic production practices on animal welfare and the environment. I buy regular food, rather than organic, for the benefit of my family. Continue reading Organic Food for Thought – Reasons Why You Should Buy Regular Goods

Uprooting the Organic Claims

BBC News
Simon Cox
April 26, 2007

Sales of organic produce are booming on the back of alleged benefits to health and the environment, as well as claims of higher standards of animal welfare. But are we being misled by “feel good” claims that don’t stand up to scientific scrutiny? Read what Mr. Cox has to say about the situation in the United Kingdom in this most informative BBC Report.

“Verbal Engineering” – How to Mislead Consumers about Biotechnology

Terry Etherton

The battle for public perception about “biotechnology in the barnyard” and animal agriculture is an interesting illustration of the use of “word play” or “verbal engineering” by anti-biotech activist groups. The intent? To misinform and scare consumers about biotechnology, science and our food production systems.

These “word sequences” are carefully engineered. The internet is awash in them!

Given the proliferation of junk science rhetoric on the internet, it seems like there is big business in scaring consumers. Continue reading “Verbal Engineering” – How to Mislead Consumers about Biotechnology

Organic Foods – IFT’s Latest Scientific Status Summary

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) has conducted a review that comprehensively compares organic and conventional foods with respect to pesticide residues, nutritional components, naturally occurring toxins, and microbiological safety. A synopsis (copied with Permission) was published in the October issue (Volume 60:44, 2006) of Food Technology. The full-text of the peer-reviewed Science Status Summary was published in the Journal of Food Science (Volume 71:R117-R124, 2006). Continue reading Organic Foods – IFT’s Latest Scientific Status Summary

Public is Misled by Opponents of Biotech – What Else is New?

The following was excerpted from the April 11, 2007 issue of The Biotech Advantage.

Dr. A. M. “Tony” Shelton, who is a Professor of Entomology at Cornell University and a visiting scientist at Lincoln University, recently wrote an opinion piece in The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand) that the debate on biotech crops is misleading New Zealand’s public.

This article is a great example of the ongoing misinformation campaigns run by opponents of biotech crops in New Zealand, and throughout the World. Continue reading Public is Misled by Opponents of Biotech – What Else is New?