Let's talk organic and conventionally grown foods

What's the difference between foods grown through organic and conventional farming methods? Registered dietitian Erin MacGregor talks about the differences between the two, tackles some common myths and explains that no matter which fruits or vegetables you put in your grocery cart, they are all equally as safe and healthy.
Learn more at www.croplife.ca.

[@lmak7696]

So, Crop Life representative says: "The fact is organic food is simply a method of producing food, it doesn't speak to the quality, the safety, or the nutrition content of our food whatsoever..."
Another "educated mom" telling us to RELAX and buy the GMO and other pesticide-laden products. She says they're just as healthy, but how can foods with higher levels of more toxic pesticides be just as healthy? And, are higher levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in non-organic meat healthier? And why is she saying there's no difference in nutrition?
All these claims have been repudiated by meta-studies done at Newcastle and Stanford.
Maybe dietitians paid by CropLife aren't the best source of advice for food shoppers.
www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/higher-antioxidant-and-lower-cadmium-concentrations-and-lower-incidence-of-pesticide-residues-in-organically-grown-crops-a-systematic-literature-review-and-metaanalyses/33F09637EAE6C4ED119E0C4BFFE2D5B1

[@lmak7696]

@@moscaep85 The dietician is saying that organic foods aren't safer or more nutritious. The research shows that's false. I mentioned meat because, like crops, meat can be grown organically, And when it is, that meat is SAFER because it has a lower number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The discussion is about organic food, not just organic crops.
CropLife is a lobby group for the manufacturers, formulators and distributors of pesticides and commodity GMO crops. CropLife promotes the idea that organic is not safer or more nutritious because the more people buy organic, the more profit lost to CropLife members. The majority of commodity crops are grown for livestock feed and biofuel. These are billion dollar markets. Humans get the anti-nutrition left over, for refined starches and oils. And they also get pesticide residues.
Organic food is lower in the amount and types of pesticide residues. And those pesticides used are, in fact, safer for humans. Most of them aren't even regulated because they pose little risk. For one example of how organic is healthier, here is a study showing that after feeding children an organic diet, the level of organophosphate pesticides in their urine was reduced. Organophosphates are neurotoxins.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935119300246
Higher Antioxidant and Lower Cadmium Concentrations and Lower Incidence of Pesticide Residues in Organically Grown Crops: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analyses
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24968103/
Thank you for your cautionary note regarding drinking too much water. I appreciate your concern. Let your friends know too. There are instances of people dying on a challenge to drink a certain amount of water without peeing. There is a lot of stupidity out there, and we need to counter it when we can, to protect the uneducated.

[@croplifecanada]

Hello @@lmak7696,
Thanks for watching our video and sharing your concerns.
In addition to being an educated mom, Erin is a registered dietitian. She’s a trained food and nutrition expert with expertise in translating scientific information into nutrition advice.
CropLife Canada represents the manufacturers, developers, and distributors of plant science technologies. Our members produce both synthetic and organic pesticides. One of our goals is to share information about food and modern agriculture, not to promote one version of food production over another.
Canada has one of the safest food supply systems in the world. Health Canada is responsible for ensuring all pesticides, whether used for conventional or organic production, are safe for both people and the environment, and that includes taking into account pesticide residues on food. And Health Canada clearly states that there is no health risk from eating conventionally grown foods because of pesticide residues: www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pubs/pest/_fact-fiche/pesticide-food-alim/index-eng.php
More than 99 per cent of Canadian fruits and vegetables test well below pesticide residue limits set by Health Canada. The fact that pesticide residue levels can sometimes be detected is not a cause for concern. Detection technology is now so sophisticated that it can detect trace amounts of things in the parts per billion (think a drop of water in an Olympic size swimming pool).
Several studies show there is not a nutritional difference between organically and conventionally-grown food. Here’s one study from Stanford: med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2012/09/little-evidence-of-health-benefits-from-organic-foods-study-finds.html
We hope this helps address some of your concerns about Canadian agriculture and food. We have lots of information on our website, www.croplife.ca, and Twitter account twitter.com/croplifecanada.

[@lmak7696]

@@croplifecanada
Here are some un-scientific things you're saying:
1) "there is no health risk from eating conventionally grown foods because of pesticide residues"
It's not possible to ensure that no one will be harmed from eating pesticide residues.
2) "The fact that pesticide residue levels can sometimes be detected is not a cause for concern. ... (think a drop of water in an Olympic size swimming pool)."
You don't get to be the judge of what is cause for concern. It's not necessarily the AMOUNT of residue that's the concern. It's the effect it has on the particular human body that ingests it. And it's not unusual for foods grown with pesticides to have several different pesticides as residues - pesticides not studied for their combined effects/amounts
3) "Several studies show there is not a nutritional difference between organically and conventionally-grown food. Here’s one study from Stanford:..."
The Stanford study does NOT show that organic and conventionally-grown are nutritionally alike. AND it does show, again, a higher level of pesticide residue with conventionally-grown products. It also shows a higher level of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in conventionally-grown meats.
You're a pesticide industry group. Having a "dietician-mom" hawk conventionally-grown food as compared to organic is an advertising, marketing, public relations ploy.

[@myflesh10]

@@croplifecanada you are either very ignorant, very sold-out, or a combo of the two

[@bastien0101]

This does not talk about the negative impacts like pollution, soil erosion, biodiversity degradation, and essentially burning more carbon than could be done with a more small scale and human intensive processes, particularly for meat (less and local) and grain (accept smaller grains and make recipes that are not as carbohydrate heavy with well known impact when consumed in higher amounts than what the body can digest.
Doesn't have to be any particular diet so long as it is feasible with less fossil fuels, which will be scarce and/or too expensive.

[@stephenpavich4166]

This one of the dumbest comments I've ever heard on comparing organic with conventional. As an organic farmer for over 45 years our table grapes organically grown were far superior in hundreds of tests we performed. Se didn't give us an facts. The state of California did some private testing of our grapes by the CDFA and found our grapes to have 3 times the level of Resveratol in them than conventional grapes. Resveratol is an antioxidant that strengthens the immune system. That was one of many that we found that were much higher. We even had vitamin C that was as high as a conventional orange. And grapes are not know for their vitamin C content. We did hundreds of test and i know what i am talking about.

[@myflesh10]

theses people are evil, attempting to dumb everyone down