Organic or NOT, arguement

[retlaw]

the never ending battle between the old way and the new way,

My Potato Project; The Importance of "Organic"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exBEFCiWyW0

so what do you think of using dead food as your base or live food as your base?

some have mentioned as posted in "whats your favourite vodka" thread that scramm is their favourite and it is 100% organic,
so is it because of it being organic?

[Odin]

Well, luckily my potatoes grow stuff on all ends. Not dead. And I wouldn't want them "dead" either.

[Washashore]

I've heard from several different sources that if you choose to eat only one thing that's organic it should be potatoes. Apparently they can be sponges for all sorts of nasty chemicals.

[heartcut]

I'm on board with the philosophy of organic food, but there's even more BS in that field than is sold to distillers on the internet. Just because it says "organic" doesn't mean too much. I've done an couple food processing control jobs, just enough to figure out that I don't want to know how it's done.

[6fiddyv]

Another thought is where the ORGANIC land is. We have a couple in my area, one of them is in between two other normal everyday farms, the "other" farms use sprays and chemical fertilizers, now I'm sure that the "extra run off" contaminates the ORGANIC farm. I mean, the edges of this ORGANIC farms produce has to receive some over spray, some water has to leach in the ground over to it from the NON-organic farms. However, everything the ORGANIC farm produces is sold as 100% ORGANIC.

Just some food for thought...just because they say its "organic" does not mean it is, its only as organic as nature and the surrounding areas permit.

6

[blind drunk]

Also, the tag often states "organically grown." What about after the growing? That's what I wonder. Seems like a handy loophole.

[astronomical]

seems about as reliable as "energy star" labels... I tend to trust farmers markets, and inevitably, I go where the flavor is. If it tastes good, buy it!

running some organic wheat and oat whiskey trials with "bob mills" products now. We'll see how they turn out

[johnny108]

I always wondered what is more unhealthy- eating non-organic food, or living on a perpetual "starvation diet" of all organic food? Why starvation diet levels? The prices can give you a nosebleed from the high altitude!

[retlaw]

organic is the tip of the iceberg these days with GMO around,
Monsanto is losing ground and getting banned in some countries so they are pushing their false info on kids to try to convince the next generation that gmo is safe,
it is said that 80% of the food in the USA is GMO,
a sick nation is good for profits,



Monsanto ‘Biotechnology Book for Kids’ Caught Brainwashing Children
Anthony Gucciardi
NaturalSociety
March 22, 2012

Facing direct opposition from the public, biotechnology giants like Monsanto and Dow are now making a disturbing attempt to brainwash developing minds into accepting their genetically modified foods using blatant lies and propaganda. In a last ditch effort to potentially sway public opinion, the Council for Biotechnology Information (CBI) has launched the “Biotechnology Basics Activity Book” for kids. With the intent to be used by ‘agriculture and science teachers’, the activity book spreads absurd lies about GMO crops — even going as far as to say that they ‘improve our health’ and ‘help the environment’.

The book can be seen on the organization’s website, and makes it extremely apparent that it is full of misinformation and propaganda that completely ignores scientific research surrounding genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In fact, let’s examine some claims made by this book that serves as an ‘educational’ tool to be used by teachers. The first claim by the activity book is that genetically modified seeds actually grow more food than traditional seeds, and is followed by even more ridiculous statements. The activity book reads:

“Hi Kids! Welcome to the Biotechnology Basics Activity Book. This is an activity book for young people like you about biotechnology — a really neat topic…. You will see that biotechnology is being used to figure out how to: 1) grow more food; 2) help the environment; and 3) grow more nutritious food that improves our health. As you work through the puzzles in this book, you will learn more about biotechnology and all of the wonderful ways it can help people live better lives in a healthier world. Have fun!”
Disproving Monsanto’s Propaganda

According to 900 scientists, GMO crops actually do not grow more food than traditional farming practices. In fact, they are simply not an effective tool to fight starvation in any capacity, thanks to their excessive costs and immense failure to yield crops. Funded by the World Bank and United Nations, an organization was created known as the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). Made up of 900 scientists and researchers, the group — whose mission was to examine the issue of world hunger — found that genetically modified crops were not a meaningful solution to the problem.

Instead, the group found that the genetically modified seeds were outperformed by traditional “agro-ecological” farming practices. Therefore, to say that biotech seeds and crops produce more food than traditional agriculture is not only scientifically incorrect according to these 900 scientists, but it is an outright lie.
Do GMOs ‘Improve Our Health’?

But what about the claim that GMOs improve our health? It turns out nothing could be farther from the truth. A prominent review of 19 studies examining the safety of GMO crops found that consumption of GMO corn or soybeans can lead to significant organ disruptions in rats and mice – particularly in the liver and kidneys. Of course the negative effects do not end there. Monsanto’s modified biopesticide, known as Bt, has been found to be killing human kidney cells in conjunction with Monsanto’s best-selling herbicide Roundup. That’s right, it exhibits direct toxicity to human cells.

Further adding to the long list of negative health consequences that go against the claim that the biotech inventions ‘improve our health’ , Monsanto’s Roundup ready crops have also been linked to mental illness, obesity, infertility, and DNA damage. Peer-reviewed research shows that Monsanto’s products are far from healthy, and to say that they actually improve our health is truly concerning when you consider the fact that children are reading this information as fact. The biotechnology organization also failed to mention how Monsanto has been caught running slave labor rings, forcing ‘employees’ into illegal working conditions in which they were forced to work 14 hours or more per day on the field. What’s more, the laborers were unable to leave the premises if they expected to ever receive their pay.
‘Helping the Environment’

The next claim that needs addressing is perhaps the most ludicrous of them all. Do Monsanto’s products really help the environment as the book claims? Remember, this is given to teachers as scientific information, not just presented as an opinion. Research has shown that Monsanto’s modified Bt pesticide is actually mutating the very genetic coding of insect life on the planet, creating super resistant ‘mutant’ bugs that are wreaking havoc on farms using Monsanto’s harmful concoctions across the globe. At least 8 populations of insects have developed some form of resistance, with 2 populations resistant to Bt sprays and at least 6 species resistant to Bt crops as a whole.

Perhaps most concerning is the mounting rootworm resistance as a result of Monsanto’s GMO corn usage. A group of 22 academic corn experts recently petitioned the EPA over the extreme danger presented by the crops, urging the EPA to take long awaited action. The experts sent a letter on March 5th to the agency explaining their worries regarding long-term corn production prospects in light of GMO crops failures. If nothing is done, experts worry that the future of agricultural stability is threatened. Experts are also concerned about the mass amount of ‘superweeds’ currently springing up around the globe as a result of Monsanto’s Roundup. These resistant weeds currently cover over 4.5 million hectares in the United States alone, though experts estimate the world-wide land coverage to have reached at least 120 million hectares by 2010. The onset of superweeds is being increasingly documented in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Europe and South Africa.

The public is not buying the lies regarding Monsanto’s GMO crops, and as a result biotech giants are scrambling to preserve their dwindling role in our society. There is a serious war on for the minds of developing children right now, and it is being waged by government-approved mega corporations who care not for the health of these children but for profits. The claims made within this book are not only scientifically unfounded, but they are seriously dangerous to the health of children and adults alike. This phony book is far from an ‘educational’ resource.

[rtalbigr]

When I was a kid there was never such a distinction as organic food. I spent my summers with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins in a small town (pop. 150) in northern Wyoming. The only food that came from the store was flour, salt, sugar, coffee, and occasionally some breakfast cereals. Everything else came off the local farms and ranches or out of my Uncles extensive garden. There were no herbicides cuz he had us kids to weed every day and he didn't believe in pesticides. My Uncle raised rabbits and we ate them a lot. They didn't get fed rabbit pellets but the alphalfa me and my cousin cut each day or the greens left from the garden crops. When we had chicken it was wild one's we caught out on the prairie. We caught a lot of fish from lake and streams that were always crystal clear and totally free from pollution. Organic? No, just the unpolluted product that nature provided. It sure did taste good too!

Big R

[retlaw]

thats what it is all about bigR,
clean pure food,
after world war 2 it all changed into the industrial chemical age,
after they kicked most of the farmers off the land in the 70's from insane interest rates the old ways all but dried up,
but they are making a come back because the people can see now what is happening,
sick unhealthy people every where,

sadly the words "organic" and "green" have been hijacked for profit,
now if a farmer wants to have organic on his produce they have to pay a government body that does nothing to promote healthy safe food, all they do is take money, money money money,

a farmer can not sell whole unpasteurized milk with out getting tossed into jail,
when we were kids half of the people drank it that way and now it is against the law,

unpasteurized fresh farm cream with fresh garden dill and baby potatoes, yummm,
you can't buy that flavour in any store,
sadly most of the younger first world occupants have never tasted this and most likely never will,

i just made a mash and i used up all the processed white sugar and needed some more so i went into the house organic supply we have for eating,
it does not look the same, more tan in colour, not pure white,
and it has a nice rich flavourful smell, unlike processed white sugar,
and the flavour has a body to it, not just sweet,
i only ever mixed the two and have not yet done a pure organic mash/wash,
one day i will and see what the flavour difference is,

[rtalbigr]

I'm with ya retlaw. I can remember spoonin the cream off the top of the milk jug. Damn that was good stuff. And there was nothing like real whole milk straight from the cow. Out on some of the ranches they had cream separators right in the kitchen, hand crank jobs, turned a few in my time. But if them cows got into the wild onions...

Big R