Sometimes I buy organic, sometimes not. I don't want to be panicked or rushed
into either.

The very least we can do is to try to buck the fashion. In supermarkets, I make
a point of asking for the NON-organic section, as I want choice. At least it
makes them think. On a couple of occasions, I have asked for the manager and
enquired what checks they make on the production methods of both organic and
non-organic suppliers. Neither was able to answer the question.



Laurie


Natural does not mean safe. There are plenty of very nasty natural
pathogens and chemical defences. Nature is red in tooth and claw.

That's a fact that most organic gardeners are well aware of.

Some Organic gardeners may be aware of it. Though I have met plenty who
are not and live in a pretend Disneyfied world where nature is always
benign and "chemicals" are always bad.

The Organic(TM) logo used to market produce to the worried well in
supermarkets is nothing more than a clever marketing ploy. Minimum
inputs agriculture makes very good sense but using absolutely no
synthetic chemicals is a total nonsense (in fact they do use chemicals
but only those approved by the Soil Association on purely arbitrary
grounds).

But for as long as there is a false dichotomy between the two extremes
of "no chemicals" and "maximum yield" strategies there will be no
progress

No. Are we worried about PCBs? Yeah.

Definitely PCBs are seriously bad.

Dioxins get a worse press than they deserve and only some of them are
really very nasty. They do occur naturally by fungal action (as well as
in forest fires). I guess having a short name did them no favours.

I reckon we should deprive the weenies of every synthetic chemical for a
week or two and see how they get on. That means no car, refined oil,
plastics, metals, glass, batteries, antiseptics, antibiotics.

So being concerned about the environment means you have to walk about
in sackcloth? Making decisions about what you eat and where it comes
from means living in a hut?

Potable drinking water is another very tricky example. Without the right
water treatment there would be all sorts of bad stuff living in the
pipes.

And don't you think there's room for improvement in your 'brave new
world'?

I don't think an irrational fear of synthetic chemicals does anything to
help the situation. It is still worse that supermarkets exploit the
public fear of "chemicals" to sell vastly overpriced Organic(TM) produce
that has been flown half way round the world to satisfy this faddish
demand.

I do support local organic producers and I grow my own produce with
almost no chemicals (ornamental plants get different treatment).

Regards,
--
Martin Brown