One of the world’s largest dead zones, spanning from 5,000 to 8,000 square miles, formed in the Gulf of Mexico as the result of agricultural runoff.

Hundreds of millions of pounds of chemical fertilizers and excess nutrients are emptied into the gulf each year and have made it almost completely devoid of marine life.
Worried about consuming foods grown with chemicals capable of such devastation, alarmed shoppers nationwide have turned to more costly products labeled “Certified Organic.”

The number of consumers who use natural food stores to purchase organic products has increased from 29 percent in 2000 to nearly half of the population today, according to The Hartman Group’s Organic2006 report. Almost 75 percent of people in the U.S. buy organic products at least occasionally, and 23 percent buy organic products at least weekly.

But the fear that’s driving higher demand might not be justified.

“There is an assumption in most consumer’s minds that organic equals safer,” said Leslie Bourquin, a food safety specialist and associate professor. “In reality, it’s probably not that different from a safety standpoint.”

It is difficult to identify adverse health effects in humans from consuming food grown with pesticides, mostly because they do not show up immediately, Bourquin said.
Prolonged exposure to low doses might cause cancer or other chronic conditions, he explained, but it is hard to make that connection conclusively.

The potential health benefits of organic versus conventional produce are uncertain, Bourquin said: “I don’t think there is a strong basis right now to be marketing one as better than the other.”

But organic farming certainly has proven to be healthier for the environment.
Research shows that environmental pollutants are one of the fundamental causes of serious chronic diseases such as cancer, which suggests that these environmental hazards affect humans indirectly.

Synthetic pesticides frequently used in conventional farming were found to contain carcinogenic properties when tested on laboratory animals, according to George Bird, member of the Michigan Food and Farm Alliance board of directors and an organic agriculture specialist at Michigan State University.

When these chemicals enter the water supply, people are exposed to toxins that could harm them, even though research has not yet verified the link.

The Environmental Protection Agency has set allowable levels of chemical residues that are steadily stripping the health of farmland, fresh water and marine wildlife.

In the case of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, nitrogen and other nutrients from farm runoff allow algae and plankton, which use most of the available oxygen in the water that marine organisms need to survive, to flourish.

According to the OM Organics Web site, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services discovered that of the 25 most frequently used pesticides in conventional agriculture:

• Approximately one half are comprised of cancer-causing chemicals;
  
• Five are toxic to the nervous system;
  
• 10 are harmful to reproductive organs;
  
• 17 cause genetic damage;
  
• 18 are harmful to the skin, eyes and lungs; and
  
• Six disrupt normal hormone functioning.

Furthermore, conventional pesticide processes kill targeted pests as well as their natural predators, which breeds a stronger pest community. According to OM Organics, to kill these more resilient pests, a vicious cycle emerges in which farmers are required to use more pesticides or higher toxicities to destroy them.

Conventional farmers do not intend to “rip off” the environment, Bird explained, but the intensity of the process they use sometimes causes that to happen.

Organic farming is safer for the planet because it steers away from widespread mechanized farming, which fails to promote environmental sustainability, according to Laurie Thorp, director of the Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment (RISE) program at Michigan State University and co-advisor of the student organic farm.

Organic farmers realize the importance of healthy soil and crop diversity in “farming ecologically,” Thorp said.

At the MSU organic farm, she explained, students grow more than 100 crops rather than depend on just one to avoid putting all their eggs in one basket. Also, they rotate crops and never plant the same one in an area twice. They let the soil rest instead of continually wearing it out. Basically, they depend on the health and maintenance of the environment to produce a healthy crop.

Organic farmers use natural methods to achieve pest control and maximize soil fertility, thus eliminating the concern of potentially contaminating fresh water or food, Thorp said. While conventional farmers feed the plants, organic farmers feed the soil.
This method produces more nutrient-rich plants while keeping the ecosystem in balance.

Sally Dettmer, an organic shopper at Meijer in East Lansing, said she favors organic food because “basically, it’s better for the environment.” Dettmer has bought organic produce since the 1970s and will buy it “anywhere, as long as it’s advertised as organic.”

Shoppers are now able to find certified organic produce at an increasing number of locations — a phenomenon Bird termed the “industrialization of organic food.”
The spread of organic farming definitely means hope for the future of the environment, but does it mean hope for people as well?

Maybe, maybe not.

In the words of Bird, “Long-term health is connected to lifestyle.”

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Michelle Koueiter is a sophomore studying journalism at MSU. This is her first appearance in EJ. Reach Michelle at koueite1@msu.edu.