Online and in print, some studies are being cited arguing that there's no nutritional benefit to eating organic produce over conventional produce. Some experts say it might not be worth the premium you can sometimes pay.
One thing is certain; it does pay to look at who is funding those studies. And aside from the nutritional aspect, what about the potential harm caused by pesticides and chemicals?
This Onearth.org article tells the story of a young mother diagnosed with Parkinson's disease; a condition that usually afflicts older males. It also mentions a bevy of studies supporting a link between Parkinson's and the pesticides on conventional food and fields. Here's an excerpt:
Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging, a report co-authored by the Science and Environmental Health Network, a consortium of advocacy groups based in Ames, Iowa, included a summary of 31 population studies that have looked at the possible connection between pesticide exposure and Parkinson's. Twenty-four of those studies, according to the report, found a positive association, and in 12 cases the association was statistically significant. In some studies, the group found, there was as much as a sevenfold greater risk of Parkinson's in people exposed to pesticides. In addition, in April 2009, scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), published a provocative study connecting the disease not only to occupational pesticide exposure but also to living in homes or going to schools that were close to a pesticide-treated field.
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