Another reason to eat organic...

Choosing the Right Foods for Your Family Can Make a Significant Nutritional Difference by: Leigh Erin Connealy, M.D., citizen journalist Read full article at: http://www.naturalnews.com/024590.html (NaturalNews) You've seen the labels before. You've heard the buzz in your grocery store aisles. Organic! Grass fed! But what is that anyway? And does it really matter if you buy organic or grass fed products? Let's start with what makes something "organic". Organic refers to the agricultural process used to produce food and fiber. All kinds of agriculture products are produced organically, including produce, grains, meat, dairy, eggs, fibers, flowers and processed food products. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides, petroleum- or sewage-sludge based fertilizers, bioengineering or ionizing radiation. Organic meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Before a product can be labeled "organic", an inspector visits the farm where the food is produced to make sure that the farm meets the USDA's strict standards. But why choose organic over the standard fair found in your average grocery stores? Let's look at how organic farming differs from conventional farming in the methods used to grow crops. * Where traditional farmers apply chemical fertilizers to the soil to grow their crops, organic farmers feed and build soil with natural fertilizer. * Traditional farmers use insecticides to get rid of insects and disease, while organic farmers use natural methods such as insect predators and barriers for this purpose. * Traditional farmers control weed growth by applying synthetic herbicides, but organic farmers use crop rotation, tillage, hand weeding, cover crops and mulches to control weeds. The result is that conventionally grown food is often tainted with chemical residues, which can be harmful to humans. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers 60% of herbicides, 90% of fungicides and 30% of insecticides to be carcinogenic. Human exposure to pesticides can lead to a host of other problems as well, including neurotoxicity, disruption of the endocrine system (hormones), immune suppression and could affect the male reproduction function or lead to miscarriages in women...