THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 46, March 13, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DEADLY ORGANIC SPINACH
By Alex & Dennis T. Avery
POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM, ORGANIC FOODS, & HUMAN HEALTH: ORGANIC FOODS PUSHED BY POLITICAL
ENVIRONMENTALISTS, ORGANIC FOOD ACTIVISTS, & THE ORGANIC FOOD INDUSTRY POSE A SERIOUS THREAT TO HUMAN
HEALTH -- WHAT THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE PROVES: ORGANIC FOODS ARE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN FOODS DERIVED
FROM CROPS CULTIVATED WITH THE USE OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS, ARE NO BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT THAN ARE
PRODUCE FROM CONVENTIONAL, NON-ORGANIC FARMS, & ARE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO SPREAD DEADLY BACTERIAL
INFECTIONS
FULL STORY:
Organic food activists are being served a heaping platter of organic crow, now that we finally have learned last Fall’s
outbreak of deadly E. coli O157:H7 was caused by organically grown spinach.
On Tuesday (February 27, 2007), California food regulators admitted, under direct questioning at a California State Senate
hearing that the tainted spinach which ultimately killed 3 and sickened over 200 was traced to a 50-acre organic field –
contrary to the repeated denials of organic activists.
They’re still denying it. The spokeswoman for the Organic Trade Association told us the contaminated spinach “does
not meet the legal definition of organic” because the farm was “in transition” – the mandatory 3-year period when the
product must be sold as conventional. During the phase-in, however, the farmer must use only “organic” fertilizers, such
as bacteria-laden manure and manure compost.
When the organic revelation surfaced last week, we emailed our long-time ideological adversary Chuck Benbrook, who
runs the industry-funded Organic Center for Education and Promotion. Chuck was the former head of the National
Academy of Science’s Board on Agriculture, holding that position until he was dismissed for pushing his organic
agenda too far into Academy reports.
Chuck insisted that “there is zero evidence that anything [the organic farmer] did opened the door to the pathogens; no
compost was applied on the field.” But he wouldn’t say what, if any, organic fertilizer was applied to the spinach field.
Mum’s the Word
From the beginning, we have repeatedly asked the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies if any of the
suspected farms were organic or “transitional organic,” and whether they used animal manure (composted or not) as a
fertilizer on the suspected spinach crop. We’ve never received an answer to this simple, basic question.
Instead, the FDA and California Department of Health Services have settled on the theory that the E. coli came from
angus beef cattle raised on nearby pastures. (See the ranches website, http://www.paicinesranch.com/) Investigators
found matching E. coli in the feces of the ranch’s cattle and also in a feral pig killed on the ranch. The officials have
openly speculated that feral pigs could have transferred the E. coli from the cattle pastures to the spinach field, noting
holes in and under the fences on the ranch.
Many organic believers have seized on this theory to continue their ceaseless bashing of “industrial cattle feedlots.”
In this case, however, they are only shooting themselves. The ranch in question is strictly a grass-only, pasture-based
operation -- the kind they themselves advocate as the “safe alternative” to socalled “factory farms.”
(See: http://www.paicinesranch.com/grass-fed%20beef.htm)
The ranch’s website even refers visitors to a website that claims people who eat grass-fed beef have “a much lower risk
of becoming infected with the [E. coli bacteria]” and that E. coli O157:H7 from grass-fed cattle are far less likely “to
survive the natural acidity of our digestive tract.”
Maybe, maybe not – the research is contradictory and ongoing. But, in this case, the claims ring hollow to the hundreds
of spinach victims and their families.
Moreover, other research indicates that organic methods are, at best, no safer than non-organic methods. At worst,
they’re significantly less safe. Research from the University of Minnesota published in 2004 found organic lettuce was
the most contaminated they tested (one in four heads carried generic E. coli, an indicator of bacterial contamination).
Overall, the organic produce was six times more likely to harbor E. coli than produce from conventional farms. The
scientists also found potentially deadly Salmonella on organic lettuce and green peppers, but not in any conventional
foods tested. The sample sizes were too small to say whether this difference was statistically significant.
The contamination echoes the findings of Consumer Reports, which reported in January, 2007, that organic
chicken harbors 300% more Salmonella than cheaper, non-organic brands they tested. Ditto similar studies from Denmark
and Britain. Last week, the British environmental agency reported that they could find no evidence that organic foods
are any better for the environment, either, despite the shrill insistence of organic activist groups.
We wish we could say that the news the tainted spinach was organic surprised us, but, given the multiple research
findings indicating greater bacterial risk, we suspected it all along.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Science, Ethics, & Human Health
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Dennis T. Avery is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., and is the Director of the Institute's Center for
Global Food Issues (www.cgfi.org). Formerly he was a senior analyst for the United States
Department of State. He is the co-author, with atmospheric physicist Fred Singer, of the book, Unstoppable Global Warming:
Every 1500 Years (Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006).
Alex Avery is Director of Research at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food Issues and author of The Truth
About Organic Foods: A Politically Incorrect Guide (Saint Louis, Missouri: Henderson Communications, 2006).
Readers may write Alex and Dennis Avery at Post Office Box 202, Churchville, Virginia, 24421. Email: cgfi@rica.net
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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