[Scpg] Worried Parents Turning to Organic Food

[John Calvert]

Published on Thursday, November 3, 2005 by the Associated Press
Worried Parents Turning to Organic Food
by Libby Quaid

Erin O'Neal has two daughters and a fridge stocked with organic  
cheese, milk, fruits and vegetables in her Annapolis, Md., home. She  
is among the increasing number of parents who buy organic to keep  
their children's diets free of food grown with pesticides, hormones,  
antibiotics or genetic engineering.

"The pesticide issue just scares me — it wigs me out to think about  
the amount of chemicals that might be going into my kid," said  
O'Neal, 36.

Since last year, sales of organic baby food have jumped nearly 18  
percent, double the overall growth of organic food sales, according  
to the marketing information company ACNielsen.

As demand has risen, organic food for children has popped up at more  
than just natural food stores.

For example, Earth's Best baby food, a mainstay in Whole Foods and  
Wild Oats markets, just reached a national distribution deal with  
Toys R Us and Babies R Us. Gerber is selling organic baby food under  
its Tender Harvest label. Stonyfield Farm's YoBaby yogurt can be  
found in supermarkets everywhere.

The concern about children is that they are more vulnerable to toxins  
in their diets, said Alan Greene, a pediatrician in northern  
California. As children grow rapidly, their brains and organs are  
forming and they eat more for their size than do grown-ups, Greene said.

"Pound for pound, they get higher concentrations of pesticides than  
adults do," said Greene, who promotes organic food in his books and  
on his Web site, http://www.drgreene.com

New government-funded research adds to the concern. A study of  
children whose diets were changed from regular to organic found their  
pesticide levels plunged almost immediately. The amount of pesticide  
detected in the children remained imperceptible until their diets  
were switched back to conventional food.

"We didn't expect that to drop in such dramatic fashion," said Emory  
University's Chensheng Lu, who led the Environmental Protection  
Agency-funded research. Lu's findings will be published in February  
in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Scientists are still trying to figure out how pesticides affect  
children, Lu said, but he notes that it took years to prove the  
health hazards of lead.

Conventional food is considered safe by the government.

Still, the uncertainty is leading parents, especially new or  
expecting mothers, to switch to organic food. Many are even making  
their own baby food from organic ingredients.

"Maybe that has the reputation of being difficult, but it doesn't  
have to be, and once you get into the habit of doing something  
regularly, it gets to be easier," said Jody Villecco, a nutritionist  
for Whole Foods.

In a traveling lecture series for Whole Foods and Mothering magazine,  
Villecco demonstrates by shaving a peeled banana with a knife to make  
mush — "There, we just made baby food," she said. She recommends  
people make baby food in big batches and freeze it in ice cube trays.

Eating organic is definitely not cheap. But Green and Lu said parents  
have options if they can't afford the food or don't want to search  
for it or make it: Buy fruits and vegetables known to have lower  
pesticide residues.

The Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based advocacy group,  
has produced a guide to the pesticide levels in fruits and vegetables  
commonly sold in grocery stores, basing the findings on data from the  
Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration.

The guide says the lowest pesticide levels are found in asparagus,  
avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, kiwi, mangos,  
onions, papaya, pineapples and sweet peas.

The highest pesticide levels, meanwhile, are found in apples, bell  
peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches,  
pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach and strawberries.

The rating system is unnecessary, according to industry  
representatives who say conventional food is safe and affordable.

"There are some people in the organic food industry and the  
environmental industry who have unfortunately scared parents into  
thinking you have to turn to organic sources for baby food, based on  
claims that have no basis in science or fact," said Jay Vroom,  
spokesman for CropLife America, an industry group. "The products my  
industry produces are safe" for everyone.

Beyond baby food, dairy and produce, snacks are also a rapidly  
growing segment of organic food, according to the Organic Trade  
Association, an industry group.

Snacks are a priority for Susan Guegan, 44, a mother of four boys in  
Boulder, Colorado. Guegan made their food from scratch when they were  
babies. Now she buys organic versions of the cookies and hot dogs  
they ask for.

"They love Oreos," she said. "They'll say, `Can we get this?' I'm  
like, `Can you read me the ingredients?' They'll laugh and try to say  
some of them. I'll say, `You can put that back.'"

On the Net:

Organic Trade Association: http://www.ota.com

Environmental Working Group guide: http://www.foodnews.org/pdf/ 
walletguide.pdf

CropLife America: http://www.croplifeamerica.org


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