The U.S. Department of agriculture - which sets safety regulations for meat, poultry and produce - has yet to set a legal definition of "organic" (after 6 years of hearings and deliberations). Presently 11 states have their own organic certification programs but these vary in their definition of "organic, and also in the degree to which these standards are enforced. Thus the consumer has no assurance as to what an organic label means other than it will cost more.

The National Research Council has just released a 400 page report regarding more than 200 known carcinogens in food. The report notes that in the United States, diets too rich in calories, fat , and alcohol pose a far greater cancer threat than pesticides and other chemical residues.

In addition, there is a wealth of research to indicate that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables protects against cancer. Thus the risks incurred by avoiding fruits and vegetables for fear of ingesting pesticide residues far outweigh any risks that come from eating a produce-rich diet.

Some prominent food scientists and analysts are now saying that organic food is actually riskier than food grown with chemicals because of the way it is fertilized. Organic is now obviously the deadly choice in food" said Dennis Avery, director of global food issues at the Hudson Institute. Avery, who served as a food analyst in the departments of State Agriculture, say the composted animal manure used without chemical sprays and rinses to fertilize organic food may infect the food with deadly bacteria that are carried in feces. Lester Crawford, director of the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy at Georgtown University is also concerned. He says eating organic food caries "quite a risk" if farmers use improperly composted manure. "I can't see in the data that there is a problem (consuming food treated with pesticides)," said Crawford, a former division head at the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug administration.

Robert Tauxe, epidemiologist at the Center for Disease Control was quoted in the Journal of the American Medical Association as saying that organic food may pose special problems because it is grown in animal manure. Later he wrote in JAMA that composting standards for organic food were not stringent enough to kill bacteria.

All fresh fruits and vegetables should be rinsed thoroughly with water to remove any dirt, bacteria, and surface chemicals that may have come in contact with the food. Don't use detergents unless you would feel good about drinking them straight, for if you wash with them you will consume them. Fruits and vegetables with edible peels should be scrubbed thoroughly with a brush, and the outer leaves of lettuce, cabbage and other greens should be removed. Since many of the cancer fighting nutrients and fiber in produce are in or just below the skin, peeling them and throwing the edible peels may be counterproductive. Soaking these in water with a little lemon juice or vinegar added should get rid of anything harmful.

Plants regard pesticides just as we do, they don't like them and do their best to protect themselves against them. Just as our bodies build tombs around out of control cells, plants encase the pesticides that make it inside their cellulose structure so that the pesticides will do as little damage as possible. In most cases this cellulose passes right through us carrying the pesticides out too.

Rutgers University has published a report often purported to compare the vegetables available in your local supermarket to organic vegetables grown in naturally fertilized soil.
Please note I do not claim that this study says organic is better or worse than regular produce.
Bear, F.E., S.J. Toth, and A.L. Prince, "Variation in Mineral Composition of Vegetables," pp. 380-384 in Soil Science Society of America. Proceedings 1948. Madison, WI: Soil Science Society of America, 1949. [This report is frequently misquoted as evidence supporting the position that organically grown vegetables are significantly superior in minerals and trace elements to conventionally grown vegetables. In fact, the purpose of the study was to compare the mineral composition of vegetables "as one proceeds from south to north and from east to west in the United States." (from the Rutgers Univ. website)]
NAL Call # 56.9 SO3

The study notes that when a crop grows, it removes nutritional components from the soil including minerals such as iron, copper and cobalt plus a variety of other trace minerals. These depleted soils don't produce vegetables with high vitamin content either. Cabbage used to be a rich source of vitamin C . Now it has NONE.

After the crop is harvested, the farmer replenishes his soil with a mix of potassium, nitrogen and phosphates. Within ten years most of the trace minerals are gone, and it takes more and more fertilizer to get the same yield from the soil using this three part mix. As a result these commercially grown "inorganic" vegetables are now very low in trace minerals. This report does not cover all of the known trace minerals, but it should stimulate more research on what is needed in fertilizers, and increase sales of mineral supplements.

Personally I am content with non-organically grown produce since I supplement with concentrated fruits and vegetables. Although I have an extremely healthy immune system thanks to my diet, I do not feel the need to test it by ingesting E. coli 0157:H7 or any of its deadly brothers. Unfortunately the "politically correct" status of organic foods seems to preclude rational discussion of the problems it has.
Over the past 15 years E. coli 0157:H7 alone has caused as many as 250 DEATHS and 20,000 illness per year according to the Center for Disease Control. There has never been even one recorded death attributable to pesticides.

The Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine Volume 7, Number 2, 2001, pp.161-173 Mary Ann Liebort Inc contains an article by Virginia Worthington M.S, Sc.D, C.N.S
"Nutritional Quality of Organic Versus Conventional Fruits, Vegetables and Grains"

It found more iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and Vitamin C and less nitrates in organic crops as compared with conventional crops. In addition there were several trends showing less protein, but of a better quality, more nutritionally significant minerals and lower amounts of some heavy metals on organic crops compared to conventional ones.
She states more research is needed to verify these findings (she is a researcher after all), but this should satisfy you readers that already had your mind made up that organic is better.