You see Organic on everything now. Well, on many things anyway. Organic usually means more expensive. But it also means it’s really healthy for you too, right?
Today, we have longer lives, but more intolerances than ever. This isn’t a political position, but one regarding health concerns. Just think this through. Why are we having more gluten issues than ever reported in history? Why are we having more and more vegetables and fruits that are hurting people? We have this huge battle going on – MEAT IS BAD for the planet vs. many VEGETABLES/GRAINS ARE BAD because our bodies are gluten intolerant or because of some other negative effect.
What qualifies as “Organic?”
First off, if a contributing factor to growing a food WAS something man-made or “synthetic” it would no longer be considered “Organic.” However – guess what? There are now many “approved” synthetics that can be used by organic farmers under certain circumstances.
Here is one example when a “synthetic” can be utilized and I quote from the Code of Federal Regulations,
§ 205.600 Evaluation criteria for allowed and prohibited substances, methods, and ingredients.
(b) In addition to the criteria set forth in the Act, any synthetic substance used as a processing aid or adjuvant will be evaluated against the following criteria:
(1) The substance cannot be produced from a natural source and there are no organic substitutes;
Which means, if it doesn’t come from nature, you can make something else that will do what you want it to do and that will be approved as “Organic.” Don’t get mad at me. I didn’t like that response either. I’m just reading the text. Really think that through. Whatever was grown and processed with whatever this synthetic was, could still have the label “Organic” on it.
Now this is interesting. And this is particularly why I am writing this – because I have done many hours of study on this and it’s rather troublesome. Again, not something I wanted to find, but once I read it from a source back in the 1980’s, I decided I really needed to know more.
Bt short for the name Bacillus Thuringiensis is a commonly used product to spray on many different plants and is considered organic. And TECHNICALLY it is organic. It’s a naturally occurring bacteria that grows in soil. But what isn’t being told is that this bacteria, in order to get the quantities needed to do what they want it to do, they have to create this bacteria in a lab in high doses and then spray this “Organic” bacteria all over plants, which then drips into the soil and is taken up into the roots. Why did I give all this detail? Well, because companies that create these GM – Genetically Modified seeds, say that Bt is ok on plants, because when the sun hits it, it dries up and the infrared light from the sun will kill off the Bt. But any product that hits the soil, which it does, is then taken up by the plant roos in high doses and is THEN ingested by humans.
BUT IT’S “Organic”. Bt is ONLY a bacteria. The problem is however, that it’s a bacteria in the same family as …. wait for it …. Anthrax. No joke.
How Bt stops bugs from eating the crops is a very well hidden secret. The bugs aren’t deterred from eating the crops at all. Bugs don’t get into the area of these treated plants and decide to fly off and try to eat something else. They land. They eat the crop. But when they eat a crop that has been treated with Bt, they eat the treated plants and then their stomach linings are destroyed. In some instances, the insects stomach will actually explode. But in all cases the insects will just stop eating, forever. Which means they will ultimately die of starvation or wait until their stomach explodes.
40 years ago, it was determined that this bacteria Bt was very good at stopping insects. Now Bt is one of the key ingredients of more than 180 registered products in the U.S. that are used on our crops and enter our water table. And it is now considered “Organic.”
But then, there is this statement in that same reference material from Wayland J. Hayes, Jr., M.D., Ph.D.
2.11.1.3 Toxicity to Man – Foods artificially contaminated with B. thuringiensis var. galleriae – cause vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, tenesmus, colic-like pains in the abdomen and fever. It was concluded that bacteria pathogenic to insects can cause food poisoning similar to that caused by other bacteria of the Bacillus cereus group – Pivovarov et al., 1977
What does artificially contaminated mean? Remember, there is some Bt in the soil, but when you SPRAY it on your plants, it is now considered artificially contaminated. Keep in mind that there are many different variants of Bt, but they all impact in the same way – just maybe not as much so in every genus or species.
And I haven’t even touched on GMO which is where Big Companies put the genes of Bt into tons of crops now. Remember – it’s called Genetically Modified for a reason.
EPA however says and again I quote,
Pesticide products containing microbial Bt have been used in organic agriculture for many years. Bt crops have provided substantial human health, environmental and economic benefits. Growers may realize increased crop yields through better pest control and lower overall input costs. … Bt is well known as a low risk pesticide with little or no toxicity to mammals or non-target organisms.—Environmental Protection Agency
This may have been partially true at one point. I’m curious of when this statement was put out and who thought they needed to state this. Was it 40 years ago? Either way, many doctors including this one seem to disagree,
Reduced insecticide use has been touted as one of the significant benefits of GM crops like Bt corn, but insecticide use is now increasing as farmers attempt to save their failing Bt crops from pests. Not only is Bt corn producing resistant “super-pests,” researchers have also found that the Bt toxin can be transfered [sic] to humans and may wreak havoc on your health.
—Dr. Joseph Mercola, Mercola.com, alternative osteopath and natural products salesman
One last time. Our bodies are telling us something. Why aren’t we listening? Don’t let those in power – who are being paid by lobbyists – dictate what is good for you. Just listen to your body.
