Organic vs. Conventional

When I go into my favorite grocery store at home I am immediately greeted by the overwhelmingly extensive produce section. At least in this grocery store, and I think in many across the nation, shoppers can pretty much select either organic or conventional for almost every item. I think that for many people, including me, there is a lot of mystery surrounding the "organic" label. I am not completely sure what the requirements are for something to earn this label, and I know that not everyone is convinced that it is worth the extra cost to choose the organic items. Because of the confusion that I feel I decided to do some internet searches about this topic. What I found was unfortunately not very many answers. In fact, doing an internet search on this topic might actually bring more confusion to the situation. There is just so much information and it is so hard to know what to believe.

One article that I found especially interesting was this one from medicine.net:

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52420&page=2

I don't really have a way to judge the validity of this article, but I was interested in the part where the author made a list of foods that are probably worth springing for organic, and foods where it might not be worth it. Here are the lists:

To maximize your organic food dollar, the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., recommends going organic on the "dirty dozen" -- types of produce that are most susceptible to pesticide residue: Peaches Apples Sweet bell peppers Celery Nectarines Strawberries Cherries Pears Grapes (imported) Spinach Lettuce Potatoes And which organic produce is probably not worth the added expense? The group lists these 12 items as having the least pesticide residues: Papayas Broccoli Cabbage Bananas Kiwifruit Sweet peas (frozen) Asparagus Mangoes Pineapple Sweet corn (frozen) Avocados Onions

Do what this information what you will, but I think that it is an interesting point of view nonetheless.