Pesticide-free foods may benefit environment, even if health advantages are unclear
By Alexandra Mathieu
June 28, 2010 1:06 a.m.
Upon entering Hedrick dining hall, students are greeted with an organic salad bar that includes cage-free eggs, organic tofu and campus-grown herbs. Among pizza, pasta and desserts, students are given the option to choose items known to have health and environmental benefits.
“I like knowing the option to eat organic food is there because it is the healthier alternative,” said Kristine Delgado, a first-year mechanical engineering student.
She added that with organic foods, people do not have to worry about pesticides and added chemicals.
UCLA dining halls continue to add organic options to the menu to cater to students’ health interests and sustainable practices, said Robert Gilbert, sustainability coordinator for UCLA Housing and Hospitality. He added that the goal is to have 20 percent of the dining hall’s items be sustainable by 2020.
Although evidence supporting the health benefits of organic foods is not strong, organic foods are the right choice for those concerned with the environment, said William McCarthy, adjunct professor of public health and psychology.
In order to deal with pests, organic farmers choose seeds that produce high levels of pesticides.
According to McCarthy, the positive effects of not adding synthetic pesticides to fruits and plants are possibly negated by the high levels of natural pesticides in the plants.
Since synthetic pesticides are based off of natural pesticides, the different effects of natural and synthetic pesticides on human health are not yet fully researched, he added.
“Some people stay away from fruits and vegetables because they are inorganic, and that’s not a good decision,” McCarthy said.
Even farmed and certified organic foods are not 100 percent organic due to exposure to chemicals from neighboring farming sites.
Foods with smoother surfaces, like apples, are less likely to have chemical residue, as opposed to fruits like strawberries, which have many grooves in which chemicals get stuck.
A 50 percent hydrogen peroxide and vinegar rinse can be used to remove these topical residues, McCarthy said.
Pesticides and herbicides, which are intended to impair the reproductive system, breathing and brain functions of pests and insects, could actually have the same effect on humans, McCarthy said. But the proportional size differences between humans and pests reduces the intensity of such effects.
Because babies consume, relative to their weight, more pesticides than adults, organic, rather than inorganic, foods may be especially important for infants to consume, McCarthy said.
Despite the lack of evidence supporting health benefits of organic foods, such agriculture is good for the environment because it prevents synthetic chemicals from being added to and disturbing the balance in nature, McCarthy said.
