Health Notice revisited

[fran7371@uidaho.edu (John Francis)]

Bill, you've done a great job tracking down facets of this story since it
first appeared. Top class investigative journalism, and to top it off you
beat the NY Times by months.

John Francis



>From: "bill london" <bill_london@hotmail.com>
>To: vision2020@moscow.com
>Subject: Health Notice revisited

>
>For those of you who recall the "Health Notice" inserted in the Daily
>News a few months ago (the notice reprinted bogus claims by a Dennis
>Avery that organic food was dangerous), here's an update on the
>contraversy....BL
>
>
>
>>>> FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
>>>> February 17, 1999, Wednesday
>>>>           Dining In, Dining Out/Style Desk
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>           EATING WELL; Anti-Organic, And Flawed
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>           By Marian Burros
>>>>
>>>>           DENNIS T. AVERY wants organic food to go away. And he
>doesn't
>>>> care what it takes. Four years ago, he said that organic food could
>>>>           not feed the world without destroying the environment.
>Now, he
>>>> says it's lethal.
>>>>
>>>>           In an article in the fall issue of American Outlook
>magazine,
>>>> published by his employer, the Hudson Institute, a conservative
>research
>>>>           group, Mr. Avery wrote, ''Organic foods have clearly
>become the
>>>> deadliest food choice.'' This is the case, he said, because organic
>farms
>>>>           use animal manure and do not use chemicals or permit
>>>> pasteurization. The last assertion is untrue, as were several other
>>>> statements in the
>>>>           article.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>           The accusation might have gone unnoticed, but excerpts
>from the
>>>> article were published in The Wall Street Journal and continue to be
>>>>           picked up around the country, by The Associated Press, The
>Tampa
>>>> Tribune and trade industry publications.
>>>>
>>>>           The simplest definition of ''organic'' is food grown
>without
>>>> hormones, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. But Mr. Avery, whose
>work
>>>is
>>>>           financed by agribusiness, used the terms ''organic,''
>''free
>>>> range,'' ''natural'' and ''unpasteurized'' interchangeably.
>>>>
>>>>           ''I grant you that I've mixed together natural and
>organic,''
>>>Mr.
>>>> Avery, the author of ''Saving the Planet With Pesticides and
>Plastic''
>>>>           (Hudson Institute, 1995), said in an interview last week.
>''But
>>>> to me they are distinctions without significant difference in terms
>of
>>>public
>>>>           health.''
>>>>
>>>>           His most combative accusation is based on his reading of
>1996
>>>> data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
>>>>           showing, he said, that ''people who eat organic and
>'natural'
>>>> foods are eight times as likely as the rest of the population to be
>>>> attacked by a
>>>>           deadly new strain of E. coli bacteria (O157:H7).''
>>>>
>>>>           Yet, some of the foods that caused the outbreak, which he
>called
>>>> organic, were not, like unpasteurized Odwalla apple juice.
>>>>
>>>>           Mr. Avery's claim that ''consumers of organic food are
>also more
>>>> likely to be attacked by a relatively new, more virulent strain of
>the
>>>>           infamous salmonella bacteria'' was based on a Consumers
>Union
>>>> study in 1998 showing that ''premium'' chickens had higher levels of
>>>>           salmonella than regular supermarket chickens. But the
>premium
>>>> chickens were not organic.
>>>>
>>>>           In the article, Mr. Avery took the Food and Drug
>Administration
>>>> to task for failing ''to issue any warnings to consumers about the
>higher
>>>>           levels of natural toxins their researchers regularly find
>in
>>>> organic foods.'' In the interview, he said that that assertion was
>based
>>>on a
>>>>           statement by Dr. Robert Lake, an official in the agency's
>Center
>>>> for Food Safety and Nutrition.
>>>>
>>>>           Dr. Lake denied making such a statement, saying, ''We
>don't go
>>>> out of our way to sample organic food, and hence I don't think we
>are in
>>>>           a position to say anything one way or another about it.''
>>>>
>>>>           Mr. Avery wrote that because ''organic farmers use animal
>manure
>>>> as the major source of fertilizer,'' there are higher levels of
>harmful
>>>>           bacteria in organic food. Katherine DiMatteo, the
>executive
>>>> director of the Organic Trade Association, said that manure is not
>the
>>>major
>>>>           source of fertilizer on organic farms (it is also used in
>>>> conventional farming) and that when it is used, certain rules must
>be
>>>> followed for
>>>>           safety.
>>>>
>>>>           Mr. Avery said he had never ''bothered that much about
>consumer
>>>> safety aspects of organic food until O157:H7.'' His goal, he
>continued,
>>>>           is to prevent organic agriculture from becoming the norm.
>''My
>>>> big concern is that we do not have room on the planet to feed
>ourselves
>>>>           organically,'' he added.
>>>>
>>>>           The attack on organic food by a well-financed research
>>>> organization suggests that, though organic food accounts for only 1
>>>percent of
>>>>           food sales in the United States, the conventional food
>industry
>>>> is worried.
>>
>
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John Francis
311 East 6th St., #2
Moscow, ID 83843
(208) 883-0105       fran7371@uidaho.edu