To Buy or Not to Buy (an essay on the truth about organic food)

Imagine standing in the produce isle of a local grocery store. Take a look down at all the vegetables available. How many have some mention of organic ingredients on the label? Probably quite a few. This is due to the massive increase in demand for organically produced foods. Throughout the past ten years organic products have sprung up in nearly every grocery store. With production of organic foods produced by the motto that management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony, many people are turning to this form of food. With an insurgence of consumers the question has to be raised, should consumers buy organic?

With so many people buying organically one would assume it is a safe way to buy. In 1990, congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act. This required the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop nationally recognized standards to ease the skepticism of many consumers.

Organic Farming, Kampia Cyprus

English: Organic cultivation of mixed vegetables o...

The National Organic Program administers the Organ...

Soon after this act was passed, the USDA implemented regulations that only allowed produce labeled as organic to come from farms or other operation headquarters that were certified by a state or private entity that had been approved by the USDA. By implementing a way to regulate what organic products come into a grocery store, many more consumers have decided that organic is the way to buy,

Conventionally produced foods have their specific standards to follow as well. The USDA and The Food and Drug Administration have strict tests and regulations that conventionally produced foods most go through as well. Conventional farming has occurred throughout the United States for many years. Policies regarding the ways in which farmers may grow crops and harvest them are implemented just as rigorously as those policies effecting organic farming.

However, many conventionally farmed foods contain large amounts of pesticides and other harmful contaminants. Many...