Conscious Comments November 2013 | Page 17

The Breakdown

Organic vs. Non-organic Produce

Organic produce: Conventionally grown produce:

No Pesticides Pesticides used

Grown with natural fertilizers Grown with synthetic or chemical fertilizers.

(manure, compost). Weeds are controlled with chemical herbicides.

Weeds are controlled naturally Insecticides are used to manage pests

(crop rotation, hand weeding, and disease.

mulching, and tilling).

Insects are controlled using natural

methods (birds, good insects, traps).

Organic vs. Conventional Meat and Dairy

Regulations governing meat and dairy farming vary from country to country. In the U.S., these conventionally grown meats and dairy products were found to have the lowest levels of pesticides.

Organic meat and dairy:

-No antibiotics, hormones, or pesticides are given to animals

-Livestock are given all organic feed.

-Disease is prevented with natural methods such as clean housing, rotational grazing, and a healthy diet.

-Livestock must have access to the outdoors.

Conventionally raised meat and dairy:

-Typically given antibiotics, hormones and feed grown with pesticides

-Livestock are given growth hormones for faster growth.

-Antibiotics and medications are used to prevent livestock disease.

-Livestock may or may not have access to the outdoors.

GMOs

Genetically modified organism (GMO) or genetically engineered organism (GEO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. GMOs are the constituents of genetically modified foods.

A genetically modified food is a plant or meat product that has had its DNA artificially altered in a laboratory by genes from other plants, animals, viruses, or bacteria, in order to produce foreign compounds in that food. This type of genetic alteration is not found in nature, and is experimental.