The Organic Food Scam - read all about it.

Lord Taverne of Pimlico (is) the sober, polymathic and persuasive author of "The March of Unreason" (Oxford University Press). Although not a scientist himself, Taverne, a Queen's Counsel (an especially learned barrister appointed to advise Her Britannic Majesty), former member of the British Parliament and currently member of the House of Lords...argues that "in the practice of medicine, popular approaches to farming and food...there is an undercurrent of irrationality...."

....Remorselessly, Lord Taverne skewers the mania for organic food, the popularity of astrology and other forms of mysticism, and the widespread but baseless bias that "nature knows best." Lord Taverne characterizes as "a monument to irrationality" the trend toward consumers buying overpriced organic food, promoted by advocates whose "principles are founded on a scientific howler; it is governed by rules that have no rhyme or reason.."

In the United States, for example, the rules that define organic products are, literally, nonsensical, in that organic standards are process-based and have little to do with the actual characteristics of the product. Certifiers attest to the ability of organic operations to follow a set of production standards and practices that meet the requirements of highly arbitrary regulations. Paradoxically, the presence of a detectable residue of a banned chemical alone does not constitute a violation of these regulations, as long as an organic operation has not used excluded methods. That's rather like saying that as long as your barber uses certain prescribed tools and lotions, your haircut is automatically of high quality.

Yeah, and I've always been really cheesed that the Puget Consumers Cooperative store in West Seattle carries virtually no Asian produce (i.e. baby bok choi, gai lan). Must be because they can't find any that's grown "organic." But I want my baby bok choi, and my gai lan, dammit, so I go to the Cambodian market in White Center for it, and get some crispy, juicy roasted pork flesh while I'm at it. Buying organic may or may not get you produce that tastes better, but for many here, the decision, like so many others, is really about self-affirmation.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at May 19, 2005 04:50 PM

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