Just watched Penn & Teller's Bull**** episode on whole foods and it was a hoot. Basically debunked every single selling point for going organic:
1. Better nutrition - No scientific proof of such a thing
2. Healthier - American Cancer Society said there's no proof of any greater risk of cancer from non-organic foods than organic
3. Better for environment - Pesticides dramatically improved over years while organic farmers still using dated methods that come with known risks (i.e. manure that provides safe housing for e-coli and other bacteria). Also, organic requires far more land -- if the entire world went organic it's estimated it could feed four billion people, leaving three billion to starve ... actually they attributed this estimation to Bucky Fuller, the founder of the modern green movement).
4. Supports the small, local farmer -- Estimated half of all organic food comes from a single multi-national called Horizon. Another 20 percent imported from China.
5. Tastes better -- best part of the show. They set up a taste testing booth at an organic street market. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it, other than to tell you they were getting many organic die-hards to admit that "organic tastes better" was more likely a psychological thing than anything based in reality. They were almost universally choosing the non-organic food over the organic when it came to taste. In one case they cut a non-organic banana and TOLD people that half was non-organic and half was organic. These people were RAVING ORGASMICALLY about the organic banana while offering poetic barbs about the non-organic banana. Then it was revealed they were testing two halves of the same non-organic banana and they were besides themselves. I was in tears laughing so hard. Almost wet my non-organic underwear.
Anyway, it's pretty clear to me after watching this show that organic has more in common with faith and religion than science. Much more.
1. Better nutrition - No scientific proof of such a thing
2. Healthier - American Cancer Society said there's no proof of any greater risk of cancer from non-organic foods than organic
3. Better for environment - Pesticides dramatically improved over years while organic farmers still using dated methods that come with known risks (i.e. manure that provides safe housing for e-coli and other bacteria). Also, organic requires far more land -- if the entire world went organic it's estimated it could feed four billion people, leaving three billion to starve ... actually they attributed this estimation to Bucky Fuller, the founder of the modern green movement).
4. Supports the small, local farmer -- Estimated half of all organic food comes from a single multi-national called Horizon. Another 20 percent imported from China.
5. Tastes better -- best part of the show. They set up a taste testing booth at an organic street market. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it, other than to tell you they were getting many organic die-hards to admit that "organic tastes better" was more likely a psychological thing than anything based in reality. They were almost universally choosing the non-organic food over the organic when it came to taste. In one case they cut a non-organic banana and TOLD people that half was non-organic and half was organic. These people were RAVING ORGASMICALLY about the organic banana while offering poetic barbs about the non-organic banana. Then it was revealed they were testing two halves of the same non-organic banana and they were besides themselves. I was in tears laughing so hard. Almost wet my non-organic underwear.
Anyway, it's pretty clear to me after watching this show that organic has more in common with faith and religion than science. Much more.
Last edited:
