The ‘organic effect’ – no GMOs, no pesticides

Organic is the best way to rid the world of unsustainable and toxic GMOs – but a new study shows that it may also be the quickest way to rid your body of pesticide residues. Win-win!

May 17, 2015 by Satff Reporter

Palmberg Family

Eating organic food is the best way to avoid eating genetically modified food – especially the hidden GMOs that lurk in the UK’s meat, dairy and egg supply chain.

Although there can be price differences between some organic and non-organic produce, that difference is disappearing and if a recent Swedish experiment in organic eating is anything to go by, there may be both immediate and long term benefits of switching to an organic diet.

The Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL) was commissioned by Coop, Sweden’s largest grocery store cooperative, to find out whether switching to an all-organic diet could reduce the level of pesticides found in people’s bodies

Over a two week period, a family of five – parents Anette and Mats Palmberg, and kids Vendela, Evelina and Charlie – swapped their conventional diet for an organic one. The result? Daily urine tests revealed that at the end of that period they managed to rid their bodies of most traces of pesticides.

A ‘cocktail’ of pesticides

Before the dietary intervention the family all had traces of multiple pesticides in their urine including:

  • MPCA – or 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid an herbicide commonly found on citrus fruits that has been declared a possible human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
  • Ethylenebisdithiocarbamates – fungicides used on grapes and raisins (and found in wine) that is toxic to the thyroid and liver and is a potential carcinogen.
  • Atrazine – a hormone-disrupting herbicide widely found in groundwater and associated with growth and developmental delays and sexual abnormalities.
  • Chlorpyrifos – an organophosphorous insecticide known for its damaging effects on the human nervous system
  • 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) – a chlorophenoxy-herbicide is a hormone disrupter and has been classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
  • Pyrethroids, such as cypermethrin and esfenvalerate – insecticides that have a damaging effect on the nervous system.
  • Chlormequat chloride (CCC) and mepequat – growth inhibitors used on a variety of grain products and even coffee linked in animal studies to developmental toxicity and neurological and organ damage, respectively.
  • Fungicides – such as thiabendazole, boscalid, iprodione, diuron, propamacarb and vinclozolin used on a variety of fruits and vegetables associated with a variety of effects from skin rashes/sensitivity to liver and kidney damage.

Before the experiment, eldest child Evelina’s urine was showing around 460 nanograms of chlormequat chloride per millilitre of urine (the ‘average’ that most of us carry is around 19 nanograms). Levels in children can be high because their diets can be higher in grain products – such as porridge, bread, and pasta – compared with the adult family members. After eating only organic foods for two weeks, the chemical could not be detected in her urine.

The most profound effects were found in toddler Charlie’s samples. His chlormequat chloride levels were 675 nanograms but became undetectable by the end of the experiment. Despite his urine before the experiment showing particularly high levels of three other of the chemicals, after the experiment none of these were detected.

Why is this study important?

The levels of these pesticides found in the family’s urine were within ‘safe’ levels at the beginning of the study – prompting some detractors to say that the results didn’t matter all that much.

But there’s a problem with such pronouncements. ‘Safe’ pesticide levels are determined by single exposures, usually tested over a short period of time in experimental animals. As this family’s tests demonstrated, we all carry multiple pesticides in our bodies and our regulators NEVER test mixtures of pesticides over the long-term.

What is more, when it comes to hormone disrupters such as atrazine and 2,4-D the old adage that “the dose makes the poison” does not apply. Hormone disrupters can have profound effects on health at very low levels and when combined can produce effects well beyond a simple additive effect.

The way that an organic diet quickly cleared pesticides from the body is especially important for children, since children carry a higher proportion of these substances in their bodies and because their bodies are growing and changing may feel the toxic effects more profoundly.

The scientists at IVL notes in their report that this might be a good reason for following the precautionary principle, and finding safer agricultural methods for growing our food.

“Given how little we currently know about the combination effects of all the different chemical substances that people are exposed to in their day-to-day lives, it may be wise to apply a principle of caution in this regard,” they note.

What’s the relevance to GMOs?

Studies show that GM crops absorb many time more of the pesticides used on them. Indeed that is the basis of the ‘herbicide resistance’ that is bred into them; they can be sprayed repeatedly with poisonous herbicides and not die.

Although this study did not test for glyphosate (a hormone disrupter and recently cited as a ‘probable human carcinogen’ by the IARC) it most likely would have found it if it had. Glyphosate is already used widely in non-GMO agriculture in the UK and Europe as a desiccant – to dry grain crops prior to harvest. If the EU begins growing glyphosate resistant GMOs we can expect our exposure to this toxic herbicide to rise exponentially.

The study did test for 2,4-D however- resistance to which is being bred into a new and even more toxic generation of GMO plants. In the US these second generation GM crops have already been approved. By the time the UK is ready to plant GM crops we may find they start to appear in our fields and in our food chain, raising our level of exposure. What is more some GMOs carry ‘stacked traits’ – that is may be resistant to more than one herbicide meaning farmers will feel free to spray these poisonous substances in quantity and in combination.

We already know that organic is a more sustainable way to farm and there is now decades of compelling data to show that organic agriculture can feed the world. Studies like this show that it can feed the world safely – which is more than the present industrial agricultural system does. That’s just one more reason why we want to get Beyond GM.

Don’t let GMOs adulterate our food or farms. Show your face for a GM free UK by participating in our GM Free Me campaign today.

  • Read the complete report from IVL, the Swedish Environment Research Institute, here.
  • Watch The Organic Effect video on our YouTube Channel

 

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