What does "Organic" mean?

In recent years, organic has become a buzzword in grocery stores, farmer's markets, and anywhere else food is available. Some people assume that organic better than inorganic, but what exactly does organic mean? Is organic the best option when it comes to how we feed ourselves?

According to Organic.org, "organic" simply means that something was not grown using any kind of chemical foreign to the plant itself. This can include pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and genetically modified organisms. (As for animal products, I will be doing a separate journal because there's much more to that to discuss.) These words sound scary, but let's look at what each one means and how it affects the plant, our health, and our planet.

Pesticides are any kind of chemical substance that serves to deter the growth or attraction of pests and weeds. Herbicides, insecticides, bactericides, and sanitizers are among this category of things considered inorganic. All of these things allow the plant to grow without being affected by pests, bacteria, and weeds, but pose a notable risk to human health. A study reported by The National Institute of Health found that pesticides cause one million deaths and chronic diseases worldwide every year. Those most prone to risk are those close closely in contact with the production of pesticides: farmers, production workers, and formulators are most at risk. Although we as consumers are not up close and personal with pesticides like some people are, we are still somewhat at risk when we ingest these chemicals. As for environmental health, NIH reports that pesticides contaminate soil, our water supply, and vegetation. Pesticides can also indirectly negatively impact beneficial insects and non-target plants through biomagnification and nonconfinement. We have also seen the rise of "super-weeds", or weeds that become resistant to herbicides and ultimately result in the loss of crops as super-weeds overtake them.

Synthetic fertilizers, most commonly sourced from petroleum byproducts, differ from organic fertilizers which are derived from compost, animal waste, and other naturally occurring sources. Synthetic fertilizers are things like Ammonium Nitrates and Phosphates. These two types of fertilizers cannot be distinguished by plants, and according to current research, the biggest offense of SFs is that they kill off beneficial microorganisms in our soil. These microorganisms are essential to the nitrogen cycle and in breaking down soil matter. As for human health impact, synthetic fertilizers are not a detectable threat to us as it stands. All in all, I don't see synthetic fertilizers as unethical by any means. They have proved useful to society and are not the biggest of our worries.

Ah, the great GMO debate. Whether or not these are ethical or not would make a great journal in the future, but I'll just briefly talk about it here for the purpose of defining organic. According to ResponsibleTechnology.org, GMOs, or Genetically Modified Organisms are the "result of a laboratory process where genes from the DNA of one species are extracted and artificially forced into the genes of an unrelated plant or animal." GMOs have been linked to myriad negative health effects on the animals tested. While the results of GMOs on humans are not being scientifically studied, keep this in mind: we're the lab rats here. There is no evidence that GMOs are safe for people to consume, but the evidence of cancer and chronic illness in animals is telling. As far as environmental impacts, GMOs can cause cross-pollination, or the contamination of other nearby crops. One of the only plants that doesn't cross-pollinate is soy. Plants altered to produce built-in pesticides are proven to contaminate nearby water sources which could affect aquatic life.

This is not to say however that all the technological, inorganic developments of agriculture are bad. No two vegetables from the same crop contain the same amount of nutrients, so it's hard for us to measure the health benefits of eating organic. While my research would compel me to say that it is better in the long run, there is much more research to be done. The best thing we can do as consumers hoping to be more conscious is make an informed decision about plant foods we buy based on how they were grown.