The Soil Association[1]
was founded in 1946 and today is the main body for the certification of organic
farms in the UK. It’s website has a section on pesticides, which states the
following: “Around 31,000 tonnes of
chemicals are used in farming in the UK each year to kill weeds, insects and
other pests that attack crops. There is surprisingly little control over how
these chemicals are used in the non-organic sector and in what quantities or
combinations. What we do know is that 150 of the available 311 pesticides
commonly used have been identified as potentially causing cancer and many of us
would have been exposed to these pesticides before we were born”. It then
goes on to state: ”Even food that we
think is healthy, such as non-organic Cox's apples, can be sprayed 18 times.
The most dangerous chemicals used in farming, such as organophosphates, have
been linked with a range of problems including cancer, decreasing male
fertility, foetal abnormalities, chronic fatigue syndrome in children and
Parkinson's disease”. This linking of organic food with a reduced exposure
to so-called cancer-causing pesticides is a widely held belief among organic
food advocates.
That view within the organic
movement is unlikely to be changed by a recent study refuting this belief but
the majority of people who are made to worry about this alleged
pesticide-cancer link will take solace from its findings. The paper, published
in the British Journal of Cancer[2]
was based on data from The Million Women study, which was based on a million
women screened for breast cancer, followed these women over a 12 year period
with questionnaires on lifestyle completed at baseline and at years 3, 8 and
12. In the year 3 questionnaire, women were asked about their consumption of
organic food within categories, “never”, “sometimes”, “usually” or “always”. A
total of 751,975 provided data on their organic food intake in year 3. In this
particular study part of the study, women were excluded if they had changed
their diet in the previous 5 years because of an illness. That then left the
researchers with data on 623,080 women.
At the outset of the study,
30% of women reported never consuming organic food, 63% sometimes consumed
organic food and 7% reported always or usually eating organic food. During the
follow up period of almost 9 years, a total of 53,769 women were diagnosed with
some form of cancer. The authors looked at the relative risk of 16 cancers
across the frequency of use of organic food. They controlled for age, area of
residence, body mass index, smoking, physical activity, alcohol intake, age at
first birth, fibre intake and type of meat intake. Compared to women who never
consumed organic food, there was a 9% greater
incidence of cancer among women who usually or always consumed organic food. The
one exception was Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) where those who usually or always
consumed organic food had a 21% lower risk of NHL than women who never consumed
organic food.
Already the organic movement
is claiming that the 21% reduction in NHL is proof that pesticides are a
causative factor in cancer. However, NHL in the UK accounts for just 4% of all
cancers. Thus there were 161,215 cases of cancer among UK women in 2011 of
which 155,358 or 96% of all cases did not involve NHL with cancer of the breast,
bowel, lung, uterus and ovaries accounting for 62% of all cancers[3].
No matter what way the organic advocates dredge the data, the simple fact
remains that the consumption of organic food had no overall protective effect
against cancer (indeed it was 9% higher in the organic food consumers).
Plants maintain a natural
defence system against pests and thus the overall load of exposure to natural
pesticide is enormous concerned to our exposure to pesticides used in
agriculture whether for commercial or organic agriculture. Data shows that
using the rodent carcinogenic model, of the plants natural pesticides, 55% were
positive carcinogens and 45% were not[4].
All available data show that about half of all naturally derived chemicals are positive
in the rat carcinogenic model. The figure for all synthetic chemicals is also
about 50%. Natural doesn’t equate with safety. Think of hemlock, magic
mushrooms, opium, caffeine and nicotine to name a few.
People make all sorts of
decisions about their lifestyle including diet. Some opt to be vegetarian. Some
prefer to eat organic food. Some choose food based on a perceived allergy. The
reasons are endless. So live and let live but please don’t preach about the
health virtues of organic food to consumers who are not so inclined for
whatever reason. Enjoy your food whatever your choice and let others enjoy
theirs. There are many great challenges facing us in terms of public health
nutrition. This paper, the first of its kind, has binned the claim of the
organic food movement that consuming conventionally farmed foods can lead to
exposure to cancer causing pesticides.
