The Ecology of Pizza
(Page 5 of 7)
June/July 2006
By Sandra Steingraber
Insisting on lots of nutrients and water, garlic is a “heavy feeder.” Such crops pose real problems for conventional growers because the nitrogen the plants require is easily swept away in irrigation water. Garlic also dislikes growing alongside weeds and is susceptible to many fungal diseases. Conventional farmers address these problems with a battery of chemicals, many of which are highly toxic to fish, clams, oysters, aquatic plants and birds. Two are potential human carcinogens, and two cause birth defects in rabbits. One breaks down into a chemical that disrupts thyroid functioning. Another alters brain and spinal cord development in fetal animals.
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These are the chemicals we spray into our environment in order to grow a food that people buy for its health benefits. Garlic lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, stimulates the immune system, slows tumor growth, and lowers the risk for colon cancer and possibly breast cancer.
Phil Foster, a garlic grower near Hollister, Calif., shifted to organic methods in 1989 after seeing the results on a neighboring farm. Like Lewis Grant, he relies on crop rotation and insectaries to control pests. Foster likes to see some pests around because they maintain the population of his beneficial bugs. “We’re not trying to have a sterile system here,” he says.
On Foster’s farm, the nutrients so greedily desired by garlic are provided by compost and cover crops. Applying synthetic fertilizer would be a cheaper way to deliver nitrogen to his crops, but garlic grown on healthy, microbe-rich soil is prone to fewer diseases and requires less water. As for weed control, Foster pulls a flame weeder behind his tractor to burn away any competing vegetation.
Cost of conventional garlic: $0.12
Cost of organic garlic: $0.07
Cheese (From the milk of Bos taurus)
One big difference between conventional and organic dairies is the extent to which the cows’ reproductive cycles are manipulated. Left to her own devices, a cow would get pregnant in the fall, give birth in the spring, then produce the most milk when fresh green grass provides maximum nutrition for both her and her calf. So a dairy would produce an abundance of milk in midsummer and almost none in late winter.
Hormones that increase milk production are permissible in conventional dairies, but prohibited in organic operations. The most controversial hormone in the dairy industry is genetically engineered recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH). When rBGH is injected under the skin, cows produce more milk. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of rBGH for dairy cattle in 1993, but its use is illegal in Canada and the European Union.
Many consumers wonder if rBGH ends up in their milk and cheese. The short answer is yes, but of more concern are the indirect effects of rBGH. Cows injected with rBGH need higher-protein feed and more intensive veterinary care, and they are more likely to secrete pus from inflamed udders, which requires treatment with antibiotics. They also produce higher levels of a naturally occurring protein called insulin-dependent growth factor-1 (IGF-1). This, too, finds its way into the milk. Evidence suggests that IGF-1 plays a role in cancer: Women with increased levels have a higher risk of breast cancer, and IGF-1 makes breast cancer cells in petri dishes grow faster.
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