Didn't we already know this? Belaboring the obvious.

[Chuck Dye]

The family forwarding mill brought me

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0811/ahlert.php3.

You must read past the setup involving Penn & Teller and organic foods for the reading to be worthwhile.  It is fairly well written and fun rehash, but nothing we don't already know, politically or culinarily.

[230RN]

Excellent!  But reading past the Penn & Teller anecdotes and culinary "experiments" reduces the flavor and juiciness and wholesomeness of Mr. Ahlert's later observations.

I agree that he's preaching to the choir, but occasionally bystanders loitering outside the church get part of the message, too.

Terry, 230RN

[geofan]

  advocate

My point on organic food is not that it is some how more healthy , allthough use of some pesticides if not completly cleaned off have in fact been proven to be harmfull to pregnant women and some other specific demographics . What has been proven time and time again is the effect on wildlife in the area surrounding the farm , much of which is the very intent of the chemicals . but as the law of unintended concenquences has shown the best and brightest time and time again is we are rarely smarter then nature ( in the long run ) all that being said I eat it all and think geneticly engineered food is the answer for many poverty stricken area's ( you can smell the contradiction ) the only way to hedge your own Penn inspired huberous is to advocate diverse farming practices . that way its hard to be completly wrong . because you know we are never completly right. I love getting my news from magicians but just not exclusivly hehe

[gunsmith]

we grow organic veggies, we just don't like spraying poisons on food.
Doesn't stop me from using organo phosphates on mosquitos/flies/wasp-I just don't need or want to spray poison on food. I'll buy organic money/need permitting.
What I won't do is buy "organic" i.e from sources I wouldn't trust in a million years like China or Mexico ... I would like to buy organically grown meat for instance, just right now I'm not living in a situation that allows me full control of the kitchen, so I don't.

[Chuck Dye]

I love it!

As I read the essay, it is yet another slap at liberals/progressives merely illustrated by the silliness of the organic foods survey results.  I was sorely tempted to send the link to the usual talk radio suspects just to see how long it took for one or more of them to begin using "bananahead."  That I have started a thread for the bashing or defense of organic foods is a hoot!  Makes me wonder how many are reading past the P&T setup.

[RoadKingLarry]

I use insecticides very sparingly on my veggie crops.
My stash of Chlordane and DDT will only last so long.

[230RN]

RoadKingLarry: Verrrrry good!

Fortunately, it was about time to clean the monitor anyhow.

[KD5NRH]

I use insecticides very sparingly on my veggie crops.
My stash of Chlordane and DDT will only last so long.

Acephate works well early in the season; just make sure you're upwind while applying it.

"Organic" became BS in my book when I noticed they classify tobacco as a "non-organic" pesticide because it's too effective.

[AZRedhawk44]

Tobacco is a pesticide?

[gunsmith]

Tobacco is a pesticide?

I cant recall how, but like you soak tobacco in water or something & spray the plants, kills bugs-probably not great for you but I guess it washes off.


I used to smoke organic tobacco, rolled it like a joint- but the stuff would never stay lit.

[RoadKingLarry]

Another problem with using tobacco as a pesticide is tobacco mosaic virus. Quite a few heirloom tomato family members can be susceptible to it.

[230RN]

Nicotine or nicotinic acid (and its variants) is used in a lot of pesticides.  It is pretty toxic. Wikiquote: "Sixty milligrams of nicotine (the amount in about 30-40 cigarettes) has the potential to kill an adult who is not a smoker if all of the nicotine were absorbed."

[erictank]

Tobacco is a pesticide?

Natural insecticide - it's the nicotine.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_water

I've also heard of it being used to kill rodents, though the doses involved are apparently dangerous to humans as well, from what I can tell.