The Poison Apple
by Benjamin Lewis
I have long promoted organic agriculture as a way to practice good stewardship of the land, and to reduce the polluting and deleterious effects of chemical farming on the environment. Now, for the first time, I see data illustrating the incidence of these chemicals on the end product, that is, the food we purchase and consume.
Check out What’s On My Food (www.whatsonmyfood.org) The site provides the incidence and amount of common pesticide residues found on all types of food. It also offers a side-by-side comparison of organic and conventional foods. These chemicals are manufactured from petroleum by huge military-industrial corporations, most of which started out as chemical weapons manufacturers.
Who tells us these chemicals are safe? Why should we believe them? Who decided that an apple, requiring nothing more than sun, water and soil to create a delicious, nourishing snack, should be sprayed with Thiabendazole, a carcinogen that shows up on the end product 88% of the time?
In my opinion, the answer is obvious. The people who sell Thiabendazole decided. Growers who have not instituted proper care and prevention of fungal pathogens in their orchards decided. An economy that favors short-sighted, quick fixes over long-term conservation decided. A society that promotes production and profit without factoring the cost to human health decided. Consumers that have lost their connection with the land and no longer know or care how food is grown have decided. Like Snow White, we take a bite of the poison apple and fall asleep. We are blissfully unaware of the myriad decisions we make in buying that particular apple.
Next time you eat an apple, look at it carefully. You won’t see the Thiabendazole, but will you see the choices you’ve made? Will you see the rippling effect on the environment, on the economy, on the society and on your own body? You have the power to change the world just by mindfully eating an apple.
Maybe it’s an apple, maybe it’s a movement; it depends on how you look at it.
Changes the whole definition of “apple of your eye”