05/08/2026
I try my best to feed my family organic food. It is not cheap to buy healthy, organic food, but purchasing in bulk and making most things from scratch can make it much more affordable. You may be wondering, Why do I buy organic food for my family? Is it really important. Is there really a difference? Here is some information to answer those questions as well as some website sources in which the information came from.
Several studies have came up speaking to not just the acute toxic effects on farmers and farm workers who are actually spraying the pesticides, but also to the chronic effects from taking these chemicals into our bodies day after day in our food. Some of the harmful effects include cancer, diabetes, hormone disruption, immune suppression, heart disease, chronic fatigue, infertility, memory loss and neurological damage, Alhimerz, behavioral disorders such as ADHD, and mental disorders such as depression, su***de, and autism. I would suggest that the list goes on to include effects we haven't even discovered yet.
I know that buying organic is more expensive in the short-term and that cooking from scratch and raising our own food is much more time consuming, however, when we consider today's medical costs and quality of life, is it really cheaper in the long term? Because of the introduction of GMO crops and pesticide use, the cost of bioengineered and processes food is able to be sold for low prices. In 1930 (when the use of pesticides on our food crops began), 24% of a family's income was spent on food compared to 11.3% in 2022. Healthcare costs, however, have increased substantially over the past few decades, from 3.5% of GDP in 1930 to 17% in 2022. How much is our health and quality of life worth? How much is our children's life worth?
Sources:
https://www.webmd.com/cancer/herbicide-glyphosate-cancer
https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/food-safety-pesticide-residue #:~:text=They%20may%20induce%20adverse%20health,reproduction%2C%20immune%20or%20nervous%20systems.
https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/stop-eating-pesticides-a1094738355/
https://extension.psu.edu/potential-health-effects-of-pesticides
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9428564/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749123008904 #:~:text=Selected%20studies%20demonstrated%20an%20increased,of%20depression%20in%20this%20population.
https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2024/01/why-are-americans-paying-more-for-healthcare #:~:text=How%20Much%20Does%20the%20United,averages%20to%20%2413%2C493%20per%20person.
