Organic Strawberries Beat Conventionally Grown In Test Plots

In side-by-side plots of strawberries grown organically or conventionally, the organic berries had more vitamin C and the soil was more biologically active. Molly Webster reports.
Some consumers buy organically grown foods because they believe the products are healthier, tastier and better for the environment. But is this assessment true?

To find out, a group of U.S.-based scientists looked at strawberries. For the study, the researchers analyzed 13 plots of organic strawberries and conventional strawberries grown side-by-side. They found that the organic strawberries contained 10 percent more Vitamin C and antioxidants than their conventional counterparts. The organic strawberries were smaller on average than conventional berries, but each piece of organic fruit actually contained more dry matter—the meat, if you will, of the berry. The organic berries also had a longer shelf-life.
And finally, a soil analysis showed that the organic plots contained more microorganisms than conventional acreage. So, the study adds some scientific evidence to the belief that organic berries are healthier, tastier and more environmentally sound. Source: Scientific American - Hear the report

 

Beginning in late July and running into mid-August every year, the Perseid meteor shower peaked early Friday morning.

Observers were dazzled with a fantastic light show, but those who missed it can still catch the meteors in action Friday night into early Saturday morning, especially visible to those in dark rural areas free of excess light pollution.

Top 10 Reasons to Use Organic Cosmetics

• By Ronnie Cummins
  Organic Consumers Association
  

Non-Organic Cosmetics…

10. Fuel Oil Addiction

• There’s an oil spill leaking from U.S. bathrooms that’s roughly the same size as the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s coming from the petrochemical-based cosmetics we’re rubbing into our hair and skin and rinsing down the drain.

9. Spawn Superbugs

• The widespread use of products containing the antibacterial agent triclosan is promoting the growth of dangerous superbugs.
• The use of nanosilver will also lead to the development of antibiotic resistance among harmful bacteria.

8. Unleash Biocides

• Nanosilver is a powerful biocide that can kill beneficial bacteria in the environment, especially in soil and water, creating an unacceptable toxicity risk to human health and the environment.
• Biocidal nanosilver threatens bacteria-dependent natural processes. Beneficial bacteria are of vital importance to soil, plant and animal health. Soil bacteria fix nitrogen and breakdown organic matter. Denitrification bacteria play an important role in keeping waterways clean by removing nitrates from water contaminated by excessive fertilizer use. Bacteria in our guts allow humans and animals to digest food.

7. Make Drinking Water Deadly

• Triclosan can react with chlorine in the tap water to create the carcinogen chloroform.
• When sunlight is added to the already toxic triclosan-chlorine mix, dioxins are formed.
• Dioxins are highly toxic persistent environmental pollutants that can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.
• Common household products such as shampoo can interact with disinfectants at U.S. wastewater treatment plants to form cancer-causing nitrosamines, which end up in drinking water.

6. Make Us Fat

• Exposure to phthalates, endocrine disrupting chemicals found in perfumes, nail polish and other cosmetics, is linked to childhood obesity.

5. Speed Up Puberty

• As girls are showing signs of puberty at younger and younger ages, researchers are beginning to examine the link between cosmetics ingredients that mimic the effect of estrogen and premature puberty.
• Girls younger than 10 with early onset puberty show a high rate of exposure to endocrine disruptors found in nail polishes and other cosmetics.
• Phthalates, triclosan, musks and parabens are all known to alter the hormone system.

4. Increase Infertility

• According to a report on the health risks of secret ingredients in fragrance, hormone-disrupting chemicals commonly found in perfumes may be a factor in infertility, which increased by 20 percent in American couples between 1995 and 2002.

3. Cause Birth Defects

• Nail salon workers exposed to solvents without proper ventilation, face an increased risk for miscarriages and birth defects similar to fetal alcohol syndrome.
• Endocrine disruptors have been implicated in birth defects of the male reproductive system, such as undescended testicles and a penile deformity called hypospadias. Incidence of both conditions appears to have risen in recent decades.
• Pregnant women with higher levels of phthalates commonly found in fragrances, shampoos, cosmetics and nail polishes are more likely to have children who display disruptive behavior years later.

2. Give Us Cancer

• The President’s Cancer Panel warns that nitrosamines found in cosmetics are implicated in brain & kidney cancer, phthalates found in cosmetics, hair conditioners, and fragrances, increase the risks of breast and testicular cancer, and nanomaterials found in cosmetics, personal care products and suncreens “can be extremely toxic.”
• 22% of all personal care products are contaminated with the cancer-causing impurity 1,4-dioxane, including many children’s products.

1. Aren’t Regulated or Safety Tested

• The Food and Drug Administration has no authority to make cosmetics companies test products for safety or recall products that are found to be harmful.
• The President’s Cancer Panel recommends research on toxins and endocrine disrupting chemicals in personal care products and cosmetics, noting that only 11 percent of the ingredients in these products have been tested for safety.

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Organic is one of those words that gets used so much you might just forget what it really means. Wiktionary:adj – simple and healthful and close to nature, “an organic lifestyle.” At the core of the green movement is a sense of connection between  seemingly unrelated and diverse parts. As the green movement continiues to go mainstreasm. The ideas of environmental, economic  and social  change which may have once belonged to Berkeley intellectuals are now taking root with people all of over the world.

It is difficult not to stand in awe of the massive football field sized oil rigs constructed by marine engineers, machines that have the power to navigate through the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and then drill miles under the seabed to find oil. This is the dark depths that the worlds quest for energy has taken us. One is left in complete bewilderment to wonder… is this the most sustainable use of our worlds’ natural resources? But new things are happening… A German solar power firm has recently signed an agreement to install solar panels for a coal mining company that wants to offset its energy expenses and cut air pollution. Solar companies are looking at recycling  methods to deal with photovoltaic panels that are at the end of their life cycle. A  British biomass company is using human waste as fuel to power a volkswagen BIO-BUG, and a 14 year old has converted his grandfather’s volkswagen to an electric vehicle.

Yes some call it  a movement, some a consciousness but however you perceive it the green renaissance is enlightening our understanding of the signicance of using non toxic organic chemicals in cosmetics and fashion; and learning how eco travel can change lives for the better.

In that regard QuestPoint launches three additional sections to provide you with information, opinion, education and entertainment. They are:

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We invite you to explore and discover along with us as we continue to understand and help shape a more sustainable world.