Everything supported something else in its chain. The rain watered the ground, Photosynthesis produced the grass, the bovine ate the grass and excreted the fertilizer that fed the grass making it grow stronger, quicker and more nutritious.

Organic Gardening is not something new. It's how life began, it's simply duplicating in a Micro-climate what the world has been doing naturally since the beginning of time.

The debate about whether Organic Fruit & Vegetables are or aren't better for us is never ending. There will always be people who say they are experts at science or chemistry and will continually proclaim that chemicals are perfectly safe at "certain" levels.

On the other hand, Organic consumers will say that nature did not produce the chemicals that are applied to our plants and soil. They will say that everything in the world supports itself within its own environment an there is no reason to produce or apply synthetic chemicals.

Scientists will tell us it is purely coincidence that Cancer rates have increased at the same rate and time scale as the introduction of Chemicals for Agricultural use.

But the debate as to whether Organic Food is actually better for us is somehow clouding the importance of the Environmental side of the debate. In the end, there is probably an equal amount of nutrition in organic products as compared to non-organic products. The comparitive difference comes from the source of the nutrition and the way in which the body handles the disposal of waste.

Finally, I can not see myself putting my family at risk of cancer in the future by putting them in contact with potentially carconogenic substances today.

Organic Processes are Good for the soil.
A modern and scientific understanding of ecology and soil science is required , while also depending on traditional methods of crop rotations to ensure fertility and weed and pest control.

Organic Processes are Good for people.
Organic based ingredients have been shown in a number of research studies to possess more vitamins, nutrients and cancer-attacking antioxidants than non-organic ingredients.

Organic Processes promote No GMO's
Certified Organic products are required to be produced without GMOs, which are prohibited in the standards for organic food and farming.

Organic Processes are Good for the environment
Organic systems aim to reduce dependence on non-renewable resources. Organic production aims at all times towards sustainability whilst having best management of the environment and wildlife as a priority.

Organic Processes rely on No synthetic chemicals
Organic systems & processes prohibit the use of artificial chemicals, pesticides and fertilisers.

Basically, Organic farming is a way of producing crops without damaging our environment and without the need for synthetic chemicals.

Organic food comes from Organic farms that use traditional agriculture with modern techniques.

Instead of using synthetic, man made pesticides to kill pests and disease, Organic farmers prevent pests by planting a diverse range of crops, by rotating these crops and using environmentally friendly approaches.

Ultimately, this results in no artificial pesticides, herbicides, no hormones and no growth promotents.

Organic Farmers aim to prevent pests and disease by using natural means, instead of a REACTIVE pest and disease management system.

Organically grown and processed food and personal care products are allowed only minimal processing with a limited number of non-agricultural, but natural and traditional ingredients allowed. These processes allow Mother Nature to provide us with food the way it was meant to be.

The foundation for most diets today is based on the work of Drs Johnston and Newsborough of Michigan University who, during the 1930s, developed the theory that if a person consumes fewer calories than the body needs, the body will burn up its fat stores.

Synthetic chemicals damage our health in two ways. First, by acute "poisoning" through exposure to large quantities, which induce almost immediate and often violent reactions that account for a staggering 220,000 fatalities worldwide every year. The second, more subtle way is by long-term exposure to much lower levels.

Toxic synthetic chemicals are highly fat soluble and when we are exposed to them the body creates fat to safely store those toxins it cannot process and eliminate safely. Carbamates, a group of insecticides and herbicides used in the growing of food, cosmetic and medicinal ingredients, are also
used as growth promoters in battery-farm situations because they slow down the metabolic rate. So, the same synthetic chemicals used on our fruit and vegetables are used to fatten livestock! Carbamates are also used in medicine to promote weight gain in humans.

People are not overweight simply through their own lack of effort, such as exercise. The truth is that the finger of blame must also be pointed at toxic chemicals. It is known that toxic chemicals, even when present in very small amounts, directly damage muscles and disrupt the hormones that control their growth.

Detox Diet

It is estimated that since World War II, more than 80,000 synthetic chemicals have invaded our world. About 40 million tons are manufactured worldwide.

It is shocking to learn that hardly any of these substances have been tested for safety, but have been added to our food, skin care, water, cleaning products etc. without our consent and, most of all, without warnings of their potential dangers.

Approximately 1000 new chemicals are made each year.

Surprisingly, city dwellers use more chemicals per acre than farmers and spend more than one billion dollars annually. In a lifetime 50 lbs of toxic waste can enter a body from drinking water and at least 450 lbs can enter the body through the skin.

Organochlorines are chlorine-based chemicals. They are extremely toxic and lethal. Herbicides, pesticides, including DDT, its metabolite DDE, dieldrin, atrazine, methoxychlor, hetachlor, kepone, chlorine bleach, most disinfectants as well as various plastics such as vinyl chloride made into the plastic products such as baby bottles and babies soft toys.

They accumulate in our bodies in many ways: from drinking water, from food grown with agricultural chemicals, from plastic migrating into canned and microwaved foods, and from food or body contact with chlorine bleached paper products (coffee filters, tampons, paper cups, toilet papers).

Although pesticides are designed to kill insects and
other organisms, that's not all they do. In fact, only 2 per cent of the 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides sprayed on crops accomplish this purpose! The other 98 per cent are absorbed into the air, water, soil, or food supply - and into our bodies.

The majority of organochlorines are stored in fat cells and breast tissue.

The tendency of organochlorines to stay in the body is evidenced by the fact that recent samples of fat and breast milk collected from women in the United States and Canada contained DDT, chlordane and dieldrin, organochlorines banned for over three decades (as well as those in current use such as DDE and PCBs).

Women with high levels of agricultural organochlorines in their blood are 4 to 10 times more likely to develop breast cancer than women with low levels. Women with breast cancer have 50-60 percent more PCBs, DDE and other pesticides and organochlorines in their tissues than women without breast cancer.

The really scary thing about these pervasive chemicals is that fetuses and infants can be harmed by exposure to chemicals at levels that do not appear to harm adults.

In fact, these hormonedisrupting chemicals can have effects at extraordinarily low doses, as low as parts per trillion.

Mixtures of chemicals can have effects that are different from those of individual chemicals. For instance, a combination of only two different organochlorines together in minute doses has been found to be 1000 times more potent in affecting human estrogen receptors as with the chemicals alone.

Recommended Reading:
MOTHERS, Prevent Your Daughters From Getting Breast Cancer

As the number of people who are concerned about toxins in our environment grows, more and more
cosmetic companies are seen to be jumping on the natural and organic bandwagon. But what does natural and organic mean when we see it on a product label?

How do we know what we are buying is really natural
and organic? What are the natural alternatives to chemicals? And is natural really better for us?

Our skin is the largest eliminatory organ in the body. It is a two-way membrane. Toxins are eliminated through the skin via perspiration and absorbed through the skin, into the body's systemic circulation, through hair follicles and sebaceous glands (not through sweat glands). One square inch of skin contains 65 hairs, 100 sebaceous glands, and 650 sweat glands, Cosmetic manufacturers are not supposed to claim that their products penetrate our skin. If they did (the products would then be labelled a 'drug' and henceforth be governed by much stricter regulations. This is both good and bad. Good because it means your skin can be nourished from the outside with some wonderful ingredients. Bad because it means some cosmetic manufacturer can put into their products that would never be allowed to be taken orally, but are still
absorbed into our system, through our skin.

WHAT DOES "NATURAL" AND "ORGANIC" MEAN ON PRODUCT LABELS?

Nowhere does the idea of "natural" or "organic" take a more gratuitous bruising than the cosmetics industry.

If we look at the term "natural" we probably define it as "existing in, or formed by nature; not artificial". Many labels have long lists of chemical names, some followed by the phrase "derived from . . ." (some natural substance). This is misleading to consumers.

When chemicals such as Cocamide DEA or Sodium Hydroxysultaine are followed by the term "derived from coconut oil" the consumer is led to believe that these synthetic chemicals must be natural.

While this may be true in some cases; it is ultimately irrelevant because what you end up with after the chemical processing is usually anything but natural or pure. For example, to create Cocamide DEA, a foaming agent in some shampoos, requires the addition of a synthetic chemical and known carcinogen, Diethanolamine - DEA, to the coconut oil. It is therefore no longer natural, or safe!

Fortunately, there is a very simple way to differentiate between hype and truth in cosmetics - and that is to read the ingredient list on the label. It is a legal requirement that all skin care products must be labelled with the ingredients in descending order of their quantity in the product. A good rule of thumb is to divide the ingredients list into thirds: the top third usually contains 90-95% of the product, the middle third usually contains 5-8% and the bottom third, 1-3%.

Is "NATURAL" Really Better?

There are some people who believe that there really are "safe" synthetic chemicals. If we look at chemical use historically, we see a pattern of fantastic chemical breakthroughs that are sold to us as the "new" answer to our problems, which are then subsequently banned (or withdrawn) after the damage has been done. Remember the "miracle" of DDT for getting rid of pests on crops? I believe that the search for newer, better and safer chemicals is foolish. Mother Nature always has, and always will, provide us with everything we need.

We should avoid all synthetic chemicals. By seeking out truly natural and organic products we are making a positive difference to our own health as well as supporting ecologically sound business ideals.

More information on Safer alternatives can be found here - www.milifestyle.net