Organic For All
TAKE AcTION
Tell your grocery store to get toxic pesticides out of our food and make organic for all!
"Everyone has the right to clean, organic food. That is a human right." - Tara, study participant, Baltimore
ORGANIC WORKS
Results from the Studies
In these peer-reviewed studies, we compared pesticide levels in the bodies of four American families for six days on a non-organic diet and six days on a completely organic diet.
We found that an organic diet rapidly and dramatically reduced exposure to pesticides in just one week.
On average, levels across all pesticides dropped by 60.5 percent.
Levels of glyphosate, the main chemical ingredient in the world’s most widely used pesticide, Roundup, dropped 71 percent. Glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. The most significant drops, up to 95 percent, occurred in a class of neurotoxic pesticides called organophosphates. These pesticides are so harmful to children’s developing brains that scientists have called for a full ban. The neonicotinoid pesticide clothianidin dropped by 83 percent, levels of pyrethroids were halved, and levels of 2,4-D dropped by 37 percent.
Pesticides are Poison
Pesticides are designed to be poisons. The properties that make them toxic to insects and weeds can also make them toxic to other forms of life, including us. Some of the pesticides detected in the bodies of nearly all Americans originated as weapons of war. Organophosphates were developed as toxic nerve agents during World War II. And 2,4-D made up half of the notorious Agent Orange used as a defoliant in the Vietnam War.
WHY IT MATTERS
Your Health
Decades of data shows that pesticides can disrupt and derail the healthy functioning of our bodies. Many of the pesticides widely used in our food supply are known to cause cancer, affect the body’s hormonal systems, disrupt fertility, damage children’s developing brains, or cause Parkinson’s, depression, or Alzheimer’s as we age. Organic farmers grow abundant food without the use of these toxic synthetic pesticides.
Farmers, Farmworkers and Rural Communities
The most vocal advocates for a toxic-free food system are those on the frontlines of pesticide exposure: farmers, farmworkers and pesticide applicators who are exposed to toxic pesticides directly. Organic farming reduces exposure to toxic pesticides for those most at risk.
Pollinators and the Environment
The need for organic agriculture is more urgent than ever. Bees and butterflies are disappearing, climate change threatens future food security and our water is polluted with toxic chemicals. Organic farming is regenerative — it fosters biodiversity, protects water and soil and is a climate solution.
LEARN THE TRUTH
The science is clear. Organic agriculture can produce enough food to feed a growing world population while protecting our health and the environment.
We have the solution. And yet, our government subsidizes pesticide-intensive agriculture to the tune of billions of dollars while organic programs and research are woefully underfunded.
Pesticide companies spend tens of millions of dollars lobbying legislators and funding front groups that mislead the public about the harms of pesticides.
The top four pesticide manufacturers reap over $150 billion in profit each year. Meanwhile, the estimated environmental and health care costs of pesticide use in the U.S. is estimated to be upwards of $12 billion annually.