Book Sheds Light on Organic Farming, Foods

EMMAUS, Pa. and NEW YORKRodale, Inc. announced the release of Organic Manifesto: How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe, a new book that examines why chemical-free farming holds the key to better health for people and for the planet.

Author and Rodale Chairman and CEO Maria Rodale interviewed government officials, doctors, scientists, business leaders and farmers coast-to-coast to shed new light on the state of 21st-century farming. She examined the alliances that have formed between chemical companies that produce fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and genetically altered seeds, the agricultural educational system that is virtually subsidized by those same companies, and the government agencies in thrall to powerful lobbyists, all of which perpetuate dangerous farming practices and deliberate misconceptions about organic farming and foods.

According to Rodale, chemicals in our food are poisoning our families and are linked with cases of asthma, allergies, autism, ADHD, cancer, diabetes, infertility, obesity, genital malformations, accelerated aging, organ failure and several other serious conditions.

All of us, especially our children, are guinea pigs in a giant chemical experiment that has failed, she said. There are over 80,000 chemicals used in our environment, and especially in agriculture, and most have never been tested on human health. The majority of Americans cant tell you the difference between organic and natural, and the reality is that many researchers are finding that there is no such thing as a safe dose of chemicals. This concerns me, and I wanted to make the issues easy to understand so that we can all stand together and fight for whats right. Rodale Inc. was founded on the belief that organic farming is the key to better health both for us and for the planet, and never has this message been more urgent.