Skeptics Fertilize Organic Myths With Industry Derived Bullshit
Fake skeptics have paved the internet with a boulevard of bullshit about organic farming.
For the many years that I’ve been observing their rhetoric, Skeptics have been carrying water for the agrochemical industry in a variety of ways.
One talking point that comes up frequently is some version of the idea that organic or natural pesticides are “worse” than synthetic ones. But a recent fact check review by IFOAM Organic Europe, demonstrates what common sense can tell most of us - that synthetic pesticides are significantly more dangerous than natural ones, busting this pervasive myth.
Bio Eco Actual reports
“The toxicological evaluation on which this fact check is based, was then further developed and published in the peer reviewed scientific journal Toxics. The hazard classifications of the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) established by the European Chemicals Agency (EChA) and the dietary and occupational Health-Based Guideline Values established by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in the approval process were used as a benchmark for the comparison.”
The fact check addresses two popular myths that we’ve seen promoted for years by Skeptics.
1. Organic farmers use pesticides, and do so with similar frequency to conventional farmers.
2. Natural pesticides allowed in organic farming are of comparable toxicity to the (mostly synthetic) pesticides only allowed in conventional farming.
While it is true that natural pesticides are sometimes (but not always) used in organic farming and they can still have harmful effects if used indiscriminately or improperly, and they are not without acute toxic effects, the idea that they are somehow worse or comparable to man-made chemicals doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
The review by IFOAM found that
“While around 90% of the conventional pesticides are of chemical-synthetic origin and underwent screening programs to identify the substances with the highest toxicity (and thus highest efficacy) against target organisms, the majority of the natural active ingredients are not even ‘substances’ in the strict sense, but living microorganisms. These make up 56% of the pesticides approved in organic farming. As natural soil inhabitants, they do not have hazardous substance properties. Another 19% of organic pesticides are classified from the outset as ‘low-risk active ingredients’ (e.g. baking powder, ferric phosphate) or approved as basic substances (e.g. sunflower oil, vinegar, milk).”
In the past, I wrote a point-by-point rebuttal about a meme that was being widely used that claimed most organic pesticides are untested for residue and toxicity, and that synthetic pesticides are tested and deemed safe.
That was all a bunch of BS back then, and it still is today. This doesn’t stop Skeptics though. Let’s take a look at some more of their myth-making, shall we?
First up, we have Kevin Bass, who’s just recently tripped everyone’s bullshitometers on a large scale, but he’s been terrible for quite some time. Check out these now deleted tweets where he cites an industry front group to support his mythological opinion about organic.
The new Skeptics on the block, Andrea and Jess at the @unbiasedscipod have two episodes on organic. “No Need To Be Afraid, Don't Be Petrified, But You Should Know That Organic Foods Still Use Pesticides.” In part one they “discuss the differences between synthetic and organic pesticides, and some key factors to consider amongst the two.”
It turns out that for these episodes they rely heavily on a very old, very biased, and very inaccurate Scientific American article by Christie Wilcox that was appropriately rebutted in the same magazine, but never actually discuss those corrections. Instead they cherry-picked studies in defense of chemical intensive farming and misinformed their followers.
They claim that rotenone, methyl bromide, and nicotine sulfate are used in organic farming, widely used even, but as already addressed in the Risk Monger’s Deceitful Dozen linked above, these substances are all prohibited by the USDA National Organic Program.
And for the substances that are allowed, like the Skeptic favorite to harp on copper sulfate, you must realize that soil testing and other measures need to occur with use.
According to Rodale Institute
Copper sulfate is designated for plant disease control and disease control only. Organic farmers can only spray copper if there is a documented case for its need. That means the farmer must also show that they have exhausted all other options for combating the disease issue.
Copper sulfate is also used in conventional agriculture. But you wouldn’t know any of that from the Podcast’s Instagram posts.
In the episode, they also say that organic pesticides are not subject to the same regulations as synthetic pesticides - that there are no regulations for safety, toxicity, or pesticide residues. This is flat out WRONG.
Even my buddy Jay Gooch, a former spokesperson for Proctor & Gamble, sponsor of the Unbiased Science Podcast agrees.
There are some pesticides that are exempt from EPA registration, called minimum risk pesticides that include active ingredients from things like castor oil, garlic, sesame and thyme, and inert ingredients like bran, potassium bicarbonate, milk and limestone.
But if you’re trying to tell me those pesticides are more toxic than neonicotinoids, synthetic pyrethroids, chlorpyrifos and paraquat, then you should be super fucking embarrassed.
Additionally, just like the Risk Monger, the Unbiased Science Podcast’s listed citations actually prove a lot of what they are saying is false, and at least one of the studies they talk a lot about has kind of an enormous list of competing interests…
Onto our next example.
We’re talking about organic myths, so where would we be without at least one of the @scimoms? Here’s Kavin Senapathy doing what she loves - shitting on all things crunchy and organic.
Kavin’s fellow SciMom and compadre Alison Bernstein, also known as Mommy PhD, wrote about her path to scientific enlightenment and rejection of organic food in a post on the SciMoms website called “From scared mom to science mom.” In it she talks about reading many papers about rotenone, a natural substance that we just noted above is strictly prohibited from organic farming for more than a decade now, due to its toxicity and link to Parkinson’s disease. It seems she must have missed the fact that her citation for this also mentions paraquat, a highly-toxic synthetic herbicide used in conventional farming that like rotenone, is also strictly prohibited in organic agriculture.
Alison says of her newfound belief in Scientism at the end of the article, “This new perspective has been freeing and has helped to dramatically reduce my anxiety.” This, I think, gives a great deal of insight into the ideological motivations behind the opinions of some self-styled Skeptics.
This also helps explain the relative ease that industry folks have had influencing people like these two SciMoms. In 2017 I detailed the public relations tactics of Vance Crowe, the former Director of Millennial Engagement for Monsanto.
I was mocked as a “conspiracy theorist” for pointing out his transparently overt attempts at influence, to then watch as one of his former friends and supporters, Kavin Senapathy (who is pictured protesting a protest at the beginning of this article) publicly renounce Vance and Monsanto in her 2019 Road to Damascus confessional titled, “I Was Lured Into Monsanto’s GMO Crusade. Here’s What I Learned” published in Undark.
Senapathy says
I’d found solace in the skeptics movement, whose members stress empiricism and the scientific method, and I began blogging to counter the fear and myths that were so pervasive in the parenting world.
and goes on
Crowe soon began to engage me. We shared cordial Twitter exchanges and even commiserated face-to-face about the often fact-scarce rhetoric of genetic engineering opponents. It was unsettling to later realize that he was deliberately targeting not just me but the entire community of skeptics — who had rescued me from my own fear as a young mother — and the other so-called tribes.
What she describes here is just like the “conspiracy theory” I described two years prior. Weird!
Now that we have established some of the industry influence exerted upon Skeptics, no discussion of bullshit could be complete without mentioning at least one Babe.
Next up, is a food industry professional, @foodscibabe who you would think has a degree in food science, but…doesn’t. She’s been profiled before in The Babelist.
Here she is promoting industry propaganda with this FEAR vs FACTS meme.
On top of all that is incorrect about this meme, it’s incredibly ironic how she’s complained so loudly about “food-shaming” - which means you can’t criticize consumption of unhealthy food/beverages - but then shames people who choose organic with her fear v facts based rhetoric.
Uncritically defending the industrial food system that you work for is not science, it’s shilling.
So we know that people like Vance Crowe have been a big influence in the past, but where do the Skeptics continue to get this shit from? We already mentioned front group Genetic Literacy Project, but we can’t leave out the original gangstas of fronting for agrochemicals, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), immortalized in a genius segment by the Daily Show.
Substack doesn’t embed videos yet…so click here → LITTLE CROP OF HORRORS
It’s funny how Skeptics use every single one of these tropes against organic growing, but even they aren’t stupid enough to suggest that we teach children how to use pesticides. Leave that to the out-of-touch boomer of front groups, ACSH who have been mingling with Skeptics for many years.
So, what do scientists who study environmental exposures have to say about organic?
There is a lot of research showing that organic foods have lower pesticide residues overall, and though obviously lost on Skeptics, the purpose of the EWG Dirty Dozen list is to help people save money and reduce pesticide exposure by purchasing the top 12 highest residue foods organic. For those of us with a little privilege, our extra organic purchases help bring prices down into the same range as conventional produce. If you can’t buy or find all organic produce, you can grow your own, and/or soak those bad boys in water with baking soda for about 15 minutes to absorb some of the residue.
If you want to reduce the amount of pesticides in your diet, do the best you can within your means, and don’t get buried in the avalanche of myths meant to confuse people and absolve the agrochemical industry of the havoc conventional farming is wreaking on us and our planet.