The great organic con trick

Interest groups claim that organic food is healthier and better for the environment, but many of such claims are myths.

• Myth No. 1: Organic food is healthier.

Actually, scientific studies show more health risks from organic food than conventional food. This month in California, for instance, Salmonella was found in organic fertilisers which could contaminate fruit and vegetables.

In 2003, Dutch scientists established that organic chickens and conventional birds had the same rate of infection with Salmonella even though many organic farmers vaccinate their chickens against the bug. In 2006, other Dutch scientists found that as many as three-quarters of organic chickens were infected with parasites.

Organic manure can also carry the dangerous bacteria Campylobacter which causes stomach infections, vomiting and diarrhoea. The Danish National Veterinary Laboratory found Campylobacter in 100 per cent of organic chicken flocks but only

36.7 per cent of conventional chicken flocks.

Organic and free-range poultry are more likely to be exposed to bird-flu, so the government now allows organic chickens to be kept indoors.

• Myth No. 2: Organic farming is good for the environment.

In Britain, the yield of wheat from organic farms is only half that from conventional farms. If all our food was organic, we would have to grub up hedgerows and cut down forests just to produce enough food. We would use twice the water, do at least twice the ploughing ­ and use twice the amount of petrol and diesel.

Two organically raised cows burp the same amount of methane as three conventionally fed cows and methane is 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than CO2.

Most modern pesticides are biodegradable, but 'natural' pesticides, like copper, stay in the soil forever.

• Myth No. 3: Organic farmers don't use pesticides.

The Canadian Food Safety Agency found pesticide residues in as many organic baby foods as conventional baby food and