Food supply safer than ever

“A person with enough food has many problems. A person with no food has one problem.”

– Greek proverb

As memories of winter fade and growers throughout Maine begin another cycle of producing a diverse and abundant array of crops that will ultimately be consumed at home or in restaurants, many find themselves the targets of activists who question the safety of their agricultural practices.

It is ironic that the use of agricultural chemicals by growers is being challenged despite the fact that modern agricultural practices are yielding abundant supplies of inexpensive and nutritious food to feed our population. More importantly, improved diets are one of the contributing factors to declining mortality rates among young children and continued gains in longevity among our adult population.

Michael Cox and Richard Alm, two economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, make the case that the true test of an economic system is how productive it is with its resources and no resource is more precious than people’s time.

The majority of us aren’t born with big bank accounts, but we are born with time. Time is the real currency of life, and the value of our time – what we can acquire for its exchange – is our most important asset. Cox and Alm go on to point out that in calculating the cost of living in terms of time on the job, a good place to start is with the basics – food and shelter. For example, the cost in time of a half-gallon of milk fell from 39 minutes in 1919 to 16 minutes in 1950 to 10 minutes in 1975 to seven minutes in 1997. A sample of a dozen staples – a market basket big enough to provide three square meals a day – costs only 1.6 hours, down from 9.5 hours in 1919 and 3.5 hours in 1950.

Obviously, the less time we have to spend working for food, the more time we have available to invest in better housing, education, health care, consumer goods and leisure activities. It is no accident that the cost of food has declined so dramatically. It is quite simply, the judicious use of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides and modern agricultural practices that have yielded consistent gains in productivity and lower food costs at the grocery store.

More importantly, mortality rates have dropped for children ages 1 to 14 and young adults 15 to 26 years old. Further, life expectancies for adults have continued to increase. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that since 1940 life expectancy in the United States has increased from an average of 62.9 years to 76.9 years for both sexes and all races an improvement of 22 percent. There is no question that the decline in mortality rates and the increase in life expectancy are due to advances in medical care, but it is also clear that nutrition has improved with greater consumption of fruits and vegetables. It is difficult to make a case that our food supply is unsafe in the face of statistics that clearly indicate our population is living longer.

Those opposed to the use of agricultural chemicals in the production of our food supply argue that even the smallest trace of a chemical residue in our food supply is a health risk. This assertion ignores the fact that there are many chemicals that occur naturally in our food supply that are harmless in the quantities we consume.

Furthermore, the risks of trace chemicals are far outweighed by the health benefits that accrue from eating fruits and vegetables. Indeed, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences states “the mere presence of a trace amount of a pesticide does not mean that the product is unhealthy. On the contrary, eating a diet full of a variety of fruits, grains and vegetables has been shown to significantly decrease the risk of a variety of health problems from high blood pressure to cancer.”

Similarly, world-renowned cancer researcher, Dr. Bruce N. Ames, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California at Berkeley and a senior scientist at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, delights in telling people that pesticides prevent cancer. He points out that the use of pesticides increases the production of fruits and vegetables, which keeps the prices for those products down sufficiently for all of us to be able to afford them. The best way to prevent cancer, Ames believes, is to “eat your veggies.”

In fact, there is a long list of reputable organizations, including the American Medical Association, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Cancer Institute that have all stated that conventionally produced foods are not a health risk and that the only proven way to reduce the risk of cancer is to eat more fruits and vegetables. The National Cancer Institute states, “There is no scientific evidence that the ingestion of pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables causes cancer in humans.”

The American Dietetic Association reports that: “Good quality produce comes from a combination of several activities, soil, sun, water and proper care with pesticides. Fresh produce provides lots of vitamins, minerals, fiber and a good source of energy. Getting enough in children’s diets is an important part of their growth – worries about pesticides should not stand in the way.”

As Maine struggles with the high cost of medical insurance, agricultural practices have never surfaced as cost drivers – rather some of the primary cost drivers that have been identified in our state have been unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as smoking, and the high incidence of obesity. Dr. Dean Edell, a TV and radio medical consultant, has said that “There is one thing that you can do for your baby that would be the most important nutritional thing you can do – cram down their little faces as many different fruits and vegetables as you can.” It’s good, sound advice that applies for young and old alike.

Joe Lallande is president and chief executive officer of Maine Potato Growers Inc., an agricultural cooperative based in Presque Isle.