Dear Editor,
Why do some people buy organic while other people don’t, especially when organic is more expensive? It’s because they believe that people should eat organic because it is better for their health. Most non-organic foods contain pesticides and can cause Failure to Thrive syndrome.
A pesticide is a chemical that is used to kill insects while also strengthening the plants. According to the EPA “Under the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), EPA must ensure that all pesticides used on food in the United States meet FQPA’s stringent safety standard.” This means that there is a possibility of a dangerous amount of pesticide in grown crops. EPA has to check how much pesticide is used, because pesticide is a chemical and can really harm someone.
Non-organic foods such as chips may contain grains that have had pesticide sprayed onto them. People are much more likely to get cancer if they eat food sprayed with pesticide.
Some farmers also spray their crops with insecticide, which is meant to kill insects. What would happen if someone was to ingest something that was meant to kill insects? It would cause many health problems, and increase the chance of cancer. For this reason, many people have switched to eating organic.
Failure to thrive syndrome is a medical condition in which an individual has insufficient weight gain or inappropriate weight loss. It is a term used both for children and adults. In 2016, a kidshealth.com article titled “Failure to Thrive” stated, “Many things can cause failure to thrive, including illnesses and eating problems.”
Non-organic foods have been proven to cause this condition, most likely because of the chemicals in the food. This condition can cause someone to be underweight or to not gain enough weight.
Although failure to thrive can be found in both children and adults, it mostly appears in children. When people eat organic, they have a much greater chance of avoiding Failure to Thrive syndrome.
Even though switching to organic costs more than staying non-organic, the health benefits are many. People should switch to organic because of all the chemicals that can be found in non-organic foods.
—Zydan Brooks
(Ed. note: The preceding letter was written for an assignment in Debb Proctor’s Freshmen English class. Please send any responses to this letter to *protected email*)