AGRICULTURE REPORT - Chemicals on Organic Food

AGRICULTURE REPORT
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July 30, 2002: Chemicals on Organic Food

By George Grow

(Photo -Scott Bauer)
This is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT.

Farmers who grow organic food do not use chemicals to increase their crops or control insects and disease.
However, a new study shows that chemicals can still be found on organically grown food. The study showed that
organic crops had far fewer chemicals than other fruits and vegetables. The publication Food Additives¹ and
Contaminants reported the findings.

Organic food is one of the fastest growing areas in American agriculture. Industry officials
estimate that American stores sold almost eight-thousand-million dollars worth of such
food in the year two-thousand. That is a twenty-percent increase in sales from the year
before.

Many Americans believe that eating organic food is more healthful than eating food grown
with chemicals. Some people are willing to pay more for such food. Yet several reports
claim that some organic foods have just as many chemicals as other crops.

Scientists with the American group Consumers Union supervised² the new study.
Consumers Union publishes Consumer Reports magazine.

The scientists collected and examined information from three earlier reports on chemicals in the American food
supply. Consumers Union, the United States Department of Agriculture and the state of California prepared the
earlier reports. The combined reports studied more than twenty different crops and more than ninety-fourthousand
fruits and vegetables.

The scientists found that chemical pesticides³ to kill insects were present on almost twenty-five percent of the
organic fruits and vegetables. The chemicals also were found on almost seventy-five percent of other crops.

Two of the reports included foods that were not organically grown. They were grown with reduced use of
chemicals. Foods in this group had chemical levels between those for organic and traditional crops.

The scientists also examined why organic foods contain any chemicals at all. They found that most of the
chemicals in organic foods were unavoidable results of earlier chemical use in the environment. They say other
chemicals may have been blown onto the organic fields from nearby farms. They also say some of the food tested
may have been sold as organic although it was not organically grown.

This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by George Grow.

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1 additives   

n.添加剂( additive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• chemical additives in petrol 汽油中的化学添加剂
• It'says on the packet that these crisps contain no additives. 包装上说这些炸薯片不含添加剂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 supervised   

v.监督，管理( supervise的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The architect supervised the building of the house. 建筑工程师监督房子的施工。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He supervised and trained more than 400 volunteers. 他指导和培训了400多名志愿者。 来自辞典例句

3 pesticides   

n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物

参考例句：

• vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
• There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》