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MILIBAND SAYS SOW!
SOUTH Tyneside MP David Miliband is at the centre of a storm after saying organic food isn't necessarily better for you.
The Environment Secretary described such produce as "a lifestyle choice", and insisted food grown with the use of pesticides and other chemicals should not be regarded as
second-best.
His comments will come as blow to the organic food industry, which is keen to obtain official recognition of the nutritional and environmental benefits of chemical-free farming.
Asked about the claimed benefits in a Sunday newspaper interview, Mr Miliband said: "It's a lifestyle choice that people can make. There isn't any conclusive evidence either way."
He added: "It's only four per cent of total farm produce, not 40 per cent, and I would not want to say that 96 per cent of our farm produce is inferior because it's not organic."
According to the Soil Association, sales of organic food increased by 30 per cent, to 1.6bn, in the UK last year.
It says organic food does not contain as many additives, has higher levels of vitamins and minerals and is better for the environment, causing lower pollution from sprays and producing less carbon dioxide and less dangerous wastes.
About 350 pesticides are allowed in conventional farming, and an estimated 4.5 billion litres of chemicals are used on British farms each year.
Mr Miliband came under fire from Bryan Atkinson, South Tyneside spokesman for Friends Of The Earth.
He said: "Whatever the evidence on health, the evidence on organic food being better for the environment is overwhelming.
"As Environment Secretary, I would have expected him to be concerned about that and to have flagged it up.
"There is certainly evidence that when farmland is converted to organic culture, biodiversity increases, it is good for the soil, and you don't have pesticides running off into rivers.
"The manufacture of agricultural chemicals also produces a large amount of greenhouse gases."
Mr Miliband's comments have split the farming world, with organic producers hitting back.
Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers' Union, said he had seen "no evidence" to prove organic food is healthier.
But Robin Maynard, campaigns director for the Soil Association, said: "It has been shown over the years that there is a difference between food produced organically and that produced using industrial methods."
By ANGELA TAGGART
angela.taggart@northeast-press.co.uk
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Weather for South Shields
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Heavy sleet
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