Some of these nutrients are extremely valuable to humans, such as the salicylic acid that can be found in tomatoes and is the same chemical found in aspirin (Worthington 990-991). Considering the benefits identified with aspirin use, who wouldn't rather get the same effects from a natural and pleasant tasting source instead of a bitter pill? Not only can organic produce provide valuable nutrients better than traditional produce, but the absence of pesticides and other chemicals used on conventional farms is also a boon to the consumer. Synthetic chemical pesticides and herbicides have a notorious history of being dangerous carcinogens. The highest death rates in the United States of certain cancers can be found in the rural farming areas of the country. Migrant workers have also demonstrated abnormally high rates of cancer that have been shown to be linked to herbicide and pesticide use (Steingraber 64). If these substances are causing cancer in the workers who toil on these conventional farmlands, why would it even be questioned whether there is an imminent danger present simply in eating the produce from these farms.

By choosing to go organic, the conscientious shopper will certainly bring home a better tasting product, but they will also bring home good, hearty food from a healthy, self-sustaining earth. The more consumers that support this movement, the more organic farming will grow and flourish, and when organic farming flourishes, the earth flourishes, as do the creatures that live on it.
Works Cited

United States Department of Agriculture. Organic Food Standards and Labels. Brochure.

Dauncey, Guy. "Ten Reasons Why Organic Food is Better." Common Ground, April 2002: 17-19.

Worthington, Virginia. "The Effects of Agricultural Method on Nutritional Quality."

Alternative Therapies, 1998:4.

Steingraber, Sander. Living Downstream: A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment. New York: Vintage, 1998.