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Why the debate over organic food is redundant

By Jim Giles

5 August 2009

MOST shoppers know the feeling. You stand in front of piles of organic produce and wonder what those premium prices are buying you over and above what you get from standard foods. Not a lot nutrition-wise, it seems. Organic farming may not even be more sustainable. But could the whole debate about organic versus non-organic be missing the point?

Understanding nutrition is, of course, vital when it comes to choosing food. In a report published last week, a team from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine examined 162 papers that compared organic and conventionally produced food. They concluded…

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