Charles Benbrook wrote:
> The following post appeared today on Prakash's pro-biotech list,
> AgBioView. It is from a man who works the junk-science issue hard and
> supports
> industry; works for the Competitive Enterprise Institute; he actually
> criticisms the Avery's grasp of statistics. But the telling part is in the
> first paragraph.
>
Is this another "conservative research organization" like the Hudson Institute?
>
> In the message he says that he "hopes very badly" that the Avery
> organic
> farming -E:coil hypothersis is proven valid. What is this debate doing to
> people?
>
I think Douglas and Chuck are both right. The debate is affected by people
that can (and do) speak out on this issue, however, the vast majority of people
(those that believe everything on the news, and trust the journalists to be
unbiased i.e. John Stossel) are affected by the debate!
> In 1998, you examined outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 infections reported to
> CDC in 1996 (the most recent year for which data were then available). In
> that year, CDC received reports of 29 outbreaks of E. coli 0157:H7
> infections, with 488 total cases. Of these, 10 outbreaks and 167 total
> cases could clearly be attributed to food products. And of these foodborne
> illnesses, only 2 outbreaks and 118 total cases could clearly be
> attributed to organic/natural foods. The first of these outbreaks (47
> cases in the US states of Connecticut and Illinois) was attributed to
> organically-grown lettuce. The second outbreak (71 cases in California,
> Colorado, and Washington state) was attributed to unpasteurized apple
> juice from the Odwalla juice company. And while Odwalla does not advertise
> its juices specifically as organic, the company, its advertising, and its
> products certainly can be said to represent the organic "sensibility."
<snip>
by the way, 2/3 (19 of 29) of the E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks shown above were
_not_ food-related. Many of these outbreaks (I'm not quite as familiar with
these cases as food-related. that's my caveat) were, I believe, either pool or
daycare related. Chlorination (or the lack thereof) is the culprit in pools
and "Kiddy pools," but you never hear Alex or Dennis blasting pools and water
parks for being cesspools of E. coli. I guess the chlorine industry doesn't
pay into their PR war chest. The infant daycare is another place i've heard
can be an outbreak source. All it takes is one bad diaper. . .
Well, that's my $0.02. . . Russ
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