Why Hospitals Should Buy Organic Food

Hospitals are a vital partner in the movement to transition our national food chain to promote health of communities and stimulate regional food economies while protecting the health of our land, water and air.  Hospitals can pave the way for healthier food in other institutions, including schools, and inspire better eating habits for future generations.

Download PDF of "Why Hospitals Should Buy Organic Food"

Buying Organic…

Protects Children’s Health

• Although healthy adults may not be as susceptible to the harmful effects of pesticide residues in food, children and infants have a much lower tolerance level for these chemicals.¹ Side effects can include impaired neurodevelopment and growth.
• A 2006 University of Washington study found that pesticide levels in children’s urine dropped dramatically when the children were switched to an organic diet.²  An earlier study found that children consuming conventionally-raised produce and juice had pesticide levels six times higher than children consuming a 75% organic diet.³
• A 2005 American Red Cross study showed that pesticides can travel through umbilical blood in pregnant women, which may affect the developing fetus.⁴ Non-organic produce exposes the consumer to pesticides known to disrupt neurological development.
• Air monitoring stations near Yakima repeatedly recorded higher-than-allowed levels of chlorpyrifos—an insecticide known to be highly hazardous to children—near schools, day care centers, and homes.⁵

Protects Public Health

• Food grown outside the United States is not subject to the same scrutiny from the FDA and EPA as food grown domestically. These entities are unable to monitor pesticide use in other countries, and often don’t detect health threats until after the public has been exposed. However, production and handling of organic food grown abroad must be assessed by a USDA-approved certifying agent.⁶
• 70% of antibiotics consumed in the United States are administered for non-therapeutic use in animals, often as a feed additive for swine, poultry, and cattle.⁷ Inappropriate use of antibiotics leads to an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria in animals, which can be transferred to humans through consumption of contaminated meat products and eggs, or through consumption of cross-contaminated foods.⁸ Organic farms do not use non-therapeutic antibiotics.

Protects the Environment

• The Washington State Department of Ecology has identified fertilizers and pesticides from farms and gardens as a major contributor to state water pollution.⁹ 
• In the United States, our food travels an average of 1,500 miles to reach our plates. Buying local organic food is a simple and delicious way to offset the carbon footprint of hospital facilities.

1. Pesticides in the diets of infants and children.  1993.  National Research Council.  National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
2. Organic Diets Significantly Lower Children’s Dietary Exposure to Organophosphorous Pesticides. 2006 . Chensheng Lu, Kathryn Toepel, Rene Irish, Richard A. Fenske, Dana B. Barr, and Roberto Bravo. Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 114.
3. Organophosphorous Pesticide Exposure of Urban and Suburban Pre-school Children with Organic and Conventional Diets. 2003.  Cynthia Curl, Richard Fenske, Katherine Elgethun. Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 111.
4. Body Burden — The Pollution in Newborns. 2005. Environmental Working Group. Accessed at archive.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2.
5. Poisons on the Wind: Community Air Monitoring for Chlorpyrifos in the Yakima Valley.  2006. Carol Dansereau, Manuel Perez, Susan E. Kegley, Karl A. Tupper and Andrew Wang. Farm Worker Pesticide Project and Pesticide Action Network North America.
6. Imported Organic Agricultural Products.  United States Department of Agriculture.  Accessed at www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3018253&acct=nopgeninfo.
7. Hogging It: Estimates of Antimicrobial Abuse in Livestock.  2005.  Margaret Mellon, Charles Benbrook, Karen Lutz Benbrook. Union of Concerned Scientists.
8. Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work on the Farm.  Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  Accessed at www.cdc.gov/narms/gsf_spotlight/partner_packet.pdf.  
9. Washington Waters. Washington State Department of Ecology.  Accessed at www.ecy.wa.gov/washington_waters/index.html.