Can You Grow Organic Food in a Polluted Region?
OCTOBER 12, 2007 - From Colleen in Sarnia, ON:
Question about buying local food. Sarnia, Ontario, was just found to be the most polluted city in Canada by one study group. We have the chemical valley as our sustenance and are across the river from Michigan where coal plants, etc. also abound. Are there any studies about produce produced in polluted areas containing a greater percentage of “harmful ingredients” in comparison to a city where pollution levels are low ?
An interesting question, isn’t it? I didn’t have any studies at hand on the subject, and I did a little searching but came up with…nothing. So I wanted to throw this question out to the wider world in the hopes that someone has the answer - in the form of a study - and can let us all know. Colleen’s question makes me think that air pollution must result in quite different amounts of food residue in different places. In fact, it begs the question: Should some areas be forbidden from organic certification because of the amount and type of industrial pollution in the area? Now there would be an incentive for rapid change in the many “chemical valleys” out there today… -JBM
