As a father, I find within me a deep, growing desire to teach, to provide for, and to protect my children. These instincts are in my marrow. For me, one way to do all three of these is to choose organic foods for my family. I now know this as a physician , but I first learned it as a father and a husband.
And that’s often the way it is. Medical textbooks don’t contain all the answers. Intuition and personal experiences often pave the way for later scientific understanding. Solid scientific evidence that the pesticide DDT was linked to the deaths of many babies didn’t turn up until almost thirty years after the pesticide had been banned in the United States1. Today there is a strong, growing body of science that is illuminating the benefits of growing crops organically. But these benefits were present before the research studies had been done. Similarly, DDT was dangerous before the landmark 2001 study.
I’m excited about sharing our increasing scientific knowledge with you. But wisdom is also important for parents . We make decisions about our own families every day. We can think for ourselves. We can balance wisdom and knowledge. We can apply common sense as we learn from the wisdom of our bodies and of the earth. And where we just don’t know the effects of new chemicals, we can proceed with precaution and protection for our children and their world.
I didn’t always feel this way…
More From Fathers for Organic:
Dr. Greene’s Organic Journey
Fathers for Organic – Part 1 of 7
Fathers for Organic – Part 2 of 7
Fathers for Organic – Part 3 of 7
Fathers for Organic – Part 4 of 7
Fathers for Organic – Part 5 of 7
Fathers for Organic – Part 6 of 7
Fathers for Organic – Part 7 of 7
1 Longnecker MP, Klebanoff MA, Zhou H, Brock JW. Association between maternal serum concentration of the DDT metabolite DDE and preterm and small-for-gestational-age babies at birth. Lancet 2001 358: 110-14.