Randy and all:
I just get the digest, so I'm sometimes slow to respond... but I  
couldn't pass up this one!

I couldn't even read though the whole post. Suffice it to day, it's  
complete gibberish. The author has taken random bits of scientific  
literature out of context and strung it together to write something  
that is scientifically incomprehensible. The endogenous defense  
"toxins" he's referring to are, for the most part, polyphenolic  
compounds like quercetin, rutin, & resveratrol - in other words, the  
things that most food chemists call antioxidant, cancer  
chemopreventative compounds. Resveratrol is a great example: it is a  
phytoalexin, produced in high quantities by a plant in reaction to  
pathogenic attack. It's also the compound in red wine that may  
protect you from cancer and heart disease.

Good to question, sure, but this guy is way off-base. There is some  
literature that suggests that organics, due to increased pest  
pressure, produce more of these "endogenous defense toxins," to which  
I say "Great!" Keep growing your vegetable organically! You are  
definitely not poisoning yourself!

Kurt


Kurt Allerslev Reynertson, Ph.D.
Department of Pharmacology
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
1300 York Avenue, Box 70, E-405
New York NY 10021
(212) 746 6262
(212) 746 8835 fax



On Dec 8, 2010, at 12:01 AM, BEE-L automatic digest system wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I recently was sent the following link.  As a long-term organic  
> gardener, I
> now question whether I've been pulling the wool over my own eyes!
> Waldemar is gonna hate this; Paul's gonna love it!  No telling  
> where Bob is
> going to weigh in  : )
>
> http://www.gaiaresearch.co.za/organics.html


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