Is organic always worth the extra price? What about raw milk?

[housewolf]

I came across an article from Dr Mercola today discussing whether organic is always better than non-organic. Here's his take on the matter:

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I do agree with the contention that some organic foods are rip-offs, when their conventional counterparts are already grown using low amounts of pesticides and the food in question must be peeled anyway, such as bananas.

The Environmental Working Group is a reliable source when trying to decide on what to buy organic. According to their latest 2010 pesticide review, the following 12 foods rank as the most pesticide-free produce, even when conventionally-grown, so you can save a few bucks by opting for the conventionally-grown version of these:

Onions Avocados Watermelon
Pineapple Mango Frozen sweet peas
Asparagus Kiwi Cabbage
Eggplant Cantaloupe

Frozen sweet corn was on the list above but I've removed it to avoid confusion. I do NOT recommend consuming non-organic corn and even organic corn should be consumed sparingly.

The foods you want to splurge on by buying organic are foods that have permeable or edible skins, and/or that are conventionally grown with higher amounts of pesticides. Based on the EWG's report, the top 12 foods to buy organic include:

Grapes Potatoes Kale / Collard greens
Cherries Spinach Sweet bell peppers
Nectarines Blueberries Apples
Strawberries Peaches Celery

For the whole list of produce, ranked from best to worst in terms of pesticide load, please see the EWG's listing - http://www.foodnews.org/fulllist.php

Another major organic rip-off is organic milk. Because while organic milk must come from a cow that hasn't been fed artificial growth hormones or pesticide-laden feed, they're not necessarily pastured, or grass-fed cows. And worst of all organic milk (unless RAW) is still pasteurized, which destroys vital nutrients.

So, just because it's organic, doesn't mean it's worth a much higher price.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011...
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If you are a strict organic purchaser, what's your opinion on this?

Are you a strict organic-only purchaser, a "I don't care whether it's organic or not" purchaser, a "I don't buy organic because it's too expensive" purchaser, or something else? I've been in the "don't buy organic" and "don't care" categories but am now trying to optimize my nutrition so I'm looking at organics more and more. Maybe I'll set up a poll on this question, 'cause I'm curious...


I'm on a couple of lists, one for blenderized diet users where most of the folks are parents of infants young children who can't swallow, and several kefir-making groups. On both groups, the folks talk a lot about organic and raw milk, both cow's milk and goat milk. Since my granddad was a dairy-man, and my mom had a terrible fear of unpasteurized milk illness - she called it "milk fever", if I remember correctly raw milk is something I never even considered for myself. But all of a sudden I'm finding loads of people and references who say that it's healthy and wonderfully delicious. While it's illegal to sell it commercially in most states, in many states it can be purchased individually at local dairies or on a "cow share" basis. Hmmmmmm....

Is anyone here a user of raw milk? What have your experiences been?