Both @pennjillette and @mrteller tweeted links to articles about organic food in preparation for their Showtime show Bullshit! on the subject airing this Thursday. Having not yet seen the show but having read the article and seen both halves of the comedy/magic duo (great entertainers; their show is a Vegas highlight) refer to the article and study as ammunition in the case against organic food, I think I have enough an idea as to its contents.
If, as they claim, the study that shows organic food is no more nutritious than its conventional counterpart is evidence that organic food is bullshit, then the skeptical pair are arguing against a straw man. The impetus to consume organic foods is not a question of nutrition — not to me nor to anyone with whom I’ve held a useful conversation on the topic. I fully expect conventional foods and organic foods to be nutritionally equivalent; it’s the same food. I expect conventional fruits and vegetables to be larger and heavier than the organics because of the extra water weight; I expect my grass-fed beef to have the same proteins and fats as the factory animals. So why does a study that acknowleges these facts show that organic food is bullshit? Because P&T want it to. Not only is there a straw man here (“People eat organic because they expect a more nutritious food”) but confirmation bias and question-begging is at work (“I believe organic food is bullshit because I hate hippies, and here’s a study that supports my position, and I will ignore the arguments to the contrary”).
P&T have a history of including factually incorrect or politically-motivated stuff in their Bullshit show (the episodes about global warming that refer authoritatively to the “global cooling” scare of the 70s; disability legislation; second-hand smoking; recycling). In these shows P&T pull a fast one on the viewer, which is fun to watch but doesn’t provide much in the way of insight or argument. I get it; they’re Libertarians — and since they hate anything that smacks of governmental intervention, those subjects are going to get the bullshit Bullshit! treatment.
Regardless: the people I know prefer organic foods for every reason *except* nutrition: lack of chemical pesticides; local growers; cheaper prices (yes, sometimes. Conventional foods are larger on average — you can’t compare straight price per pound); etc. Calling a study that dispels a myth that we should expect to find a more nutritious food confirmation that the entire industry is bullshit is itself bullshit.
Of course I’ll watch the show and consider their other arguments against organic food, but I can predict some of them, including: the higher prices, which are probably sin-taxes on the eco-guilty; that “organic” doesn’t mean much without governmental standards (which the pair hate) or is defined too vaguely to be of use in the market; the fact that fertilizers are in fact used on organic produce; etc.
P&T try hard to be good skeptics in the manner of Houdini and their other heros, but sometimes they miss the mark. This is probably one of those times.
