Alan Greene, M.D., is a beloved practicing pediatrician, leading authority, and spokesperson for the green baby movement. Named "the Children's Health Hero of the Internet" by Intel, Dr. Greene teaches at Stanford University School of Medicine.
As Past President of The Organic Center, founding partner of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment and an Advisory Board member of Healthy Child Healthy World, Dr. Greene has an impressively green resume – and a wonderfully down-to-earth perspective. That could be because he has four children himself.
"In my job as a pediatrician at Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University School of Medicine over the last ten years, I've seen how clinical experience, science, research, and technology have increased the choices that doctors and parents can make," says Dr. Greene. "But there’s also an important new set of choices parents can make that can have a beneficial impact on the environment."
Almost the entire soy crop in the United States is crushed to make soybean oil and meal. Only a tiny proportion is consumed as whole soybean products. Soybean oil, in contrast, is huge,accounting for about two-thirds of all vegetable oils consumed in the United States.2 You’ll find it in all kinds of infant and toddler foods—teething biscuits, baby pasta, arrowroot cookies, vegetable puff finger foods, and those ubiquitous little crackers moms carry with their strollers. And when you think trans fats, think partially hydrogenated soybean oil.
More than seventy-two million U.S. acres are planted in soy. Soybean pesticide use in the United States ranks second only to the rate of use for corn.3 In recent years, soy has been the domestic crop found most contaminated with organophosphate pesticides.4 Beyond this, soy leads the way in genetic modification: 87 percent of the soy planted in the United States, about sixty-two million acres, is genetically modified (GM).5 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in its report on the first decade of GM foods, observes that most U.S. consumers have concerns about GM foods but routinely eat them “largely unaware” that they are doing so. This contrasts starkly with the European Union and Japan, where consumer preference has largely eliminated GM ingredients from store shelves.6
Because labeling regulations do not require companies to specify whether or not their products contain GM ingredients, it can be difficult to know for sure what you are getting—particularly considering that soy is an ingredient in so many processed foods. Choosing organic is one way to be sure you are not choosing foods grown from GM seeds.
Less than 0.17 percent of our massive soy crop is organic. We need to make a dent. Let’s start by choosing exclusively organic soy for our babies. If soy or an unidentified vegetable oil or protein is on the ingredient level, either choose a different food or go with the organic version.
3. Organic baby cereal.
Suppose a baby has begun to show interest and excitement while watching her parents eat. Her parents decide that today is the day. For some it is a bittersweet day—she is growing so fast! Before today, all of her nutrition may have come directly from her mother. Doting parents mix the cereal and grab the camera. ....read more
REFERENCES : 1. Jacobson, M. F. Six Arguments for a Greener Diet. Washington, D.C.: Center for Science in the Public Interest, 2006, p. 11.
2. Ash, M., Livezey, J., and Dohlman, E. Soybean Backgrounder. Outlook Report No. OCS-200601. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. www.ers.usda.gov/publications/OCS/apr06/OCS 200601. Apr. 2006.
4. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Pesticide Data Program. Annual Summary Calendar Year 2005. www.ams.usda.gov/Science/pdp/Summary2005.pdf. Nov. 2006. (This summary reports that 14.5 percent of soybeans had residues of chlorpyrifos.)
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Pesticide Data Program. Annual Summary Calendar Year 2004. www.ams.usda.gov/Science/pdp/Summary2004.pdf. Feb. 2006. (This summary reports that 28.9 percent of soybeans were contaminated with chlorpyrifos.)
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. “Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S.” www.ers.usda.gov/Data/biotechcrops . July 14, 2006.
Fernandez-Cornejo, J., and Caswell, M. The First Decade of Genetically Engineered Crops in the United States. USDA Economic Information Bulletin No. 11. www.ers.usda.gov/publications/EIB11 . Apr. 2006.
6. Fernandez-Cornejo and Caswell, 2006.
7. Mendoza, T. C. “Evaluating the Benefits of Organic Farming in Rice Agroecosystems in Philippines.” Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 2004, 24(2), pp. 93–115.
8. Davis, D., Epp, M., and Riordan, H. “Changes in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950 to 1999.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2004, 23(6), pp. 669–682.
10. Plazier, J. C. “Feeding Forage to Prevent Rumen Acidosis in Cattle.” University of Manitoba, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences. www.umanitoba.ca/afs/fiw/020704.html . July 4, 2002.
11. Diez-Gonzalez, F., and others. “Grain Feeding and the Dissemination of Acid-Resistant Escherichia Coli from Cattle.” Science, 1998, 281, pp. 1666–1668.
Russell, J. B., Diez-Gonzalez, F., and Jarvis, G. N. “Potential Effects of Cattle Diets on the Transmission of Pathogenic Escherichia Coli to Humans.” Microbes and Infection, 2000, 2, pp. 45–53.
12. Rule, D. C., and others. “Comparison of Muscle Fatty Acid Profiles and Cholesterol Concentrations of Bison, Beef Cattle, Elk, and Chicken.” Journal of Animal Science, 2002, 80, pp. 1202–1211.
13. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Briefing Rooms: Corn. www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Corn . Apr. 20, 2006.
14. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 2007.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. “U.S. Consumption of Plant Nutrients.” [Table.] www.ers.usda.gov/Data/FertilizerUse/Tables/Table1.xls . (Table indicates that total U.S. 2005 fertilizer use was 22,146,200 tons, or 44.3 billion pounds.)
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. “Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S.” www.ers.usda.gov/Data/biotechcrops . July 14, 2006.
“Hypoxia, the Gulf of Mexico’s Summertime Foe.” Watermarks, Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration News, Sept. 2004, pp. 3–5. www.lacoast.gov/watermarks/2004-09/water marks-2004-10.pdf.
Berman, J. R., Arrigo, K. R., and Matson, P. A. “Agricultural Runoff Fuels Large Phytoplankton Blooms in Vulnerable Areas of the Ocean.” Nature, 2005, 434, pp. 211–214.
Raising Baby Green: The Earth Friendly Guide to pregnancy, Childbirth, Baby Care by Alan Greene, M.D
Share This Article
