Comments on: Milk Bags, Organic and Deposits

By: aphoenix

aphoenix — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:43:40 +0000

I think we agreed that we’re not most people. And I don’t think that everyone gets the same bottles that you get.

Yes, I’m sure it’s true that if we all acted like Kyle Mackie the world would be a better place. But… well, actually, there’s no but.

By: Kyle Mackie

Kyle Mackie — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:03:51 +0000

“Most people likely just throw all of their bags and bottles in the garbage, which makes them both roughly equally poor choices.” I don’t think so. The bottles I buy have a 2$ deposit on them.

By: aphoenix

aphoenix — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:16:00 +0000

If you define organic that way, you’re certainly correct. I defined it as “developing in a manner analogous to the natural growth” or “arising as a natural outgrowth” (both from Reference.com) which is, I think, a more colloquial definition.

And yes, I’ll admit that “more colloquial” usually means “less correct”. ;)

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:39:40 +0000

I’m not an expert on organic food classification, but from an organic chemistry perspective cyanide and gold are not organic.

Organic chemistry deals with hydrocarbons and gold contains, well, just gold (it’s an element itself). According to Wikipedia cyanide is actually a family of compounds that are defined by a carbon atom triple bonded to a nitrogen atom, most of which appear to be non-organic.

Cyanide and gold are both *naturally occurring*, which may be what you were getting at. Foods labeled as “all-natural” could very well contain cyanide. As a side note, anything labeled “chemical-free” is just lying to you. Pure water has a chemical formula and is therefore not chemical-free.

In any case your point is still valid. The organic food label isn’t terribly useful.