Raziq's+Pet+Peeve+on+Organic+Foods!

Chomp! The succulent, juicy flesh of a ripe, red-delicious apple releases its sweet scents as you chew on the firm, nutritious fibers. The only thing your senses perceive is apple, apple, and //more// apple, nothing else. Isn't that all you really want from your produce? Then why doesn't everyone just stick to nature's best: organic food? I was just quietly walking through the vast produce section of Stop'n'Shop while my mother hunted for items elsewhere in the supermarket. I passed by the fungi and noticed a petite packet of chewy portobello mushrooms when on the bottom of the label, in fine print, I spotted the words, "Treated with pesticides." Wo-wo-wo-woah! Pesticides? They are going to put potentially poisonous chemicals - ones that //could// kill people - just to kill a few insects??? Are there really //that// many pests munching on your produce? If so, there is something called "hot water" that is used, to great success, in killing bugs. Perhaps you could use natural predators (like those little ladybugs), I mean, anything but **//__PESTICIDES!!__//** Consider what happens if these chemicals //aren't// washed off properly.Yeah, doesn't sound so silly anymore does it if someone can get poisoned. And by the way, dangerous acids aren't the only problem with non-organic products. There's another thing organics are protected from, and that's the useless tampering with their little DNA. Yes, I am talking about genetic engineering. Did you know that millions of dollars are being spent //just// to add a bit more calcium to carrots. Yes, I am serious, they actually wasted their time doing that! What's the point? Instead of bothering to add calcium to a __root vegetable__, can't they just do something sensible like promote milk? They have calcium too! And has anyone ever considered the risks to GE foods. For example, what if the "super-crop" escapes the lab and starts growing in the real world? Then it would start growing **everywhere!** This could affect food chains, especially if the plant is designed to exterminate its predators. Then those predators would die off and the animals that ate those predators would suffer too! Even worse is that this is already happening! In Mexico, a place that had sensibly banned genetic engineering years ago, there were still traces of GE maize existing! And the evil part about this is that when people try to kill off these super-plants, they end up helping them spread farther by allowing the seeds to attach to their clothes. Also, what if the people mess up when tinkering with the cells? Suppose instead of rendering a plant safe to eat, we accidentally make it //more// poisonous! Don't get me started on the repercussions. Therefore, genetic engineering and pesticide use are both unnecessary, money-wasting, and even dangerous! The risks very much outweigh any ounce of benefit that could be extracted. You see, the main idea is that if you don't like it, leave it alone!

Dear Manager; I would like to start off by thanking you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read my letter. You have done an admirable job running the Pathmark store; I shop there with my parents. However, there is just 1 issue that I feel must get immediate attention. As I have walked through the produce section of the shop, I have always noticed an unfortunate excess of conventionally-grown goods. Every visit, I hope for some organic products to be available for purchase, but alas, my wish has never happened. This is why I would like to advise you to consider supplying Pathmark with some organic products, or to at least present this idea to the Pathmark company. I feel that by doing so, Pathmark will have an improved reputation, will keep up with growing demands, and will give customers the satisfaction that their food is of the highest quality. One of the main concerns arose after reading about this somber occurrence: just a month ago, a local supermarket chain has been discovered selling products with a surfeit of harmful chemicals. Some of the chemicals found was the paralyzing poison pyrethoid as well as several POPs like aldrin, which is extremely dangerous. As a result, the store experienced sudden profit decreases of up to 20%, which is a lot! There are still stores of the chain that have yet to see sales go back to normal. The shops were sadly not the only ones affected by the pesticides. Before this problem was notified, people were actually buying the polluted merchandise without knowing what dangers were abound! In fact, just because of endrin poisoning in //__one__ sugarcane juice brand, 20 expectant women died after consuming the drink; many more experienced horrid side-effects. After that, most of the "regularly-coming" shoppers started to appear less often. Their trust in the chain lessened, and so did the money they gave them. If by now, you feel that this is too unbelievable to ever possibly happen to you, perhaps you should study your sales statistics. Noticed an overall decrease since previous years? At least you aren't the only one with this "curse"; four other major supermarket chains are in this same situation. On the other hand, stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's have had a 10% rise in their revenues, and it keeps going up! If you are still puzzled why this is so, it's because those stores with the raised incomes are selling organic foods. That's right, more and more people are preferring the naturally-grown produce to the regular fruits and vegetables. When you think about it, is there not a good reason to switch to the agrarian goods? Your consumers are struggling to find the best produce possible, and your store is entering the shadow of its profits. It might seem to expensive in the beginning, but isn't it worth the welfare of your customers, especially when you will end up getting more money back? Stop taking chances, capture those benefits, and switch to organic foods; the future depends on it!

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