Organic food has risen to become a major market over the past
quarter century. According to industry-standard surveys
completed by the Organic Trade Association, 2008 organic food
sales in the U.S. totaled nearly $23 billion. Although this
accounts for only 3.5 percent of all U.S. food sales, it was a
15.8 percent increase from 2007, while the entire U.S. food
sales averaged only a 4.9 percent increase. Supporters say there
are two major benefits to eating organic food. First, it's a
socially and environmentally-conscious choice: Organic food
supports sustainable agriculture rather than destroying the land
and contaminating the environment, and it often better supports
smaller local growers. Second, it's healthier to eat products
that do not have toxins in them than to eat those that do. In
the scientific community, synthetic pesticides, herbicides and
hormones are highly suspected of or have proven to be
contributors to many illnesses. Researchers at the Harvard
School of Public Health found that "individual