The Food Standards Agency's 'Organic Review' has made for some challenging headlines in recent few weeks, writes Seasoned Pioneer, Paul Hughes.

The research concluded that organic food is no more nutritious than food produced in any other system which, of course, has been jumped on by sceptics, despite the fact that the review said the essential components of organic food, for example protein, were greater.

But it's not just about nutrition! I have been involved in the organic food movement for more than 15 years with my wife Julia and so our 'organic story' is pertinent. Julia had a miscarriage and our grief prompted us to try to find out why. We read lots of articles which discussed the impact on our bodies of the chemicals that are routinely sprayed on food to help it grow, keep livestock in intensive systems healthy, or used in food processing and packaging, which are all known to affect fertility. We decided that the easiest way to reduce our intake of these chemicals was to eat organic food. We now have two lovely children and, while I can present no evidence that links these two facts, the more I understand about the impact of the chemical soup our bodies absorb, the more sure I am that they are linked.

The standards set for pesticide residues are established on adult body weights and based on a single chemical. Yet we now know that levels of chemical absorption many thousands of times lower can affect the development of a foetus. It is possible to work out the effect of a single chemical on the body - when you mix two chemicals it gets harder.

Mix up to 1000 that we are exposed to in different concentrations at different stages of our growth, from a few cells to aduthood, and we have no science to tell us the long-term effect.

It is estimated that there are more than 20,000 deaths a year related to pesticides - not in the UK, mainly in developing countries. The protective suits and masks and pressurised cabs on tractors (so that chemical sprays can't drift into the cab) may be recommended by the pesticide manufacturers and are common practice in our industialised farming systems, but on that small farm somewhere in Africa the same chemical is being applied with a hand-sprayer by a farmer wearing flip-flops, shorts and a T-shirt. I recall reading an article on pineapple production in South America ... once the rainforest has been cleared and burned the pineapples are planted by hand. In order to survive and to suit our demand for cheap fruit, they are dipped in a pesticide mix to protect them. The workers' hands absorb the chemicals leading to major health issues and, shockingly, their fingers almost rot through such direct contact.

One of the main values of the organic movement has been its practical illustration that it is possible to farm differently, sustainably, and respectfully to all involved in the process.

It is a critical counter arguement to the complacency of the industrial farming approach which has come to dominate food production, often only for short-term profit.