The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is calling on the US Government to revise national dietary guidelines to encourage people seeking to minimize their exposure to toxic chemicals to choose organic.

The call comes just weeks after a report from the influential President’s Cancer Panel said that eating foods grown without pesticides was one practical way to reduce environmental cancer risk. The report added that exposure to antibiotics and growth hormones could be similarly “minimized by eating free-range meat raised without these medications.”

At a hearing conducted by the Advisory Committee preparing the latest version of Dietary Guidelines for Americans, OTA’s executive director and CEO Christine Bushway criticized the draft guidelines for stating that conventional and organic food were similar in terms of their contribution to health.

Bushway said: “These conclusions are neither grounded in current science nor relevant to the mandate of the Dietary Guidelines.” She added that the draft guidelines were also “in direct conflict” with the advice of the President’s Cancer Panel.

“It is inconceivable and alarming that the very document that is the under pinning of our nation’s policies regarding food and nutrition would include a statement that directly contradicts these recommendations and certainly does not meet the stated goals of the committee to speak with ‘one nutrition voice’. As released, the guidelines confuse the consumer, contradict the President’s own Cancer Panel, and do not enhance dietary recommendations,”

The OTA has asked for the guidelines to be revised to reflect the conclusions of the President’s Cancer Panel, which is made up of many of America’s top cancer experts.