Saturday, January 26, 2013

Food vs Death

Food should nourish the body, please the palate, and satisfy the soul.  When I was a kid, growing up in Phoenix, food did just that.  We ate some crappy stuff, beef at every meal, white bread, white rice, canned vegetables, fruit on occasion, and lots of cakes and pies.  And of course bacon and eggs for breakfast most every day.  No wonder I grew up looking more like a pear than a human.  But back in those days, the food we ate, didn't cause cancer, ALS symptoms, degenerative disorders and death.  Well, maybe, high cholesterol and heart disease, but certainly not the troubles that food today does. 

The top two crops in America today are corn and soy.  From those two we get High Fructose Corn Syrup and hydrogenated soy oil.  A large percentage of those crops go into those two specific items.  Both are in MOST processed foods, and are heavily used in the fast food industry.  McDonalds fries are bathed in HFCS so that they taste sweeter and brown better.  Most infant formulas contain the equivalent amount of HFCS as is in a can of Coke.  Both of these crops are liberally doused with glyphosate, Roundup.  Monsanto, the company that developed glyphosate has steadfastly continued to market this stuff as biodegradable and as safe as water for the environment.  At least until just recently, they can no longer legally claim that.  And research is linking overuse of glyphosate to HUGE problems in the environment, including crop die-off, loss of soil fertility, and development of superweeds.  There are regulated safe levels of residual glyphosate, pesticides and other toxins for the foods we eat.  That in itself should scare you.  Do they test all the food grown, or just hope the farmers are adhering to the guidelines and not trying to save their crops by spraying ever more poisons on them to stave off weeds and bugs?

According to a study by the EWG, blood samples from newborns contained an average of 287 toxins, including mercury, fire retardants, pesticides, and chemicals from non stick products. Of the 287 chemicals EWG detected in umbilical cord blood, it’s known that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals; 217 are toxic to your brain and nervous system; and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. Clearly, when babies are born loaded with toxins in their blood, it’s a sign that toxic exposure is too high.

Since the mid-90's, the number of Americans suffering from at least three chronic diseases has nearly doubled.  Our life expectancy has dropped, and sadly, infant mortality has increase.  Diseases that once were rare are now commonplace and are approaching epidemic levels.
1.  Autism now affects one in 88 children, compared to one in 25,000 in 1970,  CDC figures
2.  Type 2 diabetes in the Us increased by 176% between 1980 and 2010
3   Alzheimer's is rising at alarming rates.  It's estimated that 5.4 million older Americans now has it.  AD raes have DOUBLED since 1980
4.  Infectious diseases caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria now may cause as many as 105,000 deaths each year.  With most of those infections having been contracted in hospitals.  CDC estimate 

I write about this stuff here on my blog all the time. Some things are changing.  The Germans banned GM plants from their country until further environmental and health studies are done.  India has banned anymore GM crops.  France is trying to get a TOTAL ban on glyphosate use in their country.  Peru has banned ALL GM plants.  Five states now have bills in the works to requite labeling of all GM foods sold in in their states.  Maybe someday in the future, food will be better, maybe.  I sure hope so, for your children's health, and their children's, and theirs as well.

You can help, buy organic.  When at the local Safeway or wherever you shop, ask the produce manager if the zuchini are Genetically Modified or not.  Refuse to buy them if they don't know.  And do it loudly.  Get noticed, raise a stink, demand healthy food.  It's your life, and death. 

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