The gods at the AMA have created a brand new disease.

The previous post was just for fun, although it did highlight some very serious problems here in America.  But then I think most people out there would agree that there are a lot of VERY serious problems here.  And who actually destroyed the world trade center is only part of them. Conspiracies all seem to come down to one fundamental thing, money.  Whether the conspiracy is about killing a sitting president, blowing up records and covering up secret stock transactions within offices in the twin towers, or taking bribes so that businesses can add chronic toxic substances to our processed foods so the manufacturers can make more money; it is indeed, all about money. 

In June of this year, the American Medical Association, the AMA, announced, sorry, PROCLAIMED that the world will be a better place because they in their infinite wisdom and payoffs from special interests, have decided that obesity is not a disorder, but is an actual disease.  When I tell people this, most of them look at me and shrug, what's the difference?  Actually there is a huge world of difference.  If obesity is a disorder, than that is a result of personal choices, diet, exercise and lifestyle.  If it is a disease, then everything changes.  The obese ones are not responsible for their predicament, they have a disease.  Things change, the insurance companies must now pay for treatments for obesity.  Drugs are being developed by our good friends in the pharmaceutical industry that will actually "CURE" obesity.  And as I talked about this on September 11, (a big coincidence) that big food manufacturers are doing research on processed foods that will cure certain diseases. (Big Pharma and Big Food) 

Health care costs are about to take a serous jump.  Not only will all Americans have to pay for Obamacare, the needs of an exploding population that are retiring, the health care of people exposed to chronic toxins in everything from vaccines to Coke, a huge population of undocumented aliens and NOW, we will have to pay for medicines and food for the huge percentage of people that are morbidly obese.  They have a disease, obesity.  And the all knowing, AMA, has decreed that their industry, the very same industry that is the absolute NUMBER ONE cause of death in America today, the "Medical Profession" can take insurance money to cure them.  (Number one)

I have already talked about the food industry getting into the act and researching how to make money, sorry, how to make foods, again, fake manufactured foods, that they will be able to market as cures for diseases.  And with obesity now a disease, they will be able to make foods to cure being fat.  And insurance will pay for it.  Big Pharma has begun the fat pill parade with one new drug, Belviq.  This is marketed as a cure-all for those with high BMI readings.  It is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.  This is very similar to a class of drugs called antidepressants.  A whole class of drugs that have HUGE numbers of side effects from stroke, heart attack, heart valve deterioration, increased incidence of suicide and weight loss.  Yikes, seems like the big Pharma people found a way to market side effects.  No one wants the crappy ones like dying, but they can sure as hell market the weight loss ones.  Screw the others, that's what the fast talking guy tells us on the TV commercials that no one cares about. 

Again, a conspiracy.  A rather thinly veiled one, I think most people will see that the reality is that all of us control our own destinies.  We eat what we want, do nothing as we want, and the consequences of obesity are ours as a product of our choices.  The AMA does in fact derive a huge amount of its operating budget from the pharmaceutical industry.  The proclamation that obesity is now a disease in fact helps everyone make more money.  No one will make money if the population of obese people take responsibility for their disorder and change their lifestyles and dietary habits.  In fact, just such a thing would have a horrific effect on our economy.  Large food manufacturers would find that their toxic chemical laden foods would have no buyers, soda would sit on store shelves and no one would buy it, artificial chemical food additive companies would be laying off employees and giant agribusiness farms would sit idle as no buyers for their toxic GM crops could be found.  Monsanto would go bankrupt.  Workers in all aspects of the economy would be unemployed.  Well, except the ones in the organic food industry.  They would be going gangbusters. 

A pretty fair outlook it seems to me.  But it won't happen, being fat means you are diseased.

It's that time of year again, FLU season, when Big PHARMA rakes in billions and kills a couple of hundred people off.

I love living in Arizona, it really is a beautiful place to live.  Right now, in the high 60's at night, and maybe 90 during the day.  Rains are over, and it isn't like the rest of the country, we pretty much are assured that it won't rain again until late January.  Beautiful sunsets, mild temperatures, and the oppressive threat of the transient population of snowbirds bringing to the Valley of the Sun their particular brands of infectious diseases again.  I remember when the population of Phoenix was just at 100K.  And the whole valley was at 170K.  Now 4.3 million people live here, and in the winter, estimates go up to over 6 million.  And the resulting air pollution just helps to increase the likelihood of everyone's favorite diseases, the flu, bronchitis and pneumonia.

Each year the pharmaceutical industry readies itself for this onslaught against the health of the populace by guessing as to which of the multitudes of specific flu viruses might possibly be the predominating infectious agents and concocting a soup of three or four strains.  Out of the known three hundred and six strains, to use only three or four makes a lot of sense.  It is a calculated assessment they claim.  Then they pack the serums of dead viruses with the finest mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde and believe it or not, MSG.  All of which are known neurotoxins.  However, fear not, Big Pharma tells us they are harmless.  Just like my ex-wife demanding that I accept every single thing she proclaimed as the gospel truth; so does big pharma and therefore vaccines are harmless as well.  We have been told they were safe by the companies that sell over 50 billion dollars a year in just vaccines. 

In 2010 more people died from complications and side effects of flu vaccines than died of influenza infection. In Europe.  America doesn't really release those numbers. 

But fear not, the BIG PHARMA industry has something for you should get the flu even after getting their flu vaccine.  Which is probable, since the effectiveness of flu vaccines are rated at best to be just at,..... well, that one is hard to say.  The CDC people don't give a specific number, they hide it in some bizarre scientific gobledy goop crap with measurements of their "Single point interval" within the "confidence interval" and the statistical likelihood of infection, and they state that you "cannot rule out the possibility of zero effectiveness".  Yicks.  You can read the CDC crapola here. (CDC Vaccine Effectiveness).  Even though the makers of the vaccines claim effectiveness percentages to be over 90, some people still get the dreaded flu bug.  If that happens, and you feel the symptoms of the flu coming on, you are advised to rush to your doctor and get a shot of their newest money making expression of marketing genius, Tamiflu.  Guaranteed to cost your insurance company a hundred bucks and will shorten the interval of your flu like symptoms from the lousy miserable five and a half days that the average person suffers down to the magical miracle of modern medicine induced time of suffering to a mere four and a half days. 

Tamiflu, the miracle cure.  It does have a few side effects, but only about sixty or so.  The most common being the headaches experienced by nearly 20% of users.  The vomiting and diarrhea only by about 40% of the users.  And only a couple of percent of the users have had to suffer from delusions, delirium, hallucinations, and "abnormal" manic behavior.  And suicide.  They don't give a percentage for that.  But there is a list of all the side effects that you can expect.  (Tamiflu at drugs.com)  Still, those are acceptable problems when you consider the benefits of the actual drug, to lessen the discomfort from symptoms of the flu by one whole day.  Not a bad deal actually. 

So, what do I as the satirist here suggest?  Eat raw garlic, take 4 or 5 grams of Vitamin C daily, get at least a half hour of sun every day and still take Vitamin D3 supplements.  Eat real food, processed food is, well, read my blog, I tell you in every entry here.  Just like taking an aspirin a day does the same thing as expensive and deadly blood thinners, there are safe, cheap and extremely effective natural ways to avoid the flu and not put you on the list of statistically relevant losses by death for another money making monstrosity from our friends at Big PHARMA.  

  

Vaccine court, it IS the HIGHEST COURT in the land!

The founding fathers back at the turn of the eighteenth century came up with a pretty cool and viable concept of governing their little corner of the world.  Wanting to preserve their recently won freedoms and keep everyone happy, the constitution did just that.  The three divisions of government was a miraculous concept.  And unfortunately, it only lasted a hundred years or so, and has gone by the wayside.  Our government today is not what was envisioned by those men that truly had the best interests of the citizens, and the country itself, within their hearts.

What?

Yeah, it is a wild statement.  But let me ask you, what happened to state's rights?  The major part of the Constitution provides for the legislative branch, and it consisted of two parts, one, the congress, that represented the people, and then there was the senate, that were appointed by each state, and represented the rights of each state. Basically the rich people. That doesn't happen anymore, the senate, and well, all of congress as well, actually represent the rights and benefits of big businesses, and the citizens have little consideration anymore.  If you think that statement is ridiculous, then please find one bit of legislation that has been passed that has benefited the people, and not big business.  I mean other than the establishment of the National Parks system.  Where in the Constitution does it state that those serving in congress, or the senate, can derive compensation from lobbyists?  It doesn't.  Section 6 states that they can't be arrested for anything other than treason and felonies, so the question is, does bribery constitute a misdemeanor or a felony?  I believe that laws are biased, and apply differently to different people.  The SEC says that insider trading is a felony, the congress says it is as well, except when those doing the trading are members of congress.  Then it is a perk. (NPR on insider trading)

The Supreme Court of the US is the ultimate policy maker, being able to strike down any laws that are passed within the legislative branch and also they are able to decide how any laws that have been passed apply in any specific given situation.  And, in some situations like Roe vs Wade, make policy themselves.  In 1986 the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act was passed by the congress of these United States and pretty much gave absolute immunity from prosecution to vaccine manufacturers from ANY liability for deaths and disabilities caused by defective vaccines or, most importantly, from vaccines causing harm just by the very nature of their composition.  Ie, containing mercury, formaldehyde, MSG and and aluminum, all of which are known neurotoxins, and are added to vaccines in order for manufacturers to make them cheaper and more profitable.  (Yeah, most don't believe me, but here is the ingredients of vaccines)

So the congress then setup the Vaccine Court in order to hear cases where vaccines are beleived to be the cause of serious harm or even death of citizens of these here United States.  And, the court was given complete autonomy over what constituted harm, or death, in regards to vaccines.  Any person that received a vaccine and it caused specific problems, or death, then the court would hear their case, and decide if the complainant was eligible for a tiny bit from the billions of dollars set aside by the manufacturers to compensate citizens for damages done by their products.  And let's remember, that is but a tiny tiny TINY fraction of the money made by these companies.

So the Vaccine Court has been tested, and a Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has deemed that an award should be granted if a petitioner either establishes a "Table Injury" or proves "causation in fact" by proving the following three prongs:

1. a medical theory causally connecting the vaccination and the injury;
2. a logical sequence of cause and effect showing that the vaccination was the reason for the injury; and
3. a showing of a proximate temporal relationship between vaccination and injury.

Except these are pretty hard to prove.  And to top it all off, autism, has never actually been proven to exist and is not certified as an actual specific disease.  It is a syndrome, a cluster of problems with no modern scientific causative relationship.  This is of TREMENDOUS benefit to vaccine manufacturers, how do parents prove their product causes a medical condition that doesn't exist?

Thus we begin to see the destruction of the American existence.  Money, rules the government.  Citizens are too stupid to understand that voting for a candidate that wants nothing more than to continue the status quo, will never quite rank as anything other than as a taxpayer.  And unless you can afford to spend ten to twenty thousand dollars on a tax specialist, you are doomed to pay a greater percentage of the wages paid to you for your labors than those rich enough to avoid paying those taxes.  Citizens in fact have the power to change the status quo, the vote can be effective, however the masses are indeed mindless and watch the tv commercials for the party candidates as they spit venom at each other and laud their own supposed attributes.  There are in fact viable honest candidates out there, it's just that big businesses would never give them money to market honest candidates for elections because they know those candidates, if elected, would never continue to take monetary payoffs to keep the current system of corruption in place.  

Think about stuff like this, next election time.  When you vote on candidates, think about how they have acted in the past, how the party they represent has acted to continue the system we have now, and then think about how your freedoms have diminished, your health has declined, and the taxes you pay are astronomically higher (percentage wise) when compared to the very rich.  Think about how this government is no longer what was proposed by our founding fathers, and how they fought a war to establish what they felt was an acceptable compromise of governance by the people, the rights of the rich (the State's powers) and the execution of laws.  Yes, it's no secret that I am a communist, but let me ask you, does that diminish the validity of what I say?

Big business set up the Vaccine Court and directed the powers that be to give it greater authority than even the Supreme Court.  And just like on Animal Farm, it was done to give the citizens the "appearance" of having a world in which the rulers care about what happens to them.  The Vaccine Court has constantly upheld the vaccine manufacturers position that their products do not cause autism and they have rejected the mercury autism link on numerous occasions.  And all of the governmental bodies tell us that vaccines help to make our lives richer, healthier and more productive, right here on Animal Farm.

Is the FDA targeting small businesses at the direction of major corporations?

I loved school, I mean it was a fantastic experience for me.  It was an opportunity to learn so much about the world around me, and, in my little classroom world, to excel.  It was great, and the weird thing is that so much of the minutia that I learned back then, still pops up into my peripheral consciousness from time to time.  Usually when watching Jeopardy.  Lately though, a whole lot of it is coming back to me.  All that stuff about how back in the beginnings of the 1900's, it was determined that monopolies were a bad thing.  Monopolies really were bad.  We had a few people that through incredible business acumen, luck, and a few dirty tricks, accumulated huge amounts of individual industries, made themselves into quite wealthy rulers in their little world all at the expense of any sort of prosperity for the multitudes of the working classes on whose backs the giants were built.  Steel, railroads, gasoline, electric power, software, computers.  Oh wait, those are just some of the modern day monopolies, right along with the big ones in agribusiness.  Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow and a few others.  Seed companies.  Well, and they do manufacture huge amounts of chemicals for agricultural use as well.  But it is the seed production businesses that are the real monopoly.  Back in the early nineties these big giant agribusinesses began buying all of the companies that produce seed for farmers.  When Genetically Modified crops were given the well paid for go ahead to infiltrate our lives by the senate in 1996, then the monopoly took over and the only seeds available to farmers became GM. That's a monopoly, even if it's three or four companies doing the controlling, it's definitely still a monopoly.

And the US government sanctions it.

So how does the FDA fit into that/  Well, let's just say that all of the preceding was an introduction into the world of government sanctioned unlawful collusion to make certain specific persons and companies richer.  Let's look at almonds.  California has over 3,000 independent almond growers in it.  Today they supply more almonds than any other country in the world and have the second highest production levels as well.  When the growers harvest their almonds, most of the crops go to Blue Diamond, the world's largest processor of almonds.  Ever since 2007, every almond that leaves their processing factory gets roasted, toasted. fried, or in some way transformed from "RAW" to cooked.  There are no actual raw almonds allowed to be shipped out of California anymore.  The reason this is so is because in 2001 there was an outbreak of salmonella, almost a hundred people fell ill.  Then in 2004 there was a second outbreak of salmonella that was traced back to almonds that were sold as raw and were contaminated with the bacteria.  One person died.  The FDA stepped in and devised new rules for the treatment of almonds, pasteurization.  There are three methods used to kill any bacteria living on the almonds, steam, chemical and radiation.  The thing is, the equipment to do any of the three costs upwards of two and a half million dollars.  The end result, most of the smaller almond packers went by the wayside and now pretty much all of the almonds grown in California go to, The US Government Sanctioned Monopoly, Blue Diamond.

Hunh.  Weird, one person died.  According to the CDC, (CDC Outbreaks) each year there are over a million cases of salmonella poisoning in this country alone.  And there are a thousand deaths related to food poisoning.  And believe it or not, Consumer Reports and several other consumer groups have shown live salmonella contamination on 75 to 80 percent of the chicken for sale in supermarkets.  Chicken carcasses are dipped in either a chlorine or ammonia solution to "HELP" stop the bacterial contamination.  The Salmonella is present on the carcasses because of the horrific unsanitary conditions in which they are raised and slaughtered.  If the FDA was interested in protecting consumers and not corporate profits, then all chicken would be precooked.  That would stop any contamination.

Salmonella bacteria are pretty nasty, but believe it or not, not all that hardy.  They, like their friends, E. coli, live in the lower digestive tracts of mammals.  That's where they belong.  When they burst out into the real world, conditions must be perfect for them to survive, or else they whither and die.  Conditions like high moisture, nutrient source, within a remarkably narrow temperature range.  When an animal, human or otherwise takes a crap out in the wilds, then the bacteria in their feces have a short time frame to find a new environment, such as another host animal to provide them with a place to live.  The surface of almonds is not a great place for Salmonella bacteria.  It is dry, impervious to growth piercing the thick skin, and normally out of reach of contamination sources, like animals taking a crap on them.  The plain fact of the matter is that almonds normally do not pose any sort of risk for any bacterial contamination, if properly stored.  So the really big question is how did the Salmonella contamination get into the almonds to cause the two outbreaks.  From what I have read, the two outbreaks were traced back to the largest grower, Johnson Farms, who it seems, sell all of their almonds to, Blue Diamond.  So, after the outbreaks, the FDA instituted rules to pretty much destroy any independent processors of almonds, and no one anywhere stopped to ask who sat on top of a pile of shelled almonds and took a dump on it to contaminate the batch. 

Might just be me, but about ten years ago I went to the prepared salad section of the megamart and looked at all the varieties of salad in bags.  I remember there were a lot of brands, and varieties to choose from.  I usually buy my salad on the plant and cut  it and wash it myself, you know, to avoid that which I am about to talk about.  Back in the early 2000's there were multiple multiple recalls of prepared salad mixes from numerous producers for E. Coli and Salmonella contamination.  New rules about that from the FDA and believe it or not, there are only about 4 agrigiant processors of ready made salads in the country.  They do private labeling, but regulation put the little guys out of business, and they were swallowed by the big guys.

Hmmmmm, now it seems that the FDA is wanting to BAN all small egg producing companies that produce Free Range eggs.  The FDA says that chickens that are allowed to move around outside in the open air are susceptible to contamination from wild birds.  All of the producers of these eggs, are small.  Giant agribusinesses control the major markets for eggs, and they are all produced in unsanitary unhealthy conditions and fed some disgusting crap.  But the possibility of contamination from wild birds is going to destroy hundreds of small businesses.

Eeeeyyyyicks.  The dairy industry has pretty much made the production of unpasteurized milk a FELONY.  This time it's the USDA in there with the FDA and even though there are over six hundred times more incidents of contamination in commercial pasteurized milk than have been found in small local dairies selling unpasteurized milk.  Yet it is indeed a felony to do so.  The sad fact is that pasteurization is needed for agribusiness to produce clean milk because of the horrific conditions in large scale Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO).  Small scale dairies, are on their way out of existence.

Ohhhhh, nnnnooooooo.  Spices are next in line.  It seems that some spices have been found to be contaminated with that old standby bacteria that big companies seem to love to make sure competitors have in their products, Salmonella.  The FDA is currently investigating what new regulations need to be instituted to stop any such problems reaching the general public.  Again, spices are dry products, and if handled properly, should never have any form of bacterial contamination on them.  Yes, it is possible that some might be there if improperly processed.  But then that is a problem with a specific processor, not a whole industry.  But it remains to be seen what will happen, and how new rules will affect the small independent processors and allow the giants, like McCormick to acquire their competitors. 

So do I have any proof that all of these things, and more, have happened, or will happen and are directly related to the actions of governmental agencies acting to destroy the ability for small businesses to exist and for agrigiants to dominate their individual areas of commerce through virtual monopolies?  No, I don't.  And truthfully, I don't think it exists.  What I believe has occurred is that simple problem that affects all of us, one person wanting to get an unfair advantage and therefore bribes one individual to do something.  And the problem is that there are a whole lot of one persons out there wanting an unfair advantage and they all have a whole lot of money to use. 

So is it a bad thing to have major corporations running our food supply?

.................. well.......... duh?

Chronic vs. Acute Toxicity. And how the FDA treats poison in our food.

Back on Sept 6, the New york Times published an article about the FDA.  It was a simple article, about simple folks, FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg and others.  And the NYT related how the new policy about arsenic is about to be amended.  (NYT and FDA)  The sad truth to the matter is that the arsenic contamination is there, they screwed up, they will never admit to it, and so the FDA is blaming the arsenic problem on Mother Nature.  (FDA Crapola)  The FDA decision, arsenic levels are such that it won't kill you.  Don't eat rice everyday.

I just have a hard time with that.  The FDA and the USDA are the agencies responsible for this mess.  In case you are not aware of where the arsenic is coming from and how it got there, let me explain.  Although arsenic is a naturally occurring element, and is present in minor trace amounts throughout most of the world, it has not ever been present in the amounts seen now.  Back in the forties, in an effort to produce more eggs and chickens in smaller spaces with fewer workers for greater profits, corporations began feeding chickens inorganic arsenic compounds.  The result was that the chickens got sick less.  The horrendous overcrowding and unsanitary conditions were havens for bacterial infections and arsenic helped fight the inevitable. Arsenic will not kill the chickens in small doses when administered for short periods of time. Let's say the 6 to 8 week lifespan of a chicken. a bit longer for egg laying chickens.  It mattered little what it did to the resulting product, again, the FDA decided that the level of arsenic in chicken meat and eggs was not enough to kill you, as a human eating the eggs or chicken with residual arsenic.  And that was using the outdated very basic testing methods of the forties.  So farmers pumped the chickens full of arsenic.  And some of it was retained by the chickens, and a lot of it was crapped out as arsenic tainted manure.  Chicken manure is a great fertilizer and so the chicken farmers sold it to rice farmers as the states that had lots of chicken ranches seemed to congregate in states where rice is grown.  After 70 years of dumping inorganic arsenic on their fields, rice growers have found that their crops are so contaminated with arsenic as to be toxic to humans.  

Well, the FDA says it's okay. Sort of. They have come up with a solution to all of the problems, as of right now the FDA doesn't have a standard of acceptable levels of arsenic in rice and rice products.  A whole lot of consumer groups are pressuring the FDA to set standards for arsenic.  And the FDA probably will, and of course, they can use any numbers they want, they are after all, the regulator making the decisions.  Simple huh?  FDA thinking is a lot like that of my ex, it isn't toxic unless they say so. 

It does raise some questions in my mind though.  It always has, it isn't new.  The FDA has these rules about stuff in our food supply.  The chemical manufacturers use those rules to quite effectively make money.  The rules are simple, if you make a substance that does wondrous things to food, and it doesn't kill people outright at low doses, then the FDA will approve it for use in food and then everyone can make money.  The reality of this concept is that it is all true no matter how irrational it sounds.  This little bit of far fetched fantasy, where regulators want businesses to make money at the expense of the health of the populace, happens all the time.

The list of chemicals the food industry uses as additives in our food supply that are regulated and the FDA classifies as GRAS is at a little over 3000. The list of chemicals that are not regulated is a bit over 10,000. That list is called EAFUS. GRAS means Generally Recognized As Safe. EAFUS means Everything Added to Food in the US. Right now, 700 of those chemicals are registered with the EPA as Class II Carcinogens.  Meaning that consumption of the substance has been linked to a cause of cancer, and that there have been significant studies done showing the link.  But the stuff won't kill you outright in small quantities.  So it is safe for use in food.  The reasons these chemicals are used is longer than the additive list itself, they make bread fluffier, retard spoilage, mask the metallic flavors of other chemicals, and they make things more colorful.  Well, actually, the real reason these chemicals are put into our food is because they make more profits for the giant corporations that process our foods.   That's what it is all about.  And the FDA recognizes that, and some of their leaders have made decisions about additives and have then left the agency to go work in the real world of big agribusiness.  Some at jobs that pay as much as a thousand dollars a day, and they don't even have to show up and do anything.  (Hull jr.) The phenomena is called "The Monsanto Revolving Door" and it is a real thing, and it happens both ways, the presidential administrations like to appoint agribusiness leaders to work in FDA and USDA positions of power with the authority to make decisions about certain policies and to approve specific additives to our food.

All of that is just the prelude to what I consider the real horrors of our society.  And the arsenic problem in rice is just one more example of the ineptitude and mismanagement of our regulatory agencies.  The FDA might be right, the 27 micrograms per serving found in some rice products won't kill anyone.  However if you eat it everyday (and I eat brown rice 5 to 8 times a week) then the arsenic does in fact accumulate in your system causing some very nasty problems.  Setting allowable levels at unrealistic and unhealthy quantities is not a solution.  Stopping the contamination by outlawing the use of arsenic in chicken feeds is a start.  Believe it or not, the intentional introduction into our food supply of inorganic arsenic does not stop at rice, or chicken meat; it also is used as a feed additive to pork as well.  And the really really weird part is that in areas where chickens are raised and rice is not grown, the chicken manure is swept up with all the debris from huge chicken ranch warehouses and then fed to steers as cheap feed.  Thus introducing the arsenic into beef as well.  What's the daily limit for safe intake of arsenic?  And does that count any arsenic that you might eat from chicken, pork, beef, or apples and apple products, or grapes, or, well, we don't know where else it is coming from.  Arsenic is one ingredient of some older and very popular insecticides and the residues might be just about everywhere.

What no one has ever done any research on is the cumulative effect of not just arsenic, or potassium bromate, or MSG or any of the others in the dreaded 700 chemicals that are in our food; but what happens when you eat ALL OF THEM ON A DAILY BASIS.  Sure, we know that potassium bromate won't kill you if you eat one slice of bread, and you would have to eat a hundred loaves to die from it; but what happens when you eat one slice a day, eat one serving of rice, eat some of the foods that contain some of the deadly 700 every day.  What happens then?

I've said it before, here it is again.  The FDA is not interested in regulating chronic toxins.  Any company that manufactures additives for use in our food system is allowed to do so, as long as money flows.  And because they ALL do it, they are pretty much insulated from any liability for harming anyone.  (Because they Can)

These are the actual reports showing the amounts of arsenic in rice and rice products including baby food.  The Consumer Reports testing is a year old, the FDA report was released last week.  
(Consumer Reports)
(FDA Report on Arsenic)

Food as Medicine - Only if the FDA can regulate it!

I personally feel that food is medicine.  That improper food and diet will destroy a person's health.  And the big one, that all of the toxic additives that the FDA, USDA and the EPA allow in the American food supply is what is destroying our health and causing increases in cancer, heart disease, autism, ADD, and blah blah blah, etc.  Sheesh, almost every article I write on this blog goes into detail about all this.  But this one is about something new.  Something that is interesting, and scary as well.  The FDA just last month has issued a draft guidance document for industry use that answers frequently asked questions about medical foods.  Most notable is that the FDA has stated that they will not regulate food as medicine and it will not require a prescription.

Okay, I know you are thinking I'm nuts, but this is all very true.

The FDA also made it clear what they will not consider being a medical food.  They stated that foods and beverages that doctors "recommend" as part of an overall diet plan designed to reduce the risk of disease, weight loss or for a specific medical condition.  Whew, I thought doctors didn't have much in the way of knowledge about nutrition and couldn't differentiate between sugar, corn syrup, agave poison and aspartame.  Oh well, I guess that some of the big food manufacturers will have detail men out giving samples and handing out trips to the Bahamas just like the drug companies do now.  Nestle is the big company that is going bananas over this concept, food as medicine. 

It seems that Nestle and one of their marketing firms Technology Catalysts International are firmly set on producing food products that just by eating them, will provide protection from gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, dietary management of Alzheimers and actually a whole host of problems.  Nestle, and I assume other big manufacturers, (the article in Food Business News only talked about Nestle) are planning on a huge variety of products, processed food products, that doctors will be able to tell patient of various diseases, that if they eat them, they will make the manufacturers rich and will, well, who knows, maybe make you a little better. Okay, they won't say that first part, but it is a given.

I am at a loss to understand.  Processed foods are the CAUSE of most of the health problems and degenerative chronic diseases in America.  And the FDA is going to allow companies to manufacture even more processed tainted chemical laced foods in an effort to combat those diseases that were caused by people eating their crap to begin with. 

Only in America.

Gluten, the myth continues

I got into a discussion with someone Saturday at the farmers market about wheat.  This person was absolutely certain that every single thing that William Davis wrote in his book, "Wheat Belly", is without fault, the absolute truth and inerrant, almost godlike.  Hmmm, my brother says the same thing about the bible, and he can't actually prove any of it either, he does have faith though.  And I believe that Davis proponents have the same, faith.  As did Jim Jones followers. 

That might be a bit harsh, good ol' Jimmie actually told everyone the kool-aid would kill them.

Anyway, Mr. Davis in his book makes a lot of weird pronouncements and it seems that many people are taking what he is saying as actual scientific facts and that the conclusions that he draws have some sort of scientific reasoning to support them.  In fact, they don't.  Davis is just another in a long line of people that want desperately to be the ruler in their own perfect vision of their little world.  The fact that he is a doctor of cardiology gives no credibility to his rantings.  The man makes conclusions that are outside the scientific process and when one looks at the truth, and even the actual math of his conclusions; he is shown as the charlatan that he really is.

Davis states that one of the constituents of gluten, a protein called gliadin, passes through the blood brain barrier and stimulates the opiate receptors of the brain giving humans a sort of high and causing us to over eat and on average to consume an extra 440 calories a day, every day.  Yicks, getting high on food might be a reality, well, except that isn't possible.  Gliadin is a huge chain of 22 glutamine molecules and it isn't possible for it to even make it into the bloodstream without it being broken down by the digestive system let alone make it to a opiate receptor in the brain.  Even in the "Leaky Gut Syndrome" gliadin can't pass into the blood, other compounds leak in, smaller compounds, not the actual protein complex.  Anyway, in the six hours I spent researching this stuff, I found one cool scientific paper about the role of gluten in schizophrenia.  (English study)  the study has a lot of info, and gives some interesting info about how autoantibodies develop for many compounds like tryptophans, glutamines and dopamines as well as gluten and it is possible that some of those are able to cause specific mental changes in some people depending on their individual body capabilities to handle such compounds.  But there is nothing available, other than the Davis conclusion, showing that gluten connects to any opiate receptors of the brain.  And then there is just his extraordinary claim that eating wheat makes a human eat 440 extra calories.  Simple math, if you ate an extra 440 calories a day for a year, you would gain an extra 40 (that's FORTY) pounds each and every year.  So after 5 years, you would begin to look like my ex-wife.  After ten years, you would be pretty damn big.  

So how come we aren't all hugely grotesquely fat?  Well, it goes back to that thing about wanting to rule your own world.  www.wheatbellyblog.com/  is a part of the Davis world of fantasy.  I looked through some of the posts, not a single one there with any sort of negative opinion.  I print my comments whether they support or oppose me.  But then I know that I am not any sort of demigod in my little island of the internet, just a visitor with opinions.

Anyway, Davis talks a lot about how wheat is not like ancient wheat, that it now has 42 chromosomes instead of 22 like ancient varieties and plant developers have added in 14 new gluten proteins via a process called somatic cell fusion hybridization.  What Davis doesn't say is that the seed development using the technique of fusing cell protoplasts into the callus tissues is EXPERIMENTAL, and is not used at this time to develop any actual plant cultivars for commercial use.  Wheat is one of those crops that has had EXTENSIVE cross breeding for several thousand years now, and yes, there are many variations in the chromosomal structures as a result.  Many older varieties are still diploidal with many newer varieties being tetraploidal or greater.  This doesn't mean that the wheat makes significant numbers of proteins that scientists have no idea what their function is.  It means that the strains of grasses and wheat cultivars that make up that specific strain had a certain number of chromosomes and were diploidal in a specific manner and that by cross breeding the strains, new plants with new chromosomal counts and diploid varieties came into existence.  And yes, the whole purpose of doing all that was to make wheats that had larger seed heads, more seeds and with the chaff easier to break loose from the seed and a whole host of characteristics that are desirable.  Having more chromosomes and being multiploidal are not inherently toxic characteristics.

I think that this last line here is documented by these simple facts.  Wheat currently provides 21 percent of all food calories produced in the world.  For about 4.5 billion people, it makes up about 20 percent of daily intake of food.  In Japan, where daily consumption of wheat is twice that of the US, obesity rates are significantly lower than in the US.  In fact, according to the WHO and the CDC, it is Japan, 3.2% and the US 35.7%.  I think that is significant, what does doc Davis think?  How does that fit into his wheat belly world?  And I didn't make those number up and draw conclusions from imaginary numbers.  (CDC info) (WHO info) 

To me the big thing about the Davis book is his claim that wheat today is a genetically modified version of wheat from the past.  Wow, I am the one person that would dispute this and be as vocal as possible if it were in any way true.  It isn't, Monsanto did in fact attempt to make some Roundup Ready wheat along with some Bt Toxin wheat.  They grew it on some farms in Six states to test it out.  But the world opinion of GM wheat is not good, and so 8 years ago they dropped plans to market the stuff and removed it from test plots.  It did however show up growing on the side of a road in Oregon earlier this year.  Monsanto denied it is responsible for the introduction of the genome into the wild, they still to this day claim it to be sabotage.  If the stuff spreads into the general population of wheat in the world then most of the rest of the world will stop buying US wheat, which will be an economic disaster for American farmers, and a whole lot of the world as the US still grows more wheat than any other country.  But so far, it appears the contamination has not spread.  And it is just another myth in the book by Davis that is pure hokum.  

Anyway, I personally write about the degradation of the US food supply all the time.  Look at any other entry on this blog and read about how the feds have failed to protect us, the citizens, to the exclusion of those that make money making, growing and selling poorly tested and in many cases completely toxic additives, crops, drugs and food products.  All for money.  And make no mistake, it is all about money. 

Oh yeah, the Davis website, sells a whole lot of crap, and has a whole lot of ads on it.  Hmmmm, maybe it is all about money.

Fines have little effectiveness as deterrent against criminal activity

Has anyone ever given consideration as to how safe the foods, drugs, and well, everything in your life really is?  The safety of the things within your existence depend on, humans.  We all know that, and let's face it, for the most part I believe that most people truly think that those things in our lives that are produced for us, things like our food, drugs, clothing etc, are made with the utmost care and attention to making quality wholesome and safe products.  And they are all done under the watchful eye of governmental organizations that are charged with protecting us, the citizens of this country, from any person, persons or companies that might attempt to cause us harm by adulterating, or processing foods, drugs, life products in unsanitary conditions.  Or in the case of big Pharma, selling specific drugs and marketing them as cures for diseases for which they are not shown to have any viable benefits.  In fact the FDA has gone ahead and sought out a few drug companies and has prosecuted them to the fullest extent of the law.  Well sort of.  In the past six years, the FDA has assessed fines against some of the big Pharma companies, to the tune of billions of dollars.  Like the top ten fines assessed against:
1.  2012  GlaxoSmithKline,    3 billion dollars
2.  2009  Pfizer                      2.3 billion dollars
3.  pending, but Johnson & Johnson   between 1.5 and 2 billion dollars
4.  2012   Abbott                  1.5 billion dollars
5.  2009   Eli Lily                   1.4 billion dollars
6.  2011   Merck                   950 million dollars
7.  pending,  Amgen,     estimated at 750 million dollars
8.  2007  Perdue                   624 million dollars
9.  2010  Astra Zeneca         520 million dollars
10  2007  Bristol Meyers      515 million dollars

Those are just the top ten fines assessed.  If you search out any of these companies, there are lots of other fines for doing that exact thing.  Yet for big Pharma, the fines never quite exceed the profits made selling drugs that harm people.  And I don't understand that.  In 1975 the Supreme Court in a decision now called the Park Doctrine, the FDA affirmed their right to bring CRIMINAL charges against corporate executives that violate the regs of the FDA.  And some very stiff monetary and jail time if people are killed.  Yet even though the FDA fought to have the Park Doctrine, they don't exactly use it much. 

(FDA fines Red Cross for mishandling BLOOD)  16.8 million for adulterating America's blood supply.  Wonder about that donation to the Cross now.  But then this is just one of many things about the Red Cross and its management, and well, mismanagement.  Big Pharma, and the Red Cross, yeah, they should be jailed.

Anyway, back to food.  Back in 2008 and 2009 over 3000 people died from eating Salmonella tainted peanut butter.  The PCA corporation processed peanuts in plants that the FDA eventually closed because of horrific unsanitary conditions, even to the point where the roof leaked into vats of peanuts waiting to be processed.  In February of this year, the FDA used the Park Doctrine to indict executives of PCA on criminal charges.  So far, nothing has happened, five years after the fact. 

The thing is, how do we know that our food is safe?  If making more money than you could possibly ever have to pay out as fines means you get rich, then why not just go ahead and do it?  Insurance to pay out death benefits to those killed by corporate malfeasance is actually pretty cheap.  And if the possibility of jail is pretty remote, than the incentive make money by selling drugs that are approved for one purpose to doctors for a myriad of other diseases simply because the drug has a huge number of side effects; then why not sell billions of dollars of the stuff.  If fixing the roof and spending a week cleaning up a factory will make your product safe, but cost money, why do it, money flows whether people get sick or not.  And the thing is, it took the FDA 8 months to track down all those deaths to peanut butter. 

I've talked about this before here, the concept of making millions or even billions is a huge factor in divesting people of their morality; however it also happens to people for just hundreds.  After my divorce, my ex still wanted to sell pasta and so she started to buy pasta from Rossi Pasta in Ohio and she bagged it in her apartment with her 3 cats and labeled it with her label.  I have no idea why, but she labeled it as Vegan Friendly and left eggs out of the ingredients.  (When I made pasta, it did not contain eggs)  How much extra money did she bring in by selling "HER" pasta as vegan?  And what was the risk to her customers for someone buying the stuff that was allergic to eggs?  She did it for a few hundred bucks, not billions.  Greed is a serious problem in the world today, and morality seems to take a back seat to greed in the food industry. 

Be aware, be careful, and read my blog to find out stuff about modern meat, additives, and your health.

Ribs

Okay, it's true, i claim to be a vegetarian.  Well, about 95% of the time.  It does seem that about once a week usually on Sundays, I make some spectacular food for all of my friends at my favorite home away from home, Ambassador Cigars West.  And it usually includes meat, as it does seem as though I am about the only person I know (living in Arizona anyway) that avoids meat.  So I eat it once in a while.  But today, is one of those holidays where it just seems to be a standard item, eating meat cooked out on the Barbie.  And sure, it could be halibut, or shrimp, or wild salmon, but for most, it's all about the ribs.  And I have done some ribs before, and I must admit, I like ribs. 

So, ribs can be done a myriad of ways, and in my life, I have done them so.  And all seem to produce a tasty and satisfying rib.  It is just how you want the specific end product to be.  So, to that end, let me talk about a few ways to make ribs.

Pre cook, then grill.  This is a method that does seem to add some extra flavor, and to make a rib that has way less fat.  It is easy, and takes less time than some other methods.  Take a big pot, or a very large baking pan and cut the ribs into sections that will lay in either.  Pour good dark beer over the ribs to cover.  If in a pot, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer, cover and cook about an hour and a half.  If in the oven, bake at 325 for about 3 hours.  Remove the ribs carefully and then put on a hot grill and caramelize on high heat.  Add sauce and brown the sauce on.  This makes a flavorful rib, and pretty much depends on the sauce for flavor, along with the beer it is cooked in.  A variation that makes for even more tender and flavorful ribs is to have a big pressure cooker and dry rub the ribs with a spice mix and then place the ribs in a basket with some beer in the bottom.  Cook at 15 lbs for 45 minutes and they will be falling apart and hard to remove. 

Ribs baked in sauce is also another method that I have done, and it is good only as long as the sauce is what you love.  It does bake out a lot of the fat and therefore a bit healthier.  It's pretty simple, cut the ribs up to fit in a baking pan and cover with sauce, cover and bake at 325 for about 4 hours or so.  Not my favorite, but then now days I am not a sauce guy anymore.

Smoked, like they should be.  For great ribs, you need to smoke them.  Make a rub, a little kosher salt, some garlic powder, chili powder, black pepper and evaporated cane juice if you want them sweeter.  Also a bunch of cumin makes the rub.  Rub it all over the ribs and place on the grills.  Smoke using wood chips of your choice for a minimum of 6 to 7 hours at 250.  The ribs should be falling off the bone.  Now comes the fun, Texas style, serve as is, no sauce.  Kansas City, add sauce and grill it on.  Carolina style, coat with mustard and vinegar and just toss in the trash. 

I find that after living in Texas and eating Texas style smoked barbecue (before going vegetarian) that I prefer the no sauce method of eating ribs.  A little hot sauce on the side, and smoky ribs with a deep rich flavor from a simple rub.  Yum.  They are in the smoker right now, we eat at 1 today with a big crowd, and I will take photos when I take them out.