Then there is that no liability thing.

Just out of curiosity, would you buy a product that stated right on the package that there are instances recorded of very serious side effects associated with the use of the product.  Side effects included total disability and death.  And in really small print, that the Federal Government of The United States of America has granted the manufacturer total immunity from any and all liability that might occur as a result of usage of the product?  Tough question huh?  Sadly it is very real.  

I have been criticized for my belief that vaccines are not a good thing and are a possible trigger that leads to not just autism, but higher infant mortality, ADD, ADHD and a whole host of other problems.  Most people think that.  The prevailing opinion in most of America is that science rules, that those getting paid to do these research studies about vaccines, GM foods, pesticides and well, just about anything; are scientists with integrity and of the highest of morality.  They believe that everything that has been approved by our government (as a result of that testing) is safe, wholesome, nutritionally intact and good for us.  Including vaccines.  I wish that were the case.  It does seem as though that scientists at big companies doing the required research into the safety and efficacy of drugs, vaccines, food additives and yes, even Genetically Modified foods are pretty much all publishing results of their studies to be favorable to their employers.

November 2011 issue of "Journal of Virology" there is an article that is confirming that seasonal flu vaccines weaken the immune systems of children and increase their chances of getting sick from viruses not included in the vaccine, which is to say, all but three strains of the over two hundred known strains of flu and flu-like viruses. A Cochrane Database Review—which is the gold standard for assessing the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of commonly used medical interventions – concluded:     

"Influenza vaccines have a modest effect in reducing influenza symptoms and working days lost. There is no evidence that they affect complications, such as pneumonia, or transmission. This review includes 15 out of 36 trials funded by industry (four had no funding declaration). An earlier systematic review of 274 influenza vaccine studies published up to 2007 found industry funded studies were published in more prestigious journals and cited more than other studies independently from methodological quality and size. Studies funded from public sources were significantly less likely to report conclusions favorable to the vaccines. The review demonstrated that reliable scientific evidence confirming that influenza vaccines are effective is thin and there is plenty of reason to suspect that there may be a manipulation of conclusions when the studies are funded by drug companies. The content and conclusions of this review should be interpreted in light of this finding."

It isn't just me.  This is the Cochrane Collaboration.  (Cochrane)  I don't know, I was a straight A student, breezed through statistics and the first 3 semesters of Calculus, but these guys make me look like a dolt.  And yet they have reached the same conclusions that I have with just my limited resources available to me.  Personally, I believe that to be significant.  Not because I'm saying that I'm a genius, but because a dolt like me can find this stuff and see through the crass commercialism and rampant corruption of our government.

In 1986 Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act in which all liability was removed from drug manufacturers for their vaccines.  All vaccines.  In 2011 the Act was upheld in the Supreme Court and the almost unanimous decision was that people injured by vaccines did not have the right to sue the manufacturer for any injuries that can be shown to be caused by vaccinations.  That in fact the big drug companies could continue to manufacture those vaccines, with total legal impunity.  TOTAL!  The 1986 Act specifically states that vaccine manufacturers are not liable for injuries and death that "result from side effects that were unavoidable even though the vaccine was properly prepared and was accompanied by proper directions and warnings." The Supreme Court pointed to the "even though" clause, basically saying that it lists the measures a manufacturer must take for injury to be considered unavoidable, thus limiting liability. So, as long as a vaccine maker manufactured the drug properly and included proper directions and warnings, it is not liable for anything--included vaccine defects related to design.  What does this mean for people who are injured by vaccines? It's very likely that, unless a victim can prove that a vaccine maker didn't manufacture the product correctly, or didn't include proper directions or warnings, he's stuck in the vaccine court and any limitations it has imposed on recovery.

Aaaah, yes, the vaccine court.  The 1986 Act setup the Vaccine Court.  Well, that is the colloquial name for the Office of the Special Masters of the United States Court of Federal Claims.  The entire reason the Feds setup Vaccine Court was back in 1980's, so many people were suing the drug companies because of permanent disabilities and deaths from the DPT vaccines that most of the drug companies stopped making them.   It isn't a secret, it happens all the time, Congress does things that allows big businesses to make money.  And a lot of it is done with the pretense of there being a benefit to the populace.  Elected officials are pretty inexpensive when big businesses purchase their favors in wholesale quantities.  (See Keating Five)  The Vaccine Court does have money at its disposal in which to compensate any person or parents of persons that have been found to have been injured by a vaccine.  Except autism.  The Court refuses to acknowledge that vaccines could possibly be the cause.  And the fund for payouts for other injuries, ones that the court will in fact recognize; two hundred billion dollars.  That's a lot of cash that the Feds have set aside for compensating people for something that they claim is harmless and beneficial.

I don't believe a word of it anymore.  They do seem to lie to us a lot.

It's all about sex.

Pretty much common knowledge I think, something that we here in America learn at an early age through the boob tube.  Hmmm, even the colloquial term we use for our babysitter, our main source for news and entertainment, boob tube, is about human sex.  Or perhaps human sexuality.  We introduce it to our population, implant into the minds of our youth from a very early age the concept of sex and sexuality, and sad to say, how to profit from it.  Both financially and socially.  And even sadder to say, those that don't fit the concept broadcast to us via satellite and over the airwaves of the perfect sexuality, ie. those like me, that are a bit uglier, a bit fatter, and a bit more odd; are to have a life not to be confused with those in sitcoms with perfect hair and complexions, and even more perfect proportions.  Some of us, me in particular, accept our lives and the imperfections we possess and learn to utilize life's greatest achievements to further our own existences.  As I have, I have learned to utilize the world of sex.  I want to let you have some of my hard won knowledge.

When I taught classes back at my store in Austin, one of the things I would ask every class was, "Do you know how to pick a sweet onion?"  Of course someone would always pipe up and say they should go to the bin marked sweet onions.  If they didn't, I would of course mention that.  The thing is, even there, the differences in sugar content are dramatic, and it only takes a bit of knowledge to find the ones that are the sweetest.  And, just like the title of this blather, it's all about sex.  As is the purpose of all life, onions are predisposed to reproduce.  To do that, the lowly onion starts its life by growing first the green tops that actually make the food to produce the onion bulb.  The bulb is a storage vessel that serves to contain the nutrients necessary to sustain the plant while it undergoes the process of sex, and the subsequent nurturing of the offspring.  Yes, it's the flowering and seed production.  Sex, and child rearing.  Something we need to emphasis in schools to teens, one comes with the other.  Anyway, the onion bulb itself grows and makes those cool layers and as it does so, it expands outward.  It makes an onion that is actually sort of more disc like rather than roundish or globular.  Flatter.  This is the time when the onion is putting the most effort into the making of sugars, which are stored in the onion bulb.  Then, at some predetermined time that is genetically encoded into the onion DNA matrix (or as my holy roller brother says, god determined at creation) the onion then goes into sex mode.  For an onion, there is no need for chocolates or music from Steven Tyler, it just knows that it needs to use all that stored sugar to push itself into developing the sole purpose of what it thinks its existence is and it begins to elongate and become less disk shaped, and more globular.  All to the point where if you keep onions long enough, just before they sprout, they will be almost football shaped.  And with this knowledge, we can in fact determine just by looking at them, which will be sweetest.  Flatter means sweeter, rounder means nastier.  Hmm, sort of like the cheerleaders at my high school. 

When I first learned about eggplant, it was while interning at the French restaurant in east Phoenix.  Interning is a stretch, slave is more of an appropriate term.  But I digress, there we used eggplants to make little individual casseroles, a little something called ratatouille.  My slave master told me to use the male eggplants and not the female ones for the slices, and for the actual hash filling, to chop up the female ones.  If you don't know what ratatouille is, I will tell you what our version was.  We took courgettes and eggplant and sliced them thinly, placed them in a well buttered casserole dish in a pleasing spiral design, then filled the dish with a hash mixture of onions, eggplant, tomatoes, herbs and wine.  Then the dish was baked until crusty and inverted onto a plate to serve.  It is a pretty tasty dish, but the sublime expression of the food critic from the animated movie of the same name is a bit much I think.  Anyway, my first attempt to make the dish I was unable to determine which were males and which were females.  With tremendous derision I was informed that little boy eggplants possessed a knob on the bottom and little girl eggplants had an indentation.  I was also told that was why I would never get married and have children, both of course were found to be in error.  However, it is in fact true that male eggplants have fewer seeds than females.  It isn't really logical because eggplants are the fruits and they are in fact androgynous, or rather hermaphroditic.  That is, having both male and female flower parts.  But it seems that the reality is that after fertilization, they do in fact specialize and that there is a difference in the chromosomal makeup of the eggplant fruits.  Like humans.

Now we come to the big one, bell peppers.  There is a lot of confusion about bell peppers and why some have three lobes, and some have four lobes.  Look on the Internet and there are sites that will tell you that three lobed are male, and better for eating, four lobed are female, and better for cooking.  Criminy, as I write that I can't help but think how fifties that statement is.  But the truth is that it is all a bunch of hooey, there is no taste or differences in the number of seeds between them.  That's just how they are.  Okay, that might be an explanation my brother would seize on to further the god is all things to all people even plants concept.  Me, it only means that it's not REALLY all about sex after all.  My mind has just been molded into that thought process by a youth growing up in America.

Well, and Playboy helped a lot back in the day.

Autism Spectral Disorder info, some stuff that is of interest. Parental Age

Well, I have been told that I am unaware of the true causes of Autism Spectral Disorder, ASD, and that I look at the research that perpetuates the myths that I want to adhere to.  That I WANT, I was told.  And that the true causes of the high incidence of ASD is because the overall age of parents has gone up and chromosomal damage or degradation from this is the cause.   I did read one study that stated that there might possibly a genetic propensity toward ASD within humans, but that to verify any such conclusion would mean doing genetic mapping of thousands of individual ASD babies and then utilize a supercomputer to analyze any specific genetic variant that would be common to all.  The cost of course was prohibitive and so no plans were possible at that time.  However I admit that most of my research has been in the area of triggers, specifically vaccines.  So, to that end, this info.......

Starting with the CDC and finding out what they have to say about it.  (CDC on Age of parents)  Statistically, older parents, both male and female, higher for female, have a greater RISK for having children with a diagnosis of ASD.  From an NCBI report dated 2008 and using 1251 children aged 8 and older with a diagnosis of ASD parents 25-29 had a 1.4 to 1.6 greater RISK of ASD.  Parents at age 40 had a greater risk of 2.0 to 4.7 greater RISK with both age groups compared to parents age 35.  However firstborn children of older parents >35 were three times more likely statistically to have ASD than second and third born children.  This one puzzled me, one child, firstborn from older parents is more likely to be ASD than later born siblings from the same older parents is a conundrum. 

Scientific American in an article dated Feb 11, 2010 has a similar listing of risk factors.  However, the article also states, [the research] "suggests environmental processes and social influences (why someone would live in a particular neighborhood) might be contributing factors" and also "the present epidemiological study was important in clarifying the nuanced relationship between maternal age and autism, and defining its contribution to the rise in cases. It might have even provided biological clues. It really is a maternally mediated biological process that's going on".  In case you missed the term, the article uses the term "nuanced" and here it does in fact mean, a small, or slight higher statistical risk factor. 


There is a lot more of the same, basically the risks are higher for firstborn children of parents that are older.  It is not in anyway THE specific cause of ASD.  Not unless I am missing something, and here I think that someone will have to point it specifically to me and say "Hey stupid, you missed this!" 

There is a lot of new info coming out about autism, and I have read a lot of it tonight.  Some interesting stuff is out there now.  A group of researchers did find that there are four specific antibodies that are part of a group called autoantibodies, and that they have discovered them in some women.  If they are present during pregnancy they believe them to affect fetal brain development and that 23% of the mothers of ASD children tested had the antibodies.  It is possible that certain infections during pregnancy may cause the mother to produce the four autoantibodies.  There is also a new study that shows that after a baby is born, if the placenta is examined and those that have larger and more numerous folds along with trophoblasts then the children have a greater statistical probability of developing ASD.  And researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have discovered an environmental factor that might be a cause of ASD.  "A temporary exposure to a topoisomerase inhibitor in utero has the potential to have a long-lasting effect on the brain, by affecting critical periods of brain development. ”  This is particularly interesting when you find out that the inhibitors are naturally occurring in things like soy, and the big one, MSG acts in the same manner.  Yeah, it's true, vaccines contain MSG. 

I haven't as of yet uncovered any smoking gun that any researchers anywhere have uncovered that points to any specific cause of ASD in children.  There isn't one.  I believe with all certainty that there are a large number of factors, diet, environment, possibly genetic, infection, and possibly, vaccines.  There are just too many unknowns.  However, with that said, with the risks of developing autism so high in countries where vaccines are pushed on children before the age of two being SIGNIFICANTLY higher than countries where vaccines are not given until after age two or older; then a choice to delay vaccination is not an untoward proposition.

So here is my blog entry that details just eighteen of the multitude of actual scientific papers that have been published in various medical, scientific and even popular science journals that have conclusions that do not in anyway dispute the above information, they simply show that there is a statistically significant possibility that vaccines may in fact be a trigger for development of ASD in children.  (Vaccine Info)  Take a look, it is in fact eye opening. 

Primal man, in a non primal world. A return to the simple life.

I first heard the song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears when I saw the movie "Real Genius".  A light comedic romp, a great flick.  (Reminds me of me)  A great song.  And highly descriptive of life, and those living life.  In reality who among us out there gets up every morning and says to themselves that they only want to follow along behind the crowd, living life as an observer, partaking in pleasures cast off by the crowds, never leading, never pushing themselves to excel, to grow, to be the best.  No one I know of wants that, we all want to be the best.  Everyone does.  Being the best means fame, wealth, notoriety.  TV shows us that anyone with big boobs or a great idea can be famous.  And everyone wants to be the next Kardasian, or duck king, or whoever.  I personally don't care about those things, but I would like to rule my World of information about health, and food.  So do a lot of other people, and they are out there working hard to be the rulers of their little slice of the health world.  In fact huge followings have been created around their concepts and pseudoscience.  Some examples are the Paleo diet, the gluten free diet, the wheat free diet, and the Primal diet. 

It is true I think, that everyone out there wants to be free of disease and chronic problems, to live a long and healthy life.  At least I think it's true.  It's just that most people don't seem to equate the consumption of McDonald's and other purveyors of nutrition free meals with degenerative health problems.  Or how destructive soda is to their health.  I mean the reasoning is simple, the government allows it, it must be safe.  Not such great reasoning actually, but the masses have other things to occupy their minds, and for this purpose, they follow.  Perhaps they attempt to rule their world in other ways and areas.  But for many of us out there, we have seen that those that rule us, don't always have our best interests at heart, they only have their own interests and those are motivated by money.  And that's why we have the system of food, drugs and well, everything else out there in America. 

A few, see through it all.  And want to rule the world.  A few examples, Mark's Daily Apple, a website about the Paleo diet (Mark), William Davis, The Wheat Belly (Wheat Belly) and tons of sites about gluten and other wheat free diets.  It seems to me that they all copy from each other and use the same basic science conclusions to show the world that their concepts are in fact true, and that they are in fact, rulers of their world.  Their own little world where they perceive themselves to be king.  Yikes, if only it were all true. 

The gluten thing I have talked about here, and it is true that maybe 1% of people from Northern European ancestry in fact have a problem with gluten.  That isn't in dispute here.  What I have a problem with is the Primal, Paleo, Neolithic, Wheat and grain free diets that are becoming the rage and using science, flawed and inaccurate science, to achieve their goal.  Well, that is sort of on target, I mean their science has a basis in truth, and modern food is at the root of all of the problems that these gurus of nutrition preach.  But then so do I.  Modern food is indeed a far cry from the foods that man evolved eating.  That doesn't mean that the other gurus are right, and that grains are bad, that we need to eat like hunter gatherers; it means we, as cognizant thinking beings need to seek out the foods that were part of our heritage and find out how these foods were prepared so as to capitalize on the experiences that generations of humans that came before us used to determine the most effective methods to overcome the nutritional problems of these grains that modern gurus are spouting about that makes them toxic.  When man was domesticating animals and crops, if those foods were not found to be edible and nutritious, then they were not used.  Most of the food crops we use today do in fact have problems, but ancient peoples knew that there were things that could be done to make them more nutritious.  And they found them through trial and error.  And modern food processors have lost them, and so once again, the foods of our ancestors are no longer beneficial and healthful, and can in fact be harmful. 

Lectins and phytates are the evil parts of the grains that are in question. Both are part of the plants natural defense mechanism.  We know that plants have a somewhat developed system of communication that when insects attack a grouping, then that act triggers a greater production of lectins within individual plants within the grouping.  Stressed plants produce higher amounts of both phytates and lectins.  And many species of plants have gone so far as to make lectins in sufficient quantity as to make the plant itself toxic.  Plants like castor, deadly nightshade, and soy.  Insects don't eat those plants, because they would die.  So most plants produce lectins and phytates, even lettuce and celery contain them.  Just in small amounts.  Wheat and other grains contain quite a few.  That doesn't mean they are inedible, it means they need some adjustments to neutralize the toxic parts so that we as humans, can eat them and receive the maximum benefits.  Just like our neolithic ancestors learned how to do. 

Some simple steps can be done to make most of the grains and legumes we eat safe.  Simple stuff.  Soaking grains and beans removes most of the lectins and phytates.  Fermenting them in an acidic substrate further removes them.  And finally, steaming them or cooking them in a pressure cooker over 212 degrees destroys even more of them.  The problem with modern food is that all of these techniques are expensive.  So it doesn't get done.  That's why I teach healthy cooking, so that people can learn how to make the food you eat, better. 

One last thought I want to mention is about William Davis, the guy that wrote the book "Wheat Belly".  In his book he states that gluten crosses into the blood stream through the intestinal wall and then passes through into the brain serotonin receptors and makes humans overeat.  To the tune of 440 calories more than if they didn't eat any gluten.  This is totally fabricated, gluten is not soluble in blood plasma, and if humans ate 440 calories extra daily they would gain 40 pounds a year.  Oriental cultures consume two to three times the amount of wheat in their diet as Americans and have one tenth the obesity problems.  Wheat might, I repeat, might, have a small part in the problem, but that part is in the products that are consumed in the SAD.  Breads with huge amounts of artificial ingredients, bromine compounds and HFCS sweeteners along with all the other crappy processed and nutritionless wheat products on the market.  However wheat itself is not the problem. 

The other thing about going Paleo, or Neo or Primal is the reliance on meat.  I will again tell you that I don't have a problem with meat, I have a huge problem with Modern Meat.  The stuff in the store is not meat anymore, it is processed flesh of animals bred to make money for large corporations and the animals are fed toxins and waste products as well as live in filth and the stuff is covered with bacterial contamination.  Unless those wanting to truly go back to feeding their bodies the way our ancestors did a hundred thousand years ago, they shouldn't eat today's meat.  And scary as it seems, they should let it rot, and then eat it. 

Yep, that's the real Paleo diet. 

Brown Rice, Kale, Mushrooms and Cod

This dish is an extension of my love for brown rice.  If you have read my blog in the past, you know I feel that brown rice is one of the most important foods in the world today.  If you eat it often, dry skin, intestinal distress, eczema, dandruff, and just a whole host of problems disappear.  At least half of the world eats rice, normally brown unpolished rice, daily.  So, to that end, here is the recipe, with pictures.

 1 lb of cod, or other firm fish.  This is optional, I just was at the store and saw the fish, so bought it.
1 package of my newest dip mix - Frantic Foods Tuscan Sun Dip Mix
1 big bunch Tuscan kale
1 half of an onion, large dice
1 bell pepper, this one is a yellow bell, any color will work, large dice
The center of a bunch of celery, sliced
about 6 or 8 large cremini mushrooms cut in half then sliced the opposite way
1 and a half cups of brown rice
olive oil

 3 cups of water, or preferably stock, vegetable if you have it

Take the fish and cut it into large pieces.  Toss with about half the package of dip mix and set aside.  In a large skillet, heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cook the mushrooms until well browned.  Add the other vegetables and cook about another 5 minutes.  Remove the veggies and set aside.  Add another 3 tablespoons of olive oil and cook the fish, turning once.  Remove from the pan and set aside.  Saute the rice in the remaining oil stirring often for about 4 to 5 minutes.  Add the remainder of the dip

mix and stock or water.  Bring to a boil and cover, reduce heat to low medium.  Meanwhile slice the kale into small pieces.  Lift the lid and dump the kale into the pan.  Cover, then allow to cook for 35 minutes, 40 total.  Remove the lid and add the veggies.  Stir in well.  Put the fish on top.  Sorry, from the pictures it does seem like most of the fish got eaten while waiting for the rice to cook.  But add what ever fish is left.  Maybe next time buy two pounds instead of only one.  Cover again and let the fish and veggies heat through, about another 6 to 8 minutes.  Now, lift the lid, scoop the rice to one side and make sure there is no liquid left.  If there is, put 

 the lid back on and cook another few minutes or until the liquid is gone. 

Serve it.  It is pretty spectacular.

Vegan Bacon Greens. Yep, something different again.

I was just recently turned on to greens.  I find that I like them, a lot.  Not something that was ever served in my home growing up, so never had the chance.  A few years ago I had some smoky greens that were cooked with bacon and ham hocks.  The greens were tasty, even though they were cooked 'till falling apart.  That was my first taste, and since then I have experimented on my own, sans the meat.  I have made a few batches using my Mesquite Smoked Onion Dip Mix I sell from my business, Frantic Foods.  And it is pretty good.  But I recently decided to try incorporating something else into the greens for the fantastic smoky flavor.  So I smoked some portobello mushrooms.  They came out dry, withered and smelling fantastic.

 I took 3/10 ounce and soaked them in some semi sweet muscato wine for an hour, then diced them.  I next took an onion and cut the ends off, cutting the root end just barely under the root ends themselves, and this helps keep the whole onion together.  Then cut that onion in half.  After taking the first layer off, (save that brown skin and layer in your freezer trash bag to make stock out of at a later date) I make longitudinal slices into the onion going toward the center, NOT straight up and down.  Yes yes, I know that's the way they do it on TV, and yes, I was a rebel in culinary school for refusing to do it that way; but it makes sense, the onion layers are curved, cut it that way.  It makes perfect dice.  toss the little remaining ends where the root core is into the freezer garbage bag as well.

In a big pot, heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and add the diced mushrooms.  Cook them until they sizzle and get browned.  About 4 minutes or so.  Then add the onion and cook a minute.  Then add the greens that you cut into small pieces.  Add the wine you soaked the mushroom in.  I like to use dinosaur or Tuscan Kale.  It is commonly available at farmers markets most of the time and it is very flavorful, rich in nutrients and holds up well to cooking.  Of course if you only go to the chain supermarkets, then you have fewer choices, but go with organic if possible whenever you do.

 Dandelions, turnip greens, and really just about any greens would work here.  I think my favorite Spinach would work well also.  Just don't cook it as long.  Hmmmmm, bacony spinach.  Sounds yummy.  Anyway, cover the greens and let them wilt over medium heat about five minutes.  Remove the lid and make sure there is some liquid in there, add some wine or water if needed.  Cover, and cook over medium low heat for about another 15 minutes or so.  Or until the greens are cooked to the desired tenderness for you.  Me, I like them toothsome, with chew to them.  A lot of people don't, they prefer them to be just totally wilted and nasty falling apart soft and to me, kind of yucky. 

So this is what my finished big ol' bowl of cooked smoky kale looks like.  I can't believe how tasty this things are.  I know, most people, well, my friends anyway, tell me that I am a bit off the wall.  But I took some of these greens, put them on a whole wheat flour tortilla (yes, I make those myself as well) added some of my brand of hot sauce, some humus, and some sunflower seeds and made a burrito that was fantastic.

Hey, to paraphrase some TV guy, "If it's good for you, EAT IT!"

More about the Incorporation of Feces into our food supply, FECEIATION.

I forgot a few things.  Previously I wrote about poop here, (Poop) sort of the same thing.  So today I will write about the other aspects of how and where feces has been integrated into our food supply.  Not necessarily with the blessing of our rulers, but certainly with them turning their cheek and looking the other way while leaving other entities to deal with the problems.  By that I mean the FDA and USDA as well as the EPA are well aware of the problem and causes, but instead of  stepping up and doing something to stop the problem; the agencies simply will not make decisions or instigate rules that would in any way affect the profits of the giant agribusinesses that are at the root.  Instead it is just easier to allow the processes to continue, the profits and associated kickbacks to continue, and the 23,000 annuals deaths to mount up along with the estimated 2 million cases of salmonella contamination to continue.  All those problems are someone else's problems. And so it is, it's our problem.

Right now you can go to the FDA website and then go to the CURRENT recall list of foods that have been recalled.  There is a list of all foods, drugs, pet foods and medical devices that have been recalled and the list is updated daily.  (FDA Recall site) It is winter, so not much there regarding salmonella, but normally from March to October, the numbers of processed produce recalls is staggering.  The reasons for the recalls, Salmonella, Listeria and other bacterial contaminants from animal feces.  Even though the EPA is charged with regulating the disposal of wastes generated from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, the agency does little to regulate the problem.  It is true that they spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with internal rule MAKING, and have established definitive GUIDELINES for agribusinesses to follow; however when it comes to enforcing those guidelines they haven't had a lot of success.  (EPA CAFO rules)  In fact agribusiness usually win in courts when it comes to a question of human safety or spending money to comply with EPA CAFO regulations.  The 2008 decision of the Federal 2nd Circuit Court details pretty distinctly that agribusinesses don't need to worry about runoff effluent from their CAFO operations due to inclement weather conditions, such as rain. (2008 ruling) What this means is that when a giant agribusiness goes into the business of raising animals for milk, egg or meat production, that they are required by the EPA guidelines, to set up a system to deal with the large quantities of animal waste produced.  In practice, the agribusinesses create large settlement ponds and dump most of the waste into the ponds and allow it to settle, ferment and decay.  Then they infrequently drain the water and scoop up the resulting sludge and use this to fertilize farmers fields.  However, if there are storms, and rain overflows the ponds into local waterways where the CAFO fecal material and sludge runoff can then contaminate other farms, or local municipal water sources, that is now, by order of the Federal Court, fine and dandy.

This is where most of the salmonella and other contamination of produce comes from.

The federal government's NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) has this to say about the fecal contamination problem from CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operatons) ((NCBI link)) "Waste from agricultural livestock operations has been a long-standing concern with respect to contamination of water resources.... CAFOs present a greater risk to water quality because of both the increased volume of waste and to contaminants that may be present.....generally accepted livestock waste management practices do not adequately or effectively protect water resources from contamination with excessive nutrients, microbial pathogens, and pharmaceuticals present in the waste..... contaminants pose risks for adverse health impacts in wildlife or humans. The effects of numerous waterborne pathogens on humans are well known, although little is known about potential impacts of such microorganisms on aquatic life."   This is the Federal Government's own organization reporting on the problems of CAFO's back in 2007, the year before the 2nd Circuit Court made the ruling that those guys don't have to spend money to contain the feces from the animals that they make money from; that the feces, once natural forces like rain removes it from their operation, it's someone else's problem.

Feceiation, v. - to knowingly integrate fecal matter into the food supply of humans.

Last week I wrote about Feceiation, and I talked about how agribusinesses are using their influence to set the guidelines that the USDA uses to attempt to insure that the meats offered for sale are not contaminated.   The problem of course is that feces is everywhere on the animals, and throughout their internal systems.  It is pretty hard to remove the feces from the skins, feathers and hides when the animals are that saturated with it.  When the animals are slaughtered, agribusiness demands for profits are so high that safety and cleanliness are put on the back burner in favor of speed.  The Consumer Reports stated that over half of the chicken samples from retail grocery stores had fecal contamination.  Visible fecal contamination.  97% of the chicken was contaminated with salmonella, listeria and other fecal bacterial contaminants.  The USDA just last year, at the request of giant chicken processing agribusinesses raised the speeds at which chicken production facilities are allowed to run thus giving even less time for the USDA certified inspectors to look at each carcass.

Feceiation, n - where animal feces is an integral part of foods meant for human consumption

What a world we live in.  Shit.