Enviro Mentality

This is NO surprise, that there has been found a possible link to ADHD and pesticides.

Organophosphate pesticides are nerve toxins and work on the nervous system of an insect.  In large doses, the same actions would happen in a human being.

But, we humans are exposed to these compounds on a much smaller scale.  From womb to grave, depending on environmental factors such as where we live (agricultural areas being the highest or high applications of pesticides around the home and yard) to what we eat (organic or not) are cumulative.  These toxins are stored in fat and brain. It is no wonder why so many children today are experiencing ADHD.

Pesticides are excitotoxins causing the neurons in the brain to misfire.  ADHD is one of these conditions. Pesticides are just one class of excitotoxins, many artificial foods contain ingredients which cause this condition.

This is just another  example of the case to end pesticide exposure and a return to organic eating.  By visiting your local farmer’s market, and buying locally produced food, you can limit your pesticide exposure.

A pesticide is, according to the EPA, “Any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.” A “Pest” is defined as: insects, mice & other animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms, (bacteria & viruses).

You might think that ‘pesticides’ are only found in yard & garden applications or farm uses. Guess again. Some very common household products contain pesticides: mosquito & tick repellents for outdoor human use, pet flea collars, soaps, powders & sprays, antibacterial hand soap, kitchen, laundry and bathroom sanitizers, mice & rat poisons, disinfectant sprays, mold & mildew killers, cockroach and ‘household’ insect killers. If you use any of these products you are coming into direct contact with pesticides.

The “inert’ ingredient listed on the back of the containers are not safe either. They can be emulsifiers which are chemical mixtures that bind together the pesticide. They could be blended in to increase its effectiveness, or an ingredient which make the product able to be sprayed. Inert ingredients do not function like the pesticide. However, they are far from being benign.

382 inert ingredients on the EPA’s list are or at one time were registered as active (pesticide) ingredients. 75 compounds are potentially toxic while 8 are considered to be of “toxicological concern.”

American consumers have become spoiled brats. They demand a wide variety of foods available 12 months of the year, most of which are either never grown in their region or not in season. So, to get them what they want the grocery industry sources fruits & vegetables from all over the world, not just the United States. Some of these countries are using chemicals that were banned in the U.S years ago, which are highly carcinogenic and toxic even in small doses. Many are labeled “Not For Use On Food”.

Unless you eat strictly an organic diet, your food is filled with pesticides. The best way to get food with less pesticide residue is to establish a rapport with a local farmer who does not use pesticides. Also, for a farmer to be CERTIFIED ORGANIC there is a tremendous cost and time consuming record-keeping. Some farmers use methods that go ‘beyond organic’ and this has proved to be just as good – if not better – than the ‘certified’ crops.

A neighbor commented that her 8 year old granddaughter is ‘developing.’  I shook my head  & thought, ‘ That’s too early.’  because it doesn’t seem right that an 8 year old should be heading into puberty.  It should be  at least around 11 or 12 at minimum. Studies over the past 20 years confirm that girls are maturing at an earlier age.

African-American girls have earlier onsets of puberty than White girls do by a year or two.  Average age for the start of breast development are about 8.8 yrs. for African-Americans as compared to about 10 for Whites.A study done in 1997, Herman-Giddons was compiled from the journal, Pediatrics and confirms that the age trend is lower.  Doctors and mothers report that indeed, girls are entering puberty much earlier than they did 30 or 40 years ago.

Why is this?  Several indications are that the increased use of chemicals and pesticides over the last 40 years have played a role.  These chemicals are endocrine disruptors, which throw the hormone levels off by mimicking other hormones, fooling the body.

Increased use of plastics in food containers (phalates) and personal care as well as all aspects of modern human life have shown to impact hormone responses.  Artificial ingredients in food, personal care products all contribute to messing up one’s system.  One study even focused on the hair products that African-Americans use versus that of White girls revealing that ingredients in African-American hair products were more likely to contain estrogen or placental products, again affecting hormonal responses.

Our lives are changing and chemicals are playing a large part.  Do what you can to eliminate them whenever possible.

What’s on your food?  Below is a list of the highest pesticide contaminated fruits and vegetables published by the Environmental Working Group.

This list allows you to make better choices when buying food.  Obviously, for the most tainted products, organic produce is best.   If you can’t get organic, check at your local farmer’s market to see if  local farmers use chemicals.  Many farmers are opting not to because of consumer concerns.  Although local food providers are not ‘certified organic’  (which is a very expensive and paperwork-intensive process) some farmers call themselves ‘beyond organic.’  This means that they go far beyond what the current USDA specifications for organic are.

Notice, too, that imported grapes (from Chile, for example) are higher in pesticides that their U.S. counterparts.

This makes it even more important that you adopt a detox regimen, drink pure water and rid your life of as many chemicals as you can.  This is why herbal detox remedies are important, as well as detox baths.  Add to this the benefits of massage and you’re on your way to a healthier life!

FoodNews: Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides

The Full List: 47 Fruits & Veggies

Note: We ranked a total of 47 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because we looked at both domestic and imported samples.

That organic food in your freezer or refrigerator is probably owned by Kraft, Cargill, Kellogg, Pepsi, Hershey, M&M, Coca Cola and others.  Click here fora link to research done by Phil Howard, Assistant Professor at Michigan University.

It’s obvious that ‘big food’ wants to cash in on the recent rise in demand for organics.  Private labels go from Wal-Mart, Costco, Sam’s Club, Kroger, Target and down to more ‘organic’ companies like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.

Ah, but things get dicey when the so-called ‘organics’ get caught with their pants down like Aurora Dairy did in 2007.  Co-mingling non-organic milk with organic, stepping outside the organic standards for feed and bedding,  moving cows from organic facilities to non-organic and continuing to claim milk was organic, and failure to process milk according to the National Organic Program (NOP), and along with a host of other violations. These ‘greenwashed’ products often contain pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones from cross contamination.

Wal-Mart too, has been involved in investigations which allege ‘greenwashing‘ of its products.

What IS Organic?  Watch this short video and see if you are making a difference with your purchases.

Organic certification is under attack.Go to these sites to read more about….

Beauty and Cosmetics: http://www.organicconsumers.org/bodycare/index.cfm

Food: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4756

To HELP PRESERVE ORGANICS, visit the Organic Consumer’s page and use their links to fight back FOR ORGANICS!

Because I feel very strongly about supporting local food endeavors and educating people on environmental issues, I recently  made an announcement of an upcoming showing of “Fresh, The Movie” and “Food, Inc.”

In my e-mail I stated: “Please keep this in the back of your minds to come to because these are two VERY IMPORTANT films that anyone concerned about our food supply really needs to see.”

I received an reply from a editor in the Charlottesville area:

“I question the validity of your statement that either or both of these films are important for everyone to see.”

Excuse me????

If you are truly concerned about our food system I would think that you’d want people to see these films.

If you feel that the public has been purposely kept in the dark by the FDA, USDA,  the food industry, large corporations like Wal-Mart, chemical giants such as Monsanto, fast food companies and large agribusiness concerns, how can you ‘question the validity’ of my attempt to educate consumers?

Current health statistics cite rising rates of cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, food allergies, birth defects and a host of diseases from our modern diet. Consumption of food laced with pesticides, additives, hormones, antibiotics, artificial colorings and flavorings are making people sick.  Society’s dependence on cheap processed foods, proffered by our ‘friends’ in the food industry and fast food chains, have led to a frightening rate of obesity, illness & premature death.  With this in mind, can you honestly say that either or both of these films are NOT important?

Pending legislation threatens the very existence of small farms and farmer’s markets across this country.  Passage, without amendments, will sound a death knell for small farmers and severely damage organic food concerns. If you support our farmers and local food initiatives, then I would hope you would be for the dissemination of this information.

If  you are committed to preserving the right of citizens to get their food directly from small farmers, instead of corporate giants who put profits ahead of the health of their customers, why then do you not support this venue?

Are you at all concerned about Monsanto and their tactics of bullying, spying on and putting small farmers out of business through litigation?

Do you question Monsanto’s worldwide monopoly for Round-Up Ready crops?  What about the environmental effect of farmer’s increasing use of  pesticides on  all GMOs?  Are you unfazed about the environmental impact of pesticides on the health of this planet & ALL of its inhabitants?

“Fresh” captured many accolades in 2009.  Among them were official selections from:  Environmental Film Festival, Sustainable Living Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Maine International Film Festival and the Kerry Film Festival.  It was reviewed far and wide, garnering praise for insightful views into the food world.

“Food, Inc” also was applauded in many circles last year.  In addition to the Gotham Award, it also was on the list for Academy Award for Best Documentary, the 25th Anniversary Spirit Award, and is on the list for an Oscar Award.

Everyone that I’ve talked to who has seen either (or both) agrees that these two films are important.

Methinks, dear scribe, that you are outnumbered!

As a child of the 50’s, I ate my share of frozen TV dinners. With the advent of the microwave and improved packaging technology, one can live their life without ever having to cook from scratch.

An article posted by Rachael Ray extols the benefits of the new frozen foods. Reading the ingredients, I noticed a ‘Seafood Multi-Pak’.  Hmmmm… knowing that many seafood varieties are imported from China, I’d pass on this one.  China’s dubious record for food purity is well documented.  Inspections of food from China at U.S. ports have turned up a scary list.  Do YOU trust imported Chinese food?  I don’t!

Pork from Hormel?  I’d skip that, too.  If you’ve seen either “Fresh” or “Food, Inc” or done any reading about the food industry at all you’d know that this ‘food’ isn’t really food.  The animals are fed hormones and antibiotics, which YOU are eating when you consume this food. They’re fed GMO corn, which has been sprayed with pesticides.

Knowing what I know about food, I would hardly say that these items are “New and Improved.” Read the ingredient listing on any frozen food and see how many words you can pronounce.  Some of the contents in food you probably don’t want to know… but should.

A recent study in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, has linked organ damage in mammals (rats) to consumption of Monsanto’s GMO corn, NK603, MON 810 & MON 863.  Closely monitoring each animal within set parameters for 90 days,  effects were noticed in the kidney, liver, heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system (formation of blood).  The study goes on to say that there is a potential toxicity relating to the pesticides specific to each species of corn.  It was noted by the scientists in the IJBS:

“Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity….These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods are currently unknown.”

In another GMO report, Greenpeace reiterated that Monsanto’s methods were not intrusive enough to detect inconsistancies in the parameters used in its testing.  In other words, the whole testing process is flawed.

Monsanto obviously complicates the test data by testing with unrelated groups, therefore there can be no clear conclusion.

GMOs have been linked to bee colony collapse and butterfly deaths.  Why wouldn’t this be so?  After all, the plants on which the bees and butterflies feed will kill them.  Between GMO crops and the use of pesticides on them, it is a death knell for pollinators.

GMO corn is in all of our food, be it from the U.S. or imported in food from China or other nations.

Forbes has even bought into the lie that Monsanto is ‘The Company of The Year”.  Read on and get sick!

We need to push for more organic food.  Consumers have a voice against GMO products.

Toxins make pain.  It’s a well documented fact that the more junk you’re carrying around in your system, the more you’ll be in pain.

Again I use myself as a case study.  Years ago worked at Lowe’s in the garden center and inside seasonal department.  I was around the pesticide area constantly.  I swept floors, handled the bags for customers, restocked the shelves. (never without gloves)  I started experiencing pain all through my body.  Sometimes at night it would wake me out of a dead sleep;  I’d wake up screaming as if I were being stabbed!

After I left Lowe’s, my constant pain stopped.  I was being poisoned by pesticides!

Being more conscious of what I eat, I find that when my diet gets ‘junky’ with processed foods slipping in, and dehydration,  I start to experience more pain.  Toxins are building up.  My movement is restricted, I hurt more all over and I find myself reaching for the bottle of aspirin.

A good detox bath with either Epsom salts or Dr. Singha’s Mustard Bath takes the edge off that.  It helps the cells release and rebuild. Damaged cells allow more toxins in.

Follow these rules:

• Go on a healthy, all natural (uncooked) food diet for a few days or a week.
• Eat enough fiber.  Elimination of toxins through waste is very important.
• Hydrate - Drink water, green teas, fresh juices - NO soda, fizzy water, juices with sugar or caffeine.
• Go for massages to help drain your lymph system and remove toxins and acids
• Take a detox bath using mustard bath and/or Epsom salts.
• Do what you can to eliminate stress:  learn meditation, go for walks outside; whatever calms you.

You can help your body heal, relieve pain and regenerate.

Organics from China probably aren’t.  As reported on the Organic Consumer site:

“One company that had an excellent opportunity to meet consumer expectations by supporting the growth of organic acreage in North America was Dean Foods, makers of the industry’s leading soy milk, Silk.  Instead, after buying the Silk brand, Dean Foods quit purchasing most of their soybeans from American family farmers and switched their primary sourcing to China.  This cost-cutting move helped them build their commanding soy milk market share using soybeans of questionable organic certification from China.

“White Wave (the operating division of Dean Foods that markets Silk and Horizon organic milk) had the opportunity to push organic and sustainable agriculture to incredible heights of production by working with North American farmers and traders to get more land in organic production, but what they did was pit cheap foreign soybeans against the U.S. organic farmer, taking away any attraction for conventional farmers to make the move into sustainable agriculture,” said Merle Kramer, a marketer for the Midwestern Organic Farmers Cooperative.

And now Dean, the $11 billion agribusiness behemoth and the nation’s largest dairy concern, has quietly abandoned organic soybeans in most of the Silk product line, switching to even cheaper conventional soybeans without changing UPC codes for retailers or lowering pricing to consumers.”

Furthermore, many small independent organic food producers are being bought by large corporations who are switching to imported products to boost profitability. This is how American companies are selling out to the Chinese in favor of cheap food with lower and potentially dangerous standards.

The Cornucopia Institute has issued a scorecard report that everyone who eats organics should read.

Hexane, a chemical which is a toxic petrochemical, is used to extract the oils and protein from soy products.