August 24, 2013 - Pushed globally as a beneficial to dieters since its approval in 1981, accumulating research indicates that aspartame may actually damage the brain and cause cancer, to name but a few of a wide range of adverse health effects consumers risk by using this 'no-calorie' sugar alternative.
Google "aspartame" and you will find http://www.aspartame.org/ in search result position #1. Billing itself as an 'Aspartame Information Center,' this website opens with "The Benefits of Aspartame," discussing how as a 'low-calorie' sweetener aspartame helps consumers with weight control, diabetes and the prevention of tooth decay. Read more: http://www.disclose.tv/news/Aspartame_Putting_the_DIE_into_dieting_since_1981/92717#ixzz2dGBiTmDE August 11, 2013 - Awareness about the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the food supply is at an all-time high throughout America, thanks in large part to the Proposition 37 ballot initiative in California. But many people are now asking the question, "If GMOs aren't labeled, how can I know whether or not the foods I buy contain them?" To help you make the best effort at avoiding GMOs while shopping at the grocery store, here are six recommendations on what to look for and what to avoid.
1) Avoid purchasing foods that contain non-organic soy, corn, cottonseed or canola ingredients. Practically every processed food found in the "middle aisle" section of the grocery store contains some form of soy, corn, cottonseed, or canola, all crops of which are typically GMO if not certified organic. Everything from cookies and crackers to cereals and snack food items contain them, which means you will want to avoid them like the plague. Common ingredients to specifically watch out for include some of the more obvious ones like high-fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, and canola oil. But several others you will want to be aware of include soy lecithin, an emulsifier added to all sorts of foods, including "health" foods, as well as soy protein, textured vegetable protein, mixed tocopherols (vitamin E), and food starch. Unless certified organic, all of these ingredients are likely GMO. 2) If PLU code on fruits, vegetables starts with an "8," avoid such produce. When shopping for fruits and vegetables, your first choice will want to be those labeled with a five-digit PLU that begins with a "9," which indicates that it is certified organic. Produce items containing a four-digit PLU are considered "conventional," which means they are not technically GMO, but may still contain pesticides and other toxic residues. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has created a helpful shopping guide for picking out safe produce. Produce items you will want to specifically and always avoid are those bearing a five-digit PLU beginning with the number "8," as these are GMOs. The vast majority of non-organic papaya, as well as several varieties of non-organic zucchini and squash are also of GM origin, so you will want to specifically purchase organic varieties of these foods as well. Genetic manipulators are also now working on a GM apple that does not turn brown, so watch out for any apple that stays unnaturally white when sliced or bruised. 3) Unless added sugar is specifically identified as "cane," it likely comes from GM sugar beets. At least 90 percent of the sugar beet crop grown in the U.S. is of GM origin, which means if any food product contains "sugar" or some other sugar derivative like glucose or sucrose, it is more than likely a GMO. Always look for "cane sugar," or preferably "evaporated cane juice," in order to avoid GM sugar. Raw agave nectar, pure stevia extract, and xylitol are also safe, non-GMO sugar and sugar substitutes. 4) If it contains artificial sweetener, it likely contains GMOs. The popular artificial sugar substitute aspartame, which goes by the trade names Equal, NutraSweet and AminoSweet, is produced using GM bacterial strains of E. coli, which means it, too, is a GMO. Anything containing aspartame is a no-no when it comes to food, and this useful Natural News infographic will help you discern many of the common food products that contain aspartame. 5) Watch out for ambiguous additives like xanthan gum, citric acid, maltodextrin, and other common GMO offenders. Many common food texturizing agents, flavor enhancers, thickeners, sweeteners, and fortifiers are also derived from GMOs. Some of the more common offenders include ingredients like xanthan gum, citric acid, maltodextrin, lactic acid, dextrose, caramel color, baking powder, malt syrup, modified food starch, mono and diglycerides, sorbitol, stearic acid, and triglycerides. The Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT) has created a helpful list of "invisible GM ingredients" that you can reference while shopping. 6) Avoid any dairy products that are non-organic, or that do not contain a "No rBGH" label. Unless a dairy product is specifically labeled as being certified organic, or as not containing the artificial growth hormone rBGH, which is sometimes labeled as rBST, it likely contains GMOs. Short for recombinant bovine growth hormone, rBGH is created using GMO E. coli just like aspartame, and is used in conventional cattle unless otherwise labeled. This means that all non-organic yogurt, cheese, butter, milk, and ice cream that does not specifically bear a "No rBGH" label of some sort is likely made with GMOs. Non-organic dairy cows are also likely fed GM feed, which means your best bet is to stick only with certified organic or non-GMO dairy products at all times. The Non-GMO Project has also developed a certification program by which food manufacturers can uniformly label food products not made with GMOs. Many food products now bear the Non-GMO Project "Verified" label, which will help give you peace of mind that the food you are buying is clean, safe, and free of GMOs. Sources and more information: • What's in a label? Possibly the source of your food In May, the Vermont House passed a controversial bill that would mandate labeling of foods that contain genetically modified organisms. The easy passage of House Bill 112 - the vote was 99-42 - shows that, as in 27 other states, there is broad interest in Vermont in labeling GMOs. But when the legislation is taken up by the Senate in January,... ( via naturalnews.com ) Read more: http://www.disclose.tv/news/Six_easy_steps_to_avoid_common_genetically_modified_foods/92207#ixzz2bunqmwhu ... In late 2010, after a long and unhappy antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease, my newest GP (who's still my doctor today), Chuck de Sieyes, MD, announced that he was referring me to Mansmann: "Because I have no idea what's going on with you, and he's one of the smartest guys around. And frankly, I've had it!" Mansmann had moved to Yarmouth with his wife and kids to be close to his parents, who'd retired in Maine. A third-generation allergist, he worked in his father's allergy clinic, at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, during high school. While in college at Saint Joseph's University, also in Philadelphia, he helped his dad develop two asthma drugs. Later, he headed an allergy and immunology clinic at a West Virginia hospital for 10 years.
Mansmann has a helmet of thick, graying hair and an intensely serious air. After escorting me into an exam room, he sat down across from me and promptly pushed aside my thick medical file. He'd read through it all, he said, but he wanted to hear the story from me. He listened patiently, asking questions every so often: When did my rashes flare? Was the pain an ache in my muscles, or did it feel deeper? Was I worse after I slept or at the end of the day? He seemed, as we spoke, to have all the time in the world. Then, with no pyrotechnics, he offered his theory: "I think it's possible you've developed a reaction to genetically modified corn." Genetically modified corn? Everyone's heard of GMO corn, but I realized I didn't know what it actually was. Mansmann explained that starting in the mid-1980s, the biotechnology giant Monsanto began to genetically alter corn to withstand its herbicide Roundup - the goal being to eradicate weeds but not crops - as well as to resist a pest called the corn borer. These small changes in the DNA of the corn are expressed by the plant as proteins. It's those proteins, Mansmann believes, that can act as allergens, provoking a multisystemic disorder marked by the overproduction of a type of white blood cell called an eosinophil. He swabbed inside my nose with a Q-tip, then placed the results under a microscope. "Take a look," Mansmann said. "See all those pink cells? Those are eosinophils." My nose, it seemed, was chock-full of them. When the immune system is working properly, eosinophils swarm certain invading substances, be they parasites or viruses, and work to eliminate them. Sometimes, however, an allergenic protein may prompt the immune system to release eosinophils. Then, it's as if a faucet gets turned on but can't be turned off - eosinophils just keep coming. Eventually they begin to leave the bloodstream and may infiltrate and damage the GI tract, esophagus, mucous membranes, lungs, the fascial system (the layer of connective tissue that surrounds the muscles, blood vessels, and nerves), and the skin - hence, the avalanche of symptoms. (Some allergists say that the best way to test for a true eosinophilic disorder is to look for the cells in the esophagus and GI tract with an endoscopy. But Mansmann thinks that once you have a preponderance of them in your nasal mucus, they're likely to be elsewhere.) Mansmann's advice was to strip all corn, even that marked organic, from my diet. "It's almost impossible to find a corn source in the United States that doesn't have the [protein] in it," he said. The U.S. government started approving GMO corn and soybeans for sale in the mid-1990s, and today, 88 percent of corn, and 93 percent of soybeans, are the transgenic varieties. Moreover, Mansmann and others contend that due to cross-pollination via winds, birds, and bees, there's no such thing anymore as a GMO-free corn crop. He estimated that it would take from two to four months of living without corn for the eosinophils to cycle out of my body, and almost a year before I'd feel entirely like myself. While I quickly discovered that blaming GMO foods for any kind of health problem is controversial in the medical and biotech worlds, what's beyond debate is the increase in the incidence of autoimmune disorders such as type 1 diabetes, lupus, and celiac disease, as well as of allergies. As for the latter, the National Health Interview Survey found, for instance, that since 1999, the number of children with foodallergies has jumped by 50 percent, and those with skin allergies by 69 percent (and the increase isn't merely a by-product of fuller reporting by parents, experts say). Allergenic eosinophilic disorders, however, aren't counted in that data. They were first identified about 20 years ago, according to a pioneer in the field, Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD, a professor at University of Cincinnati medical school and director of an affiliated center for eosinophilic disorders. "We're in the midst of an allergy and autoimmune epidemic," Rothenberg told me on the phone, "and the environment is the black box." Mansmann's GMO theory was "interesting," he went on, before quickly adding that "no one in conventional medicine will have the data" to prove it. Back in 2011, though, I was desperate enough that I was willing to try the diet Mansmann recommended. After all, how hard could it be to give up corn? The answer was: way harder than I imagined. Corn was my Waldo, popping up everywhere: in tea bags, juice, and cheese culture; it lined my "to go" coffee cups and plastic bags of frozen vegetables; it coated my store-bought apples and was on the bottom of restaurant pizza - almost everything my family used, no matter how piously natural and organic, had corn in it. It came under the guise of dozens of names like "xanthan gum," "natural flavors," "free-flowing agents," "vitamin E," "ascorbic acid," "citric acid," and "cellulose," to name a few. Almost daily, I'd find a new culprit. "Damn, this toothpaste is full of corn!" Then: "Wait, our dish soap is made from corn!" Or: "Oh my God, iodized salt has dextrose in it!" Not to mention the corn that is fed to animals whose meat and eggs I ate, whose milk I drank. I had to restrict my diet, Mansmann said, to vegetables, grains other than corn, grass-fed beef and dairy, wild fish, and game (if I was game). My husband and I threw ourselves into the corn-free diet with gusto: We began baking all our bread, we learned how to make our own flour tortillas and sweet treats like muffins and cakes. By luck, we met an intrepid farmer raising corn-free chickens (harder than you might guess, because chickens have literally been bred to get fat fast on corn). We eschewed anything premade and began gathering foods from local sources we could trust. I stopped taking every medicine or supplement with corn in it (which was most of them). Wherever I went, I took my own stainless-steel coffee cup. The first thing I noticed was that my skin rashes began to dissipate. Then, slowly, my body stopped aching, and I could walk or even jog easily, for the first time in years. I started to have more energy, and I slept better at night. The head cold went away - poof - and I wasn't going through a box of tissues a day. My hands became less stiff. I realized, in retrospect, that my frozen hands had been the hardest symptom to tolerate: I could barely button my son's small shirts or apply a Band-Aid, which made me feel useless as a mother. Almost four months later, in late May, I felt pretty much like my old self. I was so startled by my physical well-being that I didn't know how to enjoy it. Each night I'd go to bed preparing myself for the possibility that I might wake up sick again the next morning. Could GMO corn really be my problem? Could this blessed state really last? I couldn't let go; I had to know more. I decided to visit Rothenberg and his team of researchers endeavoring to crack open the black box... Read more: http://www.disclose.tv/news/The_Bad_Seed_The_health_risks_of_genetically_modified_corn/91712#ixzz2aicDbYi9 July 24, 2013 - As we’ve written before, the mysterious mass die-off of honey bees that pollinate $30 billion worth of crops in the US has so decimated America’s apis melliferapopulation that one bad winter could leave fields fallow. Now, a new study has pinpointed some of the probable causes of bee deaths and the rather scary results show that averting beemageddon will be much more difficult than previously thought.
Scientists had struggled to find the trigger for so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has wiped out an estimated 10 million beehives, worth $2 billion, over the past six years. Suspects have included pesticides, disease-bearing parasites and poor nutrition. But in a first-of-its-kind study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, scientists at the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture have identified a witch’s brew of pesticides and fungicides contaminating pollen that bees collect to feed their hives. The findings break new ground on why large numbers of bees are dying though they do not identify the specific cause of CCD, where an entire beehive dies at once. When researchers collected pollen from hives on the east coast pollinating cranberry, watermelon and other crops and fed it to healthy bees, those bees showed a significant decline in their ability to resist infection by a parasite calledNosema ceranae. The parasite has been implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder though scientists took pains to point out that their findings do not directly link the pesticides to CCD. The pollen was contaminated on average with nine different pesticides and fungicides though scientists discovered 21 agricultural chemicals in one sample. Scientists identified eight ag chemicals associated with increased risk of infection by the parasite. Most disturbing, bees that ate pollen contaminated with fungicides were three times as likely to be infected by the parasite. Widely used, fungicides had been thought to be harmless for bees as they’re designed to kill fungus, not insects, on crops like apples. “There’s growing evidence that fungicides may be affecting the bees on their own and I think what it highlights is a need to reassess how we label these agricultural chemicals,” Dennis vanEngelsdorp, the study’s lead author, told Quartz. Labels on pesticides warn farmers not to spray when pollinating bees are in the vicinity but such precautions have not applied to fungicides. Bee populations are so low in the US that it now takes 60% of the country’s surviving colonies just to pollinate one California crop, almonds. And that’s not just a west coast problem—California supplies 80% of the world’s almonds, a market worth $4 billion. In recent years, a class of chemicals called neonicotinoids has been linked to bee deaths and in April regulators banned the use of the pesticide for two years in Europe where bee populations have also plummeted. But vanEngelsdorp, an assistant research scientist at the University of Maryland, says the new study shows that the interaction of multiple pesticides is affecting bee health. “The pesticide issue in itself is much more complex than we have led to be believe,” he says. “It’s a lot more complicated than just one product, which means of course the solution does not lie in just banning one class of product.” The study found another complication in efforts to save the bees: US honey bees, which are descendants of European bees, do not bring home pollen from native North American crops but collect bee chow from nearby weeds and wildflowers. That pollen, however, was also contaminated with pesticides even though those plants were not the target of spraying. “It’s not clear whether the pesticides are drifting over to those plants but we need take a new look at agricultural spraying practices,” says vanEngelsdorp. - Quartz July 20, 2013 - How often are parents aware of the ingredients contained in the multivitamin that they feed their children? We often believe what we hear without ever questioning what mass marketing and media has to say about a product. In this case they have led thousands of parents to purchase multivitamins because they believe it has significant nutritional value. But do these vitamins truly provide nutritional benefit? If so, at what cost?
If we look at the Flintstones vitamin, (one of the top multivitamins in the United States) it contains a number of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), aspartame, aluminum, petroleum-derived artificial colours and more. All of these ingredients are not optimal for health and can be very toxic. You can view the entire list of ingredients here. Read more: http://www.disclose.tv/news/Top_Childrens_Vitamins_Full_of_Aspartame_GMOs__Harmful_Chemicals/91260#ixzz2Zh8FQjw4 What’s Going on in Honey Bee Colonies Worldwide?
Honey bees are continently exposed to numerous threats: pests and parasites (such as the Varroa mite or Nosema), bacterial diseases (foulbrood), fungal diseases (chalkbrood), viral diseases (invertebrate iridescent virus – IIV), and pesticides. Now honey bees are facing an even greater risk: Colony Collapse Disorder (or CCD), a little understood phenomenon in which worker bees from a colony abruptly disappear. Today, the disappearance of honey bees has transformed into a global epidemic, negatively affecting ecosystems in a multitude of environments. Since 2006, North American migratory beekeepers have seen an annual 30 percent to 90 percent loss in their colonies; non-migratory beekeepers noted an annual loss of over 50 percent. Similar losses were reported in Canada, as well as several countries in Europe, Asia, and Central and South America. Why Are Bees Dying & What is Causing this Epidemic? Because there are no bee bodies to examine, scientists are unable to determine the exact cause of death. Initial hypotheses were wildly different including environmental change-related stresses, malnutrition, pathogens (i.e., disease including Israel acute paralysis virus), mites, pesticides such as neonicotinoids or imidacloprid, radiation from cellular phones or other man-made devices, and genetically modified crops with pest control characteristics such as transgenic maize. Now mostscientists believe that CCD is the result of an unfortunate combination of many factors all of which work to increase the honey bee’s stress and reduce its immune system. Why Should We Care? The impact honeybees have on the human population and the environment is far more crucial than we may think. Agricultural crops rely on honeybees worldwide to provide them with life and guarantee their reproduction. Bees facilitate pollination for most plant life, including well over 100 different vegetable and fruit crops. Without bees, there would be significantly less pollination, which would result in limited plant growth and lower food supplies. According to Dr. Albert Einstein, “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination…no more men”. Bees’ eradication affects us more than we may think. What Are Scientists Doing to Help? Because a honey bee population collapse would mean an agricultural catastrophe, scientists have been working overtime in an attempt to determine the cause of CCD. Sceintists have linked CCD to many factors including the Varroa mite and Nosema. Recently, a Harvard biologist published a study directly linking the pesticide imidacloprid. Still the consensus is that multiple factors are to blame which is why many scientists are looking at ways to improve a honey bees health as the potential solution. How Can We Help? One of the easiest ways to help rejuvenate the honeybee population is to respect honeybees. Learning to preserve beehives and embrace bees’ roles in our ecosystem can be challenging, but the bees have a job to do and threatening their quality of life will consequentially threaten everyone’s. There are also proactive ways to encourage the regrowth of honeybee colonies. Plant bee-attracting flowers, sponsor honeybee research, or even become a beekeeper. Join a local beekeepers' association to become better informed about the care and keeping of honeybees and other steps you can take to stimulate colony growth and combat CCD. - Read More |
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