Striving4Zen

A new website from the Pesticide Action Network called What's On My Food shows you the side dish of chemicals you eat with each serving of food (WARNING: you will be AMAZED and HORRIFIED!). Using data from the USDA and EPA, the just-launched site lists the pesticides found on everything from almonds to watermelon.

So, you thought you were being "good" by eating oatmeal for breakfast? Well, you also inadvertently ate six different types of pesticides!

Serving broccoli with dinner? That's not all you're getting - add a sauce of 40 pesticides--five of them are known carcinogens and 19 are hormone disrupters.

You'll also see side-by-side comparisons between organic and conventional versions of each food. (Surprise: Even organic produce collects pesticides from the air.) Researchers still haven't determined a "safe" level of pesticides, but many experts think that reducing exposure is a smart move.

SOURCE

Labels: almonds, broccoli, chemicals, fruits and veggies, healthy eating, organic food, pesticides, produce, toxins

It's a hard reality for males of all species - pesticides and chemicals have put their genitals in jeopardy.

New research shows that the chemicals used in some food wrapping, cosmetics, baby powders and flame retardants have been identified as "endocrine disrupters" because they interfere with hormones.

These "gender-benders," as a new report calls them, can affect the male species in vertebrate animals, including baby human boys, who, when their mothers are exposed to widespread chemicals in pregnancy, are born with smaller penises and feminized genitals.

"This research shows that the basic male tool kit is under threat," says Gwynne Lyons, a former government adviser on the health effects of chemicals who wrote the report published by the charity CHEMTrust, which drew on more than 250 scientific studies from around the world.

Wildlife and people have been exposed to more than 100,000 new chemicals in recent years, and the European Commission has admitted that 99 percent of them are not adequately regulated.

Source

Labels: chemicals, hormones, pesticides, study, toxins

Yes. In fact, it's not surprising that dairy products are often the first foods shoppers buy when converting to organic. Frequently, parents find out about growth hormones in conventional dairy products — and they certainly don't want to expose their kids. Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH, aka rBST) has been associated with an increase in certain cancers, such as prostate, breast, lung, and colon. Although there isn't clear-cut proof that rBGH causes cancer, substantial evidence links rBGH with increased IGF-1, a hormone associated with higher cancer rates, says Martin Donahoe, MD, a member of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. Organic dairy is free of these hormones.

You might also buy organic dairy products to avoid antibiotics — which conventional cows are given prophylactically — and concentrated servings of chemicals originating from a dairy cow's diet. As with organic beef cattle, organic dairy cows are not allowed to eat feed that has been grown with pesticides. Many toxins — such as pesticides — are lipophilic, or “fat-loving,” so they accumulate in the animals' fatty tissues and are then released into their milk. Toxins can then pass into any products made from that milk, including butter, cheese, and yogurt.

Source

Labels: Dairy, hormones, organic, organic milk, pesticides, toxins

Labels: fruits and veggies, organic, pesticides

Yes, if you can't afford organic produce, you can still enjoy great health. If you can't buy organic produce, we would still encourage you to buy non-organic fruits and vegetables and enjoy a full array of different types.

However, we'd also recommend taking some additional steps with the non-organic produce that you purchase. It would be important to wash your non-organic fruit and vegetables very carefully so that you can remove some of the pesticide residues that may be present.

You may also want to peel conventionally grown cucumbers, eggplant, potatoes, and apples. This peeling recommendation would involve two factors. First, the outermost surfaces of fruits and vegetables may be the most affected by pesticide spraying. Second, the above types of produce often have petroleum-based wax coatings that may work against your best health.

The situation with the peeling of non-organic produce is exactly opposite from the situation with organic fruits and vegetables. With organic produce, you almost always want to keep the peels and skins intact because they are among the most nutrient-rich parts of any food.

Do you have a farmer's market near you? If so, you may want to buy your produce there. Even if it is not certified organic, chances are that it may contain less pesticide residues than produce available in larger grocery stores that do not focus on locally grown foods. Many small farmers don't go through the process of organic certification but still grow their produce with minimal, if any, agricultural chemicals.

SOURCE

Labels: fruits and veggies, healthy eating, organic, pesticides

Eat food, not food products. This doesn’t mean you have to forgo all forms of soy, but I’ll just say up front that food products with “the benefits of soy” conveniently added in just aren’t convincing me.

As I’ve said before, soy really needs some form of preparation before it’s safe to eat, and that in and of itself gives me pause. That said, minimally processed soy forms like fermented tempeh and miso as well as edamame seem like preferable options.

Soy processing isn’t a very comforting picture with acid washing and neutralization solutions, large and leaching aluminum tanks, and high temperature heating (rarely a good thing in the food world). And this doesn’t take into account the artificial flavorings, including MSG, that are often times added to improve flavor. (Hmmm. When we say healthy tastes great, we kind of mean a food itself and not all the chemical crap added to it. No?) Finally, it’s vital to go organic when it comes to soy. Not only is it nearly all genetically modified, it has one of the highest pesticide contamination levels of any crop.

Thanks Mark!

Labels: food, MSG, pesticides, soy, Whole Foods

On October 5, the EPA approved a new chemical fumigant for use on strawberries and other food crops across the U.S. The pesticide, methyl iodide, vaporizes quickly, causing it to drift far distances. Although the state of California has categorized it as cancer causing, and the EPA admits it causes thyroid tumors, the Bush Administration has been advocating approval of the fumigant for the better part of two years. In a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson on September 25, the nation's leading chemists asked EPA not to approve methyl iodide without further scientific review. The chemical has been used to induce cancer in laboratory experiments and causes neurological and thyroid problems, as well as miscarriages in studies with laboratory animals. Farmworkers, families, rural workers, and the food supply will now be subjected to exposure to the carcinogen unless the EPA revokes the approval immediately.

Please take action now: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_7580.cfm

Labels: chemicals, EPA, organic, pesticides

Dr. Mercola explains:
Some three years ago, I warned you about the fruits and vegetables containing the highest amount of pesticides as determined by the Environmental Working Group.
Now their new, updated list is out.
To stay away from pesticides that do great harm to your health, I urge you to download the EWG's complete listings of the best and worst whole foods at their Web site today. Remember that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers 60 percent of herbicides, 90 percent of fungicides and 30 percent of insecticides to be carcinogenic.
Pesticides can have many negative influences on health, including neurotoxicity, disruption of the endocrine system, carcinogenicity and immune system suppression. Pesticide exposure may also affect male reproductive function and has been linked to miscarriages in women.
That's just part of the reason why you should always be on the lookout for organically grown fruits and vegetables. Where traditional farmers apply chemical fertilizers to the soil to grow their crops, organic farmers feed and build soil with natural fertilizer.
Traditional farmers use insecticides to get rid of insects and disease, while organic farmers use natural methods such as insect predators and barriers for this purpose. Traditional farmers control weed growth by applying synthetic herbicides, but organic farmers use crop rotation, tillage, hand weeding, cover crops and mulches to control weeds.
The result is that organically grown food is not tainted with chemical residues, which can be harmful to humans.
The major problem most people have with organic food is the expense.
However, if you plan wisely, eating organically is actually quite affordable. A diet based on whole organic foods does not have to be cost-prohibitive for the average family or single consumer.
However, I'd like to say that if the choice is between fresh conventional vegetables and wilted organic ones, I would recommend you choose the conventional vegetables; old and wilted vegetables lose many of the vital micronutrients that make them so healthy.
If you do buy conventional vegetables, I certainly recommend that you go with the ones on the "Cleanest 12" list.

Labels: Mercola, organic, pesticides

May 9, 2007 -- Spring babies may be less intelligent, startling new research shows.
A study of more than 1.6 million elementary and high school kids between 8 and 15 found those conceived in May through August scored lower on math and language tests than children conceived during other months.
Dr. Paul Winchester of the Indiana University School of Medicine, who presented results this week at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, blamed environmental villains.
Higher levels of pesticides and nitrates can be found in surface water during the summer months, he noted.
"Exposure to pesticides and nitrates can alter the hormonal milieu of the pregnant mother and the developing fetal brain," he said.
"The pesticides we use to control pests in fields and our homes and the nitrates we use to fertilize our crops and even our lawns are at their highest level in summer."
Read the rest....

Labels: environment, pesticides