INGREDIENTS TO AVOID IN COMMERCIAL DOG FOOD
BEEF AND BONE MEAL – (protein source):BAD OR HARMFUL INGREDIENT
A byproduct made from beef parts which are not suitable for human consumption.
It can incorporate the entire cow, including the bones, but the quality cuts of meat are always removed.
This is an inexpensive, low quality ingredient used to boost the protein percentage.
MEAT BY-PRODUCT – (protein source):BAD OR HARMFUL INGREDIENT
Pet grade meat by-products consist of organs and parts either not desired, or condemned, for human consumption.
This can include bones, blood, intestines, lungs, ligaments, heads, feet, and feathers. – This can also include the dreaded 4 D’s – ( Dead, dying, diseased or dying prior to slaugther).
The animal parts used can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination.
Any kind of animal can be included: goats, pigs, horses, rats, misc. roadkill, animals euthanized at shelters and so on. It can also include pus, cancerous tissue, and decomposed (spoiled) tissue.
MEAT AND BONE MEAL – (protein source):BAD OR HARMFUL INGREDIENT
The animal parts used can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination. Any kind of animal can be included: “4-D animals” (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter), goats, pigs, horses, rats, misc. roadkill, animals euthanized at shelters and so on.
It can also include pus, cancerous tissue, and decomposed (spoiled) tissue.
BEEF TALLOW – (fat source):BAD OR HARMFUL INGREDIENT
Used to make lower quality dog foods palatable, instead of using quality fat sources such as nutritionally rich chicken fat, or human grade vegetable oil.
ANIMAL FAT – (fat source):BAD OR HARMFUL INGREDIENT
Animal fat is a “generic” fat source that is most often made up of rendered animal fat, restaurant grease, or other oils too rancid or deemed inedible for humans.
Look for a named fat source, such as poultry or chicken fat, that is naturally preserved.
CORN – (filler/fibre source/vegetable):
*NOTE: no redeemable nutritious value in any dog food listing this as their first ingredient. It is a useless filler that is a known cause of allergies and is difficult for dogs to digest.
CORN OR WHEAT GLUTEN MEAL – (Binder):Bad Dog Food Ingredients
This is the remainder of the corn after the best parts of the corn have been removed.
It does absolutely nothing for the animal and actually is difficult to digest and is used as a cheap binder.
WHEAT FLOUR – (fibre source)
Wheat is the leading cause of dog allergies. Absolutely useless with no nutritional value whatsoever.
This is the fine particles of wheat bran, wheat germ, and the offal from the “tail of the mill.” “Tail of the mill” means the floor sweepings of leftovers in the mill after everything has been processed from the wheat.
FOOD FRAGMENTS – (filler/fibre source/carbohydrate source): BAD OR HARMFUL INGREDIENT
Low cost by-products and left overs from another food manufacturing process. Examples include WHEAT MIDDLINGS AND SHORTS, (Floor sweepings), WHEAT GERM MEAL, WHEAT BRAN and BREWER’S RICE (a waste product of the alcohol industry).
Also look for and avoid fragments which are labelled POTATO PRODUCT, MIDDLINGS/MIDS or MILL RUN of any kind.
Unspecified grain sources like :CEREAL FOOD FINES, CORN BRAN, OAT HULLS, RICE HULLS, PEANUT HULLS, DISTILLERS GRAIN FERMENTATION SOLUBLES, and last but not least CELLULOSE (which is wood which is dried and ground up)
*NOTE: These ingredients listed above are all ALLOWED AS ACCEPTABLE INGREDIENTS IN THE AAFCO GUIDELINES!!!!!!
SOY FLOUR – (filler/carbohydrate):BAD OR HARMFUL INGREDIENT
Another cheap allergy causing ingredient used as a filler. This is the leftover “dust” after the healthy cleaned and dehulled soybeans are processed. Sometimes sweepings from the factory floor.
BREWER’S RICE – (carbohydrate source):BAD OR HARMFUL INGREDIENT
A cheap substitute for whole grain rice.
SUGAR – (flavour soure) :BAD OR HARMFUL INGREDIENT
Also listed as Cane molasses , corn syrup in any form, sugar, sorbitol, sucrose, fructose, glucose, ammoniated glycyrrhizin, propylene glycol.) : Useless, uneccessary and adds empty calories. Bad ingredients used by companies to make food more palatable to the animals if the ingredients themselves aren’t enough to make the dog or cat actually want to eat it.
Used to cover up rotten and rancid foods, and is known to cause hypoglycemia, obesity, nervousness, cataracts, tooth decay, arthritis and allergies.
ANIMAL DIGEST – (flavouring agent):BAD OR HARMFUL INGREDIENT
Unspecified parts of unspecified animals, cooked down into a goopy broth (rendered) and used as a spray on or added directly to the food.
The grease that rises to the top is used as a source of fat and the rest of the mash is dried and used as “meat meal”.
No quality control is used and this can include “4-D animals” (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter), goats, pigs, horses, rats, misc. roadkill, animals euthanized at shelters, restaurant and supermarket refuse and so on.
ABOUT THE RENDERING PROCESS: All these undesirable ingredients & by products are “denatured” before rendering. Denaturing is spraying crude carbolic acid, cresylic disinfectant or citronella on these dregs. ( *NOTE: THESE DENATURING PRODUCTS ARE TOXIC.)
COLORING (Blue 2, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Titanium Dioxide):BAD OR HARMFUL INGREDIENT
Any colouring is completely unnecessary and should be avoided. Your dog doesn’t care about the pretty coloured shapes, and artifical dyes and colouring agents are known cancer causing agent, and also causes allergies.
Used in “junk dog food”.
PROPYLENE GLYCOL -(additive):
Used in antifreeze solutions, in hydraulic fluids, and as a solvent. May be toxic if consumed in large amounts, and should definitely not be an ingredient in a food an animal will eat daily for weeks, months or even years of its life. This is not allowed for use in Europe as the findings have shown it to be dangerous.
BHA (Butylated Hydroxysanisole), BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene), and ETHOXYQUIN (Preservatives):
Banned from human use in many countries but still permitted in the US. Possible human carcinogen, apparently carcinogenic in animal experiments.
Ethoxyquin has also been used as a pesticide for fruit. It has never been proven to be safe for the lifespan of a companion animal.
It has been linked to thyroid, kidney, reproductive and immune related illnesses as well as cancer.
HYDROCHLORIC ACID:
Used in Kibbles n Bits – I really can’t find out why they use it but it is a caustic chemical agent used in the production of chlorides, fertilizers, and dyes. Hydrochloric acid can cause immediate pain and burns of the mouth, throat, esophagus and gastrointestinal tract. Simple common sense would indicate not to use this as a pet food ingredient!
*NOTE: MENADIONE SODIUM BISULFITE- BAD OR HARMFUL INGREDIENT
This synthetic version of vitamin K has not been specifically approved for long term use, such as in pet food. It has been linked to many serious health issues. If you are not aware of this, it sounds like one of the healthy vitamins, but beware.
The MSDS guide states :
“Potential Chronic Health Effects:
CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS: 3 (Not classifiable for humans) by IARC.
MUTAGENIC EFFECTS: Mutagenic for mammalian somatic cells.
The substance is toxic to kidneys, lungs, liver, mucous membranes.
Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organs damage.”
do not buy: ol roy walmart, pedigree, alpo, hill's scientific, beneful, purina, kibbles and bits
See more at: http://recipes4gourmetdogs.com/bad-dog-food-ingredients/#sthash.kceXOBYR.dpuf
sojourners march 13 p12: bryan fischer, director of issue analysis for the american family association "where he provides expertise on a range of public policy issues"
"Fischer said that not using all the coal and gas and oil we could find was an affront to god--it would hurt god's feelings. in fact, he offered an analogy: once i opened up a birthday present that i didn't like, and i said it right out, oh, i don't like those, he explained. and the person that gave me the gift was right there. and it just crushed that person. and you think, that's kind of how we're treating god when he's given us these gifts of abundant and inexpensive and effective fuel sources, fischer added. and we don't think him for it and we don't use it...you know god has buried those treasures there because he loves to see us find them." makes you wonder about solar and wind doesn't it?
sojourners same issue p5 about oswald chambers. "...chambers even opined that someone who 'reads only the bible does not, as a rule, know it or human life'"
wed 7-10-13 jamie sent email from weems about june application. don't include phone bills or rental ins for micafe applications. don't do for over $700/month income. don't make notes--she doesn't read them. too many. don't apply for emergency (i guess even if person wants to check box) only if eviction or shut off notice. did i have micafe training? she did dhs 760-2722
battling potato bugs and mosquitos when picking berries. good year for berries, crabapples and probably grapes. great year for mosquitos esp when it's hot and raining.
where your gas money goes online at www.ucsusa.org/gasmoney
old fashioned 70's label maker source for tapes dymo.com 13$
patio furniture repair www.chaircarepatio.com 1 866 638 6416
To think about before you start: This exercise involves using the free software Autodesk 123d Catch to make a 3d model. You can read about 123d Catch at http://www.123dapp.com/catch.
almost a closing on dad's house but. . . woman pulled the offer. guess the basement is the concern. however when we went to sign the purchase sat -- and i wouldn't -- agreement because in the pack were the sheets from the 2009 listing--disclosing at that date that the breezeway leaked, chimney leaked, old roof, etc. all of which have been replaced or fixed (the main house just this may for around 6,000. main electric box brought up to code, bathroom w/outlet, lights replaced, and tub w/new shower) hummm, makes me wonder whose responsibility it is to fix the disclosures. realtor knew of all of these--in fact a few weeks ago he said to me he needed to tell listing person to add the new roof to the ad. well now i have learned and knowledge is power. in 2008 the city of burton said it was 'worth' 117,000; the offer last week started at 32,000 but did nearly hit 1/3 of that 117,000. this year the 'value' went UP to nearly 57,000. again hummm. makes it easy to see how all those people upside down on mortgages were hurt and why they bailed.
The Monsanto Menace
July 24th, 2013
The feds see no evil as a belligerent strongman seeks control of America’s food supply
Village Voice
By Chris Parker
By Chris Parker
When you’re good at something, you want to leverage that. Monsanto‘s specialty is killing stuff.
In the early years, the St. Louis biotech giant helped pioneer such leading chemicals as DDT, PCBs, and Agent Orange. Unfortunately, these breakthroughs had a tendency to kill stuff. And the torrent of lawsuits that comes from random killing put a crimp on long-term profitability.
So Monsanto hatched a less lethal, more lucrative plan. The company would attempt to take control of the world’s food supply.
It began in the mid-’90s, when Monsanto developed genetically modified (GM) crops such as soybeans, alfalfa, sugar beets, and wheat. These Franken-crops were immune to its leading weed killer, Roundup. That meant that farmers no longer had to till the land to kill weeds, as they’d done for hundreds of years. They could simply blast their entire fields with chemicals, leaving GM crops the only thing standing. Problem solved.
The so-called no-till revolution promised greater yields, better profits for the family farm, and a heightened ability to feed a growing world. But there was one small problem: Agriculture had placed a belligerent strongman in charge of the buffet line.
Monsanto knew that it needed more than genetically modified crops to squeeze out competitors, so it also began buying the biggest seed businesses, spending $12 billion by the time its splurge concluded. The company was cornering agriculture by buying up the best shelf space and distribution channels. All its boasting about global benevolence began to look much more like a naked power grab.
Seed prices soared. Between 1995 and 2011, the cost of soybeans increased 325 percent. The price of corn rose 259 percent. And the cost of genetically modified cotton jumped a stunning 516 percent.
Instead of feeding the world, Monsanto simply drove prices through the roof, taking the biggest share for itself. A study by Charles Benbrook, a research professor atWashington State University, found that rapidly increasing seed and pesticide costs were tamping farmers’ incomes.
To further corner the field, Monsanto offered steep discounts to independent dealers willing to restrict themselves to mostly selling Monsanto products. And the arrangements brought severe punishment if independents ever sold out to a rival.
Intel had run a similar campaign within the tech industry, only to be drilled by the European Union with a record $1.45 billion fine for anti-competitive practices. Yet U.S. regulators showed little concern for Monsanto’s expanding power.
“They’re a pesticide company that’s bought up seed firms,” says Bill Freese, a scientist at the Center for Food Safety, a nonprofit public-interest and environmental-advocacy group. “Business-wise, it’s a beautiful, really smart strategy. It’s just awful for agriculture and the environment.”
Today, Monsanto seeds cover 40 percent of America’s crop acres—and 27 percent worldwide.
“If you put control over plant and genetic resources into the hands of the private sector . . . and anybody thinks that plant breeding is still going to be used to solve society’s real problems and to advance food security, I have a bridge to sell them,” says Benbrook.
Seeds of Destruction
It didn’t used to be like this. At one time, seed companies were just large-scale farmers who grew various strains for next year’s crop. Most of the innovative hybrids and cross-breeding was done the old-fashioned way, at public universities, and the results were shared publicly.
“It was done in a completely open-sourced way,” says Benbrook. “Scientists at theU.S. Department of Agriculture exchanged all sorts of seeds with other scientists and researchers all over the world. This free trade and exchange of plant genetic resources was the foundation of progress in plant breeding. And in less than a decade, it was over.”
The first crack appeared in 1970, when Congress empowered the USDA to grant exclusive marketing rights to novel strains, with two exceptions: Farmers could replant the seeds if they chose, and patented varieties had to be provided to researchers.
But that wasn’t enough. Corporations wanted more control, and they got it with a dramatic, landmark Supreme Courtdecision in 1980, which allowed the patenting of living organisms. The decision was intended to increase research and innovation. But it had the opposite effect, encouraging market concentration.
Monsanto would soon go on its buying spree, gobbling up every rival seed company in sight. It patented the best seeds for genetic engineering, leaving only the inferior for sale as conventional, non-GM brands. (Monsanto declined an interview request for this story.)
Biotech giants Syngenta and DuPont both sued, accusing Monsanto of monopolistic practices and a “scorched-earth campaign” in its seed-company contracts. But instead of bringing reform, the companies reached settlements that granted them licenses to use, sell, and cross-develop Monsanto products. (Some DuPont suits drag on.)
It wasn’t until 2009 that the Justice Department, working in concert with several state attorneys general, began investigating Monsanto for antitrust violations. But three years later, the feds quietly dropped the case. (They also ignored interview requests for this story.)
“I’m told by some of those working on all of this that they had a group of states that were seriously interested,” says Peter Carstensen, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. “They had actually found private law firms that would represent the states on fairly low fees—basically quasi-contingency—and then nobody would drop a dime. Some of the staff in the antitrust division wanted to do something, but top management—you say the word ‘patent,’ and they panic.”
Set the Lawyers to Stun
Historically, farmers have been able to save money on seeds by using those produced by last year’s crops for the coming year’s planting. But such cost-saving methods are largely a thing of the past. Monsanto’s thick contracts dropped like shackles on the kitchen tables of every farmer who used the company’s seed, allowing Monsanto access to farmers’ records and fields and prohibiting them from replanting leftover seed, essentially forcing farmers to buy new seed every year—or face up to $3 million in damages.
Armed with lawyers and private investigators, the company has embarked on a campaign of spying and intimidation to stop any farmer from replanting seeds.
Farmers call them the “seed police,” using words such as “gestapo” and “mafia” to describe the company’s tactics. Monsanto’s agents fan out into small towns, where they secretly videotape and photograph farmers, store owners, and co-ops; infiltrate community meetings; and gather information from informants. Some Monsanto agents pretend to be surveyors; others confront farmers on their land and try to pressure them into signing papers that give Monsanto access to their private records.
Leading the charge, says Carstensen, is the private police force that once terrorized union organizers from another generation. “You know who does their policing?” he chuckles ruefully. “The Pinkertons. These are the strikebreakers, the railroad goons. It’s déjà vu all over again.”
In one case, Monsanto accused Indiana farmer David Runyon of illegally using its soybean seeds. Runyon claims the company threatened to sue for patent infringement, despite documentation proving that he’d bought non-patented seed from local universities for years. Monsanto’s lawyer claimed the company had an agreement with the Indiana Department of Agriculture to search his land.
One problem: Indiana didn’t have a Department of Agriculture at the time.
But most cases never go to trial. In 2006, the Center for Food Safety estimated that Monsanto had pressured as many as 4,500 farmers into paying settlements worth as much as $160 million.
Yet Monsanto wanted even more leverage. So it naturally turned to Congress.
Earlier this year, a little-noticed provision was slipped into a budget resolution. The anonymous measure, pushed by Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt, granted the company an unheard-of get-out-of-jail-free card widely known as the Monsanto Protection Act.
Despite indications that GM foods could have adverse health effects, the feds have never bothered to extensively study them. Instead, they’ve basically taken Monsanto’s word that all is kosher. So organic farmers and their allies sued the company in 2009, claiming that Monsanto’s GM sugar beets had not been studied enough. A year later, a judge agreed, ordering all recently planted GM sugar-beet crops destroyed until their environmental impact was studied.
The Monsanto Protection Act was designed to end such rulings. It essentially bars judges from intervening during lawsuits—a notion that would seem highly unconstitutional.
Not that Congress noticed. Monsanto has spent more than $10 million on campaign contributions in the past decade—and another $70 million on lobbying since 1998. The money speaks so loudly that Congress has become tone-deaf.
In fact, the U.S. government has become Monsanto’s de facto lobbyist in countries distrustful of GM safety. Two years ago, WikiLeaks released diplomatic cables showing how the feds had lobbied foreign governments to weaken laws and encourage the planting of genetically modified crops in third-world countries.
The leaks also showed State Department diplomats asking for money to fly in corporate flacks to lean on government officials. Even Mr. Environment, former vice president Al Gore, was key in getting France to briefly approve Monsanto’s GM corn.
These days, the company has infiltrated the highest levels of government. It has ties to the Supreme Court (former Monsanto lawyer Clarence Thomas), with former and current employees in high-level posts at the USDA and the FDA.
But the real coup came when President Obama appointed former Monsanto vice president Michael Taylor as the FDA’s new deputy commissioner for foods. It was akin to making George Zimmerman the czar of gun safety.
Trust Us. Why Would We Lie?
At the same time that Monsanto was cornering the food supply, its principal products—GM crops—were receiving less scrutiny than an NSA contractor.
Monsanto understood early on that the best way to stave off bad publicity was to limit research. Prior to a recently negotiated agreement with major universities, the company had severely restricted access to its seeds. Filmmaker Bertram Verhaag’s 2010 award-winning documentary, Scientists Under Attack: Genetic Engineering in the Magnetic Field of Money, noted that nearly 95 percent of genetic-engineering research is paid for and controlled by corporations like Monsanto.
Meanwhile, former employees embedded in government make sure the feds never get too nosy.
Michael Taylor has turned that into an art form. He’s gone back and forth from government to Monsanto enough times that it’s no longer just a revolving door; it’s a Batpole. During an early ’90s stint with the FDA, he helped usher bovine growth hormone milk into the food supply and authored the decision that kept the government out of Monsanto’s GM crop business.
Known as “substantial equivalence,” it declared that genetically modified products are essentially the same as their non-GM counterparts—and therefore require no additional labeling or testing for food safety or toxicity. Never mind that no accepted science backed his theory.
“It’s simply a political calculation invented by Michael Taylor and Monsanto and adopted by U.S. federal policy-makers to resist labeling,” says Jim Gerritsen, a farmer in Maine. “You have this collusion between corporations and the government, and the essence is that the people’s interest isn’t being served.”
The FDA is a prime example. It approves GM crops by doing no testing of its own; it simply takes Monsanto’s word for their safety. Monsanto spokesman Phil Angell says the company agrees that it should have nothing to do with verifying safety: “Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible,” he told the New York Times. “Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job.”
So if neither Monsanto nor the government is doing it, who is?
The answer: no one.
We’ve Got a Bigger Problem Now
So far, it appears that the GM revolution has done little more than raise the cost of food.
A 2009 study by Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, looked at four Monsanto seeds and found only minimal increases in yield. Since GM crops cost more to produce, their economic benefit seemed questionable at best.
“It pales in comparison to other conventional approaches,” says Gurian-Sherman. “It’s a lot more expensive, and it comes with a lot of baggage . . . like pesticide use, monopoly issues, and control of the seed supply.”
Use of those pesticides has soared as weeds and insects become increasingly resistant to them. Since GM crops were introduced in 1996, pesticide usage has increased by 404 million pounds. Last year, Syngenta, one of the world’s largest pesticide makers, reported that sales of its major corn-soil insecticide more than doubled in 2012, a response to increased resistance to Monsanto’s pesticides.
Part of the blame belongs to a monoculture that developed around farming. Farmers know it’s better to rotate crops and pesticides and leave fields fallow for a season. But when corn prices are high, who wants to grow a less profitable crop? The result has been soil degradation, more static yields, and an epidemic of weed and insect resistance.
Weeds and insects are fighting back with their own law: that of natural selection. Last year, 49 percent of surveyed farmers reported Roundup-resistant weeds on their farms, up from 34 percent the year before. The problem costs farmers more than $1 billion annually.
Pests like Roundup-resistant pigweed can grow as thick as your arm and more than six feet high, requiring removal by hand. Many farmers simply abandon weed-choked fields.
In order to kill the pests, chemical giants like Monsanto and Dow are developing crops capable of withstanding even harsher pesticides, resulting in an endless cycle of greater pesticide use at commensurate financial and environmental cost.
Nature, as it’s proved so often before, will not be easily vanquished.
“We are not making our agriculture more resistant to environmental stress, not lowering the amount of pesticides, and not creating a sustainable agricultural system that works,” says Mary-Howells Martens, an organic grain farmer in New York. “There are so many things that are short-term, quick-buck kind of things, without any kind of eye to if this is going to be a good deal long-term.”
Next Stop: The World!
The biggest problem for Monsanto’s global growth: It doesn’t have the same juice with foreign governments as it does with ours. That’s why it relies on the State Department to work as its taxpayer-funded lobbyist abroad.
Yet this has become increasingly difficult. Other nations aren’t as willing to play corporate water boy as our government is. The countries that need GM seeds often can’t afford them (or don’t trust Monsanto). And the nations that can afford them (other than us) don’t really want them (or don’t trust Monsanto).
Ask Mike Mack, CEO of the Swiss biotech giant Syngenta. The Swiss, he argues, are more interested in environmental safety and food quality than in saving a few pennies at the grocery store.
“Switzerland‘s greatest natural resource is that it is a beautiful country that brings in a lot of tourism,” he says. “If the Swiss could lower their consumption spending by 1 percent by applying high-productivity farming, they probably would not do it if it requires changing their approach to how they think about food. Countries like Switzerland are a good example where such things as GM food would be very difficult and perhaps commercially inadvisable.”
Maybe Europe has simply been around the block enough to know better than to entrust its health to a bottom-line mentality. Although the European Union imports 30 million tons of GM crops annually for livestock feed, it’s approved only two GM crops for human consumption.
In April, biotech companies took another hit when the European Union banned neonicotinoids—aka “neo-nics”—one of the most powerful and popular insecticides in the world. It’s a derivative of nicotine that’s poisonous to plants and insects. German giant Bayer CropScience and Syngenta both make neo-nics, which are used to coat seeds, protecting crops in their early growth stages. In America, 90 percent of the corn crop comes with the coating.
The problem is that plants sweat these chemicals out in the morning dew, where they’re inadvertently picked up by bees.
Last year, Christian Krupke, a professor of entomology at Purdue University, did one of the first studies linking neo-nics to the collapse of bee colonies, which threatens the entire food system. One-quarter of the human diet is pollinated by bees.
These mysterious collapses—in which bees simply fly off and die—have been reported as far back as 1918. Yet over the past seven years, mortality rates have tripled. Some U.S. regions are witnessing the death of more than half their populations.
“We’re looking at bee kills, persistently during corn-planting time,” Krupke explains. “So what was killing these bees at corn-planting?”
While he’s still not sure how much responsibility the chemicals bear, his study indicates a link to Monsanto’s GM corn, which has been widely treated with neo-nics since 2005.
But while other countries run from the problem, the U.S. government is content to let its citizens serve as guinea pigs.
What’s Mine Is Yours
The same worries apply to contamination from GM crops. Ask Frank Morton, who grows organic sugar-beet seeds in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and is among the few non-GM holdouts.
This became abundantly clear in 2010, when a federal judge demanded that all U.S. farmers stop planting GM sugar beets. Farmers were surprised to find that there was very little non-GM sugar-beet seed to be had. Since the GM variety was introduced in 2005, Monsanto had driven just about everyone out of the market.
Morton’s farm is just two miles from a GM sugar-beet farm. Unfortunately, beet pollen can travel as much as five miles, cross-pollinating other farmers’ fields and, in the case of an organic farmer, threatening his ability to sell his crop as organic and GM-free. The contamination can arrive in the most benign ways.
Morton recalls how a landscaper bought potting soil from a nearby GM beet farm, then sold it to homeowners throughout the area. A scientist from Oregon State University discovered the error. Morton claims the landscaper was forced to retrieve the soil—lest nearby farms become contaminated—paying his customers $100 each to not say anything.
It’s especially galling because GM crops have perverted longstanding property law. Organic farmers, for example, are responsible for protecting their farms from contamination, since courts have consistently refused to hold GM growers liable.
Kansas farmer Bryce Stephens had to stop growing organic corn and soybeans for fear of contamination; he has 30-foot buffer crops to protect his organic wheat. (Wheat pollen doesn’t travel far.)
“Monsanto and the biotechs need to respect traditional property rights and need to keep their pollution on their side of the fence,” says Maine farmer Jim Gerritsen. “If it was anything but agriculture, nobody would question it. If I decided to spray my house purple and I sprayed on a day that was windy, and my purple paint drifted onto your house and contaminated your siding and shingles, there isn’t a court in the nation that wouldn’t in two minutes find me guilty of irresponsibly damaging your property. But when it comes to agriculture, all of a sudden the tables are turned.”
Contamination isn’t just about boutique organic brands, either. It maims U.S. exports, too.
Take Bayer, which grew unapproved, experimental GM rice at test plots aroundLouisiana State University for just one year. Within five years, these plots had contaminated 30 percent of U.S. rice acreage. No one’s certain how it happened, but Bayer’s rice was found as far away as Central America and Africa.
Within days of the announcement, rice futures lost $150 million in value, while U.S. rice exports dropped by 20 percent during the next year. (Bayer ended up paying $750 million in damages.)
Last month brought another hit. A Monsanto test of GM wheat mysteriously contaminated an Oregon farm eight years after the test was shut down. Japan andSouth Korea immediately halted imports of U.S. soft white wheat—a particularly harsh pill for the Japanese, who have used our white wheat in nearly all their cakes and confectionery since the 1960s.
Monsanto’s response? It’s blaming the whole mess on eco-terrorism.
Just Label It
Given the company’s history, is it any wonder that developing countries like Ecuador,Peru, and Haiti have shied away from GM crops? Haiti felt strong enough that in the wake of its 2010 earthquake, it turned down Monsanto’s offer of seeds, even with assurances that the seed wasn’t GM.
Brazil is poised to become the world’s largest soybean exporter on the strength of Monsanto seed. Still, the country’s farmers aren’t big fans of the company. Thousands are suing Monsanto for more than $600 million after the company continued to charge them royalties two years after the expiration of its patent.
Trust, unfortunately, has never been Monsanto’s strong suit. It’s become one of the main motives behind the push for GM labeling.
“If they’re going to allow the American people to be lab rats in an experiment, could they at least know where it is so they can decide whether they want to participate or not?” asks Lance Harvell, a Republican state representative from Maine. “If the FDA isn’t going to do their job, it’s time we stepped in.”
Last month, Harvell’s GM-labeling law overwhelmingly passed the Maine House (141-4) and Senate (35-0) and awaits the governor’s signature. That makes Maine the second state (nine days after Connecticut) to pass a GM-labeling law.
The Right to Know movement has picked up steam since chemical companies defeated California’s labeling initiative, thanks to a $46 million publicity campaign full of deceptive statements. A recent ABC News poll found that 93 percent of Americans surveyed support GM labeling.
When Vermont raised the issue a year ago, a Monsanto official indicated that the company might sue. But the states are smart. The new laws in both Maine and Connecticut won’t take effect until other states pass similar legislation, so they can share defense costs.
What’s interesting is that Harvell, by his own admission, is a very conservative Republican. Yet on this issue, left and right have the same quest for greater caution.
“God gave the seed to the earth and the fruit to the trees,” Harvell says. “Notice it didn’t say he granted Monsanto a patent. The human body has developed with its seeds. You’re making a major leap into Pandora’s box—a quantum leap that maybe the human body isn’t ready to make yet.”
As more information comes out, it’s increasingly clear that GM seed isn’t the home run it’s portrayed to be. It encourages greater pesticide use, which has a negative impact on the environment and our bodies. And whether or not GM food is safe to eat, it poses a real threat to biodiversity through monopolization of the seed industry and the kind of farming monoculture that inspires.
Meanwhile, a study by the University of Canterbury in England found that non-GM crops in America and Europe are increasing their yields faster than GM crops.
“All this talk about feeding the world, it’s really PR,” explains Wenonah Hauter, author of Foodopoly and executive director of Food & Water Watch. “The hope is to get into these new markets, force farmers to pay for seed, then start changing the food and eating habits of the developing world.”
Since farming is such a timeworn tradition, there’s a tendency to take it for granted, and that worries a lot of people. But as much as he hates GM, Bryce Stephens is sanguine.
“I’ve seen changes since I was little to where it is now,” the Kansas farmer says. “I don’t think it will last. This land and these people here have gone through cycles of boom and bust. We’re just in another cycle, and it will be something different.”
Providing we don’t break it irreparably first
Visit us for more healthy recipes, tips and support: https://www.facebook.com/
1) Toothpaste: Buff a CD/DVD
Apply toothpaste to a cotton ball and wipe the disc. Wash with water afterwards and you’ve got a brand new disc!
2) Cornstarch: Untangle Knots
Sprinkling cornstarch into tough knots, such as shoe laces helps loosen them.
3) Walnut: Buff Dings out of Wood Furniture
Get rid of unsightly scratches and dings on wood furniture by rubbing a walnut on the areas. The blemishes will vanish quickly and your furniture and pocket book will be saved.
4) Club Soda: Make Your Breads Fluffier
When baking, where recipes call for water, add club soda instead to make pancakes, waffles and any other breads fluffier.
5) Salt: Keep Windows Frost Free
Pour a cup of salt into a liter of water. Sponge the liquid onto the inside of window to prevent frost from forming during the winter months.
6) Rubbing Alcohol: Remove Permanent Marker
Dab the surface that has the permanent marker on it with a cloth or cotton ball covered in rubbing alcohol to make it disappear quickly.
7) Chap stick: Stops Bleeding When Nicked Shaving
Cut yourself shaving? Just swipe some chap stick over the cut to stop that constant bleeding. No more tissue squares!
Apple Juice: Removes Dandruff
Don’t ask how it works, but it does! Instead of buying a special shampoo, just wash your hair in apple juice to rid your scalp of pesky dandruff.
9) Aspirin: Get Rid of Armpit Stains on T-Shirts
Grind up an aspirin tablet or two, then make a paste out of it using water, lemon or vinegar. Spread the paste on the stained area and let sit for an hour before washing.
10) Olive Oil: Make Pets’ Coat Shinier
Add a bit of olive oil to your pet’s food to give them a healthier, shinier coat of fur.
11) Newspapers: Clean Windows and Mirrors
Instead of using a spray and a streaky cloth, use only newspaper to clean off your mirrors and windows for a streak-free finish.
12) Baking Soda: Remove Bugs from Windshield
Mix baking soda with warm water to make a paste. Spread the paste over your windshield for fifteen minutes. Then wipe or spray off with a hose.
13) Bleach: Extend Life of Flowers in Vase
Add a few drops of bleach to vase water to prevent the build-up of the slime caused by bacteria. It works just like chlorine in a swimming pool.
14) Kitchen Dish Soap: Flea-Killing Dog Shampoo
Kitchen dish soap (not dish detergent) can double as dog shampoo for its flea killing abilities.
15) Coke: Remove Blood Stains from Clothing
Soak the stain in coke until the stain is dissolved, then wash the clothing as usual. Wash before the coke dries, though.
16) Honey: Remove Blemish Overnight
Have a blemish you need to get rid of by tomorrow? Put a dab of honey on the blemish and cover it up (it’s best to use a Band-Aid) and the honey’s natural antibacterial properties will clean out the bacteria by the morning.
17) Wax Paper: Clean Can Opener Gears
Run a few small strips of wax paper through the can opener to clean out of the bits and pieces that have built up in the gears throughout the year. The wax will also rub off on the gears to protect for future use as well.
18) WD-40: Remove Crayons from Walls
Use the lubricant and a cloth to remove stubborn crayon marks from the walls just by spraying the wall and wiping with a cloth.
19) Chalk: Keep Ants and Slugs Out of the House
Ants and Slugs Won’t Touch Chalk. So, simply draw a line in front of your doorway where you are having problems with these pesky critters and they won’t cross it, meaning they won’t be able to get into your house.
20) Vinegar: Kills Weeds and Helps Flowers Grow
Vinegar is a magic wonder when it comes to gardening. It not only kills weeds but they help flowers grow as well. Douse vinegar all around your garden to prevent weeds from popping up and to help your flowers to grow healthy and strong.
21) Mayonnaise: Remove Bumper Sticker
Spread mayonnaise on the bumper sticker and let sit for at least thirty minutes. Then, rub the sticker off with a towel, leaving a clean bumper!
22) Tin Foil Ball: Replace Dryer Sheets Permanently
Instead of using a dryer sheet ball up one or a few sheets of tin foil and toss it in the dryer. It removes the static electricity from your clothes and one can last up to a year.
23) Banana Peel: Polish Leather Shoes
Use the inside of a banana peel to give shoes a professional and natural shine that will last for quite some time.
24) Mouthwash: Cure Athlete’s Foot
Pour mouthwash on cotton balls and then swab your feet. The alcohol will disinfect the bacteria completely if you continue this for a week or so.
25) Baking Soda: Clean BBQ Grill
Mix a cup of baking soda with half a cup water to make a paste. Dip your brush into the paste and scrub the grill. The caked on pieces and black residue will come off much quicker and using baking soda is much safer and cheaper than using cleaning chemicals.
26) Coffee Grounds: Fertilizer
Coffee is full of nutrients and vitamins that are very beneficial to soil. That’s why some people include it in compost piles. If you want to get the most out of your coffee, pour the grounds on areas where you want more grass or flowers.
27) Olive Oil: Shaving Cream
The smoothness of the oil can replace the need for shaving cream, and it also provides great moisture.
28) Dryer Sheets: Gets Rid of Static Electricity
Use dryer sheets to remove static electricity from things such as clothing, TV screens or your own hair. Tame fly away strands by running a dryer sheet over them.
29) Freezer: Freeze Candles to Make Them Last Longer
Put candles in the freezer for at least 2 hours before using. Once you burn them, the wax will melt at a much slower pace, making them last much longer!
30) Two glasses of water: Cure Headache
Water is the cure to most common headaches. To make the headache go away quickly, drink two cups of water very quickly.
31) Lemons: Deodorize Garbage Disposal
Toss whole slices of lemon into the garbage disposal then run it. The acidity of the lemon will rid your sink of all odors and leave a fresh scent that usually lasts for a few months.
32) Alka Seltzer: Remove Burnt-On Grease and Food Stains
When letting your pots and pans soak, throw in one or two Alka Seltzer tablets and the caked on residue from cooking will come off easily when you scrub/wash.
33) Apple Cider Vinegar: Relieve Diarrhea
Mix two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar into eight ounces of water to soothe your stomach. The taste may not be the greatest, but the antibacterial properties of the vinegar will end the unpleasantness of the bowel problems.
34) Toothpaste: Remove Scratches from Glass
Apply toothpaste to scratch, then rub with a cloth until the scratch is gone. Make sure the glass is clean beforehand.
35) Cheerios: Relieve Pain from Poison Ivy, Chickenpox and Sunburns
Pound one to four cups of Cheerios into a powder and add to your bath to soothe your skin while you soak. You may not feel relief while in the tub, but you will soon after.
36) Buttons: Sort Earrings
Organize your earrings and prevent them from becoming entangled by using spare buttons as holders for each pair.
37) Corn Oil: Prevent Hairballs for Pets
Add a few drops of corn oil to your pets’ food to prevent hairballs from forming. The thick oil helps the fur pass through the animal’s system much quicker and easily.
38) Whipped Cream: Remove Gum from Hair
There are many remedies for removing gum from hair, but this is a lesser known one. Give it a try rather than peanut butter the next time you’re in need.
39) Coke: Remove Oil Stains from the Driveway
Oil stains are very difficult to remove pavement, but one method guaranteed to work is Coke. The highly acidic drink will eat away at the oil until clean.
40) Brown Sugar: Facial Scrub
A scrub is good to do about once a month to remove dead skin and bacteria built up in pores and remove excess oil from the skin. Brown sugar does just as well as expensive products and will definitely result in a clearer and smoother complexion.
41) Dryer Sheet: Lint Brush
You already know that dryer sheets remove lint in the dryer. Well, it can do the same thing out of the dryer, too. When you’re in a fix, use a dryer sheet. It works just as well as a lint brush, and if you like the scent, it’s an added bonus.
42) Newspaper: Deodorize food containers and Food Drawers in the Refrigerator
For that stinky Tupperware or smelly refrigerator drawer that is too much to deal with, toss in a sheet of newspaper overnight before you deal with it. The paper will absorb the smell greatly reducing it or eliminating it completely.
43) Olive Oil: Unstick a Zipper
The oil will help the zipper slide more easily, fixing the problem!
44) Salt: Cool Something Quickly
You know that feeling when you’re having a BBQ and someone asks for a drink and you realize that no one has put them in the cooler? There’s nothing worse than a warm drink on a hot day. Chill a drink quickly, by adding salt and water to your ice. The drinks will be cold in a matter of minutes; saving your party and making you look smart all at once.
45) Scotch Tape: Prevent Wall from Chipping When Nailing
The wall can leave unsightly chips when hammering in a nail. Prevent this by simply placing a piece of scotch tape over the area you’re going to nail. The wall will be held tighter, preventing chips from occurring.
46) Alka Seltzer: Soothe Insect Bites
Dissolve two tablets into a glass of water. Then use a cloth or cotton ball to apply it to the affected area. The red will go down and most importantly, the itchiness will vanish usually in fifteen minutes.
47) Lemon: Whitens Whites
Add about half a cup of lemon juice to your load of whites to makes them extra white. You can use lemon juice with bleach or detergent, so don’t worry about mixing chemicals with the acidic lemon.
48) Banana Peel: Whiten Teeth
This may sound a little odd, but rub the inside of a banana peel on your teeth twice a day for two weeks and you will receive the same effect from a teeth-whitening kit. Plus, you’ll save yourself money and the hassle of using chemicals.
49) Hair Dryer: Free Photos Stuck on Pages
If you have a photo stuck on a page that you can’t get free, try using a blow dryer on the back of the page. It will loosen the photo from the page and the adhesive holding it there.
50) Banana Peel: Heal Most Skin Problems
Bananas are the magical fruit, because they heal many common problems on the skin. By rubbing the peel on your skin, you can heal bruises and cuts and eliminate rashes, itching and warts. Basically if you have a common skin problem, it can be cured by this fruit.
No comments:
Post a Comment