MSG now sprayed on growing crops !

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MSG makes me intolerably itchy and irritable. This is bad news. [CTRL] MSG now sprayed on growing crops !http://www.truthinlabeling.org/msgsprayed.htmMSG: Truth in Labeling Campaign -- http://www.truthinlabeling.org Monosodium Glutamate, MSG, glutamate, glutamic acid -- separating MSG-fact from MSG-fiction and industry propagandaMSG is Back in Baby Food - Sprayed Right on Crops as They GrowIn the 1970s, reluctant food processors "voluntarily" took processedfree glutamic acid (MSG) out of baby food. Today it's back, in aproduct called AuxiGro WP Plant Metabolic Primer (AuxiGro), beingsprayed on some of the vegetables our children will eat, into the airour children must breath, and onto the ground from which it can moveinto drinking water. Head lettuce, leaf lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes,and peanuts were among the first crops targeted. There is now no cropthat we know of that has not been approved for such spray by the USEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA).Use of processed free glutamic acid in plant "growth enhancers" to besprayed on all crops has been approved by the EPA. Even Californiawine grapes have been approved for spray with AuxiGro. Approval foruse on organic crops has also being requested.What's wrong with using glutamic acid, an amino acid found inprotein, as a spray on crops? 1. In protein, amino acids are found in balanced combinations. Use of free glutamic acid as a spray on crops throws the amino acid balance out of kilter. 2. It's not the glutamic acid found in protein that is being sprayed on crops, it's a synthetic product. The spray being used is called AuxiGro. The "free glutamic acid" or so called "L-glutamic acid" component being used by its manufacturer, Auxein Corporation, contains L-glutamic acid, an amino acid found in protein; but it also contains D-glutamic acid, pyroglutamic acid, and other chemicals referred to as "contaminants." The free glutamic acid used in AuxiGro is processed free glutamic acid. It is manufactured -- in chemical plants -- where certain selected genetically engineered bacteria -- feeding on a liquid nutrient medium -- excrete free glutamic acid. In contrast, the free glutamic acid found in protein, and the free glutamic acid involved in normal human body function, are unprocessed. free glutamic acid, and contain no contaminants. 3. No one knows what the long term effects of spraying processed free glutamic acid on crops will be. That there will be residue left on crops has not been disputed by Auxein Corporation. But no study of either the amount of that residue, or the least amount of processed free glutamic acid needed to cause a reaction in an MSG-sensitive person, has ever been done. "It should wash off" doesn't mean it will wash off. "It seems unlikely that such a small amount would cause a reactions" doesn't mean that a small amount will not cause a reaction or have long term health effects. Free glutamic acid is known to be toxic to the nervous system. But the neurotoxic effects that processed free glutamic acid will have on animals that consume the plants on which it is sprayed - effects over and above any effects caused by external glutamic acid residue - have never been evaluated. Neither are there data on the effects that spraying processed free glutamic acid will have on drinking water. Consider, also, that children are most at risk from the effects of processed free glutamic acid. Their undeveloped blood-brain barriers leave them most at risk from exposure to processed free glutamic acid. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that infant animals fed processed free glutamic acid when young, develop neuroendocrine problems such as gross obesity, stunted growth, and reproductive disorders later in life, and that they also develop learning disabilities. Auxein Corporation did not address that particular safety issue in its application to the EPA. 4. No one knows how little glutamic acid is needed to kill a single brain cell or to trigger an adverse reaction. 5. Free glutamic acid is a neurotransmitter. It causes nerves to fire, carrying nerve impulses throughout the nervous system. 6. Free glutamic acid is a neurotoxin. Under certain circumstances, free glutamic acid will cause nerves to fire repeatedly, until they die. 7. Processed free glutamic acid kills brain cells. The free glutamic acid ingested by laboratory animals that caused brain lesions and neuroendocrine disorders was very often given in the form of the food ingredient "monosodium glutamate." "Monosodium glutamate" is the name of a particular food additive. Processed free glutamic acid is the reactive component in "monosodium glutamate," just as processed free glutamic acid is a reactive component in AuxiGro. The glutamate industry research done in the 1970s that was submitted to the EPA by the Auxein Corporation, that pretended to find that processed free glutamic acid is "safe," was later refuted by independent scientists. Indeed, at the present time, neuroscientists attempting to develop drugs to block the toxic effects of free glutamic acid are using processed free glutamic acid to selectively kill certain kinds of brain cells. 8. Processed free glutamic acid causes neuroendocrine disorders in maturing animals that ingest processed free glutamic acid early in life. 9. Processed free glutamic acid causes learning disorders in maturing animals that ingest processed free glutamic acid early in life. 10. Processed free glutamic acid crosses the placental barrier and causes learning disabilities in animal offspring of dams that ingest it. 11. Processed free glutamic acid has access to the brain through the blood-brain barrier, which is not impervious to the unregulated flow of processed free glutamic acid. The blood-brain barrier is immature at birth and continues to develop up to puberty. In certain areas called the circumventricular organs, the blood barrier is never impervious to the unregulated flow of free glutamic acid. In addition, the blood-brain barrier is easily damaged by such events as high fever, a blow to the head, drug use, stroke, ingestion of processed free glutamic acid, and the normal process of aging. 12. The National Institutes of Health recognize glutamic acid as being associated with addiction, stroke, epilepsy, degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and ALS, brain trauma, neuropathic pain, schizophrenia, anxiety, and depression. 13. For years, free glutamic acid has been produced and used in food additives with names such as monosodium glutamate, sodium caseinate, and hydrolyzed soy protein. In some people, the processed free glutamic acid in food additives causes adverse reactions that include migraine headache, asthma, arrhythmia, tachycardia, nausea and vomiting, depression, and disorientation. The processed free glutamic acid in prescription and non-prescription drugs, food supplements, and cosmetics also causes adverse reactions. There are badly flawed industry-sponsored studies that have pretended to find that processed free glutamic acid does not cause adverse reactions. Inappropriate procedures used by the glutamate industry have included limiting subjects to people virtually guaranteed not to be sensitive to processed free glutamic acid, and/or using processed free glutamic acid or other similarly reactive substances in placebos as well as in test material. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has based its claim that processed free glutamic acid causes only mild and transitory reactions on those badly flawed industry-sponsored studies. 14. According to the EPA, the food additive called "monosodium glutamate" causes adverse reactions. 15. According to the FDA, the food additive "monosodium glutamate" contains processed free glutamic acid. 16. According to the FDA, consumers refer to all free glutamic acid as "MSG." 17. In reviewing the application of Auxein Corporation for use of processed free glutamic acid in a spray to be applied to crops as they grow, the EPA failed to conform to the requirements of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which require, in part, that the EPA review any proposed action for validity, completeness, reliability, and relationship to human risk. The EPA also ignored Executive Order 13045 which requires government agencies to consider available information concerning the variability of the sensitivities of major identifiable subgroups of consumers, including infants and children. For example, Auxein Corporation sent the EPA 14 industry-sponsored toxicological studies from the literature, all done in the 1970's, but failed to mention hundreds of studies in the literature that refuted those 14 studies. For example, although processed free glutamic acid causes brain lesions and neuroendocrine disorders in infant animals, this special hazard faced by infants was ignored by Auxein Corporation. It would appear that Auxein Corporation restricted its consideration of "available information" to information made available by the glutamate industry; and the EPA, even after having been sent abstracts from other "available information," has not challenged the Auxein Corporation applications. A more complete discussion of the shortcomings of the EPA approvals granted to Auxein Corporation has been submitted to the EPA. 18. Questions about the safety of spraying processed free glutamic acid on plants and into the environment have been raised by the Truth in Labeling Campaign and by individual consumers. The EPA has refused to address those concerns. The EPA, and, in particular, EPA spokesperson Dr. Janet Andersen, has failed to respond to allegations that in approving the spraying of processed free glutamic acid, the EPA failed to consider the reliability, validity, and completeness of the Auxein Corporation application or comply with Executive Order 13045 entitled Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks, except to say that the EPA had complied with executive order 13045. Moreover, while responding to letters that asked direct questions of the EPA, Andersen failed to respond to most, if not all, of the direct questions contained in those letters.How, then, does Andersen excuse the fact that the EPA approvedprocessed free glutamic acid for use in an EPA approved spray? First,says Andersen, the free glutamic acid used in the spray is naturallyoccurring, and it's 99.3 per cent pure pharmaceutical gradeL-glutamic acid. But it would seem that in admitting that the freeglutamic acid in AuxiGro is not 100 per cent pure L-glutamic acid,and that it is pharmaceutical grade, Andersen has contradictedherself, and actually made the point that 1) if the free glutamicacid used in AuxiGro were truly natural, it wouldn't be"pharmaceutical grade;" and 2) if the free glutamic acid used inAuxiGro were truly natural it would be 100 per cent, not 99.3 percent pure L-glutamic acid.Andersen says something else very interesting. She says that the EPAis well aware of the fact that MSG causes adverse reactions. However,when Andersen uses the term "MSG" she is referring to the one foodingredient called "monosodium glutamate," and not to the freeglutamic acid in "monosodium glutamate" that causes adverse reactions.What Andersen has done is very clever. What she has said makes nosense at all. No one has ever claimed that the processed freeglutamic acid in AuxiGro comes out of a box labeled "monosodiumglutamate." So for her to say it doesn't, is meaningless. On theother hand, the claim has been made that the free glutamic acid inAuxiGro will cause the same brain lesions, neuroendocrine disorders,adverse reactions and other diverse disease conditions that arecaused by the free glutamic acid in "monosodium glutamate" and theother food additives that contain processed free glutamic acid. Thatclaim is true, but Andersen does not address it. How do you refutesomeone who ignores legitimate questions and spews out irrelevantstatements as though they pertained to your legitimate questions? Youdon't. The EPA defense of its approval of use of processed freeglutamic acid in plant "growth enhancers" and its registration ofAuxiGro has two parts to it: 1) ignoring those who question EPAactions, and 2) making the irrelevant statement that AuxiGro does notcontain MSG (monosodium glutamate).Andersen has never addressed the criticism that approvals given toallow the use of free glutamic acid and the product AuxiGro by theEPA were inappropriate. The EPA won't discuss it. The media won'tmention it. And uninformed or irresponsible farmers may use theproduct.The EPA, which approved the used of processed free glutamic acid inplant "growth enhancers," made a grievous error. But instead ofrecognizing and remedying that error once it was pointed out to them,the EPA began a cover-up. That cover-up included use of ambiguouswords and phrases, half-truths, and downright lies told to consumers.The cover-up continued (and continues still) with a variation ofthose ambiguous words and phrases, half-truths, and downright liestold to legislators who inquire about spraying MSG into theenvironment. For detail, see EPA lies to the legislatureAuxiGro, the first plant "growth enhancer" to hit the market, hasbeen approved for spraying on every crop we know of. Even beforeconsumers had an inkling that crops were being sprayed, the Truth inLabeling Campaign received reports that MSG-sensitive consumers hadgotten sick from head lettuce and potatoes.Federal Register notices chronicling the application and approval ofprocessed free glutamic acid are available on the Web via GPO Access,the Federal Register, through:http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html Application wasmade to the EPA in 1997 and testing of the product was approved inthat year, also. Glutamic acid was granted an exemption fromestablishment of a tolerance limit in January, 1998. AuxiGro was alsoapproved for use on a number of crops in January, 1998, and approvedfor use on other crops later, but no announcement was made in theFederal Register.Sales literature promoting AuxiGro will be found athttp://www.auxein.com While Federal Register notices included thefact that there is processed free glutamic acid (MSG) in AuxiGro, thesales literature from Auxein Corporation did not mention the factthat their product contains free glutamic acid until the Truth inLabeling Campaign began to broadcast that information. Now (November,1999), Auxein has added deceptive, misleading, and untrue statementsin an elaboration of its Product Page, wherein they essentially makethe untrue assertion that the glutamic acid used in AuxiGro ischemically and biologically identical to that found in plants andanimals.If you think you might be reacting to AuxiGro sprayed on crops,contact Auxein Corporation and the EPA at the addresses that follow.The Truth in Labeling Campaign would appreciate receiving copies ofyour letters.John L. Mclntyre, Ph.D.President & CEOAuxein Corporation3125 Sovereign Drive, Ste. BLansing, MI 48911-4240Phone: (888) 828-9346Fax: (517) 882-7521E-Mail: sales(From time to time, their web page, http://www.auxein.comcan be accessed by password only.)Carol BrownerAdministratorEnvironmental Protection Agency401 M. Street SWRoom 1200 West TowerWashington, DC 20460202/307-7400www.epa.govIt would be much appreciated if you would copy and distribute thismaterial, including our Web address for those who might be interested.Truth in Labeling Campaign, P.O. Box 2532, Darien, IL 60561adandjack 858/481-9333 http://www.truthinlabeling.org