A Deadly Trade Secret in Our Food/Bacon, Sausage, hot dogs and Processed Meats

[Guest guest]

Elk Hollow© - Idaho

05/15/05 19:42:58

Subject:A Deadly Trade Secret in Our Food

A Deadly Trade Secret in Our Food

 

5/12/05 Author: Luise Light, MS, EdD

Source: Crusador

 

A Deadly Trade Secret in Our Food

Health authorities sound alarm about a toxin in food – but only tell us part

of the story.

By Luise Light, MS, EdD

 

 

It’s not often that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and

Agriculture Organization (FAO) alert the world to dangers of an industrial

chemical in processed food capable of causing cancer, nerve damage and

reproductive abnormalities. The UN agencies urged people to stop eating

starchy foods commercially made by frying, roasting and baking until levels

of the hazardous chemical, acrylamide, are reduced or eliminated.

 

Three years ago, Swedish scientists published a study that showed

significant levels of acrylamide in food products after commercial, high

temperature frying, roasting and baking of potatoes and grain products.

Processed foods with dangerously high levels of acrylamide were found in

many of the most popular foods consumed in North America by all age groups,

including children. High levels were found in: breakfast cereals, potato and

corn chips, French fries, bread, rolls, pizza and pastries, among other

foods.

 

International alarm followed from the discovery that high acrylamide levels

in foods greatly exceeded the EPA allowance for the chemical in drinking

water. For example, a large order of French fries was found to have 300

times more acrylamide than what EPA allows in a glass of water. Acrylamide

is a potent nerve toxin that affects male reproduction and causes birth

defects and cancer in animals, and is considered a probable human

carcinogen.

 

Polyacrylamide is a non-toxic material that, when exposed to heat and light,

readily breaks down to un-polymerized acrylamide, which is a neurotoxin.

Polyacrylamide is extensively used worldwide in many industrial processes

because it is highly soluble and, through gelling and binding actions,

stabilizes flows of materials. Widely used as an additive in water

purification systems, other uses are in the pulp and paper industry,

oil-drilling and mining, permanent press clothing manufacture, and contact

lens manufacturing. The chemical is also used as a gelling agent in the

making of explosives. Acrylamide resins coat home appliances, building

materials, and automotive parts, and are used in formulating cosmetics,

soaps, hair grooming products, dental fixatives, latex thickeners, and

adhesives.

 

Residues on foods come from extensive use of polyacrylamide in pesticide

formulations and soil treatments and they also may be responsible for

acrylamide contamination of processed foods reported by Swedish scientists.

The alert sounded by international health agencies suggested that the

Swedish findings probably resulted from chemical reactions in processing and

the release of chemicals during high temperature cooking and frying of

foods. But that wasn’t the whole story.

 

The WHO/FAO release didn’t mention that polyacrylamide is a well-known

additive to commercial pesticides. The Monsanto herbicide, Roundup©

(glyphosate), is mixed with polyacylamide and likely to release acrylamide

when exposed to heat and light in the field, according to Professor Joe

Cummins of the British Institute for Science and Society.

 

Crops genetically modified to be herbicide-tolerant of the pesticide

Roundup©, and the use of the herbicide to prepare soils for normal (non-GM)

crops results in the release of acrylamide into the environment. Additives

used in herbicide mixtures are trade secrets in North America so information

on polyacrylamides in pesticides has not been available until now.

Monsanto’s Roundup© is the primary glyphosate herbicide used in the world

today. Monsanto’s herbicides are all around us, and we can guess that

acrylamide is, too. Here’s how Monsanto describes the widespread use of its

product:

 

“Monsanto’s herbicide products include more than 90 glyphosate-based

herbicides globally, including Roundup agricultural herbicides and Roundup

branded turf and ornamental products. These products can be used to control

weeds on the farm, the golf course and in home gardens, create sustainable

agricultural systems that preserve topsoil, help retain soil moisture, and

provide a valuable tool for integrated pest management programs. They can be

used to help prepare deforested land for reforestation, reclaim land for

grazing or agriculture that has been taken over by weeds, restore wildlife

habitats, control roadside vegetation and rid school yards and parks of

noxious weeds like poison ivy, among many other uses.” (www.monsanto.com)

 

The UN agencies have called on governments to work with their food

industries to significantly lower the level of acrylamide in foods, noting

that it is currently technically feasible to do so. However, with health and

food agencies emphasizing the importance of consuming more anti-oxidant-rich

fruits and vegetables, believed helpful in mitigating the damage from toxic

contaminants, will we be exposed to even higher levels of the potent

neurotoxin, acrylamide? Furthermore, if there are residues of acrylamide on

vegetables, what will be the affects of consuming more vegetables? Neither

the USDA nor the EPA has conducted any testing of the health consequences of

acrylamide residues on vegetables.

 

Unless the problem of acrylamide-laced pesticides is tackled, changes in

processing and cooking methods are unlikely to make a dent in human exposure

to the chemical. A ban on use of polyacrylamide in agriculture, on golf

courses, schoolyards and parks is essential. While we’re at it, let’s also

ban corporate trade secrets known to be harmful to people and the

environment. As Wendell Berry, the great environmentalist, reminds us, “The

world that is around us is also within us. We are made of it; we drink, eat

and breathe it; it is the bone of our bone and the flesh of our flesh.” ##

 

Luise Light, MS, EdD expresses thanks to Pam Klebs for her assistance in

writing this article.

 

Watch for the release of Luise Light’s new book, What to Eat; 10 Things you

Really Need to Know about Eating for Health and Wellness, in spring, 2006.

My email is: luvalu365.

 

*****************************************

Bacon, Sausage, hot dogs and Processed Meats Hike Cancer Risk By 6700% Due

to Chemical Preservative

 

5/12/05 Author: Mike Adams

Source: NewsTarget.com

 

 

A chemical added to processed meat products is responsible for a 6700%

increased risk in pancreatic cancer, says author and nutritionist Mike

Adams. The conclusions are based in part on research conducted at the

University of Hawaii that reveals a 67-fold increased risk of pancreatic

cancer in people who consume large quantities of hot dogs, sausage and other

processed meats, versus those who consume little or no processed meat. The

study was led by Dr. Ute Nothlings and was announced at the annual gathering

of the American Association for Cancer Research.

 

While the study did not specifically name sodium nitrite as the cause of the

heightened cancer risk, the huge spike in toxicity and cancer risk can only

be explained by something added during meat processing, explains Mike Adams,

author of "Grocery Warning," a manual that teaches consumers how to avoid

foods that promote chronic disease. Information at:

http://www.TruthPublishing.com/GroceryWarning.html

 

"We've known for years that sodium nitrite consumption leads to leukemia in

children and brain tumors in infants," explained Adams. "Now we have a

large-scale study of nearly 200,000 people that provides solid evidence of

the link between processed meats and pancreatic cancer." The ingredient also

promotes colorectal cancer as it passes through the digestive tract.

 

If sodium nitrite is so dangerous, why do food producers continue using it?

The chemical is added primarily as a color fixer that turns meats a reddish,

fresh-looking color that appeals to consumers. Packaged meats like hot dogs

would normally appear a putrid gray, but with enough sodium nitrite added,

the meats can seem visually fresh even if they've been on the shelves for

months.

 

"Food producers use sodium nitrite for marketing reasons," says Adams. "It

makes their food products look visually appealing, even while that very same

ingredient promotes cancer when consumed." The USDA once tried to ban sodium

nitrite, but was unsuccessful due to political influence and lobbying

efforts of meat processing companies.

 

Sodium nitrite is only one of several dangerous, disease-causing ingredients

found in everyday foods and groceries, says Adams. In Grocery Warning, Adams

teaches readers how to avoid dangerous foods (see related ebook on dangerous

foods) and ingredients that promote diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's,

depression, behavioral disorders, cancer and many other common diseases.

"Today's food supply is toxic," says Adams. "And if we don't stop poisoning

our population through everyday groceries, disease rates will continue to

skyrocket."

 

Grocery Warning is a downloadable manual written for everyday consumers who

want to make healthier choices for themselves and their families. For more

information, visit: http://www.TruthPublishing.com/GroceryWarning.html

 

http://www.newstarget.com/007133.html

 

NewsTarget.com is part of the News Target Network ©2004,2005 All Rights

Reserved.

 

 

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What did you think before TV news did your thinking for you? It's time to

get your head out of the sand before the other end gets blown off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please share freely but do not deconstruct for copyright reasons.

julie