As
we continue to manipulate nature in detrimental ways to ensure our
comforts, we put one of our great needs at risk: food. From creating
polluted environmental conditions that both contaminate and deplete
food, to putting weird chemicals in our food that just do not belong, we
continue to take everything natural out of nature; and it’s biting
us in the you-know-what.
Here are five stories about food in the news this week that you should be concerned about:
1. GM Foods May Cause Tumor Growth, Premature Death
Genetically
modified foods — foods developed by altering an animal or plant’s DNA
via genetic engineering — most likely make their way onto your dinner
plate in the form of corn, tomatoes, potatoes or soybeans. And now, a
new controversial study states that these GM foods are linked to tumor
growth and premature death.
In a new
study
led by Gilles-Eric Séralini at the University of Caen in France,
Séralini used 200 lab rats (rude) to test the effects of GM corn as well
as an herbicide called Roundup — both of which are used by industrial
agriculture giant Monsanto. Séralini said that what made his study
different was the amount of time he spent conducting it — two years,
which is much longer than the 90-day period standard for feeding
studies. In this time frame, he found that rats fed GM corn or given
water containing Roundup were much more likely to develop tumors or die
before they would have from normal age.
While many scientists have called Séralini’s
methods into question,
supporters of a ballot measure that would require GM foods to be
labeled have used the study as support for their cause. The Californian
measure, called Proposition 37 (or The California Right to Know
Genetically Engineered Food Act)
aims to “help consumers make informed choices about the food they eat.”
Nutrition scientist Marion Nestle
wrote
that she had concerns about Séralini’s “weirdly complicated” study, but
that the contentious science behind GM foods shouldn’t derail
Proposition 37 and its labeling campaign.
She stated:
The
California Prop. 37 proponents (and I’m totally with them) already have
a strong “right to know” argument. They don’t need to be distracted by
the kinds of scientific arguments that are already raging about this
study.
2. Arsenic in Your Rice
Consumer Reports recently
released new research that found high levels of arsenic in rice as well
as other rice products such as rice breakfast cereals, rice baby cereal
and rice pasta. According to the International Agency for Research on
Cancer, arsenic is a Group 1 carcinogen known to cause bladder, lung and
skin cancer.
Consumer Reports tested more than 200 samples of
rice products — traditional and organic, notable brands and store bands —
and found significant levels of arsenic levels in all of them.
Popular brands
tested in the study included Goya, Uncle Ben’s, Gerber, General Mills,
Kellogg’s and Quaker. The study found that consuming a single serving of
rice could contain one and a half times more arsenic than drinking a
day’s worth of water containing arsenic at 5 parts per billion — the
Environmental Protection Agency’s originally proposed limit for arsenic
in drinking water.
So how does arsenic get in rice? While the USA
Rice Foundation is claiming arsenic is a “a naturally occurring element
in soil and water,”
Consumer Reports stated that humans are
mainly to blame. U.S. agricultural and industrial producers have used
about 1.6 million tons of arsenic since 1910, making the United States
the world’s leading arsenic user. We use arsenic for a variety of
purposes,
such as to treat lumber and to manufacture glass. Also, the practices
we use to make more food faster and cheaper cause arsenic to contaminate
rice. For example, arsenical pesticides and fertilizers linger in the
soil, while animals are fed food-containing arsenic to make them
plumper.
Consumer Reports has demanded that the EPA phase
out pesticides and fertilizers containing arsenic and that the Food and
Drug Administration ban feeding of arsenic-containing drugs to animals.
In the meantime, the group stated that consumers should test their
water for arsenic, lessen their rice intake and switch from brown rice
to white, which contains less arsenic. Rinsing rice thoroughly until
water is clear also lessens arsenic intake.
3. Popcorn Can Cause Respiratory Problems
When
Wayne Watson, 59, went to the doctor after having trouble breathing, he
was shocked when she asked him, “Have you been around a lot of
popcorn?” Watson had. In fact, he had been eating two bags of microwave
popcorn a day for the past ten years. The doctor diagnosed him with
“popcorn lung,” a respiratory disease in which small airways of the lung
become scarred and tighten up, making it difficult to breathe. Workers
at plants who inhale diacetyl, an artificial flavoring that gives
popcorn its buttery taste, are usually the victims of the disease. A
recent
study even linked diacetyl to Alzheimer’s.
Watson
was recently awarded $7 million in damages, with the popcorn’s
manufacturer, Glister-Mary Lee Corp., being 80 percent at fault. The
jury stated the supermarket where he purchased the popcorn was 20
percent at fault.
Watson said he barely eats popcorn any more.
He
said: “Occasionally we'll pop some on the stove the old fashioned way."
4. Mercury in School Lunches
Do
you like your tuna sandwiches? Well, they may contain something not so
delicious. A council of consumer groups are now urging the U.S.
Department of Agriculture to get tuna out of school lunches after
studies show tuna may contain high levels of mercury. The Vermont branch
of the Mercury Policy Project, an organization that raises awareness
about the health and environmental threats of mercury, tested 59 canned
tuna samples sold to schools in 11 states. The Project found highly
variable levels of mercury, even among tuna that came from the same can;
the average methylmercury content ranged from 0.02 to 0.64 parts per
million in light tuna, and between 0.19 and 1.27 parts per million in
albacore tuna.
Methylmercury is a more hazardous type of mercury,
formed after bacteria contacts the mercury in fish. Fish become
contaminated with mercury due to industrial pollution. Because albacore
live longer than other species of tuna, they accumulate more mercury in
their bodies and are therefore more dangerous to consume. According to
the EPA, even tiny levels of methylmercury have been linked to learning
disabilities in children. They limit methylmercury intake to a tiny
amount. The Project stated that a 44-pound child who eats merely two
ounces of albacore tuna might already be consuming 47% of the limit.
Pregnant
women should also be concerned, as studies have shown the EPA’s
recommendation for pregnant women — of eating fish no more than two
meals a week — may still be too high. The Project is urging schools to
limit tuna servings to twice a month and then phase it out.
5. Atlantic Ocean Fish on Decline
Besides
tuna, it may still be safe to eat fish — but what happens when there’s
no more fish to eat? According to the environmental publication,
Grist, something (not very) fishy is happening in the Atlantic Ocean this year. In their new
video,
reporters traveled to Gloucester, Mass. to talk to people in the
fishing business about how climate change is affecting their work.
They
spoke with Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s
Wives Association, which works to protect and promote the Gloucester,
New England fishing industry. Sanfilippo talked about the bizarre
happenings in the Gloucester Harbor.
“There is a strange phenomenon in the ocean this year,” she said.
Sanfilippo
said that the warm water has caused lobsters in the harbor to shed
earlier than usual. There was also a huge increase of lobsters along the
New England coast this year, which actually
drove prices down and was troublesome for fisherman.
In
terms of fish, Sanfilippo said they’ve seen a 20 percent reduction in
ground fish and next year they’re predicting a decrease of 70 percent.
“We
see that it’s hard to find a great abundance of ground fish. In the
summer there are usually herring that the ground fish feed on.” Now, she
said, “There is nothing. It’s like somebody swept everything away.”
Sanfilippo
also mentioned that small squid have appeared in the harbor — a species
rarely seen there before. She called what is happening a “natural
disaster,” and that we need to care about the environment if we want to
continue to have fish to eat.
“We know that if we keep the ocean
clean we will always have fish,” she said, adding that fishermen have
been fighting with oil companies to keep out of waters. “We can control
the damage we do to the environment … [but] there are people in the
world that, for money, they’re willing to do anything — they don’t care
about the environment.”
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