Nationwide pollution from power plants, waste disposal and incinerators, chlorine plants and other sources have contaminated the fish we eat with mercury. Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that has been linked to learning disabilities and developmental delays in children and can damage the heart, nervous system, or kidneys of adults.
Fish can be a good, healthy food source. Fish is protein rich, low in fat and can even protect against heart disease. Unfortunately, this otherwise healthy food has been contaminated by mercury pollution and many species can be unsafe to eat. Forty-five states have issued advisories warning sensitive populations about the dangers of eating mercury contaminated fish.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Why Grocery Stores Should Tell Parents About Mercury in Fish
Something You Won't See at Organic Connection: Cane Sugar
Sugar cane is a plant that grows readily in tropical and sub-tropical climates. Being, relatively, insusceptible to pest damage, it is a crop that can be readily grown with appropriate organic farming techniques.
So, sugar cane is a natural food, right? That is correct. But, cane sugar undergoes a number of processes that remove it from its natural sugarcane state.
The first 'refining' of sugar occurs when the liquid of the cane is extracted out from the fiber. Perhaps, this could be considered the same as extracting juice from an orange, but the flesh of the orange is soft & easily digestible & edible; the flesh of sugarcane is like wood.
Secondly, is the big surprise: all sugar processing (including organic) adds Calcium Hydroxide to the cane liquid as the second stage of refining. Calcium Hydroxide? Hmm. A chemical but probably not too obnoxious. It is added to remove impurities (?) and help clarify the liquid - but in the process changes the natural pH of the liquid sugar from acidic to alkaline.
For many decades, pioneers and doctors of Natural Health have advocated against the consumption of cane sugar for many reasons including creating undesirable extremes in blood sugar levels causing hypoglycemia & hyperactivity.
In actuality, we have one or two grocery items that do contain cane sugar (they were ordered in error). We're proud to say that those items have sat on the shelves unsold for many months.
About that organic garlic from China
By Samuel Fromartz, Gristmill, June 27.
Organic food has take criticism lately, because a portion is flowing from overseas. (All those food miles, all that lost support for American farmers.) Well, there's a reason that trend is underway: Not enough American farms are growing organic crops and fewer still are converting, so demand is exceeding supply. With the Farm Bill, attempts are underway to address that problem.
The organic farming community is seeking a few tender morsels off the Congressional table, to help farmers get into the organic sector. The main points are these:
- Basic research funds. Currently organic farming research only gets about $3 million in dedicated funds out of a USDA research budget of about $2 billion. They want $15 million.
- Certification cost share. Farmers can get up to $500 annually to offset up to 75 percent of the costs of organic certification, but much of that money has run out.
- Transition support. The lobby is looking for $50 million per year to help farmers with the three-year transition to organic farming.
Environmental Working Group recently launched a site to gin up support on the issue and generate 30,000 signatures to lawmakers by July 15. The point is to win baseline funding for organic agriculture, so that it can be increased in the next farm bill. If the baseline is near zero, it isn't going to move at all -- not in the next bill, or the one after that -- and farmers will continue to sit on the sidelines.
How the Media Missed the Organic Story
By Samuel Fromartz, Chewswise, June 28.
The USDA's recent approval of 38 non-organic ingredients in organic food products was widely portrayed in media reports as evidence that the USDA was watering down organic standards.
This is a standard interpretation - that, at the behest of agribusiness, the USDA is constantly chipping away at the integrity of organic food regulations, making it easier for big companies to subvert what organic food is all about. They were doing so now by including these 38 non-organic ingredients in organic food.
The only problem was this was flat out wrong.
For swimming pool owners
Forget about adding harsh chemicals like chlorine to your swimming pool, and choose an alternative that is naturally healthful, ecologically conscious, proven safe and dependable, convenient and economical: Sal-Chlor salt water systems.
So, how come the salt water systems aren't as popular in the USA? Because salt water systems reduce the sales of pool chemicals and reduce pool maintenance needs - this places commercial pressure on businesses that have based their primary profits from supplying pool chemicals and providing heavy pool maintenance.
Organic Connection imports Sal-Chlor units from Australia (where 95% of all new swimming pools use salt water systems) and we can also arrange for installation.
Chlorine Plants: Major, Overlooked Source of Mercury Pollution
As the extent of mercury contamination in our environment, our bodies and our food comes to light, concern over mercury pollution is increasing. While most media and public attention has focused on coal-burning power plants, most people remain unaware that a small subset of the chlorine industry makes a major - and completely preventable - contribution to the global mercury crisis.
Chlorine is a chemical building-block used in everything from swimming pools to plastic tents to paper towels. In 1894, a process was devised to produce chlorine by pumping a saltwater solution (brine) through a vat of mercury, or "mercury-cell," that catalyzes an electrolytic chemical reaction. Newer technologies that do not use mercury have been developed, but a number of plants around the world continue to use the outdated technology.
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