Some legal success for organic farmers

"Wafting poison makes fertile ground for suit in Stearns County" reads the Minneapolis - St. Paul newspaper's headline.  Despite the bad pun, the article reports some good news for organic farmers in Minnesota, as well as in other states around the country.  From the article:

Oluf Johnson's 1,500-acre farm in Stearns County is an organic island in a sea of chemically treated corn and soybeans.

Improperly applied pesticides repeatedly drift over from neighboring farms, often with dire consequences for Johnson. But now, thanks to a new court ruling, he and other farmers can sue to recover their losses.

Since the pesticides make Johnson's crop unsalable in the organic market, he is entitled to damages from the company responsible for the pesticide application.

Recently a similar damage award was made in California, where an organic farmer won $1 million in damages.  According to Alexadra Klass, a professor of environmental law at the University of Minnesota, this Minnesota ruling puts the state in line with the majority of jurisdictions around the USA in finding that pesticide drift is a trespass.

This is good news for organic farmers and consumers.  In the bigger scheme of things, it should mean the price of conventional, pesticide-sprayed produce will go up, and organic producers will have an easier time of maintaining their organic status and economic viability.  I say "hooray" for this ruling.

Goiter, Water, and Dew

Just the other day, one of my sisters was diagnosed with goiter. This seemed pretty strange, because she has always lived in Minnesota, not in a "developing" country. Her doctor advised her that goiter can run in families, so I started researching.

Goiter is a swollen thyroid gland. Generally, goiter is caused by too little iodine in the diet; the thyroid gland grows larger, trying to do its job, making sufficient thyroid hormones to keep the body running smoothly. But, you may say, "Our salt is iodized!" So it is. Digging further, I learned that in the periodic table of elements, iodine sits on the same column as fluorine, chlorine, and bromine. These are called the Halogen Family, and all have similar chemical characteristics. The human body gets fooled, and fluorine, chlorine and bromine can slip like skeleton keys into the locks made for iodine. Once the lock is filled up, the iodine can't get in, and passes out of the body.

So, how does a thyroid get locked up with weird chemicals we don't need?

The first question the doctor asked my sister was, "Do you drink a lot of Mountain Dew?" She thought the doctor was being silly, but answered truthfully that, yes, she had until a few weeks before. Mountain Dew is one of many citrus beverages with bromine (it stabilizes the color). Bromine is also used in flour ("bromated"), and can be found in many processed foods. Bromine is used in pesticides, flame retardants, gasoline additives, swimming pools and hot tubs.

Fluorine/fluoride is put into our drinking water and toothpaste, to prevent cavities. Almost all processed foods use fluoridated water in manufacturing - juices, soups, jam, pasta sauce, etc...

Chlorine is used in sanitizing food preparation surfaces, in drinking water, and in many cleaning supplies.

We are surrounded by chemicals ready to displace the iodine our bodies need. We eat them, drink them, bath in them, and breathe them, and we are not warned of their effects.

I've switched to drinking spring water, and have begun taking iodine drops.

Because almost all processed foods contain fluoridated water and some form of bromine as an additive, it is important to read labels. Just about any food with "water" on the ingredient list has fluoride. My family drinks raw, unprocessed milk from a tiny farm, so we are not getting milk tainted with fluoride.

My sister has begun to really work on her diet. She and her kids are really becoming thoughtful about what they eat and how their food is prepared. Where once she let her kids drink lots of soda pop, they now drink milk and water - spring water. She's hoping her symptoms will begin to resolve, and in a year at her follow-up appointment, she can show a smaller thyroid gland and a healthier body to her doctor. I hope she makes it.

I hope to make enough changes in my life that I won't need to meet her doctor!

Acrylamides in Food

A few years ago, the popular press began reporting on a new danger in some foods.  The danger was a chemical named acrylamide.  The initial theory was that it was caused to form in food by high temperature cooking of foods high in carbohydrates and containing certain amino acids.  A negative opinion formed against fried, roasted and baked foods, especially things like French fries.

This chemical was first observed in foods in April, 2002, although it's probably been present a lot longer.  "Acrylamide belongs to the group of chemicals thought to have no reliably identifiable ‘threshold’ of effects, meaning that very low concentrations will also result in very low risks, but not in zero risk: some risk is always present when the chemical is ingested. However, for these carcinogens, risk is thought to increase with increasing exposure," according to the World Health Organization.


While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not think there is any danger, the U.S. National Institutes of Health sees things a bit differently, stating "high levels of acrylamide in the workplace have been shown to cause neurological damage, e.g., among workers using acrylamide polymers to clarify water in coal preparation plants" and "consider acrylamide to be a 'probable human carcinogen.' "


In January, 2008, Science Daily reported the following breast cancer link to acrylamide in food:

“Animal tests have shown acrylamide to be a carcinogen, but until recently no studies have demonstrated a link between acrylamide in foods and cancer in humans. Ours is the first epidemiological study using biological markers for measuring acrylamide exposure, and the first to report a positive association between acrylamide and breast cancer,” says Henrik Frandsen, senior scientist at the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark. 

The Danish study found that "[t]he findings show a positive association between an increased acrylamide-haemoglobin level and the development of breast cancer after adjustment for smoking behaviour. The risk of breast cancer doubles with a tenfold increase in the acrylamide-haemoglobin level. A tenfold increase in the acrylamide-haemoglobin level corresponds more or less to the difference measured between the women with the lowest and highest exposure."

Nine years later, the FDA and Health Canada are still assessing the danger of acrylamide in foods, and whether they will then make the political decision to actually label it as a health hazard and take some regulatory action.  Meanwhile in 2010 the European Chemical Agency added acrylamide to the list of substances of very high concern.


The World Health Organization (WHO) is somewhat less optimistic.  The WHO notes in their extensive FAQ on acrylamide in food, that it's not known for sure how acrylamide is being formed in foods.  They are likewise cautious about the danger of cancer or other harm.


As is often the case, the picture becomes clearer with time and better research.  Unfortunately, the picture has gotten considerably worse.

As if the herbicide Roundup were not bad enough by itself, Roundup and other herbicides contain polyacrylamide, which breaks down into acrylamide when exposed to heat and light -- say, crops in field on a warm, sunny day.  Professor Joe Cummings points out this problem in a report at the Institute of Science in Society.


It looks suspiciously like Roundup and similar herbicides which use polyacrylamide may well be the primary source of cancer-causing and otherwise toxic acrylamides in food.

Creativity and "ADHD"

Scientists studied "ADHD" people, finding that "ADHD" and highly distractable people were better at creative problem solving, even when they were being distracted. Oh, and they were smarter, too.

"According to the scientists, the inability to focus helps ensure a richer mixture of thoughts in consciousness. Because these people struggled to filter the world, they ended up letting everything in. They couldn't help but be open-minded."

Meat-glue, get a clue!

No longer just the realm of chicken nuggets, glued together chunks of meat are being sold as prime steaks and roasts. The meat-glue used is made of elements of pork or beef blood, Thrombian, or Transglutaminase. Not only is this shoddy and misleading, but bacteria love to grow inside a moist, meaty package. Much like hamburger, which we all know can be contaminated when thousands of cattle's meat get mixed in giant vats, glued-together "steaks" are combinations of many animals, and harbor generous colonies of bacteria inside. In a rare-cooked steak, normally you don't need to worry that bacteria have infiltrated the middle of the meat, but in glued meat, you do.

Be wise, avoid spending your cash on glued-together meats that are just over-large hamburger chunks.

Food-Wise: pesticide alerts for shoppers

Food can be expensive. For many of us, budgets are stretched. When you want to eat a healthier diet, but can't afford to buy only organic foods, what can you do? Environmental Working Group has developed a list of conventionally grown foods highest in pesticides.

To help with your decisions, here is a list of foods most affected by pesticides, followed by a list of those least affected.

The Dirty Dozen (most contaminated with pesticides):

1. Grapes (Imported)
2. Potatoes
3. Kale/Collard Greens
4. Cherries
5. Spinach
6. Sweet Bell Peppers
7. Nectarines
8. Blueberries (Domestic)
9. Apples
10. Strawberries
11. Peaches
12. Celery

The Clean Fifteen (least contaminated by pesticides):

1. Onions
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn (Frozen)
4. Pineapples
5. Mango (Subtropical and Tropical)
6. Sweet Peas (Frozen)
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi Fruit (Subtropical and Tropical)
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe (Domestic)
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potatoes
15. Honeydew Melon

Here's the full list from the Environmental Working Group.

Minnesota Mothers for Milk fair access bill

Would you be willing to help with a critical step of contacting GOVERNOR DAYTON this week to voice support for the Minnesota raw milk bill?

You could take the crucial step of making our voices heard to our new governor. Governor Dayton has the power to sign or veto the bill if it makes it to his desk, so we need to let him know how important this is to us and ask for his support. Please help us put it on his radar! Take action today.

The corporate food industry has many lobbyists working hard to stop the passage of this bill, consequently each of our voices is very important. Some easy-to-follow steps are outlined below.

TAKE ACTION:

•CALL HIS OFFICE at 651-201-3400 or 800-657-3717. Tell them where you live and why his support of this bill is important to you (see talking points below).

•WRITE A BRIEF LETTER. Single page, hand-written letters get more notice, but typed letters or e-mails are fine as well. Send to:
Governor Mark Dayton
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
E-mail to: http://MNHLRP.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ba758759647fb4bd348f2dc85&id=efcb670188&e=cb8032bb57

In all cases, make it personal and positive for the greatest impact.

TALKING POINTS:

•State where you live, why you drink raw milk and any benefits you have noticed. Share your passionate story about how it has helped you and your loved ones.
•Ask him to support the bill and refer to the bill numbers: SF147 and HF255.
•This bill simply improves ACCESS to a food that is already legal in Minnesota by allowing farmers and consumers more freedom on delivery options. It removes the current restrictions saying you must obtain it “at the farm”, and only “occasionally”. The new bill as currently written includes milk from cows, goats and sheep, and encompasses raw dairy products including milk, cream, butter, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt and ice cream.
•This bill makes it SAFER to obtain farm-fresh dairy foods, eliminating the need for individuals, parents and families to drive long distances to obtain the food they choose for their families. This is essentially a transportation safety issue.
•This bill makes it EASIER and MORE EFFICIENT to get raw milk by allowing farmers to deliver to various sites and homes, thereby using less gas, and saving wear and tear on roads and vehicles.
•It supports rural Minnesota economies and the urban areas they support, putting more money in the farmers’ pockets and encouraging mutually beneficial farmer-consumer relationships as promoted in the national “Know Your Farmer” campaign.
•It is less disruptive to hardworking farmers who now have to handle numerous customers’ visits.
•It reinforces sustainable farming, and since raw milk for human consumption is produced on pasture, it supports the animals, land, water and surrounding environment.
•It promotes food freedom, food choice and food security in our state.
•Also, in this time of a budget crisis, this bill does not cost anything to implement.
•Things to keep in mind: AVOID bashing Big Ag (say only positive things about raw dairy); AVOID partisan remarks; DO NOT discuss the Hartmann case which is a separate issue; DO NOT discuss federal food safety legislation S510 – this is about Minnesota only.

Please let us know if you contacted Governor Dayton in writing or by phone. If you have questions or would like additional pointers, please contact:
Gregory Schmidt, Pres. MNHLRP gregoryvschmidt@gmail.com 612-386-4908 (c)


This initiative, Food Freedom Project, is a project of the Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform Project (MNHLRP). This effort is supported by others including volunteers and other local and national organizations. To learn more about the efforts of MNHLRP, or to donate, please go to www.mnhlrp.org.

To add yourself to our mailing list for important updates, please paste this link into your internet browser (NOTE: must be pasted with the hyphen at the end to work properly):
http://MNHLRP.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ba758759647fb4bd348f2dc85&id=6b61b2643a&e=cb8032bb57-

Thank you for your efforts to support access to farm-fresh milk and local, sustainable, wholesome foods of our choice.

Sincerely,
Food Freedom Project
A project of the Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform Project, www.mnhlrp.org