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State of Our Food

Let's look at the condition of our conventional food supply:

A further review of the production of our food:

Chemical Agriculture

In the beginning of the 1900's the majority of  people in the U.S. were farmers and produced food for themselves and for sale. Today, less than 2% of the U.S. population are considered farmers. Our food is being grown by large agribusiness corporations whose interests are in maximizing profits. As a result, large amounts of petrochemicals, drugs, artificial fertilizers, and toxic pesticides are used.  We attempt to increase soil fertility and reduce destruction to crops from pests by spending billions of dollars and applying billions of pounds of chemicals to the land and food. The result is the destruction of the microbial life of the soil and an imbalance of the beneficial/pest insects. Many times any benefits these chemicals provide subside, and additional chemicals must be added to realize a benefit.

In 1987 the EPA stated  that pesticide residue in food is one of the nations three most serious health hazards. Some chemicals may be recognized as safe alone but when combined with other chemicals may have a very different harmful effect. Many foreign countries have less stringent food growing requirements and use chemicals on their crops that are outlawed in the United States.  We import food from these countries and have the potential of eating these chemical residues. Only a small percentage of  the billions of pounds of food imported into the U.S. is inspected for certain pesticide residues and some pesticides are not tested for at all. In a U.S. General Accounting Office report in 1986, it was found the FDA samples less than 1% of over 1 million imported food shipments. The FDA samples represent less than 2/10 of 1 percent of domestic food production. The FDA can not possibly test for all pesticides on all food, therefore it is possible we are ingesting a greater amount of pesticide residue than what is considered safe and reasonable by the FDA.

About half of the amount of pesticides we use are for the appearance of the produce. We coat our produce with a variety of unhealthy waxes that contain more chemicals such as fungicides, to help with shelf life and transportation. These waxes and pesticide residues can not be completely washed off fruits and vegetables and peeling the skin may not always help. Many of these chemicals are systemic and become a part of the produce structure. Next time you are in the produce section of a conventional supermarket, look up alongside the produce prices for the small print that tells you about the coating and chemicals on the produce.

The manufacture, transportation and application of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides contribute to air, water and soil pollution. Residues in our food increase the chance for serious illness and disease.  By age five, millions of children have ingested up to 35% of an entire lifetime dose of some carcinogenic pesticides. From 1973 to 1990 nervous system and brain cancers rose 32% in children and leukemia was up 27% in children. These children are not working in environmentally hazardous factories, smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol. Children are at a higher risk to pesticide exposure due to the fact they ingest a greater amount of food per pound of body weight.

Drug Dependent and Resource Intensive Animal Production

The raising of beef has caused changes in the landscape due to vast areas required for cattle grazing. Huge areas of tropical rainforest have been cleared to make room for grazing lands. This rainforest destruction has destroyed uncounted and unknown beneficial species of plants and increased the potential for global warming. Animals are raised on antibiotics, growth hormones and steroids in an effort to maximize their growth and market value in the shortest time possible. Milk cows are given hormones to increase their milk production.

 

As a result of conventional animal raising practices, the potential exists for consumers of these animal products to ingest residues of these drugs and chemicals. The ingestion of these chemicals and drugs can effect the body in a negative way and has the potential to cause body functioning problems and disease.

 

Raising beef requires extremely high amounts of resources including water and chemical intensive farming to grow the grain for animal feed.

Your  purchase of one pound of beef required 2,500 gallons of water and 16 pounds of grain and soybeans.

 

The pollution and environmental impact of chemical farming, transportation and land deforestation should also be considered as part of animal production. Multiply this impact by the 150 pounds of meat each American eats each year and you can see the extent of the problem.

Food Irradiation

One of the latest additions to food adulteration is the exposure of our food to radioactivity with the intent to extend it's shelf life. Foods being irradiated include meats, grains, herbs and produce. There is not a government requirement to inform us or label food that has been irradiated. Our food is bombarded with radiation 5,000 to 1,000,000 times greater than a chest x-ray. The result of this exposure is the possible destruction of vital nutrients, and vitamins and an alteration of the chemical structure of the food.

Chemical compounds can be developed in the food as a result of the radioactive exposure and we do not know the health risk or long term effects of such compounds on humans.  By allowing the practice of food irradiation we are promoting the transportation and utilization of radioactive materials. This in itself posses a safety and health risk to all living creatures.

Food Processing

In the process of manipulating and packaging our food, many companies strip away vitamins, minerals, fiber and flavor. Then artificial colors, artificial flavors, flavor enhancers and preservatives are added in an effort to make food more acceptable. We do not know the long term health consequences of eating these additives. It is impossible to test the effects of these chemicals when they are combined together in various combinations as they appear in foods.

 

These additives, in most instances, are man made chemicals, not naturally occurring in food.  Over the course of our lifetime we eat many pounds of these synthetic substances which are foreign to our bodies.  Many of these additives are suspected carcinogens or pose a health risk.  Numerous additives that eventually have been banned for use in the food industry because of health concerns, where once considered safe.

 

Genetically Engineered Foods

Genetic engineering, as applied to plants and animals, is the process of modifying the genetic make-up of an living organism through techniques not possible with traditional selective breeding.  It is possible to transfer genetic material genetic information from one species to another, such as from animals to plants.  Many genetically engineered plants are under development and some have reached the marketplace.   Examples of genetic engineering includes tomatoes altered to retard softening, strawberries designed to keep better after freezing, potatoes that produce toxins to control pests and soybeans that tolerate applications of chemical herbicides. Livestock and fish are also being genetically engineered.

 

The potential exists for genetically engineered foods to be hazardous to humans.   Most often proteins are added to foods and this may cause allergic reactions in individuals that would not normally be allergic to that food. On a much larger scale there is concern that genetic engineering may upset the normal balance of the eco-system and the natural order of living things.  Genetic engineering is fooling with mother nature and we do not know the consequences of these unnaturally altered plant and animal products on our health and the environment.  When these genetically altered plant and animals enter the environment, they can interact with the surrounding life and make changes in other plants and animals that is undesirable.

 

Generally, genetic engineered crops are designed to withstand high concentrations of herbicides and pesticides.  The potential exists for these plants to spread uncontrollably and become a serious problem.  Since these genetically engineered crops are designed to withstand high concentrations of chemical herbicides, the control of these plants will require either higher concentrations or more toxic herbicides. In the case of plants that have been genetically engineered to produce a toxin to control pests, the unwanted bugs may develop a tolerance for these toxins and require other stronger pesticides for their control. 

 

Presently, the FDA only requires labeling of genetically engineered foods in certain exceptional circumstances.  We will not know when we are eating a product of genetic engineering or supporting this practice through our purchases.  

Healthgoods Staff

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