Sunday, May 13, 2007

Food Contamination

The contamination of our food is going to become a big issue in the months and years ahead. The more deaths that occur, the more people are going to demand that action is taken. Or people will take action for themselves and buy local produce or grow local produce. Some of the substances polluting our food imports are pesticides, herbicides, molds, fungus, rodent feces, insect residue, toxins, heavy metals and chemicals.

Fears of killer chemical in toothpaste
13 May 2007 - Health authorities in Panama have ordered toothpaste to be removed from shelves over fears it contains a chemical that killed at least 51 people last year. The government warned against using Excel or Mr Cool, because they may contain diethylene glycol. Testing was under way to see if the products contained the chemical, which had previously been linked to deaths of 51 people who took a medication containing it. It is alleged that a Chinese factory made the diethylene glycol and passed it off as harmless glycerin to a Spanish company, which sold it to Panama. The Observer

You may say: "We are protected against all that, by our regulators and food standards commissions. No we are not, and for a very good reason. The European Union and the WTO consider food regulatory standards as intrusive blocks to the movement of free trade. They don't want rules that regulate how much rodent feces per milligram is allowed in our food, or how much pesticide per milligram is a safe limit. ANY SAFE LIMIT IS A LIMIT TO GLOBAL TRADE... and a limit to global trade hurts profits, restricting the free flow of goods into your home. Regulating food safety damages world trade, which damages profits, which damages the financial health of the global economy. Who is going to know if the imports poison a few people, or poison a few cats or dogs? Who is going to know? We have over population anyway... Better we become rich than die poor.

"Excuse me waiter! There's a rat in my soup!!"
I eat mostly vegan, and I like to take products like Ginseng. These products once came from reliable suppliers who had an interest in keeping their sources clean of contamination or it could destroy their business. Poisoning people is a risky road full of pitfalls. However, over the past couple of years things have changed. The sinking of local market trade has grown into a geneve-cally modified behaviour, that has morphed into a deadly globalisation bug, where food growers and suppliers are grey areas on the global map. To find who provided what to whom you have to trail through buyers of a buyer of a buyer. If a middleman lies about the source of his trade to hike the price or to hide the origins of the supplier, who is going to know? If the supplier dumps excess pesticide on the food, or sprays it with fungicide? Who is going to know? If rodent feces are ground into the food supplement, who is going to know?

I like Ginseng, but if it is contaminated with pesticide residue, fungicide, rodent feces and chemicals... then I am paying to be poisoned. I don't like that too much.

How about: local alternatives to the Global Economy?
Global Exchange - Earth Island - Go Local - Global Economics - Grow Your Own - Permaculture Institute - Ecological Institute - Masanobu Fukuoka - Food Contaminants - Urban Farmer - Garden Adventures - Wild Ginseng

Keywords: Food contamination, pesticides, food additives, allergies, mold, fungus, algae bloom, red tide, toxins, heavy metals, pollution, chemical food contaminants, rodent feces, bird feces, parasites, neuro toxins, common foodborne pathogens, Foodborne illness.