Think strawberries are expensive now? Wait until they start costing people their lives!
California is about to sign off on an insane plan that would allow farmers to use one of the world’s most dangerous chemicals as a pesticide on strawberry plants.
It’s called methyl iodide, and even some chemists won’t go near it. It’s such a powerful and reliable carcinogen that researchers use it to induce cancer in lab animals.
But go ahead, take a bite. California says it’s OK — and never mind the five Nobel-winning chemists and dozens of other experts who’ve written a letter begging the EPA to keep this poison out of strawberry fields, forever.
Who do you believe — a roomful of Nobel winners and their trusted colleagues, or a bunch of politically motivated bureaucrats?
This toxic monster has been linked to thyroid tumors, nerve damage, and brain and lung problems. It’s also been known to cause miscarriages in lab animals — when it’s not being used to give them cancer.
No wonder it’s such a great pesticide — it can destroy just about anything. The pests don’t stand a chance… and neither do you if you get too close to this poison.
Experts say a good breeze can even send methyl iodide airborne… and if you think U.S. groundwater is bad now, wait until this junk starts seeping in.
Think I’m exaggerating? I’m the last person to give in to pesticide fears — because in many cases, those fears have been either exaggerated or completely unfounded.
Just look at DDT, an innocent victim of left-wing fearmongering. If it hadn’t been banned due to some trumped-up nonsense over birdlife, we wouldn’t be having these debates over newer and more powerful chemicals today… because we wouldn’t need them!
But instead, the Frankenstein labs of the chemical industry have been working overtime, churning out new and more frightening creations — and methyl iodide is their crowning achievement.
From poisoned fruit to contaminated water where you’d least expect it. Keep reading…
Bacteria in a bottle
You don’t need a fancy yogurt drink to get a mouthful of bacteria — a plain old bottle of water will do just fine.
A new study finds that bottled water is packed with a whole lot more than hydrogen and oxygen… it’s also crawling with nasty little microbes.
But go ahead, pay $1.95 for another sip. Beverage company bigwigs are laughing all the way to the bank — and they’re sipping wine, not water, as they cash their bonus checks.
Under U.S. rules, foods and other consumer goods should contain no more than 500 colony-forming units of heterotrophic bacteria per milliliter, which is already disgusting enough. But in tests on a dozen commonly available brands of water, Canadian researchers found higher levels of bacteria in 70 percent of them… in some cases 100 times that limit.
And in one horrific case, the bottle contained 80,000 colony-forming units per milliliter.
Where’d they fill those bottles from — the toilet? I wouldn’t be surprised… then again, the toilet was probably cleaner.
The researchers also tested plain old tap water and found much lower levels of bacteria, according to the study presented at a recent meeting of the American Society of Microbiology. But don’t turn to your tap just yet — because U.S. drinking water is jumping with everything from sex-change drugs to rocket fuel.
Is it any wonder I haven’t had a drop of water in 20 years? I can tell you more about why here.
But if you like water, the best way to protect yourself and your family is with a reverse-osmosis filter, installed where the supply enters your home.
Anything else is a dangerous waste of cash.
Turning water into whine,
William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.
The next time you come across a kitchen that smells “lemony fresh,” or get a whiff of a cool mountain glen in your t-shirt, don’t breathe too deeply.
According to researchers from the University of Washington, air fresheners and fragranced laundry products often emit literally dozens of chemicals - some of which are considered toxic by federal law.
And the worst part is that none of the potentially hazardous chemicals that are thrown off by these “fresh-smelling” products are even listed on the label of ingredients. University of Washington researcher Ann C. Steinemann, PhD, said, “I didn’t find a brand that didn’t emit at least one toxic chemical.”
As shocking as this may seem, there’s a part of me that’s not the least bit surprised. After all, I’m a bright guy and I realize that laundry detergents and air fresheners that smell like a cleansing summer rain storm aren’t made from fresh-picked mountain flowers after a sun shower. There are chemicals - toxic and potentially deadly ones - that are replicating these odors. Of course the manufacturers of these products are already in full cornered-animal mode. They’re proclaiming that the products are safe when “used as directed,” and that the chemicals in question are present only in amounts not known to cause health issues.
But you’ve got to wonder, don’t you? Steinemann, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and public affairs at the University of Washington, says her idea for the revealing study was born of the fact that she had for years been told by many people that household cleaners and air fresheners caused them to have dizzy spells, or had spurred bouts of headache, asthma, shortness of breath - even seizures.
Steinemann’s study closely examined six popular consumer products: liquid spray air fresheners, plug-in air fresheners, fabric softeners, laundry detergents, dryer sheets, and the kinds of solid disc deodorizers used in airliner toilets. Steinemann found that these six products emitted a staggering 100 volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
But to me, the most disheartening discovery of Steinemann’s study came when she turned to federal law to find out what laws were on the books to protect consumers from this kind of thing. As it turns out, there’s no law that requires disclosure of all chemicals in fragrances.
It’s an outrage to say the least. Steve Gilbert, a toxicologist not associated with the study, put it very succinctly: “At the very minimum, we should have a right to know what’s in these products.”
Your best bet is to stop using store-bought air fresheners altogether. Try the real thing instead - cut open a lemon or orange, gather some mint leaves, or just open a box of baking soda.
