The following
are responses and summaries of various readings related to Human Health,
Disease, and the Environment.
Meat can be Murder…
Vegetarianism has potential health benefits such as a lowered
risk of heart disease and cancer, however vegetarians are not the only ones who
can achieve these advantages. As far as
public health is concerned, simply reducing the intake of saturated fats would
have a great impact. The total meat
consumption of the average American was fifty seven pounds more in 2000 than in
1950. The foods that contain unhealthy
amounts of saturated fats raises the risk of heart disease and stroke and
increases cholesterol. Also, cooking
some meats at high temperatures, required for the elimination of some bacteria,
can produce chemicals believed to be potential human carcinogens. High intake of well cooked meat has been
shown to increase the risk of developing colorectal and breast cancer. Eating much charred or burned meat is very
likely unhealthy. Consuming more meat
than is necessary for the human body will merely cause the body to eliminate it
through the urinary tract putting additional strain on the kidneys in order to
metabolize it.
Nutrition: Another
Benefit is Seen in Buying Organic Produce
Tomatoes grown organically, without the use of unnatural
chemicals have higher levels of flavonoids, which can help to protect the body
against cardiovascular disease. The
level of a single flavonoid in the organic tomatoes was nearly two times that
of tomatoes grown with the conventional industry method. It has been shown that flavonoids may help to
fight age-related diseases. The organic
not only scored better on the study of flavonoids but their levels continued to
increase over time. One of the many
explanations for why flavonoid levels were higher in the organic produce is in
the fertility of the soil: on organic
farms the soil is continually rejuvenated by other crops and through the use of
compost and manure as fertilizer.
According to the study, flavonoids are part of a group of metabolites
produced by plants as a mechanism for discouraging pests. An increase in pest virulence may cause the
crop to put off more flavonoids.
Pollution can make you
fat, study claims
According to a Spanish study, pollution can help to make
children obese. The exposure of common
chemicals while still in the womb makes the baby more susceptible to
obesity. Obesity is one of the world’s
greatest and fastest growing health crises.
Poor diet and lack of exercise alone, cannot explain the intense growth
of the problem of obesity. It has been
known for quite some time that a person’s genes may predispose them to obesity,
however pollution may provide a similar predisposition. The study found that of 403 children measured
with differing amounts of hexachlorobenzene, a pesticide, in their systems
before birth, those with the highest levels were two times as likely to have
become obese by the age of six. The
pesticide has been banned internationally since the children’s birth, but its
effects continue to linger and it still manages to make its way into our food
stuffs. Similarly, many of the chimcals
which are fed to pregnant animals can cause obesity in their offspring. These pollutants, now referred to as
obesogens, are in nearly everyone’s bodies.
Ninety five percent of Americans’ urine contains traces of BPA, a
dangerous chemical. No one is quite
certain as to why hexachlorobenzene causes obesity, however the scientists of
the study believe that it could have caused early onset diabetes in the mothers
during pregnancy, increasing their offspring’s chance of becoming obese. Obesogens turn genes on and off while in the
womb, causing stem cells to turn in to fat cells.
Adverse Health Effects
of Plastics
Many chemicals that make plastic products have their
desirable performance properties can also lead to negative environmental and
human effects including direct toxicity such as is the case in lead, cadmium,
and mercury, carcinogens, such as is the case with diethylhexyl phthalate
(DEHP), and endocrine disruption, which leads to cancers, birth defects, immunodeficiency,
and developmental problems with children.
People are not only exposed to these chemicals during the production
stage of plastics. By simply using the
end products people can contract the chemicals.
Often times the chemicals migrate from the plastic to the food the
plastics are containing, thereafter being contaminated. The best way to avoid consuming potentially
hazardous foods is to find alternatives to plastic products. Purchase food contained in glass or
metal. Never heat food while still in
its plastic container. Do not store
fatty foods, such as meat, in plastic containers or plastic wrap. Use only natural fiber clothing, bedding, and
furniture. Avoid the use of all PVC and
Styrene products.
Kraft Shakes up Dairy
Market
In January 2008 Kraft Foods decided to begin production of a
cheese line free of the rBST, recombinant bovine somatotropin, hormone. BST is a hormone naturally produced by cattle
in order to produce milk. The rBST
hormone therefore increases the production of milk in cattle. Some consumer groups follow certain studies
which state that the hormone can cause cancer, though U.S. food regulators
disagree and add that food derived from cattle given the production boosting
hormone is safe for human consumption.
In recent years the public has begun to be much more aware of what it is
eating. The movement against rBST
byproducts is proof of this fact. Many
large restaurants and food producers have begun either the completely banning
of rBST derived foods or offering alternative rBST free foods. According to a 2007 government survey around
seventeen percent of U.S. dairy cows receive rBST. Its opponents say that rBST increases
infections in cows and stimulates the production of another hormone that has
been linked to cancer in humans. Kraft
is not changing its stance on the use of rBST in its products but merely
attempting to keep with the status quo of offering “safer” foods. It will continue to offer rBST products,
however the rBST free products will fetch a higher price which is common for
products deemed safe or natural. Many
top researchers see this as merely a circumstance of smoke and mirrors in that
rBST produced milk is chemically the same as non rBST milk. Many in the industry are firmly against the
labeling of products as rBST free as it will likely reduce sales and create a
disturbance where there may not be a problem.
5 Reasons to Add
Grass-fed Beef to Your Grocery List
Grass fed beef is healthier, safer, and better tasting than
the industry standard beef. Grass fed
beef also helps to support small scale farms, leaves a healthier ecosystem and
makes the animals life that much better.
Most of the beef found in grocery stores and supermarkets is engineered
in large feedlots and lacks much of the key protein and nutrients. Grass fed beef contains much less saturated
fat and much greater amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, beta carotene, vitamin E,
folic acid, antioxidants, and conjugated linoleic, which is believed to reduce
the risk of breast cancer and diabetes. Because
grass fed cattle do not live in densely packed feedlots they do not require the
constant supply of antibiotics to combat infection, which create bacteria and
viruses that are resistant to the same antibiotics used to treat humans. Grass fed cattle also usually do not receive
injections of hormones intended to speed up their growth. These hormones have been shown to increase
the risk of breast cancer and cause reproductive problems in humans. These hormones also have a detrimental impact
on the environment as they are excreted in the waste of cattle and find their
way into water sources. Field cattle are
also much less likely to contain acid-resistant E. coli as a consistent grass
diet does not enable them to adapt to the highly acidic environment that comes
from eating grain. Therefore grass fed
beef is less likely to contain E. coli resistant to human stomach acids. Field cattle have never been found to contain
Mad Cow Disease as it is primarily obtained through the cattle’s consumption of
cow brains which will not occur in the field, only in the cattle houses.
Did Your Shopping List
Kill a Songbird?
Fruits and vegetables grown in Latin America vary greatly
from their North American grown counterparts.
These produce are found in the supermarkets in the winter and early
spring. They are grown with the types
and amounts of pesticides that would be considered illegal in the United
States. Those who suffer the most from
these pesticides are the songbirds of North America. Some songbirds have seen their populations
decline by as much as fifty percent in the last forty years. The birds venture south of the border in the
winter looking for a warmer climate but find only highly toxic pesticide soaked
grounds throughout. The pesticides can
drastically reduce the levels of cholinesterase, an enzyme that affects the
brain and nerve cells in the birds.
Pesticide use has increased five times over the last twenty five years
in Latin America, due to the fact that other more developed countries have
expanded their production outside their borders and the demand for out of
season crops has increased. Some of the
chemicals used are monocrotophos, methamidophos, and carbofuran, all highly
toxic to birds and restricted or banned in the continental United States.
Researchers have found that farmers in some of the nations south of Mexico
spray their crops heavily and repeatedly with a chemical cocktail of dangerous
pesticides. The only way to stop the
murdering of these birds is to stop buying crops out of season which most
definitely come from outside the United States where the laws are much less
strict if at all. Also we can purchase
organic or fair-trade products which are usually grown without unnatural
chemicals.
Noninfectious Illnesses
are Expected to Become Top Killers
According the World Health Organization the world’s
population is getting richer, smoking more, eating more, and driving more. The WHO believes that this will lead to
noncommunicable disease overtaking infectious disease as the leading killer
over the next twenty years. The 2008 report shows that diarrhea, AIDS,
tuberculosis, neonatal tetanus, and malaria will become much less common as
heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and traffic fatalities begin to claim
more lives. Infectious disease will
still be the primary cause of death in Africa but the balance will begin to
shift in Asia. Heart disease and stroke
are becoming the chief cause of death in developing countries over infectious
disease, mainly due to the increase in obesity.
Currently AIDS related fatalities are at about three percent of annual
deaths but are predicted to fall to 1.8 percent by 2030. Smoking is also another leading cause of
heart disease and cancer. The tobacco
industry aggressively markets its products to young people in the poorer
countries hooking them at an early age.
According to the WHO a quarter of smokers started before the age of
ten. One of its studies found that
twenty percent had clothing brand with tobacco companies. The industry has also began using the freedom
of choice mantra to gain many more women smokers. Throughout the world, one hundred million
people are forced into poverty each year in order to pay for health services
and around forty percent of pregnant women and infants do not receive even
basic health care or immunizations.
Research
Pesticides in Drinking Water – National Pesticide
Telecommunications Network
Pesticides are chemicals which are used to control
pests. A pest is not limited to insects
and can be an insect, weed, bacteria, fungus, rodent, fish, or any other
troublesome organism. Drinking water comes
from two sources: surface water and ground water. Surface water is the water contained in
lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. Ground water is found under the surface of the
top soil in water aquifers. Most urban
cities get their water from surface sources which is then pumped in through
treatment plants while rural areas usually retrieve their water via wells dug
into the ground which connect to underground aquifers and usually not
treated. Most water systems are refilled
via snow and rain often traveling hundreds of miles underground before it
reaches its final destination. Pesticides
are able to wash off of the ground and find their way into surface water
sources or soak in through the ground and get into the underground water
table. Pesticides are also sometimes
directly applied to water in order to keep aquatic weeds, insects, or fish
under control. Some of the pesticides
used can evaporate and travel through the air where they may eventually find
water sources. Antimicrobial pesticides
are required to be applied to public use water supplies in order to destroy
disease-causing organisms such as bacteria and viruses. Individual pesticides have varying effects on
humans. Certain people may be more
sensitive to lower amounts of pesticides.
However in large amounts some pesticides have been shown to cause
cancer, organ damage, and reproductive issues.
Homeowners, Wildlife & Pesticides – NPTN
Wildlife occupy varying habitats, not limited to parks,
residences, agricultural areas, rangelands, lakes, forests, wetlands, and golf
courses. Often times these areas are
treated with differing pesticides.
Should wildlife be exposed to a large enough amount of a given pesticide
it could have adverse health effects for them.
Pesticide exposure may occur through ingestion, inhalation, or
absorption through the skin or eyes.
They may ingest it by eating a treated crop or contaminated food such as
insects, contaminated water from treated plants, or while grooming. The pesticide may also affect the wildlife
indirectly through the degradation of its natural habitat. Decreased availability of a preferred prey or
plant will greatly harm its natural diet requirements. If a pesticide is deemed harmful to a
particular wildlife organism the EPA requires a label guiding its use be
applied to the pesticide. When
homeowners choose a pesticide they should choose one which will have the least
harmful effect on non target organisms.
They should also apply the minimum amount of pesticide necessary the
fewest number of times possible in order to reduce the likelihood of non target
organism exposure, while still using a sufficient amount to destroy the
targeted pest. Often non chemical
methods exist for the controlling of a pest such as snap traps for mice and
rats. Non target contact with a
pesticide may be limited in an agricultural area by reducing the frequency of
sprays and having buffer areas between wildlife and the target area.
No comments:
Post a Comment