Big Ag is a big polluter
Industrial agriculture has the ability to supply large amounts of food on the cheap. However, cheap food comes with consequences. For starters, the process is resource and energy intensive, and it leaves behind a footprint on the environment and our health. For example, pesticides applied to fruit orchards and vegetable fields leach from the area of application into the landscape, negatively impacting ecosystems. These chemicals also remain as residue on fruits and vegetables. Consequently, in addition to getting the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables (and depending on our choices, which are based on how cognizant we are of where our food originates) we might be ingesting herbicides and pesticides on a daily basis. Consequently, sometimes it’s better to buy organic (i.e., “because ‘organic’ can mean ‘pricey,’ it makes sense to focus on buying organic versions of produce that is most likely to harbor pesticide residues when grown conventionally“).
Toxic chemicals leach into foods via the plastic lining of metal cans
Some “canned foods, including soups, juice, tuna, and green beans” have been found to “contain measurable levels of Bisphenol A (BPA).” BPA has also been found in baby bottles and baby food, and research has linked the chemical to a multitude of health problems. However, it’s possible to avoid plastics containing BPA:
BPA is found in polycarbonate plastic food containers often marked on the bottom with the letters “PC” recycling label #7. Not all #7 labeled products are polycarbonate but this is a reasonable guideline for a category of plastics to avoid. Polycarbonate plastics are rigid and transparent and used for sippy cups, baby bottles, food storage, and water bottles. Some polycarbonate water bottles are marketed as ‘non-leaching’ for minimizing plastic taste or odor, however there is still a possibility that trace amounts of BPA will migrate from these containers, particularly if used to heat liquids.
Safer products and uses: When possible it is best to avoid #7 plastics, especially for children’s food. Plastics with the recycling labels #1, #2 and #4 on the bottom are safer choices and do not contain BPA. Find baby bottles in glass versions, or those made from the safer plastics including polyamine, polypropylene and polyethylene. Soft or cloudy-colored plastic does not contain BPA. Bottles used to pump and store expressed breast milk by the brand Medela are also labeled BPA-free.
In addition to a wide range of health problems, research suggests that BPA impacts human reproduction. From Nature.com:
A paper in the journal Human Reproduction adds weight to a long-held (by some) suspicion that the plasticising chemical bisphenol A (BPA) does bad things to the body’s hormone balance.
In this study, male workers in Chinese factories handling BPA were compared to a control group of Chinese factory workers who weren’t exposed to BPA over five years.
The results showed that the workers in the factories handling BPA had four times the risk of erectile dysfunction, and seven times more risk of ejaculation difficulty (press release).
This stark conclusion is the first direct evidence that exposure to BPA in the workplace could have bad health effects, the authors led by De-Kun Li, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research in Oakland, California.
For years BPA has been associated with a range of health problems, from cancer to diabetes and heart disease.
The suspicion was that BPA was an endocrine disruptor – a substance that mucks up the way hormones in the body, including sexual reproduction hormones – are made and regulated. This study, the authors say, provides the evidence that the US regulators have been after for years. They add that the levels in this study were very high – nothing like the levels people are normally exposed to in everyday life.
The chemical is already regulated. In Canada, for example, BPA is banned in baby bottle manufacture, and in France earlier this year members of the senate sought a ban on BPA. Of course, there is also perhaps a need for caution – don’t be terrified, not all plastics used in baby products or drinks bottles contain BPA, and no links between low exposure levels and adverse health effects have been found. In the US at least, it seems that it is easy to check whether BPA is present: there should be a number 7 printed on any bottle that contains the stuff.
More information on BPA, our food, and our health can be found in these videos:
Video: Bisphenol A (BPA) Contaminating Our Food
Video: BPA risk to men
Video: Call for ban on baby bottle chemical
Big Coal emits a deadly neurotoxin that accumulates within the environment
Invisible toxins are emitted through energy production when fossil fuels such as coal are burned. For example, when coal is burned, mercury—a neurotoxin—is released “into the environment, [and] coal-burning power plants are the largest human-caused source of mercury emissions to the air in the United States, accounting for over 40 percent of all domestic human-caused mercury emissions.” Mercury is converted by natural processes into methylmercury, which accumulates in the food chain. Consequently, our food becomes contaminated with a nerotoxin, which can make people sick.
A toxic soup
There’s no doubt that chemicals and toxins from agriculture, burning fossil fuels, and other industrial processes are negatively impacting our bodies and minds and even resulting in death by triggering diseases such as cancer. “Toxic Soup,” a documentary, “connects the current spikes in childhood cancer, autism, and other serious illnesses with the business practices of Fortune 500 companies: DuPont, Bayer, Ashland Oil, and Massey Energy.” More on the documentary:
‘Toxic Soup’ is a look at the lives of everyday Americans who discover pollution in their backyards and decide to fight for the clean air, water & blood that we all deserve. And it’s David versus Goliath as this enviro documentary follows a team of investigators who explore three industries critical to the growth of US superpower. Coal gave us electricity; Oil gave us the automobile; And chemistry everything in between. But at what price
The trailer for “Toxic Soup”:
To illustrate the stealthy toxic soup we’re exposed to via industrial practices, one study tested the blood and urine of pregnant mothers, and the “study reveal[ed] that children spend their first nine months in an environment that exposes them to known toxic chemicals.” More from Consumer Affairs:
In the WTC study, researchers tested pregnant women from Washington, California, and Oregon and discovered:
• Every woman was exposed to BPA, the hormone disrupting chemical used to make polycarbonate plastic and the lining for food cans. BPA is linked to cancer, early puberty, diabetes, obesity, and reproductive problems, researchers said;
• Each woman had at least two and as many as four “Teflon chemicals,” or perfluorinated compounds, in her blood. Those chemicals are used to create stain-protection products and non-stick cookware and are linked to low birth weight, obesity, and cancer, the groups said.
• Every woman had mercury in her blood. Mercury is known to harm brain development, researchers said. The National Academy of Sciences has also reported that 60,000 children each year may suffer brain problems as a result of exposure to mercury in the womb. This exposure can affect their ability to play and learn.
• Every woman was exposed to at least four phthalates, the plasticizers and fragrance carriers found in shower curtains, shampoo, soaps and other consumer products. Phthalates are linked to reproductive problems and asthma.
The findings shocked and angered women in the study.
There are alternatives to industrial agriculture, fossil fuels, and toxic chemicals such as (1) permaculture or other (2) sustainable farming methods, (3) renewable energy and energy conservation, (4) decentralized energy production, and (5) green chemistry.
Resources:
- Bisphenol A: Toxic Plastics Chemical in Canned Food: Consumer tips to avoid BPA exposure
- A Survey of Bisphenol A in U.S. Canned Foods
- Mercury: Basic Information
- EPA’s Mercury News Archive
- Green chemistry
- Introduction to Permaculture: Concepts and Resources
Photo source for attribution here, here, and here. The authors or licensors of these images do not endorse my work or me and their images are protected under an attribution license.
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