Breach in Vaccination Blockade

Now we realize that vaccinations are very sticky subject BUT we heard a nice NPR Article (click on this link to go to story-it's short) this week that helped to educate us on why vaccinations are important. It seems to be the side of the story we rarely hear these days. This story focuses on the main reasons that vaccines are important for society as a whole. Whereas, much of the popular discussion about vaccines today focuses on the individual risk, is this safe for MY child. -- Jim & Karen

Corn Corn Everywhere

When you buy corn at the store do you wonder if it is Genetically Modified (GM) or not? There are 2 types of corn, that which is GM and that which is not. Genetic modification refers to the direct alteration of genes. This is done for many reasons including disease and pest resistance, improved yield and even improved resistence to pesticides. For these same reasons people have been indirectly manipulating genes of produce and livestock for many many years. The difference is, with genetic engineering all of this can be done many times faster than with the traditional method of cross-pollenization. On the surface, this seems to be a great idea, especially with the introduction of ethanol into commercial fuels. With a little deeper look, we also see that what once seemed to be a very controlled experiment has become a plague to natural strains of corn. (I do recognize the controversy between this post and the state I live in) Since the US began growing GM corn in 1996, we have seen a massive spread of GM strains of DNA in corn as far away as Oaxaca Mexico (which claims to be the birthplace of maize) who put a moratorium on growing GM corn in 1997. Oaxaca is concerned that the introduction of laboratory hybridized corn will contaminate the last of the varieties of traditionally hybrizided seeds from the origin of the crop. If we could guarantee that each time a corn strain was directly modified that it would pollinate only its own variety that would be one thing but what has happened is that the many fields containing the many varieties of GM corn are cross-pollinating with those fields that are trying to keep traditional corn varieties alive making it nearly impossible to keep any variety completely free of GM. Whole Foods now says that in its continued effort to eliminate GM foods from its line of products it will not use any type of corn syrup as it is a "potential source of GMOs". Now, I have issues with corn syrup in general but that will have to be a topic for another day.

All of this GM talk is leading me to a more important topic. How do GM foods impact our health? A recent study done in Austria showed that over the course of 20 weeks lab mice that were fed a diet of 33% GM corn had reduced fertility rates. They had fewer litters, fewer total offspring and more females with no offspring at all when compared to their counter parts who were fed a diet containing 1/3 non-GM corn. The GM corn that these mice were fed was produced by the US's leading producer of GM corn, Monsanto. When I searched online for links to this study here in the US I found that it was not published in the mainstream media, only on sites with interest in organic concerns. Bill Freese, Science Policy Analyst at the Center for Food Safety says "It's no surprise to us that U.S. regulators did not catch this. None of our regulatory agencies require any long-term animal feeding trials before allowing genetically engineered crops on the market."

So, is that pop sweetened with high fructose corn syrup or that hamburger made with corn fed beef really going to cause reproductive problems? Only time will tell. Until then, make sure your opinion makes a difference. Tell your congressional leaders what you think of GM foods, make an effort to buy organic every once in awhile (organics can not contain GM genes), and continue to educate yourselves about what goes into your body.

Karen

Corn Fed

In true blogging tradition, my first dynamic post is on something I know nothing about – farm subsidies. This is not an anti-farm subsidy post. I understand that in general we use farm subsidies to prop-up domestic production and to guard against the impacts of natural disasters on farmers. What I don’t understand is how we settled on which crops are being subsidized vs. the crops that are not being subsidized.

The vast majority of crop subsidies go to a handful of crops. Corn is the king of the subsidized crops, with wheat and cotton coming in second and third.

However, the subsidy system has been designed to actively discourage the farmers it subsidizes from growing non-commodity crops, such as fruits and vegetables that you might expect from a truck farm.

These subsidies have an impact on what foods we consume. The more corn is subsidized, the more corn will be produced and consumed. If you grab a meal at McDonalds you are consuming a lot of corn based products . The pop is likely sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, the potatoes are likely fried in corn based oil, and nearly all the beef in the burgers and all of the chicken come from corn fed animals. Even the buns have corn syrup in them as a sweetener.

Maybe we would be better off subsidizing fresh fruits and vegetables. Then everything at McDonalds might be made out of Brussels sprouts, spinach, and apples instead. It might be better for you, and for your cat.
Jim
P.S. I am not planning on all food all the time posts.

Change of plans....

Originally I had intended for this blog to be about all Lynch happenings and such. After my 1st post I realized that I do not think I can do cute mom posts and serious issues posts in the same place SO, I am moving my family stuff to a different spot. Here is the link to our other family site. Hopefully you will find time to follow both.

http://loosingitwiththelynchs.blogspot.com/

Why is my tongue blue!?

Colleen, this 1st post on my blog is for you..... :)

As many of you already know I am pretty serious what goes into my kids body. The reason I normally give for eliminating something, like dyes, is that it makes my normally sweet sensitive 6yr old into a complete monster. I also know other things about different food products that causes me to keep them away from our family's food.

I know that many food dyes listed as FD&C are derived from petroleum. Yes, petroleum, the same thing we fill up our cars with, the same thing that you can use to heat your home. The petroleum that is used as a fuel source goes through a distillation process but the base that both the FD&C color dyes and petroleum fuel comes from is the same. Here is a quote about color additives from the FDA.

"Two main categories make up FDA's list of permitted color additives. In addition to undergoing approval, some color additives are known as "certifiable." Certifiable color additives are man-made, derived primarily from petroleum and coal sources."

Another reason that we avoid food dyes is this. In 1994 the The Dept of Health and Human Services National Toxicology Program did a study to see if Benzidine, which is found in yellow food dyes, is carcinogenic. The study revealed that Benzidine was a known carcinogen and should be removed from the list of approved dyes. In 1999, studies showed that yellow food additives contained amounts of Benzidine that are higgher than the allowed amount by the FDA . Super! The yellow M&M I just ate could possibly cause cancer!

The last reason that we do not consume any artificially dyed food at our house is this...it makes our kids (and others) crazy! We know this from personal experience but there are also studies showing links between ADD/ADHD and food dyes in foods. These dyes are being phased out in Britain because of concerns about behavioral changes in children after eating or drinking items containing dye. (see study here- http://www.feingold.org/McCann2007.html)

Ok- I will not always be posting about food but I will continue to add things in here to educate people about the food they are consuming. I think the amount of information out there is overwhelming and most of it skewed by whoever is doing the research SO I am hoping to help by weeding through some it for you. Come back soon for posts about the fam.

Karen