tagged w/ Food
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A teenage girl who has eaten almost nothing else apart from chicken nuggets for 15 years has been warned by doctors that the junk food is killing her.
Stacey Irvine, 17, has been hooked on the treats since her mother bought her some at a McDonald’s restaurant when she was two.
Shocked doctors learned of her habit when the factory worker, from Castle Vale, Birmingham, collapsed and was taken to hospital after struggling to breathe.A teenage girl who has eaten almost nothing else apart from chicken nuggets for 15... more
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If I eat preservatives doesn't that mean I'll last longer too? Incidentally I've heard that bodies these days actually do take longer to decompose, thanks to all the preservatives in the food we eat.If I eat preservatives doesn't that mean I'll last longer too? Incidentally... more
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This December sees the return of the On Series with Richard Corrigan On Hunger. With the global economy continuing to stall and rising food and fuel prices biting into pockets, chef and broadcaster Richard Corrigan meets the ordinary people who are finding it increasingly difficult to feed themselves and their families.
The past few years has seen a huge spike in the rise of food banks, just one example of a growing section of society struggling to get to grips with the bare essentials. At the same time, the UK wastes a staggering £12 billion of food every year.
Could more be done to promote a sustainable food policy in the UK? Should British citizens be relying on charitable handouts? Does the government even have a coherent policy on food poverty? Richard Corrigan will find out.This December sees the return of the On Series with Richard Corrigan On Hunger. With... more
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Since I've been talking about burritos it seems only fitting to continue on with Mexican food for another day and I thought what better to talk about than a sorely missed restaurant in Mission La Rondalla and their specialty dish, Birria de Chivo.Since I've been talking about burritos it seems only fitting to continue on with... more
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After posting Friday’s article I received some feedback that leads me to believe there is a burrito war brewing. The so called California Burrito which is indigenous to San Diego does not represent the California burrito in an way. The California burrito that San Diego lays claim to started around 1995 actually originating in Las Vegas before moving to San Diego. It generally consists of meat, guacamole or avocado, sour cream and french fries [the original Vegas version used tater tots].After posting Friday’s article I received some feedback that leads me to believe... more
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My wife pointed out a show in the IFC called Young, Broke and Beautiful that is done by a guy I have met and been featured on his website — Broke Ass Stuart. I met him at the SF Weekly Webby Awards because he is generally in San Francisco, or New York, but now with his show he travels around a lot. Not too bad for being a broke ass. Today’s subject though was a minor part of his show in San Diego where he made that comment, a California Burrito has to have french fries. [cue record scratch]. No that is not correct. A San Diego, CA Burrito may need french fries, but not a California burrito and I am going to go into the history of burritos in California because they’ve gotten a claim to fame in the San Francisco Bay Area.My wife pointed out a show in the IFC called Young, Broke and Beautiful that is done... more
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This simple make-it-at-home hoe is a powerful device that enables you to plough vast fields in your own back yard, grow all the food and dig all the wells you need. No longer will there be any need for supermarket shopping for groceries or spending hard-earned cash on environmentally-unfriendly packs of bottled water. To top it all off, you get all your daily exercise and a trim figure, just like the cavemen.This simple make-it-at-home hoe is a powerful device that enables you to plough vast... more
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11dim
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9 days ago
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With the news that McDonalds has dropped the use of "pink slime" - do you want to know what it is? A clip from Jamie Oliver's show discusses what it is and where you find it.With the news that McDonalds has dropped the use of "pink slime" - do you... more
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Wednesday's talk show.
Subscribe to my You Tube channel. Username ChrisReardonUK
Is there a problem with a smartie sandwich ?
Offer on house made.
A lady is appauled !
What would happen if we wrote of all debts and started again ?
You really don't want to see an apple or a piece of celery !
One shoe flew up in the air.
A proper dining experience.
Cinderella.
Crisps have arrived.
Someday my prince will come.
A video from Canada.
Happy Birthday Fag Ash Lil.
Westminster councils parking - people power.
Have another cigarette.
I'm waiting for the phone to ring.
Chris@unitedkingdomtalk.co.ukWednesday's talk show.
Subscribe to my You Tube channel. Username ChrisReardonUK... more
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Don't blame Paula Deen for type 2 diabetes; it comes from the food choices we make, and can be prevented or reversed with a vegan diet.Don't blame Paula Deen for type 2 diabetes; it comes from the food choices we... more
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This is a public service announcement. Your government has lied to you. The safety regulators have lied to you. The media has lied to you. You and your children are currently breathing Strontium, Cesium, Xenon, and radioactive Iodine, which is still spewing from the “active” Fukushima-Daiichi reactor complex. The irrefutable evidence I present needs to be front page news everywhere. Inform everyone.
This page is full of scientific evidence showing worldwide spread of Cesium, Iodine, and Xenon. Have you taken your Vitamin D today?This is a public service announcement. Your government has lied to you. The safety... more
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R3zn8D
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17 days ago
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49 million people in the U.S.—one in four children—don’t know where their next meal is coming from, despite our having the means to provide nutritious, affordable food for all Americans. Directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush examine this issue through the lens of three people for who are struggling with food insecurity:49 million people in the U.S.—one in four children—don’t know where... more
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Read More:
http://www.realfoodrealjobs.org/2012/01/chipublicschool/
Tomorrow, Michelle Obama is holding a press conference to announce new nutrition standards for meals served in America’s schools. But Chicago’s lunch ladies will be one step ahead of her – tonight, Chicago’s lunchroom workers will brave the winter cold to hold a demonstration outside Chicago Public Schools to add their own voice to the national conversation about improving school in our children’s schools.
Over the last two years, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has made important changes to provide Chicago kids with healthier meals. Yet the lunchroom workers—who put the food on kids’ plates and see what gets left in the trash—say more changes are needed.
Read more about Chicago lunch ladies and their hope to create better foods for all young people.
http://www.realfoodrealjobs.org/2012/01/chipublicschool/Read More:
http://www.realfoodrealjobs.org/2012/01/chipublicschool/
Tomorrow,... more
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I wish all of my readers a very healthy, happy and prosperous Chinese New Year! I unfortunately will not be giving out any red envelopes other than the picture in today's post. I wish all of us in San Francisco a prosperous new year and that the economy turns itself around and that the job market begins to work in our favor in the year of the Dragon.I wish all of my readers a very healthy, happy and prosperous Chinese New Year! I... more
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Did a recent scientific study just change the way we should think about the safety of genetically modified foods? According to Ari Levaux at the Atlantic, the answer is a resounding yes.
The study in question, performed by researchers at China’s Nanjing University and published in the journal Cell Research, found that a form of genetic material — called microRNA — from conventional rice survived the human digestive process and proceeded to affect cholesterol function in humans.
Levaux argues that this new study “reveals a pathway by which genetically modified (GM) foods might influence human health” which should cause us to completely revisit the question of GM crops’ safety. And he’s right to be alarmed, just a little off on the reasoning.
Let’s take a closer look at how this study applies to current GM technology, shall we?
I would argue that several studies have already suggested that existing GM foods might present a health risk. For example, this study in The International Journal of Biological Sciences found evidence that Monsanto’s Bt corn causes organ damage in lab animals. Then there’s this one which showed that GM soybeans can alter mice on the cellular level — an indication that genetically modified material survives digestion and is active in animals that consume it.
Of course, advocates of genetically modified foods will observe that the phenomenon of genetic transfer through consumption applies to all plants and that GM foods are therefore “substantially equivalent” to non-GM foods. As Levaux explains at length, this concept of substantial equivalence has been used by the biotech industry as well as our government to push GM foods through safety testing with minimal scrutiny. What’s Monsanto’s defense of all this? On its website, the company claims:
There is no need to test the safety of DNA introduced into GM crops. DNA (and resulting RNA) is present in almost all foods … DNA is non-toxic and the presence of DNA, in and of itself, presents no hazard … So long as the introduced protein is determined to be safe, food from GM crops determined to be substantially equivalent is not expected to pose any health risks.
So the fact that the Chinese team found active genetic material going from plants to humans isn’t really new and doesn’t really change what we know about how existing genetically engineered crops might affect us.
But what is new — and what Levaux missed — is that the Chinese study happens to involve exactly the kind of genetic matrieral — microRNA — that biotech companies hope to use in their next generation of genetically modified foods.
Today’s GMOs are almost entirely based on adding new genes to crops like corn, soy, and cotton in order to alter the way the plants function. And even then new functions are mostly limited to making plants either able to tolerate herbicides or to produce their own. But if biotechnology companies are successful in their efforts, there may soon be genetically modified foods that use microRNA — simply put, snippets of RNA whose potency were only discovered around a decade ago — to target, and block the function of specific genes in pests.
Thus the news that plant microRNA can survive digestion and affect human systems brings into question the wisdom of pursuing this kind of technology in food.
As explained to me by Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists and expert in genetically modified foods, microRNA technology is an area that biotech companies are actively pursuing. Monsanto itself has a whole web page devoted to the technology, which they call RNA interference.
Gurian-Sherman notes that the Chinese study — though requiring confirmation and follow-up research — raises “an initial red flag.” It calls into question “any general statement that [microRNA] technology would be inherently safe,” he adds.
He observes that humans and insects share a surprising amount of DNA material — evolution favors reusing and recycling genes even among creatures as different as insects and humans. If this research bears out, then it’s entirely possible that microRNA meant to target a specific insect gene will also have an effect — possibly unpredictable — in humans. This is especially true because, for technology like this to work as a pesticide, the microRNA must be present in high levels in the plant, which makes it even more likely the genetic material will make it all the way into the human gut.
snip
UPDATE: Dr. Michael Hansen, Senior Scientist at Consumers Union wrote to me after this post was published with an important point about the significance of the Chinese study. While he agreed that the main implications relate to the possible risk from microRNA-based GM foods, he also felt that this study did make a new and somewhat startling finding regarding how plant genetic material affects humans. As he put it, the study “showed that the miRNA not only survived digestion [in humans] but also was taken up and moved to other parts of the body where a specific impact was noted. The studies you cited — from Seralini’s lab and Malatesta’s lab — only show that GE crops can have an adverse effect on animals.”
more at the linkDid a recent scientific study just change the way we should think about the safety of... more
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Video w/4 of 11 'Great Ideas That Work' re: hunger, food pantry collaboration, and more that I saw during my visit to the Denver Inner City Parrish. https://bitly.com/zI0alUVideo w/4 of 11 'Great Ideas That Work' re: hunger, food pantry... more
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I know I hate using the word Frisco for San Francisco, but I was trying to do a riff on the old Debbie Does Dallas, so I thought I'd give it a go. Anthony Bourdain's the Layover aired last night and was about San Francisco. He used to hate us and thought we were obnoxiously smug twits. Well, he came by and saw us once and changed his mind. This time I have to say he did San Francisco proud.I know I hate using the word Frisco for San Francisco, but I was trying to do a riff... more
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Barclays Bank has been shortlisted for the 2012 Public Eye ‘shame award’ due to its financial speculation on food prices. Anti-poverty campaign group the World Development Movement, which nominated the bank, says its activity is fuelling hunger and poverty worldwide.
Barclays is estimated to make up to £340 million a year from speculating in food ‘futures’ markets, making it the biggest UK player in the markets. Research by the World Development Movement shows that a massive influx of speculative money in food markets is driving sharp price spikes, sending the cost of food soaring beyond the reach of the world’s poorest people. Financial speculation on food nearly doubled between 2006 and 2011.
Barclays CEO Bob Diamond responded to the Occupy movement by telling the BBC in November that banks must be “better citizens”. But Barclays has ignored calls from campaigners to put the basic human need for food before the profits it makes from speculation.
Amy Horton, campaigner at the World Development Movement, said today:
Barclays is essentially gambling on food prices, at the expense of millions of people who cannot afford to buy food as a result. Speculating on food is reckless in the extreme and governments must take action to curb it.”
Online voting begins today for the ‘people’s award’, while a panel of judges will choose a winner for the ‘global’ award. The winners will be announced on 27 January in Davos, Switzerland, to coincide with the World Economic Forum.
Campaigners are calling for tough European regulation to curb excessive speculation on food by Barclays and other investment banks and hedge funds. The US has already moved to regulate food markets, and similar rules are under discussion in the EU. But the UK government is blocking attempts to introduce effective European legislation. The World Development Movement’s online comedy series ‘The Real George Osborne’ aims to put pressure on the UK Chancellor to back regulation.
The Public Eye Awards are run by Greenpeace Switzerland and the Berne Declaration.
For more information please contact Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7820 4913 or (+44) (0)7711 875 345 or email miriam.ross@wdm.org.ukBarclays Bank has been shortlisted for the 2012 Public Eye ‘shame award’... more
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Over the holidays, the USDA approved a strain of Monsanto's genetically engineered corn that can now be planted freely in the environment and distributed throughout the U.S. food supply, with no oversight or efforts to track its safety.
Monsanto says the strain is drought-tolerant, but the USDA itself has actually found otherwise.
Instead, the agency ignored its own results as well as concerns from the public, which has little trust in the safety of the crop. Nearly 45,000 public comments were written in opposition to the particular corn variety and only 23 comments were written in favor, according to the Cornucopia Institute.
Approving an Agent Orange Chemical
Other GMO crops are also on the way. Cornucopia reports that the USDA has opened a public comment period for a soybean variety from Monsanto containing increased levels of an omega-3 fatty acid—which you hear a lot about as being healthy, but it doesn't not naturally occur in soybeans.
The agency is also holding a public comment period for a GMO corn from Dow engineered to better resist the poisonous herbicide 2,4-D.
Cornucopia explains more:
While the USDA attempts to assure the public that 2,4-D is safe, scientists have raised serious concerns about the safety of this herbicide, which was used as a key ingredient in “Agent Orange,” used to defoliate forests and croplands in the Vietnam War.
2,4-D is a chlorophenoxy herbicide, and scientists around the world have reported increased cancer risks in association with its use, especially for soft tissue sarcoma and malignant lymphoma. Four separate studies in the United States reported an association with chlorophenoxy herbicide use and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Mark Kastel from Cornucopia said, "the approval of a cultivar resistant to 2,4-D will cause an exponential increase in the use of this toxic agrichemical,” comparing it to Monsanto's GMO corn that has become resistant to its Roundup herbicide—and which has led to the evolution of superweeds that grow up to three inches per day.
Bad News for Public Health and Safety
The science of the effects of this chemcial is frightening:
Research by the EPA found that babies born in counties with high rates of 2,4-D application to farm fields were significantly more likely to be born with birth defects of the respiratory and circulatory systems, as well as defects of the musculoskeletal system like clubfoot, fused digits and extra digits. These birth defects were 60% to 90% more likely in counties with higher 2,4-D application rates.
Birth defects were also found to be more likely in babies conceived in the spring—when application of herbicides is at its highest.
There's also a touch of irony that should not be overlooked, again from Cornucopia:
In its petition, Dow AgroSciences states that 2,4-D is increasingly important for chemical farmers because of the presence of weeds that have developed resistance to glyphosate, as a result of the widespread use of Monsanto’s genetically engineered glyphosate-resistant crops.
When Monsanto introduced glyphosate, it was touted as a safer and less toxic alternative to herbicides like 2,4-D. Now, an emerging body of scientific literature is raising serious concerns about the safety of glyphosate as well.Over the holidays, the USDA approved a strain of Monsanto's genetically... more
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