Save Our Organic
Standards
by
Joseph Hattersley
Joseph Hattersley studied for a PhD in economics
at UC Berkeley, then worked as a stockbroker and research analyst. For the past
18 years he has avidly sought ways to improve health. Aided by authorities
worldwide, he has studied non-drug/nonsurgical avoidance of heart attacks, and
prevention of crib death (SIDS). He publishes in alternative medical/health
journals throughout the English speaking world.
It is OK for the Department to set rules for
what is organic food, but organic must continue to mean: not sprayed, and not
raised with commercial fertilizer. Period.
(1) NO on irradiated food as “organic.”
Irradiation of filthy food with gamma rays is a profitable way to dispose of
deadly nuclear wastes, storage of which costs millions of dollars yearly. But
what are the effects on those who eat irradiated food?. We know that irradiation
increases degeneration of cell nuclei, disturbances related to cell division,
chromosome breaks and mutations; it decreases fertility and growth of offspring
in animals. It reduces resistance to infections, increases spleen weight
indicative of stressed, weakened immunity, and significantly increases cancer.
These effects occur even though irradiated food is not itself
radioactive.(1)
Fats turn rancid
(oxidize) when irradiated. Gamma radiation depletes or destroys vitamins A, B,
C, E and K and essential amino acids cysteine, methionine, histidine and
tryptophan as well as enzymes. Enzymes are required for nutrient absorption and
survival. No component of food remains chemically unchanged when irradiated.(2)
A radiated potato - in fact all radiated seeds - will not sprout.(3)
Irradiation
eliminates disease organisms such as E. coli no more effectively than attention
to proper handling and storage - or proper cooking.(4) Aflatoxin, a highly
carcinogenic substance from food molds, is produced in greater quantity in
irradiated than non-irradiated food. And the spores that cause botulism are not
killed by irradiation - but their natural enemies are.(5)
A study in India
with starving children was stopped after two months: 80 percent of the children
getting irradiated wheat showed signs of chromosome damage (polyploidy), but not
the children eating non-irradiated wheat.(6) Leukemia is a likely result of
polyploidy.
Irradiation is
also environmentally dangerous. Approval of food irradiation will cause the
proliferation of facilities that will ship and use cobalt 60 and cesium 137, the
principal radioactive elements used in food irradiation.
(2) NO on genetically altered food as
“organic.” Foods are being engineered for profit without adequate
consideration of possible health effects. Nutritional value is inversely
proportional to genetic engineering - more engineering, less nutritional
value.(8) We have no idea what the long term effects of genetically engineered
plants will be on the ecology and on human health.
Even modern
“hybridized” (engineered) grains not only have far inferior taste and promote
allergy much more than “heirloom” grains, they are also weak and unsturdy enough
to require chemicals to protect them, which heirloom grains do not need.
Pesticide sprays further weaken hybrid plants; and then, like wolves culling a
deer herd, insects attack the weakened plants in a vicious cycle. Insects
communicate with plants on a frequency that we can’t hear, learning which ones
are sick.(1) Further, over 500 species of insects have become
pesticide-resistant.
Bovine
somatotropic hormone (BSH) added to cow milk is particularly dangerous and
should not be allowed in dairy products labeled “organic.”(11)
(3) NO on sewage sludge as “organic.” What
poisons will be in the sewage sludge? Will it be like fertilizer which, we
learn, can contain lead, arsenic, cadmium, low-level radioactivity and dioxins?
Hundreds of thousands of tons of these waste products have been spread on farms
as fertilizers, liming material and other soil additives. They are also sold to
householders as part of garden fertilizer mixes. (The mixture sold by one
company is at least 20 percent cheaper than competing zinc fertilizers.) This
goes on in many parts of the country; the buyer is never told he is buying
recycled waste products.
Canada, Australia
and some European countries - but not the USA - impose limits on cadmium in
fertilizer.(12,13) “Cadmium can be readily absorbed by plants, and it
concentrates in leaves, grain and fleshy fruits. After ingestion it accumulates
in the kidney; in high enough concentration it can cause lung damage,
hypertension and heart ailments, kidney disease, chronic fatigue syndrome,
Alzheimer’s disease, reproductive problems and cancer. At high enough levels,
lead can also cause cancer, birth defects, and a range of damaging effects to
the central nervous system especially in children.”(14,15) These toxic metals
can also lower intelligence quotient (IQ).(16,17)
Such disposal of
waste products into us as human garbage cans reminds me of the witches’ brew
that is dumped into drinking water in “fluoridation.” Instead of natural sodium
fluoride, industrial grade hydrofluosilicic acid or silicofluoride is commonly
added to drinking water. Discharge of hydrofluosilicic acid into the Tacoma,
Washington drinking-water system in 1995 was 359 tons.(18) It is obtained from
scrubbing factory stacks to remove wastes such as sulfur hexafluoride that would
otherwise cause atmospheric pollution. Better to poison us through our
mouths?
Let’s not devalue
our organic standards - Just say NO to including irradiated, genetically
engineered or sewage-sludge-treated foods.
I hope PPNF
members will join me in writing to the US Department of Agriculture in
Washington, DC. to protest against the approval of the Organic label for foods
that have been irradiated, genetically engineered or fertilized with sewage
sludge. You may register your comments online at http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/index.htm;
or write to Eileen Stommes, Deputy Administrator, USDA, AMS, TM, NOP, Room
4007-S, AGStop, PO Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-6456; or fax at (202)
690-4632. Deadline for comments is April 30, 1998.
REFERENCES:
- Lee, L. (1990), Radiation Protection
Manual.
- Millichap, J.G. (1993), Environmental Poisons
in Our Food, Chicago, IL.:PNB Publishers.
- Howell, E. (1985), Enzyme Nutrition: The Food
Enzyme Concept; Avery Publishing Group, Inc., Garden City Park, NY
- Graham, KM. Food Irradiation: A Canadian
Folly. Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada; Paper Birch Publishing,
1994.
- Lee, L. (1990), Radiation Protection
Manual.
- “The Food Irradiation Alert!,” National
Coalition to Stop Food Irradiation Newsletter Nov./Dec. 1985-Jan./Feb.
1986.
- Kenney M. Bio-Technology: The
University-Industrial Complex. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
1986.
- Lee L. Earthletter 1994; Summer:11-12. Lita
Lee, PhD, PO Box 516, Lowell, OR 97452. (541) 937-1123.
- Lee L. “Green Kamut.” Earthletter 1994
(summer); 4(2):12.
- Tompkins P. “Rejuvenating the soil.” Radio
interview with Laura Lee, 1993.
- Correspondence by Samuel S. Epstein, MD to
Dr. David Kessler, Commissioner FDA, Feb. 14, 1994. Bland JS, Prev. Med Update
1994;Sept.
- Ruhe G. “Toxic ash from tires used in
fertilizer.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1997; Sept. 14, Nov. 23.
- “Regulators halt production of fertilizer
from tire ash.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1997; Nov. 24:C4.
- “Recycling hazardous waste into fertilizer
causes alarm.” The Olympian, Olympia, WA. 1997; July 7.
- “Regulators halt production of fertilizer
from tire ash.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1997; Nov. 24:C4.
- Baghurst PA et al. “Environmental exposure to
lead and children’s intelligence at the age of 7 years.” New Eng J Med,
1992;327:1279-1284.
- Noah T. “EPA finds unsafe lead level in
water.” Wall Street Journal, 1993;May 12:B6.
- Myrick CR, Tacoma Public Utilities. Personal
communication, 1996.