Tag: epa

  • The Effects of MSG

    Science proving MSG is dangerous. Many people immediately sensitive to MSG. It can interrupt the hormonal and biological development of many children. Research on the dangers of MSG continues to mount, albeit slowly. Some contend that funding for such projects is inevitably sparse. After all, why would the food industry (which funds most of these sorts of research ventures) want to spend money proving the detrimental effects of one of its chief money makers?

    There are a growing number of people who report immediate, adverse reactions within minutes eating MSG. Perhaps you’re one of those people? Or, maybe you know someone sensitive to it?

    Typical MSG complaints include:

    • burning sensations of the mouth, head, and neck, (1)
    • a weakness of the arms or legs, (1)
    • headaches, (1)
    • upset stomach, (1)
    • hives or other allergic-type reactions with the skin. (2)Double-blind studies on the effects of MSG have been done. These are studies where neither the participants nor the ones administering the study know who consumed MSG. Everything’s randomized and controlled by researchers a step removed from the process.

    And, guess what? Even these double-blind studies also found that MSG exposure caused muscle tightness, fatigue, numbness or tingling, and flushing in sensitive people. (3) 

    The effects of MSG are cumulative. Just because you don’t react to MSG now, doesn’t mean you won’t later. 

    According to Dr. Russell Blaylock, who wrote a book on the subject called Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, sensitivity to MSG builds up in our bodies until we reach what he calls our “threshold of sensitivity.”

    Neurotransmitters in the brain regulate our moods, emotions, behavior, thoughts, memory, energy, pain, perception, cognitive functioning, and ability to focus. Cynthia Perkins

    MSG overstimulates our nervous system — exciting our nerves and causing an inflammatory response. 

    With time, these repetitive inflammatory responses cause our nerves to start producing more and more nerve cells that are sensitive to this kind of stimulation. The more overly-sensitive nerve cells we have, the stronger our immediate response to MSG will be. (4)

    MSG hides in more than 40 other FDA-approved ingredients. Because the manufacturer didn’t add an ingredient called “monosodium glutamate,” they can “truthfully” claim “No MSG added” on their label. Yet, nothing is stopping them from adding ingredients that contain MSG. In that case, the manufacturer only has to list the name of the actual ingredient added, not the ingredients within those ingredients.

    So, they can say a food includes “spices” or “flavorings” when that spice mix includes MSG. They can say the food includes “yeast extract” or “hydrolized soy protein” without telling you that the process of creating those ingredients also creates processed free glutamic acids (also known as MSG).

    Resources

    Articles

    • What’s Wrong with American Foods? – obesity and disease
    • https://www.newstarget.com/MSG.html – MSG articles, information and news
    • https://www.aspartamekills.com/blayart1.htm

      https://www.foodrenegade.com/msg-dangerous-science/

      • By Russell Blaylock, author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills.
      • Talks about MSG, aspartame, and other additives.
      • Shows how individual additives can kill cells over time.
      • Shows how combinations of them kill brain cells immediately.
      • Connects to MSG to ALS, Parkinson’s, and other diseases.
    • If you’re not gluten intolerant, changes are that cell walls don’t allow those additives into your blood stream. But if you are gluten intolerant, then long-term erosion of the intestinal walls has led to what’s known as a leaky gut — which means those additives are much more likely to enter the blood stream.
    • SOURCES
      (1) METCALFE, D. “FOOD ALLERGY.” PRIMARY CARE: CLINICS IN OFFICE PRACTICE25.4 (1998): 819-29. PRINT.
      (2) SIMON, R. A. “ADDITIVE-INDUCED URTICARIA: EXPERIENCE WITH MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (MSG).” JOURNAL OF NUTRITION 130.4S SUPPLEMENTAL (2000): 1063S-066S. PRINT.
      (3) YANG, W. H., M. A. DROUIN, M. HERBERT, Y. MAO, AND J. KARSH. “THE MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE SYMPTOM COMPLEX: ASSESSMENT IN A DOUBLE-BLIND, PLACEBO-CONTROLLED, RANDOMIZED STUDY.” THE JOURNAL OF ALLERGY AND CLINICAL IMMUNOLOGY PART 1 99.6 (1997): 757-62. PRINT.
      (4) BLAYLOCK, RUSSELL L. EXCITOTOXINS: THE TASTE THAT KILLS. SANTA FE, NM: HEALTH, 1998. PRINT.
      (5) LORDEN, J. F., AND A. CLAUDE. “BEHAVIORAL AND ENDOCRINOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF SINGLE INJECTIONS OF MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE IN THE MOUSE.” NEUROBEHAVIORAL TOXICOLOGY AND TERATOLOGY 8.5 (1986): 509-19. PRINT.
      (6) BLAYLOCK, RUSSELL. “FOOD ADDITIVES: WHAT YOU EAT CAN KILL YOU.” THE BLAYLOCK WELLNESS REPORT 4 (OCT. 2007): 3-4. PRINT.
      (7) BLAYLOCK, RUSSELL L. EXCITOTOXINS: THE TASTE THAT KILLS. SANTA FE, NM: HEALTH, 1998. PRINT.
      (8) BLAYLOCK, RUSSELL. “FOOD ADDITIVES: WHAT YOU EAT CAN KILL YOU.” THE BLAYLOCK WELLNESS REPORT 4 (OCT. 2007): 3-4. PRINT.
      (9) OHGURO, H., KATSUSHIMA, H., MARUYAMA, I., MAEDA, T., YANAGIHASHI, S., METOKI, T., NAKAZAWA, M. “A HIGH DIETARY INTAKE OF SODIUM GLUTAMATE AS FLAVORING (AJINOMOTO) CAUSES GROSS CHANGES IN RETINAL MORPHOLOGY AND FUNCTION.” EXPERIMENTAL EYE RESEARCH 75.3  (2002).: 307-15. PRINT.
  • Imagine a world without pesticides

    Imagine a world without pesticides

    Can we imagine a day, a year or a world without using hazardous chemicals to grow our food? I can. And we must.

    Today, people are continuing to stand up for the future of food and farming, speaking out against harmful pesticide use in Hawaii, Iowa, California and beyond even when it draws the ire of corporate bullies like Monsanto and Dow. And internationally, often under daunting, even dangerous circumstances, grassroots groups in our global network are creatively and courageously drawing attention to the harms of chemical-intensive industrial farming in their countries.

    “It has become clear that the problems we have today with children’s lives being continuously wrecked by pesticides are because of institutional failures to acknowledge that pesticides are not necessary,” charged our sister organization PAN Asia & the Pacific on No Pesticides Use Day.

    ….

    A better world

    Our vision of a better world for our children and for future generations is a powerfully motivating factor — and we’ve made important progress on many continents in recent years. But there is clearly more work to do.

    For our children, we need to push back against corporate control over scientific and agricultural policies at every level — including in our state legislatures and in academic research on college campuses. For our children, we need to advocate for buffer zones to protect them from pesticide drift in agricultural areas. For our children, we need to provide farmers the tools and support to step off the pesticide treadmill.

    If we can imagine a world for our children without hazardous pesticides, we must begin now to invest in non-chemical alternatives to provide more and more of the food we’ll need for coming generations. As the saying goes, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time is now.”

    What alternatives do you use to protect your children from household toxins? Sharing information is the start of change. 
  • Action Alert: Tell the EPA “NO” more 2,4-D and glyphosate

    Action Alert: Tell the EPA “NO” more 2,4-D and glyphosate

    ACTION ALERT! Add your name to the petition here. 
    Excerpt of the proposal from the Center for Food Safety: 

    The EPA is proposing a dramatic expansion of the use of the toxic pesticide Enlist Duo. Enlist Duo is a mixture of glyphosate (the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup®) and the even more toxic 2,4-D (part of the chemical mixture Agent Orange). If approved the pesticide cocktail could be used on corn, soy, and cotton in 34 states — up from 15 states where the product was previously approved for just corn and soy.

    The rush to expand the use of Dow AgroSciences’ toxic chemical concoction of glyphosate and 2,4-D for use on the next generation of genetically engineered crops comes only one year after the EPA asked a court to revoke its previous approval due to the unknown risks it posed, and now EPA suddenly wants to more than double the number of states where the pesticide can be used.

    …Major news outlets are saying these crops are a serious cause for concern. According to the Los Angeles Times: “Just as the nation must stop overusing antibiotics if it hopes to slow the emergence of resistant infections, it must do the same with herbicides and genetically modified crops. The way to deal with so-called superweeds isn’t by escalating the arms race against them.”

    This GE crop system ensures a toxic spiral of ever-increasing chemical use on our land and food and poses a grave threat to our health. 2,4-D has been linked to major health problems including cancer, Parkinson’s disease, endocrine disruption, and reproductive problems. This approval would trigger millions of more pounds of toxic herbicides dumped onto our land. Even USDA admitted it could be as much as 176 million pounds per year!

    Tell the EPA to reject this massive expansion in the use of Enlist Duo!