FDA Detains Orange Juice Shipments Over Fungicide Concerns

February 2, 2012

CBS News

Several orange juice shipments have been detained by the Food and Drug Administration after traces of illegal fungicide were detected.

The government says the juice is safe to drink. But the fungicide, carbendazim, is not approved for use in the U.S., so any juice that contains traces of it must be detained. Carbendazim is used in other countries to combat mold on orange trees.

The FDA said Friday it had detained about 11 percent of orange juice and orange juice concentrate imports since it started testing for the fungicide earlier this month. The agency detained 9 out of 80 total shipments at the border, while importers withdrew two additional shipments.

The government started testing for the chemical at the border after Coca-Cola – which owns juice brands Minute Maid and Simply Orange – reported finding the chemical in its own juice and in competing juices. Most orange juice products made by Coke and other companies contain a blend of juice from different sources including Brazil, where the fungicide is approved for use. All of the products detained or withdrawn were from Brazil and Canada.

Test results showed the highest levels found were in a Jan. 4 shipment from Brazil. That shipment contained up to 52 parts per billion of the fungicide, still far below the European Union’s maximum residue level of 200 parts per billion. Most of the shipments detained had much lower amounts.

The U.S. government does not have an official maximum residue level for carbendazim in orange juice, but the Environmental Protection Agency has said a detailed risk assessment of carbendazim showed no risks at up to 80 parts per billion, and real levels of concern are probably thousands of times higher.

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FDA Seizes Nearly 14% Of Imported Orange Juice Over Fungicide

January 30, 2012

Los Angeles Times

By Matt Stevens

“Solution: Buy organic or locally grown oranges. Then juice.” –KTRN

Nearly 14% of orange juice imported to the U.S. since early this month has been seized by the Food and Drug Administration because it contained trace amounts of a fungicide, carbendazim, according to the agency.

FDA officials said the juice was safe to drink but that carbendazim, used to combat a fungus that leaves black spots on tree leaves, was not allowed in the U.S.

“We don’t feel that this is a safety problem,” FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey said. “This is more of a regulatory issue.

“We don’t have any plans to call for a wholesale recall of orange juice.”

The FDA has also been testing domestically produced orange juice products. DeLancey said results of those tests would be released next week.

The agency began testing imported orange juice in liquid and concentrate form Jan. 4. Beverage giant Coca-Cola Co., which distributes orange juice under the Minute Maid and Simply Orange brands, said it had found the fungicide in its juice and rival juices, and reported the findings to the agency.

Coca-Cola spokesman Dan Schafer declined to comment Friday except to say, “All our products are safe and wholesome, and consumers can enjoy them with confidence.”

The FDA has collected samples from 80 shipments of juice and concentrate since testing began. Six of the seized shipments were from Canada and five from Brazil, DeLancey said. She said she did not know the volume of product in those shipments.

The U.S. imported $438 million worth of orange juice in 2010, according WiserTrade, a Massachusetts-based research organization.

Juice Product Assn. spokeswoman Stephanie Meyering said it was too soon to know how the FDA’s action might affect orange juice sales or prices in the U.S.

The FDA said it would hold on to the seized orange juice products for up to 90 days. The shippers can take the products back during that time or destroy them under agency supervision, DeLancey said.

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Coke Says It Found Fungicide in Orange Juice

January 12, 2012

Wall Street Journal

BY BETSY MCKAY, BILL TOMSON AND LESLIE JOSEPHS

Coca-Cola Co. said it found an unapproved fungicide in orange juice made by Coke and its competitors, and alerted federal regulators that some Brazilian growers had sprayed trees with the substance.

The beverage giant, which makes Simply Orange and Minute Maid, wouldn’t say which brands had shown the fungicide. Both brands contain juice from Brazil.

The Food and Drug Administration said Monday an unnamed juice company had detected low levels of the fungicide in “its and competitors currently marketed finished products.” Those products include some that were on store shelves, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Read More at WSJ

Industrial Pesticide Present in Many Top Selling Supplements

January 10, 2012

Activist Post

By Anthony Gucciardi

“We posted an article a couple months back about supplement companies. If you are buying supplements from Wal-Mart, you might as well not take anything.”  –KTRN

Cupric sulfate is used as an herbicide, fungicide, and pesticide among many other things. It is also present in many best selling nutritional supplements, which oftentimes utilize harmful additives and synthetic ingredients that can be damaging to your health.

Among these supplements happens to be the “#1 doctor recommended” multivitamin, Centrum, which contains a great number of similarly-damaging substances.

Peer-reviewed research has identified a link between cupric sulfate and many negative conditions such as heavy metal toxicity, arsenic poisoning, DNA damage, and mercury poisoning.

When taking this research into consideration, much of which has been available to both the general public and supplement industry for a number of years (some vital research on the subject actually goes as far back as 1991), it is truly shocking that any company would include this ingredient in any ‘health-promoting’ supplement formula.

Insecticide, Flame Retardant, Jet Fuel Chemicals in Top Selling Supplement Brands

Of course it is important to note that the manufacturer of Centrum, Wyeth, is actually a part of the drug giant Pfizer which has shown its blatant disregard for public health through charging an astronomical $115,200 per patient for an experimental cancer drug that is loaded with side effects.

Click here for the full report.

Watch What You Eat This Holiday Weekend

As the July 4th weekend is just days away, most of us will be surrounded with great weather, fireworks, and a feast of delicious foods. With that said, here are some foods that we all need to watch out for…

Canned Tomatoes
Resin linings of the tin cans contain BPA, which is a synthetic estrogen. It’s been linked to reproductive problems, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, obesity, depression and mental disorders. The acidity in the tomatoes, particularly, cause the BPA’s to leach into the tomatoes. Studies show that BPA in most people’s bodies already exceed the amount that suppresses sperm production and causes chromosome damage to the eggs in women. Americans sare the most infertile people on the planet and it’s caused by things such as these BPA’s. The solution is to choose tomatoes in glass bottles.

Corn Fed Beef
The problem here is that cattle evolved to eat grass, not grain-like corn. But cattle ranchers today feed cows corn and soy beans. Most importantly, these rangers feed the cows genetically modified corn and genetically modified soy beans specifically designed to increase the fat in the animal artificially. The ranchers also feed the cows ground up diseased and dead cows, pigs, horses, chickens and goats. Now, why do they do this? Because it makes them more money. However, that means that the cows are less nutritious and are loaded with toxins and poisons and disease. A recent comprehensive study conducted by the USDA and researchers from Clemson University found that when you compare corn fed beef with grass fed beef the difference is dramatic. The grass fed beef is higher in beta-carotene. It has all types of nutrients, including vitamin E, very healthy omega 3s, and much higher levels of CLA, which is good for your heart, your health, your brain function, your mood and burns fat. Grass fed beef also is much higher in calcium, magnesium and potassium. Grass fed beef also has lower amounts of omega 6s which cause inflammation, like gout. Grass fed beef is also lower in saturated fats and doesn’t have pesticides or antibiotics in them. The solution is real simple, always buy grass fed beef from GrassLandBeef.com. The quality, the taste is absolutely mind blowing and is so much healthier for you.

Microwave Popcorn
Chemicals in the lining of the bag of the microwavable popcorn are part of a class of compounds that are linked to infertility in humans. That was a study conducted at UCLA. The chemicals in the microwave popcorn also caused liver, pancreatic cancer and testicular cancer. Studies show that microwaving causes the chemicals to vaporize and migrate into the popcorn. They stay in your body for years and accumulate there over time. What’s the solution? Old fashioned natural non-genetically modified popcorn kernels and pop it the old fashioned way. I’ll give you my little technique. First, I have my grass fed raw butter and my sea salt. Then I get my non-genetically modified, all organic popcorn kernels. I get a stainless steel mixing bowl, I grab some tongs and add a little bit of olive oil or peanut oil to the bottom. I then add my kernels and put some tin foil across the top. I take a fork and pump a couple of holes in it for a little bit of steam because I don’t want the popcorn to steam. And then I put it over the heat and I shake until they stop popping. Then I take my butter, which I’ve melted and I pour it over and throw some salt on there and it is delicious and nutritious.

Non-Organic Potatoes
The problem is that the root vegetables absorb herbicides, pesticides and fungicides that wind up in the soil. In the case of potatoes, the nations most popular vegetable, they’re treated with fungicides during the growing season then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the vines before harvesting. After they dig up the potatoes, they are treated again to prevent sprouting. Try this experiment. Buy a conventional potato in the store and try to get it to sprout. It won’t. Never eat non-organic potatoes. Always eat 100% organic potatoes. They are slightly more expensive, but they taste better, they’re denser, they’re more nutritious and you’ll eat less.

Farmed Salmon
David Carpenter, medical doctor and director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany, New York, published a major study in the journal Science on Contamination in Fish. Here’s what the problem is folks, nature didn’t intend salmon to be crammed into pens and fed soy, poultry litter and hydrolyzed chicken feathers, which is what farm raised salmon get fed. These cesspools that the farm raised fish are in, are also loaded with other toxic chemicals and growing agents, as well as, drugs. The results mean farm raised fish have low levels of Vitamin D and are incredibly high in major poison containments, including carcinogens, which are agents that cause cancer. This particular doctor says that you could eat one farm raised fish dinner every five months and still increase your risk of cancer.! So, what’s the solution? When you go to a restaurant, any fish on the menu, ask them if the fish is farm raised. If it’s farm raised, do not eat it. If the package says ‘ Fresh Atlantic.’ It’s still farmed. They lie. There are no commercial fisheries left for Wild Atlantic Salmon. It has to be Alaskan, Norwegian or Tasmanian salmon.

Milk Produced With Artificial Hormones The problem is that milk producers treat the dairy cattle with bovine growth hormone, which is BGH and sometimes called BST. It’s designed to boost milk production so they can make more money. It increases, unfortunately, udder infections and even puts puss into the milk. It also leads to higher levels of a hormone called insulin like growth factor in the milk. Basically, high levels of this growth factor can contribute to breast, prostate and colon cancers in human beings. This is a big problem here. The solution is to always check for BGH or BST-free, produced without artificial hormones, or organic milk.

Conventional Apples
Apples, pears, peaches are loaded with artificial hormones. Like I always say… ONLY BUY ORGANIC!

Folks, have a very safe and happy 4th of July weekend!

Yours in Health,
KT

Funeral Works Have Increased Risk Of Cancer From Exposure to Formaldehyde

December, 28 2009

Natural News

By E. Huff

A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has revealed that morticians who use formaldehyde to embalm dead bodies have an increased risk of developing leukemia. A sampling of 400 funeral workers found that those who worked with the toxin were more likely to die from myeloid leukemia than those who were not exposed to it.

Commonly used in the industry to prevent bodies from decomposing, formaldehyde is a known carcinogen recognized by the National Cancer Institute. The toxin is used for other purposes as well including rat poison, fungicide, germicide and disinfectant. It is also conventionally used in building materials and pressed-wood products as an adhesive.

A similar study found that formaldehyde exposure greatly increases one’s risk of developing other types of cancer. More than 25,000 industrial workers had been sampled, revealing that those with the highest exposure increased their risk of death by 50 percent compared to those with the lowest exposure. After several decades, this number dropped to 37 percent, indicating that the risk gradually decreases over time after exposure has ended.

Myeloid leukemia is the most common disease associated with formaldehyde exposure. Those with the highest exposure were found to be 78 percent more likely to develop and die from the disease than those with the lowest exposure. Prolonged exposure also significantly increased risk.

In 2008, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts made a proposal for some alternative preservatives that are safer and less toxic than formaldehyde. Research conducted by the Toxics Use Reduction Institute helped form recommendations for formaldehyde alternatives in significant areas where formaldehyde is used including in cosmetology, hardwood and structural materials, and embalming.

Various companies also claim to produce non-toxic embalming solutions for morticians that reduce or eliminate exposure to dangerous toxins like formaldehyde. School biology labs across the country have been encouraged by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to replace formaldehyde-based solutions used for animal dissection with alternative solutions that are formaldehyde-free.

It is always beneficial to seek out safer, more natural solutions to replace standard, often toxic, methods that most people have become accustomed to using. Just because certain formulas have been used for as long as most people can remember does not mean that they are the best and only option. More often than not, there is a natural alternative to the otherwise dangerous chemical solutions that plague our workplaces, schools, and homes.

Click here for the full report