High Fructose Corn Syrup Contaminated With Mercury
July 11, 2011 by admin
Filed under News Stories
July 11, 2011
Natural News
By Mike Adams
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is used as a sweetener in thousands of mainstream packaged foods sold in the United States and around the world, from bread to soda and even breakfast cereal. It has been blamed for increasing the number of empty calories in the U.S. diet, and researchers have linked it to type-2 diabetes and obesity.
Beyond the link to detrimental health effects, another danger from this ubiquitous ingredient comes from the toxic chemicals that are used to turn corn into corn starch and then finally into HFCS. One of these chemicals,glutaraldehyde, is a toxic chemical used in industrial water treatment systems and to sterilize medical equipment by killing living cells. It’s also a well-known embalming chemical. It is toxic to the human body and causes eye, nose, throat and lung irritation (asthma, sneezing, wheezing, burning eyes, etc.). It can also cause drowsiness, dizziness and headaches.
The chemical is so toxic that it can actually burn a hole in your stomach.
Click here to read the full article from NaturalNews.com.
Fluoride Spill At Water Facility Burns Holes in Parking Lot Cement But Is OK to Drink
April 15, 2011 by admin
Filed under News Stories
April 15th, 2011
EUTimes.net
A recent chemical spill at a water treatment facility in Rock Island, Ill., required the assistance of an emergency relief crew decked in the very same type of hazmat suits being worn by workers at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant in Japan. Except instead of radiation, the leaked chemical at the water plant was actually hydrofluorosilicic acid, a chemical fluoride component commonly added to drinking supplies for the stated purpose of preventing cavities. This fluoride chemical is so hazardous that it actually began to burn through parking lot cement in Rock Island before emergency crews arrived on the scene.
According to reports from WQAD News 8 in Moline, a tanker truck delivering the fluoride began to overflow, leaking the chemical directly onto the parking lot where it spilled down towards the street. And before emergency crews arrived on the scene in full hazmat suits and gas masks, the fluoride had actually begun to burn a hole right through the concrete.
“It’s a corrosive agent that the water treatment plant uses,” said Rock Island assistant fire chief Jeff Yerkey, concerning the spilled fluoride. He explained that the crews had to use earthen berms, dirt, sand, and commercial broom equipment to stop the leak. Yerkey also added that there was no “inhalation hazard” from the incident, and no evacuation of local residents was required.
See the full WQAD News 8 video report of the incident, which includes footage of hazmat workers being hosed off after the incident to ensure that no fluoride residues remained.
What is truly amazing about the incident is that this very same fluoride, which fire chief Yerkey specifically called a “corrosive agent,” is deliberately added to drinking water supplies across the nation. This highly-toxic chemical that, when spilled, requires similar protective equipment as does a radioactive fallout situation, is being added to millions of Americans drinking water supplies every single day in the name of promoting health.
In reality, the events surrounding this fluoride spill are more than enough proof for any rationally-minded person that adding this poison to water supplies is a bad idea. Anything that requires the use of a protective suit and gas mask in order to handle — and that burns a hole directly through concrete — simply cannot be good for the body when ingested.
Click here for the full report from EUTimes.net
British Prawns Getting High on Prozac in the Water
October 26, 2010 by admin
Filed under News Stories
October 25th, 2010
Natural News
By: David Gutierrez
Contamination of British coastal waters with antidepressants is likely changing the behavior of prawns and other marine life, according to a study conducted by researchers from Portsmouth University.
In recent years, scientists have become increasingly aware that pharmaceutical products and byproducts are contaminating the world’s fresh- and saltwater. These come from products washed off human bodies and clothing, partially metabolized drugs given to humans and animals, and unmetabolized drugs discarded from hospitals and pharmaceutical plants.
“It’s no surprise that what we get from the pharmacy will be contaminating the waterways,” researcher Alex Ford said.
Water treatment plants are unable to prevent this kind of pollution.
“Drugs are partially broken down in the treatment process but what we are realizing now is that a lot more gets through than we thought,” Ford said. “The treatment plants weren’t designed to break down medicines so some inevitably get concentrated [and] released into streams or onto beaches. Effluent is concentrated in river estuaries and coastal areas, which is where shrimps and other marine life live – this means that shrimps are taking on the excreted drugs of whole towns.”
To test the possible effects of this pollution, Ford and colleagues exposed prawns to the same levels of Prozac found in British wastewater. They found that the animals, which normally prefer hiding in dark places, became five times more likely to swim up toward light after drug exposure — thereby placing them at increased risk of being eaten by predators.
“Crustaceans are crucial to the food chain,” Ford said. “If behavior is being changed this could seriously upset the balance of the ecosystem.”
The researchers believe that, as in humans, Prozac is likely affecting the levels of serotonin in the brains of aquatic animals. The effects of other drugs — such as hormones, cholesterol drugs and antibiotics — remains unknown, as does the effect of drugs in combination.
