Why you should Adopt the Precautionary Principle at home

Why you should Adopt the Precautionary Principle at home (Abridged from an Article : Time to Heed the Evidence  By Sean Palfrey, MD) We can work on and pass meaningful Safe Chemical Act  reform and build in proactive responses to new evidence of medical danger whenever it appears which can stop jeopardizing the health of our children’s grandchildren. Abridged from an Article : Time to Heed the Evidence  By Sean Palfrey, MDTwo generations ago, Rachel Carson woke us up, and her book and others sounded a clarion call that should have changed the country’s laissez faire attitude about inventing, using, and discarding chemicals into our air, water, and soil before we studied them to reassure ourselves that they were harmless

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10 Reasons to Avoid GMOs

10 Reasons to Avoid GMOs The most important reason is GMO’s are unhealthy. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) urges doctors to prescribe non-GMO diets for all patients.Reprinted from The Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to achieve a tipping point against GMOs in the US. They cite animal studies showing organ damage, gastrointestinal and immune system disorders, accelerated aging, and infertility. Human studies show how genetically modified (GM) food can leave material behind inside us, possibly causing long-term problems. Genes inserted into GM soy, for example, can transfer into the DNA of bacteria living inside us, and that the toxic insecticide produced by GM corn was found in the blood of pregnant women and their unborn fetuses. Numerous health problems increased after GMOs were introduced in 1996. The percentage of Americans with three or more chronic illnesses jumped from 7% to 13% in just 9 years; food allergies skyrocketed, and disorders such as autism, reproductive disorders, digestive problems, and others are on the rise. Although there is not sufficient research to confirm that GMOs are a contributing factor, doctors groups such as the AAEM tell us not to wait before we start protecting ourselves, and especially our children who are most at risk

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Open Letter from World Scientists to All Governments Concerning Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

• The scientists are extremely concerned about the hazards of GMOs to biodiversity, food safety, human and animal health, and demand a moratorium on environmental releases in accordance with the precautionary principle.
• They are opposed to GM crops that will intensify corporate monopoly, exacerbate inequality and prevent the essential shift to sustainable agriculture that can provide food security and health around the world.
• They call for a ban on patents of life-forms and living processes which threaten food security, sanction biopiracy of indigenous knowledge and genetic resources and violate basic human rights and dignity.
• They want more support on research and development of non-corporate, sustainable agriculture that can benefit family farmers all over the world.

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PROTEST THE MONSANTO PROTECTION ACT- CALL THE WHITE HOUSE Call the White House March 26/13 at 202.456.1111

Shame on you Mr President
Late last night, President Obama signed HR 933 into law with biotech rider Sec. 735 – dubbed the Monsanto Protection Act – still contained. Simply put, the rider hidden in the text of the Farmer Assurance Provision – and has nothing to do with Continuing Resolution spending (HR 933) – protects Monsanto from the court system should they want to halt illegally planted or hazardous genetically modified crops. The USDA already gives biotech companies like Monsanto the thumbs up, trusting Monsanto’s own safety evaluations. Now the court system cannot intervene, which could prove detrimental to farmers who are sued by Monsanto for patent infringement when their GM seeds contaminate those farmers’ fields.

The rider was passed despite efforts of phone calls, emails, and forms asking for veto made by over a quarter-million concerned Americans given very little time to do so before the “must-pass” spending bill slipped through the House and Senate. That number comes just from Food Democracy Now!’s alert alone. That does not include the many contacts made by people who read alerts from many other websites and organizations.

Call President Obama TODAY – 202.456.1111 Tell him to strike Section 735 from the 2013 Continuing Resolution!

On March 21st, Congress passed The Monsanto Protection Act that was slipped into a short term budget resolution. This dangerous rider found in Section 735 of the bill would create a precedent-setting limitation on judicial review of genetically-engineered crops, allowing them to be planted without federal safeguards in place that protect our environment, family farmers and citizens.

Call President Obama today; tell him to strike section 735 from the 2013 Continuing Resolution.  Add your voice to the groundswell in response to this dangerous bill!

Together we WILL setting right this gross imbalance!

Call the White House 3/26/13 202.456.1111

Here is a see a sample script to use for your call:
“THIS IS (name), a registered voter from (city, state).  I am calling with an urgent request that President Obama strike Section 735 from the 2013 Continuing Resolution.  The rider defeats our country’s constitutionally guaranteed Separation of Powers between the Legislation and the Courts by prohibiting the Courts from exercising their role regarding USDA Regulation and the nation’s food safety.  Please remove this harmful rider. Thank you.”

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Arsenic risk assessment scope and planning.

Arsenic – Stakeholder recommendations regarding US EPA’s Toxicological Review of Inorganic Arsenic – Scoping and Planning

These recommendations are respectfully submitted to the US EPA and NAS Arsenic Toxicology Review Panel by the following: Dr Kathleen Burns and Dr Micheal Harbut

Our written comments submitted at the January 8-9 US EPA arsenic stakeholder meeting titled “Toxicological Review of Arsenic Must Include Consideration of Disproportionately High Rates of Cardiovascular Disease in African Americans” are being submitted with these recommendations. The following recommendations are brief summaries on issues we consider important to the arsenic risk assessment scope and planning.  Most are also more broadly relevant to the IRIS evaluations of all hazardous chemicals. We make these recommendations based on our experience in toxicology, epidemiology, risk assessment, public health, and medicine, with the goal of obtaining more informative, public health-oriented, and scientifically current toxicological reviews from US EPA. We will provide additional technical information and citations related to these issues when we submit recommendations regarding technical aspects that are scheduled by US EPA to be addressed in the near future.

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Protection of public health from endocrine disruptors”- European Parliament vote on EDCs conveys urgency of protecting health-

European Parliament vote on EDCs conveys urgency of protecting health

Brussels, 13 March 2013 – The European Parliament vote adopting MEP Asa Westlund’s report on the protection of public health from endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) today reflects the serious concern and the strong desire to see comprehensive and multifaceted EU policy action, says the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) (1).

The Parliament’s report: “Calls on the Commission to revise its EU Strategy on endocrine disruptors so that it delivers effective protection of human health by placing greater emphasis on the precautionary principle … to work towards reducing human exposure to endocrine disruptors where necessary.” (Para 18)

http://www.env-health.org/resources/press-releases/article/european-parliament-vote-on-edcs

Lisette van Vliet, Senior Policy Adviser, Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL),  Email: lisette@env-health.org. Asa Westlund is rapporteur for the EP’s own initiative report on the “Protection of public health from endocrine disruptors”. Report on the protection of public health from endocrine disrupters (2012/2066(INI)) prior to the Plenary vote: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A7-2013-0027+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

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Cancer is a Preventable Disease that Requires Major Lifestyle Changes

Cancer is a Preventable Disease that Requires Major Lifestyle Changes.  These observations indicate that most cancers are not of hereditary origin http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2515569/

Preetha Anand, Ajaikumar B. Kunnumakara, Chitra Sundaram, Kuzhuvelil B. Harikumar, Sheeja T. Tharakan, Oiki S. Lai, Bokyung Sung, and Bharat B. Aggarwal 

This year, more than 1 million Americans and more than 10 million people worldwide are expected to be diagnosed with cancer, a disease commonly believed to be preventable. Only 5–10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90–95% have their roots in the environment and lifestyle. The lifestyle factors include cigarette smoking, diet (fried foods, red meat), alcohol, sun exposure, environmental pollutants, infections, stress, obesity, and physical inactivity. The evidence indicates that of all cancer-related deaths, almost 25–30% are due to tobacco, as many as 30–35% are linked to diet, about 15–20% are due to infections, and the remaining percentage are due to other factors like radiation, stress, physical activity, environmental pollutants etc. Therefore, cancer prevention requires smoking cessation, increased ingestion of fruits and vegetables, moderate use of alcohol, caloric restriction, exercise, avoidance of direct exposure to sunlight, minimal meat consumption, use of whole grains, use of vaccinations, and regular check-ups. In this review, we present evidence that inflammation is the link between the agents/factors that cause cancer and the agents that prevent it. In addition, we provide evidence that cancer is a preventable disease that requires major lifestyle changes.

Key Words: cancer, environmental risk factors, genetic risk factors, prevention

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GMO issues are well examined at the Food and Water Watch website

GMO issues are well examined at the Food and Water Watch website is www.foodandwaterwatch.org.

Go to the top of the front page of the site and pull big issues. Each issue page has a list of report and fact sheets on GMO .

http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/GeneticallyEngineeredFood.pdf

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