Comments on: Ten health experiments that you’re probably participating in

By: CShipman

CShipman — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:56:26 +0000

Kevin,
I don’t want to come off as someone who is scared of everything, but unfortunately what the FDA does for us, is doing just that.
I have looked at the development of my children, boys and girls, and that of other children too. Young woman in my day, 1 in 10 may start “developing” by grade 6, now I am seeing that it is more like 1 in 2 or less. I think that this it is highly probable that BGH is responsible, heck it is a growth hormone. My wife is from China, and my brothers’ wife from France, these countries forbid BGH and their children are developing physically as ours were 30-40 years ago. As for HFCS and artificial sweeteners, I do believe that is has contributed greatly to our obesity and diabetes problems. I know because I’m a type 2 diabetic, which is more and more common for adults now days. After 30 years of use of HFCS and sacharin derivative ingredients in everything, I strongly believe this.
Most of this seems to be driven more by greed and the need to produce quantity versus quality. The arguement for HFCS was that the sugar tarrifs were too high for the productivity of processed cane sugar to be profitable. This sounds like it, like the BGH decision was driven by lobbyists for big business to increase profit margins at the cost of the public. It’s not just congress that attacked by the leeches of business, but the FDA as well. Any company that wants something bad enough, just needs to throw enough money at it to get a stamp of approval from the FDA.

60 years ago, Dr.’s recommend certain brands of cigarettes, now look at it. Same with the products you mentioned. We are the guinea pigs for industries Organic and Bio chemists to make a buck for big business. They don’t care about the consumers, only their bottom line.

This is only going to change if we elect individuals who will carry our voices to stop the injustice being done to the public by the FDA for the businesses. Stricter guidelines must be in place and to have these products removed from our food sources.

The only other solution is for everyone to go back to the days of old, grow your own foods in a garden, and have a mini farm in your back yard so that you can control what you and your family eats. The government sure as heck isn’t watching out for us.

By: TeacherPatti

TeacherPatti — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:25:17 +0000

I usually drink diet pop, but now they are saying that is worse for you! Ugh!

Here is the link to the Wiki page:

http://arborwiki.org/index.php/List_of_Ann_Arbor_bloggers

By: Kevin Dangoor

Kevin Dangoor — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:54:56 +0000

Hi Patti,

I didn’t even realize that Arbor Wiki had a page with Ann Arbor bloggers (or that I was on it!) Yeah, HFCS is pretty insidious.

Lately, I’ve been getting Whole Foods’ store brand cola which uses cane sugar (and has no caffeine, for that matter). I don’t drink very much pop in general, though, so it’s not a big deal for me. Someone who’s a big pop drinker will really have to go out of their way to avoid HFCS!

By: TeacherPatti

TeacherPatti — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:06:16 +0000

Hi Kevin–I found your blog via Arbor Wiki and had to comment. HFCS scares the bejesus out of me. I try to avoid it the best I can. Recently though, I bought some bread from the Farmers’ Market. I happened to be making my husband’s lunch one day when I read the ingredient list. Sure enough, HFCS was there, mocking me. Naively, I thought that the FM stuff would be good for me….

Personally, I stock up during Passover by getting my “Passover Coke”, which also has the sugar in it. Morgan and York (formerly Big 10) also carries it in small bottles.

By: Kevin Dangoor

Kevin Dangoor — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:24:59 +0000

I don’t have time or inclination to grow my own food, but I did recently get “Back to Basics”:
http://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Complete-Traditional-Skills/dp/1602392331/
so that I can at least learn some of the fundamentals.

I only heard a small bit of that Diane Ream show, but the small bit that I heard was plenty. There’s no question that many companies will go for the dollar and betray their customers, and it’s a pity that we allow corporations to have so much sway in Washington.

Luckily, enough educated individuals can put a stop to almost any shenanigans, but how many lives are lost before that happens?

By: Matt Wilson

Matt Wilson — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:18:37 +0000

Yeah, I heard that Diane Ream show episode too. The authors seemed a bit like scaremongers. Their insinuations that chemical poisoning were somehow relevant to Columbine and Virginia Tech really turned me off. There are plenty of well-documented cases that support their thesis that massive corporate and government agencies don’t care much about public health. They don’t need to take the issue beyond that.

Anyhow, I’m learning to grow my own food for some of the same reasons that I learned to program. I don’t like having to trust others to do something for me because I can’t understand how to do it myself.