Yahoo! Green: FOOD-HEALTH

Eight ways we should clean up our food supply

Robyn O'Brien — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:01:35 PST

The landscape of health has changed. No longer are our families guaranteed a healthy livelihood, not in the face of the current rates of cancer, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimers and allergies. In the words of Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard University law professor who is head of the Congressional Oversight Panel, "We need a new model," and we need a new food system. It's our health on the line.

1. Evenly distribute government moneys to all farmers.
The current system allocates the lion's share of our tax dollars (approximately $60 billion) to farmers growing crops whose seeds have been engineered to produce their own insecticides and tolerate increasing doses of weed-killing herbicides. As a result, these crops, with a large chemical footprint, are cheaper to produce, while farmers growing organic produce are charged fees to prove that their crops are safe and then charged additional fees to label these crops as free of synthetic chemicals and "organic."

If organic farmers received an equal distribution of taxpayer-funded handouts from the government, the cost of producing crops free from synthetic chemicals would be cheaper, making them more affordable to more people, in turn increasing demand for these products -- which would further drive down costs. If we were to reallocate our national budget and evenly distribute our tax dollars to all farmers, clean food would be affordable to everyone and not just those in certain zip codes.

2. Reinstitute the USDA pesticide reporting standard that was waived under the Bush administration.
In 2008, the USDA waived pesticide reporting requirements (a procedure that has been in place since the early 1990s) so that farmers and consumers would know the level of chemicals being applied to food crops. Given a report just released that reveals a 383 million pound increase in the use of weed-killing herbicides since the introduction of herbicide-tolerant crops in 1996 and the potential impact that glyphosate is having on both the environment and on our health, perhaps the "don't ask, don't tell" policy assumed under the previous administration should be reversed.

3. Reinstate the pre-Bush administration dollar value that the EPA places on the life of every American.
in May 2008, the Bush administration lowered the value placed on the life of every American by almost $1 million, benefiting corporations who use this figure in their cost benefit analyses, marking down our lives from $7.8 million to $6.9 million the same way a car dealer might markdown a '96 Camaro with bad brakes. The EPA figure is used to assess corporate liability when a company's actions put a life at risk. While this figure benefits the corporations conducting the cost benefit analysis when assessing the health impact of their chemicals, the costs of these chemicals are being externalized onto the public in the form of health care costs.

4. Allow public debate over the nomination of pesticide lobbyist Islam Siddiqui for Chief Agriculture Negotiator at the office of the United States Trade Representative.
As addressed in a letter sent to Chairman Max Baucus and Ranking Member Charles Grassley of the Senate Finance Committee, Islam Siddiqui, nominated for Chief Agriculture Negotiator at the office of the United States Trade Representative, was formerly employed by CropLife America, whose firm challenged Michelle Obama's organic garden, has consistently lobbied the U.S government to weaken international treaties governing the use and export of toxic chemicals such as PCBs, DDT and dioxins, and blocked international attempts to help regulate pesticides that increasingly are linked to chronic skin and respiratory problems, birth defects and cancer in our communities.

Given that a growing body of scientific evidence supports the theory that chemicals in our food are contributing to the rise in health problems, particularly in children, the appointment of an industry lobbyist to export our challenged food system to the rest of the world may be in the best interest of agrichemical corporations, but consideration should also be given to the health implications that these novel chemicals, proteins and allergens may have.

5. Encourage climate change advocates like Al Gore to discuss pesticide use by Big Ag and its chemical footprint.
While speaking openly about the petroleum industry's impact on global warming, leading environmental advocates like Al Gore have been relatively quiet about the chemical contribution that the recent introduction of crops genetically engineered with pesticides play on global warming despite scientific evidence from the Royal Society of Chemistry highlighting their impact.

New reports based on USDA data show a 383 million-pound increase in the chemicals being applied to these crops since their introduction in 1996. According to the Royal Society of Chemistry, "growing biofuels is probably of no benefit and in fact is actually making the climate issue worse," given that glyphosate, being applied in increasing doses to these crops, breaks down into nitrogen.

6. Update the Consumer Protection and Food Allergen Labeling Act to inform consumers of newly engineered corn allergens.
The recent engineering of novel food proteins and toxins in the U.S. food supply has enhanced profitability for the food industry by allowing commodities like corn to produce their own insecticides. As a result, corn is now considered an insecticide and regulated by the EPA . For this same reason, this corn has been either banned or labeled in products in other developed countries because the new toxins and novel allergens that it contains have not yet been proven safe.

Despite the lack of evidence, this corn is in the American food supply. The increase in the rate of food allergies as demonstrated in the December issue of Pediatrics and the growing number of people with this condition -- whose bodies recognize food as "foreign" and launch inflammatory reaction in an effort to drive out these "foreign" food invaders, speaks to the need to update and amend the food allergen labeling act to label these newly engineered genetically enhanced proteins and allergens as governments around the world do.

7. Ask the SEC to join the Department of Justice in its investigation into trade practices in the agrichemical industry.
As the Department of Justice begins its investigation into the impact that Monsanto's monopoly is having on farmers, their financial situation and the food supply, research out of the USDA highlights that the biotech industry is not delivering on what some are calling their "hype-to-reality ratio." As farmers are charged premiums for seeds that have been engineered to produce greater yields, research out of the USDA and Kansas State University shows that these products are not delivering as promised, directly impacting the cost structures of farmers in a razor to razorblade scenario.

As farmers purchase genetically modified seeds in the hopes that they will increase yields and drive down cost structure and their dependency on weed killers, studies now suggest that since the introduction of the "razor"-- these biotech crops introduced 13 years ago -- farmers are actually spending more on the "razorblade" -- the herbicides and weed killers required to manage them, driving farmers' debt to asset ratios to record levels. Given that Monsanto's CFO, treasurer and controller are all leaving the company by year's end, the Securities and Exchange Commission could interview these three exiting executives and learn more about the financial predicaments of Big Ag's customers, the farmers, and the greater ramifications that this monopoly will have on food prices.

8. Appoint a Children's Health Advisor to serve on the USDA's National School Lunch Program.
The landscape of children's health has changed. No longer are American children guaranteed a healthy childhood, not in the face of the current rates of obesity, diabetes and allergies. Perhaps it is time that we follow the lead of governments in other developed countries and create a Chief Advisor for Child and Youth Health, whose responsibilities might include, but not be limited to, serving in an advisory capacity to the USDA on the National School Lunch Program.

Under the USDA's current budget for the National School Lunch Program of approximately $8.5 billion (in comparison to the Pentagon's 2009 budget $600 billion), less than a dollar is available per meal for the purchase of healthy food once overhead costs are taken out. Given that one in three American children now has allergies, ADHD, autism or asthma and according to an October 2008 study from the Centers for Disease Control, one in three fourth graders is expected to be insulin dependent by the time they reach adulthood. As a result, dietary concerns are becoming increasingly prevalent for the estimated 30.9 million children and approximately 102,000 schools and child care institutions that participate in the National School Lunch Program.

Given that increasing scientific evidence points to the roles that environmental insults like synthetic growth hormones in milk and trans fats in processed foods are having on our health, investing in a children's health advisor may provide long-term benefits to the future of our health care system .

It's our food system on the line. And if our children are any indicator, our health and the economic burden that it presents are on the line, too.

Robyn O'Brien is the founder of AllergyKids, which is working to help people protect the health of their families. She has been named one of the 2009 Women Who Shaped the World, along with Michelle Obama, by Shape Magazine.

Also by Robyn O'Brien:

Friend us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

More from The Daily Green

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

Four incredibly easy, slow-cooker side dishes for Thanksgiving

Gloria Dawson — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:34:12 PST

(Getty Images / Photo Illustration)

Stephanie O'Dea isn't a professional chef — in fact, she claims she isn't much of a cook at all — she's just a mom who loved her slow-cooker and had to start a blog for research at work.

Her blog, A Year of Slow Cooking, became hugely popular, and she created a cookbook of some of the best recipes from her yearlong experiment with slow cooking. The book includes recipes for classic slow-cooked fare, like soups and stews, plus lots of surprising recipes like peppercorn steak, Rice Krispies treats, baby food, and crayons (yes, crayons!). The cookbook also features tons of side dishes perfect for Thanksgiving.

O'Dea had seven slow-cookers going last Thanksgiving with all of the recipes plugged in and cooking by noon, leaving her time to clean up and even relax before her guests arrived. A relaxing Thanksgiving? Sounds amazing.

Even if you're not hosting your own Thanksgiving dinner this year, O'Dea says a slow-cooked side is perfect to bring over to your relatives' place, because although oven space may be limited, you can always find an outlet to heat up your dish when you cook in a slow-cooker.

(Hyperion )

Enjoy these recipes courtesy of Stephanie O'Dea's new book, Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking, and let us know any easy cooking tips you'll be using this holiday.

Slow-cooker cornbread stuffing recipe
Buttery cornbread gives this stuffing a new spin. You can easily make this slow-cooker dish vegetarian or gluten-free.

Slow-cooker cranberry sauce recipe
This sweet slow-cooker Thanksgiving staple is almost as easy as the canned stuff and even tastier.

Slow-cooker pecan-topped baked sweet potatoes recipe
Pecans and sweet potatoes: a delicious seasonal combination. With the slow-cooker, you’ll enjoy that smell of them cooking for five sweet hours.

Slow-cooker green bean casserole recipe
These slow-cooker green beans keep their taste and crunch; it's the perfect way to get some veggies into the holiday meal.

More from The Daily Green

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.

10 ways to catch germs over the holidays

Meredith Darlington, Mother Nature Network — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:41:29 PST

(Photo: ZUMA Press)

The holiday season is upon us, and your calendar is full of gatherings with friends and family. But oftentimes uninvited guests tag along: germs. And this year — with fears of H1N1 and other illnesses on many people’s minds — it’s particularly smart to minimize your exposure.

Use this list as a guide to know where germs tend to hang out. The point is not to avoid these situations, just be aware and try to stay healthy. Remember to have fun — and wash your hands!

1. Drink from someone else's cup

A common party faux pas is to mistakenly drink from another person's drink. Address that problem (or prevent someone else drinking from yours), by marking your cup.

As a host, you can make it easy for your guests to keep track of their glasses by attaching wine charms to each glass. If you're using compostable cups, let your guests mark their cups with stickers or markers.

As a guest, if you think someone may have taken a sip of your drink, pour it out. Wash your glass and refill your cup.

2. Enjoy a night at the theater

During the holidays, it's fun to attend special performances. Whether you choose to take in a movie, the ballet, a play, or the symphony, you'll be among a large group in an enclosed space where viruses can spread.

Never fear, you don't have to miss out on the fun. Consider renting a movie or having a small group of people over to your house. Also, look into outdoor venues (perhaps a football game or a ice skating) where the air is fresh and flowing.

(Photo: ratterrell / Flickr)

3. Eat after the double-dipper

This year, instead of offering a bowl of salsa with chips or ranch dressing with veggies, try some appetizers that can be eaten in individual portions.

It may take a little more work, but yours and your guests' health are worth it.

Quick tip: If you plan on serving cheese and crackers for nibbling, cut up the pieces of cheese into bite-sized pieces or buy the cheese in cubes.

Then it's easy to stick toothpicks in the cubes or place the pieces on crackers on your food tray.

4. Touch library books

Checking out books from the library is a great way to save money and to keep from accumulating more things, but books do harbor germs from patrons past. You don't have to wear latex gloves to handle them, but keep in mind that the patron before you may have been eating or — worse yet — licking their fingers to turn the pages.

Wash your hands after each reading session and after you leave the library.

5. Take a bite from a friend's fork

When you ask to have a bite of food from someone else's plate, use your own fork. It's easy to think "one bite from my friend's utensil won't hurt," but wouldn't you rather use your own (and be safe) vs. taking a chance and missing next weekend's holiday party?

6. Use a phone

Most of the time, you're the only person handling your cell phone. But do you use a traditional telephone at the office? There could be germs lurking on the receiver and mouthpiece. Consider wiping down your work phone with an antibacterial cloth.

Quick tip: If you have to use a public telephone, carry some portable antibacterial wipes in your purse or jacket pocket.

(Photo: Jason DeRusha / Flickr)

7. Eat from the candy bowl

That bright, shiny candy is tempting, but think about what those candies have been exposed to — dust, sneezes, and any number of hands — before you found it.

It may be the season of sharing, but consider only indulging in individually wrapped candy. And though it's safer, know that germs may lurk on previously pawed pieces.

8. Go to the doctor

We like to think of hospitals as clean places, but the truth is they are full of sick people, not to mention doctors and nurses who may not always wash their hands.

According to studies of hospital settings, health professionals washed their hands in only 48 percent of possible opportunities. Nurses washed 52 percent of the time, while doctors only washed 30 percent.

9. Visit with grandchildren

Fun as they are, kids can be petri dishes for germs. Mom and Dad tend to be immune to their own children’s bugs because of daily exposure, but it may be more difficult for relatives who see the children less frequently to stay healthy. Most susceptible are grandparents who may only see their grandkids during the holidays.

Fear of germs is no reason to stay away, but everyone should wash their hands frequently.

10. Touch bathroom door handles

Many people don’t routinely wash their hands after using the restroom. Though you may thoroughly scrub your hands with soap and water, that may not mean much if you touch a germy door handle on your way out.

To avoid this, cover the door handle with a paper towel before turning it. It may seem wasteful if you typically use a hand dryer, but during this flu season, your health is worth it.

Meredith Darlington is a multimedia producer at the Mother Nature Network, where this post originally appeared.

More from Mother Nature Network

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.

Why it's time to rethink the bird this Thanksgiving

TDG Community — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:29:27 PST

While making a pumpkin puree is easy,
for the time-crunched among us, there are
now great alternatives from purveyors of
organic canned squash such as these from
Farmer's Market. (Photo: P. Barrow)

The following is a guest post by Heater-Home.

Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away and this year we have a few green additions to our family. With my newly turned eco leaf and with one of our family members going vegetarian, this year Thanksgiving presents a whole new set of challenges.

But the idea of a green or even a vegetarian Thanksgiving can seem like blasphemy to die-hard turkey stuffers. To ease them into what will inevitably be a culture shock, I already started dropping the idea of a green feast that goes beyond just a heritage or organic turkey.

When asked how they'd "green" their Thanksgiving, I got all sorts of responses from "add more plants to the dinner table" to "use green dye on the turkey."

If we're to be literalists, then I'd rather go cold turkey than sit across the table from a green turkey.

Rethinking the main course

The veggie kick brought with it the "Tofurkey," a tofu turkey that received grimaces from most non-vegetarians, including myself if only because of the horrid name for it. Another option is to try a soy-seitan turkey -- (for a great recipe, check out Chef Bryanna Clark Grogan). Seitan is an alternative to tofu, and for many it has a more appealing taste.

Most people are immediately turned off when thinking of vegetarian alternatives to traditional meat dishes. But this isn't because of experience (since most like they've never tried it), but rather because of conditioning. We're brought up being programmed to think fowl when imagining a Thanksgiving meal. It'll take a lot of deprogramming and a little willingness on people's part to taste a soy turkey -- but once they try it, they'll be one step closer to rethinking their attitude.

Your part in all this is to make sure you don't botch it up. Find a great recipe, and do a quick pre-turkey day test run. This way you can rest assured that your feast will be a big hit, with some turkey somewhere thanking you for being spared the gauntlet.

DID YOU KNOW: Approximately 45 million turkeys are (killed) cooked and eaten in the U.S. on Thanksgiving? That's about a sixth of all turkeys sold in the U.S. each year.

Why you should green your "meat"

Recently, people have started looking at the carbon footprint of the meat industry, which is enormous. According to a 400-page report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization entitled "Livestock's Long Shadow," the world's 1.5 billion cattle are responsible for 18% of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than all forms of transportation combined.

A great measure of how much awareness is spreading about this issue is to look outside of the green community. When my non-eco friends started discussing it, I knew we were starting to gain ground on the importance of the impact cattle has on our environment.

It's a more commonly known fact that cows produce a tremendous amount of methane, adding to global warming (especially since the gas is more potent than carbon dioxide). But cows aren't the only ones. Any livestock that is farmed bears a similar burden on the environment. And if you recall the number of turkeys harvested and killed to cater to a Thanksgiving feast, you can start using your abacus to tally up the figures.

The problem with turkey

Turkey dinners have their own carbon footprints, or in this case "wing prints," according to NPR, which did a piece on tracking the resources it takes to raise a turkey and transport it to its final destination.

DID YOU KNOW: A landmark study at Cornell University revealed that turkey meat production consumed energy in a 13:1 ratio to protein output. The study goes on to add that:

Animal agriculture is a leading consumer of water resources in the United States.
Livestock are directly or indirectly responsible for much of the soil erosion in the United States.
According to David Pimentel, Professor of Ecology at Cornell University, "More than half the U.S. grain and nearly 40% of the world grain is being fed to livestock rather than being consumed directly by humans."

With such facts, we find ourselves hard pressed not to switch out turkey for soy even if just for one day. My recommendation is to email this article to your friends and family, particularly your guest list, to get them thinking about the importance of an eco-friendly Thanksgiving feast.

At the end of the day, Thanksgiving is not about the food as much as it is about community -- a gathering of loved ones over a feast regardless of what type of feast it is.

If when you serve your "green meat" there's a chill in the room from cold stares, warm up the place with a portable space heater. Ignore the stares and dig in. Sooner or later everyone else will likely try it too -- especially considering it'll be too late to go anywhere else for a last minute meal.

If you've got to get people to consider alternative lifestyle choices by hook and by crook, then so be it. About 45 million turkeys will be grateful to you for your efforts.

By Heater-Home.com. Follow Heater-Home on Twitter.

The Daily Green's Community News section is a forum for our audience to get the word out about issues that matter to them, enlist support, get help and advice, celebrate successes or share humor. Submissions to The Daily Green are subject to our Privacy and Terms of Use policies.

Also by Shireen Qudosi:

Friend us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

More from The Daily Green

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

Too much of a good thing can be bad

Lori Bongiorno — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:06:10 PST

(Photo: Getty Images)

We've all heard that moderation is the key to good health. It's also great for the environment since moderation equals less consumption and therefore less stress on the planet.

But aren't there some things that you just can't have too much of? Not really. Even things that are good for you can be damaging if you consume too much. Below are some surprising examples.

Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that needs to be ingested every day because our bodies don't produce or store it. What your body doesn't need is flushed out in your urine, but it's still possible to take too much. Mega-doses of vitamin C can cause gastritis, nausea, diarrhea, and kidney stones, according to the Mayo Clinic. In rare cases it can make you tired and dizzy.

The recommended daily allowance is 75 milligrams a day for women, 90 mg for men. You can likely have more without feeling sick, but adults should not consume more than 2,000 mg in a day. Some good food sources: half cup chopped raw sweet red peppers (141 mg), one cup of strawberries (82 mg), six ounces of orange juice (75 mg), a medium orange (70 mg).

Protein helps build muscle, blood, skin, hair, nails, and more. There is a long list of health benefits associated with eating proper amounts of protein from providing energy to keeping the immune system in good shape. But eating too much protein can cause kidney problems, dehydration, and osteoporosis, and it may be linked to certain cancers.

How much is just right? Here are some guidelines from Harvard University for calculating how many grams of protein you should eat a day based on your weight. In general, you shouldn't get more than 20 to 25 percent of your daily calories from protein.

Soybeans are popular because they boast many health benefits from lowering cholesterol to reducing the risk of certain types of cancer, but that doesn't mean you should eat soy foods with abandon. Some compounds in soybeans mimic the hormone estrogen. Animal studies suggest that large amounts of soy might reduce fertility in women, trigger early puberty, and disrupt development in fetuses and children.

No one is suggesting you banish soy foods from your diet, just eat them in moderation. A high soy diet is considered 25 or more grams per day. If you eat a lot of soy products, you might want to ask your doctor for advice on what your maximum daily intake should be.

Exercise is something most of us don't get enough of. About 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day is enough to ward off chronic diseases such as diabetes, improve mood, and deliver a whole bunch of health benefits. Shoot for at least 60 minutes a day, 5 to 6 times a week if you want to get the most benefits from exercise.

Is there such a thing as too much exercise? Yes, and it can lead to injuries, exhaustion, depression, and long-term health problems.

It is entirely possible to become addicted to exercise, which is definitely not healthy. You know you're exercising too much when exercise starts taking over your life (you organize your life around exercise as opposed to organizing your exercise to fit into your life). Other strong indications: You get injured often or are left feeling exhausted and depleted after workouts instead of rejuvenated.

Fluoride, which is found naturally in water and is also added to many municipal supplies, is a major weapon against tooth decay. If kids under 8 years of age get too much, though, they may develop enamel fluorosis, which causes their permanent teeth to become discolored or mottled.

What can you do to protect your child's teeth? Don't use more than a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste and avoid using fluoride mouth rinse for kids unless your dentist recommends it. Here are some additional guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for reducing the risk of flourosis.

The same rules apply for things that are traditionally thought of as being bad for you. Moderate amounts of dark chocolate, coffee, and red wine can be good for you, so go ahead and indulge every now and then.

Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green's users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book, Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life is available on Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon.com.

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.

Is balsamic vinegar poisoning you?

Jane Kay / Environmental Health News — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:20:00 PST

This article was originally published by Environmental Health News, one of The Daily Green's trusted sources.

In a tradition dating back to medieval times, growers in Modena, Italy, are deep into the grape harvest, the first step in making their famed balsamic vinegar.

Cooking the trebianno and lambrusco grapes releases rich juice that is then stored in vintage barrels. At least a dozen years of fermentation and evaporation reduces the wine to a sweet, fragrant elixir, the pride of a gastronomic culture.

Thousands of miles away, in California, signs in grocery stores warn shoppers about exposure to a dangerous metal in many balsamic and red wine vinegars. The way they are produced, or perhaps heavy metals in the soil, leaves some vinegars tainted with lead, a potent neurotoxin.

Although the amount of lead in vinegar is small, experts say regularly consuming it may pose a risk, particularly to children. Eating one tablespoon a day of some balsamic or red wine vinegars can raise a young child’s lead level by more than 30 percent.

Aged vinegars, favored by gourmets and sometimes costing $100 a bottle, contain more lead than the quicker brewed, less expensive kinds. For three imported varieties tested in 2002, people who eat one tablespoon per day would be exposed to seven to 10 times the maximum daily level of lead set by California.

One of the oldest known contaminants in the world, lead can damage people’s neurological systems, particularly children’s developing brains. Even low levels can reduce a child’s IQ or trigger learning and behavioral disorders, scientific studies show. Lead also is a carcinogen, and in adults, it is linked to cardiovascular, kidney and immune system effects. (See how the the latest toxic toy recalls.)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that North Americans ingest 50 micrograms of lead each day through food, beverages and dust. A microgram is a millionth of a gram.

For most children, the biggest risk of lead exposure comes from old, deteriorating house paint and tap water, not from vinegar. (See 8 questions to ask before starting a home renovation.)

But Bruce Lanphear, a professor of children’s environmental health at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, said even the smallest amounts of lead aren’t known to be safe for a child’s developing brain.

"So, we should, whenever possible, minimize or eliminate exposure," said Lanphear, an epidemiologist who is one of the leading experts researching the effects of lead on children.

Lead levels in vinegar vary widely

In California, warning signs are posted on store shelves as part of a settlement under a state law, known as Proposition 65, that requires consumers to be notified when products contain chemicals tied to cancer, birth defects or reproductive toxicity.

The signs raise questions about the risk of eating balsamic and balsamic-style vinegars, which are gaining in popularity because of new recipes for salad dressings, sauces and other dishes.

Consumers want to know: How much lead is in vinegar and is it safe for children? But there are no easy answers.

Confusing the matter, some vinegars, even aged ones, don’t violate the state lead standard even though the store warnings suggest that they do.

Environmental Health News bought two balsamic vinegars at a store in San Francisco last week and hired an independent laboratory to test them for lead. Both were below the 34 parts per billion that exceeds the state’s maximum daily lead level. Elsa Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, sold for $29 and labeled as a 12-year-old vinegar, tested at 22 ppb of lead and Manicardi Aceto Balsamico di Modena, sold for $13 and aged for 10 years, contained 23 ppb, according to Anresco Laboratories in San Francisco.

Lead in food products, however, can vary widely from product to product and from batch to batch, said environmental toxicologist Russ Flegal, who runs a trace metals lab at University of California, Santa Cruz. Vinegars are not regularly tested by any agency.

Environmental Health News asked Paul Mushak, an internationally recognized toxics scientist, to conduct computer modeling of several scenarios of children consuming vinegar.

Children 5 to 7 years old who live in houses free of lead in the air and in the drinking water probably have average lead levels of 2.0 micrograms per deciliter of blood.

Eating one tablespoon a day of the vinegar with the highest lead concentration found in 2002 tests -- 307 parts per billion -- would raise those children’s lead levels 30 percent to 2.6 micrograms per deciliter, Mushak calculated. One tablespoon per day is the U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration's average serving size, although vinegar industry representatives say that is higher than typical consumption.

Two tablespoons a day would raise the childrens' lead levels 55 percent to 3.1 micrograms per deciliter. Lanphear said those small increases "may seem subtle" but "the effect on a population is substantial."

Raising blood levels in U.S. children by just one microgram per deciliter "would result in a large increase in the number of children with learning problems or behavioral problems," such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Lanphear said.

"The economic cost to society would be in the billions of dollars. That is why it is critical to reduce lead exposure wherever it is found," he said.

In 1991, the CDC set 10 micrograms per deciliter as a guideline for the amount of lead that is toxic and could trigger neurological problems in children. Nearly 310,000 U.S. children younger than six years old exceed that level, according to the CDC.

But new research suggests that reduced IQs and other neurological effects occur at a much lower level, below 5 micrograms.

In addition, for adults, the risk of death from all causes, cardiovascular disease and cancer increase with lead levels as low as 5 micrograms per deciliter, according to the CDC and National Cancer Institute. Vinegars are acidic and make the metal fully soluble so it’s more easily absorbed into the bloodstream.

"If lead intakes from vinegars can be avoided, they should be as a straight-forward precautionary principle," said Mushak, of PB Associates in Durham, N.C., who has helped the EPA and several other agencies develop health standards for lead.

"That would be especially true if children are already near a toxicity threshold from lead paint or dust or any other sources, and vinegar lead might just be enough to nudge the blood lead to a toxicity risk zone," he said.

Michele Corash, a San Francisco attorney who represents the vinegar industry, said the producers don’t do anything to add lead to their products. She said the defendants hired experts who determined that lead in the soils of Modena’s grape-growing region made its way into balsamic vinegar.

"Grape juice, wine, they all have trace amounts of minerals that are naturally occurring, including lead," and shouldn’t fall under the purview of Prop. 65, Corash said. "Virtually all foods have trace levels of one or many chemicals."

Some toxicologists hypothesize that production and storage -- not the soil -- are the main sources of lead contamination.

The aged varieties produced by the traditional method, which involved concentration in wood barrels for at least 12 years, have the highest lead levels.

UC Santa Cruz's metals testing lab, which established the vinegar-testing protocol, is researching the origin of the higher lead levels in the aged balsamics, perhaps from the companies’ plumbing, implements, or barrels.

Some vinegars had 8 to 9 times more lead than recommended

The lawsuit that led to California’s warnings began when the Oakland-based Environmental Law Foundation tested some 60 vinegar products in 2002. Forty-seven had lead, all red wine or balsamic red wine vinegars. White vinegars and vinegars made from rice, raspberries or figs didn’t have lead levels that would trigger warnings.

Under Prop. 65, the state’s maximum allowable daily level for lead is 0.5 micrograms per day. Based on that, the Environmental Law Foundation calculated that vinegars could contain no more than 34 parts per billion. The top three tested in 2002 contained 307 ppb, 276 ppb and 237 ppb. They don’t appear to be available for sale now.

The law firm filed suit in 2003 and 2004 against 39 suppliers and retailers, and a San Francisco Superior Court approved a settlement in 2007 requiring warning signs on store shelves.

Those signing the agreement included the big chains of Safeway, Target, Raley’s, Ralph’s Grocery Co. and Williams-Sonoma, and a dozen suppliers selling under many brand names, such as Trader Joe, Star, Colavita and H. J. Heinz Co.

Companies can remove the warnings if they provide the environmental law firm with tests showing their products have complied with the lead guideline.

Mizkan Americas, formerly Nakano Foods Inc., did that with 47 formulations of its brand names, including Barengo, Four Monks and Holland House. Archer Farms Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, which is sold at Target, also showed that it had met the led guideline.

One company -- Monari Federzoni’s green-labeled Balsamic Vinegar of Modena -- advertises on its grape-festooned green label that it "meets California Proposition 65 safety standards."

The fourth-generation family-operated company makes seven types of wine vinegar in Modena. For the green-labeled balsamic vinegar, aged up to three years, the company has every batch tested, said Irene Suhaka, market manager for Monari Federzoni in Bloomfield, N.J.

"We decided to comply. We don’t want to put a warning on our product," Suhaka said. However, the company’s older, more concentrated balsamics probably wouldn’t be able to meet Prop. 65, she said.

Although the businesses settled the red wine vinegar suit, they still argue that they should be exempt from Prop. 65 because lead is naturally occurring in soil.

Some suppliers, including Borges USA of Fresno, Calif., which produces the brand sold in Target, complain that grape growers and winemakers have gone untouched even though their products also contain lead.

The vinegar industry lawyers also challenge the consumption figures used to determine whether the products violate the state guideline.

Consumption was based on the Food and Drug Administration’s serving size of one tablespoon a day. A CDC study showed that average users of balsamic vinegar consume 1-1/2 tablespoons a day.

Corash said the data overstate use because it’s a snapshot over two days, and that the FDA serving size is just designed to provide nutritional information.

But she said a trial could have cost millions of dollars, and suppliers faced pressure from retailers to settle.

There is no funding to investigate whether vinegars on the no-warn shelves comply with the law, said James Wheaton, one of the attorneys who brought the lawsuit.

"Somebody needs to go out and test," said Wheaton, because "the levels can be highly variable over time." Lead guidelines too lax, experts say

Some scientists say it is time to lower federal and state standards and guidelines for lead, including California’s level under Prop. 65, because it is based on 30-year-old science.

Tightening California’s maximum allowable level "has come up several times," said Jim Donald, chief of reproductive and ecological toxicology at the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

But he said there are no plans yet to do so because the scientists don’t have enough information to know where to set it.

In June, the CDC also said it is not lowering its lead guideline below 10 micrograms per deciliter because "any decision to establish a new level of concern would be arbitrary and provide uncertain benefits."

In the 1980s, when California’s level was set, technology wasn’t even available to test for the amounts of lead found in most people’s blood today.

"If we looked at the data now, it [the allowable level] would drop substantially," Donald said. "Now we know that 2 to 3 micrograms per deciliter or even lower are having a discernible effect in children."

More from The Daily Green

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.

Is there BPA in your canned food?

Lori Bongiorno — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:22:08 PST

(Photo: Getty Images)

When some consumers learned that polycarbonate plastic water bottles might leach bisphenol-A (BPA), a controversial chemical that interferes with the female hormone estrogen, they chose to buy bottles that do not contain the controversial chemical. BPA has been linked to a long list of health concerns including early onset of puberty, neurotoxicity, and some cancers.

Just as consumers have gotten comfortable with their new water bottles, they are faced with another potentially confusing decision. What to do about recent reports that show varying levels of BPA in canned foods.

Consumers Union tested 19-name brand canned soups, tuna, vegetables, and other foods as well as noncanned versions. They found that almost all of the foods they tested from manufacturers such as Campbell's, Chef Boyardee, Del Monte, Nestle, Progresso, and others contained some BPA. The highest levels were found in canned green beans and soup.

How much BPA is unsafe? It depends on whom you ask. Industry groups say the levels of BPA found in food are completely safe. Consumers Union and other groups say that the levels are high enough to cause concern given recent animal and human studies. The FDA is in the process of reevaluating BPA because a number of groups have criticized them for relying on outdated industry studies, says Sarah Janssen at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

In the Consumers Union tests, BPA levels varied widely depending on the product so there is no way for consumers to know how much they are ingesting. Buying canned organic brands or choosing canned products that are labeled BPA-free is no guarantee. Consumers Union found that canned organic foods didn't always have lower BPA levels than nonorganic brands and the chemical was present in some canned products that were labeled BPA-free.

So what can you do? While we wait for the federal agencies to catch up with the current science it makes sense to limit your exposure to BPA, says Janssen.

Here are some suggestions:

Choose fresh fruit and vegetables whenever you can.
When you have to buy packaged, choose frozen over canned.
Pick juice boxes over canned juice.
Choose soups in boxes over cans.
Buy powdered formula and mix it yourself instead of buying ready-made formula in cans.
Cut back on soda and other carbonated beverages. Drink beer from glass bottles instead cans.
Try to avoid microwaving foods in plastic containers when you can. Glass containers are a safer alternative.

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.

Is a peanut a nut?

Lori Bongiorno — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:16:35 PST

(Photo: Getty Images)

Nope. Peanuts are technically legumes, which makes them much more closely related to lentils, peas, and beans than to hazelnuts, and other true nuts.

The reason peanuts suffer from an identity crisis is because they are used in the same ways nuts are in our diets even though they are not nuts in the pure botanical sense. They also have characterisitics of both legumes and nuts.

What's the difference between the two groups? Legumes have edible seeds enclosed in (and often attached to) a pod that splits along both sides. Picture a pea pod.

Nuts, on the other hand, are essentially the seed and fruit together. Nuts usually only have one seed (on rare occassions two) and don't open on their own.

Peanuts are legumes because they have a pod and are grown underground instead of on bushes and trees (as nuts are), according to a spokesperson from The Peanut Institute.

In fact, you may be surprised to learn that many of the foods we consider nuts aren't technically nuts. Brazil nuts and pine nuts are considered seeds. Almonds are the seeds of drupes (fleshy fruits with a hard pit that encloses the seed). Pistachios, cashews, and coconuts are also not true nuts.

For everyday use it's probably easiest to just go with the broad culinary definition of a nut (a large seed that comes from a shell) and leave it that!

10 tasty flu-fighting foods

Julie Knapp, Mother Nature Network — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:58:22 PST

Buried in the controversy over whether to get the H1N1 vaccination (or even where to find one), is that one of the best ways to ward off any flu is to build up your overall immunity. Dave Grotto, author of 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life, reveals 10 foods that provide top doses of the vitamins and nutrients you need to protect and defend against illness.

(Photo: Paul Poplis / Getty Images)

Dark chocolate

Nutrition experts agree that dark chocolate deserves a place in healthy diets, and a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition says it can boost your immunity, too. High doses of cocoa support T-helper cells, which increase the immune system’s ability to defend against infection. Sweet!

Strawberries

Even though vitamin C-rich foods (hello oranges!) are probably the first thing you think of when you feel a cold coming, Grotto says the illness-preventing power of the antioxidant is debatable. That said, some studies show it can reduce the intensity and duration of cold and flu, so it’s worth a try. One cup of strawberries provides 160 percent of your daily needs.

Fresh garlic

Strong smelling foods like garlic can stink out sickness thanks to the phytochemical allicin, an antimicrobial compound. A British study found that people taking allicin supplements suffered 46 percent fewer colds and recovered faster from the ones they did get. So start cooking with it daily — experts recommend two fresh cloves a day.

Oysters

Zinc is critical for the immune system — it rallies the troupes, or white blood cells, to attack bacteria and viruses like a flu or cold. One medium oyster provides nearly all of the zinc you need for a day, while a portion of six gives you over five times the recommended amount.

Almonds

Heart-healthy almonds boast immune-boosting antioxidant vitamin E, which can reduce your chance of catching colds and developing respiratory infections according to researchers at Tufts University. You’ll need more than a serving of almonds for your daily dose though, so try fortified cereals, sunflower seeds, turnip greens, and wheat germ, too.

(Photo: Foodcollection /
Getty Images)

Wild-caught salmon

In a recent study, participants with the lowest levels of vitamin D were about 40 percent more likely to report a recent respiratory infection than those with higher levels of vitamin D. Increase your intake with salmon, a 3.5-ounce serving provides 360 IU — some experts recommend as much as 800 to 1000 IU each day.

Mushrooms

Mushrooms used to get overlooked as a health food, but they possess two big weapons you need this flu season: selenium, which helps white blood cells produce cytokines that clear sickness, and beta glucan, an antimicrobial type of fiber, which helps activate “superhero” cells that find and destroy infections.

Tea

Researchers at Harvard University found that drinking five cups of black tea a day quadrupled the body’s immune defense system after two weeks, probably because of theanine. Tea also contains catechins, including ECGC, which act like a cleanup crew against free radicals. Grotto suggests drinking one to three cups of black, green, or white tea every day.

Yogurt

The digestive tract is one of your biggest immune organs, so keep disease-causing germs out with probiotics and prebiotics, found in naturally fermented foods like yogurt. One serving a day labeled with “live and active cultures” will enhance immune function according to a study from the University of Vienna in Austria.

Sweet potatoes

Beta-carotene improves your body’s defenses. It’s instrumental in the growth and development of immune system cells and helps neutralize harmful toxins. Sweet potatoes and other orange foods like carrots, squash, pumpkin, egg yolks, and cantaloupe are top sources.

Julie Knapp is a regular contributor to Mother Nature Network, where a version of this post originally appeared.

More from Mother Nature Network

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.

Study: Halloween face paint laced with lead

Dan Shapley — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:37:56 PDT

(Photo: FDA)

Some children's face paints are laced with undisclosed heavy metals that are known to be both acutely poisonous and to cause long-term health problems, ranging from skin sensitivity and brain damage.

The testing, by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of health and environmental groups, found that many face paints -- including those used in Halloween costume makeup -- often contain lead, nickel, cobalt and chromium. None of those ingredients, however, were listed on product packaging.

Makeup brands included Don Post Grease Paint Color Wheel, Alex Face Paint Studio, and Rubie’s Silver Metallic. Download the full report (PDF) for complete list.

The testing was limited to 10 Halloween face paint products bought at a seasonal store, but disturbing enough: All 10 costume makeups contained detectable amounts of lead, which is such a well-known pollutant that the federal government has banned or severely restricted its use in gasoline, paint, and -- most recently -- toys.

Exposure to lead is known to cause permanent brain damage, particularly if children are exposed in the womb or during the first six years of life, and can lead to a lifetime of problems ranging from learning disabilities to violent tendencies.

Six of the 10 Halloween face paints tested had nickel, cobalt, and/or chromium, all of which exceeded voluntary industry safety guidelines, and all of which could cause allergic reactions in some people, according to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

At least one Halloween costume makeup labeled "nontoxic" and "hypoallergenic" -- Snazaroo Face Paint -- contained some of the highest levels of lead, nickel, and cobalt detected by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics' study.

The report also found many hazardous ingredients listed on the labels of Halloween hair-color sprays and makeup products, including butane (persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic), thiram (neurotoxic, possibly carcinogenic, used as a pesticide), alumina (neurotoxic), and propylene glycol (possibly carcinogenic), plus pigment green 7 and pigment blue 15, which are not approved by FDA for use in cosmetics.

According to the Campaign, these ingredients aren't listed on Halloween face paints because they aren't main ingredients and the Food and Drug Administration doesn't require the industry to label "contaminants." That doesn't mean they couldn't cause harm, or that parents wouldn't want to know about them before choosing costume makeup for use on their children's face.

See these 10 ways to protect your children from toxic face paint, or see the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics' DIY face paint recipes. If you feel your child has been exposed to lead, contact your healthcare provider, and make sure the child is getting a diet full of calcium, iron and Vitamin C, which can help counteract lead poisoning.

More from The Daily Green

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.