How Eating Organic Affects Pesticide Levels in Our Bodies

Stephan:  When I have to travel for extended periods even though I make  a point of picking well thought of restaurants — yes it is true I am a foodie — and so eat well-prepared, but not necessarily "organic" food, I notice a subtle but real diminution in both energy and acuteness. In contrast when I am at home, my environment is as chemical free as we can make it, and we eat food grown in our own gardens. This report discusses this issue and provides some real data. Click through and see the video.
The Good Cheer Food Bank on South Whidbey Island. Credit: goodcheer.org

The Good Cheer Food Bank’s organic garden on South Whidbey Island.
Credit: goodcheer.org

This Is How Eating Organic Affects The Pesticide Levels in Our Bodies

There’s a growing interest in eating organic, especially among parents concerned for the health of their family. But you might be wondering if, compared a diet of conventional foods, choosing organic packs anything more than negligible benefits.

New research from Sweden’s Coop and the Swedish Environmental Research Institute put the effects of eating organic to the test. For the study, the scientists recruited a family that closely resembles those found in many modern households, consisting of two adult parents, and three kids ages 12, 10 and 3.

The family started by eating a conventional diet for one week, followed by a fully organic diet for the next two weeks. During the testing period, each family member provided morning urine samples to be analyzed for 12 known pesticides or metabolites […]

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USDA Creates New Government Certification for GMO-Free

Stephan:  Here is the latest on GMO labelling, it's good news. I read this as occurring because of the thousands of small choices made every day by people going about their lives. In spite of everything that has been done by industrial corporate agriculture to block GMO acknowledgement, the millions they poured into buying the regulations they wanted, we have nonetheless come to this.
This May 10, 2013, file photo shows a genetically engineered potato poking through the soil of a planting pot inside J.R. Simplot's lab in southwestern Idaho. The Agriculture Department has developed the first government certification and labeling for foods that are free of genetically modified ingredients. USDA's move comes as some consumer groups push for mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.  Credit: AP Photo/John Miller, File

This May 10, 2013, file photo shows a genetically engineered potato poking through the soil of a planting pot inside J.R. Simplot’s lab in southwestern Idaho. The Agriculture Department has developed the first government certification and labeling for foods that are free of genetically modified ingredients. USDA’s move comes as some consumer groups push for mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.
Credit: AP Photo/John Miller, File

The Agriculture Department has developed a new government certification and labeling for foods that are free of genetically modified ingredients.

USDA’s move comes as some consumer groups push for mandatory labeling of the genetically modified organisms, or […]

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Exclusive Dispatch: Private Water Industry Says Water Bills “Have to Go Up”

Stephan:  As I have said over and over "Water is Destiny." Very few people have paid any attention to their water company. It's regular bill, one of those things that just is, as a part of modern life. That is about to change, as the privatization movement gains momentum. In this report you can see the emerging corporate view of the Water Privatization Trend. To me this is very scary stuff. The essential substance of life owned by a few people. Think about that.
National Association of water companies. Credit: Aaron Miguel Cantü

National Association of water companies.
Credit: Aaron Miguel Cantü

Morning sunlight spilled through long, narrow windowpanes inside the ballroom of the Francis Marion hotel, located in the heart of downtown Charleston, South Carolina, where dozens of public officials, company executives, attorneys and consultants had gathered to portend the future of the water industry in the Southeast United States. Beyond the region, their discussion was aimed at reimagining the future of the entire country’s water infrastructure needs – including their hopes to move it into private hands.

I was the only member of the press present at the Southeast Water Infrastructure Summit, a gathering hosted by the National Association of Water Companies (NAWC), “the voice of the private water industry.” Among its top sponsors were American Water, the nation’s largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. The NAWC covered the lodging and $200 registration fee for all public officials in attendance, including state legislators and utilities regulators from across the United States.

The discussions […]

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Nestlé CEO wishes he could bottle even more water in drought-stricken California

Stephan:  This is where water privatization leads. Ask yourself: Is this really the water model we want to use?
Nestle CEO Tim Brown Credit: Nestle

Nestle CEO Tim Brown
Credit: Nestle

Nestlé’s chief executive officer Tim Brown said he would not consider moving his company’s bottling operations out of California – which continues to struggle through a historic drought.

The corporate official said Nestlé would not follow Starbucks and stop drawing water from wells in the state – where personal use has been limited – and move elsewhere, reported KPCC-FM.

“Absolutely not,” said CEO Brown. “In fact, if I could increase it, I would.”

Brown said the company’s water bottling operations serve a growing consumer demand – and he’s not willing to give up Nestlé’s market share.

“If I stop bottling water tomorrow, people would buy another brand of bottled water,” he said. “As the second largest bottler in the state, we’re filling a role many others aren’t filling. It’s driven by consumer demand — it’s driven by an on-the-go society that needs to hydrate. Frankly, we’re very happy [consumers] are doing it […]

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Here’s the Secret Truth About Economic Inequality in America

Stephan:  I have read the report referenced in this story, and it is worth your time and attention. You can download it at the link in the story. The level of inequity that now pervades our culture has become a major toxic force in American society, and if we do not address this issue social unrest and the further breakdown of our democracy will inevitably follow.
Credit: Digital Muse

Credit: Digital Muse

Once you look at the issue this way, it’s hard to think of it any other way

We all know that inequality has grown in America over the last several years. But the conventional wisdom among conservatives and even many liberals has always been that inequality was the price of growth–in order to get more of it, we needed to tolerate a bigger wealth gap. Today, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, the Columbia professor and former economic advisor to Bill Clinton, blew a hole in that truism with a new report for the Roosevelt Institute entitled “Rewriting the Rules,” which is basically a roadmap for what many progressives would like to see happen policy wise over the next four years.

There are a number of provocative insights but the key takeaway–inequality isn’t inevitable, and it’s not just a social issue, but also an economic one, because it’s largely responsible for the fact that every economic “recovery” since the 1990s has been slower and longer than the one before. Inequality isn’t the trade-off for economic growth; rather, it’s both the […]

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