The is a new report by a presidential commission, appointed by George W., titled "REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL CANCER RISK"
On page ii the report states, "Only a few hundred of the more than 80,000 chemicals in use in the United States have been tested for safety."
Many chemicals used are not exotic:
By applying nitrogen fertilizers, burning fossil fuels, and replacing natural vegetation with nitrogen-fixing crops, humans have doubled the rate of nitrogen deposition onto land over the past 50 years.237 Nitrogen fertilizers may increase cancer risk due to the breakdown of nitrogen by digestive enzymes. Most of the nitrogen in fertilizers is converted to nitrate that seeps into groundwater. Nitrate levels in groundwater under agricultural areas can be several- to 100-fold higher than levels under natural vegetation.238 Rural populations in agricultural areas may have a much greater likelihood of elevated nitrate exposures compared with those using public water supplies. Nitrate levels also can be high in streams and rivers due to runoff of nitrogen fertilizer from agricultural fields. Almost all public water supplies, however, have nitrate levels below the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 10 mg/L.
Ingesting contaminated drinking water is the primary route of human exposure to nitrate from nitrogen fertilizers.239 Nitrates in drinking water are important because the most likely known mechanism for human cancer related to nitrate is the body’s formation of N-nitroso compounds (NOC), which have been shown to cause tumors at multiple organ sites in every animal species tested, including neurological system cancers following transplacental exposure
What this means is anyone's guess. However, how can the findings in this report be essentially ignored and at the same time have people claiming raw milk consumption is a huge risk?
Report available at: http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/pcp/pcp08-09rpt/PCP_Report_08-09_508.pdf
One thing is for sure, if you die of starvation you won't live long enough to die of cancer
ReplyDeleteman i really needed a laugh. so true. but a darn shame
ReplyDeletePhosphates first, nitrogen next; soon we will all be farming barren ground. By the way phosphate free cleaners simply don't work! I can't believe what is happening to this country the dairy industry and our freedoms. Why do we keep taking the hits?
ReplyDeleteLack of cream and butter equals not enough milk for the folks of the world - but we just keep getting screwed, the industry continues to consolidate, fewer processors and less smaller and mid sized farms; large farms continue to grow, sometimes more out of need than want. Milk-source adds four thousand cows here and five thousand cows there, in brand new multi-million dollar barns. Meanwhile 90 more true family farms lose all they have including farms that have been in the family for centries.
The way of the world I guess, ok when it happens to your neighbor, but soon enough it will probably be heading your way.