Comments on: FDA Press Conference

By: Vitamix Promotion Code

Vitamix Promotion Code — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 06:00:16 +0000

Vitamix Promotion Code

[…]Itchmo: News For Dogs & Cats » Blog Archive » FDA Press Conference[…]

By: FDA Warns Tembec About Violations At Animal Feed Plant | Itchmo: News For Dogs & Cats

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:01:40 +0000

[…] our daily email digest or subscribe in a RSS reader.In May of this year, Tembec was under fire for adding melamine as a binding agent in livestock, fish, and shrimp feed. The feed was used for both domestic use and was exported to 13 other countries. A recall on the […]

By: Itchmo » Blog Archive » Recall: HBH Fish Food For Pets

Itchmo » Blog Archive » Recall: HBH Fish Food For Pets — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:26:41 +0000

[…] spoke to a representative at HBH Pet Products today and he said that the recall went up on Monday. Aquabond, which was found to have contained melamine and related compounds, was used in these products. A contracted manufacturer for HBH Pet Products alerted HBH Pet […]

By: kellie

kellie — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 06:24:43 +0000

DMS,
I care. And i’m right there with ya in the feeling helpless dept.

All we can do is urge companies and gov. to change. if that gets us nowhere then all we can do is try to educate ourselves, read both sides of the debates and go with our gut about what to eat and what to avoid.

By: DMS

DMS — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 06:06:35 +0000

Kellie, I hear ya. I have a soda once in a while, too. And have been known to give the kids a hot dog or two. I almost feel that there is nothing to eat with confidence anymore. I’m totally stressed out cooking for the kids. Even the dogs! I don’t want the kids to become overly worried, but I want them to grow up learning not to take things at face value, to check it out for themselves. Sometimes i think I’m overreacting, maybe we could go out to a restaurant again, only to hear something else that reinforces my suspicions. I really am over the edge with this, and I want to see some changes. I want to do something to help, but I am not sure where to start. I know this cause isn’t entirely futile because I have seen change happen, albeit slowly, in my lifetime. In the 70’s, they said recycling would never be economically viable. Well, now it is. So here I am, trying to inform myself, sending letters, making calls, buying organic. I’m even thinking of going back to school. I am really that fed up.
But I do respect everyone else’s decisions and opinions here. At least we are doing our own best to come up with some answers and make informed decisions. The truth is out there somewhere in the shades of grey.
Everyone out there has helped me to sort this out for myself. And get through it because from listening to mainstream media, I thought no one really cared.

By: kellie

kellie — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 04:35:25 +0000

DMS,
with all the other things i have given up lately, i’m just not ready to abandon my soda just yet.

By: kellie

kellie — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 04:32:39 +0000

you did not offend me DMS

it’s all good.
i have no problem with healthy civil debates.

By: Deb

Deb — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 04:30:41 +0000

TC….The lawyer, I just don’t understand his claim of not knowing ‘just how bad it was’….apparently he is not a very bright man….but he is educated. One would this his father-in-law would have had a chat with him? Then the border inspector….disregarding the warning because he looked healthy??? Who else has Mr Border inspector let in? Something is really wrong with this one.

The lawyer is in a private room in a hospital? Why? I think it would have been a better move to have him bunk with the guy in PHX. It would be more cost effective.

By: DMS

DMS — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 04:15:41 +0000

Kellie, I do not mean to be a thorn in your side, and I know cranberries contain vitamin C, but the article I read

http://www.nutraingredients-us.....a-re-opens

says that one problem the fda was finding is higher than allowed levels of sodium benzoate in sodas. The Sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid react in the acidic environment of the soda and form benzene which is not considered a safe ingredient. I know i heard something about this last year. It’s a case of two seperately believed harmless ingredients combining into a harmful one.

By: DMS

DMS — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:54:34 +0000

sorry, kellie, i certainly didn’t mean to offend you. i may have put it too awkwardly. i am just so suspicious of the additive makers comparisons of their additives to whole natural foods. They did the same thing with nitrates and green leafy vegetables. I have read, and cannot give you any evidence, this is purely asubjective idea from a holistic article i once read that whole foods often contain compounds that may be toxic when isolated, but are counteracted by other compounds in the whole food. Now i would not want the FDA to base decisions on this philosophy, I think we do need science and have been screaming for it lately with the safe levels of melamine and its analogues in our food. I will investigate the levels of sodium benzoate in fruits and vegies, of course considering how much of those particular ones the average person eats each day compared to someone who drinks some odd number of sodas a day.
I really did not mean to be condescending. Sorry if I offended you.

By: kellie

kellie — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:39:50 +0000

DMS,
yes i’m sure i read for about 2 hours on the subject.
I found it occurs naturally in acidic fruits and veggies in high concentrations, same as methane does in tomatoes and the likes.

i’m not lulled into a false sense of anything. There is enought serious toxins everywhere, i’m just not going to get alarmed about something that is made by friut acids and not a chemical company.

i am against flouride in water and toothpaste if that gives you an idea of how not “lulled” i am. :-)

By: TC

TC — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:33:01 +0000

Sorry the link looks wierd - the story is at kgw.com, and likely all over the ‘net by now. What I posted was just an excerpt - there is more of the article at that link. Will try once more below:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....CTION=HOME

By: TC

TC — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:30:51 +0000

Holy cow. Here is an update to the story - so much for “ignorance”. And I am in the legal field as well. And from that perspective, I hope they hang him high, cause I don’t need peers this stupid. He knew what he was doing.

Link:http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TUBERCULOSIS_INFECTION?SITE=KGW&TEMPLATE=USHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME
globe-trotting Atlanta lawyer with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis was allowed back into the U.S. by a border inspector who disregarded a computer warning to stop him and don protective gear, officials said Thursday. The inspector has been removed from border duty.

The unidentified inspector explained that he was no doctor but that the infected man seemed perfectly healthy and that he thought the warning was merely “discretionary,” officials briefed on the case told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is still under investigation.

The patient was identified as Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old personal injury lawyer who returned last week from his wedding and honeymoon trip through Italy, the Greek isles and other spots in Europe. His new father-in-law, Robert C. Cooksey, is a CDC microbiologist whose specialty is TB and other bacteria.

Cooksey would not comment on whether he reported his son-in-law to federal health authorities. Nor did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explain how the case came to their attention. However, Cooksey said that neither he nor his CDC laboratory was the source of his son-in-law’s TB.

Speaker is now under quarantine at a hospital in Denver. He is the first infected person to be quarantined by the U.S. government since 1963.”

By: DMS

DMS — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:22:58 +0000

kellie, just because sodium benzoate is natural substance, don’t be lulled into a false sense of security. Mitochondrial disruption is pretty serious stuff. Are you sure about the ratios of a soda drinker to a fruit eater? Nitrates are natually occuring, but strongly suspected if not proven to cause blood cancers. Uranium is a natural substance and lots of other dangerous elements and compounds. You don’t want to load up on them.

By: DMS

DMS — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:17:58 +0000

Must have been a Freudian slip in my last post. I meant to end with the question, “How does the (alleged) advantage outweigh the risk?” But I guess it can go either way these days. What is the alleged advatage anyway, Cheap? EAsy? Portable? Even if it is known to be a carcinogen, or damaging to our health in some other way? Even if there is a suspicion, we should not have it in our food. Most people are not even aware of some of the risks they are taking everyday just by eating and feeding their children. And we should not have to spend hours each day researching our food, calling manufacturers, getting the run around, following up with an email. And there are new additives all of the time. It’s all about mass production and getting new products to market, cornering and dominating that market. First, in the 80’s and 90’s, we sat back while the big companies grabbed up a good percentage of the family farms. They have consolidated most of the food processors and manufactures and have gone global. There’s no end to their appetites. But the FDA is in the powerful position of gate-keeper between us and them. And they have failed us miserably. Their operating philosophy seems to be “there is no indication, so we are not going there.” A truly proactive position would be “we’re there already, checking it out.” And I believe they are where they want to be. The whole system seems to be built on growth that is so explosive it can not be monitored. If they can only check 1.3% of imports, the rate of growth is out of proportion to the fortification of the safety infrastructure that should support it. Growth unchecked is a cancer. Eventually, it will destroy the entire organism. The same goes for our domestic mega conglomerates and the producers that feed into them. The system is too large for the appropriate checks and balances. We can’t even keep tabs on the FDA. And this leads me right to our government’s back door. The question for me is, are these the people we want watching out for us anymore?