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Organic Insider

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The EPA Continues to Ignore the Danger of Atrazine, Which is Ruining Our Water Supply and Putting Our Health in Jeopardy

One of the reasons that many of us purchase organic is because we don’t want to put food into our bodies that contains synthetic chemicals.

Yet even though we may not eat conventionally-grown food ourselves, we still need to be very aware (and concerned) about what is going on in the non-organic world. Why?

Because the toxic chemicals that are sprayed on conventionally-grown food end up in the water supply.

And the EPA is not doing its job when it comes to protecting the integrity of our water.

WHAT IS ATRAZINE AND WHY YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IT

One of the most widely used chemicals that gets sprayed on conventionally-grown food is Atrazine, a toxic weed killer.

According to 2008 data from the USDA Pesticide Data Program, Atrazine has been found in 94% of of our water supply.

Europeans are so scared of it that they have banned its use there. Not surprisingly, politicians in the U.S. allow it.

76 million pounds of it per year gets dumped on our fields, most of it in the Midwest. Yes, 76 million pounds of it per year.

And the health effects of Atrazine?

– The Pesticide Action Network reports that it has been linked to endocrine disruption, reproductive problems, and cancer.

– The President’s Cancer Panel reported that (PDF) Atrazine “has been shown to affect mammary gland development in animal studies with some findings suggesting multigenerational effects.”

– A new study in Environmental Science reported that women who live in agricultural communities in Illinois experience much great menstrual cycle irregularities than women who live in Vermont, an area where Atrazine is sparingly used.

– Professor Tyrone Hayes, Endocrinologist at the University of California, reported from his research that frogs exposed to Atrazine were turning into hermaphrodites.

Syngenta, the world’s largest chemical manufacturer and maker of Atrazine, tried to convince Professor Hayes not to publish the results from his research, but he did not give in to their pressure.

Below is a MUST-WATCH video about Atrazine by The Huffington Post Investigative Fund.

RECENT (IN)ACTION BY THE EPA

Even though the EPA officially says that Atrazine is “not likely to be a carcinogen”, the agency’s independent Scientific Advisory Panel had a different conclusion when it met this past July.

In minutes from the meeting which were just released last week, the panel said that there was  “suggestive evidence of carcinogenic potential” for ovarian cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, hairy-cell leukemia, and thyroid cancer.

(Currently, the EPA lumps all forms of cancers together, instead of isolating each one to determine if Atrazine may have caused it, and therefore makes its general conclusion about the chemical’s likelihood of causing cancer.)

The minutes from the meeting also said many on the panel believed that “the epidemiology data failed to provide compelling evidence that Atrazine is not carcinogenic.”

Essentially, the independent panel disagrees with the EPA’s assessment of Atrazine and believes that the EPA should change its officially position from “unlikely to be carcinogenic” to “inadequate information to assess carcinogenic potential.”

Will the EPA take the advice of its scientific advisory panel anytime soon?

Highly unlikely.

Lobbyists for the chemical industry have tremendous influence in Washington D.C., and any change in Atrazine’s regulatory status could potentially impact Syngenta’s sales numbers.

As we see time and time again, the health of our citizens takes a back seat when it comes to profits of major food and chemical companies.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Given that the EPA isn’t going to crack down on the chemical companies anytime soon, here are a few important things that we can do:

– Continue to support and eat organic food. By consuming organic food, we are keeping toxic chemicals out of our bodies AND our public water supply.

– Make sure our kids are getting organic food. Researchers from Harvard have said that children who are exposed to above-average levels of pesticides will be twice as likely to suffer from ADHD.

A message from Tradin Organic

How Tradin Organic is Helping Coconut Farmers in The Philippines

For more than a decade, Tradin Organic has been working with local partners in The Philippines to bring a diversified range of organic products to the market, such as coconut oil, tropical fruits and even cocoa.

The company is helping to support local farmers by assisting them with technical support and organic certification, in addition to paying Fairtrade premium on top of the organic premium.

Learn more.

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Living Maxwell

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Non-Organic Milk Tests Positive for Illegal Antibiotics, High Levels of Growth Hormones and Controversial Pesticide Contaminants

For years, I have been warning about the health risks of drinking non-organic hormonal milk.

But it isn’t just the synthetic growth hormones that are worrisome.

It is also the alarming level of antibiotics that animals receive and the pesticide-soaked, GMO grains they are fed.

A recently published report from researchers at Emory University, in collaboration with The Organic Center, is validating our concerns with non-organic milk.

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A message from E3Live

"My Everyday, Must-Have Green Organic Aquabotanical"

The best testimonial that I can give is that I drink this every single day, as it impacts my mood in an incredibly positive way.

E3Live + BrainON is certified organic, fresh-frozen AFA (Aphanizomenon flos-aquae) with a concentrated, aqueous, organic extract of Phenylethylamine and Phycocyanin.

Learn more.

Organic Insider

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Why the USDA Didn’t Need to Give Approval for Genetically-Engineered Grass, Major Implications for Organic Consumers

For those who didn’t see the recent announcement, which shouldn’t be a surprise because our government conveniently released it on the Friday before the July 4th weekend, the USDA said that genetically-engineered grass did not have to go through the normal regulatory approval, like most GE-crops do, and could be grown without any oversight whatsoever.

Yes, genetically-engineered bluegrass developed by Scotts will be coming soon to a lawn near you.

The first thing that popped into my mind, and I am sure that of many others as well, was “Why in the world do we need genetically-engineered grass? Could someone please explain this to me?”

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Organic Insider

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Why We Should be Very Worried about GMO Contamination of Alfalfa

Many people are under the impression that organic crops will just “always be there”.

Meaning, we don’t have to worry, we’ll just go to the local farmers market or Whole Foods, they’ll always have organic. These people will figure out any potential problems.

Yet, if you look behind the scenes and learn what is happening with alfalfa, a main source of feed for animals in the organic meat and dairy industries, you’ll quickly realize that the situation for organic is very dire.

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