Autism and GMO Foods, Pesticides, Industrial Foods

Many scientists and experts, and a 2011 medical study, have connected the accusatory dots from the alarming rise of autism in U.S. children to the explosive growth of genetically modified foods, industrial-made foods, and pesticides in U.S. diets and homes.  

Scientific American reported in 2009:

"California's sevenfold increase in autism cannot be explained by changes in doctors' diagnoses and most likely is due to environmental exposures, University of California scientists reported Thursday.

"The scientists who authored the new study advocate a nationwide shift in autism research to focus on potential factors in the environment that babies and fetuses are exposed to, including pesticides, viruses and chemicals in household products..."

Facts and Statements - Autism, Diet and Bt-toxins

• "The average rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among eight year olds is now 1-in-88, representing a 78 percent increase between 2002 and 2008. Among boys, the rate is nearly five times the prevalence found in girls."  (Source - Center for Disease Control)

• "It is known that children on the Autistic Spectrum suffer from fragile immune systems, significant digestive and brain inflammation, and the environmental toxin overload. Putting foreign entities such as GMO foods into such a fragile child may indeed cause further deterioration..." (Source - Dr. Janelle Love of the Autism Relief Foundation)

• "The five main GM foods are soy, corn, cotton, canola, and sugar beets. Their derivatives are found in more than 70 percent of the foods in the supermarket. The primary reason the plants are engineered is to allow them to drink poison... Some GM corn and cotton varieties are also designed to produce poison...called Bt-toxin, in every cell of the plant. " (Source - HuffPost Healthy Living)

• " A 2011 Canadian study... discovered that 93% of the pregnant women they tested had Bt-toxin from Monsanto’s corn in their blood. And so did 80% of their unborn fetuses."  (Source - Institute for Responsible Technology)

• "GMOs have been shown to adversely affect the digestive and immune systems of animals in laboratory settings. Lyme and autism, on the rise in the US, are also associated with digestive and immune system dysfunction. Therefore, patients with Lyme and autism should avoid GM foods." (Source - Dr. Amy Dean of The American Academy of Environmental Medicine)

In a well-researched 2012 article, The Center for Responsible Technology reported:

"What is it that is damaging the health and well-being of so many of our children? Don Huber, PhD, professor emeritus from Purdue University, has an idea.

"In October 2011, Dr. Huber gave a talk in Germany about the physiological, neurological, and behavioral symptoms of pigs, cows, and rats fed genetically modified feed. After his lecture, a physician and autism specialist approached him and said, “The symptoms you describe are exactly what we are finding in our autistic children.”

"The animals in those studies were fed the same GM soy and corn eaten by children and adults in the US. Both crops are outfitted with bacterial genes that allow them to survive being sprayed with herbicide, which kills plants. As a result, higher residues of toxic weed killer end up inside our food...

Although the biotech seed companies like Monsanto claim that their genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are harmless, that’s not what the independent scientists are finding."

A peer-reviewed medical study, released in April 2012, clearly linked the "autism epidemic" with industrial food-product ingredients, especially high fructose corn syrup. Such ingredients were found to exert toxic influences on developing brains in unborn and young children.  

(Read study results HERE at the National Institutes of Health website, and a detailed explanation HERE at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.) 

Blaming Parents and Genetics, Ignoring Environmental Factors

Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto, a University of California, Davis epidemiology professor, agrees with millions of parents of autistic children that federal officials and industrial food corporations over-blame genetics and parenting, while virtually ignoring environmental forces as contributing factors to the astonishing spread of autism in U.S. children.

"There's genetics and there's environment. And genetics don't change in such short periods of time," commented Dr. Hertz-Picciotto to the press.

Dr. Arden Andersen, physician as well as author, soil scientist,  and former farmer, states it more bluntly:  "It appears there is a direct correlation between GMOs and autism." 

Why?

• Why does the U.S., via the USDA, condone, protect, and support GMO crops and foods?
• Why has the US not joined more than 50 other countries in mandating that GMO foods be clearly labeled for consumers?
• Why does the U.S. Congress provide tens of billions in annual cash payments mainly to farmers who grow five GMO crops that comprise the basic ingredients of U.S. industrial foods?  (Read What Are U.S. Farm Subsidies?)

Why is the U.S. government not actively investigating links between the alarming rise of autism in U.S. children and the explosive growth of genetically modified foods, industrial-made foods, and pesticides in U.S. diets and homes?

Why is our elected government protecting industrial food corporations over public health? Over the very health of our children?    

America's ailing children desperately need solutions, and answers to these terrible questions.

How to Find Real Olive Oil, Not Fake Olive Oil

"What can I do to purchase true olive oil," reader Kgosi Johnson recently asked me. It's a question I hear often. 

It's also a reasonable question, given that between 50% and 80% of extra virgin olive oil in U.S. grocery markets is not really extra virgin.  In fact, much of the olive oil sold to Americans isn't even produced from olives... and is purposely mislabelled.

Mr. Johnson was responding to my post, The Great Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Scam in America, in which I explained:

"... the USDA is fully aware of this ongoing fraud, yet has failed for years to notify the public and has done precious little to deter the great olive oil hoax... 

"... the U.S. retail market for olive oil is largely unregulated, thereby allowing European olive growers to freely dump their crummiest-quality crops in the U.S., usually in fancy, high-priced bottles with impressive labels to attract naive buyers.... 

"U.S... standards are minimal, enforcement is non-existent, and consumers are willing to pay huge prices for what they mistakenly assume is a high-quality product." 

(To learn more about the prevalence of fake olive oils in the U.S., read  details at  The Great Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Scam in America.)

The simple answer is that the California Olive Oil Council ("COOC") is the only North American organization that officially tests, evaluates, then publicly certifies olive oils for compliance with international and the USDA's new standards for extra-virgin olive oils: 

The New York Times reported in California’s Olive Oils Challenge Europe’s in late 2011:

"In the absence of federally certified extra virgin, the California Olive Oil Council, a trade group, has created a similar certification process for oils in the state, with special labels granted to those that pass. The council has been helped by the Olive Center, a research facility that opened in 2008 at the University of California, Davis.

"Last year, the Olive Center released a surprising study, based on laboratory and sensory testing, that found that 69 percent of imported extra-virgin olive oils — including big brands like Bertolli, Filippo Berio and Carapelli — bought off the shelves of California supermarkets failed to meet international standards. Most likely, the study concluded, many of them were simply not extra-virgin olive oil at all."

The COOC certified just over 200 olive oils in 2010, and more than 250 oils in 2011.  CLICK HERE for a list of  extra-virgin olive oils certified in 2012 by the California Olive Oil Council. 

U.S. olive oil is produced mainly in California, with smaller volumes coming from Arizona, Oregon, Georgia, and Texas. 

USDA Olive Oil Standards: Voluntary, Unenforced
In October 2010, the USDA issued new Standards for Grades of Olive Oil and Olive-Pomace Oil, a revision of federal standards in effect since 1948. The new USDA standards are rigorous, and similar to both COOC and International Olive Council's standards.  

In May 2012 after miry internal debate, the USDA finally issued its Grading Manual for Olive Oil and Olive-Pomace Oil.... a 31-page technical manual for inspectors "to give background information and guidelines to assist in the uniform application and interpretation of U.S. grade standards, other similar specifications, and special procedures."  (Whatever the heck that bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo might mean... )  USDA olive oil testing will take place at its Blakely, Georgia lab. 

But here's the biggest gaping glitch: USDA olive oil standards are purely voluntary, and apparently intended as standards to be enforced by other "State and Federal agencies if these products are mislabeled." 

The International Olive Council is a 23-member intergovernmental organization based in Spain, that promotes olive oil around the world by tracking production, defining quality standards, and monitoring authenticity. The United States is not a member of the IOC. The 23 member-governments enforce IOC standards for olive oil sold in their countries.  

How Can You Find Real Extra-Virgin Olive Oil?
How can you find real, bona fide extra-virgin olive oil, and ferret out the fraud of fake olive oils?

To Mr. Johnson and all who have asked, the only suggestion I can find in 2013 is to either:

• Buy one of the olive oils certified as extra-virgin by the California Olive Oil Council, or
• Know your grower and his farming ethics and practices.  

Personally, I enjoy Bari Organic Extra-Virgin Olive Oil  as an add-on through my CSA produce provider. Bari is included in the COOC's 2012 extra-virgin certification list, and has also been certified as organic. 

Websites for olive oil producers on the COOC certification list provide locations or details where you can buy their products.

One thing I never do anymore: buy olive oils off the grocery shelf without first doing a lot of research and homework.   As Chris Kimball, founder of the respected America's Test Kitchen, noted on his radio broadcast, buying olive oil in grocery stores is "a complete crapshoot."

Farmers Markets to Multiply, Expand in 2013, Thanks to New California Law

In 2013, Californians enjoy new access to millions of handcrafted, artisanal "real" foods, thanks to the Homemade Foods Act signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown. 

California is the 26th state, to date, to join the cottage-food movement, which eliminates most red-tape blocking micro-businesses and home cooks from selling their chemical-free deliciousness directly to the local public. 

As the nation's largest state, California is estimated to boast an astonishing 11.5 million home-kitchen entrepreneurs... all now newly freed to earn a living from their homes, with minimal regulations. 

Under state law before 2013, it was a misdemeanor for Golden state home-cooks to make money off their culinary creations, except on a small-scale to benefit charities. 

I wish this smart legislation had occurred in the late 1990s, when I naively started a fledgling home-business baking and selling our family's in-demand caramel fudge brownies, created with the finest, purest ingredients. One holiday season, we worked tirelessly to bake, package, and deliver our divine goodies to friends, family, neighbors. We made decent money for a brand-new product, and our customers were happily sated. 

Then the county health department came calling... and for lack of minimum $25,000 to lease or build a commercial kitchen, we were out of business:

• A small business squashed. 
• Sales and income tax revenue for the state ended. 
• A product free of chemicals, additives, preservatives, and fillers killed. 

Like our caramel fudge brownies, most home-made foods offered for public sale are devoid of the chemicals, emulsifiers, fillers, additives, preservatives, artificial colors and flavorings commonly found in highly processed, modern industrial Fake Food products.   

California's Homemade Foods Act excludes only foods containing cream or custard fillings, or meat, all which require refrigeration. Foods newly eligible to be created and directly sold by home entrepreneurs include breads, jams and preserves, fruit pies, cookies and cakes. tortillas, honey, dried fruits, roasted nuts and nut mixes, chips, and granolas.  

A few important, necessary rules do apply, including:

• A county "Class A" permit
• Enrollment in a food handling course
• Adherence to basic food-handling procedures (hand-washing, hair nets, etc.)
• Only one non-family employee
• Creation of the food products in the primary residence kitchen
• Maximum gross sales of $35,000 in 2013, $45,000 in 2014, $50,000 in 2015.
• Items must be sold from the home or at local events as farmer's markets, bake sales, or agricultural subscription sales such as CSA services. 

A Class B permit requires an inspection, but also allows for sales to restaurants, food trucks, and retail grocers.  

Cottage food laws, such as California's Homemade Foods Act, are tremendously empowering to the American people to...

• Buy handcrafted, artisanal food products, unadulterated by chemical-laden industrial processes
• Support small, family-owned businesses 
• Allow small farms to supplement crop incomes with additional food products
• Inject more commerce into local economies
• Generate more taxes for state coffers

As a result, farmer markets are expected to gloriously multiply and expand in 2013 with enticing new products. Who knows? Maybe we'll revive our unbelievably scrumptious caramel fudge brownies. 

GMO Foods: Do Americans Have the Right to Know What They Eat?

Do you have the right to know what's in your food, and how it's been processed or grown? Do you have a right to info to make religious and ethical decisions about your meals? Decisions about your health?

More than 100 countries agreed in 2011 to label foods that contain genetically modified organisms.  In 2012, 50 countries have mandated labeling of GMO foods. 

The United States is not one of those countries. Observes one U.S. lawmaker:

"Unlike people in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, China, Russia, New Zealand and other countries where labels are required, Americans don't know if the food they eat has been genetically altered."

In November, Californians will vote to decide on a law that "requires labeling on raw or processed food offered for sale to consumers if made from plants or animals with genetic material changed in specified ways."  If Proposition 37 passes, California will become the first state to require manufacturer labeling of foods containing GMO ingredients. As California goes, so usually goes the nation... 

The Great Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Scam in America

Olive experts estimate that between 50% and 80% of extra virgin olive oil in U.S. grocery markets is not really extra virgin.  In fact, much of the olive oil sold to Americans isn't even produced from olives... and is purposely mislabelled.

Further, the USDA is fully aware of this ongoing fraud, yet has failed for years to notify the public and has done precious little to deter the great olive oil hoax.

Chris Kimball, founder of America's Test Kitchens, recently commented on his weekly radio show, "EVOO clearly doesn't mean anything since most EVOO in American markets are not extra virgin...." He added that buying olive oil in grocery stores is "a complete crapshoot."

Here's the deal in a nutshell: the U.S. retail market for olive oil is largely unregulated, thereby allowing European olive growers to freely dump their crummiest-quality crops in the U.S., usually in fancy, high-priced bottles with impressive labels to attract naive buyers.