Roo's Clues: Harm and Toxicity Concerns of the US Food Supply

Toxicity and Contamination Issues:
The Hidden Chemicals Destroying American Farms (episode of Vice News)
Follows story of a family losing their family farm because of soil and animal contamination with PFAS chemicals. The source of the contamination is nearby industry who has no liability. The contamination has caused the land to be declared permanently unfit for agricultural use. Some contamination has also come from "free" fertilizer and animal feed that farmers were assured was safe. It is clear that the surrounding farms are also contaminated but not being tested and shut down. The meat from livestock is contaminated and people have been eating it.

Chlormequat: A Dangerous New Pesticide Now in People and the U.S. Food Supply
Chlormequat was found in 92% of imported oat products that were tested by the EWG, including common foods such as cereals and snack bars. In animal studies, it harms the reproductive system and disrupt fetal growth. A published, peer-reviewed study by EWG found chlormequat in the urine of 77 out of 96 people tested.

Immunotoxicity Associated with Exposure to Perfluorooctanoic Acid or Perfluorooctane Sulfonate

Extensive report of research regarding the health effects of PFAS "forever chemicals".
This page has more info about PFAS

Seed oils are dangerous for our health
The seed oils include soybean oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, and more. These oils only became a significant part of the western diet quite recently, during the last couple generations. These oils were actually promoted as "good for you" pretty recently, so there are many people who don't know that those claims are out-dated. It's not so much a case of the science changing as it about those recommendations having been made on unproven theory that has been shown to be false now that there is research on the subject. The rise and promotion of these oils in the western diet is largely a story of corruption and regulatory capture. The primary motivation behind the widespread use of seed oils is that they are so inexpensive. Profit, not health, is the reason.

These oils are produced with complex industrial processes that include "de-odorization", which means that the oils are rancid but the part that gives off the rancid smell has been removed so you can't tell. It also means that the oils can contain significant amounts of often toxic industrial chemicals that are used in the refining process, including hexane.

Some of the harm done to our bodies by consuming seed oils includes dysregulation of our hormonal systems, but perhaps the main way is by promoting inflammation. Inflammation is a major factor in many chronic diseases and chronic pain so that affects a lot of people, including heart disease, diabetes, COPD and asthma, many autoimmune conditions, and it contributes to obesity.

In the US seed oils are added to so many things that they are very hard to avoid. While some products containing them are predictable- like salad dressings- many others, like packaged nuts, are not obvious. Take-out and restaurant food in the US is very often made using seed oils and it can be very challenging to find places to eat that don't use them.

Rapeseed: BEWARE the Plant that Makes Jet Fuel. It’s not what you think.

Arsenic In Rice - Is it a problem?
Rice is often contaminated with inorganic arsenic (the more toxic form). Found in baby rice cereal, rice milk. Arsenic is a “group 1” carcinogen. This page has links to many studies. Rice from Europe and US averages twice as much arsenic as rice from Asia. Cooking rice with excess water and then draining it, the way we cook pasta, it reduces the arsenic level as much as 50%.

Chemical Farming & The Loss of Human Health - Dr. Zach Bush

The Risks of Artificial and Chemical Additives
Generally Recognized as Secret: Chemicals Added to Food in the United States

HowUltra-Processed Food is Slowly Killing Us | ENDEVR Documentary

The TRUTH About MSG

Researchers Find Link Between Artificial Sweeteners and Heart Disease
"A potential direct association between higher artificial sweetener consumption and increased cardiovascular disease risk, including heart attack and stroke has been uncovered by a large study of French adults published on September 7 by The BMJ."

Contaminants in Our Food
New study finds plasticizers are found in most processed foods

Food Packaging
Toxic chemicals used in food packaging can cause fibroid tumors to grow, study finds
Phthalates are a type of synthetic chemical that is used to give plastic flexibility and is found in many plastic products, including food packaging. Phthalates can leach from the packaging into the food and it is believed that this is the most significant source of phthalate exposure in humans. Research has found that a number of health problems including diabetes and obesity are associated with phthalate exposure. "In the new study, Bulun's team exposed fibroid cells to different types of phthalates, and they found exposure to DEHP can trigger this whole fibroid-forming process. If a woman already has a few small fibroids, through exposure to phthalates over the years, these tumors grow," Bulun said." (DEHP refers to DEHP [di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate] which is one type of phthalate found in food packaging). Specific research includes:

Click here to see my post with more information on the endocrine-disrupting effects of phthalates and other plastic metabolites.

Path of Toxic Pollution, an Investigative Report (from the site Toxic-Free Future)
"This report traces the path of American PFAS in food packaging back to one manufacturing company, Daikin America, which manufactures in Decatur, Alabama. We found that in 2019, Daikin’s Decatur PFAS manufacturing plants reported releasing 240,584 pounds of a potent greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting chemical, HCFC-22."

Packaged in Pollution (from the site Toxic-Free Future)
"New testing indicates major fast-food chains are still serving up PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) with some of their most popular takeout foods, despite increasing consumer demand and legislative action to phase out the use of toxic PFAS chemicals."

Chronic exposure to polystyrene nanoplastics induces intestinal mechanical and immune barrier dysfunction in mice
"Compared with the control group, oral ingested PS-NPs entered the intestinal tissues of mice and upregulated expression levels of the clathrin and caveolin. The intestinal tissue structure of mice in the PS-NPs (1 and 10 mg·L⁻¹) exposure groups showed significant abnormalities, such as villus erosion, decreased of crypts numbers and large infiltration of inflammatory cells. Exposure to 0.1 mg·L⁻¹ PS-NPs decreased occludin protein levels, but not claudin-1 and ZO-1 levels. The levels of these three tight junction proteins decreased significantly in the 1 and 10 mg·L⁻¹ PS-NPs exposed groups. Exposure to PS-NPs led to a significant time- and dose-dependent increase in ROS and MDA levels, and concurrently decreased GSH-Px and SOD contents. Exposure to PS-NPs increased the proportion of B cells in MLNs, and decreased the proportion of CD8⁺ T cells in IELs and LPLs. The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, TNF-α and IL-1β were markedly elevated after PS-NPs exposure. Long-term PS-NPs exposure impaired intestinal mechanical and immune barrier, and indicate a potentially significant threat to human health."

Food Thermal Labels are a Source of Dietary Exposure to Bisphenol S and Other Color Developers
"This study provides evidence, for the first time, that BPS and alternative thermal label color developers migrate from packaging materials into food. Further, BPS migration significantly exceeded the European Union Specific Migration Limit (50 ng/g ww), suggesting that further risk assessment studies are warranted."

Bisphenol S in Food Causes Hormonal and Obesogenic Effects Comparable to or Worse than Bisphenol A: A Literature Review
"In recent years, bisphenol analogues such as bisphenol S (BPS) have come to replace bisphenol A in food packaging and food containers, since bisphenol A (BPA) has been shown to leach into food and water, causing numerous negative health effects. Unfortunately, little or no research was done to determine the safety of these BPA-free products before they were marketed to the public as a healthier alternative. The latest studies have shown that some of these bisphenol analogues may be even more harmful than the original BPA in some situations. This article used a literature survey to investigate the bisphenol analogue BPS and compare it to BPA and other analogues with regards to increased obesity, metabolic disorders, cancer, and reproductive defects; among others. It was found that BPS works via different pathways than does BPA while causing equivalent obesogenic effects, such as activating preadipocytes, and that BPS was correlated with metabolic disorders, such as gestational diabetes, that BPA was not correlated with. BPS was also shown to be more toxic to the reproductive system than BPA and was shown to hormonally promote certain breast cancers at the same rate as BPA. Therefore, a strong argument may be made to regulate BPS in exactly the same manner as BPA. "

Take Out Toxics: PFAS Chemicals in Food Packaging looks at the extent to which five of the nation’s largest grocery store chains are using and selling PFAS-containing food packaging, including containers, wrappers, and other food packages. "The study tested packaging from top grocery chains Ahold Delhaize (parent of Food Lion, Stop and Shop, and Hannaford); Albertsons; Kroger; Trader Joe’s; and Whole Foods Market (Amazon)."

Political and Economic Concerns, Corruption:
Targeted Food and Beverage Advertising to Black and Hispanic Consumers: 2022 Update
"U.S. food companies disproportionately target Black and Hispanic consumers with marketing for high-calorie, low-nutrient products including candy, sugary drinks, snacks, and fast food. The more than one billion spent on this targeted marketing exacerbates inequities in poor diet and diet-related diseases in communities of color, including heart disease, obesity, and diabetes."

END FDA CORRUPTION: Behind Obesity Crisis
Food corporations in the US, sometimes referred to as "big food", have a high level of influence and direct control even of the policies of the FDA and CDC (not to mention many of the national organizations of many medical specialties and dieticians). Some of these policies and claims are flat-out ridiculous, such as the promotion of a study that "found" Lucky Charms cereal to be more nutritious than ground beef, but many of the policies and claims are less clearly false. The influence of Big Food is having a catastrophic effect on the health of Americans while bringing in profits for the corporations. This is resulting in some dangerous outcomes including an increasing reliance on medication and surgery to treat obesity in children, and promoting the idea that obesity is not about lifestyle choices around food and exercise, but rather is genetic and therefore beyond the ability of individuals to influence with behavioral changes.

Big Food Shill CAUGHT Using Woke Language To Push Fake Kids Nutrition Info
The LA School District put out an "educational video" claiming that from a nutrition standpoint, all food is perfectly acceptable, and pushes the idea that having a dozen donuts for lunch is just as healthy a lunch as anything else, and further that any criticism or judgment saying that it's not healthy is unscientific, indefensible moral judgyness.

The American Beef Industry is Corrupt and Rigged (The Classroom from More Perfect Union)
The large corporate players in the beef industry claim that the price for beef is simply set by the market, and there is no market manipulation. Independent beef ranchers are in financial crisis, however, and this points to serious problems in the industry. This year, 2023, over 14,000 cattle ranchers need to sell their farms and herds to avoid bankruptcy. The US has lost 44% of family farms since the 1980s. In the cattle industry there are several stages where the cattle are bought and sold. In the past there was more competition among buyers, which meant the price for cattle would be built up, but there has been consolidation in the industry which means less competition in buying cattle and lower prices for the ranchers. Farmers are getting less and less of the revenue from beef sold at the store. In 1970, ranchers received 60% of the selling price of beef, but now in 2023 they only get 39%. Today, in 2023, only 4 companies control 85% of the beef market. This level of consolidation gives them far too much control of the market and therefor has stifled competition. These large meat packers don't participate in the market at all, rather they sign what are called "alternative marketing agreements" with the feed lots directly which now account for 73% of sales. This drives down the prices for cattle who are sold at the market. The feed lots have also consolidated worsening the problem.

The increased prices paid by consumers don't reflect increased production costs, which would include profits to the ranchers, but instead that money is going to investors. The cattle and beef industry was in a similar state about 100 years ago in terms of consolidation and other forms of market interference. This resulted in the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 which restricted the meat packing plants from sabotaging competition in the beef and cattle market. Deregulation mostly beginning in the 1980s undid the antitrust restrictions and the largest meat packing firms went from controlling 25% of the market to controlling 85% of the market. Consolidation and collusion result in prices being set by the buyers giving the ranchers no real options. This level of consolidation in the market makes the market "fragile", meaning that shocks to the system such as regulations at the beginning of the pandemic result in major effects for the consumer market such as shortages or very high prices. The more competition there is in the market the more the market can absorb shocks and work around them. This can also be described as a brittle supply chain.

How Consolidation in the American Food Industry Harms Consumers
Cargil, which is now the most dominant player in the US food industry, began in 1865 with a single grain storage warehouse. Cargil expanded by buying up more grain storage facilities and other infrastructure, not the actual production of anything. Cargil merged with McMillan, another company that owned grain storage warehouses, through the marriage of their children. Cargil McMillan grew to dominate grain storage and distribution nationwide. They expanded into sales of seed and farm equipment, as well equipment and supplies for mills, bakeries, and delis and grocery stores. They came to own the transportation infrastructure needed.

In 1924 they purchased a wire-based communication system which gave them a strong advantage over competitors. They entered the commodity futures markets which is a way of buying and selling the rights to purchase commodities in the future based on projected market conditions. The commodities futures market is the only market that allows companies to use information from inside sources not known to others, which is essentially legalized insider trading. Their extreme degree of market consolidation allowed them this advantage in the markets and allowed them to profit from the dust bowl and the Great Depression. The Dust Bowl was caused in large part by the expansion of modern agriculture practices into the prairie lands too quickly with devastating results on the land and ecosystems, something Cargil contributed to significantly. They also had a hand in the Great Depression which was caused in part by speculation, something they were also deeply involved in.

Cargil McMillan's involvement in both of these things, as well as increasing "insider trading" led to an attempt to regulate the company and limit it's scope. The company successfully blamed their own price gouging on the labor movement, saying that it was the demands of workers to receive a decent wage and safer working conditions that had driven prices up so high- not them. They were able to shift the focus of policy onto the workers rather than themselves. The Cargil empire continued to expand in other industries and came to be one of the dominant corporation in the meat industry. 88% of the company is now still owned by the Cargil McMillan family and more than 10 members of this family are billionaires themselves. Cargil McMillan has argued that only very large companies with the high degree of vertical integration that they have (which means owning the different steps of the process of production and distribution) can keep costs down. While this is true- they do keep their costs down- this savings is NOT passed along to the consumer, because they have enough control of the industry to raise prices for consumers, giving themselves more and more profits. The Cargil McMillan company is large enough that it has a lot of influence and control over government regulation and enforcement and uses this control to hoard wealth that harms the workers, farmers and ranchers, and consumers.

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