Nutrition

Blood samples show concentrations of pesticides six times higher in children who ate conventionally grown fruits and vegetables compared with kids who ate organic food. That’s alarming because chemicals used to kill or control weeds (herbicides) and insects (pesticides/insecticides) are shown to be linked to causing cancers and other diseases. These chemicals are sprayed repeatedly during the growing season on conventionally grown food crops, and you cannot wash them off because they are inside every cell of the plants! Note that organic food growers do not use these dangerous toxins and chemicals.

CHILDREN MIMIC ADULTS

Researchers tend to blame genes for cancers that occur in families, although only about 5% are responsible. Families often share more than genes. They also have the same food habits, snack preferences, and lifestyle activities that contribute to poor health. Children of all ages tend to accept the foods and lifestyle patterns they see every day.

“New, groundbreaking research shows that many of the diseases we associate with old age – including cancer – actually begin during childhood, and that poor nutrition and unhealthy eating habits take their toll later on in life,” says pediatrician Dr. Myron Winick. Proper nutrition helps children stay healthy in their early developing years as well as when they reach adulthood.

“Nutrition is a critical component to therapy for young children with chronic diseases and medical conditions. Proper nutrition support prevents malnutrition, assures appropriate growth and development, and help to maintain a strong immune system.”

~ Cleveland Clinic Children’s Nutrition,

My.ClevelandClinic.com

PROCESSED FOOD

American food began to change drastically in the 1950s when saving time and convenience became the new trend. Fast food offers a cheap meal that is processed with dozens of undisclosed chemicals that masquerade as food, to extend shelf life, not your health.

Cancer was rare in adults and unknown in children a hundred years ago. But chemicals sprayed on food crops since the 1940s have contaminated our food and environment. The incidences of cancer have escalated to alarming proportions since World War II and the most tragic are childhood cancers.

Numerous studies in the United States have demonstrated clear associations between childhood cancers and exposures to carcinogenic chemicals, including residues commonly found on conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. “The developing child is often much more susceptible to carcinogens than adults,” according to Samuel Epstein, M.D. and Ralph Moss, Ph.D.

ORGANIC – CONVENTIONAL – GENETICALLY ENGINEERED (GMO)

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES?

ORGANIC FOODS is the gold standard for optimal nutrition, delicious flavor, and health benefits.

Children, teens, pregnant women, the elderly and people with allergies often benefit the most from an organic diet. Recent studies published in peer-reviewed journals report that organic foods have much higher levels of nutrients you need for optimal health.

Organic food is produced without conventional pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or sewage sludge; no antibiotics or growth hormones; and no genetically engineering or ionizing radiation are allowed in organic food. The farmer has to follow strict rules to meet USDA standards before it is officially certified organic.

The USDA organic seal assures you of the highest quality and integrity of organic foods and products. Because organic food is grown in well-balanced soil, it naturally tastes better with more flavor.

Your family can also enjoy organic dairy, eggs, cereals, grains, bread, beans, nuts, juices, and meats that are higher in nutrients than conventionally produced foods.

Recent studies published in peer-reviewed journals show that organic foods have much higher levels of vital phyto-nutrients and vitamin content. Organic food is marketed as fresh, frozen, or packaged. If your store doesn’t carry a good selection of organic foods, demand it!

Although organic food sometimes costs a bit more, consider it an investment in your family’s health. Cut back on other expenses to be able to afford organic nutrition. Grow a backyard garden with certified organic seeds to save money and know what’s on your plate. You’ll find a great selection of 150 certified organic vegetable, herb and flower seeds to order online at the Botanical Interests website and at some health food stores.

CONVENTIONALLY GROWN FOODS

CONVENTIONALLY GROWN FOODS are crops that are not produced with the same high standards as organic. Conventional farmers spray crops repeatedly during the growing season with pesticides and herbicides to kill or control insects and weeds. They use synthetic fertilizers derived from chemicals and sewage sludge contaminated with human and animal waste, pharmaceutical drugs and heavy metals!

Conventionally grown food is often irradiated, dyed, treated with fungicides, waxes, and a whole host of treatments before being trucked an average of 1,500 miles to your market. Many foods are imported from countries where regulations are minimal and toxic DDT pesticide (banned in the U.S.) is sprayed on fruits and vegetables exported to the United States. Produce grown conventionally will have a sticker that begins with a 3 or 4, depending on the size of the food, such as oranges.

There are unlabeled carcinogens (a carcinogen is anything that causes cancer) and toxins added to 93 conventionally grown foods. To learn more, visit the searchable database on the Internet at WhatsOnMyFood.com for the startling number of pesticides and chemicals on conventionally grown fruits, veggies, and grains that are linked to leukemia, brain cancers, and other health problems.

For example, an apple grown conventionally has 42 pesticide residues including:

7 known or suspected carcinogens
19 suspected hormone disruptors
10 neurotoxins
6 developmental or reproductive toxins

There is no safe level of toxins! Even extremely low dose exposures to pesticides during fetal development, infancy and childhood are linked to cancers, birth defects, developmental delays and other diseases. Because toxins accumulate in the body, they also contribute to slow-growing adult cancers traced back to childhood exposures.

SWEETENER CONSUMPTION

The average American adult consumes 150 to 170 pounds of sugar annually, says the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, compared to only 4 – 6 pounds a year in the 1800s. With each passing decade, there has been a steady increase of sugar in our diet. Kids typically consume 13 teaspoons and teens 22 teaspoons of sugar every day, according to the National Health and Nutrition Survey.

Sugar is addictive and is linked to several health issues, including cancer because sugar feeds cancer cells! Parents need to greatly limit how much sugar kids and teens consume since it reduces the immune system by 50%, and depletes your life forces of nutrients.

GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS

ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL experiments in human health the world has ever known has been going on since the 1990s. It’s the introduction of genetically engineered crops in the world’s food supply.

Also known as GMO, GE, and Biotechnology, many health experts refer to genetically engineered or modified organisms as FRANKENFOODS. Nearly 30 years ago, scientists at Monsanto and other biotech companies began crude, bizarre laboratory experiments by removing genes in one or more species and forcing them into the genome of another unrelated species in ways never found in Nature.

More than 95% of food not grown organically are GMOs inserted with foreign genes that come from. . .

• Viruses

• Insects

• Toxins

• Bacteria

• Animal genes

• Human genes

The foreign gene of interest offers a desired trait that scientists want, to improve a targeted plant and increase yield, or to resist insects. Known as gene splicing, it merges the DNA from two or more different species. An example would be “Cabbage inserted with scorpion venom, something Biotech scientists did in 1994 to keep insects and animals out of cabbage patches, and to avoid spraying pesticides.” ~ Explore Biotech, 2018

By cobbling a mix of genes from totally unrelated species, genetic editing creates a sort of plant

Frankenstein.

There are two main traits in GMO foods: The first is the ability to produce its own pesticide, which studies have shown continues inside the stomach and intestines of those who consume GMO foods that contain the toxin.

The second trait is tolerance of herbicides such as Roundup sprayed repeatedly around the crops to kill weeds. But Roundup’s main chemical is Glyphosate — known as the “Darth Vader of Chemicals” — because it is so toxic. It was classified in 2015 by the International Agency For Cancer Research as a “probable human carcinogen” after undisputed evidence showed the link to cancer in humans and animals.

The average grocery store in the United States sells about 150,000 cheap food items and 95% are genetically engineered! GMO foods include soy and soy products, corn and corn products, canola oil, cottonseed oil, sugar beets, rice from China, flax, Hawaiian papaya, summer squash, Pink Pineapple, potatoes, apples, and Atlanta Salmon. A new purple tomato grown from GMO seeds has recently been introduced for home gardens.

GMO foods are everywhere, in our grocery stores, homes and restaurants. For nearly 30 years, they were not labeled in the USA, so most Americans have been unaware, or are confused about their very existence. Animals and poultry fed GMO soy and GMO corn pass on the dangers in dairy, meat and eggs, so always shop for certified organic foods.

Biotech companies and food manufacturers spent more than $ 70 million to fight laws in the U.S. that require labels. They realize that if you know what’s in your food, you won’t buy their products and they will lose money.

U.S. Congress passed a GMO labeling law in 2016 that would allow people with a smartphone to scan a bar code on a food product to find out if it contains GMOs or not. BUT food manufacturers don’t have to disclose that information. When is a label not a label?

Glyphosate also alters your DNA, according to the Archives of Toxicology.

How will this frightening discovery affect future generations?

Vegetarians and conscientious religious groups find this perplexing, not knowing what to avoid, since most GMOs are not labeled in the United States.

Some scientists have spoken out in heated tones that “Introducing GMOs into the food supply has been a massive human experiment and a large-scale betrayal of the public trust!”

GMO technology unleashes a multitude of unpredictable health problems. Several scientists, especially in Europe, have documented studies that show GMO foods can impact human and animal health in several ways by causing cancer, miscarriages, damage to major organs, ruptured intestines, sterility, severe allergies, stunted growth in children, toxic reactions, accelerated aging, lesions, bleeding ulcers, autism, thyroid disorders, brain damage, and death. ~ Natural Health Guide, Spring 2024

“Genetic engineering has “unhinged the entire food chain,”

warns the World Foundation For Natural Science.

More than 815 scientists in 82 different countries say “GMO foods are not safe.” They are banned, or require clear labels in 64 countries but not in the United States.

BIZARRE COMBINATIONS OF DNA SPLICING

Tomato inserted with fish or frog genes
Broccoli mixed with rat DNA
Salmon spiked with human genes
Corn spliced with Hepatitis B virus
Cabbage infused with scorpion venom
Human genes inserted into rice and corn
Corn with chicken genes
Norwegian rat genes in soybeans
Sugarcane infused with human genes
Lettuce spiced with tobacco genes
Corn inserted with pig genes

“If you put labels on genetically engineered foods, you might as

well put a skull and crossbones on it,” admitted Norman Braksick, president of Asgrow Seed Company, a subsidiary of the Monsanto Biotech company.

~ Kansas City Star, 7 March 1994

WHO IS IN CHARGE OF FOOD SAFETY?

“Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech (GMO) food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job.”

~ Phil Angell, Monsanto Director of Communication,

New York Times Magazine, 24 October 1998

WHAT IS THE U.S. F.D.A.’s FOOD POLICY?

“Ultimately it is the food producer who is responsible for assuring safety.”

~ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Federal Register,

Statement of Policy: Foods Derived From New Plant Varieties, Vol.

57 No. 104, 1992, page 229

When the public demanded labeling GMOs, Monsanto and grocers spent $70 million to fight back. They realize that if you know what’s in their food, you wouldn’t want to buy their products and they will lose money.

National polls show that 98% of Americans want clear labels on GMO foods, not a confusing bar code.

WHAT DO DOCTORS SAY?

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has urged doctors to warn their patients to avoid eating genetically engineered foods because “several studies indicate very serious health risks associated with GMO foods.”

“GMO foods pose a danger to us all and the evidence is undisputable,” warns Dr. Edward Group III. There are no long-term studies on human health, yet Biotech companies boast their foods are “safe and just like plants grown traditionally.” So why has there been an enormous increase in chronic health problems for children and adults since GMOs have been sneaked into our food system?

Incredibly, the Biotech companies like Bayer, who bought out Monsanto in 2018, are the very same people that test GMOs for safety, says Bruce Blumberg, Ph.D., cell biologist at the University of California, Irvine. That’s a conflict of interest.

The Institute for Responsible Technology reports that because Biotech companies own the patents on GMO seeds and GMO plants, they also control the amount of science and information that are revealed to the public.

The U.S. Food and Drug Agency (FDA) relies entirely on the studies provided by Biotech companies. If Monsanto or Bayer, etc. claim their GMO foods are safe, the FDA asks no further questions.

National polls have shown that 98% of Americans demand labels on GMO foods. Customers have fought for decades for the right to know what’s in their food, after GMO technology was shown to unleash damage on health.

After years of backlash and protests from the public, Bayer has cleverly changed the language to keep you even more bewildered. Instead of their GMO foods being known as genetically engineered – a term that has a bad image – their foods have been renamed, and now are to be known as Biotechnology or BE.

BUT THOUGH THE NAME HAS CHANGED, GMO FOODS REMAIN THE SAME!

And that’s not all. Finally, a new law went into effect in 2022 that requires a label to alert you which foods have “detectable levels of bioengineered ingredients.”

But the new label causes even more confusion, because instead of providing meaningful wording that you would recognize, the label also has been changed to read Bioengineered.

And the new labeling law is not very effective, because it offers GMO (Biotech) food manufactures the option of a QE Code that shoppers can scan, or a phone number to call for more information about the

food. Biotech companies realize most shoppers won’t take the time.

And there are loopholes because some foods that contain GMOs under current standards may escape being labeled or identified. Foods that are highly refined such as sugar, corn oil and soybean oil won’t be labeled Bioengineered though they are derived from genetically engineered foods and found in thousands of food products! Foods made with eggs, poultry or meat also are exempt from the label.

“The Bioengineered label is ineffective because of loopholes and exemptions,” reports concerned scientists at the Non-GMO Project.

Children Against Cancer strongly suggests you choose organic food for yourself and your precious family whenever possible to avoid the proven and unknown dangers of genetically engineered foods. Organic foods are clearly labeled so you are assured of the best choice for superior nutrition, delicious flavor and optimal health.