The DISH
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Vol. 12 Issue 25…Dedicated to the Dialogue on
Race…June 21, 2009
Venue for an Artist
Hypochondriac's Grace
By Fred Moore
Dear Lord, we ask you if you will,
Put your blessing on this meal.
We ask you Father, if it pleases,
Protect us from these
new diseases.
Please bless the spinach, and the romaine.
And cleanse it of some lurking ptomaine.
God, bless our ice cream and our cola.
Pray it's not teaming
with Ebola.
And pray the deli didn't sell us
Coleslaw ripe with salmonellas
We also ask a special blessing;
No botulism in the
dressing.
While we regard your higher power,
Make sure the deviled eggs aren't sour.
And please Lord, bless our sirloin tip,
And purge it of E.
Coli's grip.
A special blessing on the sherry,
Oh Lord, we need no dysentery,
So it not poisons, nor impacts
Or liquefies our lower
tracts
And Lord, make sure no one is able
To get sick and die upon this table
So bless, Lord, all this food we share.
Insure no deadly
virus there.
And once we're full and satiated,
We pray we aren't all contaminated
And wind up just another toll,
For the Center for
Disease Control
One last thing Lord, if it's OK,
Please hold this blessing that we pray.
For all this fear, and all this fright
Has made us lose our
appetite.
Amen
About
Me: I was going back to a family reunion; a very religious group they
were. I am the black sheep of the family. I knew I would be asked to say grace,
so I wrote this beforehand. With great somberness I began reading this poem. I
saw a few closed eyes pop open, then a chuckle or two, then some outright
laughing. By the fourth couplet I had them totally forgetting what we were
supposed to be doing.
Aspartame (1965-2000)
In 1965, while working on an
anti-ulcer drug candidate, G.D. Searle & Company chemist James M. Schlatter
discovered aspartame, the methyl ester of the dipeptide of the natural amino
acids L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine. Schlatter licked his finger, which
had accidentally been contaminated with aspartame and discovered the chemical
compound's intense sweetness.
Searle conducted tests on the
artificial sweetener and sought FDA approval for aspartame as a food additive.
Following initial safety testing, two activists against food additives asserted
these tests had indicated aspartame may cause cancer in rats; as a result, the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not approve aspartame's use as a
food additive in the
Aspartame was originally approved
for use in dry foods in 1974 by then FDA Commissioner Alexander Schmidt after
review by the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Searle had
submitted 168 studies on aspartame, including seven animal studies that were
considered crucial by the FDA. Soon afterwards, scientist and anti-MSG activist
John Olney and James Turner, a public-interest lawyer and author of a popular
anti-food additive book, filed a petition for a public hearing, citing safety
concerns. Schmidt agreed, pending an investigation into alleged improprieties
in safety studies for aspartame and several other drugs. The Department of
Justice began grand jury proceedings against Searle for fraud. In December
1975, the FDA placed a stay on the aspartame approval, preventing Searle from
marketing the artificial sweetener.
In 1977 and 1978, an FDA task force and a panel of academic pathologists
reviewed 15 aspartame studies by Searle, and concluded that, although minor
inconsistencies were found, they would not have affected the studies'
conclusions. In 1980, a Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) heard testimony from
Olney and disagreed with his claims that aspartame could cause brain damage,
including in the developing fetus. The board decided that further study was
needed on a postulated connection between aspartame and brain tumors, and
revoked approval of aspartame.
In 1980, the FDA convened a
Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) consisting of independent advisors charged with
examining the purported relationship between aspartame and brain cancer. The PBOI
concluded that aspartame does not cause brain damage, but it recommended
against approving aspartame at that time, citing unanswered questions about
cancer in laboratory rats.
In 1981, FDA Commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes sought advice on the issue from a
panel of FDA scientists and a lawyer. The panel identified errors underlying
the PBOI conclusion that aspartame might cause brain tumors, and presented
arguments both for and against approval. Hayes approved the use of aspartame in
dry foods. Several objections followed, but all were denied. In November 1983,
Hayes left the FDA and joined public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller as a
senior medical advisor. Burson-Marsteller had done public relations work for
Searle.
A U.S. FDA task force team investigated
allegations of errors in the pre-approval research conducted by the
manufacturer and found only minor discrepancies that did not affect the study
outcomes. In 1983, the FDA further approved aspartame for use in carbonated
beverages.
In 1985, Monsanto bought G.D.
Searle; the aspartame business became a separate Monsanto subsidiary, the
NutraSweet Company. In 1993, the FDA approved aspartame for use in other
beverages, baked goods, and confections. Three years later, the FDA removed all
restrictions on aspartame as a food additive.
Aspartame is marketed under a
number of trademark names, including Equal, NutraSweet, and Canderel, and is an
ingredient of thousands of consumer foods and beverages sold worldwide. These
products include, but is not limited to, diet sodas and other soft drinks,
instant breakfasts, breath mints, cereals, chewing gum, cocoa mixes, frozen
desserts, gelatin desserts, juices, laxatives, chewable vitamins supplements,
milk drinks, pharmaceutical drugs and supplements, shake mixes, tabletop
sweeteners, teas, instant coffees, topping mixes, wine coolers and yogurt.
The
Aspartame: Pregnant Women, Infants and Children
By H. J. Roberts, MD
It is my firm opinion that
pregnant women, infants and children should avoid ALL products containing
aspartame - including vitamins, drugs and supplements. This corporate-neutral
summary statement has been prepared as general information in response to
numerous requests from concerned patients, parents and consumers. There is no
bias or malice intended against any company, distributor, researcher or
individuals who may hold a contrary view. The statement is based on
considerable observation, research and correspondence published in more than a
score of articles and these two books: * Aspartame (Nutrasweet): Is it Safe? (
This subject is also reviewed in an updated two-cassette talk: Is Aspartame
(NutraSweet) Safe? A Medical, Public Health and Legal Overview -- 1995
(Sunshine Sentinel Press). An Overview of Aspartame.
Each of the three components of
aspartame - phenylalnine; aspartic acid; the methyl ester, which promptly
becomes methyl alcohol or methanol -- and their multiple breakdown products
after exposure to heat or during prolonged storage is potentially toxic,
especially to the developing brain. Such toxicity and other serious physiologic
derangements are evidenced by the serious reactions suffered by thousands of
persons who used these products. The neurotoxic and metabolic complications are
likely to affect the fetus and young children even more severely.
In my publications, and testimony
to Congress and an FDA advisory group, I have expressed the belief that the
current wholesale ingestion of aspartame products by over half the adult
population constitutes a probably "imminent public health hazard." My
concern is intensified by (1) evidence that these products may play a causative
or aggravating role in many medical disorders (including headaches, dizziness,
confusion, impaired vision, convulsions, and probably brain tumors), (2) the
flawed nature of most "scientific" studies being used to
"prove" the alleged safety of these products, and (3) reports of
serious reactions volunteered to the FDA by over 7,300 irate consumers.
I urge ALL pregnant women and
mothers who breast-fee to avoid aspartame products...without exception! This
message also has been given to obstetricians. The medical and scientific
grounds for such advice include: * Exposure of the fetus to considerable phenylalanine
and methyl alcohol * Maternal malnutrition associated with nausea, vomiting,
diarrhea and reduced calories * Transmission of aspartame and its byproducts
via the mother's milk * Increasing the "allergic load"...thereby
risking future hypersensitivity diseases.
I have reported many adverse effects of aspartame products experienced by young
persons. They include severe headaches, convulsions, rashes, asthma,
gastrointestinal problems, and weight loss or gain. The neuropsychiatric
features encompass irritability, hyperactivity, depression, antisocial
behavior, deterioration of intelligence, and poor school performance. These
complications tend to be magnified in children with unrecognized hypothyroidism
(underactive thyroid), hypoglycemia (low blood sugar reactions), diabetes, and
phenylketonuria or PKU. Persons with PKU lack the enzyme needed for handling
phenylalanine, which can cause severe neurological and other damage if dietary
precautions aimed at preventing excessive levels are not instituted.
The issue of aspartame-related
birth defects has not been resolved by epidemiologic studies. I remain
concerned about this possibility, however, because of histories of reports
given me about severe problems in the fetus or infant of parents (including
fathers) who consumed much aspartame at the time of conception and/or during
pregnancy. Several animal studies support such concern.
Food, Inc.: Environmental Artistry
By John Burl Smith
The most encouraging thing about
living today is the boldness and creative energy of some artists. I consider
anyone who uses their skills, talent and innovative mind-set to convey needed
information to people an artist. A product of the 1960s, I was a part of the
"black power movement." Much like today, we face an all powerful
adversary that seemed unbeatable - segregation. Segregationists controlled
every state from
Today, environmental artists are
answering a similar call, but we face a different adversary. These audacious
individuals are mounting a spirited challenge to a growing threat to all living
things, including the planet itself. Back during the black power era, I was
forced to learn to write, not because I desired to be a journalist or novelist,
but to fill black people's desperate need for information. As a result, today I
stand with all those who are trying to educate people about the changes we must
make, if humanity is to survive the greed, vanity, and lust for power driving
the world.
One of my contributions is a
novel, Archangel: A Hip Hop Vision of
Love and the
A new emerging environmental
perspective is being pushed by many innovative artists that are advancing
awareness of the mounting threat through a variety of mediums. Considered once
to be made up of "tree huggers" or "animal lovers," trying
to save endangered species, the environmental movement now thinks beyond plants
and animals to the threat knocking at humanity's door. The environmental
movement today is people centered; it is concerned with everything that touches
the body from -- the air we breathe, water we drink, the soil beneath our feet
to the substances we ingest. Again as during the 1960s, we are up against the
most powerful socioeconomic and political forces on the planet; most prominent
are companies that make up the military industrial complex, big oil/coal, big
pharmaceuticals/chemicals, big banks/insurance and big food/agribusinesses.
Over the last decade writers and
film makers have taken the lead developing innovative multimedia approaches to
bringing information to people. The Internet is a major asset in reaching and
connecting people in this ongoing effort to combat multinational
mega-corporations that are only concerned about their bottom lines. Films such
as Michael
The latest block buster is Robert
Kenner's "Food, Inc." This film targets an industry few people know
anything about beyond the local supermarket. Few people realize that the
world's food supply is controlled by five multinational corporations (Monsanto,
Dow, Cargile, BASF and Archer Daniels Midland.) No matter who grows it or where
it is grown, these companies determine the price farmers get and how much you
pay in the supermarket.
One of the movie's targets is
corn -- which today assumes dozens of ubiquitous identities, notably
high-fructose corn syrup. Kept at unrealistically low prices by government
subsidies, corn is force-fed to cows, which should eat hay, because they have
two stomachs. To digest it, they must be pumped full of antibiotics, which are
passed on to consumers. These huge pigs and cattle feed lots produce thousands
of tons of manure, making them breeding grounds for mutating E.coli strains,
which poison the air, land and the water for miles, sickening tens of thousands
each year.
Food, Inc. connects the dots for
the viewer, beginning with the McDonald hamburger assembly-line. Corporate
agriculture turned farms into factories, creating huge monocultures of uniform
food production. Today, Americans spend more money on food than ever, buying
junk food (chips, burgers, chicken nuggets, soda pops, pizzas etc.) containing
empty calories. Food, Inc. drives home the point that one out of every three
kids living in food deserts and born after 2000 will develop Type 2
diabetes--because it's easier and cheaper to buy a cheeseburger or a giant
bottle of diet soda than a head of broccoli. That is why income level is the
single greatest predictor of health problems like obesity, diabetes,
hypertension and the like.
When the phase "black power"
was first uttered by H. Rap Brown, it terrorized most Negroes. However,
information and education changed the mind-set of slave descendants so much
that today we are all "black and proud." The environmental movement
has not yet developed such a powerful rallying cry, but we are changing hearts
and minds about corporate responsibility, environmental sustainability and
governmental accountability.
Food Safety Enhancement Act
Food safety advocates, led by the
nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), say that rapid
passage of the Food Safety Enhancement Act is the best hope for making
The legislation responds to a series of nationwide outbreaks and recalls
involving peanut butter, pet food, spinach, hot peppers, and other foods
regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. These outbreaks have caused a
serious drop in consumer confidence over the last few years, according to the
testimony of the groups.
The Food Safety Enhancement Act
includes many measures that food safety experts have urged for years, including
a requirement for food companies to conduct hazard analysis programs and to
institute preventive control measures. It also would require the FDA to conduct
more-frequent inspections of food processing facilities. While today FDA inspects
food factories only about once every ten years, the Food Safety Enhancement Act
would require inspections for high-risk facilities every six to 18 months and
all facilities, including warehouses, every four years.
The bill also would give the FDA
something that most consumers probably think the agency already has: the
authority to order companies to recall potentially contaminated food. And it
provides the FDA with a much broader range of criminal and civil penalties to
punish unscrupulous processors who knowingly allow tainted foods onto
supermarket shelves.
"Fixing food safety at FDA
is long overdue," DeWaal said. "The agency is trying to regulate food
from all over the world with a 100-year-old toolbox. This bill gives both the
food industry and the government new responsibilities for assuring that the
food consumers eat won't make them ill."
The bill, however, does not
accomplish some of the structural changes urged by CSPI and others, such as
dividing the FDA into two separate agencies, one focused on food and another on
medical products. CSPI hopes Congress and the Obama Administration will do that
after the bill is passed.
The Safe Food Coalition is also
asking Congress to strengthen the legislation in several ways, including: (1) a
clearer mandate for testing and reporting of test results to FDA and stronger
mandates for the agency to set performance standards; (2) a definition of
"risk-based" inspection that covers the entire food supply; and (3)
that meat and seafood regulated by FDA face the same regulatory oversight as
those products regulated by USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service.
The groups are also recommending stricter oversight of food additives, some of
which are declared "generally recognized as safe" without FDA review
even though they can cause life-threatening allergic reactions or heart
disease. Similarly, consumer groups are urging legislators to limit the use of
antibiotics in agriculture to control the growth of antibiotic-resistant
pathogens in foods. For more, visit http://www.cspinet.org/.
Children and the Chemical Cocktail
Nearly every kid's food is
"decorated" or "tainted" with artificial food color and
additives. While they make food look pretty, there may be a downside. Can our
children's daily consumption of juices, candy, and soft drinks with these
additives be fueling disruptive behavior, restlessness and lack of
concentration?
Over the past 40 years, the
United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), British authorities and
researchers have insisted that there was little or no link between
hyperactivity and food preservatives like sodium benzoate or artificial
coloring like sunset yellow food dyes. Yet, a study published in the British
journal Lancet (2008) has brought this under question.
Jim Stevenson, a psychologist at
the
The study was rigorous in its
research methods: all parties were unaware of which drink was being consumed by
which child. Also, children were switched from taking one type of drink for one
week to another the following week. The hyperactivity level in the kids
drinking the spiked juice was not at the level to be defined as ADHD
(attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder), which is an illness common in
nearly 9 % of the
The effect of additives was more
pronounced in 3-year-olds and a select group of children. Scientists believe
there may be a genetic link between food and release of histamines causing
hyperactivity. Some kids with the genetic predisposition may be super-sensitive
to food additives. The study was powerful enough for the U.K. Food Standards
Agency to issue new advice for parents to curtail the intake of additives, if
their kids show signs of hyperactivity. (Source: http://www.4to40.com/health/)
Disgruntled wants to know: A week after President Barack Obama's
address to the Muslim world, which was seen by many as empty rhetoric, Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed the idea of establishing an
independent Palestinian state beside
Disgruntled
feels! Empty! This week, without much fanfare, the US Senate unanimously
passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and making possible a joint
congressional resolution. A similar apology was passed by the House last year.
In dealing with the issue of reparations for slavery descendants, the Senate
resolution explicitly states that its apology for slavery cannot be used in
support of claims for restitution. The House is expected to revisit the issue
next week to conform its resolution to the Senate version. Slave descendants,
black Americans, are holocaust survivors. When you think about it, an apology
for slavery, segregation and ongoing racial discrimination without restitution
is just a group of empty words.
Disgruntled
says: Profits trump public health. Once a product receives the
government's approval, it does not matter whether or not it is a public good.
People can die by the thousands, are injured with life-threatening conditions,
but the government approved products remain on the market. Our government,
elected officials and the courts bend over backward to protect private
companies' right to make and sell poisonous products, which brings me to my
favorite chewing gum. As a general personal rule, I eschew chewing gum in
public. I am reminded of a cow chewing its cud, so I mostly chew gum in
private. When I get the urge to masticate, I reach for Doublemint, a Wrigley's
gum - the one I grew up with. Recently, I noticed the flavor had changed along
with the packaging. Fearing an ingredient difference, I read the nutritional
information. There it was, as plain as day; my lifelong gum contains the poison
aspartame. It behooves all of us to check the labels; this stuff is in
everything.
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls
Email www.cnn.com
...Two federal agencies warned consumers Friday not to eat raw Nestle Toll
House refrigerated cookie dough. The company said it is recalling an estimated
300,000 cases of the dough as a precaution after reports of food-borne illness
in 28 states. There are concerns that the pre-made dough may be contaminated
with the bacterium E. coli 0157:H7, which causes abdominal cramping, vomiting
and diarrhea, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said. Young children and the elderly can suffer more
serious symptoms. According to Nestle spokeswoman Laurie MacDonald, raw dough
was one of the things the sick people reported eating. Since March, the CDC
says, 66 people have become sick in 28 states after eating raw cookie dough.
Twenty-five people were hospitalized. No one has died.
Email www.detroitnews.com Grocery closings hit Detroit
hard...City shoppers' choices dwindle as last big chain leaves ...By Joel J.
Smith and Nathan Hurst...Colleen Rogers isn't looking forward to crossing the
street to shop for even a few groceries. The store, a locally owned market, is
convenient, just steps away from the beauty shop where she works on Livernois
in
Email UNNews@un.org ... Food Security Major Challenge
for World's Poorest, Ban Tells US Students...Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told
a gathering at an American university that the daily reality for one third of
the world's population who live on less than $2 a day include decisions such as
which of their children gets to eat. "No one should face such choices. No
one should face such privation, not in a world of such wealth," Mr. Ban
said in a wide-ranging speech at
Email www.reuters.com ...Venezuela bans Coke
Zero, cites "danger to health" ...The Venezuelan government of
U.S.-critic President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday ordered Coca-Cola to withdraw
its Coke Zero beverage from the South American nation, citing unspecified
dangers to health. The decision follows a wave of nationalizations and
increased scrutiny of businesses in