As more people pay attention to what they eat, food manufacturers are trying to convince buyers that their products are healthy. But what does “healthy” really mean as it applies to food? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in the process of changing the way it defines the word in response to Americans’ growing knowledge of nutrition science, fueling debate about what the new standards should be.
If you stay on top of world news, then you already know that countries, cities, and individual companies are trying to reduce the amount of plastic waste littering the planet. In many places, single-use plastic bags, plastic straws, and plastic eating utensils have already been axed, but it will take a far greater effort to make a sizable dent in the problem of plastic pollution.
New Plastics Economy’s vision.
An expert panel of toxicologists is calling for an entire class of pesticides to be banned because they threaten the health of both pregnant women and children.
The paper, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, states that exposure to organophosphates (OPs) increases the risk of lower IQs, memory and attention deficits, and autism for prenatal children.
Altria Group, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes and e-cigarettes, announced October 25 that it would pull its pod-based e-cigarettes from store shelves, at least for now. The move is in response to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) growing concerns over teen e-cigarette use and they’re possible health implications. [1]
The tobacco manufacturer said it would not put the e-cigarette products back on the market until they receive federal clearance or “the youth issue is otherwise addressed.”
Forgive me for sounding like a broken record, because if you’re a regular reader, then you’ve heard this one before on numerous occasions. But … trace amounts of the glyphosate herbicide have been detected in popular breakfast cereals yet again. This time, the testing was done by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). [1]
Infants who are breastfed for at least 6 months have fewer antibiotic-resistant bacteria in their guts, likely because the sugars in breast milk feed “good bacteria,” which prevents the proliferation of harmful microbes, a new study shows.
It’s an important benefit of breastfeeding, as antibiotic-resistant superbugs are increasing worldwide, fueling fears that modern medicine could be wiped out if new treatments aren’t soon developed.
Some people laugh at those who make the effort to buy organic foods as often as possible. It’s a waste of money, they say. An organic apple isn’t any healthier than a non-organic apple, they insist. Well, the next time you hear someone spew this baloney, you reference this recent research suggesting showing how beneficial organic can be.
Researchers in France say that people who regularly eat organic food have a lower risk of developing cancer than those who don’t.
Take that!
A California judge on October 22 upheld a San Francisco jury’s verdict finding that Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide caused a former school groundskeeper’s cancer, but slashed the amount of money to be paid from $289 million to just over $78 million. [1]
In August, a jury awarded Dewayne Johnson $250 million in punitive damages to punish Monsanto (now Bayer), and $39 million in compensatory damages to cover Johnson’s lost income, as well as pain and suffering.
Microplastics are in bottled water, tap water, fish and seafood, and even table salt. There are more microplastics littering the planet than stars in the sky; it’s impossible to avoid them. Most recently, researchers have discovered microplastics in human poop, and you probably have some in yours, too.
The average adult ingests about 2,000 microplastics each year through table salt, a study estimates. That’s because the same study found that microplastics were present in 90% of table salt brands sampled worldwide. It’s next to impossible to avoid adding plastic to your baked potato when you sprinkle it with salt. [1]
