May - Ban Unsustainable Gardening Practices

 The time of year is here when everyone starts grooming their yards and starting their vegetable gardens. Before you fall for the lure of home improvement shows, you should know that there are a few dirty little secrets these "perfect" gardens are hiding. The truth about these seemingly picture perfect yards, is that they are such a mine field of toxic chemicals it's a wonder anything is still alive! Not only are they bad for the health of the environment, but they are also bad for your health as well.

The Frankenbean

 It's alive! Mwahahahaha!! Is probably fairly accurate in describing scientists involved with genetic engineering. Now, these numb-skulls just don't learn from their mistakes, and have made yet another attempt at tampering with mother nature. This new experiment, called by some the Frankenbean, was developed at the University of Hawaii to repel pests, control ripening , and grow decaffeinated coffee beans! Genetically engineering coffee beans are not something new; back in 2003, Nara Institute of Science and Technology In Japan developed the first decaffeinated coffee trees. Then, in February 2006, corporate giant Nestle patented a genetically modified coffee tree.        

 

The Dirt On Styrofoam Cups

  Here is an interesting fact you might not have known, there is no such thing as a Styrofoam cup! The cup you always thought of as Styrofoam actually has a different name, polystyrene. Styrofoam is a trademark of the Dow Chemical Company, and is not used to make food products (like cups). Polystyrene is a petroleum-based plastic made from the styrene-monomer, a derivative of Benzene. Not only does polystyrene make up your coffee cup, but it also makes up 46% of Napalm-B, a jelling agent for gasoline (not Napalm, the chemical weapon). Now this might all just sound like geeky science stuff, but the basic simplification translates to: Polystyrene is not safe! And here is the reason why.  

The Truth About Coffee Flavorings

 Who doesn't love the taste of a vanilla latte or a hazelnut cappuccino? Well there are a few undesirable ingredients that could be lurking in your cup of flavored coffee. Ever heard of an ingredient called castoreum? Probably not. Well, Castoreum is an ingredient that can be found in a product under "Natural Flavors". Natural flavors is a very broad term, defined by the Code of Federal Regulations as:

 “The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”

 So for the vegetarians and vegans out there, if there is the phrase "natural flavors" on a package of food (or coffee) chances are it is not meat free, or cruelty free for that matter.
 Now to get back to the ingredient castoreum, watch this video to find out what this odd sounding ingredient is. Now the scary part is that not only is castoreum commonly used in perfumes and sometimes cigarettes, but it has been used in the food industry for the past 80 years!

Commercial Coffee Shops

 I know that all of us love to get our cheap coffees at Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. I am about to break the news none of us really wants to hear; both coffee companies really suck!
We'll start things off with the truth about Starbucks.