Without A Shadow Of A Doubt

Saturday, August 1, 2015

August-Ban Big-Pharma

My ban for the month of August 2015.

Remember, to truly become well you have to treat the cause of the sickness, not simply the symptoms.

My Correspondence With Suffolk County Water Authority

Yesterday I sent an email to SCWA (Suffolk County Water Authority) requesting information about well and pumphouse locations, because that information isn't listed anywhere. This morning a woman responded avoiding my question and when I asked her why I can't have access to the water information, which is a public commodity, she responded with a very emotionally triggered response, treating me as if I was an idiot (which I took as an attack), even though I had said I was a highschool student writing a report.

All Is One and One Is All

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Thursday, May 7, 2015

My Views On Journalism

The Journalist: a distributor of information. One could very rightly say that they have an immensely important job. Journalists are relied upon by the public for accurate information on local and world events, both present and past. This is extremely important because we all know today that ignorant people are easier to control then educated people. This is, unfortunately, what the “mainstream” media is accomplishing. Withholding information, which is leading to growing ignorance in our society.

The Big Bad Banks

"Who's afraid of the big bad banks, the big bad banks, the big bad banks..." Before we get to the issue of who's afraid of the big bad banks, first let's clarify what a bank even is. A bank is an institution that allows you to borrow and deposit money, in it's simplest sense. The difference between a local small bank and a big bank (or corporate bank) is first off the size or amount of those banks across the world, second is how much money they receive from the federal reserve (or other organization used to bail out the banks depending where you are in the world.), and third is what their "connections" are. To be labeled as a big bank first off you have a profit of billions of dollars all made off of interest of the money you lend out, second you have to lend out WAY more money then you actually have in your vaults and rely on others to bail you out when people rush on the bank to withdraw their money (which at this point is no longer there), and finally to basically create money out of thin air and be willing to use underhanded techniques to get what you want.
The term "like stealing candy from a baby" is one we all know but probably wouldn't carry out, big banks take this saying and turn it into bank practice. In this analogy we are the babies and not our money, but basically our life is the candy, but they have us so entranced we don't realize we're being robbed! When we need money we head to the bank to ask for a loan, this loan has attached interest on it so we have to pay not only what we borrowed but a lot extra. We make the payments in small monthly amounts so we don't think much about it, but as time goes on we might need more loans for other things as these loans stack up we're sucked into a seemingly endless vacuum. The cycle continues, paying our loans not having enough money getting loans to pay our loans, all because we need money. This poses the question "what is money?" in the paradigm we live in it's a necessary element of our lives.

November - Ban Products From China

In these modern times it's hard to walk into a store and find a product that doesn't say Made In China (Or the fancy code name they created: P.R.C.- Peoples Republic of China). From Kitchen products to children's toys to clothing, nearly everything sold in stores have been shipped overseas and came from Chinese factories. A day in the life of one of these workers would probably seem a nightmare to us pampered Americans. Here is an excerpt from an independent lens documentary called China Blue.

Sugar Exposed

When we think of the word addiction, pictures of drugs and alcohol usually come up, we never suspect anything as innocent as sugar could be an addictive substance as well. According to one website, "Sugar is eight times as addictive as cocaine", while this statistic may or may not be true, it is certain that some people get really hooked on sugar. To help understand how sugar could possible be addictive, here is an excerpt of an article from livescience.

Food Coloring, A Colorful Mistake

Bright yellow, neon orange, blood red; none of these colors would be possible without the use of synthetic food coloring. Food dye is something that will show up on food labels, but no one ever thinks "Well what could this be made out of?", but you can tell just by looking that these colors are not natural. In fact, most food dyes are derived from petroleum! There are other things that can be used though. If you ever read the back of a product and stumble across the names of three food dyes: cochineal, carmine, or carmanic acid, these dyes are made from the crushed up bodies of a female South American insect called a cochineal insect.

Not only is this absolutely disgusting to think that we could be eating crushed up insects, but it's infuriating to know that this information isn't included on the label! If this isn't enough to make you run screaming away from the very thought of synthetic food coloring, here are some more reasons to quit the colors. There have been at least three studies on the link between the consumption of food dyes and ADHD in children. Despite these studies and bans on 5 food dyes (tartrazine, yellow 6, food red 17, FD&C blue No. 2, and FD&C No. 1) that were linked to ADHD and cancer in Europe, the FDA continues to allow foods with artificial coloring to be sold without any kind of warning! But wait it get's even worse! According to Wikipedia a food dye banned in Europe called Tartrazine or yellow #5 is allowed in organic food! Despite being a synthetic dye, tartrazine may be legally included in organic foods, because the USDA allows processed foods to be certified organic if they are 95% organic by weight. Talk about scary! To think that those organic chips you love that are USDA certified could only be 95% organic, the other 5% could literally be anything!

Resources

Friday, October 3, 2014

October-Ban Corporate Candy

With Halloween at the end of this month, people have already started planning for the big night. Halloween is a holiday filled with spooky decorations, costumes, and don't forget the candy! Earlier in the 20th century Halloween wasn't such a big thing, and cookies and apples were common treats (if anything was handed out at all). This quaint idea to celebrate a holiday has morphed into a corporate holiday, I mean what better way to sell so much chemical-laden candy! Three big companies own practically all the candy produced, these three corporations are Mars, Nestle, and Monelez International. Take a look at some of the candy brands that each of them own in the US and Canada.

What's Behind the Pink Ribbon?

With October approaching, the breast cancer awareness month, everyone is getting ready to put on those pink ribbons and raise money to find the cure for breast cancer. You would never guess it, but there's something sinister lurking behind that cheerful pink ribbon. Companies who sell products with the pink ribbon on it, are mostly just trying to cash in on other's misfortune, or worse yet contribute to the cause of the disease. You have to read the fine print to find out how much these companies claim to be donating, it could sometimes even be as small as a penny! To add to the irony, cosmetic companies who sell products with the pink ribbons on them often contain ingredients that can cause cancer! (For example, cosmetic companies offer makeovers at the hospital to cancer patients using their cancer causing products!) There's a whole hidden history behind this pink ribbon that the industry wants to hide. Here is an amazing video called Pink Ribbons, Inc. which tells the true history behind this pink ribbon. So next month instead of buying a product with a pink ribbon on it, make it your business to stop supporting the very companies who help create this awful disease, and raise awareness about the despicable pinkwashing!

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Because Babies Care...

Who doesn't love a baby? With their soft and chubby skin and such innocents, who could not care about them? Well it turns out there are people who hate babies, these people work for corporations who sell you your baby care products! Many products you would never have suspected, are actually loaded with toxic chemicals. Soap, shampoo, conditioner, and bubble bath could all contain cancer causing chemicals. Just think, you could be bathing your baby in a soup of toxins! The argument of the corporations is there is such a small amount of these chemicals that it couldn't possibly harm them, plus it's only getting put on the skin! In case you didn't know, our skin is our largest organ and anything put on it can easily be soaked into the blood stream. Here are some products to be wary of.

September-Ban Unsafe Personal Care Products

It probably has never crossed your mind what might actually be in the beauty care products that you put on your body every day such as deodorant, make-up, and even soap and shampoo. If you have thought of this you most probably pushed it away immediately, because who wants to think about safety when that new blush or perfume is calling your name? The dangers of personal care products is an issue not many people want to talk about, let alone listen too, but it is of such importance that everyone is informed about it. The sad truth is that we pay so little attention to what's actually in these products that the companies that make them could put almost anything in them, and they do! No one wants cancer or any other horrible sickness, so how come more people aren't angry about the chemicals added to these products? Now is the time to face your fears and look this problem in the eye instead of ignoring it!

E. Coli 0157:H7

There are many strains of E. coli (Escherichia coli) most of which are harmless, but there are a few that can cause serious illness, even death! E. coli 0157:H7 is one of the more dangerous E. coli bacteria and is a mutated version of the harmless E. coli bacteria. Infection of E. coli 0157:H7 may lead to hemorrhagic diarrhea and, more rarely, kidney failure. For the most part, people who have healthy immune systems are relatively safe from this bacteria and it will leave their bodies in 5-10 days. But in some people, particularly the very young and the elderly, this infection can cause Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), in which red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys fail. About 2-7% of E. coli 0157:H7 infections lead to this complication which usually ends in death. Of the children who are infected by this strain of E. coli 5% get HUS and die. Those who survive are often left with permanent disabilities, such as blindness or brain damage. This is a common contaminate found mainly in ground beef which most probably came from factory farm raised cows who were slaughtered in an unhygienic processing plant. Why are dangerous E. coli outbreaks mainly linked to factory farm raised animals? All you have to do is see how these animals are treated their whole lives, living in feedlots, wallowing in their own and others feces, and eating the remains of other animals! No wonder these animals very flesh would be unhealthy for us to eat! If living unhealthily isn't enough, at meat processing plants the animals are killed in an awful way, and handled in a completely unhygienic way. Oftentimes, the meat is infected by the stomach contents spilling onto the meat, afterwards it is simply packaged and sent off to be sold with little to no decontamination.
Right now if you are a vegetarian (like me) you are probably heaving a sigh of relief because you don't eat that stuff anyway! Well, I have some bad news for you, E. coli 0157:H7 and other harmful strains can infect you as well! How would this be possible? Well, the feces produced by factory farm animals is usually pumped into a special "lagoon", these "lagoons" in storms will sometimes spill over and contaminate much of the land surrounding it. Also, sometimes farmers will spray the contents of the "lagoon" onto crops as a fertilizer, when in truth what they are doing is contaminating the crops with whatever diseases were in the lagoon of animal waste. Fruits and veggies will often be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7 because they were either watered with contaminated water, or fertilized with factory farm "lagoon" contents. This is why it is extremely important to buy organic produce (USDA certified) and to know your farmer!
There are many people who are trying to take on factory farms and meat processing plants on their disgusting treatment of animals both alive and dead. One woman, whose son was killed by E. coli contaminated meat, created a law called "Kevin's Law" (named after her son) which would allow the government to shut down food processing facilities that had failed multiple inspections. This law has yet to be passed because of the enormous opposition expressed by the food industry. So even though this months ban is coming to a close, I beg all of you to not go back and have fast food as often as you used to, and to not purchase any foods that could have come from a factory farm. Not only would this help our health, but the animal's as well.

Resources

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Factory Fresh Foods

Ever wonder what hell would actually look like? You can get some idea by checking out a factory farm, a farm animal's hell on Earth! There are many reasons that factory farms are so horrible, namely: inhumane treatment of the animals, the uncleanliness of the whole farm, and the massive amounts of chemicals pumped into the animals to avoid diseases produced by the uncleanliness. The treatment of these animals who make up your burger or sandwich is enough to make you lose your lunch! Fast food is one of the factory farm industry's biggest costumers. There are a very few companies that actually own most of all meat production. 80% of all beef is produced by Tyson, Cargill, Swift, and National Beef. The same thing is happening for pork and chicken, pork being mostly controlled by Tyson, Cargill, Swift, and Smithfield and chicken is mostly controlled by Tyson.

Ingredients Revealed

Ever wonder what exactly is in your Taco Bell burrito, or why your McDonald's burger will last 14 years with no signs of aging? The simple answer is chemicals, lots and lots of chemicals! Not only does fast food contain tons of sugar, salt, and fat that causes obesity, but also harmful chemicals that these companies list as "seasonings" or "preservatives".

August - Ban Fast Food

Between trans-fats, calorie counts, and E.coli infected meats, fast food is anything but desirable. Fast food fuels minimum wage and the world's growing obesity. There have been many studies linking fast food to health problems, and many people have attempted to take a few of the fast food giants to court. So if we all know that fast food is terrible for us, why do we continue to eat the crap? The answer to that lies in the ingredients list. Many fast foods may contain addictive chemicals in their ingredients to keep you hooked on their food. Some of these ingredients include: MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), Cassein (referred to as the nicotine of fast food), and over doses of sugar, fat, and salt. Fast food companies have committed greater crimes than just addicting you to their food. Let's explore some top fast food companies' criminal record starting off with McDonald's.

A Simplicity Guide To Cleaning

Believe it or not there is a way to keep your house sparkly clean while not only saving yourself money, but by giving the environment a break as well. In previous articles I've said how bad commercial products, such as Windex and Bleach, really are. Adding it up cleaning products can be expensive, plus they might cost you even more money in the long run! Cleaning doesn't need to be so complicated with a different product for different jobs, you only need a few basic ingredients that are nontoxic for you, the environment, and your family.

The Life Cycle of a Windex Bottle

We'll begin our journey in the factories where the plastic Windex bottles are made. PETE plastic or Polyethylene terephthalate, identified by the number one, is known to leach harmful chemicals into most any liquid if stored at a warm temperature. One chemical, DEHA (Diethylhydroxylamine), has been shown to cause liver problems, reproductive issues, and is suspected to cause cancer. PET, or PETE plastic is used for soft drink bottles, water bottles, some juice containers, sports drinks, mouthwash, ketchup, and salad dressing. It can also be found in some food jars such as peanut butter, jelly, and pickles as well as in microwavable food trays. This plastic is made in oil refineries, workers are surrounded by the toxic fumes causing serious health problems for them. The people living in the vicinity of these plants also suffer, about as much as the workers inside do.

This is a small video on plastic bottles by How It's Made.

After the plastic bottles are made they are shipped to one of S.C. Johnson's 70 factories, which are spread world wide. In these factories ingredients such as Water, Isopropyl Alcohol, Propylene Glycol, 2-Hexoxyethanol, Ammonium Hydroxide, Mirapol® Surf S-210, Videt EGM, Sodium C14-17 Sec-Alkyl Sulfonate, Fragrance from SC Johnson Fragrance Palette, and Liquitint® Sky Blue Dye are mixed together. S.C Johnson is very secretive about how any of their products are actually made, how their factory workers are actually treated, and what is even in their products. Since S.C. Johnson is such a huge company they are the only ones talking about how their employees are treated, being a multimillion corporation, they sugar coat everything! Ammonia gas is toxic if breathed in, sometimes even fatal. It also has a corrosive effect on the skin and eyes, and being exposed to it over time can harm the respiratory system. So for the factory workers to be safe they would pretty much need to be dressed like astronauts! But since big companies are so worried about expenses, the workers are probably around these toxic chemicals with little to no protective equipment on! The fragrance added to Windex, or any S.C. Johnson company, could even be more dangerous than the ammonia! We can't be sure since they keep their fragrance ingredients proprietary.
This is a great spoof video by Women's Voices For The Earth that really makes fun of S.C. Johnson and their "proprietary" fragrances.

Then, after we use Windex and spray it around and breathe it in a bit, the plastic spray bottle heads right to the landfill to sit there for a thousand or so years. And though Windex claims to use 50% post consumer recycled material, that's impossible since reprocessed polythelene terephthalate loses some of it's properties when recycled so the amount of recycled content can't exceed 10%. Also the plastic used for recycling is mostly leftovers from the factory, not the bottles that you put in the recycling bin due to impurities.
I for one don't believe that small children (or anyone) should breath this stuff in! Next time you think about spritzing any S.C. Johnson product in your home, think twice before you breathe those potential cancer causing chemicals in!

Resources

Friday, July 4, 2014

The Story Of Bleach

It was a dark and stormy night in 1789, lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and in a small village called Javelle located in Paris a chemist was busy at work. This chemist's name was Claude Louis Berthollet, and he was on the verge of a great scientific breakthrough! This man was favored by Napoleon, and at this moment Claude was perfecting a new form of evil. "Ha ha!" he thunders allowed, "I have done it! A poison no one will expect, and everyone will want to use it!" He throws his head back and laughs maniacally before continuing his rant. "I will now be able to sit back and enjoy myself as humans kill themselves!" As he turns around and removes his protective mask we can see that this man is no human being, but an alien! "I call this masterpiece, Chlorine bleach!"

Alright maybe I fabricated a bit of that story, but some of it is true! Chlorine bleach (or more technically sodium hypochlorite) was invented by Claude Louis Berthollet in 1789, but he definitely was not an alien! Claude Louis Berthollet was an Italian born French chemist favored by Napoleon around the time of the French Revolution. And though chlorine bleach was invented in Javelle (Now called Javel), there is no proof that it was invented on a dark and stormy night. And no, the inventor did not mean for chlorine bleach to be a poison, but that pretty much is what it has become today!
Many companies today sell chlorine bleach, but the ingredients aren't just chlorine and water! Let's take a look at Clorox, and the chemicals they have in their bleach.

July - Ban Unsafe Cleaning Products

Everyone has cleaning products that they use at home, but barely anyone ever questions the safety of these products. If you've ever turned these bottles over and read the label, they don't offer much information. Often times there's nothing further than a "Keep out of reach of children" label. We all take for granted that industry and government regulators have our best interest in mind, but that couldn't be farther from the truth! Companies aren't required to disclose all there ingredients if they claim that the recipe is proprietary (which nearly all companies do). I mean who would want to use their products, if the consumers found out that the main ingredient caused cancer? They would go out of business because no one would want to buy it! But we, the consumer, continue to blindly spritz about our poison air freshener, because it smells good! It is time to take our blind fold off and realize that what we're using is poisonous garbage that only harms us and makes the corporation's wallets fatter!

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