Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press {Newspaper} - 1981-05-06,Winnipeg, Manitoba I9 Winnipeg free press wednesday Ivray 6, 1981 pages 19-26from a drink to an ice Cream Coffee s a favorite/2 malice Krueger Tell us How to make own convenience foods Al the chemicals we Dine on environments invisible additives imperil our health Iii sigh Khlil i ii a thug and thut Vii Tami Imler our food in puss age from Iii in Iii Ilin iut lib he a m e Ilu Viii a Raymus mul in ver my i sing Toh m air iiif.-. Umla Pun. Uii lha to Ltd Addi Tkv my a Hubli Ilay cd Juilu. �979an Ltd it i m it Ivr w poll i it Riibe till ii Thiu i�?~r.-,ily of to it Ruilin it Jyi the pus he a firs i Homie of in Jii oif. 7y/.v of. The first of Irve from he him a a had it i Iii a. In Uit Dii a Phi cow a it. In in Puhich it by tin Dii Lidei $17m Imp Duih in a ii Hutch by Linda r. Pim in an Era when Swea Suil Clari Hirisi near executives Puii i rough their lunch hours on rhe jogging trn Cli to Muters Exchange their transit tickets for l a Speed bicycles find Hran muffins encroach on the Domain Tif the Uii Ghoul As a Quick snick Public Iii Teresa in the safety if food additives is not surprising. All these shifts m lifestyle to ducats u new Apple Clation of tie response by Ity each of us most assume fur Mir own Giitl health. What it really boils Down to is preventive a Medicine with a fresh face. And there is a great Deal of i eventing 10 do in stir Nio sin society. Prosperity and to Cytological Progress Timve Hio Ngit i unfortunate a Side effects. Though the food process in additives colors preservatives and so on m the limelight recently Are ii significant threat to our health tie invisible additives is concerned with a More serious and insidious source of Chei Nicuals in the fond we eat Envin it ii Al additives. Difficult 10 Monitor these Are Che Miosis which i inadvertently contaminate food in its course from farm to dinner plate. Their appearance in food is incident Tai Hinn Sistena and often difficult to Monitor. Their names won t he on the Side of a food package. In a sense they Are invisible additives. Some examples u Billings Montana july 1979 at the meat palting Plant of the Pierce f asking company about 200 Gallons of electrical transformer Oil containing poly chlorinated pcs leaked Riim a transformer in a stir rage slide into the Plant s waste water system. The water is dredged for meat to be used in animal feed rations the repercussions of the spill in the form of Contani Inaten Freij spread to 17 states and to British Columbia. About is million tainted eggs were sold and consumed before the Accident was uncovered in late . Following the pathways taken he the toxic feed eventually led to the confiscation of 400,000 pounds of poultry and pounds of pork. Low Levels of pcs linked to cancer As Well As effects on the liver nerves and the diff ease immune system were found in Chicken Turkey and eggs in b. C. a result of the use of Pali con Lamina Ieti tallow imported from the Montana Plant at three Abbotsford b. C. Feed Mills drugs Mupo mutants Are playing an Ever increasing role in our lives. Pentachlorophenol pc to Alberta. The Boxcar was not properly cleaned out and returned to Ontario with a Load of pc feed Oats. The Foremost fear was that milk would become poisoned with dioxins a group of highly poisonous chemicals formed during the production of pc possibly including Todd Tetra Chloro the Nissl. Lazic chemical. Fortunately government testing of the milk did t uncover lox los though measuring equipment then was t particularly sensitive in minute . I is. Louis mich., Spring 1s73 Ai the Michigan chemical company now Vesico chemical company two products simultaneously were no trimester a cattle feed supplement containing Nia Gnessin oxide and a remaster a highly toxic fire retardant chemical containing poly Bramin ate if biphenyl . A Labelling error led to the shipping of fire master to farm Bureau services inc. In Battle Creek mich., which i ies find markets livestock feed. By autumn 1973, Many farm families in the state Wert Stirk with bizarro illnesses such As enlarged livers and spleens rashes stiff even squeaking joints fatigue loss of co. Ordination memory lapses and Mabinty to do simple tasks and make routine Calculi icons. I heir Liv amp lock did no to think much of pubs either. Thousands became sick and died. Alien the source of the coi Annna Tion was located about a year later Sim farms were it Saran lined i la Lle 1,000 Swine 1�?z100 sheep and i million poultry were confiscated. The pub Accident has been called the worst Case of mass poisoning in u. S. Hist Oit eight million of Michigan a 9-1 million residents Are carrying pubs around in their bodies including babies fed pub tainted breast milk. The pubs reached Canada in beef ii ported from Michigan d Ottawa March ij77 thirteen Dali a Farmers in the Ottawa River Valley advised heir Fred supplier Richie feed and Sweeti Ltd., that their cattle were refusing to eat their feed. Agriculture Vanatia inspectors traced the problem to a Canadian National railways Boxcar which had been carrying a Loyid of the Wood preservative Wien pesticides Are applied directly 10 food crops it is to be expected residues of these toxic chemicals May appear in food products. After All. Treating food to a dose of Dot Malati Ion or carb furan is deliberate and planned. But treating eggs to a dose of pcs or pubs As a result of tainted feed and treating fish to a dose of Mercury from polluted water is in Viron Inetal contamination of food in its most insidious form a Accident Lal. Incidental lacing of the food Supply with industrialization a byproducts. A everything leaks Robert Paehlke a professor of political studies at Trent University of Peterborough ont., sums up the problem in two words a everything leaks a a rays of a Tilke Quot we must simply a Cepi that any substance used in Large quantities will in one Way or another sooner or later be released in some amount into the environment. So called a contained uses Are a myth. The sealed condensers in fluorescent Light fixtures which contain pcs ultimately go to the dump rust and spill their contents. Production facilities age warehouses bum Down byproducts and waste products Are never perfectly handle i All known modes of transportation have unanticipated accidents and in nature remarkable dilute amounts of some substances Cali return to haunt us in unexpected All Hough in the three cases listed it took months to uncover the sources of contain ignation the sources were ultimately found. This Type of pollution is often called a Point source a pull lion in that the toxins emanate from one distinct location. Perhaps the most notorious example of on going Point source pollution of food in Canada is the Iain Ling of fish in the Wabigoon and i polish Rivers by Mercury from the Reed paper Mill in Dryden ont. Point source pollution is no less harmful than diffuse or non Point source pollution its just easier to remedy and authorities prosecuting the offenders have a greater Chance of Success because fee offenders Are readily identifiable. A when Dot shows up in caught in lakes and Rivers and when Lead appears in vegetables grown near Busy highways. Its virtually impossible to pinpoint and take direct action against each culprit simply because there Are so Many of them. Non Polar source pollution is. In effect a great number of Small Point sources from the thou a is in theory Broad enough to prohibit not Only Point source but also non Point source pollution. In practice however the latter escapes relatively unscathed because the Laws Quot cannot be used when the violators cannot be identified or when there Are so Many it is Imp Gissible to go after them All. Blanket prohibitions but piecemeal enforcement will Mit change business As tie solution to food pollution then is not More i Hurt cases but Quot reduction at suite a either voluntarily or by new legislation Well known examples include the replacement of Lead in gasoline by less harmful anti Knock chemicals and the substitution of pcs. Inconsistent and often difficult to Monitor. Their names wont be on the Side of a food package a they Are invisible additives. A Sands of Farmers w hoi ised Dot Loo Rio years ago and who contaminated Waterways through Runoff from their farms to the Mil Loiis o automobile owners still fuelling their cars with leaded indirect contamination of food by pollutants can be remarkably indirect. For example air pollution can Lead to water pollution which through fish can Lead to food pollution. The International joint commission a Canada United states Agency which does research and makes recommend nations on pollution in Waterways estimates air pollutants or a atmospheric loading Quot May be res on sible for up to 10 per cent of the loadings of some pollutants to the great lakes. Environmental legislation in Cana in elect Recal equipment by other insulators it is questionable whether ethylene dibromide a replacement for Lead in gasoline is a step up. Engine redesign to permit Bunting of lower octane fuel would be a better solution to the Lead problem since the pollutants of get latest concern Are persistent ones those which decompose very slowly it follows that even if today we shut off All the pipes Park All the ears and trucks and ban All the Dot the problems of food pollutants will remain for years. In this situation the Best we can do is become knowledgeable about which foods Are Likely to be Mast contaminated and in what localities. And avoid them residents of Industrial areas for example should be warned about Ealing produce from backyards or fish rom local Waters. A the Contention that the food Supply is killing us is Nui says or. Alex Morrison Bead of health and welfare Canarias health Protection risks that judgment is debatable. The fact is there Are environmental risks Iii eating for a living. The entrees below Are nut ordered according to degree of risk a 1 malnutrition in a country As debt hoped As Canada it is unsettling 10 have to accept the fact that malnutrition is widespread. Unlike the malnutrition we associate with food shortages in third world nations poor nourishment Here results from eating the wrong kinds of fond. Generally we Are overfed but undernourished. In 1972, the Federal government s nutrition Canada Survey of food habits and lie Ullh status found half of adult canadians Are nver weight As much due to a sedentary lifestyle As to excessive caloric intake and that dietary deficiencies of Iron Calcium Vitamin d and some of the b vitamins Are common. Further hazards of our highly refined and processed diet were summarized in 1977 by u. S. Senator George Mcgovern a select committee on nutrition and human needs. The food we eat the committee said in its control Ersial report a a May be Debili Talling or deadly. The amounts of fats saturated fat Clio Esteval sugar and Salt being consumed May be major factoid in the incidence of heart disease Bowel Brea St and Colon cancer and strokes to name some of the most widespread diseases that have been related to diet. These i Liaty elements like other substances iia ving an Adverse cumulative effect on the body appear innocuous even appealing in individual portions. However their Impact May be do Vas Tai in 19s0, the u. S. Departments of agriculture and of health education and welfare took Mcgovern s findings to heart and issued dietary guidelines Lor american citizens. The advice which applies equally to canadians includes increasing consumption of fruits vegetables and whole grains to obtain require to Vita to Iii minerals and Fibre reducing the intake of fat and cholesterol Rich foods to stave off heart disease and avoiding excessive sweetening and salting of food. Which affect dental health and High blood pressure be spec Lively. In Short a All order a and As critical to our health As the co Iceni for reducing our intake of chemical additives. A h80cessing additives among processing additives Are the colons and flavors that make Tang what it is today a lot of sugar for the most Par the stabilizers that prevent ice crystals Fui Iii log on your Brick of buttered Pecan and the preservatives that hold bread crackers a okies and oils in suspended animation for months. Though a Good majority of those additives appear to have no harmful health effects a number Are of dubious safety. Their use in food is often Only for cosmetic purposes and has no utilitarian function. A food poisoning each year some 400, canadians contract food poisoning through a number Tif Spix ies of unsavoury bacteria. Most common Are those of the staphylococcus and Salmonella groups rare but deadly is the bacterium Clostridium botulinum the cause of botulism. A High risk foods consist of animal products improperly prepared and stored a not enough cooking not enough . They include potion a. Meat processed and canned meat milk and milk products and shellfish. Beware the bulging tin can too a a portent of botulism. Also done to feed Honey to a baby since the Honey May Harbor spores of Chotu Linton. Clostridium in Honey does not affect adults health and welfare Canada says Quot when in doubt throw it a natural toxins apologists for highly fabricated additive Laden food products often use the a natural ploy Quot to divert the Public a attention from harmful processing additives a there s cyanide in Apple seeds you they re perfectly Correct some common unprocessed foods have poisonous substances in them not As contaminants but As part of their tissues their biochemical makeup. In most , Levels of the toxins arc very Low in relation to an individual s Normal consumption of the food. Unless you re in the habit of sprinkling a cup of Apple seeds on your morning Granola cyanide is not a major Worth. At least in terms of immediate health effects. But the Long term Impact is unclear. In some cases none of the food should he eaten. For example the oxalate in rhubarb leaves excludes Triem from tossed Green salads some Beans soy Beans Lima Beans Chick peas Sli Ould never be eaten raw. A pesticides chemicals to control pests crop eating insects weeds and other undesirables on the farm Are applied according to schedules designed to prevent significant chemical residues in food once it reaches the dinner table. But it Hap Lens that pesticides May be applied at too High a rate or too close to Han est time or both with unacceptable residues remaining in food. Some pesticides degrade so slowly they May appear in foods years after last applied in tie Fields. A livestock drugs so you thought City streets were the Only place with a drug problem visit a cattle in eclat or Chicken Hatcher. Some of the same antibiotics used in human therapy penicillin and tetracycline for example Are regular fare for beef and Dairy cattle poultry and Swine. They Are used As much to boost growth As to treat disease. Although withdrawal times Are ret tired Between last drug use and Date of shipment for lil Aughter the time periods May be insufficient consumer Protection. Ii Mould toxins grains and nuts May Harbor contamination by toxic Moulds fungi due to poor harvesting and storage conditions. Unusual Cumby nations of moisture and temperature Are responsible for sporadic outbreaks of fungal toxins aflatoxin a potent Carcinogen produced by one of these Moulds is the chief cause for concern. R pollutants if a toxic Chemi. Cai is released into the air or a tue there s a Good Chance some will end up in food. Some pollutants Are widespread. For example. It is estimated fully one Quarter of the agricultural land in the u. A is affected by Lead rum the gasoline exhaust of vehicles on highways byways and Sid roads. Other pollutants affect Only a certain locality. Food contamination due to pollution from local industries occurs in Cotnam Nillos across Canada from Lead in Garden vegetables grown near Toronto Lead smelters to Mercury in Wabigoon River fish tainted by the emissions of the Dryden pulp and paper Mill. Next the barnyard Medicine Chest ;