My DiL is an organic gardener like me (I’m so proud!), we often go back and forth about different cultivars, particular techniques for (trying to) beat bugs, etc. She linked me to a story from the LA Environmental Health Examiner this morning that I’m making the subject of this post.

Jon Stewart spoofs and doctors warn: avoid GMOs

Seems that on the 8th of May this year the American Academy of Environmental Medicine [AAEM] officially called on doctors to educate their patients and their local medical communities as well as the public to “avoid GM foods when possible.” Why? Well, it seems that the results of those long-term feeding studies that Monsanto, et al. were NOT required by the FDA to do before they introduced poisons disguised as staple food crops are finally coming in, and they aren’t good…

“There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation,” according to the AAEM’s resolution to its membership.
“The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies.” A review of more than 600 papers in scientific journals led biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava to conclude that GMOs are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans. Worse, pregnant women and their babies are at the greatest risk for harm. What is known from experience with GMOs as animal feed so far:

• Female rats fed GM soy suffered a greater than 50% loss of their litters, compared with a 10% death rate for the natural soy control group.

• Surviving females in those rat litters experienced problems becoming pregnant when they matured.

• Male rates fed GM soy had their testicles change color. Their sperm was altered to produce fewer offspring and those offspring were smaller than normal.

• Indian buffalos that grazed on GM cotton plants after harvest had reproductive problems or became infertile. Pigs fed GM corn also became sterile.

• In the US, the incidence of low birth weight babies, infertility and infant mortality are all rising dramatically since the introduction of GM foods in the human foodstream.

Serious food allergies are rising epidemically, immune dysfunction is also becoming endemic in the US population. Multiple animal studies of GMO diets indicate that these too are attributable to the new staple foods. The various Bt crops – engineered to produce bacterial toxins in every cell of the plants – have been implicated in the mass deaths of buffalo, cows, horses and chickens.

Bottom line is that no matter how convenient these genetically modified crops are for farmers, seed purveyors and agricultural chemical conglomerates, they are not good for what we humans use them for at our end of the production chain – food. AAEM’s resolution contains advice to doctors to inform their patients to avoid GM foods. This means staying away from anything with soy or corn derivatives, cottonseed and canola oil, and sugar from genetically modified beets.

Those products are okay if they are labeled “organic” or “non-GMO,” so read those labels carefully. Growing season is upon us, so local farmers will be selling produce at farmer’s markets in bulk, and are usually on hand (or a family member is) to tell you whether or not the produce came from GM seeds. Eat as fresh and close to local as possible, avoid highly processed foods – most contain GM soy, high fructose corn syrup from GM corn, and possibly other GMO ingredients.

Your family’s health is on the line, so do what you must. And don’t let Monsanto’s strong-arm tactics get in your way, don’t believe a word of the pro-GMO advertisements they’re paying a fortune to brainwash you with. I’ve found that the best thing is to not buy any food you see advertised on TV. But then again, we quit paying to be brainwashed by TV way back in the mid-1970s, so that hasn’t been difficult!

Please go to the above link and read the article. It’s highly informative, and should help make up a lot of people’s minds about this issue. There is plenty of information about GMOs out on the wide web, easily accessed through OCA or a Google search on “GMO.” Educate yourself, save your family from the health effects of industrial foods.

Today, April 2nd, is World Autism Awareness Day as declared by the United Nations after the UN ambassador from Qatar introduced the resolution last November. On the occasion of the very first Annual World Autism Awareness Day, this is a good time to take a look at some of the issues associated with this increasingly prevalent malady.

Autism is a complex brain disorder that inhibits the ability to communicate or develop normal social relationships, and often comes with behavioral problems that can be extreme. There is a range of autistic disorders from fairly mild to completely debilitating, so doctors call this the “Autism spectrum disorders.” It is currently being diagnosed in 1 of every 150 children in the U.S., with four times as many boys suffering the disorder than girls. That diagnosis rate has increased tenfold over the last ten years, and there is some dispute about why the rate is rising so fast.

Most researchers believe the causes of autism are a combination of genes, gene expression, and exposure to environmental triggers. Chief among suspects for environmental trigger has been mercury, a ubiquitous environmental neurotoxin released by coal burning and contaminating many types of fish consumed by humans. Mercury was also used until 2001 as a preservative and antimicrobial agent in vaccines [thimerosal]. There were significant increases in recommended childhood immunization doses during the 1990s, leading to a situation where it was possible for a 6-month old infant to have been exposed to a cumulative dose of organic mercury that exceeded certain limits set by government health agencies. Many parents of autistic children have connected this situation with the rapid increase in diagnosis of autism.

The annual flu vaccines still use thimerosal, and doctors recommend all children between 6 months and 18 years of age get the flu vaccine every year. 7,000 parents of autistic children have filed claims with the government’s Court of Federal Claims, which exists to settle claims using a vaccine-injury fund established for that purpose. In early March the family of 9-year old Hannah Poling of Georgia won the first settlement in those cases. For the first time, government officials have admitted that thimerosal indeed did cause neurological injury to young Hannah.

Hannah, unlike most other children, suffers a disorder that prevents her from eliminating mercury from her system through skin and hair. Other children have also been tested and shown toxic levels of mercury in their systems. If the government and drug manufacturers can be convinced to eliminate the use of mercury as a vaccine preservative in all vaccines (not just the usual childhood varieties), some medical statisticians expect the sharp rise in autism to stabilize and then sharply decline.

But researchers are not convinced that it’s all about mercury neurotoxin. There are many other neurotoxins in our environment and food supply. Agricultural pesticides, for instance, are so prevalent in our water systems and on fruits and vegetables that a recent study showed that breast milk in ALL women tested was contaminated. Pesticides are neurotoxins.

It is hoped that genetic researchers will soon develop a test to identify children with compromised immune and toxin elimination systems so their exposures can be carefully managed through life. Some parents are opting out of having their children vaccinated at all, and this situation could lead to renewed epidemics of the sometimes deadly childhood diseases that have been practically eradicated from our society.

Because I am old enough to be a grandma, I remember what it was like when mumps or measles, rubella, and whooping cough moved in waves through the student body at my school, sometimes shutting them down for weeks at a time. I remember being very sick, too, and not much enjoying it. Worse, I was born in the years before universal vaccination for polio was instituted. There were classmates and teachers throughout my education who had been crippled by that awful disease, which now strikes only rarely and only in sub-populations that traditionally eschew vaccinations of any kind (like the Amish).

At any rate, all expecting and new parents out there should educate themselves about autism, vaccination, and the issues of special needs children. Today is a good time to start, since it’s World Autism Awareness Day. And all you Grannies out there need to make sure your children are well versed on these issues too, for the health and future of your precious grandbabies!

Links:

Autism Speaks
World Autism Awareness Day
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?

Moms spend much more money that Dads do. More than 2 trillion (with a ‘T’) dollars a year! That’s a darned lucrative market, so it’s one with a hefty amount of psychologizing put into it by Madison Avenue when they’re designing ad campaigns.

Now, there are people out there who will insist that the target audience for all this marketing is children, and many psychologists insist that advertising targeting children is unethical. Not that ethics counts for very much when there’s trillions of dollars on the table, of course. Deal is, children don’t work for a living, thus have little money to spend on all those expensive, questionably useful consumer items they’re being sold. The person who is REALLY being targeted is Mom. The marketers are just adding to the marketing appeal by enlisting children to do their work for them!

Moms generally don’t watch as much television as their kids do. According to New Dream: Facts About Marketing, the average American child watches about 40,000 television commercials a year, which translates to more than 100 a day. This translates directly into what savvy marketers call “The Nag Factor” – getting kids to nag their Moms into buying something they want (but probably don’t need). Here are some facts about that “Nag Factor” to keep in mind…

• American teenagers will ask Mom to buy them something an average of 9 times before she finally gives in.
• More than 10% of 12-13 year olds admitted to asking more than 50 times for a product.
• More than half of children say getting Mom to buy a product they want makes them “feel better about themselves.”
• Nearly a third of children admitted that peer pressure plays a big role in what products they desire.
• The nag strategy pays off for both kids and marketers – 55% of kids say they’re usually successful in getting Mom to buy.

And don’t think that very young children are immune. Recent studies show that by the time a child is 36 months old – that’s 3 years old – they recognize an average of 100 brand logos. Some kids get money from their parents instead of goodies, and spend a collective total of $24 billion of it themselves on products they want. It’s their influence on how parents spend that the marketers are mostly after, since that figure dwarfs allowance big time.

So. How do advertisers do it? Here are the Top Ten Media Marketing Strategies for getting Mom to buy a child what s/he doesn’t need:

1. Play the “Cool” angle. If you can convince a kid that she or he will automatically become leader of the in-crowd if Mom buys the product, the kid will do all the hard-sell work.

2. Introduce kids to products at school. If a product marketer can get an ‘educational’ website approved by grade school teachers instructing classes in computer tech, internet resources and keyboarding, the kids will insist Moms purchase the products on a regular basis at home.

3. Create a children’s television program based on your products. Air it on PBS or other ‘kid-friendly’ channels in the afternoon or early evening, or on Saturdays. This ensures kids will nag for products associated with the program – toys, food, games, videos, clothing – you name it, they’ll make sure it gets bought.

4. Product placement is important. In the cereal aisle at the grocery, make sure the junk cereals are on the lower shelves. Put the candy and bubble gum within easy reach of short folks. Place the junk toys and candy below the tabloid rags at the checkout stands, Mom will be distracted. If a kid can reach it, Mom isn’t likely to get violent in public trying to pry it out of their screaming kids’ hands.

5. Make sure kids know that chemical dyed sugar water will make them fit and strong – and most of all, sexy. Then the kids will make Mom buy.

6. Don’t be fooled by movie ratings. Kids get into PG-13 and R rated movies all the time. Use those marketing trailers to sell, sell, sell!

7. Sex sells. Especially to 10-year old girls.

8. Use pointless approval slogans. “Mom Approved” or “Mom’s #1 Choice” are good whines to get children to demand bubble gum toothpaste, nutrient-sapping cereals, sugar drinks, candy disguised as fruit, and any sort of junk food.

9. Associate your brand with a cartoon character, clown or pre-teen idol. If the kids’ latest heartthrob wears X shoes exclusively, or dresses like a whore, the kids will demand those shoes and that brand of ‘junior petite’ hooker gear. If Ronald McDonald does a school magic show, the kids will want Happy Meals exclusively for at least three months.

10. Play the abuse card. Make kids believe that they’re being abused if Mom doesn’t buy them what they want right now, they will get that message across in no uncertain terms to Mom.

Urban legends – often spread on kids’ internet chat sites and through their cell messaging cliques – are very helpful for that last one. If a kid can inform Mom with a straight face that some kid in Peoria (or Bangor, or Seattle) committed suicide because they were being harassed for not having this jacket or those shoes or knowing all the words to that rap music song, Mom will feel guilty and concerned that her reticence to buy will drive the young’uns to suicide.

Interestingly enough, I have been unable to find any statistics on how many Moms go crazy, commit suicide or end up in jail for NOT buying things their media overstimulated children demanded. There probably aren’t any such statistics, but it’s a darned good thing (if you are a marketer who knows how to make children do your work for you) kids aren’t nearly as media savvy as Moms are!

Links:

Kids and Commercialism

APA Report: Selling to Kids

We are coming for your children

Online Marketiing to Kids: Strategies and Techniques

Kids for Sale: Television versus the Internet

Newsweek Magazine published an article on its web page last week entitled Top Seven Health Myths, citing a study that demonstrated even doctors often fall prey to common medical misconceptions. And they do, too, sometimes for the basest of self-interested reasons.

I recall sitting at the breakfast table with my Mother-in-Law one morning back in the early 1980s, reading the daily newspaper. I came across an article about a formal position statement from the American Medical Association’s annual enclave, which stated as clearly and simply as possible that…

There Is No Evidence That Diet Is Related To Health.

Mom of course denied it vehemently even as I handed her the story on page whatever, in her own favorite newspaper. She’d been a medical transcriptionist all her working life, spent her days around doctors and medical laboratories and test results and autopsy reports and diagnostic conferences, so she knew a lot about doctors and a hefty amount about medicine. She simply couldn’t believe the AMA would make such an outrageous statement denying something that “Every Mother Knows.”

I tried to explain to her the political affiliations of the AMA as a professional lobby with ties to some notorious and insidious industries – pharmaceuticals, Big Tobacco and the increasingly monopolistic food/drink processing conglomerates peddling nutritional garbage to our children. To make the industry lobbyists happy, those doctors would swear on a stack of Bibles that smoking doesn’t cause lung cancer, that drugs are good for you, and that your diet has nothing to do with your health. You’ve just gotta take all lobbying organizations with a large grain of salt, because their political back-room dealings often completely contradict what their individual members know for a fact to be true.

Let’s face it… the primary health care provider in this world is mostly Mom. Grandmas, Aunts and even wise nurse-ly neighbors can help, but Mom is who mostly gets to kiss the boo-boos, bandage the cuts and scrapes, dish out the medicine and try to balance the family’s diet so they can be as healthy as possible while avoiding gross obesity or other nutritional deficits that lead to disease. Thus any Mom would have laughed (or indignantly sputtered) about the AMA’s ridiculously self-serving lie that year. And by the next year’s enclave the position was completely reversed based on rank-and-file objections to the lie.

The study Newsweek focuses upon was published in the British Medical Journal in December. It identifies the top medical myths and reports that a surprising (to them) number of practicing physicians believe in those myths…

Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight. This one has very little scientific support. It can cause temporary eyestrain, but that disappears quickly in the presence of bright light.

Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death. Nope. After death the skin begins to contract, which gives an illusion that hair and nails are growing. They are not.

We only use 10% of our brains. This one really is the product of snake-oil salesmen peddling magical elixirs of life from the back of wagons in the early 20th century. That supposed 90% of useless brain has never been identified by neuroscientists, who find our brains tend to be active no matter where they look.

Using cell phones in hospitals is dangerous. Despite the fact that hospitals have almost universally bought into this myth, studies have shown that normal cell phone use has little to no interference effect with medical devices. In 2007 a study using 300 tests in 75 different treatment rooms found exactly zero interference from cell phones.

You should drink at least 8 glasses of water per day. Actually, we get an ample supply of fluid in a typical daily diet including juice, milk and even coffee or soda. Drinking too much water can cause severe electrolyte imbalance and has been known to cause death. If you’re thirsty, drink. If you’re not, don’t worry about it.

Shaved hair grows back faster and coarser. Oddly enough, I found this one surprising. But research does show that the texture, color and growth habits of hair – even on ladies’ legs! – doesn’t change when it’s cut, shaved, waxed or chemically removed.

So there you have it. Old Wives’ Tales we can go ahead and leave behind us. Happy mothering!