Silent Spring

When Rachel Carson wrote her groundbreaking book, "Silent Spring," she probably did have a good idea just how prophetic the book would be when it was released in 1962.
She was disturbed by the reckless use of synthetic (man-made) chemical pesticides being used after World War II.
The chemical industry as well as some in government branded her an alarmist. She finally testified before congress and lobbied them to call for new policies to protect human health and the environment.

One of her most important discoveries was what is known today as, bio-magnification. At Clear Lake, California, in order to control the pesky gnat (relative of the mosquito) authorities used an insecticide, DDD, a relative of DDT, in a diluted form of one part, to 70 million parts of water. At first the gnats were brought under control, but then their numbers increased. Again the lake was sprayed, but this time, the ratio was increased to one in 50 million parts of water.
In the winter after the first treatment, hundreds of birds were found dead. Again, the winter after the second treatment, many more birds were found dead.

After examination of the fatty tissues of some of the birds was studied, it was reported they contained alarming levels of DDD. The levels though, were much higher than what was ever put into the water. Researchers realized that the chemical was taken in by the smallest life forms, concentrated, then passed to the next higher form of life. This had gotten to the point until it reached the enormous levels found in the dead birds.

No trace of DDD was found in the water. But because the chemicals do not biodegrade, they are absorbed into the bodies of life that the lake supports. Worse still, the DDD had been passed up the food chain. This is why we still find chemicals in our food today, particularly in root vegetables and fish. After 23 months, the plankton from the lake still had chemicals in it. All birds, fish , and frogs examined showed contamination as well.

DDD was added at very low concentrations 0.02ppm, yet plankton contained 5ppm, a multiplication of 250. Plant eating fish had been found to contain 40-300ppm, and carnivorous species of fish stored a massive, 2,500ppm, a bio-magnification of 125,000!
It has been found that these compounds can bio-magnify through the food chain many millions of times, and we are at the top of that food-chain.

The sad thing about these man-made chemical compounds is that it takes many years for us to discover what will really happen, and non of it is positive. This is a science that uses society for profit and experimentation. Given recent introduction of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) into the agricultural supply chain. Pressure has been brought against the FDA to force companies to label foods that contain GMOs, but so far they have resisted. Their reason? Because so far there is no proof that GMOs have caused any problems, but there is no contrasting proof in the other direction either.
We are the only country in the world that does not require the labeling. The last country to require labeling was in 2000, and I believe it was Russia. I will follow up for sure and let you know.

Árpád Pusztai, considered by many to be the leading expert on GM foods, was silenced with threats of a lawsuit after he unexpectedly discovered that rats fed an experimental GM food developed immune system damage and other serious health problems in just ten days. Pusztai later reviewed an industry-sponsored study and found that seven of forty rats fed a GM crop died within two weeks; others developed stomach lesions. The crop was approved without further tests.

We will take a look at GMO food in another article out next and you'll be surprised at what we find.
Keep your eyes and ears open, but not in front of your TV set.
Graham

http://www.gillfinn.mionegroup.com