writeaboutwarming

March 11, 2013 – I was awfully glad to hear that Whole Foods intends to require labeling of all the foods, fresh or processed, sold in their stores that contain GMO’s (genetically modified organisms).   Their patience in allowing vendors five years to get labeling underway is nonsensical; this must be the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down.   The importance of their new policy can’t be overstated, though: consumers will gradually come to accept the provision of this information as normal.   In so doing, some will take the additional step of finding out why eating GMO’s could be problematic.      Some will find out that the research to which the FDA repeatedly refers, when it claims foods containing GMO’s present no threat to human health, was performed by the companies that developed and sell the GMO seed!   The education of the masses is, at last, off to a late, hesitant start. Organic foods will not require GMO labeling since they...

March 6, 2013 – Have any of your friends been unable to conceive because of the man’s low sperm count?   (Obviously, these are friends you know pretty well.)   While lower sperm counts have been periodically reported over the last 20 years, it finally occurred to someone to review the literature.   The jury is in, and the verdict is unwelcome, particularly for a species that likes to imagine it’s going to be around for a while.   As it turns out, we even know why it’s happening. In a word, pesticides.    Researchers at George Washington University report that sperm has declined both in quantity and quality over the last 50 years.   Not just here in the United States, either.   Everywhere.   Some of the studies included in the review reported that sperm counts had dropped by half between the years 1940 and 1990.   It should be no surprise to learn that farm workers are the most affected.   In an article which appeared in the journ...