Warning! Cyanuric Acid Linked to Melamine Toxicity Being Fed to U.S. Livestock---With FDA Approval

[McCamy Taylor]

I. Contaminated Baby Formula Found in US: FDA Responds By Relaxing Its Food Safety Standards

My last journal about melamine was written in response the FDA’s decision to declare a “safe” level of the non-protein nitrogen compound in food for adults . Note that at the time, the FDA declared that there was no safe level for infants.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/McCamy%20Taylor/329

That was before the U.S. food industry produced baby food containing melamine. Now, the FDA has changed its tune.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4AO9FZ20081125

U.S. health officials have uncovered trace amounts of the chemical melamine in one sample of infant formula sold in the United States, a Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The amount found in the sample was no cause for concern, said FDA spokeswoman Judy Leon said. "There's no basis for concern because we're talking about trace levels that are so low ... that there's absolutely no risk," she told Reuters.

No, Judy. Last week your agency said that the amount in adult food was no cause for concern because it was so low. We were told that melamine would not be tolerated at all in baby food. Here, I will quote you to you:

In food products other than infant formula, the FDA concludes that levels of melamine and melamine-related compounds below 2.5 parts per million (ppm) do not raise concerns.

What changed in two weeks? You found melamine in baby formula, and so the U.S. baby food industry needed some ass coverage. Isn’t it about time that the Food and Drug Administration did what it was created to do? The whole idea of the agency began way back at the start of the 20th century with the Teddy Roosevelt administration.

The Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906 is a United States federal law that provided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Food_and_Drug_Act

The number one job of the FDA is to keep food manufacturers from selling adulterated foods. And yet, this industry friendly agency allows the people who raise livestock to feed them non protein nitrogen just like the melamine which the livestock farmers in China use except that in the United States they use cyanuric acid instead.

II. Chinese Melamine BAD, U.S. Cyanuric Acid Good and Other Fairy Tales From Archer Daniels Midland

There is a method behind the madness of feeding ruminants (cows that chew the cud) fake protein like melamine or cyanuric acid. Under some conditions, the livestock actually can digest some of the plastic derivatives and obtain necessary nutrients thanks to their peculiar gastrointestinal tracts.

Ruminant animals can obtain protein from at least some forms of non-protein nitrogen (NPN) through fermentation by their rumen bacteria, hence NPN is often added to their diet to supplement protein.<55> Nonruminants such as cats, dogs and pigs (and humans) cannot utilize NPN. NPN are given to ruminants in the form of pelleted urea, ammonium phosphate and/or biuret.<56> Sometimes slightly polymerized special urea-formaldehyde resin or a mixture of urea and formaldehyde (both are also known as formaldehyde-treated urea) is used in place of urea, because the former provides a better control on the nitrogen release. This practice is carried out in China and other countries, such as Finland <57>, India<58> and France.<59>
Cyanuric acid has also been used as NPN. For example, Archer Daniels Midland manufactures an NPN supplement for cattle, which contains biuret, triuret, cyanuric acid and urea.<60> FDA permits a certain amount of cyanuric acid to be present in some additives used in animal feed and also drinking water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_protein_export_scandal#Non-protein_nitrogen_as_legitimate_and_illegitimate_feed_additive

If you have kept up on your melamine biochemistry, you know that melamine alone has low toxicity in mammals. But, combine melamine and cyanuric acid together and they form crystals which precipitate in the kidneys causing stones, kidney failure and in some cases death or even bladder cancer. Since melamine is getting all the bad press and cyanuric acid is getting no notice, maybe I should repeat that.

However, when cyanuric acid is administered together with melamine (which by itself is another low-toxicity substance), they may form extremely insoluble crystals,<10> leading to formation of kidney stones and potentially causing kidney failure and death -- as evidenced in dogs and cats during the 2007 pet food contamination and in children during the 2008 Chinese milk scandal cases.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanuric_acid

Refer to my original journal for some chemistry links and you will see that cyanuric acid is a breakdown product of melamine. That means that if you manufacture one, you can easily find your product contaminated with the other. No problem if you are American Cyanamid and you produce chemicals for plastics or other industrial uses. Yes problem if you plan to feed the stuff to cows.

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/melamra.html#intakes

In the above report, the FDA claims that neither melamine nor cyanuric acid concentrates in the edible portions of livestock in amounts large enough to cause health risks----I guess they mean under the new rules, in which infants are allowed to consume these chemicals, because they are found everywhere. Note that the FDA did not test beef even though the main animals being fed these products are cows. No word about our milk either. Nor did they test kidneys though this is where the chemicals would concentrate. Show of hands how many people have seen kidneys in the meat section of the grocery store. If you have not, then visit a latin grocery. You are sure to see them there. I Googled “beef kidney recipes” and got over 1 million hits.

Or maybe the FDA does not care, because we export our beef kidneys (and livers, another organ that might accumulate chemicals) to foreign countries.

http://www.cattletoday.com/archive/2006/November/CT717.shtml

Beef products like livers and kidneys are not items Americans typically eat. However, they are extremely popular in Middle Eastern countries, such as Egypt. The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) continues to expand and build demand for these items with promotional campaigns and consistent contact with importers.
A USMEF merchandising campaign held last month in Egypt increased awareness that U.S. beef livers are a high quality, safe product. Some 80 merchandisers in wholesale and wet markets and 30 restaurants and street vendors participated in the campaign, encouraging Egyptians to try U.S. beef products.

And what happens if your water gets contaminated with the cyanuric acid being excreted via the kidneys of the cows from one dairy farm and with melamine being excreted from another dairy farm and the two get bottled into the product (for instance the powdered baby formula) being produced by a third food manufacturer downstream? Instant melamine-cyanuric acid cocktail. As far as I know, there are no studies of the effects of long term exposure to low levels of the crystal precipitates of this mixture on human adults or children.

What does any of this have to do with Archer Daniels Midland? Check out this product, Roughage Buster Plus :

http://www.admani.com/alliancebeef/RoughageBusterPlus.htm

This is the product Wiki referred to above, the one that contains cyanuric acid . Yes, ADM sells cyanuric acid which is fed to cattle across the US in lieu of real protein and the FDA approves. Roughage Buster Plus also contains something called biuret , a polymer of cyanuric acid that is supposed to stay in the cow's gut and degrade slowly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biuret

I wonder what would happen if someone decided to make some tripas grilling that beef tripe over a really hot flame. What if some of that plastic pellet was still stuck inside? What kind of chemical reaction would ensue and what kinds of chemicals would the family ingest? The beef tripe export industry is another one that is booming in the United States with most of our product going to Japan and Korea, but some people here at home consume cow intestines, too.

III. Moral of the Story

Melamine may be found in our plastic ware, but melamine alone will not form crystals in our kidneys that cause stones, kidney failure and death. It takes cyanuric acid plus melamine to do that. So, why does the FDA allow cattle and dairy farmers to feed their livestock cyanuric acid? Do cows need to eat plastic to survive? The undigested portion will be excreted in their urine. Anyone who has seen the conditions in which cattle are raised, knows that their urine will contaminate local water, maybe even local crops. Their internal organs may accumulate the chemicals. At this point we do not know the lowest safe dose of either of these chemicals when it comes to long term exposure. We only know how much it takes to develop acute kidney stones. The amount that causes bladder cancer could be different, since tumors are often a result of repeated low grade injury.

I am sure that ADM wants to keep selling Roughage Buster Plus, and everyone knows that ADM gives money to Congress the way that Thai prostitutes give VD. And cheap protein substitutes probably increase the profit margins here at home just the way they do in China. But does that mean that we have to keep adulterating our food?

[BumRushDaShow]

1. "Note that the FDA did not test beef..."

Because that is not under the agency's jurisdiction. It is USDA. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Safety_and_Inspection_Service">FSIS.

[McCamy Taylor]

13. They tested pork, chicken, eggs, which are all MEAT, too and under USDA.. Why not beef?

[BumRushDaShow]

41. Because beef is under USDA by law

It is a convoluted system that has gotten quite complex over the years. Calves ("veal on the hoof") are tested by FDA as is cattle tissue, but for antibiotic residues only, and the rest of the beef is under USDA. USDA has (or at least had) inspectors at EVERY meat processing plant. FDA has NEVER had any such massive amount of employees for that or any other purpose. So as a bizarre example that is often given in the media, since FDA mostly does "packaged" (processed) foods, FDA will test cheese pizza, but if there's ground beef on it, it goes to FSIS, which is under USDA. Ironically, FDA will do some game meat like rabbits (for decomposition). Similarly, FDA overlaps with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for seafood testing (where FDA tests lobsters, shrimp, and other shellfish but not whole fish in general unless it is processed somehow like fish cakes). FDA also overlaps with EPA (EPA does tap water, FDA does bottled water), and DEA (DEA does some types of drugs and FDA others). FDA also does medical devices and things the average person doesn't even realize - like laser lights (at discos, in DVD players, etc), TVs, microwave ovens, etc... And FDA tests cosmetics and food supplements (vitamins, which have a special classification as a "food" rather than a "drug").

And why this is so? Note that FDA was originally formed under USDA and was later pulled out as the mandate expanded, and put under DHEW (which became DHHS & DEd). Ironically, the budget/appropriation for FDA is still via USDA and not HHS.

And also note, if the product does not enter into interstate commerce, then it's not under FDA jurisdiction. So since products like eggs and milk tend to stay local (in-state), the state tests those and FDA merely works with them as a partner. Soon as those eggs/milk go across a state line, boom. ;)

[Hubert Flottz]

2. The Bushites will go right on creating their own reality until Jan. 20.

Longer if ANY of them are allowed to stay on.

[D-Lee]

3. Another great post!

Another problem is genetically modified food, which has never been scientifically explored by the FDA. How can they think that finding a petunia gene incorporated in human gut tissue, which has been documented, isn't worth exploring?

Looking forward to something better with the new administration (I hope)!

[Grinchie]

34. Horizontal Gene Transfer is the big secret that keeps GMO's from being labeled.

For many years, scientists disavowed any mention of Pleiomorphism, meaning that primitive life forms can actually change shape and habitat depending on the environment they live in. In the 1930's, a man named Royal Rife developed a dark field microscope that was able to illuminate a virus with Polarized light which allowed the observer to view a living virus organism. His discovery led to a device which used radio waves to beam frequencies into cancer tissue and destroy the organism due to its unique Mortality Oscillatory Rate or M.O.R.

You may have been led to believe that you can only view a virus with an electron microscope. Thats true, but what they don't tell you is that it kills the organism.

His work was suppressed by the institutes that would lose a lot of funding for cancer research, because in effect, he had found the cure for cancer, using a non invasive, painless, drug free method which would have put a lot of doctors out of work. His story is truly amazing, and is documented in the book "The Cancer Cure That Worked"

His worked was continued by other independant teams, and their work was also suppressed.

Now enter the scene, one John Kanzius. He was recently featured on 60 Minutes, and was showcasing a device which beams Radio waves of a certain frequency in an attempt to kill cancer cells. Although he discloses a slightly different technique, it is supprisingly similar to what Royal Rife was doing in the 1930's. Another intersting side effect that the device apparently disassociates Salt water by oscillating sodium in water at a harmonic frequency, which releases Hydrogen and Oxygen. This ties in to Stanly Meyer, a man who in the 70's created a water fuel cell, which "Resonated" water into disassociating into HHO gas using low power, high frequency electrolysis.

You can look both of them up on the YouTube or on 60 Minutes.

I am fairly convinced that this technique has merit, and from what I have found in the realm of suppression of technologies that would benefit many people, as well as putting established industies out of a job, suppression is real and one must question everything.

Just look at Ozone if you want to see a miracle substance that has been diminished and made out to be poisonous to mammals, when it is one of the best ways to bring your body to an alkaline state, instead of the acidic state that all of our toxic food and lethargy puts us in. People sit is cars stuck in traffic, and they don't realize that the Oxygen levels are diminished simply because the cars are consuming oxygen and spewing out carbon dioxide, with contributes to the acidification of our bodies.

And their is one thing that Cancer and disease love, and that's an acidic human.

Now that the overwhelming evidence of Horizontal Gene Transfer is becoming too hot to contain, I believe we will see mandatory labeling of GMO foods soon. And with the labeling, Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer and all the rest of the inhuman scientific idiots will get their fundng cut out from under their legs, because there will no place for them to hide behind the FDA, USDA or EPA.

I can just see it not, E. Coli or C.Diff found to be producing BT toxin in our stomach.

Is your Colon Roundup Ready?

[OnyxCollie]

4. K&R. nt

[formercia]

5. The Beef industry is just screwing themselves

If health problems due occur as a result, the fallout will cost them Billions more than they ever made in profits from using it.
There is a source of Cyanuric Acid that humans get exposed to. The chlorinating tablets that many use in their swimming pools has a CA base. I wonder if anyone uses them to 'purify' drinking water.

[formercia]

6. Don't fry meat byproducts

and serve it on melamine plates or bowls. But, then, it's mostly poor people that would have this problem.....

Synthesis

Cyanuric acid (CYA) was first synthesized by Wöhler in 1829 by the thermal decomposition of urea and uric acid.<2> The current industrial route to CYA entails the thermal decomposition of urea, with release of ammonia. The conversion commences at approximately 175 °C:<[br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanuric_acid

So, if you wonder why that baloney or Spam has an Ammonia smell when you fry it.....

[Gman]

7. I put cyanuric acid in my swimming pool

it's the "stabilizer" that holds the chlorine in. There's all kinds of dire warnings for if you have too much. You have to drain the pool down and replace it with fresh water.

[MadHound]

8. Time for people to get to know their local small farmers

Buy organic beef, subscribe to a CSA, hell, simply go out to the country, get to know a cattle farmer and buy your beef in bulk.

Our actual method of food production has become out of touch with ordinary people. It is time to get to know our food and those who produce it. Talk to local farmers, find out what they feed their cattle, how they treat them. Most local farmers are more than willing to talk to you, or even take you for a tour of their operation. Don't look at feedlot operations, what you're look for is rolling acres with a modest amount of cattle on them, you're looking for grass fed beef that aren't given hormones and such. A little grain feeding in the last couple of weeks is OK, but you really don't want completely grain fed beef, it will be real fatty, less tasty, and worse for you.

You can find these farmers in your local farmer's market. Or look at the small town papers surrounding your area, or check out the bulletin board at your local organic market or food coop. Or simply go out driving around in the country and look for those rolling acres with a modest amount of cattle, then stop and get to know the farmer. I was lucky, I moved in next door to an organic cattle farmer. He didn't advertise his products, but he was more than willing to reserve a quarter cow for me. Some people simply don't advertise, but they're more than willing to sell to you.

This goes the same for all your food, produce, fruits, etc. Get to know where your food comes from, and only get it from local producers. Use the power of the market to force a change.

[formercia]

9. There was an article recently about a local organic rancher.

They have all the business they can handle and they have never advertised. It takes quite a bit of land to do it in the North if you raise your own feed for the Winter but with land prices coming down, it might be a good business move.

Mr. Obama should seriously consider support for these type of operations.


Support family farms.

[Grinchie]

35. Since when has good farmland price come down?

Please show me an example.. I watch like a hawk and haven't seen any indication of farmland losing value.

[Dystopian]

10. KandR. Thank you for your research. eom.

peace~

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. This is why you should only feed babies rain water and whiskey.

To prevent the commies from sapping their precious bodily fluids.

[anigbrowl]

12. Win. Here's a more detailed link...

on the melamine in baby formula story: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/11/25/infant.formula.melamine/?iref=mpstoryview

"Leon said the sample that tested positive most likely became contaminated through the manufacturing process or through contact with can liners."

In other words, if you use melamine-containing plastic at some stage during the manufacturing process, a tiny amount is going to be eroded away by the powder, not unlike sandblasting. By contrast, what the criminal suppliers in china were doing was watering down milk to increase profit margins, then adding melamine in bulk to re-establish a normal-seeming consistency. This is like comparing a bit of sand in your shoes after you've been to the beach with dumping a truckload of the stuff in someone's driveway.

[McCamy Taylor]

14. At some point the "China bad, U.S. good" line began to sound false....

I think it was when the FDA said that it would tolerate no melamine in baby formula----and then turned around and said "Hey, small amounts of melamine in baby formula are just fine!"

I am sure that the Chinese government has a similar propaganda operation in place to placate its own people.

I understand the point you are making, but how do we know that no one in the US adds this crap to powdered protein supplements to increase its protein content while cutting overhead? Unless the FDA begins protecting the consumer rather than industry, we will be at increased risk (which is not the same thing as saying that anyone is sapping our bodily fluids---if capitalists see an opportunity to cut costs, a certain percentage of them will cut those costs).

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. lulz

"how do we know that no one in the US adds this crap to powdered protein supplements to increase its protein content while cutting overhead?"

Because the whole purpose of adulterating, say, pet food with melamine was to increase the net fixed nitrogen amount.

Spiking products with a trace amount of melamine would serve no purpose.

[McCamy Taylor]

19. I am not talking trace. Body builders have been talking for years about how

the consumption of "high protein" is linked to kidney stones. Since body builders have to keep very low body fat index for muscle definition, they live on protein powder supplements to get a super high protein intake in their diet that is also low in fat.

This suggests to me that the manufacturers of protein supplements--like those sold at health food stores---may have been buying their whey and other milk proteins on the world market including from sources that adulterate to keep the tested level of nitrogen up but prices low. Has the FDA been running regular tests on these powdered supplements (which would be much easier to contaminate than a T-bone steak) to make sure that they are not full of plastic?

How about all the powdered milk that goes into baked goods and processed foods? Manufacturers buy the cheapest ingredients. Who tests that stuff?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. I'm not sure what you're talking about at all. It appears you understand none of this.

The FDA limits and the amount found in the baby formula recently are all trace limits.

"Body builders have been talking for years about how the consumption of "high protein" is linked to kidney stones. Since body builders have to keep very low body fat index for muscle definition, they live on protein powder supplements to get a super high protein intake in their diet that is also low in fat."

And?

"This suggests to me that the manufacturers of protein supplements--like those sold at health food stores---may have been buying their whey and other milk proteins on the world market including from sources that adulterate to keep the tested level of nitrogen up but prices low."

Based on what evidence?

[McCamy Taylor]

45. Association is not causality....but it suggests the need for further study.

If bodybuilders have noticed an association between increased consumption of protein in the form of protein powder and kidney stones and we know that melamine/cyanuric acid causes kidney stones, that would usually be enough to warrant follow up. But it gets worse. Protein powder is made with milk powders of the type which China would have been adulterating since around 2002 if you believe what the Chinese dairy farmers have been saying and if we assume that the manufacturers of protein powder supplements are like any other capitalist businessmen---i.e. they buy low and sell high---then they would have bought from the cheapest supplier of milk protein powder. And that would have been the Chinese who (through the process of adulteration) would have been offering high nitrogen content low cost product.

I believe that people who have old bottles/jars/jugs of nutritional sports protein powder sitting around the house need to save them. And when someone (probably a plaintiffs attorney) finally gets around to having them tested for melamine/cyanuric acid, bring them on down. I am about 50% certain that some of those samples will test just like the infant formula in China. It makes sense. If they were willing to poison their own babies, they should have been willing to contaminate the world food supplies, too.

[anigbrowl]

22. The FDA doesn't evaluate health supplements

Although some have suggested they should, but every time they propose doing so a small army of holistic medicine/natural remedy/commercial manufacturers/hippies band together and object.

[SidDithers]

42. Good point...nt

Sid

[Grinchie]

36. No wonder Body Builder have such Grotesque Bodies!

Melamine does a body bad!

[anigbrowl]

16. Well, it's not that hard to test for

You could do it yourself. Get some baby powder, some cyanuric acid, mix, wait, filter, weigh resulting crystals to derive melamine content. Might make an interesting university project.

I am less suspicious of the FDA than you, though not giving them a free pass. I think you're taking 'trace amounts of melamine' as being more significant than it is. Melamine has been excluded from the food chain in the US for 30 years by the FDA, and no producer is going to risk their profitability for what would be such marginal gain - as compared to unregulated things where people can and do push the envelope in pursuit of a quick profit (eg many herbal and dietary products, which are essentially unregulated).

I'm also troubled by your interpretation of statements with a specific scientific meaning. Saying 'there is no safe level for melamine in infant formula' does not mean that any melamine at all is fatal, but that no safe level has been established. Now, we know the tolerable level for adults in 2.5 parts per billion, or 2.5 x 10^-9. While I don't know exact testing protocol that the FDA uses, as I point out above the basic principle of how to test it is very, very simple. 'Trace elements' suggest to me something on the order of 1 x 10^-12 or less - if it were that low I would certainly not worry about it.

Overall, I think the FDA does a pretty good job of protecting the consumer. That doesn't mean it gets everything right 100% of the time - but nor does the existence of shortcomings mean it's useful or informative to go pointing fingers at them and misrepresenting their role.

Ultimately, you're making an argument from ignorance - you even bolded the word 'know', when you might more productively have used the opportunity to learn and then inform your readers how tests are conducted - and then exploiting this ignorance to sensationalize your story. I hate sensationalism: it misinforms and frightens people, and everyone who engages in it thinks that their self-assessed political purity offsets the fear and confusion which result.

[McCamy Taylor]

23. Do you work for the Bush FDA? Maybe I should write a thread about their inaction these last 8 years.

They have practically kissed the drug companies asses--and killed American pharmaceutical consumers. When they were not banning the use of old, tried and true medications that cut into drug company profits by competing with new name brand only medications as in the case of quinine for leg cramps and ergots for migraines. Banning those two drugs made Glaxo-Smith Kline very, very happy since it makes expensive meds for restless leg syndrome and migraine ha's---meds that received wide direct to consumer advertising just before the FDAs actions.

Comgress should watch to see who at the FDA goes to work for GSK next year.

[Grinchie]

37. The FDA allows us to drink Aspartame...

You still trust them? How about Fluoride?
Hmmm.. Good stuff, everyone should consume it every day for a lifetime.

It's fricking toxic waste from the Aluminum industry. Melamine is just the new kid on the block.

Don't forget the new wonder treatment, Chloramine, Longer lasting, doesn't evaporate out of standing water, kills fish, etc.. And in your Municipal Water Supply today!

Nothing like the sweet mix of Chlorine and Ammonia together at last!

[vegleftie]

17. moral of the story: go vegan

Call me crazy, but considering the growing list of poisons given to animals raised for "food" that end up in human bodies, the smartest move is to avoid eating them. Pretty simple, really.

[Mari333]

24. welcome to DU and go veg! n/t

[glinda]

28. I am thinking about it because I spent the last week

sorting a foot high pile of veterinary bills and Petco and Petsmart records to submit a claim for my cat and three dogs. Cat has had $5000 in bills and the dogs have all grown cysts and tumors to the tune of $2500. Call me stupid but we did not know what was going on at the time and this was at the end of October. I am sure it was in the food way back then. Cat would go to the hospital, come home and eat bad food and then go to the hospital again. Now he is on tons of health programs. Does anyone know of a healthy vegetarian cookbook?????

[flvegan]

30. Agreed, and Welcome to DU!

Go vegan...two very smart, powerful words.

[undergroundpanther]

33. going"veg"

Is not possible for EVERYONE. Some health conditions make it a health risk to go veg.Like Crhon's disease..

Secondly Vegs are often loaded with anti fungals ,pesticides. Veggies have been recalled because they were contaminated with E coli,and other bacteria..What you fail to get is OUR PLANET is contaminated by the chemical companies,the military everything. Even "mad cow" prions end up in vegetables.
http://article.wn.com/view/2008/06/26/Even_vegetarians_may_not_be_safe_from_mad_cow_prions/?section=BigPhoto&template=cheetah-cfwb%2Fupper-block.txt

Nothing is "safe" if the soil,air, water and fertilizers the plants grow in, are CONTAMINATED.

Pesticides on plants
http://www.consumerhealth.org/articles/display.cfm?ID=19990809222752

It really has come down to Pick your poison, because it is all contaminated now thanks to corporations and free market bullshit..And"going veg" does NOTHING to stop the"free market"bullshit. Nor does"going organic" or "local",when the label organic or free range means nothing now and local food markets are infiltrated with corporate vendors.
WAKE UP going VEG is just another contaminated food source.

[Grinchie]

38. I tend to agree with the lack of trust of the Organic label sometimes.

I was at Trader Joes today, and I was looking for some bread.

95% of the breads had Soy flour in it, and the trouble is, 90% of the Soy we eat is GMO. so I was kind of pissed off that Whaet Bread, Oat Bread or Rye Bread had Soy flour in it. If I want Soy in my bread, I'll get Soy bread, but strangely enough, I don't think I have ever seen Soy Bread.

I also saw a type of bread that was all raised and delicious looking, but the ingrediant list Flour, water and salt. No yeast, dough enhancer, or any other rising agent. Does anyone know how that could be possible?

I asked the person next to me about it and she became concerned about it as well, but no one in the store could answer the question.

[KewlKat]

49. Going Vegan still isn't the answer

American Food System Fertilized With Industrial Chemical Melamine


Fertilizer companies commonly add melamine to their products because it helps control the rate at which nitrogen seeps into soil, thereby allowing the farmer to get more nutrient bang for the fertilizer buck. But the government doesn ’t regulate how much melamine is applied to the soil.

READ THE REST HERE: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/america-fertilizer-melamine.php

[rcsl1998]

18. The FDA Admission Of Melamine In Infant Formula (Yesterday) Admitted Cyanuric Acid In Formula Too!

Tests were done 'quietly' and information released only due to Freedom Of Information Act filing by the AP.

[McCamy Taylor]

20. Thanks for the info. Did the FDA know about the contaminated formula 2 weeks ago when they said

that no plastics would be tolerated in formula?

[rcsl1998]

52. The Tests Were Done In Early September

I believe it was information contained in an MSNBC article...

[rcsl1998]

53. MSNBC Updated Article...

"Mead Johnson Infant Formula Powder, Enfamil LIPIL with Iron had three positive tests for cyanuric acid" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27914218/

[McCamy Taylor]

54. From the above link (thanks)

On Wednesday, FDA spokeswoman Judy Leon said that spreadsheet contained an error — that the FDA had incorrectly switched the names of the Mead Johnson product with Nestle's Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron. That meant, Leon said, that the Nestle's Good Start had melamine while Mead Johnson's Enfamil had traces of cyanuric acid.

The FDA said last month that the toxicity of cyanuric acid is under study, but that in the meantime it is "prudent" to assume that its potency is equal to that of melamine.

Just be sure not to give your baby some of one then some of the other because we know what the two chemicals do together in vivo--they precipitate in the bloodstream and clog the kidneys.

That is why we need to take the plastics out of the food supply. And if there are some sources that will be hard to eliminate, like machinery with melamine bits that flake off into the food, shouldn't we at least do like AA and change what we can change?

Stop feeding our food supply plastic!

[rcsl1998]

58. Here's A Link To The Original Article (FDA Quietly Tested In September)

http://kdrv.com/news/health/66749

[SoCalDem]

25. Just think... Not that many years ago, cattle were fed HAY..& grass

and a decent roast cost under a dollar a pound.. In fact, when I was first married, I used to routinely shop for a "$3 roast".. that was the perfect size for the two of us :)

[Hekate]

26. The Bushites have set us back an entire century regarding food safety. God, how I hate them. nt

[Grinchie]

39. Me too, but I haven't heard Obama say much about GMO's or the Toxic food we eat

We can only pray that the Clintonites that he's surrounding himself with don't dilute any attempt to quash this whole food coup that we are experiancing.

Clinto was real big on GMO, just like Pappy bush and Dan Quayle before him. Clinton gave us CAFO's Confined Animal Feeding Operations as a gift to Tyson as well.

Thats the one reason why I think Hillary is toxic waste.

[Hekate]

48. As Obama pointed out in his latest press conference, HE is the source of change...

Individuals who work for him -- work for him.

Having said that, you do understand that Bush gutted the federal civil service, starting immediately he entered office? The federal civil service took over two centuries to build, and Bush did his best to dismantle it. Scientists and anyone else who tried to fight this were disappeared, so to speak -- that is, their jobs disappeared. The institutional memory was lobotomized.

Imagine trying to rebuild all of this in a day.

Hekate

[Divine Discontent]

27. I got hammered for OP post for being horrified by the announcement of melamine in baby formula

when I asked everyone to realize how horrible this news is, and as you point out the govt is changing its tune. One longtime DUer without reading the post just saw the title and told me "For Christ Sake! UGH! GO AWAY!"

This shit has got to stop (and I aint just referencing the intolerant thread policing) because they are selling us down a river that leads to infant disease, suffering, and death! This isn't a game, and dammit we have to throw a fit to make things change!

I'm so thankful Obama is our next president, because McCain wouldn't have done jack shit.

I voiced my concern, as did several others at www.change.gov

THANKS FOR YOUR POST!!!

[undergroundpanther]

32. it's like they want

us to slowly die,and never connect the dots that the corporations poisoned us and our world for profit's sake.
For the "economic dream" of a few over wealthy pigs.

[Grinchie]

40. You are not far from the truth

There are groups of people that actually realize what a mere 7% growth of population a year means.

It means a doubling of the population exponentially every 10 years.

See this video for a clear explanation of the motivation of these people to make sure we croak http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY

[Jakes Progress]

46. I remember that Reagan

used to eat only grass fed beef and sent it to his family members. This at the same time that he was lowering inspection standards for us "common" folk. He wouldn't eat it, but it was okay for the rest of the country.

[Divine Discontent]

51. "over wealthy pigs" - sums them up nicely...

if this nation fully collapses the masses will make sure they aren't "over" anything but the justice they deserve for their greed.

Best to you and yours, and all of us suffering financially, emotionally, and/or physically.

[Jakes Progress]

29. The Corporation Killed America.

Just as we had paid trolls during the primary and election, I think we could have corporate sponsored trolls too.

I've not been too happy with the majority we elected for Congress two years ago. If the Democrats are the people's party, they need to start voting and legislating in ways that prove it.

[undergroundpanther]

31. Cows are getting Urea poisoning

And I tried to get attention drawn to Cyuranic acid melamine issue awhile ago during the pet food scare...


People knew in 2002 about this issue!!
http://microvet.arizona.edu/AzVDL/infoAlerts/UreaPoisoning.html
http://animohosting.com/main/melamine/
Melamine use as non-protein nitrogen (NPN) to feed cattle was issued in a U.S. patent in 1958. The patent lasted 20 years and was later banned due to inefficiency as a NPN source for ruminant.
http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/china/melamine-china-milk-powder-5370.html
http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/ureanitr.htm

[McCamy Taylor]

43. Thanks.

Remember folks, this problem is additive. If every food manufacturer says to himself I'll add a little profit on the top by slipping in a bit of that NPN (melamine of cyanuric acid) and no one will know the difference and you get some in six different food sources, all six will meet together in your body to do their thing---which the FDA refuses to study (please see my post from last time about how ammeline, another product found in the cyanuric acid/melamine industrial sludge mix has been shown to cause irreversible retinal damage and blindness in animals---there are no published studies to check the eyes of the people exposed to this stuff, even in China where we know that babies probably got hefty doses Cover up? You bet. If their eyes are fine, why isn't China publishing it? )

[leftchick]

44. Thank You MT!

I LOVE your posts.

:)

[roody]

47. Thankful to be a vegetarian.

[lovuian]

50. The Melamine disaster is not being talked about on the News

Media but it is a poisoning
FDA said it was intentional

its in our food chain big time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6D8NsXLDpo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM6j_htQCIQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCg67E05LlU

[McCamy Taylor]

55. Here it is. FDA declares whatever formula makers feed your baby is SAFE!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081128/ap_on_bi_ge/infant_formula

And next week, if they find higher amounts of melamine and/or cyanuric acid in the formula when AP or some other news agency uses the Freedom of Information Act to force the FDA to release information which they intended to suppress, the FDA will declare that new level of the chemicals (maybe even a combination of the chemicals) A-OK.

Because the Bush FDA's job is to certify anything which an American food producer wants to sell to the public as safe (for the suckers).

[McCamy Taylor]

56. And the MSM responds. Nice write up at the WaPo. FDA fails to keep this under wraps.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/26/AR2008112600386.html?nav=most_emailed

Leon said that the amounts discovered are safe and that parents should continue to feed formula to their children. "We know that trace levels do not pose a risk whatsoever," she said.

That contradicts the agency's recent statements about melamine, including a position paper that was on its Web site yesterday that asserted there are no safe levels of melamine for infants. "FDA is currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns," the document said.

Agency scientists have maintained they could not set a safe level of melamine exposure for babies because they do not understand the effects of long-term exposure on a baby's developing kidneys. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that infant formula is a baby's sole source of food for many months. Premature infants absorb an especially large dose of the chemical, compared with full-term babies.

"Just one month ago, the FDA had been very clear about how they could not set a safe level of melamine in formula for babies," said Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst at the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization. "Now they're saying trace levels are no problem. What changed?"

[fascisthunter]

57. These Stories Always Make Me Think of Pink Floyd's 'Animals' Album

poisoning people for a profit... money