The Alkaline Body and pH Balance

Posts Tagged ‘Environmental Protection Agency’

Some veggie burgers found to contain harmful substance, hexane, used to process soy.

Hexane in veggie burgers

BY Tracy Miller
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, April 14th 2010, 10:25 AM
Yasukawa for NewsMany brands of frozen soy
veggie burgers that are not 100 percent organic
may have been produced using a harmful
substance, according to a report.
Think you’re being healthy by choosing a veggie
burger instead of red meat? Think again.
In an effort to make their products as low-fat as
possible, many veggie burger manufacturers are
turning to a potentially harmful chemical, according
to an investigation by the non-profit Cornucopia
Institute.
Most non-organic veggie burgers contain hexane, a
neurotoxin that’s also a petroleum by-product of
gasoline refining. Hexane is listed as a hazardous
air pollutant with the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), according to the report, which called
hexane the “dirty little secret of the ‘natural’ soy
foods industry.”
To keep down the fat content of energy bars, veggie
burgers and other products, food manufacturers
submerge soybeans in a bath of hexane to separate
them into soy oil, protein and fiber.
Products labeled “organic” aren’t allowed to contain
any hexane – but foods that are less than 100%
organic, such as those labeled “made with organic
ingredients,” may contain the chemical.
Veggie burgers that are likely to contain hexaneextracted
soy ingredients, according to the
research, include popular brands such as Amy’s
Kitchen, Boca Burger (conventional), Garden Burger
and Morningstar Farms, along with others.
Boca Burger and Morningstar burgers labeled “made
with organic soy” are not produced using hexane.
The full list of veggie burger and nutrition bar
brands researched can be found on page 37-38 of
the report. Click here to read.

Learn about Asherah’s gourmet soy and gluten free 100% Organic Vegan Burgers made with Quinoa and vegetables.

Children’s bath products are often marketed as safe and gentle. However, laboratory tests commissioned
by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found these products are commonly contaminated with formaldehyde or 1,4-dioxane – and, in many cases, both. These two chemicals, linked to cancer and skin allergies, are anything but safe and gentle and are completely unregulated in children’s bath products.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the safety of personal care products in the U.S., but
lacks basic authority needed to ensure that products are actually safe. The FDA cannot require companies
to test products for safety before they are sold, does not systematically review the safety of ingredients and
does not set limits for common, harmful contaminants in products. The FDA also does not require
contaminants to be listed on product ingredient labels.1 As a result, consumers have no way of knowing
if their products contain toxic contaminants.This report is the first to document the widespread
contamination of children’s products with formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 1,4-dioxane is a probable carcinogen.2 The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission states that “the presence of 1,4-dioxane, even as a trace contaminant, is cause for concern.”3 1,4-dioxane is a byproduct of a chemical processing technique called ethoxylation in which cosmetic ingredients are processed with ethylene oxide. Manufacturers can easily remove the toxic byproduct,

Formaldehyde is a probable carcinogen, according to the EPA,4 though the risk of cancer from absorption
through the skin is not fully understood.5 The chemical can also trigger adverse skin reactions in children and adults who are sensitive to the chemical.6-9 Contact dermatitis specialists recommend that children avoid exposure to products containing formaldehyde.10 Formaldehyde contaminates personal care products when common preservatives, such as Quaternium-15, release formaldehyde over time in the container.
None of the products tested list formaldehyde or 1,4-dioxane on the ingredient label. They are not
ingredients in the products, but are toxic byproducts of chemical manufacturing and product formulation.
To better understand the extent of the problem, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and its partner
Environmental Working Group sent samples of popular children’s bath products to Analytical
Sciences, an independent laboratory in Petaluma, Calif., to be tested. The products chosen for testing contained ingredients commonly associated with 1,4-dioxane or formaldehyde contamination.11

Click here for a complete list of products tested and their results.

According to new American research, boys between the ages of five and 10 exposed to fluoride in tap water suffer an increased rate of osteosarcoma – bone cancer.

“The difference between the levels of fluoride causing toxic effects and the levels added to water to prevent tooth decay is vanishingly small and deeply troubling,” said Dr. J. William Hirzy, vice president of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Headquarters Union in Washington D.C.

“In my opinion, the evidence that fluoridation is more harmful than beneficial is now overwhelming and policymakers who avoid thoroughly reviewing recent data before introducing new fluoridation schemes do so at risk of future litigation,” said Dr. Hardy Limeback, NRC Panel member and Head of Preventive Dentistry at the University of Toronto. He further stated in a later interview “it is illogical to assume that tooth enamel is the only tissue affected by low daily doses of fluoride ingestion.”

According to the Environmental Working Group, in July 2005, “Over the past 10 years a large body of peer-reviewed science has raised concerns that fluoride may present unreasonable health risks, particularly among children, at levels routinely added to tap water in American cities.”

Got Greens? More Greens/More Energy/More Life – Check out our ALkalizing 100% Organic Greens

The Fluoride Deception.(Bookshelf)(Book Review): An article from: OnEarth

Fluoride: Drinking Ourselves to Death