Pesticides - Our Children Put at RISK!!

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Kids' health researchers talk turkey

Thu, 2011-11-24 14:03

Kristin Schafer

At an all-day seminar last week, I listened to university researchers discuss this startling question: Are we poisoning our children?

Quite a provocative topic — some might even say alarmist. Yet scientist after scientist got up to the podium and presented hard data linking pesticides and other chemicals to learning disabilities, asthma, early puberty, childhood cancer and more.

No one answered the day's question directly, but the evidence pointed unmistakably to a resounding, very sobering "yes."

How much evidence is enough?

At the end of the day, I walked away with three strong emotions. First, deep appreciation for the researchers who do this important work. Studies tracking chemical exposures and health outcomes from conception through puberty are complex, expensive — and oh, so important. Their careful science is bringing to light linkages that have not been understood before.

Second, I felt just as deeply impatient, with a touch of anger mixed in. How can it be that our policies still allow pregnant women and children to eat, drink and breathe chemicals we know are especially harmful to young minds and bodies? Much of the science presented last week was completed years ago, and new studies confirm what we already know. Just how much evidence do we need before we, as a society, make the changes that will protect our children?

And third, I felt a renewed and nearly bottomless gratitude for our family's health.

How can our policies allow children to eat, drink & breathe chemicals we know harm young minds and bodies?

I have two children making their way through junior high and high school now, so the research on hormones and cognitive function hits very close to home. I can only imagine the challenges that children — and their families — face as they navigate cancer treatments, learning disabilities, early puberty or the hurdles posed by autism.

This puts our struggles with pre-teen attitude in proper perspective, and left me wanting to hug both our kids very close.

Strong science, clear findings

The provocative seminar was co-sponsored by three UC Berkeley programs: the School of Public Health, the Maternal & Child Health Program, and the Center for Environmental Research & Children's Health. Some highlights from the day's presentations:

• Children whose mothers were exposed to organophosphate pesticides during pregnancy were more likely to be born early, have abnormal reflexes as infants, and have lower IQ scores at 3 and 7 years of age.

These findings were from the long term CHAMACOS study, which is following 600 mothers in Salinas, CA from pregnancy through their children's puberty. They track exposure to pesticides and other chemicals by taking blood and urine samples several times each year, then monitor the children's health and development in various ways as they grow.

They've been tracking the families for 12 years now. Next up, they'll be reporting their findings on early puberty, particularly important for girls as it seems to increase the chances that they'll be facing breast cancer later in life.

A few more findings of interest:

• When either mothers and fathers are exposed to certain chemicals before conception, it may increase the risk of childhood cancer.
• When more pesticides are used in the home during pregnancy the risk of childhood leukemia is higher.
• The wildly complex study of epigenetics has found that people's bodies vary tremendously in how they respond to toxins — up to 65-fold variability — based on their genes.

This last finding was a particular eye-opener. Basically it means, among other things, that current pesticide rules are wholely inadequate to protect those of us born with genes that put us on the more sensitive end of the spectrum. Policymakers in DC and state capitols across the country definitely need to wrap their minds around this bit of science.

Thankful – and motivated

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday of the year. This is partly because it involves good food, and the time to both create and enjoy it that is all too often lacking in our busy lives. But it's also because it offers a moment to step back from that busyness, take a deep breath, and truly appreciate all we have.

As a mom, our family's health is at the very top of that list, and the news from last week's seminar helps ensure that I won't take it for granted. It also renews and grounds my motivation to fight for change. Because no child deserves to have their healthy, joyful childhood stolen by harmful chemicals.

Vaccine's Safety: A Crime Against Humanity

This indeed is a MUST SEE for all parents.

As an Educational Consultant/Therapist I too, have seen the increasing numbers of children with severe learning and behavior problems, neurological insults, poor immune system functioning, and an astounding increase on the autism spectrum. The considerations put forth here by Dr. Sherri J Tenpenny, warrant our devoted attention. Our children deserve no less.

Pesticides In Foods Affect Male Fertility

Pesticides in Food Effect Male Fertility

by Hethir Rodriguez, B.S., M.H., C.M.T.

Toxins, pesticides, and pollutants in our environment are having an effect on fertility. In this post I am going to focus on men’s fertility and the effect these chemicals are having on their fertility.

Facts about Male Fertility

* Sperm counts have been cut in half in the last fifty years – and 85% of that is abnormal.

* In the last few decades there has been a 200% increase in male genital birth defects.

* Male birth rates have declined. Since 1970 there have been nearly 3 million fewer baby boys.

* The quality of sperm is declining. Eighty-five per cent of the sperm produced by a healthy male is DNA-damaged.

* Boys have a higher incidence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, Tourett’s syndrome, cerebral palsy and dyslexia.

There are recent studies that are now pointing the finger at pesticides and chemicals in our water as the cause to men’s declining fertility. So now that we know the problem what can we do about it?

1. Reduce exposure to these estrogen mimicking toxins.

Stop using pesticides of all sorts, bug sprays, lawn sprays. – Instead use organic treatments for your lawn and garden, and natural bug sprays made with essential oils.

Avoid exposure to solvents, plastics, cosmetics, and soaps made with petrochemical based emulsifiers – a.k.a. mineral oil. Switch to a skin care line that is safe and pure.

Do not use mineral oil products on your body. Mineral oil is made from crude oil (the same stuff we make motor oil, gasoline, and plastics out of) and is like putting plastic on your skin.

Do not microwave your food in plastic. This will release the xenohormones into your food.

Stop wearing polyester clothing (it is made out of plastic).

2. Eat organic produce, meats, and dairy.

3. Aid the liver in cleansing toxins and excess hormones.
Herbs such as milk thistle, burdock, red clover, dandelion, and yellow dock help the liver to do its job of clearing the body of these excess estrogens and toxins that accumulate in the body.

4. Rebuild and promote sperm health with herbs and supplements.

Men’s Multivitamin – Make sure to take a 100% whole food men’s multivitamin to make sure important vitamins and minerals (vitamin C, folic acid, zinc, and b12) are in his diet everyday.

Maca – Men who use Maca have been shown to have an increase in libido and healthy sperm.

Tribulus – Tribulus helps to increase testosterone in the body. It has been proven tribulus terrestris can increase the amount of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) produced by the body’s pituitary gland. LH stimulates the testes to secret the male hormone testosterone.

l-carnitine - It is a necessary nutrient for sperm cells to function normally. In studies supplementing with L-carnitine helps to normalize sperm motility in men with low sperm quality.

CoQ10 – Acts as an antioxidant protecting the sperm cells from damage. Studies have shown a connection between coQ 10 levels and sperm health. COQ10 has also been shown to increase sperm motility.

Resources:

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2008/disappearingmale/infertility.html

Millions Against Monsanto

New York City Rally- NO to GMO!!

There he is, my son... at the New York City Rally
NO to GMO!!

My son Patrick and his beloved Karen are part of the NYC Rally this very moment. He knows the importance of Organic... it is his way of life and at the heart of all his product offerings!! CHEERS!!!

To live the pleasures of good health, to nourish creative ideas, to develop a safe and highly serviceable line of products, to be ethical, to be supportive of sustainable organic farming, to take the position that food/seed are to be respected for their inherent natural intelligence, to hold that no corporation, no self serving enterprise is to have the freedom to control, contaminate, manipulate, food/seed and deny free access to farmers and consumers... this my son's position, No to GMO!

Yes, responsible action, means to walk the walk
and talk the talk.

•Be Informed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI3vjWWk3WY

•Take Action
Organic Consumers Association:
Millions Against Monsanto Campaign
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/index.cfm

New Study Finds Link Between Pesticides and Stunted Growth

New Study Finds Link Between Pesticides and Stunted Growth

A growing body of research suggests that exposure to toxic and persistent pesticides is linked to a range of health problems, including developmental disorders, ADHD, lower IQs, and even cancer. A new study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, found that pesticides may also negatively impact human growth. The study, which took blood samples from 50 elementary-school-aged boys, found that those who had the highest concentrations of pesticides in their blood were more likely to grow less than those with lower concentrations. Read the study, and learn why it’s worth it to choose organic to reduce your exposure to toxic pesticides.


Pesticide Exposure: A Lifetime Burden

For most, if not all, of us, exposure to pesticides begins before we are even born. This exposure is compounded as we grow up and are exposed to more pesticides through the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. Learn how pesticide exposure affects human health at different stages in life, why it is particularly important to minimize young children’s contact with these substances, and how choosing food grown without pesticides can help.

Information source:

Environmental Health Perspectives (Online 7 Oct. 2011).

More Info:

http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action;jsessionid=270265B2A995AB3132A9F7545AD13A72?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.1103743

"Resisting the Corporate Threat of Seeds"

...This indeed calls for our awareness, our attention, our action... food/seed is not to become the commodity of Monsanto or corporate control... Food/Seed is Creations gift to all life and is to remain as Nature intended. This an important read...

Resisting The Corporate Theft Of Seeds

By Vandana Shiva

19 September, 2011
The Nation

We are in a food emergency. Speculation and diversion of food to biofuel has contributed to an uncontrolled price rise, adding more to the billion already denied their right to food. Industrial agriculture is pushing species to extinction through the use of toxic chemicals that kill our bees and butterflies, our earthworms and soil organisms that create soil fertility. Plant and animal varieties are disappearing as monocultures displace biodiversity. Industrial, globalized agriculture is responsible for 40 percent of greenhouse gases, which then destabilize agriculture by causing climate chaos, creating new threats to food security.

But the biggest threat we face is the control of seed and food moving out of the hands of farmers and communities and into a few corporate hands. Monopoly control of cottonseed and the introduction of genetically engineered Bt cotton has already given rise to an epidemic of farmers’ suicides in India. A quarter-million farmers have taken their lives because of debt induced by the high costs of nonrenewable seed, which spins billions of dollars of royalty for firms like Monsanto.

I started Navdanya in 1987 to address the challenge of GM seeds, seed patents and seed monopolies.

We have been successful in reclaiming seed sovereignty and creating sixty community seed banks to reclaim seed as a commons. We have proven that biodiverse ecological agriculture produces more food and nutrition per acre than monocultures, while reducing costs to the planet and to farmers.

But our efforts are like a little lamp in a very dark room. We keep the lamp of possibilities and alternatives burning. The food emergency, however, calls for a much wider response.

The food movement must become more integrated, from seed to table, from village to city, from South to North. We need to be stronger in challenging the corporate control of our food system and the role of governments in increasing, rather than stopping, the corporate abuse of our seeds and soils, our bodies and our health. Michelle Obama has an organic garden at the White House, but the Obama administration is embracing GMOs in the United States and around the world. The US-India agriculture agreement—signed by President Bush and Prime Minister Singh in 2005, at the same time as the signing of the US-India nuclear deal—has on its board representatives from Monsanto, ADM and Walmart. The hijacking of our food systems is the hijacking of our democracy.

That is why we have to make food democracy the core of the defense of our freedom and survival. We will either have food dictatorship for a while and then a collapse of our food systems and our societies, or we will succeed in building robust food democracies, resting on resilient ecosystems and resilient communities. There is still a chance for the second alternative.

Dr. Vandana Shiva is a philosopher, environmental activist and eco feminist. She is the founder/director of Navdanya Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology. She is author of numerous books including, Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis; Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply; Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace; and Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development. Shiva has also served as an adviser to governments in India and abroad as well as NGOs, including the International Forum on Globalization, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization and the Third World Network. She has received numerous awards, including 1993 Right Livelihood Award (Alternative Nobel Prize) and the 2010 Sydney Peace Prize.

© 2011 The Nation

It is with deep gratitude that I share this post... our children deserve our awareness and action... with right intention the voices of heartfelt care and reason shall prevail...

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Claims and now evidence to the contrary: "GMOs and Pesticides—What Concerns Scientists"

From: info@organicconnectmag.com
Subject: Organic Connections Update - September 12, 2011
by Bruce Boyers,

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) began being released in the early 1990s, with big promises. The idea put forward was that certain traits, including increased nutrition, resistance to drought and faster growth, could be bred into crops such as corn and soybeans so that improved produce could be grown in much higher yields.

Genetically engineered crops have been with us now for some 20 years, and it is becoming apparent that the reality of GMOs has fallen far short of business model expectations. A report issued in 2009 by the Union of Concerned Scientists entitled Failure to Yield: Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops found that GM technology has not increased yields at all through its entire history, despite the millions that have been spent on GM development, much of it from government funding.

The public is becoming increasingly concerned about GMOs, as scientific evidence is arguing against the safety of public consumption and the widespread growing of GMO crops. Of greatest concern, however, is new research regarding pesticides developed strictly for GMOs, which may prove to be the tipping point for the entire technology.

Pesticide Resistance

One trait that has been successfully bred into GMO crops is resistance to pesticides. When a trait is bred into a crop making it resistant to one particular herbicide, that herbicide can be used with impunity against weeds while not affecting the primary crop. This of course only works when farmers who plant these crops use that specific herbicide.

The vast majority of commodity crops—including corn, soybeans, canola, cotton and now alfalfa—have been bred to resist one best-selling herbicide called glyphosate. Glyphosate is what is known as a broad-spectrum herbicide, meaning it is designed to kill a wide variety of weeds. Glyphosate is the primary active ingredient in the extensively used Roundup herbicide, and up until the year 2000 Roundup’s manufacturer—Monsanto—had proprietary rights to the compound. Since that time, Monsanto has continued to use it, but now generic glyphosate has appeared from a number of other manufacturers, and even from China.

Because of the quantity of GMO crops designed to resist glyphosate, an unnerving amount of this chemical is being employed. “The EPA recently came out with an estimate of glyphosate use,” Bill Freese, Science Policy Analyst with the Center for Food Safety, told Organic Connections. “It is for the year 2007, so it’s actually probably even higher now; but they’re estimating that in agriculture in the US, 180 to 185 million pounds of glyphosate are used yearly. It’s a huge quantity, and it’s coming close to half of all herbicides in use. If you include other applications like home and garden, commercial and industrial government use, it’s up right around 200 million pounds. It’s probably the most widely used pesticide in history.”

As one might imagine, such a sheer volume of poison being applied to millions of acres of farmland might begin to manifest negative effects—and credible scientists are telling us this is the case.

Effects on Plant, Soil, Animal and Human Biology

Glyphosate does not function as a normal pesticide might, directly killing the plant with which it comes in contact. Its action is actually far subtler: it acts as a chelating agent, whereby it binds itself to molecules, such as minerals, and holds them tightly, making them unavailable to the plant or weed.

In fact, glyphosate was originally patented as a chelating agent and quite accidentally became an herbicide. “Glyphosate belongs to the chemical family of phosphonates, which is a family of chelating agents,” Dr. Arden Andersen, soil scientist, agricultural consultant and physician, explained to Organic Connections. “Glyphosate was originally patented by Stauffer Chemicals in the early 1960s as a descaling agent [used to remove mineral residues inside dishwashers, vents and the like]. It was only by serendipity that it got spilled, or something, and it killed the weeds it contacted. It was subsequently purchased by Monsanto, and the rest is history. The key needed understanding to have is that glyphosate is a broad-spectrum chelating agent and was originally designed and patented as such. Its effect and use as an herbicide have been afterthoughts.”

This chelating action actually leads to harm for plants, as it removes important trace minerals, a fact observed by Dr. Robert Kremer, microbiologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, who conducted a 15-year study on glyphosate’s effects on plants and root microbiology. Dr. Kremer is also an adjunct professor in the Division of Plant Sciences at the University of Missouri, where he teaches environmental soil microbiology and advanced weed science. “Glyphosate is a chelator, which will bind with elements such as manganese and calcium, and those sorts of nutrients, and immobilize them,” Dr. Kremer told Organic Connections. “In other words, it will make them unavailable for plant uptake.

“As we have studied the microorganisms in root systems over time, we have seen a shift toward more colonization of the roots with some particular fungi that could, under certain circumstances, be a detriment to crop growth,” Dr. Kremer continued. “We also did a small side study in which we demonstrated that the glyphosate molecule is being transported to the roots and released into the soil around the roots. There is a possibility that this chemical being released through the root system interacts with certain microorganisms and maybe selects these at the expense of other microorganisms there that might be beneficial to the plant.”

Dr. Don Huber, professor emeritus at Purdue University, is a highly respected 55-year veteran microbiologist and plant pathologist. He too has been carefully researching this issue and has paid special attention to glyphosate’s effects on the trace mineral manganese. “Manganese is an essential micronutrient for photosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism, as well as for plant defense mechanisms to a series of soil-borne pathogens,” Dr. Huber briefed Organic Connections. “It’s also important in defending against stress such as drought and even excess water. In researching the impact of glyphosate on manganese availability, it became very apparent that the chelating activity of glyphosate had a direct effect on manganese availability for uptake, in addition to being very toxic to the organisms that are responsible for making manganese available to the plant and the soil we started with. There are several mechanisms involved with glyphosate that we generally don’t see with most of the other herbicides, and the research led us to recognize why we’re noticing a general increase in a lot of plant diseases that we used to manage fairly well.”

Unnamed Organism

But glyphosate’s fostering of pathogen growth may not only be harmful to plants. In fact, there is recent research suggesting strong evidence that this characteristic could affect animals fed GMO corn and soybean feed—and might potentially affect humans as well.

“Veterinarians have been reporting a new, as-yet-unnamed organism that is related to reproductive failure,” Dr. Huber said. “They have identified genetically modified plants as the source—especially soybeans and corn. They’ve established this new organism as the cause of that reproductive failure—infertility, miscarriage and spontaneous abortions. The plant has been tied, as the source, to those situations where you see conditions favorable for this organism to proliferate. We don’t have the research to document a direct effect of glyphosate in increasing that pathogen, but the evidence is that it changes the environment to make the plant more conducive for that organism to proliferate, and to thus be available and in the grain and feed that the animals receive.”

Click any image above to see a larger version.

What are the chances that this pathogen could transmit to humans? “It has been found in animal tissues and in products that would be consumed by humans,” Dr. Huber remarked. “This organism infects a broad scope of animals already—horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and poultry. To believe that it wouldn’t infect humans would be kind of naive at this point, I think. There’s a lot of research that needs to be done, but it would certainly not be out of the ordinary to recognize that there’s also a potential safety aspect as far as humans are involved.”

Several months ago, prior to the USDA approving GMO alfalfa for planting, Dr. Huber wrote a private letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack urging him to study these findings before the approval of yet another glyphosate-resistant crop. “I wrote the letter to bring to Secretary Vilsack’s attention the concerns a number of us have, and to solicit his assistance and resources in getting the information that we really need to thoroughly understand the epidemiology* of this organism. It was written with the hope that it would be forwarded—which it was—to those groups within the USDA who would be responsible for responding to that information, and with the possibility that there might be some resources allocated for really looking at all of the features of glyphosate, GMO organisms and this new organism as they impacted our overall crop and animal production system.”

Despite his letter and submission of follow-up peer-reviewed scientific data, Dr. Huber has, as yet, been unsuccessful in efforts urging the USDA to conduct broad and definitive studies on this pathogen, its causes and its potential harmful effects. “Dr. Huber has raised some really serious concerns about potential impacts of glyphosate on plant and animal health,” Bill Freese, Science Policy Analyst with the Center for Food Safety, stated. “The USDA should seriously research this issue as more data is accumulated.”

Increasing Weed Resistance

As with any pesticide, increased use of the agent causes resistance in the pests to which it is being applied. “The glyphosate-resistant weed issue is reaching a really serious stage,” said Freese. “One Iowa weed scientist was telling me that people are expecting these weeds to explode in Iowa in the next year or two. They’re creeping from the East and the South into the Midwest and people are starting to see them somewhat in the North. Studies out there are already showing that weeds are going to evolve resistance to this and other herbicides too. So probably we’ll have weed populations resistant to multiple herbicides—kind of like an arms race between the crops and the weeds. They engineer a new resistance into a crop, and then you use tons of that herbicide and the weeds develop resistance to the herbicide. It’s totally unsustainable agriculture, bad for the environment and human health, and it’s where this Roundup Ready model is leading.”

The Battle Continues

As Dr. Huber points out, issues such as the newly discovered pathogen fostered by glyphosate can have far-reaching effects. “This organism could have a tremendously negative impact on our exports,” Dr. Huber said. “The organism has been detected in our exported soybean products, and reproductive failure of increasing severity is also being reported in other countries.”

Because of the lack of long-term studies and conclusive science showing these biotech creations to be safe for human consumption, alarmed consumers are increasingly speaking out against GMOs and expressing their desire to not have GMO foods available in the marketplace, especially unlabeled. Natural products retailers are taking note—and some, such as Mile High Organics of Colorado, have gone all out to ensure that the products they sell are 100 percent GMO free.

“I don’t believe that consumers should be deceived,” Michael Joseph, founder and CEO of Mile High Organics, told Organic Connections. “I don’t consider that the US government is doing a good job of protecting its citizenry, and some retailers are starting to step up and have done very well at educating their consumers. We really have found a strong and loyal consumer base that believes exactly the same thing, and people have thanked us. I’ve had people tell me that they think I’m essentially doing work that should be done by the government.”

Equally vocal are food activists and natural food advocates such as best-selling writer and educator Anna Lappé, author of Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do about It. “Our regulators have allowed genetically modified foods to enter into our food system without taking seriously the concerns, not only about public and animal health, but also about the impact of GMOs on biodiversity, on pest and weed resistance, and other negative externalities—as economists would say—that should have been red flags about this technology from the beginning,” Lappé told Organic Connections.

“The real underlying issue is that we don’t even need this technology,” Dr. Arden Andersen concluded. “We already have the wherewithal, the science, the technology and the products to solve every problem that has been proposed to need genetic engineering technology. So when you think about it, if we already have the technology to solve all of those problems, why are certain people wanting to pursue genetic engineering? It is certainly not from a need perspective; it’s not from a science perspective—it’s strictly for want of monopolization and greed. That’s it.”

*epidemiology: the study of the incidence, transmission and containment of epidemic disease.

An added word ... Our children are not to be part of a GMO study.

Labeling allows informed choices.

Manipulation of seed/food for profit at the risk of health and well being is NOT to be allowed ~ our children deserve our awareness and our action to bring integrity back to all food sources.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Are Pesticides Harming Children’s IQ and Behavior?

By Alice Shabecoff

Alice Shabecoff is the co-author with her husband Philip of Poisoned for Profit: How Toxins Are Making our Children Chronically Ill, Chelsea Green paperback (Random House hardback).

Pesticides can harm your child as much as they hurt insects, leading environmental scientists have discovered. Children exposed either in the womb or during childhood may end up with lowered IQ scores, or ADHD, or other behavioral and emotional problems.

This milestone finding was just reported in separate studies, published simultaneously, from three leading institutes of environmental health science, from New York to California. The institutes all focused on prenatal exposure to one immensely popular kind of pesticides, called organophosphates. Altogether, they have been following and testing about 1,000 pregnant women and their children over more than a decade. In New York City, the families tracked by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and Mount Sinai School of Medicine were urban, but, it turned out, they used more of this pesticide inside their apartments to control cockroaches and other pests than all of New York State’s agricultural counties. The School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, focused on farmworker children in the fertile Salinas Valley, our country’s top vegetable-producing region.

Their research found that the higher the mother’s exposure to pesticides, the lower the child’s IQ score once the child reached school age. In the Berkeley study, for example, children with the highest levels of prenatal pesticide exposure tested 7 points lower than children exposed to the least. There was no threshold or base limit of exposure that did not produce an effect. Even by age three, the children showed neurodevelopmental problems. Prenatal exposure was measured by testing the mother’s blood and urine, or by testing the newborn’s umbilical cord blood.

These reports further substantiate a report from Harvard University last year, indicating that organophosphate exposure, at levels common among US children, may contribute to ADHD prevalence.

Once upon a time, it was thought that the placenta served as a barrier protecting the fetus from all harm. Now we know that many toxins cross the placenta in strength; and recent science has also discovered that the embryo and fetus, whose bodily defense mechanisms are undeveloped, are particularly vulnerable.

Yet regulation of pesticides has been based on outdated 1990s’ tests that looked only at how these chemicals affect the body and mind of adults. Additionally, it has been discovered that some people (mother and/or baby) have a genetic variation that leaves them with a lower level of certain protective enzymes. However, regulation remains a “one-size-fits-all” business.

Organophosphate pesticides are chemically similar offspring of the chemical warfare agents Germany developed in its pursuit of nerve gas during World War II. They are chemically similar to the chemicals that Saddam Hussein used to kill thousands of Kurds.

This chemical class works by attacking a neurotransmitter in the insect nervous system, getting the system so overexcited that the insects die. But this same neurotransmitter is found throughout the animal kingdom, including in humans, where a chemical assault can impair the development of the brain’s prefrontal cortex. The effect on the prenatal or newborn human brain can be permanent structural damage.

Thanks to the earlier discovery by the three environmental health centers of this danger, the EPA convinced Dow, the manufacturer of the most popular organophosphate, Dursban, to withdraw it from household use in 2001. But Dow (though sued many hundreds of times by families of affected children) maintains that the chemical family poses no threat, and it remains the most favored of all commercially used insecticides. US agribusiness, according to latest figures, from 2007, uses 33 million pounds a year of organophosphates, one-third of all the insecticides applied in this country. That explains why traces of organophosphates were found in the urine of 82 percent of Americans sampled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) a few years ago.

Defending this product against the damaging findings of these three current studies, the agribusiness trade organization CropLife America just put out this statement: “Organophosphate insecticides, along with all crop protection products, are an important part of American agriculture and are vital tools for today’s modern farmers. The safety of consumers and growers alike is protected every step of the way, from initial product development to final use.” Indeed, conventional agribusiness depends on the vast use of pesticides along with other harmful tools such as the vast use of antibiotics.

Although the greatest damage from exposure to these toxins takes place while the baby is still in the womb, that doesn’t mean exposure after birth is safe. To the contrary, pesticides have been shown to be harmful throughout childhood (and even later in life, including among farmworkers). Exposed children may have difficulties performing tasks that involve short-term memory, and may show impaired mental development or pervasive mental, social and emotional problems that last throughout their lives.

Article Source: info@organicconnectmag.com

One of the saddest stories of childhood contamination tells of the Ebling family, who, with their small son named A.J. and daughter Christina, moved into a new apartment complex in Indiana that had been sprayed repeatedly with Dursban mixed with another pesticide. Both were healthy, normal children when the family moved in; soon they were convulsed by seizures, and today the now-teenage daughter drools, slaps and bites, and has the capacity of a three-year-old, while the boy has an IQ of 44. They are one of the families suing Dow.

The story of organophosphates is really the story of all pesticides. The equivalent of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Ontario, Canada, concludes that there are no pesticides less dangerous than others; they just have different effects on health that take different periods to show up.

Parents can reduce their child’s exposure to pesticides, though it certainly involves efforts on many fronts. In homes with pest problems, sealing up any openings in baseboards and getting rid of food residue does the job and is more effective and less costly than pesticides in controlling cockroaches. Lawns, frequently doused with pesticides and other powerful toxins, can be green with natural care.

Sadly, schools are often the scene of surprisingly heavy doses of pesticides, routinely sprayed in school kitchens, cafeterias, athletic fields, playgrounds and classrooms, many times without notifying parents in advance. But a strong parent movement is incrementally bringing about change.

Above all, what you and your child eat is critical. Nutritious food actually builds a body’s defenses against harm; it can actually turn on genes that prevent diseases. Nutritious is not, however, the norm to many American families. Most conventional diets of fruits, vegetables and juices, and most wheat- or corn-based foods such as pasta, cereal or chips have been found to be both stripped of their nutrients, and, on top of that, routinely doused with organophosphates, weedkillers and other chemicals.

Healthful eating should begin when a couple is trying to conceive or, even better, at least a year before that. Dr. Alex Lu of Harvard University’s School of Public Health explains that preliminary data from animal studies show that the mother’s toxic exposure may cause genetic changes which may lie hidden until they express themselves in her child. So he concludes that the diet of women of childbearing age is of prime importance.

Nutritious, chemical-free food remains critical through pregnancy and breast-feeding, and as the child grows up. If, however, a family has come late in seeing the value of chemical-free food, late is better than never.

A study from Dr. Lu in collaboration with researchers at the University of Washington found that an organic diet, when it is launched, can clear pesticides from a child’s body. Of course early exposure may have triggered some harm; but damage is cumulative, so halting the exposure as soon as possible minimizes the toxic burden and offers “dramatic and immediate protective effects,” the researchers conclude.

Resources

The three just-released studies were all published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives and are available online, http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/.

The report from Harvard researchers was published in 2010 in the journal Pediatrics, under the title “Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Urinary Metabolites of Organophosphate Pesticides,” Maryse F. Bouchard, David C. Bellinger, Robert O. Wright, and Marc G. Weisskopf, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org.

Resources for further information and help:

Beyond Pesticides, Inc., www.beyondpesticides.org, offers these practical information resources:
—a database of harmful effects of the 48 pesticides most commonly used in schools, www.beyondpesticides.org/schools/publications/48 School Pesticides.pdf;
—a database of harmful health effects of the 30 commonly used lawn pesticides, www.beyondpesticides.org/lawn/factsheets/30health.pdf;
—a chemical-by-chemical database on pesticide hazards,

Related Posts:

• Risk to kids from toxic pesticides may be underestimated, study finds
• Big Ag doesn’t want you to care about pesticides
• Researchers Estimate Environmentally-Induced Childhood Disease Cost at $76.6 Billion
• Doctors ask EPA to help fight pesticide exposure in farmworkers
• 14 Foods To Buy Organic

Farmers Fight Back Against Monsanto – Update

Farmers Fight Back Against Monsanto – Update

Submitted by Lois Rain on August 17, 2011

In March, HFA reported about the large group of family farmers, seed companies, and agricultural organizations and The Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) filing suit against Monsanto. They were preemptively defending themselves against being sued for patent infringement.

Monsanto filed a motion in July to have the case dismissed, but the plaintiffs, the Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, fought to keep the case open. They filed an amici brief. More details and updates follow below.

~Health Freedoms

Related: Farmers Launch Preemptive Strike Against Monsanto

Farmers Defend Right to Protect Themselves From Monsanto Patents

Farmers and Seed Distributors Defend Right to Protect Themselves From Monsanto Patents

Organizations File Amici to Defend Plaintiffs’ Right to Trial and Respond to Monsanto’s Attempt to Dismiss Case

New York – August 11, 2011 – The 83 family farmers, small and family owned seed businesses, and agricultural organizations challenging Monsanto’s patents on genetically modified seed filed papers in federal court today defending their right to seek legal protection from the threat of being sued by Monsanto for patent infringement should they ever become contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seed. The Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) represents the plaintiffs in the suit, titled Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association(OSGATA), et al. v. Monsanto and pending in the Southern District of New York. Today’s filings respond to a motion filed by Monsanto in mid-July to have the case dismissed. In support of the plantiffs’ right to bring the case, 12 agricultural organizations also filed a friend-of-the-court amici brief.

“Rather than give a straight forward answer on whether they would sue our clients for patent infringement if they are ever contaminated by Monsanto’s transgenic seed, Monsanto has instead chosen to try to deny our clients the right to receive legal protection from the courts,” said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT’s Executive Director. “Today’s filings include sworn statements by several of the plaintiffs themselves explaining to the court how the risk of contamination by transgenic seed is real and why they cannot trust Monsanto to not use an occurrence of contamination as a basis to accuse them of patent infringement.”

It is now virtually impossible for a U.S. farmer to grow crops of their choosing (corn, soybeans, canola, etc.) and remain GMO-free because of the numerous biological and human means by which seeds can spread. “Given the difficulties in minimizing GM contamination farmers must make numerous decisions about which steps are worthwhile for them and which steps are not. They are not able to make these decisions based on their own and their customers‘ interests, but must instead make these decisions with the threat of litigation from a giant corporation looming over their head,” Spiegel writes in the amici brief. “The constant threat of a patent infringement suit by Monsanto creates significant, unquantifiable costs for Plaintiff farmers and similarly situated farmers.” The plaintiffs can do everything possible to maintain non-contaminated seeds, and will very likely still become contaminated, and be placed under the threat of a lawsuit. As Monsanto’s domination of the seed industry grows, and the winds continue to disperse pollen from their GMO laced crops, the likelihood of contamination and lawsuits only increases.

Monsanto has stated that they would not sue farmers who were “inadvertently” contaminated or farmers whose crops contain “trace amounts” of GMO, however they have refused to sign a simple covenant not to sue, that would bring an effective end to the lawsuit.

Monsanto’s track record makes it clear that Monsanto intends to continue threatening and harassing farmers. “Monsanto has undertaken one of the most aggressive patent assertion campaigns in history,” wrote Ravicher. Monsanto admits to filing 128 lawsuits against farmers from 1997-2010, settling out of court with 700 others for an undisclosed amount. As Spiegel writes, “The passage of time and natural biological processes will inevitably lead to higher contamination levels, at which point Monsanto will have created a target-rich environment for its patent enforcement activities.”

Plaintiffs Bryce Stephens, who farms in Kansas and serves as vice president of OSGATA, Frederick Kirschenmann, who farms in North Dakota, C.R. Lawn, who is founder and co-owner of Fedco Seeds in Maine, Don Patterson of Virginia and Chuck Noble, who farms in South Dakota, each submitted declarations to the court describing their personal experiences with the risk of contamination by genetically modified seed and why those experiences have forced them to bring the current suit. As summarized by the accompanying brief filed by PUBPAT on the plaintiffs’ behalf, “Monsanto’s acts of widespread patent assertion and the plaintiffs’ ever growing risk of contamination create a real, immediate and substantial dispute between them.”

In their brief, the amici describe some of the harmful effects of genetically modified seed and how easily GMOs can contaminate an organic or conventional farmer’s land. The organizations filing the amici brief were Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, Ecological Farmers of Ontario, Fair Food Matters, International Organic Inspectors Association, Michigan Land Trustees, Natural Environment Ecological Management, Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Association, Organic Council of Ontario, Slow Food USA, and Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association.

The brief filed by the plaintiffs in opposition to Monsanto’s motion to dismiss is available here.

The amici brief in support of the plaintiffs is available here.

Source:

http://www.osgata.org/farmers-defend-right-to-protect-themselves-from-monsanto-patents
http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/08/17/farmers-fight-back-against-monsanto-update/

Our Oceans Are Dying - 90% of Big Fish Are GONE - What Are WE Doing?

Our waters - our salvation - WE ARE NOT SEPARATE - the flow of brooks, streams, rivers, seas and our GREAT OCEAN - no different than the flow of LIFE itself... Pay heed - join the many movements, organizations, voices that hear the pleas of our waters divine... become the roar of waters pure!!

"Monsanto's 5 Most Dubious Contributions to the Planet"

Monsanto's 5 Most Dubious Contributions to the Planet

There's a whole lot more than just GMO seeds. Let's take a quick look at some of the biotech giant's most dubious contributions to society over the past century.
August 12, 2011 |

You keep trying to make us believe you are "committed to sustainable agriculture" with your canny advertisements on American Public Media, even as you force-feed farmers your lab-grown Frankenseeds that expire every year (which are, let's be honest, opposite of sustainable).
But we shouldn't be surprised by the mixed message, should we? After all, you've been doing this for decades. With long-running corporate sponsorships, like Disney's Tomorrowland, building reserves of goodwill as you spray us with DDT, it's clear you're entitled to send out products into the world with nary an environmental or health concern—just as long as you spend a bit of that hard-earned cash convincing us otherwise.

On that note, let's take a quick look at some of the biotech giant's most dubious contributions to society over their past century in business.

1. Saccharin

Monsanto burst onto the scene in 1901 with the artificial sweetener saccharin, which it sold to Coca-Cola and canned food companies as a sugar replacement.

But as early as 1907, the health effects of the sweetener were being questioned by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists.

"Everyone who ate that sweet [canned] corn was deceived," said Harvey Wiley, the first commissioner of the FDA. "He thought he was eating sugar, when in point of fact he was eating a coal tar product totally devoid of food value and extremely injurious to health."

After enjoying decades of unfettered consumption, the sweetener was slapped with a warning label in the '70s when it was found to cause cancer in lab rats.

A subsequent three-decade effort by Monsanto to reverse the decision finally won out in 2001. After all, how could a product derived from coal tar not be safe for consumption?

2) Polystyrene

By the '40s, Monsanto had moved on to oil-based plastics, including polystyrene foam (also known as styrofoam).

As most of us are aware by now, polystyrene foam is an environmental disaster. Not only is there nothing out there that biodegrades it, it breaks off into tiny pieces that choke animals, harm marine life, and release cancer-causing benzene into the environment for a thousand years or more.

"Polystyrene foam products rely on nonrenewable sources for production, are nearly indestructible and leave a legacy of pollution on our urban and natural environments," said San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin in 2007. "If McDonald's could see the light and phase out polystyrene foam more than a decade ago, it's about time San Francisco got with the program."

Despite the ovewhelming evidence against it, the noxious containers are still pervasive elsewhere around the country. Amazingly, they were even voted to be reintroduced into House cafeterias by Republicans earlier this year.

3) Agent Orange

First developed as an herbicide and defoliant, Agent Orange was used infamously as a military weapon by the U.S. Army during Vietnam to remove the dense foliage of the jungle canopy.

In the process, they dumped over 12 million gallons of the potent chemical cocktail—described by Yale biologist Arthur Galston as "perhaps the most toxic molecule ever synthesized by man"—over towns, farms, and water supplies during a nine-year period.

"When [military scientists] initiated the herbicide program in the 1960s, we were aware of the potential for damage due to dioxin contamination in the herbicide ... ," said Dr. James R. Clary, a former government scientist with the Chemical Weapons Branch. "However, because the material was to be used on the ‘enemy,’ none of us were overly concerned."


According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that lack of concern led to 4.8 million exposures to the herbicide, along with 400,000 deaths and disfigurements and 500,000 babies born with birth defects.

4) Bovine Growth Hormone

Did you know the United States is the only developed nation that permits the sale of milk from cows given artificial growth hormones?

With the lone exception of Brazil, the rest of the developed world—including all 27 countries of the European Union, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia—has banned growth hormone use in milk destined for human consumption.

Why all the lact-haters? Milk derived from hormone-injected cows shows higher levels of cancer-causing hormones and lower nutritional value, leading even the most stubborn U.S. courts to rule in favor of separate labels for hormone-free milk.

"The milk we drink today is quite unlike the milk our ancestors were drinking without apparent harm for 2,000 years," said Harvard scientist Ganmaa Davaasambuu. "The milk we drink today may not be nature's perfect food."

According to the Center for Food Safety, thanks to increased consumer demand (and certain movies), approximately 60 percent of milk in the U.S. is rBST-free today.

5) Genetically-Modified Seeds

Not content to do mere incidental damage to the environment, Monsanto decided to get to the root of the matter in the '80s: seeds.

But with much fuss being made over the company's aggressive scare tactics and rampant mass-patenting, the biotech giant has, true to form, fought back with a multimillion-dollar marketing and advertising campaign featuring smiling children and making outlandish claims that "biotech foods could help end world hunger."

"Unless I'm missing something," wrote Michael Pollan in The New York Times Magazine, "the aim of this audacious new advertising campaign is to impale people like me—well-off first-worlders dubious about genetically engineered food—on the horns of a moral dilemma...If we don't get over our queasiness about eating genetically modified food, kids in the Third World will go blind."

What's clear is that no matter what its justification, Monsanto is a) never giving away all these seeds for free; and b) rendering them sterile so that farmers need to re-up every year, making it difficult to believe that the company could possibly have the planet's best intentions at heart.

"By peddling suicide seeds, the biotechnology multinationals will lock the world's poorest farmers into a new form of genetic serfdom," says Emma Must of the World Development Movement. "Currently 80 percent of crops in developing countries are grown using farm-saved seed."

"Being unable to save seeds from sterile crops could mean the difference between surviving and going under."

Article Source: http://www.alternet.org/story/152006/monsanto%27s_5_most_dubious_contributions_to_the_planet?akid=7397.221023.GqvEgF&rd=1&t=3

My Potato Project; The Importance of "Organic"

The Learning Child - The Teaching Child
... working with truth...

Take responsible ACTION - NO GMO!!

The Beautiful Truth

"...a bio-code gone wrong..." how well I have known... and now for the last 28 years have set the codes to health and well being - a totality of gratitude for the supreme intelligence of nature's grace and knowing... the bio-code understood, respected, and lived with in health.

Know the joys of life lived in health.

Yes, Know Thyself - Know Nature.

A Mother - An Activist - Reaches Out: A Call to Action: Protecting our most vulnerable population, our born and unborn children.

A Call to Action: Protecting our most vulnerable population, our born and unborn children.

by Kristen Hayes-Yearick on Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 11:39am

Jeremiah 1:4-5

“The Lord spoke his word to me, saying:

Before I made you in your Mother’s womb, I chose you.

Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work.

I appointed you as a Prophet to the Nations.”

Dear Friends in Christ,

My name is Kristen Hayes-Yearick, I am a Pro-Life, Catholic, Mother of three beautiful children and a children’s environmental health advocate. As a Pro-Life Woman, I believe in the sanctity of ALL life. As a Catholic, I believe that we have a moral obligation to protect God’s children and creation. As a Mother, I can’t silently watch our most vulnerable population, our born and unborn children, losing or fighting for their lives.

I’m writing to request an organized and unified “Call to Action” from the leaders of the Catholic Church, Catholic organizations and Pro-Life organizations to publicly broaden the definition of the Pro-Life movement to include environmental degradation and the toxic exposures and that are taking and threatening our born and unborn children’s lives. The toxic exposures are directly linked to many life ending, life threatening or life altering diseases in our children. The statistics and studies on environmental triggers to childhood illnesses available to us today are overwhelming. Our youngest generation is the unhealthiest in history. Our children are the first generation expected to not live as long as their parents lived. Our children are the first generation raised on Genetically Modified foods, milk and possibly animals. Our children are exposed to more toxins in their day to day lives than any other generation before them.

The warning signs are present in God’s creatures. There are increased reports of mass fish and bird kills. Intersex fish are showing up in rivers in Pennsylvania, around the Nation and the world. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issues a “Fish Consumption Public Health Advisory” In the 2011 Public Health Advisory, the DEP states, “Long lasting contaminants such as PCBs, chlordane, and mercury build up in your body over time. It may take months or years of regularly eating contaminated fish to build up amounts that are a health concern. Health problems that may result from the contaminants found in fish range from small changes in health that are hard to detect to birth defects and cancer. Mothers who eat highly contaminated fish for many years before becoming pregnant may have children who are slower to develop and learn. The meal advice in this advisory is intended to protect children from these potential developmental problems.” We’ve heard reports of wildlife with lesions and abscesses on their bodies, in their brains and their organs and yet--we do nothing.

Highlights from the information that I’ve included in the attachment:

-1 in 3 American children have Allergies, Asthma, ADHD or Autism

-CDC reports that childhood cancer incidence continues to rise

-Girls are entering puberty years before previous generations-breast development beginning at the age of 7: increasing their risk for reproductive and breast cancers.

- Male infertility appears to be on the rise, and studies suggest that more boys are being born with genital malformations.

-Chronic Childhood illness statistics continue to rise.

In his 1990 World Day of Peace message, Blessed Pope John Paul II issued a Call to Action for all Catholics, “The most profound and serious indication of the moral implications underlying the ecological problem is the lack of respect for life evident in many of the patterns of environmental pollution. Often, the interests of production prevail over concern for the dignity of workers, while economic interests take priority over the good of individuals and even entire peoples. In these cases, pollution or environmental destruction is the result of an unnatural and reductionist vision which at times leads to a genuine contempt for man.

At the conclusion of this Message, I should like to address directly my brothers and sisters in the Catholic Church, in order to remind them of their serious obligation to care for all of creation. The commitment of believers to a healthy environment for everyone stems directly from their belief in God the Creator, from their recognition of the effects of original and personal sin, and from the certainty of having been redeemed by Christ. Respect for life and for the dignity of the human person extends also to the rest of creation, which is called to join man in praising God (cf. Ps 148:96)..”

It is 2011, twenty one years after Blessed Pope John Paul II “Call to Action” message- what bold steps have we taken as a unified church to answer not only Pope John Paul II call, but God’s call to action? How many Catholics are aware of the position of the church on environmental illnesses and creation care? I recognize that there are wonderful and committed organizations within the church that dedicate their lives to protecting God’s creation and his children, but we need the entire church standing together and showing our strong commitment to protecting the sanctity of all life. It’s time for us to lead by example, God’s example.

In Pope Benedict XVI recent Call to Action he stated: “By acting now, in the spirit of common but differentiated responsibility, we accept our duty to one another and to the stewardship of a planet blessed with the gift of life. We are committed to ensuring that all inhabitants of this planet receive their daily bread, fresh air to breathe and clean water to drink as we are aware that, if we want justice and peace, we must protect the habitat that sustains us. The believers among us ask God to grant us this wish.”

Pope Benedict XVI goes on to say, “Twenty years ago, Pope John Paul II devoted his Message for the World Day of Peace to the theme: Peace with God the Creator, Peace with All of Creation. He emphasized our relationship, as God’s creatures, with the universe all around us. “In our day”, he wrote, “there is a growing awareness that world peace is threatened … also by a lack of due respect for nature”. He added that “ecological awareness, rather than being downplayed, needs to be helped to develop and mature, and find fitting expression in concrete programmes and initiatives”

Previous Popes had spoken of the relationship between human beings and the environment. In 1971, for example, on the eightieth anniversary of Leo XIII’s Encyclical Rerum Novarum, Paul VI pointed out that “by an ill-considered exploitation of nature (man) risks destroying it and becoming in his turn the victim of this degradation”. He added that“not only is the material environment becoming a permanent menace – pollution and refuse, new illnesses and absolute destructive capacity – but the human framework is no longer under man’s control, thus creating an environment for tomorrow which may well be intolerable. This is a wide-ranging social problem which concerns the entire human family”

This daily barrage of chemicals makes individual awareness and good choices imperative. We can choose which foods, cosmetics, cleaning and household supplies we allow into our homes. However, there is an enormous difference between making bad choices for ourselves and the choices that are being made for us. How can we protect our children? These little ones are not little Democrats or little Republicans, they are children who are utterly dependant on us to make the right decisions for their future. How can Mothers protect their children, if they don’t know their children need protecting? The era of apathy and complacency has ended. We must reclaim our position as stewards of God’s creation, to unite, to build bridges, to focus on our similarities instead of our differences. God is calling his church to reclaim his creation and protect his most precious creations, his children. The time is now!

I have met with a Pennsylvania State Representative about possible Pesticide legislation. I am meeting with another Pennsylvania State Representative about possible Pesticide legislation in July. I am actively reaching out to our elected officials to lobby for protection of our God given natural resources that are necessary for life. (air, water, soil and food)

Our goals should be simple--I humbly request that:

-We organize Archdiocese Children’s Environmental Health-Creation Care Councils

-We organize Diocesan Creation Care Councils

-We have our Priests, Religious women, Religious men and the Laity connect with environmentalists within their congregations.

-We establish Children’s Environmental Health/Creation Care groups to educate our congregations about the environmental threats facing our children and communities today.

-We Incorporate Creation Care and Children’s Environmental Health issues into the Homily at masses at least six times a year.

-We organize Children’s Environmental Health/Creation Care rally’s/walks/conferences/fairs to bring much needed attention to the issues. (Could we choose Blessed John Paul II's feast day, October 22nd, to honor his commitment to protecting and defending the Sanctity of all life)

-We incorporate Creation Care into our Catholic Schools

-We establish Creation Care (Environmental) groups/clubs at our Catholic Schools.

-We hold Politicians accountable that go against the teachings of the church. (Pro-Abortion, Pro-Euthanasia, Pro-Capital Punishment and Pro-Industry Deregulation/Pollution) Contact Politicians, as a unified voice, to visibly show where the unified church stands on the particular issue.

-We need to research, recognize and acknowledge the roll that Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Genetically Modified foods play in fertility, conception, implantation and pregnancy loss.

-We need to research, recognize and acknowledge the roll that High-Volume Slick Water Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) plays in contaminating water, air, soil and food. This is a common global threat to humanity.

-

We need to research, recognize and acknowledge the roll that pesticides, herbicides and fungicides play in childhood diseases-- cancers, Autism, ADHD and Birth Defects. ( to name a few)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your time and consideration. I have included our story on pages 69-76. After my family was repeatedly exposed to an Organophosphate Pesticide, Dimethoate 4EC, that killed our 90lb Golden Retriever and caused profound health issues in my family, I was lost, angry, confused and afraid of the unknown. I wasn’t prepared for that situation. I wasn’t prepared for my son to stop talking. I wasn’t prepared for the light going out in my sweet boys eyes. I wasn’t prepared for him to be diagnosed with PDD-NOS. I wasn’t prepared for daughter to develop Raynaud’s Disease, cysts in her thyroid and chest pain. I wasn’t prepared for any of the health issues that appeared. On my journey, I have found where my faith and science come together--as one. I have spent the past six years battling health insurance companies, trying to open the minds of our Physicians in reference to pesticide and chemically induced illnesses in children and adults, researching pesticides, studying policies and raising awareness. I have prayed long and hard asking God to show me his will. What did he want me to do with our experience, the research, studies and statistics? I prayed for Blessed John Paul II to intercede on behalf of our children asking God to direct me according to his will. This collection of resources, studies, articles and stories have been invaluable on my investigative journey from our past, to the present and as a window into our future. I took the time to highlight sections of the studies, articles and resources to make it easier for each of you to glance over it. I know that I have included a lot of information, but it’s only a raindrop in an ocean of issues plaguing the world. I hope that you’ll take the time to look over the overwhelming evidence to the gravity and urgency of the issues that human beings and all of God’s creations are facing today, tomorrow and in the future.

May God Bless each of you,

Kristen Hayes-Yearick