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NaturalNews.com
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Independent news with satire
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Non-stick cookware chemical PFOA linked to high cholesterol in children
(NaturalNews) Another day, another headline about the dangers of a synthetic chemical in our food... This time it's PFOA, or perfluoroalkyl acid -- the non-stick chemical used on cookware surfaces. According to a study just published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, high levels of PFOA were strongly correlated with an increase in both total cholesterol and LDL "bad" cholesterol.
Typically, high cholesterol is treated with a second chemical intervention -- statin drugs. Statins can produce devastating side effects including kidney and liver damage (http://naturalnews.com/statins.html), muscle weakness and eye problems. So now we have a situation where people ingesting PFOA chemicals may be inaccurately diagnosed with cholesterol problems and be prescribed dangerous chemical medications that cause even more health problems.
This study looked at 12,000 children who were exposed to PFOA through their local water supply which was contaminated with PFOA. It does not prove a link between non-stick cookware and cholesterol, although it suggests a possible link that should probably be researched further.
PFOA is on more than just cooking pans
PFOA isn't merely found on cooking pans, by the way: Nearly all cooking surfaces for electric consumer food prep appliances are made with it: Sandwich toasters, griddles and even popular cooking devices such as George Foreman Grills.
You'll also get PFOA from most restaurants because non-stick cooking surfaces are commonly used to prepare your omelets, pancakes, pasta sauces and many other menu items. Avoiding PFOA is nearly impossible unless you prepare all your own food at home, and even then, you must be extremely careful with what food prep devices you use.
Even Swiss Diamond pans which claim that you're "cooking on diamonds" are actually made with PFOA chemicals (http://www.naturalnews.com/021059.html).
I have avoided non-stick cookware for many years and wouldn't dare prepare any food on such an item made with dangerous chemicals, but most consumers don't know about the dangers of PFOA, and they continue to cook their food with non-stick pans. It gets really dangerous when people use forks or metal spatulas to stir their food in such pans because this action scrapes off microscopic bits of PFOA chemicals that then become lodged in their food and swallowed.
My advice is to avoid all non-stick cookware. Buy stainless steel cookware with copper plating on the bottom, which helps disperse heat and prevent burning. Better yet, eat more raw foods and superfood smoothies which require no cooking whatsoever.
The mere act of cooking food in a pan, after all, creates carcinogens in the food. The only "safely" cooked food is steamed or boiled. Anything that subjects foods to very high temperatures -- frying, broiling, grilling, etc. -- results in the creation of cancer-causing chemicals in the food itself. And that's true whether you're using a PFOA pan or not.
Sources for this story include:
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11201956
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Gender bender chemical atrazine widely contaminates U.S. public water supply
(NaturalNews) Emerging research increasingly indicates that the U.S. water supply is widely contaminated with the endocrine disrupting chemical atrazine, but that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking almost no action on the threat.
Atrazine is an herbicide widely sprayed on corn fields in the Midwest, and one of the most widely detected groundwater contaminants in the country. According to an analysis of state and federal records by the Chicago Tribune, atrazine has been detected in the drinking water of a million people in 60 Illinois communities over the past four years. Yet the EPA requires testing for the chemical only four times a year, meaning that short-term spikes of the toxin go undetected -- and unregulated.
Special agreements between the EPA and Syngenta, the top manufacturer of the atrazine used in the U.S., have led to limited weekly or biweekly testing for the chemical by 130 water utilities in 10 different states. In 2008, nearly half of these communities in the Midwest alone experienced atrazine levels in their water above the federally imposed limit of 3 ppb (parts per billion) at least once. In Flora, Illinois, levels spiked as high as 30 ppb at one point.
In nine Midwestern communities, atrazine levels averaged higher than 3 ppb for the full year. Yet unless levels higher than 3 ppb are detected during one of the EPA's four official yearly tests, the agency is helpless to take action. Likewise, contamination detected at other times need not, under the Safe Water Drinking Act, be reported to the public. This has led to a situation where citizens are not only unaware that their water is contaminated, they are never told that an inexpensive home filter could remove the toxin from their water.
Even the EPA's "safe" level of 3 ppb, however, may be far too high; studies suggest that atrazine is biologically active in levels as low as 0.1 ppb, mimicking the action of hormones in the body. A recent meta-analysis of 125 studies by researchers from the University of South Florida found that the chemical causes developmental and reproductive defects in amphibians and fish. Another study, conducted by University of California-Berkeley researchers and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that small amounts of atrazine lowered testosterone levels and fertility in male frogs. Many of the frogs were chemically castrated or even turned into females.
Prenatal exposure to low levels of atrazine has also been shown to predispose rats to cancer as adults. And according to a 2009 study by researchers from Indiana University, human children conceived between the months of April and July, when atrazine levels in water are highest, were more likely to suffer from nine different kinds of birth defects than children conceived in other months.
"Atrazine ... appears to have effects during critical stages of fetal development," said Suzanne Fenton of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a former EPA researcher.
Atrazine has been banned in Europe for its contaminating effects on groundwater, and a handful of U.S. states prohibit spraying in certain contamination-prone areas. Yet the EPA's most recent ruling on the chemical, issued in 2006, endorses its use. The Bush-era ruling was based on a 2003 review heavily funded by Syngenta. Bush administration officials are known to have met with officials from the company at least 50 times before issuing their ruling, including at two industry-dominated panels.
The EPA's position has drawn the ire of states that have been stuck with regulating the atrazine problem on their own. In 2009, 44 water utilities in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi and Ohio sued the federal government to reimburse them for the costs of atrazine cleanup.
Since the 2003 EPA review, a further 100 studies have been published showing health risks from atrazine exposure. The Obama administration is now conducting a review of the EPA's stance on the chemical.
Sources for this story include: http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-atrazine-water-20100417,0,2193737.story.
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Scientists develop fuel cells powered by urine
(NaturalNews) Efforts to develop alternative, renewable forms of energy have taken a whole new direction as researchers from the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering and Physical Sciences recently announced a strange, almost humorous, new way to develop energy. Shanwen Tao and Rong Lan, two postdoctoral chemists from the university, have developed fuel cell prototypes that they say run on urine, converting it to both electricity and clean water.
According to a Yahoo! India news report, the team's fuel cells utilize a compound in urine called urea, which is an organic chemical waste product that results when the body metabolizes protein. And unlike current hydrogen gas and methanol fuel cell technologies, both of which can be problematic to the environment, urea is non-toxic, rich in useful nitrogen and readily available for use.
Also known as carbamide, urea does not require expensive catalysts like platinum to operate, either. The team was able to develop a simple and relatively inexpensive method with which to convert urea into water, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and electricity -- all at the same time.
The "Carbamide Power System" prototype, as it is being called, has the potential to reduce waste water treatment costs as well because many municipal water systems already spend big bucks removing urea from waste water. So by integrating the technology into existing water systems for the purpose of extracting urea, the fuel cells are a win-win prospect because they have the potential to generate large amounts of electricity cheaply as well as reduce overall costs for utilities.
The project was made possible by a $203,000 grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, with the goal of one day utilizing urine fuel cells on remote islands and in deserts and submarines where energy can be difficult to generate. But the potential uses are limitless, if and when such technology is publicly unveiled.
Sources for this story include:
http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20100827/981/tsc-urine-powered-fuel-cells-to-offer-pe_1.html
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