What Is Ambergris?

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Friday, January 27 2006

The January 24, 2006 report in the BBC of a 14.75 kg lump of ambergris discovered by an Australian couple from Streaky Bay while walking on the beach got me curious to find out more about this highly valued (and considered very rare) substance.

Learn more about ambergris on the BLV Health Watch blog through this link.

Until next week -- stay well and be healthy!

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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The NEXT Energy Crisis Will Be Water?

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Wednesday, January 25 2006

It's not front page news, but the world supply of fresh water is most certainly a growing concern throughout the world.

In one recent AG Industry article, they report: "In all likelihood water will supplant energy as our most critical natural resource within the next 15 years. The United Nations has already predicted that by 2020, water and not oil will be a source of conflicts in the world."

While there are substitutes for fossil fuels, no one has claimed to have found a substitute for water. Desalination (removing salt from salt water) on a large scale is probably in the same category as hydrogen fuel for now -- meaning, it's a very long way off.

According to the AG article, a news story buried in the back of most newspapers at the end of 2005 announced an agreement signed by the governors of eight Great Lakes states, along with Ontario and Quebec. If approved by legislative bodies in Canada and the United States, the pact would ban new or increased water diversions outside the drainage area.

Today, Canada is much more aware of the value of its water, according to one source that states it's probably the largest supply of fresh water in the world (however, National Geographic indicates Antarctica holds 90 percent of the world's fresh water). A former premier of the western province of Alberta has called upon the House of Commons to take a stand against any large-scale water transfers to the United States.

On the other hand, "Maclean's," a Canadian magazine, stirred up the issue recently by saying that Canada should sell water to the United States "before they take it."

Now, considering that the Great Lakes contain such a large percent of the small amount of the world's freshwater resources, why is it that anyone in North America should be concerned about the issue? And why would Canada think the USA would be needing large volumes of fresh water in the years to come in the first place?

USA ...it's time to wake up. Maybe we've been asleep at the wheel and haven't realized how much of our fresh water resources have been damaged and/or have been slowly disappearing over the past few decades -- although there are several groups who have NOT been asleep, but whose cries have gone out on mostly deaf ears.

Indeed, in the last decade alone an alarmingly steady increased number of freshwater tributories have been popping up on "Lists of Impaired Waters" in several states clear across our nation.

In fact, just in the State of Indiana, the number of waterbodies damaged by E. Coli contamination alone rose from 174 in the year 2002 to a shocking 214 impaired waterbodies in the 2004 draft 303(d) report. That's an increase of 40 freshwater sources impaired by E. Coli ...and doesn't even include waterbodies impaired by other reportable contaminations -- over a mere 2 year period.

When you take into account that these waterbodies feed into major aquifers that supply the entire state with "fresh water," if you live in Indiana, you have good reason to be concerned.

If strong actions are not taken immediately to rectify the problems at the source in your State, most Indiana residents can look forward to buying bottled water from other States -- or even Canada -- in about 9 to 15 years from now... maybe sooner, in my humble opinion based on the reports I've read.

The funny thing is, the Clean Water Act was put in place to "protect" our freshwater resources, one would think. Well, take a closer look...

The Act certainly requires stronger reporting policies to monitor our freshwater resources, but until damage is done to them there really aren't many strong prevention protection measures in place for our freshwater resources. Again, this is just my humble opinion, but if we have to wait until our freshwater resources are damaged before anything is done, how long do you think it will take to undo the damage? I'm thinking in terms of decades, possibly much longer...

What all residents in North America need to be aware of is the freshwater crisis that is already taking place on a global scale, and maybe in so doing we just might be more aware of how precious our water resources truly are, and make a firm stand to protect them NOW, before it's too late. Here are just a few examples:

- China is experiencing serious water problems because of drought and polluted groundwater. A tidal phenomenon caused by the drought, known as salt tides, is threatening water supplies in southern China.

- In some areas, such as India and Africa, water withdrawals are so high that surface water supplies are shrinking and groundwater supplies are being depleted faster than they can be replenished.

- In the city of Varanasi in India, the Ganges River is severely polluted with sewage (faecal coliform levels range from 50,000 cfu/100mL to over 5,000,000 cfu/100mL). Inadequate treatment of the city's sewage has also caused severe contamination of groundwater, resulting in high nitrate, heavy metal and faecal coliform levels.

- In Spain, more than half of the nearly 100 aquifers are over-exploited... meaning the water is being used up faster than it's being replaced.

- In 1998 it was estimated that the number of water-stressed, or water-scarce, countries will increase from 31 to 48 within the next 30 years (Hinrichsen et al., 1998).

- The UN estimates that by 2025 the proportion of the world's population experiencing moderate to high water stress will rise to two out of every three people. (Moderate water stress levels are said to occur when water consumption exceeds renewable freshwater supply by 10 per cent.)

- Climate change is also an increasing cause for concern for water managers, as glaciers that feed many of the world's rivers, recede at an alarming rate.

- According to Australia's EPA website, global water consumption rose six-fold between 1900 and 1995, more than double the rate of population growth.

- And according to the World Water Forum, one-fifth of the world's people TODAY do not have access to safe drinking water.

- And furthermore, if you think fresh water shortages haven't already been showing up in the USA, think again ...this news article that appeared in the New York Times just a few short years ago is one heck of an indicator of things to come. For example, "many of the USA's biggest aquifers, such as the 175,000-square-mile Ogallala in the southern Plains, have long been depleted by farming. To the east, the underground river that brings water to the nation's most bountiful rice crop, in Arkansas, will be dry in less than 15 years, hydrologists say."

Like it or not, just residing in North America makes us all stewards of a highly prescious resource that is quickly disappearing on our planet -- and even on our continent. Personally, I feel we have a responsibility to future generations, at home and abroad, to protect this natural resource -- at all costs. Eventually, it may be one of the few sources for fresh water left on this tiny planet.

By the way, one report has it that the absolute biological minimum people need to stay alive is between 2 and 5 litres of freshwater per day. That's just to stay alive...

Additional information: Summary of the World's Fresh Water Resources

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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War on Childhood Obesity Has Begun

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Wednesday, January 25 2006

I mentioned on our Blog that a war on obesity is taking shape and it appears by these recent reports that the war might begin in Massechusettes where Advocacy groups and parents are suing the Nickelodeon TV network and cereal maker Kellogg Co. in an effort to stop junk food marketing to kids using state consumer-protection laws.

It's hitting the headlines:
Activists look to sue over cartoons in cereal ads/Boston Globe
Nickelodeon, Kellogg Targets of Lawsuit/CBS News
A New Way to Fight Junk-Food Ads/Washington Post

Also see "New Law Suits Target Soft Drink Firms" for details on what one lawyer, highly experienced in tobacco wars, has been up to and is preparing to launch in yet more battles in the war on obesity.

Similar to the war on trans-fats, this battle is shaping up to be BIG (no pun intended).

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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Innovations In Ingredients - Fiber

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Wednesday, January 25 2006

Archer Daniels Midland Co., Decatur, Illinois has an ingredient product out that is catching the attention of food processing companies seeking to improve their images with health-conscious consumers.

"ADM's Alpha Cellulose, Powdered Bh 200 Fibersol-2 soluble fiber is a clear, colorless and concentrated fiber source used as a bulking agent for low-calorie formulations. With no inherent or added flavor, it boasts high solubility, rapid dispersion and very low viscosity, plus it's heat/retort- and freeze/thaw-stable. It meets all criteria for health and safety and is GRAS as maltodextrin, as well as Kosher pareve-certified by the Union of Orthodox rabbis (OU)."

It was also one of the product winners of the 2005 Readers Choice Awards over at FoodProcessing.com

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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E. Coli carried by Garden Slugs

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Wednesday, January 25 2006

The garden slug has few friends among the green thumb audience ...and after this recent study, it may have even fewer friends.

Laboratory testing found E. coli O157 in 0.21 per cent of field slugs on a sheep farm in the UK. Further studies revealed that the slug species, Deroceras reticulatum, could maintain viable E. coli on its external surface for 14 days. Slugs that were fed E. coli shed viable bacteria in their faeces persisting for up to 3 weeks.

"This study provides evidence that slugs can act as vectors of E. coli O157 from an environmental source to fruit or vegetables," said the researchers. "The research demonstrates that E. coli in D. reticulatum has a relatively long external and internal survival time."

Quoted from FoodNavigator:
Escherichia coli O157, an emerging zoonoses in many countries including the UK, has a 3 to 5 per cent mortality rate in humans. In 1996, an outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Japan affected over 6,300 school children and resulted in two deaths.

WHO claims that this is the largest outbreak ever recorded for this pathogen. It has emerged rapidly as a major cause of bloody diarrhoea and acute renal failure since it was first identified in 1982, and is a major cause for concern for the food industry.

Farm animals such as cattle and sheep have been previously identified as major reservoirs of this strain of E coli by passing it through manure, which is then used to fertilize crops.

What few people are aware of is the massive volumes of contaminated manure (E. coli AND salmonella contaminated) that are produced on factory-style farms -- aka confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Even fewer people are aware of what happens to that manure, and the damage it is causing both to the environment and even our food supply.

If Governor Mitch Daniels has his way, the State of Indiana will be overrun with such farms before he is through with his term in office. If his "Possibilities Unbound" strategic plan for Indiana Agriculture bear fruit, you really want to know what types of fertilizer are being used for the produce you purchase in the grocery store. The environmental fallout in the aftermath for his desires to double pork production in the State of Indiana may take decades to rectify.

Meanwhile, the lowly garden slug will continue doing what it does best ...blissfully unaware of the dangers it may present to humans on its journey.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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New Food Allergen Labeling Laws Effective Jan 1 2006

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Wednesday, January 4 2006

The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA) (Pub. L. 108-282) required that new food labels for food products affected by the Act be applied to foods entering the market as of Jan. 1 2006.

Keep in mind, these labeling regulations apply only to foods regulated by the FDA. Also note, not all known allergens are covered by the new labeling laws.

Under FALCPA, a "major food allergen" is an ingredient that is one of the following five foods or from one of the following three food groups or is an ingredient that contains protein derived from one of the following:

- milk
- egg
- fish
- Crustacean shellfish
- tree nuts
- wheat
- peanuts
- soybeans

Also, in the case of tree nuts, the specific type of nut must be declared (e.g., almonds, pecans, or walnuts). Plus, the species must be declared for fish (e.g., bass, flounder, or cod) and Crustacean shellfish (crab, lobster, or shrimp).

Congress designated the above eight foods/food groups as "major food allergens" stating they account for 90 percent of all food allergies. Although there are other foods to which sensitive individuals may react, the labels of packaged foods containing these other allergens are not required to be in compliance with FALCPA.

FALCPA's requirements apply to all packaged foods sold in the U.S. that are regulated under the Federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act, including both domestically manufactured and imported foods. FDA regulates all foods except meat products, poultry products, and egg products.

For more information on the act, visit this link.

For general information regarding industry labeling guidelines, visit this link.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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New Trans-Fats Labeling Goes Into Effect

-- Posted by kmyers001 on Wednesday, January 4 2006

In May 2003, California attorney Stephen Joseph filed a lawsuit against Kraft, targeting the trans-fat content of Oreo's. The issue became front-page news. Jay Leno, Rush Limbaugh and a host of other media personalities weighed in, many seeing the lawsuit as ridiculous at the time.

Joseph was on Good Morning America when he heard that Kraft had agreed to remove trans fats from their cookies amid the sudden blaze of publicity. And two months later, the FDA announced new labeling rules.

These new FDA trans-fat labeling rules go into effect January 1, 2006 and some lobby interest groups are stating it's long overdue... while others are saying it's not enough.

For example, check out BanTransFats.com for their comprehensive review of the new trans-fats labeling rule.

To understand the importance of this issue, one needs to know what trans fats are and why it's important for us to be aware of them.

Trans fat is formed when liquid oils are made into solid fats like shortening and hard margarine. They have effectively been linked to higher blood levels of bad (LDL) cholesterol that increases the risk of heart disease.

When you consider that according to the American Heart Association, 70.1 million Americans suffered from heart disease in 2002 (34.2 percent of the population), and the mortality figure was 0.93 million (930,000 deaths)... ...the new laws may not be everything they need to be for the uninformed consumer ...but they are at least one small step in the right direction.

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Author: K. Myers (aka kmyers001)
Click Here To Visit Website

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