Anti-freeze & Lead in Medicine, Plastic in the Pork Chops

A 7 page special from the New York Times on how diethylene glycol - aka antifreeze, is being substituted for glycerin in medicines and some food products.

This article mentions that vitamins from are adulterated with lead.

And where are these from? The same place as the melamine, cyanuric acid, (a pool stabilizer) and aminopterin laced pet foods and animal feed mixtures: China. Yes, China, supporter of Sudan, stealer of Tibet, harvester of shark fins from live sharks, and organs from live political prisoners and the religious - I'm with this Stoney Creek man who's decided to boycott Chinese goods; given all the toxins that are being purposely added to Chinese exports to make a profit, it's a sensible thing to do for one's own safety.

Here are some sites with information on why and how to boycott Chinese made goods and products.

"Buying the Dragon's Teeth" was published in 2004. It outlines the reasons to boycott.

U.S. State Department info on Organ Harvesting in China

Epoch Times list of all their reports on Trade in Organ Removal from Live Humans.

Boycott 'Made in China'

Don't Feed the Dragon Campaign

Melamine Used As Cake Additive: Chinese Chem. Plant Manager

"Our chemical products are mostly used for additives, not for animal feed," said Li Xiuping, a manager at Henan Xinxiang Huaxing Chemical in Henan Province. "Melamine is mainly used in the chemical industry, but it can also be used in making cakes."

There you have it folks - from the International Herald Tribune. It's at the very bottom of the article. And the Washington Post has the revelation that before melamine there was urea being added, for the same reason - inflated and bogus protein content.

Melamine scrap is used in North America as an abrasive blast medium. Sonapa sells recycled plastics, including melamine scrap with formaldehyde. Here is there ad for "Type III – Thermoset Melamine Formaldehyde: Melamine is engineered for stripping the most difficult surfaces while providing an effective stripping rate. Melamine is the most aggressive plastic abrasive, offering an excellent range of stripping capabilities. Melamine can be used as a replacement for glass beads and other harsh abrasives."

In China, melamine scrap is mixed into soymeal, and sold to feedlots and farmers. A manager with Tai'an Yongfeng Feedmill Co. Ltd in the coastal province of Shandong says that "The chemical plant next to us used the melamine scrap as waste for landfill and built houses on it. Then they tore down the buildings to get the scrap once the price rose. It is a very popular business here. I know people have been mixing this since 1991."

One article I read spoke of an online market, Alibaba.com, where companies sell and buy chemicals and which is very big in China.

China Adding Toxins On Purpose; Motive May Be Sinister

Melamine is a plastic. Aminopterin is a toxic folic acid analogue and a rat poison (banned, at least in North America). Cyanuric acid is a pool chemical.

None of them should be on anyone's menu. But now pigs, (see here also), as well as chicken and fish have been found to have been fed food containing contaminated feed grade grain products - all from China.

The FDA suspects that China is adding nitrogen-rich toxins DELIBERATELY to grain products to jack apparent protein contents and they have found there way into our food supplies. And not just our pets' food.

Peachy.

Scientists have found that combining melamine and cyanuric acid produces crystals like those found in the pets who died after eating the contaminated food. Here is another report about the chemical reaction.

"Our food-safety system is broken," Rosa L. DeLauro, Chair of the US House Subcommittee that funds the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture, told UP reporters in this Science Daily article on the tainted farmed fish.

She's hardly understating the problem.

Meanwhile over on the Huffington Post, David Goldstein says he's having a crisis of faith in the US FDA, which he terms the faith-based Dining system. Some interesting quotes on that site.

The plot is very thick at this point - the motive - sell inferior goods for a fattened profit margin to the gaijin: The International Herald Tribune is reporting that Chinese chemical producers say it's common knowledge that ... for years feed producers in China have quietly and secretly used cyanuric acid to cheat buyers of animal feed. Two of the chemical makers said that Chinese feed producers used cyanuric acid because it is even cheaper than melamine and is also high in nitrogen, enabling feed producers to artificially lift the protein reading of the feed.

Over a month ago when the pet food scandal first came to light, I held back from reporting what my gut and intuition knew to be true - that the toxins had been added on purpose. "Why would someone do that?" I wondered to myself. Also I had no hard evidence at that time - just a sneaking suspicion that since feed grains are eaten by more than just pets, the initial scandal was just the tip of the iceberg. I really truly wish I had been wrong. But no - the scandal keeps getting bigger and the plot has thickened and stinks considerably more than when I predicted it would get messy and ugly. It's not just wheat gluten, it's rice and corn and who knows what else in the Chinese grain department.

What are we feeding our animals? What are we feeding ourselves? Should we be trading with regimes that are unprincipalled enough to sell us garbage?

And why is ANYONE in North America buying wheat form the Chinese who have enough trouble feeding themselves, when Canada, the United States, Russia and Ukrainian are the largest wheat producers in the world??

Is it just all about money? Maybe not! There may be VERY SINISTER REASON the Chinese governemnt is allowing this if the expatriate Chinese journalists over at Epoch Times are correct. China has imprisoned several of the news outlet's reporters.

According to two speeches by CCP's former Defense Minister, Chi Haotian and published by the Epoch Times, China's government plans to exterminate US citizens. Here is the other article "The War Is Approaching Us". Chi was responsible for and in operational command during the Tianammen Square massacres in the 1990's. The Epoch Times is run by people who do a lot of investigative work in China. I hope they are wrong but my gut says this article is true. The country is strapped for space, they have annexed Tibet. They would stand to gain a lot of land and resources if they could take over North America. The Chinese government is not without a plausible motive to follow through on Chi's Mein Kampf-esque ideas.

PVC; Small Portable Homes

Two short items of possible interest.

As I was deep in writing and research mode for the show unearthing stuff about two chemicals that have made the news (because of environmental contamination, as well as occupational safety (at least in one case)), I tripped over thee following information about another chemical you may have heard of: PVC.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) expose over at the Houston Chronicle. Not sure what sort of cleanup has happened in the intervening almost decade. Wikipedia has some referenced information on the compound and its uses.

In completely unrelated news, I stumbled upon this today: a portable dwelling that claims to be part Yurt, part Dome, the "Yome".
Then again, there is the more traditional looking tiny home from, natch, Tumbleweed Tiny Homes.

Put Pork (& Tainted Pet Food?) On Your Fork

The chemically tainted pet food has almost certainly found its way into the human food chain.

And you read it here first, back in March, when almost everyone was minimizing the danger to the human food supply from the tainted gluten. Back when the poison that was killing pets in contaminated pet food was first revealed to be tainted Chinese wheat gluten, this is in fact what I reported and predicted on the show and this blog, as an area of serious concern, and I said I'd keep everyone posted.

Something else: was the toxin added on purpose? I theorized exactly this back in March on the show, though I had no idea what the motive was, but I cut that part, because I wondered if maybe the Chinese government might get it's knickers in a twist and sue the station. We're a community and campus station. We're not made out of money. My suspicions hit the cutting room floor.

And here is the piece I wrote when it was found it wasn't just wheat gluten that was contaminated.

So now there are there are FDA raids and other, er, interesting things happening:

• South Africa has banned Chinese gluten products, in this case the culprit was corn gluten.
  
• China is blocking US investigations by the FDA's food inspectors.
  
• the US FDA has opened a criminal investigation into the tainted food scandal.
  
• Wikipedia has a timeline of the pet food crisis.
  

And melamine and cyanuric acid has been found in the diets of pigs from Kansas and Utah slaughterhouses that ate tainted 'salvage' pet food. These pigs may have entered the food supply. The US has quarantined hogs found to have been fed 'salvaged' contaminated pet food. The quarantined hogs are in California, New York, South Carolina, North Carolina, Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma and Ohio.

Meanwhile, the FDA is refusing to do a pork recall, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Now the big question is: did the toxin-laced pet food find it's way into the diet of any other animals destined for human consumption? Absolutely, is my prediction. Again - I'll keep you posted! I could be wrong. I hope I am! First we have to see if anyone will even test for it. I expect there will be tests by some companies.

But before the vegetarians get too shirty with the omnivores, I urge them, again, take a good look at what you who eschew meat are eating - seitan is made of wheat gluten. Is that gluten tested for safety? Did it come from China? Write and ask the companies that are making your food! Why?

Because other than seitan, many meat substitutes are laced with gluten, as a rule. Some of these may also have have been dosed with melamine to boost apparent protein content. Why would gluten sellers only lace part of the gluten when they could make lots more moolah sell faked-high protein gluten to human food suppliers, too?

Here is an excerpt of some information about the compound at Wikipedia:

On April 19 researchers announced that a "spoke-like crystal" had been found in contaminated rice protein concentrate and the tissues and urine of affected animals. The crystal serves as a biomarker for contamination and is roughly 30% melamine. The remainder has been identified as cyanuric acid, amilorine and amiloride by researchers at the University of Guelph, in Ontario and Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine. The three chemicals are metabolites of melamine, which researchers hypothesized were formed as the animals metabolized the melamine. Other researchers at Michigan State University have confirmed amilorine and amiloride but not the cyanuric acid. At least one researcher believes that cyanuric acid, commonly used in pool chlorination, is the most likely chemical in the contaminated products causing renal failure in the affected animals, although tests in dogs and rats have shown that cyanuric acid is safe.[1] Richard Goldstein of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine hypothesized that the crystallization of melamine and cyanuric acid might cause cyanuric acid to remain in the kidneys for longer periods of time than when cyanuric acid in pool water is accidentally swallowed by people, explaining its apparent increased toxicity in this case. While it remains possible that cyanuric acid was added as a separate contaminant, Goldstein said that it was likely that it was the result of bacterial metabolism of melamine.[2] Cyanuric acid is a known intermediate byproduct of bacterial metabolism of melamine.[3]

Was Toxin Added on Purpose? Pet Food Recall Widens.

Another contaminated grain product used in pet food (and possibly other animal feed), has been discovered. This time it's rice protein concentrate. And it's contaminated, again with melamine.

Because of this the pet food recall has widened to include some brands that contain the tainted rice protein concentrate. This is because melamine has been found not just in imported wheat gluten but also rice protein concentrate; both contaminated grain products are from China, according to the Houston Chronicle's online news outlet, chron.com. The Chronicle also says there are South African press reports indicating that corn gluten, contaminated with melamine, has been found in that country's pet food.

Wilbur Ellis Co., which imported the tainted rice product, found the contaminant in rice protein from one supplier, Reuter's reports. They are voluntarily recalling all of the rice protein concentrate its feed division sold to pet food manufacturers.

The FDA is mulling over if the contamination might not have been deliberate. They say that adding melamine can boost the apparent protein content of the grain products.

Poisoned Pet Food Gluten May Be In Other Foods

In the last show, we looked at a study by medical researchers at the University of Pennsylvania that found that meditation can help patients suffering from congestive heart failure. We also looked at an upcoming talk entitled 'Green revolution - Whose revolution? which is happening at Ottawa's Congress Centre on March 26th, starting at 7 pm and features African and Canadian plant biologists, farmers and members of NGO's from both countries and looks at who the Bill and Melinda Gates and Rockefeller Foundations investments in African agriculture will actually benefit.

We also looked at the Menu Foods mass poisoned pet food recall, at what foods were recalled, plus little on symptoms of kidney failure and the reason why kidney failure produces such symptoms and what people should do if pets showed these symptoms. At the time the show was written - Monday - the US's FDA was saying the most likely culprit was tainted wheat gluten. What it was contaminated with was still in question at the time of the broadcast.

Now investigators have figured out the gluten appears to have been contaminated with a type of rat poison that was somehow in the wheat gluten used in the pet food. The tainted gluten was from a new supplier.

For some reason government and Menu Foods are not releasing the name of the wheat gluten supplier. This is not a good thing. Why? Because gluten is used as a thickener in many foods - not just for pets but for human consumption. It is a major ingredient in meat analogue products such as vegetarian bologna slices, Tofurky, and the like and is used to bind ingredients together. It is also used in pretty much all commercially prepared bread such as Dempsey's, Weston's etc.

Nanomaterials + Your DNA, etc.

(Ottawa) This week's show features a piece on the brewing 'Copyfight': the music industry vs. listeners and artists and how it may change how much you pay to hear music on your IPod or cell phone.

And research shows how one kind of tiny carbon molecules, nanoparticles known as buckminsterfullerine (a.k.a. 'buckyballs') can get stuck in your DNA and cause it to fall apart. Oh, but we wish we were kidding.

Plus, the UN is after developed nations to get on board the climate change protocol train. You think Kyoto's targets are high? Wait till you hear what the UN's climate change expert wants to set things at. Carbon credits and more.

All on this week's show, featuring music by Alberta band "Ground", track 10 from their 2003 album.

I don't know who the Carbon Credit Review thinks they are but they're ganking posts from all manner of media outlets and labelling them as "original posts by Carbon Credit Review" - >even this very post! as well as such luminaries as the Australian Broadcast Network, and God only knows what other mainstream media giants. This reporter for CKCU-FM is waitin' for da US or UK or Aussie lawsuit! They gotta rewrite that copy - I'm pretty sure it's actionable in the US anyway. They have their comments section disabled, too. Nasty!