Arsenic found in 11 bottled water brands According to Consumer Reports

Even though bottled water consumption causes massive environmental issues, consumers bought more than 391 billion liters of bottled water in 2017 (103 billion gallons). Bottled water sales have been on a steep rise for more than a decade with little signs of slowing down. The International Bottled Water Association says nation’s bottled water is the best selling bottled beverage in America. This is likely due to consumer concerns regarding the quality of tap water. And we should be concerned. Flint’s water still isn’t safe, and the EPA lied to Flint residents. But Flint’s not the only one:

If you live in the United States, there is a nearly one-in-four chance your tap water is either unsafe to drink or has not been properly monitored for contaminants in accordance with federal law, a new study has found.

America’s Tap Water: Too Much Contamination, Not Enough Reporting

High levels of arsenic in groundwater have been shown to cause cancer and other environmental illnesses. The federal standards set for allowable level for arsenic in drinking water is 10 parts per billion, and none of the brands exceeded this threshold. But research suggests that 3 parts per billion are likely to be dangerous to consume regularly. Regular consumption of even lower levels of arsenic over extended periods may lead to cardiovascular disease, cancers, and may lower IQ scores in children.

The investigation showed that some bottled water has more arsenic than tap most water municipals.

For this report, CR tracked down and reviewed hundreds of public records and test reports from bottled water brands, and from various federal and state regulators. We found that several popular brands sell bottled water with arsenic levels at or above 3 ppb; current research suggests that amounts above that level are potentially dangerous to drink over extended periods of time. CR believes the federal limit for bottled water should be revised to 3 ppb from the current federal standard of 10 ppb.

Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports says that Starkey (owned by Whole Foods), Peñafiel (owned by Keurig Dr Pepper), Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water, Volvic (owned by Danone), and Crystal Creamery and EartH₂0 showed arsenic levels of 3 ppb or higher.

It makes no sense that consumers can purchase bottled water that is less safe than tap water. If anything, bottled water—a product for which people pay a premium, often because they assume it’s safer—should be regulated at least as strictly as tap water.”

James Dickerson, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at Consumer Reports.

Related: What’s the Best Water for Detoxifying and For Drinking?

The good news for bottled water consumers is that Consumer Report also found dozens of bottled water brands that showed no detectable levels of arsenic.

Check out Arsenic in Some Bottled Water Brands at Unsafe Levels, Consumer Reports Says for more information.

Trump Comes out As Pro-Vaccine – Says We All Need To Get Measles Shot

Today U.S. President Donald Trump on urged Americans to get the measles vaccination.

“The vaccinations are so important. This is really going around now,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “They have to get their shots.”

Nearly 700 cases have been confirmed by federal health officials as of this week in a resurgence that has been concentrated in a handful of states — New York, Washington, Michigan, New Jersey, and California — although 22 states in all are affected. Measles can cause severe complications or death.

So far, no U.S. fatalities have been reported.

Reuters

USA Today just published an article worth reading, Why Big Pharma distrust is fueling the anti-vaxxer movement and playing a role in the measles outbreak

We’d like to take a moment to remind our readers of the one Candidate big pharma is most scared of. Bernie Sanders. He doesn’t take corporate money. He talks about reining in big pharma all the time. He hasn’t come out against vaccines but we have to get the money out of politics and some of the corruption out of the pharmaceutical industry first.

New Zealand Manuka Honey Producer Pleads Guilty To Adding Chemicals

A New Zealand company pled guilty to charges of adding artificial chemicals to their Manuka honey in order to charge a higher price for it.

New Zealand Food and Safety filed a lawsuit in 2016 against Evergreen Life Ltd after the company recalled 18 of its products. Everything recalled consisted of or contained Manuka honey, and the recall suggested the company had been adding dihydroxyacetone and methylglyoxal to their products.

Related: Healthy Sugar Alternatives & More

DHA and MGO

Both of these substances are crucial to the antimicrobial activity that is so highly prized in Manuka honey. Dihydroxyacetone (DHA) is found in the nectar of Manuka tree flowers, and it converts to methylglyoxal (MGO). The higher the levels of MGO are, the more potent the antimicrobial activity in the honey is. This translates to a more expensive product. While these chemicals naturally occur in Manuka honey, Evergreen Life Ltd has pled guilty to adding artificial DHA (often found in tanning lotions) to their products.

Supply and Demand

Manuka is a highly sought after medicinal product. But is there enough honey to meet the demand? Probably not.

In a 2014 article, the Independent reported that people in the U.K. consumed 1,800 tonnes of Manuka honey. That total is significantly less than the 10,000 tonnes consumed worldwide, but U.K. consumption was still greater than the reported amount of authentic Manuka honey produced: 1,700 tonnes. That math means that the majority of all Manuka honey sold is not genuine.

Recommended: How To Heal Your Gut

The organization behind those numbers, the Unique Manuka Factor Honey Administration Factor (UMFHA), has since introduced a Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) certification for Manuka honey. The grading system has been called into question, as the UMFHA is a paid membership trade association. There is also the MGO developed by professor Thomas Henle and used primarily by New Zealand based company Manuka Health. The KFactor grading system has been developed by the Wedderspoon company. These are not independent rating systems, and until recently that didn’t even matter. The New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) only introduced the science-based definition of Manuka honey in 2018, leaving companies free to choose their own authentication methods prior to that decision.

Regulation and Reality

This is the service that government food and regulatory agencies are designed for. Often, the alternative health world has with stories of the USDA and FDA’s incompetence, but those agencies are responsible for food recalls and the reason we have labels on our food in the first place. The biggest problems with these agencies arise when they become bought and paid for, putting corporate profits and big business over the public, or when the agency is unable to keep up with the market. For instance, the U.S. regulating agencies still see no problems with Roundup – despite much evidence to the contrary.

Research is the reality of being a consumer in today’s world. We spend hours looking for the best possible product and hours looking into where it’s from and the history of the manufacturer. Yet today’s world has also gifted us that opportunity. You used to have to take their word for it.

Sources:

First Major Pharmaceutical Company, Former Executives, Charged Criminally For Opioid Scandal

New York City indicted Rochester Drug Co-Operative, Laurence Doud III, and William Pietruszewski, on Tuesday. Doud is the retired CEO of the Rochester Drug Co-Operative. William Pietruszewski is the company’s former chief of compliance. NPR reports they are being charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled narcotics — oxycodone and fentanyl — for non-medical reasons and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The Rochester company and Pietruszewski are also charged failing to file suspicious order reports to the DEA.

Though Rochester Drug Co-Operative Inc. is one of the nation’s 10 largest pharmaceutical distributors in the U.S. But the company is small compared to the big players in the opioid scandal like Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and Johnson & Johnson.

Laurence Doud III was the CEO of the company and retired in 2017. Doud is being accused of encouraging his sales staff to bring in new customers with no questions asked, supplying pharmacies that the company knew were “illegally dispensing narcotics.”

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When Rochester’s largest customer went from buying 70,000 units of oxycodone per month in October 2012 to more than 200,000 units per month a year later, Doud had its back — overruling his own compliance officers and ordering that the pills keep flowing because it was a ‘big account,’ the indictment said.”

Fox 8 Cleveland

Doud is awaiting arraignment on two counts of conspiracy related to drug trafficking. His lawyer says Doud will be fighting the charges. Doud sued Rochester Drug Co-Operative last year claiming that the company was attempting to use him as a scapegoat for the regulatory tissues.

Recommended: Top Three Meat Producers Issue Multiple Recalls For Beef, Chicken Due to Metal, Plastic, Rubber, Wood Contamination

Between May 2012 and November 2016, the company received and filled over 1.5 million orders for controlled substances from its pharmacy customers. However, it reported only four suspicious orders to the DEA. According to the complaint, the company failed to report at least 2,000 suspicious orders.”

NPR

This prosecution is the first of its kind: executives of a pharmaceutical distributor and the distributor itself have been charged with drug trafficking, trafficking the same drugs that are fueling the opioid epidemic that is ravaging this country. Our Office will do everything in its power to combat this epidemic, from street-level dealers to the executives who illegally distribute drugs from their boardrooms.”

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman

Judge Rejected Antivax Lawsuit Over New York City’s Mandatory Measles Vaccination Order

Last Thursday a Brooklyn judge denied a petition that sought to eliminate New York City’s mandatory measles vaccination order.

An anonymous group of parents brought the lawsuit to court arguing that the order isn’t constitutional, but the judge sided with municipal health authorities.

The Judge is reported to have called the order “a rare but necessary step” to contain the worst measles outbreak to hit the city since 1991.

News organizations report that the outbreak has infected more than 300 people so far, with most of the infected being children from the Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn boroughs.

Parents are facing fines of $1,000 if they don’t vaccinate children of whom health officials say may have been exposed to the virus.

And the city wasted no time enforcing its upheld order. As the judge made his decision Thursday, city health officials doled out the first penalties to violators, according to the New York Times. Officials sent summonses to the parents of three children for failing to vaccinate the children even after city officials determined that they had been exposed to the dangerous viral illness.

Arstechnica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1PiR4PkCh0

In the U.S. at this time it’s not possible to get a measles vaccine without getting the Mumps and Rubella via the MMR vaccine. The MMRII is by Merek which is a live virus combination measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. There is also the ProQuad option also produced and distributed by Merck, which is a live virus combination measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMR-V) vaccine. Both products are produced and distributed by Merck.

Merek says both vaccines are safe to be given to children of age one year or older, but the New York order includes children six months or older to be vaccinated.

On the CDC’s website, under “Who Should Not Get MMR Vaccine?” the CDC lists the following:

Has any severe, life-threatening allergies. A person who has ever had a life-threatening allergic reaction after a dose of MMR vaccine, or has a severe allergy to any part of this vaccine, may be advised not to be vaccinated. Ask your health care provider if you want information about vaccine components.
Is pregnant, or thinks she might be pregnant. Pregnant women should wait to get MMR vaccine until after they are no longer pregnant. Women should avoid getting pregnant for at least 1 month after getting MMR vaccine.
Has a weakened immune system due to disease (such as cancer or HIV/AIDS) or medical treatments (such as radiation, immunotherapy, steroids, or chemotherapy).
Has a parent, brother, or sister with a history of immune system problems.
Has ever had a condition that makes them bruise or bleed easily.
Has recently had a blood transfusion or received other blood products. You might be advised to postpone MMR vaccination for 3 months or more.
Has tuberculosis.
Has gotten any other vaccines in the past 4 weeks. Live vaccines given too close together might not work as well.
Is not feeling well. A mild illness, such as a cold, is usually not a reason to postpone a vaccination. Someone who is moderately or severely ill should probably wait. Your doctor can advise you.

Young Cancer Patients Often Regret Initial Treatment Decisions

A small study reported that nearly one in four teens and young adults express regret about the initial treatment decisions made.

Researchers surveyed 203 cancer patients, ages 15 to 29, within six weeks of their diagnosis to ask about their decision-making preferences and experiences. They checked back with these young patients again after four months and one year to see if their feelings about treatment decisions changed over time.

Reuters

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The study reports that 58 percent of the patients wanted to be involved in deciding their treatment plan, and 51 percent wanted limited involvement from parents. The survey also reported that 24 percent regretted the treatment decisions they choose.

Source:

Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Patients’ Experiences With Treatment Decision-makin g

Top Three Meat Producers Issue Multiple Recalls For Beef, Chicken Due to Metal, Plastic, Rubber, Wood Contamination

On January 30th Tyson recalled 36,420 pounds of chicken nuggets due to potential rubber contamination.

A recall on 5-pound bags of “Tyson WHITE MEAT PANKO CHICKEN NUGGETS” that were produced on Nov. 26, 2018 and have a use-by date of Nov. 26, 2019 was issued after consumers complained of “extraneous material, specifically rubber” in the product, according to the press release.

Time

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp is owned by JBS S.A., a Brazillian company, which is the largest meat producer in the world. They also recalled about 60,000 pounds of chicken products due to possible rubber contamination.

The problem was discovered on Jan. 30, 2019 when the company was informed by Publix Super Markets’ employees about a consumer complaint regarding white rubber in the products.

USDA

Related: Foods Most Likely to Contain Glyphosate

On March 22 Tyson Foods recalled approximately 69,000 pounds of frozen, ready-to-eat chicken strips due to potential metal contamination.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said here late Thursday it had received two consumer complaints of extraneous material in Tyson’s chicken strips and that there were no reports of illnesses.

Tyson is recalling all its fully cooked buffalo-style chicken strip fritters, crispy chicken strips and chicken breast strip fritters, which have a use-before date of Nov. 30, 2019.

Reuters

On April 3 Tyson Foods recalled about 20,000 pounds of ready-to-eat beef patties due to plastic contamination.

A Tyson unit, AdvancePierre Foods, is recalling ‘fully cooked flame-broiled beef patties’ after two consumers complained about soft purple plastic in the product, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service said the USDA on Tuesday.

The USDA categorized the recall as ‘Class II’, which indicates a remote probability of adverse health consequences from the use of the product.

Reuters

Perdue Foods, reportedly the third-largest American producer of broilers (chickens raised for human consumption) has had a couple of recalls of its own.

Must Read: How To Heal Your Gut

On January 17th Perdue Foods LLC recalled their “Simplysmart Organics Gluten Free Chicken Nugget Products” because of potential “foreign matter contamination.”

The problem was discovered when the firm received three consumer complaints that wood was found in the product.

USDA

Then slightly more than a week later on Jan. 28, Perdue recalled more than 16,000 pounds of “Refrigerated Fun Shapes Chicken Breast Nuggets” due to “misbranding and undeclared allergens.”

Perdue Foods, LLC, a Bridgewater, Va. establishment, is recalling approximately 16,011 pounds of ready-to-eat (RTE) chicken nugget products due to misbranding and undeclared allergens, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today. The products contain milk, a known allergen, which is not declared on the product label.

USDA

That’s three recalls in four months so far this year for Tyson Foods, the world’s second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork. And that’s one recall by JBS S.A., a Brazillian company, the largest meat producer in the world. And there are two recalls for Perdue Foods, the third largest broiler chicken producer.

Tyson and Perdue are also known for poor treatment of their animals: