Organic Answers Column – July 26, 2023 – Health Issues
Unusual Health Issues
Ever wondered why so many young athletes are having health problems like cardiovascular issues? A new study on glyphosate (used in products Like Round-Up) has been published and may offer a reason.
Environmental Health Perspectives (March 2023) researchers have found that childhood exposure to glyphosate and its breakdown products (AMPA) may increase risk of liver disease and cardiovascular disorders in early adulthood. As you probably know, many of our schools regularly spray everything from playgrounds, walkways, fence lines, and ball fields with this herbicide. Other toxic products are used as well. This is one of the many reasons to grow your own fruits and vegetables organically or at least buy local organic produce and pasture raised meats.
“The chemicals titanium dioxide, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, red dye No. 3, and propylparaben are estrogen disrupters in women, lower sperm counts in men, cause cancer in animals and humans, disrupt our gut microbes, damages our central nervous system, cause a loss of memory and muscle coordination, and are linked to hyperactivity in children.”
Some of these chemicals have been banned in Europe but are allowed hereby the FDA. California lawmakers have introduced a bill to make it illegal to use these chemicals. “If enacted, the bill would prohibit the manufacture, sale and distribution of products containing these chemicals, such as Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, jellybeans, Pez candy, Campbell’s soup, and Trident gum to name a few.”
Fluoride is in the news again. A new report from the National Toxicology Program’s (NTP) Systematic Review of Fluoride’s Neurotoxicity was blocked by government officials and concealed from the public for over a year. The Fluoride Action Network filed a lawsuit against the EPA to ban the deliberate addition of fluoridating chemicals to U.S. drinking water. The court ordered the report to be released. The report showed out of 55 studies published in peer reviewed journals, 52 of them found that fluoride exposure was associated with a decrease in a child’s IQ.
A new study from Ohio State University has found a link between outdoor lighting in the evening and increased cases of the West Nile virus. It seems the light pollution changes the mosquito’s metabolism and extend their biting season increasing the transmittance of disease. Source – Journal Insects (2023)
I get lots of calls about poor pollination in vegetable gardens. A major problem today is lack of our pollinators like bumble bees. Besides organic methods eliminating the toxins and giving better results at lower cost, they also help protect the pollinators. It’s worth the effort to plant different kinds of flowering plants in the gardens. Comfrey and African blue basil are two must-adds to the mix. Adding flowering plants with many different colors, fragrances and bloom times with also help draw in other pollinators such as hover flies, leaf cutting bees, Mason bees, black soldier flies and others.
New studies have found that certain species of flowers can help pollinators resist disease infections, and that sunflowers are very effective at combating a common pathogen, Crithidia bombi that lives in a bumblebee’s bee’s gut. When bees were fed sunflower pollen, they experienced 87% fewer infections. They found that pollen from other members of the sunflower family like ragweed, cocklebur, dandelion, and dog fennel also helped bees fight infection.
Journals Functional Ecology (2023), and Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2023)
