Was recently reading about a study the Dutch consumers union published back in January. They concluded that organic produce didn’t contain any more vitamins or minerals than conventionally grown stuff. While I’ve read a few reports that contradict that conclusion, my reaction is….so what?

While it would be nice if organic fruits and veggies had more nutrients, that’s not the reason why I buy them, and I would venture to guess it doesn’t rank #1 on most organic shoppers’ lists. The main focus when buying organically grown is not on getting more of the good stuff, it’s on getting less (hopefully none) of the bad stuff, i.e., poison, otherwise known as chemical pesticides. Apparently this study did not even address this fact. Talk about missing the point!

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Recent research has shown that acupuncture can provide a viable treatment for pain that has not responded to prescription drug medication. Also, in cases where drugs have worked, people are seeking out acupunture as a more natural solution. Regardless of whether the pain comes from arthritis, severe headaches (including migranes), back pain or joint pain, acupuncture can offer you the very real possibility of relief.

As you probably know, acupuncture is the insertion of very fine needles into the skin at certain points. This is thought to release pent up energy and allow it to once again begin flowing through the body freely. The practice of acupuncture originated in China, and practitioners believe that essential life energy ‘Qi’ (pronounced as Chi) flows through a persons body along invisible channels known as ‘Meridians’. It is thought that when a person’s life energy becomes blocked at certain points, it leads to the development of pain. The insertion of the needles allows the energy to once again flow freely to all parts of the body, thereby reducing the pain that they experience.

Acupuncture Arthritis Pain Treatment

Basically, arthritis is the inflammation of the body’s joints, ligaments, or tendons. Some people may have a mild form of arthritis consisting of mild joint stiffness, while others suffer more crippling effects. Normally arthritis is more severe when a person rises in the morning. There are different forms of arthritis such as rheumatoid, osteoarthritis, and gout, which can cause unimaginable pain to those suffering from them.

Acupuncture treatment can usually reduce the pain that the arthritis sufferer is feeling within 3-4 sessions. Normally 4 to 10 needles are inserted into the skin and the patient is then made to relax for between 30 to 40 minutes to allow the treatment to work. The needles are inserted into points on the body which lie along the meridian lines overlying a persons muscles or other tissues in the body, but never into spinal cord, brain, chest, blood vessels, abdominal organs, arteries or veins.

Full article about acupuncture for pain

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A strain of genetically engineered rice which contaminated the US rice supply this summer has just been approved by the US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA). The GE rice apparently escaped from Bayer CropScience’s test plots after the company decided to abandon the project in 2001.

Once the contamination became known, countries around the world closed their borders to rice imports from the US, sending rice prices plummeting. Farmers have filed a class action lawsuit against Bayer.

The USDA disregarded 15,000 comments from the public opposing the approval. Only 350 comments in favor were received. While most critics agree the rice is safe to eat, the ad-hoc approval sends a message from the USDA to the biotechnology industry - ‘Should you happen to break the rules and contaminate the food supply with your untested GE crops, don’t worry about it - we’ll fix it for you’.

With an regulatory attitude like that, it’s only a matter of time before one of these crops (sometimes referred to as ‘Frankenfoods’) contaminates our food supply with serious consequences. While nobody can predict what would happen with any certainty (which is the VERY best reason to increase regulation) some experts have suggested that engineered crops might contaminate the food supply with drugs, kill beneficial insects, or jeopardize valuable natural resources like Bt toxins. Steps have to be taken to provide stronger federal oversight to prevent our food supply from contamination. Once these crops get out, there’s no putting them back in the box.

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Following up on yesterday’s post regarding the contamination of the US rice supply by an unapproved genetically engineered rice, here’s a quote from ‘Food Safety Now!’, the Autumn 2006 newsletter of The Center for Food Safety.

‘The rice contamination is but one in a string of incidents putting USDA’s ability to regulate and properly oversee GE crops under scrutiny. In December of 2005, the USDA’s own Inspector General issued a scathing report detailing numerous violations of agency rules in regulating genetically engineered crop field trials. USDA officials did not know the locations of many field trials it was charged with regulating, and did not conduct required inspections of others. As recently as August, a federal district judge in Hawaii ruled that USDA violated two federal laws in granting permits to grow experimental drug-producing genetically engineered crops in Hawaii. In his decision, the judge said USDA acted in “utter disregard” of the Endangered Species Act.’

US food safety authorities have taken no action to protect consumers or farmers from the boitech industry’s contamination threats. To read more from The Center for Food Safety, head on over to their website.

Technorati Tags: health, nutrition, food safety, food contamination, frankenfoods, genetically engineered crops, pharma crops, USDA