| Monday, January 16, 2006 |  |
| What do advertising and nerve cell damage have in common? | 1 comment |
 16 Jan 2006 @ 18:22Put two and two together..... ------------------------------------------------- School districts across the U.S. are responding to government funding cutbacks by beginning the sale of ad space on school buses. For participating districts, banners on the outsides and insides of buses carry ads for everything from soda to pizza to banks. The debate over the issue has become quite contentious among parents and school administrators. "I'm sending my child to school to learn, not to be sold junk food," says Denver parent Melissa Hart. Although only a handful of school districts have begun the practice, they're each reporting an average of half a million dollars per year in ad revenues. JUNK FOOD ADDITIVES STOP NERVE CELL GROWTH Mixing common additives, such as aspartame an artificial sweetener, Brilliant Blue, Quinoline Yellow or monosodium glutamate (MSG) causes nerve cell damage, say researchers at the University of Liverpool. The results from a two-year study were recently published in the journal Toxicological Sciences. The researchers found the additives were much more potent in combination with each other than on their own. Mice were exposed to concentrations of additive combinations relative to what a child would receive in an average snack and drink. Researchers were surprised to see the additives interfered with nerve signaling systems and actually stopped the nerve cells from growing. Aspartame is commonly found in diet drinks, candies and flavored medicines, while MSG is frequently found in chips, processed cheese and many processed foods. More > |
| CALIFORNIA COULD BE FIRST US STATE TO RETURN TO INDUSTRIAL HEMP FARMING | 2 comments |
 16 Jan 2006 @ 18:15CALIFORNIA COULD BE FIRST US STATE TO RETURN TO INDUSTRIAL HEMP FARMING A bill in the California Assembly could bring traditional hemp farming back to the United States. Although industrial hemp is commonly used for making products in the U.S., it cannot be legally grown by domestic farmers. These laws contrast early America when farmers were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic, due to the plant's versatility. Often confused with marijuana, industrial hemp is actually a very different plant and contains insignificant levels of THC (tetrahyrdocannabinol), the chemical in marijuana that results in psychotropic effects. Industrial hemp, which can be grown easily without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, can be used to make paper, textiles, bio-fuel, nutrition supplements and fiberboards. Hemp fields clean the air and the soil, and hemp products can be recycled and composted. Industrial hemp production has been illegal in California since 1972. Now there is a bill that would let farmers grow the hemp that is currently imported from other countries. AB 1147, the California Industrial Hemp Farming Act, must pass out of the Assembly by the end of January in order to be considered by the Senate. If you are a California resident, please take action now: http://www.organicconsumers.org/cahemp.htm More > |