Water fluoridation banned in Muskoka

From Collective Evolution:

“The district of Muskoka, Ontario is home to about 60,000 and is a hot spot for Toronto resident cottages. On Monday October 21st, the district voted during a council meeting to end the practice of water fluoridation. With a vote of 10-9 in favor of ending the practice. Muskoka joined a long list of cities ending the detrimental practice of water fluoridation. It is projected that the city will save about $50,000 per year by ending water fluoridation. [1]

Growing awareness about  the dangers of water fluoridation lends a hand to the success we continue to see all over the world with regards to fluoride being removed from the water supplies. Israel, Australia, Canada and the U.S. all feature a number of cities who recently joined, virtually the rest of the world, in removing fluoride from public water.

From cellphones to Fukushima — subnature and spiritual science

Click image to go to Fermi 3 for the source of this and other nuclear cartoons.

“We’ve got 3 reactors, the cores have left the vessel. They’ve burned through the bottom of the vessel. We don’t really know where they are, because the radioactive environment even fries robots that TEPCO’s been trying to send in there. They have been sending very innovative robotic machinery and sensors in there to get a picture, to get a reading, and these things don’t return. We have opened a door to hell that cannot be easily closed – if ever….” — William Boardman, on Reader Supported News.

Although it’s not covered much in the mainstream news, public interest in the problem of continued and possibly increasing radioactive leakage from TEPCO’s Fukushima nuclear disaster has brought a lot of searchers to the Bovine to read past stories we’ve posted on the subject. And of course it’s depressing to just post news of terrible disasters like Fukushima. One has to wonder whether there isn’t something that could be done to improve the situation, rather than just waiting for the released radiation to kill all life in the Pacific ocean, and rain down over North America.

Food police in Manitoba schools are “puttin’ on the Ritz”, fining parents

From Weighty Matters blog:

Everyone knows that Ritz crackers are an excellent source of nutritional grains. Well, everyone in Canada at least. Photo via the Weighty Matters blog.

“It’s quite possible that the single stupidest school lunch policy on the planet comes courtesy of a strange interpretation of the Manitoba Government’s Early Learning and Child Care lunch regulations (an earlier version of this article incorrectly pointed at the Manitoba Child Care Association as the source of the strangely interpreted policy).

Apparently if a child’s lunch is deemed “unbalanced“, where “balance” refers to ensuring that a lunch conforms to the proportions of food groups as laid out by Canada’s awful Food Guide, then that child’s lunch is “supplemented“, and their parent is fined.

Blog reader Kristen Bartkiw received just such a fine.

More than one way to destroy enzymes

From David E. Gumpert on the Complete Patient blog:

“So I was curious to read a lengthy article in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, “How Much for Salad in  a Bottle?”, about the new “raw” juices that have appeared. Most of the article was about how carrying around the new juices has become a status symbol. It also marveled that such an expensive product has grown significantly in popularity, and attractiveness to the big food companies. The important stuff, right? One of the companies, BluePrint, was quoted saying it had $20 million sales last year, and was acquired by Hain Celestial Group. Another, Evolution Fresh, was acquired by Starbucks Coffee Co. for $30 million. 

In fact, the article never got to the regulatory part I was wondering about. But there was a paragraph near the end of the article that caught my eye. “To extend shelf life, some companies, including Suja, BluePrint, and Evolution Fresh, have turned to a process often called High Pressure Processing (HPP), which inactivates most microorganisms (emphasis added) while retaining natural freshness. HPP, also used to preserve guacamole and ready-to-eat meats, subject the food to intense pressure of thousands of pounds a square inch.”

Michael Schmidt and Montana Jones court proceedings postponed again

On Nov. 15, Montana Jones posted the following message on her FB page:

Counting sheep — Photo from Montana Jones

“NO COURT this Mon or Tues. for Michael Schmidt or myself — BUMPED again by our juducial system. Thanks to all who were coming out to support…I will post update as soon as we are given a new date. Thanks everyone!”

A week earlier, on Nov. 7th, she had posted:

BC E-coli case tied to raw milk cheese

From Randy Shore, at the Vancouver Sun:

“With one person dead and 10 ill, others who ate cheese from an artisan dairy in Salmon Arm are nervous.

While investigators try to pin down the cause of a fatal E. coli outbreak at the dairy, Iain Ilich is wondering whether he, his wife and 13-month-old daughter are going to fall ill.

Ilich purchased several cheeses at Gort’s Gouda Cheese Farm while travelling through the Interior about a month ago.

“I’ve got some smoked Gouda, peppercorn Gouda and Gouda with cumin seed in the fridge,” said Ilich, a communications specialist in Calgary. “I’ve eaten it, my dad has eaten it and I’m particularly concerned because my wife and my daughter have eaten it as well.”

Industry wants federal law to prohibit state-level GMO labeling legislation

From Michele Simon on Civil Eats:

“With the disappointing results now in from I-522, the initiative in Washington State that would have required labeling of genetically-engineered food (aka GMOs), the looming question is, what’s next? At least for the junk food lobby, that answer in painfully clear: stop this state-level movement at any cost. In today’s New York Times, Stephanie Strom reports on the dirty details contained in industry documents that I obtained from the Washington State attorney general’s office in the wake of a lawsuit brought against the Grocery Manufacturers Association for illegally concealing donors to the No on 522 campaign.

As I explained back in February, the food industry’s ultimate game plan to stop the bleeding in the state-by-state onslaught of GMO labeling efforts is to lobby for a weak federal law that simultaneously preempts or trumps any state-level policy. While we have known that industry would want to put an end to the public relations nightmare happening state by state, this document for the first time reveals the lobbyists’ specific strategy.

Nuclear Transformation of the WHO

Food for thought, re Fukushima: From Mikkai, on the blog by Jan Hemmer:

“In the report which it submitted to the WHO in 1958, the study group on the mental health issues raised by the use of atomic energy stated that the most satisfactory solution for the future peaceful use of atomic energy would be for a new generation that had learned to accept ignorance and uncertainty as a fact of life to emerge.”

“Is the Commission not concerned at this flagrant collusion between two international institutions, with WHO reports being subjected to censure by the IAEA, which is intrinsically pro-nuclear?

Hospital backing out in case of 10 yr old Amish girl forced to undergo chemo?

From David Michael on  the Journal of Natural Food and Health:

“Akron Children’s Hospital (ACH) wants to back out of their involvement with the Sarah Hershberger forced-chemo case according to two reports received by the Journal from family friends at the courthouse. This was the result of yesterday’s conference with Maria Schimer and Hershberger’s attorney with the probate judge who was quoted as saying ACH wants to back out. It is not surprising the hospital may be wanting out.

Food rights attorney detained in LA

From Peace News Now:

“Around 8am this morning, Attorney Ajna Sharma-Wilson was detained without explanation on a Frontier Airlines flight in LA. She is a lawyer who plays a critical role in defending the rights of people to consume and procure the foods of their choice. Fortunately, Ajna recorded the interaction. In the audio, which was recorded by her smartphone, Ajna can be heard asking all the right questions.

She asks the names of all involved, though they are reluctant to answer, and says, quote, “Please repeat what you said to me.” She also asks a nearby passenger to write down his phone number so that she may call him as a witness.