Conscious Consumer

Corporations Against GMO Food Labeling

These companies are fighting labelling initiatives of genetically engineered ingredients in food by collectively spending millions to create misleading messages in the media. Why? Cheap suspect ingredients resulting in enormous profits is a good place to start. Most consumers are totally unaware that they are purchasing food laced with pesticide residue or include genetically modified …

Glyphosate Takes Another Hit

Early in 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the research arm of the World Health Organization (WHO), determined glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, was to be listed a “probable carcinogen” (Class 2A). The recommendation was based on evidence showing the popular weed killer was linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and …

The Dirtiest Fruit in Your Supermarket

After five years of topping the list, apples have officially been dethroned as the most pesticide-loaded produce. The new fruit that tops the Environmental Working Group’s list of the “Dirty Dozen” — strawberries. One of Nature’s most potent packages of health-defending antioxidants, this sad news is not only maddening, it demonstrates, once again, the danger …

Europe Bans Two Endocrine-Disrupting Weedkillers

The European Commission has ordered a ground-breaking moratorium on two endocrine-disrupting weedkillers that have been linked to thyroid cancer, infertility, reproductive problems and foetal malformations. Use of Amitrole and Isoproturon will now be banned from September 30 across Europe, after an EU committee voted unanimously for the first ever ban on endocrine-disrupting herbicides. Endocrine disruptors …

Say No To GMO Salmon

The line between genetically engineered fodder and natural food is once again being blurred thanks to the Canadian government. Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency rammed through approval of genetically modified salmon without public consultation or assessment of the potential effects of GM fish escaping into the wild. And, once the transgenic fish …

Make Mine Well Done

Next time you chow down on that juicy burger grilled on your trusty barby or when ordering your fave from a local drive-thru, better make sure that burger is well-done — really well done. For decades, Health Canada advised consumers to cook ground beef to 71 °C (159.8 °F). That was suppose to be the …

Water Grab

Giant Nestle is playing hardball with common heritage resources again. Last week the multinational outbid a small, but growing community in Ontario for a well near Elora. The community needed a safe source of clean drinking water; the corporation needed a “supplemental well for future business growth”. Nestle already extracts up to 3.6 million litres …

GLYPHOSATE ACCUMULATES IN ROUNDUP READY GM SOY

A 2014 study in Food Chemistry shows high levels of glyphosate—the active weed-killing chemical in Monsanto’s Roundup—are turning up in thousands of nonorganic packaged foods including those labelled ‘natural’ and in animal feed for livestock like pigs, cows, chickens, and turkeys. BT Soy is the second largest crop in the US after BT corn. According …