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Patti Petersen's avatar

Your rant is mine. I despise the FDA. Big Pharma is the biggest crooked partner with the FDA followed by big ag. I lost a good friend around 15 years ago due to my rant on Monsanto. She works for the Michigan State University Agricultural department. We argued for about a year and finally I put her on mute. She doesn't utter a word today. What the greed, power, and incentives to keep us in the dark and sick is enough to cause a civil war on the government not protecting us. The bottom line is we not only must be mindful but on guard every single step of the way moving forward. These guys don't play around when it comes to profits and bonuses. They'll find other ways to hurt us... recently my favorite 'organic' free of chemicals chocolate bar (Lily) was found to have a chemical that causes strokes. Seriously? Does anyone care about us at all?

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Andrea Hoffmann's avatar

No! Not Lily!

Agree. It’s diabolical. Monsanto is the evil empire. What they’ve done to family farms is a disgrace. And the fact that we keep selling off farm land to foreign entities or more big baddies is crazy.

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Stephen Beck Marcotte's avatar

Awesome title. It’s totally going to happen. All I can say is lots of progress is being made on this and balancing earth’s budgets (synergistically) but it’s all in slow motion. Everybody knows food and water are more important than shelter. Dirigo

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Henny Hiemenz's avatar

Maddening, all of it.

Let’s see if I can make it worse: how about all of the poor animals (like our beagle Maverick) that are bred to be tortured and killed for this shit?

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Brooke Craig's avatar

I am so with you, Andrea! And I agree with the political nonsense - I feel like to have to distinguish my desire for lowering my toxic chemical load and wanting real food as being closer to a 60’s hippie than subscribing to the current wacko politician’s beliefs.

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Andrea Hoffmann's avatar

It should be so apolitical. We ALL need fewer chemicals. Why can’t we put the infighting aside and fight the organizations and lobbies killing us?

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Juli Young's avatar

Wow! I almost stood up and started clapping after reading this. Fantastic rant! The choir (me!) said "Amen!"

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Ellen Kanner's avatar

DIY salad dressing -- it's cheaper and easier. Start with olive oil. Add a splash of lemon juice or a vinegar you love. Add some herbs if you've a mind to. Give it a shake or a stir and you're good to go. This does not make everything better. But it's a start.

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Andrea Hoffmann's avatar

I do this. I have several good recipes including one with tahini, but every now and then, I wish I could just buy something that wasn’t shite!

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Author John G. Dyer's avatar

Umm ... are milk chocolate caramel pecan flipovers safe to eat? Asking for a friend.

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Becky M's avatar

I had this same rant this week after not being able to find a single container of cream or cottage cheese without added stuff. No dairies around me anymore because every inch of Utah has replaced orchards and farm land with apartments and subdivisions.

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Becky M's avatar

Exactly! How ridiculous to not be able to get real food anywhere.

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Andrea Hoffmann's avatar

Good luck to us. Xantham gum and every other stabilizer in EVERY damn thing. So frustrating. I can't find a decent butcher. Forget about fish. It shouldn't be this hard.

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

I am on your page. Great article. Come ova for dinner. I buy only organic, grass fed, etc. I haven’t eaten gluten, dairy, corn, soy or processed sugar in 10 years. Not by choice but because of reactions.

Skin care— I once read that the FDA bans like 15 chemicals from ingredients but Europe bans over 1200 chemicals.

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Andrea Hoffmann's avatar

11.

It’s bananas.

Point is, it’s impossibly rare to find a way to discuss this that doesn’t devolve into political crap.

It shouldn’t be political!

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