It may be no coincidence that the rice found most contaminated with arsenic originated from some of the top poultry producing states such as Arkansas, Texas, and Missouri. Earlier this year, researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health found levels of arsenic in chicken feather meal up to 100 times that found in apple juice by Dr. Oz last year and 10 times that just found in rice.

Feather meal is made from the billion pounds of feathers plucked from chicken carcasses annually (sometimes with heads, guts, manure, and feet thrown in to increase protein and mineral content) and is fed to farmed fish, pigs, poultry, and cattle and to fertilize conventional and organic crops.

Chicken manure is also used directly as feed and fertilizer and has been found to significantly increase arsenic levels in the soil.

Some of the arsenic in apple juice and rice may be from the use of arsenic-containing pesticides, but how did arsenic get into the chickens? The poultry industry fed it to them. …read more of How Much Arsenic In Rice Came From Chickens? here

Industrialized animal production has had a dramatic impact on society, human health and the environment.

Modern animal husbandry is a major factor in water pollution, contributing animal waste, antibiotics, hormones and a witch’s brew of chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and pesticides from feed crops.

In the final decades of the twentieth century, almost five million family farms were replaced by large-scale manufacturing operations.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency these concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) confine thousands of animals in a single facility and generate a staggering 300 million tons of waste annually. …read more of Factory Farming, Unnatural, Unhealthy and Unsustainable here

In announcing the detection of a new case of mad cow disease in California, the USDA emphasized that her carcass never made it into the food supply. The fact that the infected animal was a dairy cow, though, raises the question about the disposition of her milk.

While, currently there is no direct evidence that cow’s milk poses any mad cow risk, when it comes to this mysterious class of diseases, we have learned time and time again that absence of evidence of risk, does not equal evidence of absence of risk.

The USDA flatly declared that milk does not transmit mad cow disease, but that’s what we used to think about scrapie, the parallel disease in sheep.

Research in the last five years unequivocally demonstrated that milk could indeed become contaminated with prions, which are the infectious proteins that cause these transmissible sponge-like (spongiform) brain diseases (encephalopathies). …read more of Mad Cow California – Is the Milk Supply Safe? here

Rooibos (roi-bus) tea, also known as African Red Bush, or Red Tea is an herbal tea known for its smooth, sweet, slightly nutty flavor and distinctive aroma.

Grown exclusively in a small region of South Africa, rooibos tea has been gaining popularity in Europe and North America for its health benefits in recent years.

Rooibos tea is thought to alleviate the symptoms of various digestive problems, nervous tension and allergies and to promote healthy skin, teeth and bones. …read more of Red Bush Tea Goes Green here

Hemp is not marijuana and before the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, had a long and distinguished history in America. Industrial hemp is grown from non-psychoactive strains of the Cannabis plant and consuming hemp products will not get you high.

Products made from hemp fiber include paper, textiles, bioplastics, construction materials, kitty litter and fuel.

The first American flag was made from hemp, which was a staple crop in the U.S. from the 1600s to the 1850s. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Henry Ford were all engaged in commercial hemp production. …read more of Hope for Hemp here