Prism Webcast News

Dangerous Electromagnetic Fields, Nutritional Erosion, Clone Labelling & Stuffed & Starved

Sunday, October 7, 2007
Posted in Environment Genetic Engineering Health Organics PRISM NEWS PODCASTS Sustainability | Tagged Environment, Genetic Engineering, Health, Organics, PRISM NEWS PODCASTS, Sustainability

 

 Bioinitiative Report [12:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Food Nutrient Erosion [15:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 California Cloned Food Labelling [4:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Stuffed and Starved Interview with Raj Patel [16:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Interviews in this edition of Prism Webcast News:�

1. Dangers from Electromagnetic Fields
2. Food Nutrient Erosion
3. Cloned Animals Labelling in California
4. Stuffed & Starved - Markets Power and the Hidden Battle for the World Food System

1. The Dangers from Electromagnetic Fields

In a recent report the BioInitiative Working Group have warned that daily exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) is likely to be harmful to ones health. This international working group of scientists, researchers and public health policy professionals, has released its report on electromagnetic fields and health. In it they raise serious questions about the safety of existing public limits that regulate how much EMF is allowable from power lines, cell phones, cordless phones and many other sources of EMF exposure in daily life.

Public health expert and co-editor of the Report Dr. David Carpenter, Director, Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany, New York, says, “This report stands as a wake-up call that long-term exposure to some kinds of EMF may cause serious health effects. Good public health planning is needed now to prevent cancers and neurological diseases linked to exposure to power lines and other sources of EMF. We need to educate people and our decision-makers that �business as usual’ is unacceptable.”

I spoke with Dr. David Carpenter about the report and the dangers posed by electromagnetic fields. I started off by asking him why the Bioinitiative Working Group was established.

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2. Food Nutrient Erosion

Today’s conventional farmers raise more bushels of corn, pecks of apples, and kilos of broccoli from a given piece of land than they did decades ago. But those crops are often less nutritious, according to a new report released from The Organic Center, called “Still No Free Lunch: Nutrient levels in U.S. food supply eroded by pursuit of high yields.”

“Our crops are more abundant [i.e., per acre yields are higher], but they are also generally less nutritious,” said report author Brian Halweil, a senior researcher at the Worldwatch Institute and a member of the Organic Center’s scientific advisory board. Historical records from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that everyday fruits and vegetables-from collard greens to tomatoes to sweet corn-often have lower levels of some vitamins and less iron, calcium, zinc, and other micronutrients than they did 50 years ago.

“To get our recommended daily allowance of nutrients, we have to eat many more slices of bread today than people had to eat in the past. Less nutrition per calorie consumed affects consumers in much the same way as monetary inflation. That is, we have more food, but it’s worth less in terms of nutritional value.” said Halweil.

I started the interview by asking him about when he started doing the research for the report.

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3. Cloned Animals Labelling in California

The American Center for Food Safety (CFS) has applauded the California legislature for passing their country’s first law requiring labels on meat or dairy products produced from animal clones or their offspring. �The CFS report Not Ready for Prime Time was released in February 2007 and revealed that there is scant scientific evidence for the safety of food from clones, and that the technology is inherently cruel to animals. Nonetheless, the American federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it expects to approve the marketing of unlabeled food from clones before the end of this year.

I spoke to Charles Marguilis of the CFS about this new labelling law for cloned animal products and started off by asking what their research outlined in their report found about the dangers of cloned animal food.

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4. Stuffed & Starved - Raj Patel Author of New Book

In his new book “Stuffed & Starved - Markets Power and the Hidden Battle for the World Food System” Raj Patel gives an account of the global food system that ranges across GE �crops, fair trade, rising levels of obesity, unsafe food, super market rip offs and how it is possible to change this system.

As Raj points out “The hunger of 800 million happens at the same time as another historical first: that they are out-numbered by the one billion people on this planet who are overweight.”

Having attended his talk in Christchurch I decided to interview Raj and started off by asking him what his perspective is on the world food system and how it is operating at the moment.