What I once viewed as groundbreaking reporting and a good thing has now turned to mush:
"Some baby food may contain toxic metals, US reports" by Roni Caryn Rabin New York Times, February 4, 2021
Ingredients in many baby foods, including some organic fare, are contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and cadmium at levels that are far higher than those allowed in products such as bottled water, congressional investigators said Thursday.
That explains a lot of what has happened to our kids, but I suspect there is something nefarious underneath the report. Think about it: under the guise of protecting us, the government or the companies will recall the body food, leaving infants hungry and possibly starving to death.
I'm sorry to say that, and in the past it would never have occurred top me; however, we are from there and have been for about a year now.
Their report underscored the federal government’s persistently lax approach to overseeing the safety of baby food, some experts said, despite clear risks to infants and toddlers. Exposure to heavy metals in particular has been linked to behavioral impairments, brain damage, and even death.
“This is an endemic problem that’s been swept under the rug and never addressed,” said Tracey Woodruff, director of the program on reproductive health and the environment at the University of California San Francisco, who was not involved in the preparation of the congressional report.
“It speaks to the many areas that we need government to be active in,” she added. “Consumers can’t figure it out on their own.”
I threw my hands up before beginning to type.
Yeah, government needs to get active in protecting the safety of the baby food supply as they jab untested and experimental vaccines into your arms.
This has become so diabolically evil it is madness, and the whole narrative is playing out as I said.
The report, by a subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, drew on data from four companies that responded to requests for information about testing policies and test results regarding their products.
Investigators reserved their harshest criticism for three other companies that did not provide the requested information: Walmart, which sells Parents’ Choice and Parent’s Choice Organic products; Sprout Organic Foods; and Campbell Soup Co., maker of Plum Organics baby foods.
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat, who is chairman of the subcommittee, said the failure to provide the requested information “raises the concern that perhaps they have evidence of even higher metallic content in their baby foods, compared to their competitors.”
Representatives of Walmart and Campbell Soup disputed the characterization, saying the companies had responded to requests for information, although they acknowledged they did not provide testing data. Sprout did not respond to a request for comment.
The Food and Drug Administration does not set limits on heavy metals specifically for baby foods, except for arsenic in rice cereal. The agency does regulate lead in bottled water, juice, and candy, and limits arsenic and cadmium in bottled water, as well.
The agency “has been AWOL” and has “completely put its head in the sand and not done anything to regulate the industry,” Krishnamoorthi said. He plans to introduce legislation to tighten regulatory oversight of baby food, he added.
They are the GOLD STANDARD of APPROVAL when it comes to VACCINES, and Biden has a lot to answer for after Flint and Newark!
Related:
Palestinian children wait in line while holding pots to receive free meals of green pea stew cooked by Samera Abu Amra, unseen, for distribution to poor residents in Gaza City, Feb. 4, 2021. Amra cooks the meals with money sent by benefactors to help feed the poor as poverty and unemployment rates in Gaza hover around 50% (AP Photo/Adel Hana).
How long before there are American kids doing that?
Also see:
"Israel quickly became the world leader in vaccinating its population against Covid-19, but almost all Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank are still waiting for their first doses of the inoculation. That disparity has set off a roiling debate about Israel’s responsibilities as an occupying power in one of the world’s most protracted territorial feuds. To Israel’s critics, international law obligates Israel to give Palestinians access to vaccines comparable to what it offers its own citizens, but supporters of Israel’s policies contend that the Palestinians assumed responsibility for health services for their population when they signed the Oslo Accords in the 1990s. While the Palestinians’ glaring vulnerability to the virus lessened somewhat this week — the Palestinian Authority officially launched a vaccination campaign by giving frontline medical workers doses received from Israel — the contrast with Israel remains striking. The disparity also reflects in part the stark inequality in access to vaccines between rich countries like Israel and other areas of the developing world. It remains unclear precisely when the roughly two million Palestinians in Gaza, the blockaded enclave controlled by the militant anti-Israel group Hamas, will begin to receive vaccinations. For the small number of Palestinian doctors and nurses who received vaccines on Wednesday, it was a moment of relief. The Palestinians received their first substantial shipment of vaccines this past Monday when Israel gave the Palestinian Authority 2,000 Moderna doses — a measure the Israeli government approved after public health experts had recommended it. Israeli officials said they intend to hand over an additional 3,000 doses. The Palestinians received 10,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine on Thursday. They expect to receive 37,440 Pfizer doses in February and hundreds of thousands of AstraZeneca doses in either late February or early March through the global-sharing initiative Covax, according to Gerald Rockenschaub, the head of the World Health Organization’s mission to the Palestinians. An additional two million doses of AstraZeneca are slated to arrive throughout March, Palestinian officials said....."
Of course, there are those Israelis who are also opposed to inoculations and lockdowns and the Palestinians should be thankful for once regarding Israel's denial of service.
An FDA spokesperson said that the agency had been working toward reducing toxins in foods, and that setting the limit on inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal was the first step toward doing so, though the limit has been criticized by expert groups as too high.
The agency also has cautioned parents that rice cereal does not need to be an infant’s introduction to solid foods and that they should not rely on it excessively, and should provide a varied grain diet.
Companies rarely test baby food for contaminants before sending the jars to retail shelves. Two companies that did so — Nurture, which makes Happy Family Organics products, and Hain Celestial, which produces Earth’s Best Organic foods — found inorganic arsenic at levels exceeding 100 parts per billion, the limit proposed by the FDA for infant rice cereal in 2016 and formally adopted last year.
Nurture appeared to disregard its own internal “goal threshold” of 100 ppb for arsenic in snacks called “puffs,” which exceeded that limit.
Gemma Hart, a spokesperson for Nurture, said that Happy Family products were safe and that the metals, which are naturally found in soil and water, were present only in “trace amounts.”
While heavy metals do occur naturally in some grains and vegetables, the amounts may be increased when food manufacturers add other ingredients to baby food, such as enzymes and vitamin and mineral mixes that are heavily tainted with metals, the report said. Manufacturers rarely test ingredients for mercury.
Who knows what is the food, and I haven't trusted it in years, not since the heavy introduction of chemicals, pesticides, and GMOs.
Investigators also described what they called a “secret” industry presentation to the FDA on Aug. 1, 2019. Representatives of Hain told regulators that testing only individual ingredients in baby food led to an underestimate of the content of heavy metals in the final product.
For example, inorganic arsenic ranged from 28 percent to 93 percent higher in Hain’s finished baby food than had been estimated by tests of the individual ingredients. Half of its brown rice products exceeded 100 parts per billion, according to the report.
The company did not respond to requests for comment.
Beech-Nut, which used ingredients with high levels of arsenic to improve qualities such as “crumb softness” in some products, set very liberal thresholds for arsenic and cadmium in its additives, according to the report.
In a statement, Beech-Nut Nutrition did not address the specific amounts but sought to reassure parents that the company had “rigorous testing protocols and strict standards in place.”
That was when the print edition started spitting up as the web version rammed more down your throat:
“No level of exposure to these metals has been shown to be safe in vulnerable infants,” said Linda McCauley, dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, who studies environmental health effects. Exposure from several sources can lead to cumulative effects that are dangerous to infants, she added.....
Like taking candy from a baby:
"Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Baker administration is increasing the temporary capacity limits for a variety of businesses such as restaurants, stores, and gyms. The state Department of Public Health informed cities and towns on Thursday that the 25 percent capacity restrictions, put in place after Christmas, would be increased to 40 percent on Monday because of recent improvements in COVID-19 data. “We know that these restrictions have been and continue to be enormously difficult for large and small businesses, their employees, and for individuals everywhere,” Governor Charlie Baker said, “but we’re making progress in this battle against COVID and everyone’s hard work and preparation is now making it possible for us to continue to step back to what we might call a new normal.” Marc Draisen, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Draisen said he was stunned by the decision, saying it’s too soon to ease up on restrictions given how many people are still dying. “Every time you loosen restrictions, you send a message to the public that it’s OK to be less careful,” Draisen said. “People are understandably fatigued. They’re tired. They’re homebound. They see the vaccine is coming. They interpret these changes that it’s OK to spend more time mingling with people outside of your home, and it isn’t.” Separately, Baker announced another round of small-business relief grants, issued through the quasi-public Massachusetts Growth Capital Corp......"
He doesn't have to worry, I'm not so there will be no need for a shot.
Table for two?
"Restaurateurs cautiously celebrate increased capacity limits; Several said the move gives them a greater chance of surviving until outdoor dining returns" by Diti Kohli Globe Correspondent, February 4, 2021
Because of a statewide increase in capacity limits for select businesses, restaurants across Massachusetts will be allowed to fill 40 percent — rather than 25 percent — of their seats this Valentine’s Day, and some restaurant owners are saying that modest boost will go a long way toward helping them make it through the winter.
“Thank God,” Table owner Jen Royle said. “I figured they’d go to 50, but 40 is good.”
The move means places like restaurants, stores, and gyms can accommodate more people starting Monday at 5 a.m. It’s an incremental change from restrictions enacted after Christmas, when a surge of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths crushed the state.
Governor Charlie Baker said the new limits, announced Thursday, were prompted by recent improvements in virus data.
Several restaurant owners said the increased seating allowances, coupled with the end of the 9:30 p.m. curfew two weeks ago, gives restaurants a greater chance of surviving until outdoor dining returns.
Since the pandemic began, more than 3,400 restaurants in the state have closed permanently, according to the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.
For Royle, being able to seat even just a few more diners is a “total game changer,” she said.
The timing of the announcement is particularly serendipitous close to Valentine’s Day, when restaurants are seating mostly one couple per table.....
They are just jerking us off, and that's the outfit you are going to wear?
Time for brunch and to say grace:
"Biden, at prayer breakfast, calls out ‘political extremism’" by Elana Schor and Will Weissert Associated Press February 4 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday called for a confrontation of the “political extremism” that inspired the U.S. Capitol riot and appealed for collective strength during such turbulent times in remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, a Washington tradition that asks political combatants to set aside their differences for one morning.
The breakfast has sparked controversy in the past, particularly when President Donald Trump used last year’s installment to slam his political opponents and question their faith. Some liberals have viewed the event warily because of the conservative faith-based group that is behind it.
Still, Biden campaigned for the White House as someone who could unify Americans, and the breakfast gave the nation’s second Catholic president a chance to talk about his vision of faith as a force for good.
“For so many in our nation, this is a dark, dark time,” Biden told those watching the event. “So where do we turn? Faith.”
Many in Washington are still navigating the aftermath of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last month, which Biden alluded to in his remarks Thursday, referencing the “political extremism” that propelled the siege. Trump faces an unprecedented second impeachment trial in the Senate next week over his role in inciting the riot.
The breakfast has drawn pushback from gay and civil rights activists since President Barack Obama’s administration, with much of the opposition focused on the Fellowship Foundation, the conservative faith-based organization that has long supported the event.
Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, agreed that “there are far better ways” than the breakfast for Biden to connect with people on the basis of shared spiritual beliefs.
“We would love to work with the administration to figure out a way to change the sponsorship of an event like this and to make it a place for Americans of all different religious beliefs,” Laser said, yet Democratic leaders, aware of Biden’s devout Catholic faith and calls for healing, have largely refrained from public comment on the event this year. Pelosi, D-Calif., taped her own message to the event on Thursday morning.....
At that point I puked it all up.
