This week, the Greenville Community Journal in the Jan.14, 2011 publication, posted two articles on page 14. The articles “Slow Food's Plan" just before "Don't Eat the Fish" create and interesting connection in being a conscious consumer.

The "Plan" refers to the current study underway by the board of Slow Food Upstate for the creation of an Earth Market, a type of Farmer’s Market that only accepts farm products that are guaranteed to be free of chemicals, steroids, growth hormones, Genetically Modified seed, pesticides, and other unnatural elements. Slow Food Upstate draws attention to matters that ultimately affect the food and water systems, and these two articles demonstrate the enormous need for soil and water conservation education, and education towards these matters is a major component of the proposed market hopefully will arrive in the spring on the grassy slope in front of the Michael McDunn Gallery on the corner of Rutherford Rd. and North Main St.

“Don’t Eat the Fish” describes a vital warning from DHEC and very sad picture of our lakes and rivers, contaminated by “Polychlorinated Biphenyls” more commonly called “PCB’s” a tasteless, odorless, dangerous substance that was used to make coolants, transformers, pesticide extenders, caulking, flame retardants, and carbonless copy or “NCR” paper and many other items before 1979 in the US.

Many species of fish in South Carolina have been made poisonous by PCB’s, made by our own hands, and by what we put in to the landfill, what we put into our shopping carts or purchased when we bought a home, or painted our decks. Even all those little self-copying shopping receipts have made it so that we can not enjoy a day of fishing in local waters. Then, we did not know, but now it is very difficult to change.

In the United States, commercial production of PCBs was taken over in 1929 by Monsanto Company from Swann Chemical Company. So many items were made with PCB’s that the landfills worldwide are full of these items, and which continue to affect our water and soil. Due to PCB's toxicity and classification as a persistent organic pollutant, PCB production was banned by the United States Congress in 1979 and by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001.

Although now banned, the years of use of PCB’s, which seemed at the time a great invention for mankind, saving the world of electrical fire hazards, weeds in our gardens, and water-proofing our decks; giving us with computerized copying paper, heat resistant PVC pipes, treated railway ties and telephone poles, and, ways we did not see, like those small capacitors in our car radio, and nearly every electrical product on the planet. All these items met their death in our landfills, and as the rain fell, the residue of PCB’s washed into the streams. Once in the water, it arrived on your dinner plate. Fish obviously, but also chicken, pork and cattle because the seed crops to feed these animals have traces of PCB’s in the seed and your vegetables as well due to irrigation water.

See the full report by DHEC here: http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/water/fish/docs/donotEat.pdf

This is the trickle down theory in a real way.

For years, PCB’s were manufactured and distributed under the following names, among others:

• Aroclor xxxx (used by Monsanto Company)

• Inerteen (used by Westinghouse)

• Pyranol/Pyrenol (used by General Electric)

One of these same companies, Monsanto, has another product on the market, that has been scientifically proven to cause dangerous effects for animals and humans, and it is not yet banned.

This is not OK.

Read what the EPA has to say about the components of Monsanto’s “Roundup”. http://www.epa.gov/iris/subst/0057.htm

“Roundup is the brand name of a systemic, broad-spectrum herbicide produced by the U.S. company Monsanto, and contains the active ingredient glyphosate. Glyphosate is the most used herbicide in the USA,[2];[4] the overall Roundup line of products (which includes GM seeds) represents about half of Monsanto's yearly revenue.[5]

Pesticides based on these poisonous chemicals, including Roundup have been banned in various countries due to their toxic effects on humans and wildlife.

A Slow Food Upstate Earth Market would be able to offer consumer’s a real choice in their food. It would also create a stronger financial base for farmers who pursue clean farming methods, and who go the extra mile to plant non-Genetically Modified foods from seeds that are not pre-engineered to tolerate glyphosate chemicals (or the chemical found in “Roundup”) which has been shown to create health risks, and risks that will affect the health of our water and soil.

Will we read soon that this other Monsanto product has been banned?

How long will it take before DHEC is writing an article on “Roundup” as they have for PCB”S?

What about GM seed? Will it really save the world from hunger like the Gates Foundation believes? Or will it actually harm our health, the health of our water and soil, so that many years later we are not able to turn back the tide?

http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/glyphosate.cfm#seven

Check your garage, your garden shed, and your conscious thoughts. When you plant your garden this spring, will you choose NON GM seed? Will you spray herbicides that will drain into the water systems? Do you really want to put that in to your water and on your plate?

Non GM seed available from:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Cook's Garden Fedco Seeds The Natural Gardening Company http://www.survivalistseeds.com/Seed_Catalog.php

Please show your support for our Market plan. Write me and say so.

janettewwesley@yahoo.com

From Wikipedia, below a simple description of “Roundup” and it’s effects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup_(herbicide)#cite_note-44

“Roundup is the brand name of a systemic, broad-spectrum herbicide produced by the U.S. company Monsanto, and contains the active ingredient glyphosate. Glyphosate is the most used herbicide in the USA,[2];[4] the overall Roundup line of products (which includes GM seeds) represents about half of Monsanto's yearly revenue.[5]

Monsanto developed and patented the glyphosate molecule in the 1970s, and marketed Roundup from 1973. Pesticides based on these poisonous chemicals, including Roundup have been banned in various countries due to their toxic effects on humans and wildlife.

The main active ingredient of Roundup is the isopropylamine salt of glyphosate. Another important ingredient of Roundup is the surfactant POEA (polyethoxylated tallow amine), which is known for its toxicity in wildlife.[6] It increases herbicide penetration in plant[7] and animal[8][9] cells.

Monsanto also produces seeds which grow into plants genetically engineered to be tolerant to glyphosate, which are known as Roundup Ready crops. The genes contained in these seeds are patented. Such crops allow farmers to use glyphosate as a post-emergence herbicide against most broadleaf and cereal weeds. Soy was the first Roundup Ready crop, and was produced at Monsanto's Agracetus Campus located in Middleton, Wisconsin.”

“A recent study concluded that certain amphibians may be at risk from glyphosate use.[44] One study has shown an effect on growth and survival of earthworms.[45] The results of this study are in conflict with other data, and have been criticized on methodological grounds.[33] In other studies, nitrogen fixing bacteria have been impaired, and also crop plant susceptibility to disease has been increased.[40][46][47][48][49][50][51]”

“Glyphosate is rated least dangerous in comparison to other herbicides and pesticides, such as those from the organochlorine family.[34] Roundup has a United States Environmental Protection Agency‎ (EPA) Toxicity Class of III (on a I to IV scale, where IV is least dangerous) for oral and inhalation exposure.[35] It does not bioaccumulate, and breaks down rapidly in the environment.[36]”

“Statistics from the California Environmental Protection Agency's Pesticide Illness Surveillance Program indicate that glyphosate-related incidents are one of the highest reported of all pesticides.[41][42]”

“Glyphosate is one of the pesticides that pose the greatest danger to amphibians.[67] Fish and aquatic invertebrates are more sensitive to Roundup than terrestrial organisms.[43]”

Other Sources:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8308903.stm

JP Giesy, KR Solomon, S Dobson (2000). "Ecotoxicological Risk Assessment for Roundup Herbicide". Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 167: 35-120

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-holt-gimenez/monsanto-in-gates-clothin_b_696182.html

http://www.economist.com/node/14904184?story_id=14904184

http://www.economist.com/node/14904184/print

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/environ/pcb-bpc-eng.php#wh

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2267460/?tool=pmcentrez

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/roundup-weed-killer-is-toxic-to-human-cells.-study-intensifies-debate-over-inert-ingredients

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx800218n

http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/water/fish/docs/donotEat.pdf

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2010/sep/29/gates-foundation-gm-monsanto

Posted by the WHO in Atlanta, GA: “An additional source of PCB pollution is volatilization from landfills containing transformers, capacitors, and other PCB waste and from contaminated bodies of water, such as the Great Lakes in North America. Because of possible health implications and environmental impacts, the use and production of PCBs are severely restricted or banned in many countries. Sweden restricted their use and production in 1972, the USA in 1977, Norway in 1980, Finland in 1985, and Denmark in 1986.” “Human studies have identified associations between exposure to PCB mixtures and adverse immunological, reproductive, and dermatological effects and cancer.”

“The evidence suggests that exposure to PCBs is associated with increases in risk of cancers of the digestive system, notably of the liver, and of malignant melanoma. However, limitations of exposure information and the presence, in some cases, of further confounding exposures preclude a clear identification of an exposure–response relationship. PCB exposure is also associated with reproductive deficiencies, such as reduced growth rates, retarded development, and neurological effects (although some neurological deficiencies at early ages may disappear later during childhood); immunological changes, manifested as increased infection rates and changes in circulating lymphocyte populations; and dermatological changes, including chloracne and pigmentation disturbances of skin, nails, and gingivaes, as well as nail deformation after exposure to highly chlorinated congeners.”

http://www.inchem.org/documents/cicads/cicads/cicad55.htm