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FDA website-list of current recalls both pet and human, foods and other daily use products: vitamins, supplements & cosmetics.
Follow this link checking about once a week to see if any products you use are on a recall list. There is a delay of between 1 to 4 weeks for recall news to make it to the national news reporting. So stay ontop of recalls by checking yourself at https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/default.htm
If you want to look at past recalled products find an archive of recalled products here https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ArchiveRecalls/default.htm
We are surprised to see how many everyday items end up on the FDA recall
<p> lists every week or month in America. This has evolved along with a money saving plan of deregulation that began in the 1980 through the 90s. We have been through a 20 year+ time span of dismantling of the Federal employment numbers that supported inspection of all these things. The laws are still in effect but there just aren’t enough people employed anymore to inspect all kinds of business that had been done prior to deregulation. The political idea was the private business owners are good people like you and I, therefore could be trusted to police themselves and would choose safety over profits. However, the Bankings and Saving & Loan breakdowns alone, has been proven this idea to be false.
The accumulation of over the years of missing oversight by enough Federal food safety specialists has lead to the frequent recalls now seen. We have the technology to make food in a safe way, but it adds a few cents to costs so food companies have dropped the past stringent safety measures in favor wait til a problem happens then pay the fines and cost of losses. Because it is still cheaper overall compared to improvements in manufacturing quality.
Without outside pressure by frequent surprise inspections, business will not be motivated to spend the the extra time or money to make products in a safer method. Quote from the chairman of board of one company “It is the duty to the shareholder to spend the least amount of money producing the product for sale.”This was said in an interview after a major food poisoning event sickened more than 50 adults and children and some died.
We all have a responsibility to vote for folks who will take food & drug safety seriously. Including truth in labeling and pricing.
The FDA website is full of resources to help you keep up to date on products that you care about. You can sign up for email alerts on certain products or type of products or be on general alert lists like: Food or Cosmetics or Pets.
Plastic in Foods & easy ways to avoid them.
This is an excellent, truthful, summary of how plastic gets into our bodies. Plus, practical advice that is accurate, easy to follow and will make a big difference to your families health.
Nutrition Diva : Plastic in Foods :: Quick and Dirty Tips ™.
Why are chemicals, that get into our food and water, allowed:
Veterinary and animal scientists have been warning since the 1980’s that the molecules from plastics were accumulating in animals and causing bone, hormone and health problems. However, neither the FDA nor the EPA had the power to ban or even warn the public, because the findings were “only in animals”, not people. Washington law makers have been unwilling to limit any industry because of economic concerns, so there have never been requirements for safety prior to use or sale of chemicals in the USA. Any chemical ingredients or products can be used freely in our environment, air, water, food, household goods, until proven harmful to people. Laboratory studies alone that may indicate harm are not sufficient to meet this standard of proven harmful in everyday use. The EPA can only act once sufficient numbers of people are harmed from a chemical that is proven to be the definitive cause of such harm. This is very hard to prove because we live in a chemical filled world, exposed to numerous chemicals every day of our lives.
Remember, we don’t need a government agency to protect us from everything. We can take action based on the large amount of knowledge from “reliable scientific analysis” . What is clear so far: The harm from chemicals is not from a high dose of a single chemical, rather the total sum of many chemicals because they accumulate in our bodies. The dose of several chemicals that each interfere with hormone function is well documented as a cause of many health problems in humans and animals. Beginning in 2008, with Bisphenol-A the EPA &FDA have started to enforce more restrictions on known chemicals.
The list of problems known so far:
1. Silent inflammation -This occurs without major symptoms but continues deep within in our bodies and leads to premature aging, obesity, heart disease, auto-immune diseases and cancers. The single most important known cause of life limiting diseases of modern times.
2. Hormone problems are rising in numbers like a slow epidemic. These are: low or high thyroid function, abnormal immune function, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, low fertility in men and women, plus cancer of lymph nodes, pancreas, adrenals, brain, breast, ovary, testes and prostate.
4. Children – starting the womb, chemicals are taken up by rapidly growing cells of the fetus. Later chemicals can be transferred to children in breast milk. Children are regularly getting higher doses than adults. The rising number of children with health problems of the brain, immune system, hormone organs, skin, bone and bone marrow are linked to their higher exposure. One widely used group of chemicals work by disrupting hormone function in pests or weeds, or are useful in plastics and coatings. One example, Bis-phenol A, has been in the news. Health problems linked to these chemicals in children include: brain tumors, ADHA, autism, childhood cancers, leukemia, allergies and other autoimmune diseases. abnormal bone formation and early onset of puberty and obesity in girls and boys.
What can we do:
Anti-oxidants in our diet can help to reduce the harm by counteracting silent inflammation. This alone is not enough, we can reduce how much we take in through minor changes to daily life choices. See link at top of article.
Stay informed and Vote with your wallet. When we consumers buy healthier choices, companies quickly change their products to keep us loyal to their company. This action on our part also produces new products that in the end stimulate new business and the economy. Important skill to practice is reading labels carefully looking for hard to identify words (tip off to a chemical) Be informed and check into products who use advertizing slang to blur the real ingredients. Large words on the front are meaningless it is the back in the ingredient list that matters and is regulated by truth in labeling laws. Slang to look for Green, Healthy, Low fat, Low carb. or no carb., Naturally made, Naturally fill in the blank___ .
I provide a link to the FDA website from this blog where you can look up foods or ingredients to see what is real.
I will continue be tuned to this subject and pass along meaningful information so my readers can actively protect their families, pet and human. I am extremely interested in this subject because my background as a Veterinarian includes 10 years of teaching & research at 2 Universities specializing in reproduction, hormones and nutrition.
>Food safety link to FDA
>Excellent resource for informed consumers.
The script will link you to the FDA to look up alerts about human food and pet food. The FDA regularly publishes all recalls, notices about safety, updates about on going cases. The entire website is excellent info on all things related to drugs and foods supplements and more.
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Dr Smith Holistic Petcare 