food and nutrition 47
Orange, the defoliant put to widespread use during the Vietnam War.
Frequent use of herbicides, particularly those containing 2,4-D, has been
associated with twofold to eightfold increases in non-Hodgkin’s
lymphoma in studies conducted in several countries. Other agents,
including triazine and organophosphate pesticides, have also been shown
to increase cancer risks. As I have mentioned, pesticide use has increased
thirty-three-fold since the 1940s, and there has been a tenfold increase in
potency. Dr. Sheila Zahm of the U.S. National Cancer Institute has
recommended that pregnant women avoid exposure to all pesticides,
which is not easy if you live in an area surrounded by fi elds being sprayed
throughout the year. The fetus is particularly susceptible to genetic
damage, chromosomal aberrations, and carcinogenicity. Infants are also at
higher risk.
The food most likely to cause cancer from herbicide residue is beef.
The frightening thing is that extremely few slaughtered animals are
actually tested for toxic chemical residues. In America the fi gure is as low
as one in every quarter-million. Levels of DDT in nonvegetarian
mothers’ milk
in America have been found to be as high as 99 parts per million, as
opposed to levels of 8 parts per million in vegetarian mothers!
It is not surprising that staphylococcus infections are much more
rampant and that resistance in humans is now really low. Penicillin used
to be able to deal with them, combating them successfully and leaving
only 13 percent resistant; now the fi gure is more like 91 percent resistant,
the reason being that antibiotic-resistant strains of staphylococcus
bacteria have developed on factory farms because of the routine feeding
of antibiotics to livestock. At present, one can expect 80 percent of all
farmed livestock and poultry to receive drugs regularly. Milk is also
affected by residues of sulfa drugs — tetracycline and other antibiotics
have been found. One hopes that the government will step in.
Doctors and health workers are aghast at the hijacking of antibiotics by
the animal feed industry. They have been left with fewer resources with
which to fi ght disease as our bodies acclimatize to antibiotics via the food
chain, making their use less and less effective. Through the addition of
hormones to increase speed of growth and size of animals, our fertility
and hormonal balance are being thrown into chaos, producing disease
and distortions.
All plant life has a vibration and a gift beyond its physical sustenance as
food — both aspects are important. It has been shown that foods grown in
loving, positive atmospheres produce more nourishment in nutritional
and vibrational terms.
47 The Complete Home Guide to Herbs, Natural Healing, and Nutrition