210 the rice diet renewal
timing of the chemical ingestion. In other words, the dose, as well
as when and how it is delivered to an organism, greatly infl uences
the potential damage that can be done. Pregnant women and the
babies they carry are especially vulnerable. The EPA determined
that carcinogens are ten times more potent for babies than for
adults and in some cases up to sixty - fi ve times more potent.
Because milk is often a signifi cant part of children ’ s diet, there
is increasing concern about the risk of their drinking convention-
ally produced milk. A conscious consumer would certainly wonder
whether milk is indeed a worthy choice after the USDA tested
788 samples of it in 2005 and found, on average, residues from
more than 2.5 pesticides per sample. In a 2008 issue of Organic
Processing Magazine , Dr. Charles Benbrook, chief scientist at the
Organic Center, and Dr. Alan Greene, clinical professor of pedi-
atrics at Stanford University School of Medicine and chairman
of the Organic Center, wrote that “ most worrisome are residues of
synthetic pyrethroid insecticides and other developmental toxins in
nearly half of the samples of conventional milk. ” And, as with the
previously mentioned antibiotic and bacterial concerns, the pes-
ticide and insecticide problems affect not only our dietary health
but also the environment and everything that lives in it. A study
published in Environmental Health Perspectives examined sixty
children of farm workers, ages one to six, and found fourteen dif-
ferent pesticides in their urine, including seven organophosphate
insecticides, which are dangerous chemicals that can impair the
development of the brain and the nervous system.
That ’ s right, when unconscious consumers buy conventionally
grown foods, they are a contributing factor in their children ’ s ner-
vous systems and brains not developing normally. Yes, consuming
conventionally grown foods is taking its toll, but with so many toxins
and unnatural substances being used, with no labeling or long - term
studies to prove their safety, their effects are impossible to identify.
The U.S. public is consuming toxic food in an undisclosed experi-
ment, with no formal control group, which is truly a crapshoot. There
are indeed consequences to every choice we make, and the more
conscious choices we make, the more likely we will be happy and