Ruminations on Food Allergies

[JOHN72]

I believe that since the chemical industry was born, the planet has gone to hell in a handbasket in terms of pollution, not to mention the food industry, which is another machine for poisoning every living thing. Environmental pollution, noise pollution, etc. Not to mention the oceans being used as garbage dumps, degrading and losing their natural pH for marine life. How the hell is that not going to cause allergies in humans?

 

[Briar Lee]

Obviously allergies are an indication of an immune system under duress. What we have done to our water, food, soil, and air is unforgivable. We are surrounded by a cesspool of toxins and while sperm counts and rates of neurological conditions skyrocket, the best anyone seems to do about it is politicize it - which in essence is the same as do nothing about it. The bread we eat doesn't even meet the definition of bread in many places in the world today.

When I worked those back alleys of the Cattleman Auction near Collins fifty years ago, all around us and above us on the promenade were bitter old wealthy men, who talked of our generation and our world as though we did not exist.

According to the wealthy old men 1975 was 50 years past the paradise of their youth, when you could tell the girls from the boys, and when boys would work at any job offered them, and were well dressed, and polite, and girls cared about their looks, and didn’t run around dressed like boys wearing pants. Huge corporations had spoiled the land and polluted the water and the common people had no chances.

And yet one tall man, did not agree with them.

I honestly don’t know what J C ‘s name is, he’s always been J C.

J C would call down to be, won’t you miss this place once you are a doctor or lawyer Vanny?

I said only the pretty girls who’ll bring me a cheeseburger and a Pepsi, and walk past a bunch of old men with their tongues hanging out.

And the other old men thought it was all part of the show, an exception to the rule, and the world was bound for hell anyway.

And, they were wrong.

 

[greeneyes]

Walmart recalls potentially radioactive shrimp sold in 13 US states

FDA officials detected Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope, in shipping containers and a sample of shrimp from Indonesia

www.theguardian.com

 

[Briar Lee]

Walmart recalls potentially radioactive shrimp sold in 13 US states

FDA officials detected Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope, in shipping containers and a sample of shrimp from Indonesia

www.theguardian.com

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The risk from the recalled shrimp is “quite low”, said Donald Schaffner, a food safety expert at Rutgers University.

Cesium-137 is a byproduct of nuclear reactions, including nuclear bombs, testing, reactor operations and accidents. It’s widespread around the world, with trace amounts found in the environment, including soil, food and air.

The level detected in the frozen breaded shrimp was far lower than FDA intervention levels. However, the agency said that avoiding potentially contaminated products could reduce exposure to low-level radiation that could lead to health problems over time.

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Theme from The Hills Have Eyes

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Raise your hands, if you had to “Duck and Cover”

—-

Slowly, mankind seeks the light, of our brighter angels,

 

[greeneyes]

The risk from the recalled shrimp is “quite low”, said Donald Schaffner, a food safety expert at Rutgers University.
Slowly, mankind seeks the light, of our brighter angels,

Yes, though it's nice they test for those things isn't it!

My brother in law has been allergic to shrimp his whole life. At the table we always kept the shrimp far away from his plate, and my sister always asked at the restaurants "does this have shellfish?" Well we all love Asian food. Those Dim Sum restaurants are hard to say no to, and the dumplings they serve have any number of meats stuffed into them. Brother in law was putting 'em away and took some shiu-mai from a steam tray near me, and kept on around the assorted dishes. I pulled one of those shiu-mai for myself, took a big bite and saw a little bit of shrimp tail inside and gave my wife a little elbow and a nod. Who knows, maybe Bubba Gump Shrimp Co has found a non-allergenic shrimp. I don't spend too much time wondering about it.

Another mystery happened when we left our (then) 2 year old with my parents and my sister and her husband, while the wife and I went out to eat lunch. Apparently they'd fed him some sliced tomato and he swole up with hives all over. He'd eaten tomato before, and since (well, after the "scare" passed), and never had a reaction. I don't much think about that incident either. We weren't there and so can never know for sure. Now he's allergic to chores, but I know a powerful immunization against that.

Only last night, though, I met a man with a Vietnam Vet cap and I overheard him saying that he sang mass with his choir at St. Agnes church up the road, in Latin, and Midnight Mass always at midnight. We stayed talking until around 10:00pm, with one subject leading to another, and eventually to the many chronic health issues that were affecting him. He talked a lot about his service career, and he'd been exposed to Agent Orange and "other things." I asked about the "other things" and he told me at one point he was stationed at Ft. McClellan. "Look it up" he said. Hard to say what they weren't exposed to. It's nice they test for those things now, and other things too.

 

[WVOldFart]

When I was a child, I grew up on a dairy farm, out in the country among the fields and woods. I was given a scratch test to see what I might be allergic to since I was having a lot of troubles. I believe there were 12 scratches, among them household dust, grass and tree pollen, dog and cat dander etc. I was allergic to all of them except bee stings. My parents asked me if I wanted to take shots for it. I said I would take my chances and if they didn't clear up, I would consider them. To make a long story short, I grew out of all of them and have less problems with hay fever than my wife.

 

[TN Jed]

I’m older than fescue, Round Up and bush hogs that mow hundreds of acres a day.

Young people will never be able to imagine just how many more tics and chiggers and grasshoppers and poison oak and poison ivy and sumac the Ozark highlands had sixty years ago.

Raise your hand if you’ve had to take a bath in Clorox water and spread kerosene all over your delicate parts!.

I bid a hay hauling job when I was 17 at the princely sum of 28 cents a bale to haul a thousand bales of prairie hay to Black Jack in Cedar County.

I had heard of Black Jack on the scenic banks of the Sac River and wanted to see it.

My crew and me were all one solid oozing sore of bites from bugs I’d never heard of and couldn’t see half of them.

Mark me down as a huge fan of glyphosate.

Glyphosate is a herbicide that isn't effective on woody plants like poison ivy and oak. It also doesn't kill flying insects, but it does do damage to the soil flora and fauna. This in turn does damage to the soil and the bioavailability of nutrients to plants, requiring more and more fertilizer and water. There's a good reason other than profit that requires the genetic modification of crops to survive in a glyphosate saturated field. The push for no-till agriculture in the 90's has quickly increased the use of glyphosate to staggering levels. No community is free from its effects. The half life is generally over 100 days making it susceptible to migration to water sources and absorption by the crops. Biomagnification is a real thing, not a conspiracy. As an attorney I'm sure you've heard about the effects on humans.