PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), also called “forever chemicals,” used to be confined to industrial applications like non-stick pans and fire-retardant fabrics. Now, the toxin companies have a new use for their forever chemicals—spraying them on our food to kill pests and weeds.

The EPA has approved six new PFAS pesticides: Corteva-Dow-DuPont’s fluazaindolizine (Biden), Syngenta-ChemChina’s cyclobutrifluram and isocycloseram, Bayer-Monsanto’s diflufenican, BASF’s trifludimoxazin, and Sumitomo-Valent’s epyrifenacil (Trump).

PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down and accumulate in the environment. Farmland is regularly abandoned because of PFAS contamination. That happens when sewage sludge (with PFAS from factory wastewater going down the drain) is used as “fertilizer.”

Spraying PFAS pesticides on food is insane. The impact on human health will be devastating. PFAS chemicals interfere with reproduction, destroy the immune system, and cause birth defects and cancer. Already, 30 million pounds of PFAS pesticides are used in the U.S. annually, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

If the EPA won’t say no to PFAS pesticides, the only place we can turn is to our local representatives. Make sure your state legislators know about this new threat.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Your State Legislators to Ban PFAS Pesticides!

READ:

The Trump Administration Is Deregulating Forever Chemicals

More Cities Are Seeing PFAS Pollution in Drinking Water. Here’s What Louisville Found.

Tom Perkins, The Guardian:

“The Food and Drug Administration is poised to kill a proposed rule that would require testing for toxic asbestos in talc-based cosmetics, a problem that has been linked to cancer. Talc is widely used, including in cosmetics, food, medication and personal care products. The order was signed by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, leader of the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ (MAHA) movement.

A stated cornerstone of the movement, which helped propel Donald Trump to office, is to help eliminate toxins like asbestos from food, medicine and personal care products. The move has shocked health campaigners.”

It’s hard to understand why we would revoke a rule that simply requires companies to test for asbestos

FDA withdraws rule on tests for cancer-causing asbestos in talc-based cosmetics

Maria Scinto writes for The Take Out:

“Browne explained that the key to cheese storage involves regulating the airflow: ‘Different types of cheese need different amounts of airflow to thrive. Cheeses like brie-styles, cave-aged cheddars, and anything that has been washed have rinds composed of living microbial communities that need air to survive. Cut off their airflow and they become slimy and stinky, and not in the good way. My top recommendation is cheese paper,’ said Browne. ‘Cheese paper gives the cheese some breathing room while still preventing it from drying out or coming into contact with other foods in your refrigerator.’

For the sake of convenience, she’s a big fan of Formaticum cheese storage bags. ‘Cheese paper is suitable for most styles of cheese, with the exception of high-moisture fresh styles like mozzarella and burrata,’ she advised. She added that if you don’t have any, you can DIY it by wrapping your cheese in parchment paper and then keeping it in a plastic bag or storage tub to create a cheese-friendly microclimate.”

Read how cheese is best kept cold, preferably at temperatures ranging between 34 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit

The Lancet reports:

“The rise of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in human diets is damaging public health, fueling chronic diseases worldwide, and deepening health inequalities. Addressing this challenge requires a unified global response that confronts corporate power and transforms food systems to promote healthier, more sustainable diets, according to a new Lancet Series on UPFs and human health, published on Nov 19.

UPFs are the most processed group of foods in the Nova classification system, which categorizes foods by the extent and purpose of processing. UPFs are identified by the presence of sensory-related additives that enhance the texture, flavor, or appearance of foods. High UPF intake is associated with an increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions. However, the value of the UPF concept is not universally accepted.

Some critics argue that grouping foods that might have nutritional value into the UPF category, including fortified breakfast cereals and flavored yogurts, together with products such as reconstituted meats or sugary drinks, is unhelpful. But UPFs are rarely consumed in isolation.”

Read how it is the overall UPF dietary pattern, whereby whole and minimally processed foods are replaced by processed alternatives, and the interaction between multiple harmful additives, that drives adverse health effects

Learn more in this 3-paper series by Lancet that reviews the evidence about the increase in ultra-processed foods in diets globally and highlights the association with many non-communicable diseases

The EPA has approved six new PFAS pesticides for use on food crops, despite the known risks of cancer, reproductive issues, and immune system damage associated with these “forever chemicals”. PFAS  are already contaminating our food supply through sewage sludge on croplands and now these new pesticides will be adding to the PFAS overload in our food, posing a an even more serious threat to public health.

The time is now to fight back and ban all PFAS–including pesticides–and set to work cleaning up the water and remediating the land!

Can you help by making a donation? Your contribution will help us raise awareness and advocate for stricter regulations on PFAS pesticides and continue to provide you an opportunity  to make your voice heard about our current overwhelmingly degenerative food and farming system as well show your support for a more regenerative, organic, agroecogy oriented food system.

Spread the word and share this critical issue with friends and family to build a stronger movement. Join us in the fight against PFAS pesticides.

Please donate today, if you can, your support will help us protect public health and help create a safer food system for generations to come.

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization

Have you considered making a grant request from your Donor-Advised Fund? 

Robert Rubinstein, Linked In:

“This is an adaptation from the upcoming book, ‘Radical Truth.’ Think your network needs to hear this? Share it. Let’s start a real conversation.

You ever notice how rich people have invented an entirely new way to feel good about themselves while doing absolutely nothing? It’s called ‘impact investing.’ Beautiful term, isn’t it? Two words that individually make sense but together create the perfect smokescreen for what’s really going on.

Imagine a room full of people wearing $5,000 suits and $20,000 watches, sipping champagne., The conversation centers on how they’re going to ‘save the world’ with their money.

Welcome to the Impact Mafia.



And thus, impact investing was born. Call it what it is: lipstick on a leveraged grenade; or regular investing, but with a veneer of sanctimony.”

Read about The Birth of a Beautiful Scam

Maxwell Rabb, Artsey:

“Looking at original artworks can produce immediate, positive effects on the body, according to a new study led by King’s College London and commissioned by the Art Fund, a British charity. The research, conducted in partnership with the Psychiatry Research Trust, claims to provide the strongest physiological evidence to date that art can lower stress while also stimulating emotional engagement.

The results showed that cortisol—the body’s primary stress hormone—fell by an average of 22% among the participants who viewed the original artworks, compared with 8% for those who saw reproductions. Levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (stress-related proteins) dropped by nearly a third in the gallery group.

‘From a scientific perspective, the most exciting outtake is that art had a positive impact on three different body systems—the immune, endocrine, and autonomic systems—at the same time,’ Dr. Tony Woods, researcher at King’s College London, said in a statement. ‘This is a unique finding and something we were genuinely surprised to see.’”

Learn more

By David Suzuki with contributions from Senior Editor and Writer Ian Hanington:

”Because the fossil fuel industry and its supporters have done everything they can to stall needed solutions to the climate crisis, some people say we must now engineer our way out of the mess we created. Many are promoting schemes that block sunlight from reaching Earth, reflect more of it back into space or absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

ARIA points out that ‘climate tipping points — abrupt changes in the Earth system that, if crossed, could have devastating and essentially irreversible consequences’ are ‘distinctly possible over the next century.’

It notes, however, that, there is no substitute for decarbonisation, which is the only sustainable way to lower the chances of such tipping points and their effects from occurring.”

Many scientists worry that these geoengineering plans are an expensive distraction from the need to cut emissions and that they could have severe unforeseen and undesirable environmental consequences

Foreword by Vandana Shiva:

“Read this book to understand why you should care about regenerative agriculture. Until the public is better-informed and insists on sweeping changes to current agricultural policy . . . we will continue to degrade our planet and destabilize our climate. Leu and Cummins, through inspiring stories and solid science, show just how quickly we could turn that around.”—Allan Savory, president, Savory Institute; chairman, Africa Centre for Holistic Management

Is it possible that the solution to the global climate emergency lies in an agricultural “waste” product?

The best-kept secret in today’s world is that solutions to some of our most pressing issues—food insecurity, deforestation, overgrazing, water scarcity, rural poverty, forced migration—lie in adopting, improving, and scaling up organic and regenerative agriculture best practices.

Read The Regenerative Agriculture Solution, a book that shows how regenerating our forests, rangelands, and farming ecosystems can cool our planet, restore the climate, and enrich our communities

David Nield, Science Alert:

“As we get older, our brains start to change in ways that make them increasingly vulnerable to disease – and a detailed new study of these changes points to a way some of this wear and tear might be prevented or reversed.

Researchers from the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute in Germany used mass spectrometry to analyze the balance of brain proteins in both young and old mice, finding differences in a process called ubiquitylation as the animals aged.

Ubiquitylation adds chemical tags to proteins, telling the brain which of these busy molecules are past their peak and should be recycled. In older mouse brains, the ubiquitylation tags really start to pile up on certain proteins.”

Read how results show that even in old age, diet can still have an important influence on molecular processes in the brain

Jess Cockeril, Health:

“The most common sleep disorder in middle-aged and older adults is chronic insomnia, which for many translates to around three years of relatively sleepless nights.

A new study suggests a popular, gentle exercise may improve sleep as effectively as the top insomnia therapy. Hong Kong University exercise physiologist Parco M. Siu and colleagues compared the first-line treatment for this sleep disorder, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), with regular sessions of tai chi.

Millions of people around the world practice tai chi, a low-impact martial art that originated in China, often referred to as ‘meditation in motion’.

This finding supports the use of tai chi as an alternative approach for the long-term management of chronic insomnia in middle-aged and older adults.”

Read how this study suggests that tai chi’s accessibility and ease of integration into people’s lifestyles may benefit its long-term effectiveness

Trump Administration Sides With Bayer in Seeking Supreme Court Ruling on Roundup Fight

EPA Urged To Ban Spraying of Antibiotics on U.S. Food Crops Amid Resistance Fears

Op-ed: Inside the First Food and Agriculture Policy Summit: The Debates That Happened and Those That Didn’t

Meet “Farmer Cee” of North Carolina’s Green Heffa Farms 

The 10 Best Foods for Digestion, Revealed by Harvard Trained Gut Doctor

Maine Was First to Ban Spreading PFAS-Contaminated Sludge on Farmland. Now Sludge Is Filling up Landfills.

Food Is Medicine, and That’s a Fact. Why We All Need Native American Foodways

As U.S. Hunger Rises, Trump Administration’s ‘Efficiency’ Goals Cause Massive Food Waste

Nature Feeds Us More Than It Floods Us’: Asheville After-School Program Teaches Kids to Forage

Serving a Warm Meal to the Weary: An ‘Iron Chef’ With a Heart of Gold

New Investigation: Formaldehyde Household Chemical “Causes More Cancer Than Any Other”

Sheep and Goat Cull Raises Fears of Feta Cheese Shortage

Ruby Tandoh’s New Book Makes the Case That We Have Too Many Recipes Already