Imagine, if you will…

…how healthy we might have been over the past 100 plus years — when cancers, heart disease, and other diseases, including obesity, entered our world, unlike any other time in world history, if only we could eat, would eat according to how foods taste, and how healthy they are, rather than eating with our eyes and needing — demanding to be dazzled with bright colors and offerings to please the eye?

Just imagine…

Yes, I know. Almost everyone eats according to their eyes. I’m a classically trained chef. I know this better than most folks do. I know how to build and present a plate of food to make people actually exclaim vocally with delight. I’ve done so in the past. Many times. With plates of healthy, balanced food. Sanely. Knowledgeable. A long time ago.

And it is only going to get worse. No matter if certain food dyes are no longer used. Because each year the percentage of food grown or raised in America for American consumers is decreasing while imports of all foods from communist China, Mexico, Asian countries, and South American countries increase ever greater and greater. While we push agendas to decrease or eliminate the raising of livestock in America, the growing of certain crops, rewarding massive corporate farming operated by such entities as Monsanto and focusing on crops not really producing food for American families, while penalizing small independent farms and farmers.

With farming methods solely exercised for profitability and transportation rather than the quality of food and health.

Imagine that…

Places with either lower standards or no standards. And there aren’t enough food inspectors in America to keep tabs on food grown and raised here, or coming into the country.

You want to know a fact? Some truth?

It is only by the grace of God that a major outbreak of illness or death hasn’t occurred in America. Some minor ones have in the past and these are increasing in frequency, though not paid attention to by most folks, quickly forgotten. More important to pay attention to Taylor Swift’s movements, what some celebrities are doing, what an NFL team is doing, who is winning on some inane, rigged so-called reality program that is scripted. Perhaps, reading or watching Christian fiction rather than the Holy Bible. Much more important to far too many people residing between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

I’ll digress here for a moment.

I’m not a fan or in favor of any Christian fiction. Why do you need it? Think you need it? Really. Ask yourself why do I need this over the truth of the Word of God? Other non-fictionalized Christian writings? — and don’t tell me that people watching this material, or reading it are then saved by it, as a result of reading or watching it. No, anyone is only saved by a truly repentant heart and only by the Holy Spirit of God. I do enjoy films such as The Forge, and others like that film, which portray faithful Christian people reaching out to the lost to lead them to Christ, or events in an individual life that eventually lead them to the Lord, but those films or stories are much different than Christian fiction, are they not?

Think of those two words being put together, used together — Christian FICTION. Then after much meditation upon this tell yourself, truthfully, it’s all all right and not a problem. Like a drug addict telling themselves those pills, that needle, that weed isn’t a problem and helps them. Not much different, really. Fantasy versus reality. Turning to the false rather than the true. Seeking a fantasy rather than residing in reality. Not as harmless as imagined. Not as beneficial as the truth, as non-fiction.

Need to be entertained? Entertain in ways other than Christian fiction that will only continue to distort and implant images, words, and ideas in the heart and mind actually leading folks away from God and Jesus rather than TO Them.

Back to foods ingested.

Only by the grace of God.

One more reason to give thanks in prayer, to the Lord, before and after every meal. No matter the size of the meal, when or where it is consumed, either alone or in the company of family, or a large group of strangers in a restaurant, food court — wherever, whenever.

And how many people do you see praying when receiving the blessing from God of food?

Is it any wonder then?

Stop asking why this, why that, questioning God, ignoring God, blaming God, denying God, and finally acknowledging that which you know but refuse to submit to and believe, and believe in.

Read on…

Ken Pullen, Monday, December 9th, 2024

 

 

Why are we Feeding our Children Food Made From Petroleum?

 

December 9, 2024

By

Reprinted from Activist Post

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to announce a decision in the next few weeks on whether to revoke approval for the dangerous artificial food color Red Dye No. 3 (Red 3) due to its allegedly carcinogenic properties.

There is a resounding demand from consumer advocacy groups and lawmakers for federal regulators to ban the use of Red 3, a dye that infuses popular candies, foods, and drinks with bright red colors.

Synthetic dyes became available in the 1900s. Early artificial colors were called “coal-tar” colors because the base materials were derived from bituminous coal. Today, most synthetic coloring comes from petroleum or crude oil.

Natural food dyes have been used for centuries to color food. However, synthetic colors can be mass-produced at a fraction of the cost. And synthetic dyes, which often last longer than natural ones, are not limited to the smaller color palette available in nature.

The issue was raised Thursday at a U.S. Senate hearing, where lawmakers grilled FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf and FDA Deputy Commissioner Jim Jones about food chemical additive safety.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) questioned Jones and Califf on Red 3 and Red 40, which, along with other food dyes, have become a key target of President-elect Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The HHS oversees the FDA.

While the Trump platform is heavily on deregulation, Kennedy has spent years advocating against food additives he says are “literally poisoning our children.”

Kennedy has built a career railing against corporate influence and calling for tighter regulations, particularly for the food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries.

Many environmental and public health advocates are hopeful he will make the necessary changes for a healthier America.

Tuberville asked whether the FDA still believes that Red 40 and Red 3 are safe for children to consume and why Red 3 is still allowed in the U.S. food supply when it is banned for use in cosmetics due to its possible carcinogenic effects.

“Red 3 has been known to cause cancer in cosmetics, but we still allow it to be put in our food. I don’t understand that,” Tuberville said. “If we know something is deadly for anybody that ingests it, how do we continue to just study that and not say, hey, enough is enough?”

Jones told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP Committee) last week that his office is currently reviewing a 2022 petition to revoke approval for Red 3.

At the time, more than 20 public health advocates, including Consumer Reports, the Center for Environmental Health, and Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, filed a petition to revoke Red 3’s official color additive listing, citing a 1990 FDA conclusion that the chemical causes cancer when fed to rats.

Still, the FDA has not prohibited its use in food and beverages because “the scientific consensus is that the mechanism of carcinogenicity in rats is not applicable in humans.”

What is concerning is that Red 3 was banned for cosmetic use and some drugs in 1990 for its known links to cancer, but it has not been removed from edible products.

“We are hopeful within the next few weeks we will be acting on that petition, that a decision is forthcoming,” said Jones.

“Thirty-four years of inaction is far too long,” the petition stated.

Food dye is also used in several non-food applications, like cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

The use of food dye is thought to have originated in Egypt as early as 1500 B.C. Ancient candy makers used natural extracts and wine to enhance the appearance and color of their products.

During the Industrial Revolution, the demand for low-cost food, coupled with primitive chemistry and a lack of regulation, meant that food adulteration flourished.

In the U.S., the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was created to outlaw compromised products. The legislation reduced the permitted list of synthetic colors from a whopping 700 to seven. Still, food adulteration continued for many years.

Today, the FDA must approve every batch of certified coloring a manufacturer produces. This approval process involves rigorous testing and evaluation to ensure the safety of the food dyes before they are allowed in the market.

Currently, seven artificial colors are generally permitted in food: Blue No. 1, Blue No. 2, Green No. 3, Red No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, and Yellow No. 6.

In 2021, the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment released a report that concluded synthetic food dyes have been linked to health issues in some children. The report also found that children are often exposed to levels of Red 3 that exceed the FDA’s Acceptable Daily Intake Level, posing a serious health risk.

As part of its effort to fight the use of such products, the California Food Safety Act, passed in October 2023, bans Red Dye 3 from foods sold or manufactured in the state, coming into effect in January 2027. Similarly, the California School Food Safety Act, which was passed in August, banned Red Dye 40 from foods offered in California public schools beginning in December 2027.

Following California’s lead, nine other states are currently working on legislation to ban Red 3, and Pennsylvania is proposing a ban on five other food additives as well.

Critics complain that the FDA takes a lax approach to regulating food additives.

In public comments filed with the FDA last year, a letter signed by the American Bakers Association, Consumer Brands Association, and National Confectioners Association states that results found in lab rats are irrelevant to humans.

The groups requested that the FDA conduct a scientific review of research to determine the safety of Red 3 and keep it on the permanent list of color additives.

But in Thursday’s hearing, Jones said the agency was “hopeful” it would “be acting on that petition” in the “next few weeks.”

It is “long past time” for the FDA to ban the dye, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone said in the Dec. 5 letter to the FDA. “With the holiday season in full swing where sweet treats are abundant, it is frightening that this chemical remains hidden in these foods that we and our children are eating.”

The agency’s inaction, which persists despite a clause in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that requires the agency to ban cancer-causing food additives, has long frustrated public health advocates.

Let’s hope the FDA finally bans Red 3 for good. It’s time for us and our children to stop being fed dangerous chemicals.