Recent Reflections

Documentaries

I love watching Docs. More specifically, I love to learn about the world around me and the people living in it. I have a new favorite website http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/ and I've been feeding the mind with countless bits of data, and I just love how information flows. For example, I was watching a Doc called McLibel, which is about a court case in England where McDonalds sued two regular people who wanted to inform regular citizens about the food McDonalds was serving. In the documentary, I saw an interview with a beef farmer who had said that the harsh chemicals he used to make the cows grow faster caused negative health effects for his workers. He said that he was sure that a lot of his beef, ended up in McDonalds. I wondered, where did the rest go? I looked for other Docs on the subject, found one on Chickens, and how many chickens can't even stand or walk around properly because of the growth hormones given to them to plump up their breasts.

I thought to myself, "What about DDT?" Do you remember DDT? Check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT to summarize, it was widely used as an insecticide shortly after world war 2, that's 1949. However, scientists found that this chemical was very effective in killing insects, however, this compound didn't end there, in fact it didn't break down at all. It was found in higher concentration in the things that ate the insects, and then found in a higher concentration in the things that ate the things that ate the bugs! (Meaning us, humans, and yes, a high enough dose can kill you) Long story short, it was a disaster, thankfully, scientists backed by research data got the wide use of DDT banned around the world. Scientists even attributed to the return of the Bald Eagle (Nearing extinction at one point, which baffled me with America's importance on symbolism) to the fact that DDT was no longer used. DDT was banned from the US in 1972, that's 53 years of use before the effects were found to be harmful to the environment and to humans.

Okay, present day. 53 Years of use before a product was banned due to it's harmful effects to humans. I wondered how long were these growth hormones and harsh chemicals used on our food tested before they were put into use. Were they tested for 50+ years? I highly doubt it. I haven't found a single doc talking about this possible danger. I say possible because the chemicals used may very well be harmless to humans. I just don't know, and I would love to know...

Labels: DDT, documentaries, food industry, growth hormones

posted by Unknown @ 18:37