WTF Humanity?

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by SoNotHer

Buy local, buy fresh, grow your own as much as possible -

Can Soup and BPA

ENN: Environmental News Network -- Know Your Environment
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Published November 23, 2011 08:12 AM
Can Soup and BPA

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. It is used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins, along with other applications. As it has been known to be estrogenic since the mid 1930s, concerns about the use of bisphenol A in consumer products were regularly reported in the news media in 2008, after several governments issued reports questioning its safety, prompting some retailers to remove products containing it from their shelves. A new study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) has found that a group of volunteers who consumed a serving of canned soup each day for five days had a more than 1,000% increase in urinary bisphenol A (BPA) concentrations compared with when the same individuals consumed fresh soup daily for five days. The study is one of the first to quantify BPA levels in humans after ingestion of canned foods.

BPA has been known to be estrogenic since the mid 1930s, concerns about the use of bisphenol A in consumer products were regularly reported in the news media in 2008, after several governments issued reports questioning its safety, prompting some retailers to remove products containing it from their shelves. A 2010 report from the United States Food and Drug Administration raised further concerns regarding exposure of fetuses, infants and young children. In September 2010, Canada became the first country to declare BPA a toxic substance. In the European Union and Canada, BPA use is banned in baby bottles.

World production capacity of this compound was 1 million tons in the 1980s, and more than 2.2 million tons in 2009. In 2003, U.S. consumption was 856,000 tons, 72% of which was used to make polycarbonate plastic and 21% going into epoxy resins. In the US, less than 5% of the BPA produced is used in food contact applications.

The findings were published online November 22, 2011, in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and will appear in the November 23/30 print issue.

"Previous studies have linked elevated BPA levels with adverse health effects. The next step was to figure out how people are getting exposed to BPA. We’ve known for a while that drinking beverages that have been stored in certain hard plastics can increase the amount of BPA in your body. This study suggests that canned foods may be an even greater concern, especially given their wide use," said Jenny Carwile, a doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at HSPH and lead author of the study.

Exposure to the endocrine-disrupting chemical BPA, used in the lining of metal food and beverage cans, has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been linked with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity in humans. In addition to the lining of food and beverage cans, BPA is also found in polycarbonate bottles and dentistry composites and sealants.

The researchers, led by Carwile and Karin Michels, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology, set out to quantify whether canned-soup consumption would increase urinary BPA concentrations relative to eating fresh soup.

They recruited student and staff volunteers from HSPH. One group consumed a 12-ounce serving of vegetarian canned soup each day for five days; another group consumed 12 ounces of vegetarian fresh soup (prepared without canned ingredients) daily for five days. After a two-day washout period, the groups reversed their assignments.

Urine samples of the 75 volunteers taken during the testing showed that consumption of a serving of canned soup daily was associated with a 1,221% increase in BPA compared to levels in urine collected after consumption of fresh soup.

The researchers note that the elevation in urinary BPA concentrations may be temporary and that further research is needed to quantify its duration.

"The magnitude of the rise in urinary BPA we observed after just one serving of soup was unexpected and may be of concern among individuals who regularly consume foods from cans or drink several canned beverages daily. It may be advisable for manufacturers to consider eliminating BPA from can linings," said Michels, senior author of the study.

http://www.enn.com/enn_original_news/article/43609

For further information: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/pre...-soup-bpa.html

Thanks for posting this- I saw info on this last week. What came t mind is just how many people eat canned soups. Think about it- mostly people in economic straights because it is fairly cheap and many think the veggies in it are a good thing. Lots of poor people just don't have the kinds of kitchens or a freezer (even a fridge) to make homemade soups and store it. Then there is just the fast food way of life in the US even if people don't buy at chains.

The frozen entress as well as freeze-dried goods are not much better with all the preservatives and sodium in them. Again, they store more easily and people without kitchens so many just have a hot plate, a cooler and maybe a microwave) eat like this all of the time- many working poor stay in cheap hotels as shelter. Plus, look at what ends up in food bank drive bags.

I can't wait for Spring- the small, local farmer's markets will be back at least 2 days a week here. And I grow some veggies myself. But I think about how even these kinds of things are not really available for so many people that have lost so much during this very long recession.

[Hollylane]

Black Friday Death Spurs Outrage
Posted: Nov 28, 2011 9:15 AM PST Updated: Nov 28, 2011 9:15 AM PST

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM - A Black Friday shopper who collapsed while shopping at a Target store in West Virginia went almost unnoticed as customers continued to hunt for bargain deals.

Walter Vance, the 61-year-old pharmacist, who reportedly suffered from a prior heart condition, later died in hospital, reports MSNBC.

Witnesses say some shoppers ignored and even walked over the man's body as they continued to shop, reports the New York Daily News.

Friends and co-workers saddened to learn of his death, expressed outrage over the way he was treated by shoppers.

"Where is the good Samaritan side of people?" Vance's co-worker Sue Compton told WSAZ-TV.

"How could you not notice someone was in trouble? I just don't understand if people didn't help what their reason was, other than greed because of a sale."

Gawker points out there is no legal obligation to come to someone's rescue, only a moral one.

While some news organizations say that no one helped the collapsed man, his wife refuted this report.

Lynne Vance said six nurses shopping in the store came to her husband's rescue and performed CPR until paramedics arrived, notes the Sunday Gazette Mail.

This wasn't the only incident to taint America's biggest shopping day.

While one customer sprayed fellow shoppers with pepper spray so she could snag a video game, another scenario involved an exhausted Target worker accidentally driving her car into a canal after working the Black Friday midnight shift.
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Some of the comments:

Laura

This is a prime example of today's me, me attitude. Shame on all those people and they know who they are, that saw - yet ignored, that walked over - without a pause, that thought that shopping for a holiday based on the life and teachings of Jesus was so much more important than a man's life at their feet. Shame, shame... this I'm sure will be in the ledgers of their life at their final judgement.

crikey

That's what America's come to ~ a pack of souless zombies out for themselves. And they wonder why we revere the 2nd Amendment....

Jessica

wonder what the shoppers were thinking, "hmm, what an odd place to take a nap..." or "jeez old people are always so slow!" people are naturally self centered, thank goodness for the wierdos like nurses who find service to e natural to them. really?

http://www.khq.com/story/16135793/black-friday-death-spurs-outrage

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Wow. WTF Humanity??

[Cin]

Originally Posted by AtLast

Thanks for posting this- I saw info on this last week. What came t mind is just how many people eat canned soups. Think about it- mostly people in economic straights because it is fairly cheap and many think the veggies in it are a good thing.

Congress voted in October to have anything with two tablespoons of tomato sauce classified as a vegetable. Makes me feel better when I eat within my budget and find among the few things I can afford is BPA filled soup and tap water drunk out of BPA plastic bottles purchased at the dollar store. At least the on sale for $2.50 frozen pizza I can buy for $1.50 with my web saver coupon is a healthy choice.

[Cin]

Texas Teen Mistakenly Deported to Colombia is Back in US

Published January 07, 2012

Fox News Latino

The Texas teenager who U.S. officials mistakenly deported to Colombia after she claimed to be an undocumented immigrant was returned to the United States Friday evening.

Her family has questioned why U.S. officials didn't do more to verify her identity and say she is not fluent in Spanish and had no ties to Colombia. While many facts of the case involving Jakadrien Lorece Turner remain unclear, U.S. and Colombian officials have pointed fingers over who is responsible.

Jakadrien, 15, arrived in Dallas on Friday evening and was reunited with her family. She was flanked by her mother, grandmother and law enforcement when she emerged from the international gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport shortly before 10 p.m.

"She's happy to be home," the family's attorney, Ray Jackson, said, adding that the family would not be issuing any statements Friday night.

He said the family was "ecstatic" to have Jakadrien back in Texas and they plan to "do what we can to make sure she gets back to a normal life."

Immigration experts say that while cases of mistaken identity are rare, people can slip through the cracks, especially if they don't have legal help or family members working on their behalf. But they say U.S. immigration authorities had the responsibility to determine if a person is a citizen.

"Often in these situations they have these group hearings where they tell everybody you're going to be deported," said Jacqueline Stevens, a political science professor at Northwestern University, who is an expert on immigration issues. "Everything is really quick, even if you understand English you wouldn't understand what is going on. If she were in that situation as a 14-year-old she would be herded through like cattle and not have a chance to talk to the judge about her situation."

Jakadrien's saga began when the teen ran away more than a year ago. Jakadrien's family said she left home in November 2010. Houston police said the girl was arrested on April 2, 2011, for misdemeanor theft in that city and claimed to be Tika Lanay Cortez, a Colombian woman born in 1990. It was unclear if she has been living under that name.

Houston police said in a statement that her name was run through a database to determine if she was wanted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement but the results were negative. She was then turned over to the Harris County jail and booked on the theft charge.

The county sheriff's office said it ran her through the available databases and did the interviews necessary to establish her identity and immigration status in the country, with negative results. A sheriff's office employee recommended that an immigration detainer be put on her, and upon her release from jail she was turned over to ICE.

U.S. immigration officials insist they followed procedure and found nothing to indicate that the girl wasn't a Colombian woman living illegally in the country.

An ICE official said the teen claimed to be Cortez throughout the criminal proceedings in Houston and the ensuing deportation process, in which an immigration judge ultimately ordered her back to Colombia.

Standard procedure before any deportation is to coordinate with the other country in order to establish that person is from there, the ICE official said.

The ICE official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to not being authorized to discuss additional details of the case, said the teenager was interviewed by a representative from the Colombian consulate and that country's government issued her a travel document to enter Colombia.

Jakadrien was issued travel documents at the request of U.S. officials using information they provided, the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Colombian officials are investigating what kind of verification was conducted by its Houston consulate to issue the temporary passport.

The girl was given Colombian citizenship upon arriving in that country, the ICE official said.

According to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the girl was enrolled in the country's "Welcome Home" program after she arrived there. She was given shelter, psychological assistance and a job at a call center, a statement from the agency said.

"If she looked like an adult, and she told them she was a 21-year-old Colombian citizen, and she didn't show up in their databases, this was inevitable," said Albert Armendáriz, an immigration attorney from El Paso.

Jakadrien's family says they have no idea why she ended up in Colombia. Johnisa Turner said the girl is a U.S. citizen who was born in Dallas and was not fluent in Spanish. She said neither she nor the teen's father had ties to Colombia. Jakadrien's grandmother, Lorene Turner, called the deportation a "big mistake somebody made."

"She looks like a kid, she acts like a kid. How could they think she wasn't a kid?" Lorene Turner asked on Thursday.

Lorene Turner, a Dallas hairstylist, said she spent a lot of time on the Internet trying to track down Jakadrien.

Ultimately, the girl was found in Bogota by the Dallas Police Department with help from Colombian and U.S. officials.

Dallas Police detective C'mon (pronounced Simone) Wingo, the detective in charge of the case, said she was contacted in August by the girl's grandmother, who said Jakadrien had posted "kind of disturbing" messages on a Facebook account where she goes by yet another name.

Wingo said the girl was located in early November through her use of a computer to log into Facebook. Relatives were then put into contact with the U.S. embassy in Bogota to provide pictures and documents to prove Jakadrien's identity.

Colombian officials said when the government discovered she was a U.S. citizen and a minor, it put her under the care of a welfare program.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the case was brought to the State Department's attention in mid-December.

"We didn't have any involvement at all in this case until it came to light that there may be a problem with an American minor in Colombia, and that — and then we became involved both with Colombian authorities and with folks in Dallas," Nuland said.

Stephen Yale-Loehr, who teaches immigration law at Cornell Law School, said hundreds of U.S. citizens are wrongfully detained or deported each year.

"There are a variety of legitimate reasons why somebody might not appear to be a U.S. citizen at first glance." he said. "It's the duty of the U.S. federal immigration agency to make sure that we do not detain and deport U.S. citizens erroneously. And this, unfortunately happened in this case."