Thursday, March 02, 2006

What are we doing?

So here I am, doing my morning surf, and listening to CBC and it is an article about cancer. Now , the chances of getting cancer is 1 in 2. 50% . That is either me or my husband and two of my kids. That is my mother, who had breast cancer diagnosed three years ago, and is fine now. For the moment. That is my mother in law. Breast cancer 30+ years ago. That is my paternal grandmother. Breast cancer. That was Rick and Robbie. And Haifa, and Marilyn, and Liz S. Who else? And what is causing all of this? Nobody really knows. The best guess is that it is all of the crap that we eat and breath. The chemicals that are put in our food to keep them "fresh". The shit that "off gases" from the cheap building materials that go into today's houses, and mini home. I went to an "open house" for one of these locally built "Maple Leaf Homes" It is basically a modular mini home. House lego. You chose the pieces and they assemble the bricks on your property. Looked nice and clean, but I could smell the chemicals and I had a headache after 5 minutes. And these things are being marketed to young families. Look at the ingredients list on lots of "foods" in the grocery store. After a few that we know and can pronounce, there are many that are there to give whatever it is a shelf life of 18 months or more.What else are they doing? I would love to buy everything organic, but my grocery bill would rise to $1000 per month. I kid you not. I can't afford it. The money isn't there. So what do I do?

In North America, a chemical is considered innocent until proven guilty. Why are the food giants trying to kill us slowly? Oh, right. The same reason that the US is in Iraq. Money.

There are days that I dream of being omnipotent. I make my self large, look down on the world, and start squishing the greedy bastards that put money above life, humanity, morality. I squish them like mosquito's with my thumb.

4 comments:

Liz said...

money is a great servant and a horrible master. who said that? not sure but it really is true.
even homegrown organic ain't organic if your neighbours aren't
sigh.

Erin said...

This is all food for thought. I myself am upset with the additives in food. I try to read labels carefully, but sometimes I just don't have the time or the patience for it. I will say that since I became vegetarian and my life started becoming more active, I've been feeling the best I've ever felt. I think the problem with cancer and obesity is a mixture of added chemicals and lifestyle.

Jackie said...

Kate, I had never heard of the cancer-obesity link. I wonder if part of the link is because of the type of foods that people who are obese tend to eat. I don't know what your day to day diet is like, but I sometimes keep an eye on other people's carts while I am shopping in the grocery store. (yeah,yeah, I'm nosey that way) A lot of large people have a lot of crap in their carts. Pop, chips, processed foods, instant this that and the other thing. I know that all obese people are not that way because of food choices only, but a lot of them are. Skinny people eat crap too. I admit to buying coke and chips. But my one bag of Miss Vikki's jalepino chip shared among the 6 of us every two weeks can hardly compare to the dozen bags that some people take home. Maybe they were going to a party. I don't know.
Chemicals and pestisides are stored in fat. Think tests done on artic animals. I am not a scientist and no one can say for sure yet what the causes of cancer are. I do my best, grow some of our foods (as organically as I can), buy half an organic cow every fall ( it's actually quite a bit cheaper),and avoid foods that are processed to death. But my mom pretty much did the same.

One last word on fat. I always thought that it was a bit strange that people sued McDonalds and the like because eating there made them fat. I worked at rotten ronnies more than 20 years ago. Even back then there were "nutritional information" cards that were behind the counter should a customer ask about something silly like "how many calories are in a big mac, fries, and large pop" A sign on the "menu" stated that the information was avaliable. Cigarettes come with more warning labels than ever, and people still smoke. And now want to sue tobacco companies because they get sick. Duhh. Not to mention having the host of a private party be liable for their guests liquor consumption, should said guest get in an accident. I would like people to start taking responsibility for their own actions and choices. Just say, yeah, I fucked up and I shall pay the penality.

How did we come to this?

Liz said...

We could all use a little more activity, a little less stress and a whole lot more leafy greens in this house!
And realistically, I should hope we can achieve that without losing it completely