I'm Gina Smith

Pringles can inventor gets buried in it. (Slashdot, via Steve.)

"Dr. Fredric J. Baur was so proud of having designed the container for Pringles... that he asked his family to bury him in one. His children honored his request. Part of his remains was buried in a Pringles can — along with a regular urn containing the rest... Dr. Baur, a retired organic chemist and food storage technician who specialized in research and development and quality control for Procter & Gamble, died May 4 at 89... He developed many products, including frying oils and a freeze-dried ice cream, for P&G... But the Pringles can was his proudest accomplishment, his daughter said. He received a patent for the package as well as the method of packaging Pringles in 1970."

When will it end? Moyers on carcinogen that lobbyists insist is fine to eat. Who made them scientists? Yet we're eating it!

From today's Truthout.org. Don't miss this upcoming special on PBS. Details at truthout.org.

There may be a potentially dangerous chemical leaching into our food from the containers that we use every day. Bill Moyers Journal and Expose: America's Investigative Reports examine why, even though studies show that the chemical Bisphenol A can cause cancer and other health problems in lab animals, the manufacturers, their lobbyists, and US regulators say it's safe. Also on the program, Jeffrey Toobin, one of the most recognized legal journalists in the country, discusses what the Supreme Court might look like if John McCain is elected president. And Bill Moyers on honoring our veterans this Memorial Day.

30 reasons to be more like me (at least in one regard)

PETA has asked me to post on my blog 30 reasons to be a vegetarian -- because you can't really call yourself an environmentalist if you're chomping on your fellow animals.

My favorite reason is -- It is guaranteed that every time you eat chicken, there's a little poop in it. AGH!

This is interesting, enlightening and well worth viewing. Click here. Even if you don't have the slightest desire to be more like me. : )

Sir Paul McCartney launches a celebrity vegetarian site (and it's cool!)

Check out this link.

It is an extraordinary site. And wait till you see what celebrities are refusing flesh for food. Nice job, Paul!

Big surprise. Americans eat how we think. Partially-hydrogenated. (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Ninety percent of Americans say breakfast is an important part of a healthy diet, but just 49 percent manage to eat breakfast every day, a new survey shows.

And only 11 percent know the amount of calories they should consume daily to maintain a healthy weight, according to the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation's second annual Food & Health Survey. "The only good thing is more people tried to guess than last year," Susan Borra, the president of the Washington, DC-based IFIC Foundation, told Reuters Health.

IFIC commissioned a survey of 1,000 US adults, this March to better understand people's beliefs and behaviors regarding healthy eating. The survey identified a number of "diet disconnects" between what people intend to do and their actual habits, according to Borra and her team.

Among the most striking "disconnects," Borra said in an interview, concerned knowledge about good and bad fats. While current guidelines recommend people consume more polyunsaturated fats, found in fish and some whole grain foods, and monounsaturated fats, found in nuts, avocados and vegetable oils, she noted, 42 percent of those surveyed said they were trying to eat fewer polyunsaturated fats and 38 percent reported trying to cut down on monounsaturated fats.

However, 70 percent of people said they were trying to cut down on saturated fat, more than last year's 57 percent. Saturated fats are found in meats, dairy foods, and coconut and palm oils, among other sources, and have been tied to an increased risk off heart disease and stroke.

While 84 percent said they were physically active at least once a week for health benefits, only 44 percent said they "balanced diet and physical activity" for weight management. "That concept of calories in, calories out isn't quite making the consumer radar screen," Borra said. "That's another big disconnect."

And while most people surveyed knew about the benefits of functional foods; for example, 80 percent knew such foods could benefit the heart, just 42 percent actually ate such heart-healthy foods.

"Consumers are interested in health, they want to have a healthy lifestyle, but they're just having a tremendous difficulty achieving it," Borra said, adding that people's "hectic, crazy lifestyles" and the confusing mix of information out there don't help matters

I quit drinking, quit smoking, quit coffee, but now ... chocolate.

Hydrogenated fats are deadly. They are mostly illegal in the US. But now, an exception. MARS BARS.

Thank goodness, I prefer my chocolate plain and dark and bitter and swiss.

But after almost eight years of clean living, this? MARS! Very disappointed. If you're vegetarian, that chocolate bar is untouchable!

Story below, excerpted:

As of this past May 1, Mars brand candy bars are no longer suitable for vegetarians. The affected brands, which include chocolate and ice cream versions of Snickers, Bounty, Milky Way and more, now contain rennet, a product obtained by extracting the stomach lining of calves.

This news comes on the heels of an announcement by the United States Food and Drug Administration that there is a move underfoot to change the standard of identity for chocolate, allowing food additives such as (deadly, my add) hydrogenated fats and other distinctly non-chocolate ingredients to be included in a product that can still be called chocolate.

What does this all mean? If you're in the UK, it means that grabbing a quick chocolate treat may mean compromising your vegetarian values and, if you're in the US, it means that in the near future, chocolate manufacturers will be offering an inferior product, which you will likely be paying the same price for.

GINA'S NOTE: Wonderful. The food industry lobbies, and we matter not at all. Unless we choose to buy our chocolate wisely. Check labels for hydrogenated fats and, if you agree, use your dollars to vote. If customers don't buy, the lobbyists and companies who don't mind slowly giving our children and adults fat-related diseases might wake up.

Is there any end to the lack of corporate concern for human health. First the hundred-plus carcinogenics listed in safecosmetics.org (see earlier post) in almost all the products I use daily. Pantene to make my long hair smooth, my supposedly organic lotions, my mascara and makeup I need for my TV job. All high up on the carcinogenic and animal-testing lists.

In the next few days, I am going to start using its database to find products that score low (0 to 2) on a daily basis and really put an effort to it. If we don't do it, who will?

Chocolate, makeup, moisturizers. You wonder why reproductive cancers are going up. (And as I said, only FOUR of the more than 100 carcinogens banned from personal products in Europe are banned here. Someone tell me why no one is protecting the health of our people.

Okay, I know the answer. Do you?

Dairy causes weight loss? Yeah, right. (Thank you, FTC)

We drink rice milk in this household. The least you could expect from us sanctimonious Californians. Glad the FTC is standing up to the meat and dairy lobbyists for a change. Now if only the FDA could stop being a puppet for the pharma industry ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. dairy producers will have to stop pitching the idea that drinking more milk spurs weight loss, the Federal Trade Commission told a physician's advocacy group in a letter made public on Friday.

Calling it a "victory for consumers", the Physicians for Responsible Medicine said two national dairy advertising campaigns overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will stop claiming that dairy products cause weight loss because "such claims are not supported by existing scientific research."

Greg Miller, senior vice president for the National Dairy Council, said the industry stands "behind our weight loss messages and the science supporting those messages."

But Miller said that at the request of USDA, the industry would shift its messages "to emphasize the role of dairy in weight maintenance" instead of weight loss. USDA could not be immediately reached for comment on the FTC letter.

The doctors' organization cited a May 3 letter from FTC, which told the group that following discussions with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it would "discontinue all advertising and other marketing activities involving weight loss claims until further research provides stronger more conclusive evidence of an association between dairy consumption and weight loss."

In its April 2005 petition to the FTC, the advocacy group charged that the dairy industry was misleading the public with its high profile, celebrity-filled marketing campaign that suggested consuming milk and other dairy products helped consumers lose weight.

"Milk and cheese are more likely to pack on pounds than help people slim down," said Dan Kinburn, PCRM's general counsel. "This case calls into question other advertising claims made by the industry, especially the notion that milk builds strong bones. Evidence shows it does nothing of the kind."

Horse -- the new red meat.

In Germany where I visited as a kid, I remember they tried me to eat "horse sausage." Yuck! Now, I realize that different cultures consider different animals edible and others not, but as a vegetarian, okay, can you horse-eaters pull yourselves together? Excerpt from today's NYT. Subscription required, but it's free.

RECENTLY, an official for American Horse Defense Fund, which is a fervent supporter of bills now in the United States Congress that would ban slaughtering horses for meat, declared that “the foreign-owned slaughter industry needs to understand that Americans will never view horses as dinner.”

It’s a ringing statement, but it’s not an entirely accurate one. As much public support as the anti-slaughter bills have and as highly as we regard this animal as a companion, co-worker and patriotic symbol, Americans have made periodic forays into horse country, hungry for an alternative red meat.

During World War II and the postwar years, when beef and pork were scarce or priced beyond most consumers’ means, horsemeat appeared in the butcher’s cold case. In 1951, Time magazine reported from Portland, Ore.: “Horsemeat, hitherto eaten as a stunt or only as a last resort, was becoming an important item on Portland tables. Now there were three times as many horse butchers, selling three times as much meat.” Noting that “people who used to pretend it was for the dog now came right out and said it was going on the table,” the article provided tips for cooking pot roast of horse and equine fillets.

A similar situation unfolded in 1973, when inflation sent the cost of traditional meats soaring. Time reported that “Carlson’s, a butcher shop in Westbrook, Conn., that recently converted to horsemeat exclusively, now sells about 6,000 pounds of the stuff a day.” The shop was evangelical in its promotion of horse as a main course, producing a 28-page guide called “Carlson’s Horsemeat Cook Book,” with recipes for chili con carne, German meatballs, beery horsemeat and more. While no longer in print, the book is catalogued on Amazon.

Biggest threat in your water -- rust!

My east coast friends laugh at my double filtration water filter ...

From Reuters, excerpted below.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - From an attack by militants to a decline in snow melt caused by global warming, public fears about the water supply have heightened in the United States.

So who would have thought the top worry among water experts turns out to be rusty pipes?

"If you clean up water and then put it into a dirty pipe, there's not much point," said Timothy Ford, a microbiologist and water research scientist with Montana State University. "I consider the distribution system to be the highest risk and the greatest problem we are going to be facing in the future," Ford said.

Towns and cities across the United States spend more than $50 billion each year cleaning water sourced from rivers, lakes and underground aquifers.

More than 170,000 public water systems are at work to keep tap water flowing into American homes and meeting the standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974.

But after the extensive purifying process, water ends up in your glass after traveling through pipes laid under city streets 50, 60 or 100 years ago.

A recall on your turkey -- a little late, I'd say.

Makes me glad I ate a Tofurkey! This is serious stuff.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Ohio-based company is recalling 46,941 pounds of turkey and ham products that officials fear could cause listeriosis, a potentially fatal disease, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday.

HoneyBaked Foods Inc. is voluntarily recalling the meat, which includes cooked, glazed and sliced ham and turkey, USDA said in a statement.

The meat, which was produced between September 5 and November 13, may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, which can bring about high fever, headaches, neck stiffness and nausea, USDA said.

Healthy individuals are not usually susceptible to the illness, but it can cause infections to infants, the elderly, or people with HIV or cancer. It can also cause  miscarriages.received any reports so far of illness related to the meat products.