Learning Biology

Additives that inhibit the growth of bacteria, yeast, and molds in foods are known as perservatives. Salt an example of an additive has been used for years to lower the water activity of meats and foods that inhibit the growth of bacterial growth. Adding acids like vinegar lowers the pH levels in food which also helps lower bacterial growth. Additives are used maintain nutritional value, control pH, enhance flavor, and provide color. Some foods additives are antimicrobial agents, antioxidents, artifical colors, artifical flavors, bleaching agents, nutrient additives, and thickening agents. The FDA has to approve all additives before they can use them in foods.

http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/A-Ap/Additives-and-Preservatives.html

http://www.foodsafety.gov/~lrd/foodaddi.html

Additives can be good but they also can be harmful. Additives like sodium nitrate used in hot dogs and luncheon meats contains small amounts of cancer causing chemicals called nitrosamines during cooking. Tests have been done that show that some additives can cause cancer like six artificial food colorings that include blues #1, #2, and #3, green #3, red #3, and yellow #6. Two artificial sweeteners saccharine and acesulfame K, or acesulfame potassium, and potassium bromate in white flour products. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) can cause headaches, nausea, and difficulty breathing for people. Artificial coloring which is another additives has been shown to cause children to become more hyperactive and can worsen asthma. Aspartame an artifical sweetener has been reported that it has cause seizures, headaches, nausea, and mood disturbances.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1671688,00.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/22/health/webmd/main4682996.shtml

Additives can be good in some foods but not all additives are safe. I think that additives should be tested more thoroughly before they are put into the foods we eat. Food additves might help how our food tastes or looks but certain additives are being added like sodium nitrate that can cause cancer. When studies show that these additives are causing side effects as serious as cancer, worsening asthma, seizures, head aches, nausea, and others then they need to stop putting them in foods and find the problem with the additive. Additives are causing people’s health to get worse. Some additives may be safe but for the additives that aren’t safe they should be tested or even stop being used in foods. I think additives are bad because they cause health problems that can not be fixed.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Natural-Health/2008-04-01/Food-Additives-Hyperactivity-ADHD.aspx

http://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/101/food-safety/are-additives-bad-for-you.aspx

Have you ever thought about what you are putting in your mouth when you eat food? Pestisides are put on plants to protect them from insects, weeds, mold, and rodents. Although they are meant to be good, they are not. They can cause health problems when to much is exposed. Infants are more vulnerable because they still have organs that are growing inside of them. Also infants and children eat and drink more than adults do. Because of this the EPA sets standards of how much of the pestisides are permitted to be put on plants. http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/food/pesticides-andfood/food.html

The good thing about this is that it is good for the environment. It is good also because it does kill the bugs that eat the plants. I know myself that if were to bite into something with a bug in it, I wouldn’t be to happy. In fact, I probably wouldn’t buy from the consumer anymore. That brings up another pro, it is good for farmers. People don’t realize what they are eating, and if they don’t know the more convinced they are to eat it. http://altmed.creighton.edu/OrganicFood/perceived_pros_and_cons.htm

The cons to this is that pestisides are poisons. Like i said in the first paragraph, they can cause health problems for infants and children. They can kill or harm things that the user is not wanting targetting. Pestisides that are put in the ground can be washed into streams or any source of water that is used. For example, it can kill fish in the streams and contaminate the water so when people drink the water they can get sick. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_advantages_and_disadvantages_of_pesticides

In my personal opinion i think that they are bad. Maybe someone could come up with a new idea for killing pests. They are horrible for peoples health and for the person using them. They can cause infants to have bad health problems. It is also responsible for the polution in waters. Even though it is meant to be a good thing, I really don’t think that it is. Just remember to wash your fruits and vegi’s that you buy at the store.

Dylan Pearce

Pd. 3

3-17-09

Researchers initially said levels of Zeranol, a growth hormone fed to cattle, found in beef were “57,000 times less, literally, than what the FDA has determined is safe.” That’s a huge number to be allowed to be given legally to the cows. Zeranol, and many other growth hormones, are mixed in to feed for the cattle to make them grow fatter faster, ultimately saving money. Now Zeranol isn’t directly linked to any specific diseases, but there is a scare about its connection to breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women, in the world.

In Europe, growth hormones are prohibited to be used by farmers. So why can’t we prohibit them here? Farmers argue the supply and demand of beef is where it all comes into play, but I’d rather slow down on fast food rather than voluntarily put my health at risk. If a growth hormone is developed that is some-how processed out of the cow by the time its served to us, the consumer, then I might change my opinion, but to let the growth hormones affect our health in negative ways just to make a “buck” is unethical. Right now the FDA is undergoing a huge follow-up test to the sudden publicity of these growth hormones. Research differs from each study but all say at least that it’s lower than FDA standards.

Now don’t take this essay in the wrong terms, nothing has been proven from the test yet that growth hormones like Zeranol are directly connected to possible health concerns, but have had many eye brows raised over the situation. Honestly if the FDA would even think of a possible food scare than they would recall and test, so we may have nothing to worry about, but think about that the next time you’re eating a burger from your favorite restaurant.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/20/eveningnews/main554857.shtml

http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/hormones/

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_5543.cfm

Brinkley Gray Presents:
Health Dangers You as a Shopper Should Know.

Never before have you seen it, rarely do you notice it. You think your safe, but you’re wrong, because in this world there are super “induced villains” that you never would have thought to be imaginable and they’re coming to take over our supermarket. The leader of this group is a genetically altered, chemical induced potato named dark tator. He along with his pupils is trying to take over our supermarkets and make you eat toxic foods just like him. You are the last hope in trying to save our nation from eating genetically altered foods. Below is all the information you need it’s up to you to help lead the resistance.
Here is the information on what you should know about your local food markets and farmers markets. Before you go on your mission to save the our nation or your hometown, can you answer these with guarantee that you know the answers? Let’s find out if you can. Could you honestly tell me wear your fruits and vegetables come from? Could you tell me that you know for 100% guarantee that you food is safe enough to give to children to feed to yourself to feed you husband or wife????
Studies have shown that geneticly altering foods vs. organically grown foods. People choose to choose the easy way out by buying foods that are bad for them geneticly altered foods. Do you know what these foods have stored inside of them that you eat just because they are cheaper and more effecitant? Well let me tell you all of the things that are in geneticly altered foods, you have steroids in you meats and you have pesticieds and growth homons on your vegies and fruits. Here if you don’t believe me check out this website : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food . You will find a chart showing you what’s all in the food you eat. You choose to put deadly poisons in your body just because it’s cheaper but look at your children. By giving this genticaly altered food to your children it can cause :
New toxins and allergens in foods
# Other damaging effects on health caused by unnatural foods
# Increased use of chemicals on crops, resulting in increased contamination of our water supply and food
# The creation of herbicide-resistant weeds
# The spread of diseases across species barriers
# Loss of bio-diversity in crops
# The disturbance of ecological balance
# Artificially induced characteristics and inevitable side-effects will be passed on to all subsequent generations and to other related organisms. Once released, they can never be recalled or contained. The consequences of this are incalculable.  But don’t just take my word for it look at this website: http://www.netlink.de/gen/fagan.html   well I’ve done the most that I can for you to inform you need to get out there and change what your eating for the safety of you and your families.

Other websites:

Chelsea Shaffer pd1
What are hormones? Hormones are naturally occuring chemicals that are produced in the bodies of all animals, and humans. They are chemical messages released into the blood by hormone-producing organs that travel to and affect different parts of the body. They control important body functions such as growth, development and reproduction. Hormones can be steroids or proteins. Steroid hormones are active in the body when eating. For example, birth control pills are steroid hormones. On the other hand, protein hormones are broken down in the stomach, then lose their ability to act in the body when eaten. Therefore, protein hormones need to be injected into the body to have an effect. For example, insulin is a protein hormone. Diabetics need to be injected with insulin. Now when hormones are used in food there are some pros to the issue <ref>http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/Factsheet/Diet/fs37.hormones.cfm<ref/> they can make small young animals gain weight faster, and help reduce the waiting time and the amount of feed eaten by an animal before slaughter in meat industries. Hormones that include three which are naturally occurring—Oestradiol, Progesterone and Testosterone—and three which are synthetic—Zeranol, Trenbolone, and Melengestrol. Hormones can be used in dairy cows to increase milk production. Hormones can can then increase the profits made by the meat and dairy industries. <ref>http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/hormones/<ref/> On the other hand the cons of the hormone enhanced animals and what we don’t realize is what these hormones do to us. There is a concern that because of increased milking in cows, hormone-treated cows may become more prone to infection of the udders. This could lead to more antibiotics being used to treat the cows, in turn leading to more of antibiotics to remain in the milk. Over a long period of time the bacteria in your stomach that help with digestion are exsposed to the antibiotics and become immune to it. Which will cause the bactiria to not react when you take antibiotics when you are sick and will make you get healthy slower. Yet another concern is the cows manure. The hormones are also passed through the cow when it excretes its wastes, then the farms will use the manure to fertilize the fileds of their crops, then the cosumer gets even more of the growth hormones from eatting the crops that are grown with hormone contaminated manure. Children, pregnant women and the unborn are thought to be most at risk to the negative health effects. Hormone residues in beef have been the cause of early puberty in girls, which could put them at greater risk of developing breast and other forms of cancer.

In conclusion I belive that hormones should not be givin to animals, the only people that the hormones give an advantage to are the farmers because they make the animals grow bigger quicker, and get to the slaughter house faster so they eat less food so the farmer can spend less money. In the long run all it does for us is put us at risk for major health problems like breast cancer, and immunity in our bodies to antibiotics and make us more prone to infecctions. So as you can see growth hormones should not be used in animals for it can harm people over a long period of ingesting them. A few ways to avoid eatting to many of these growth hormones are to eat a varied diet rich in fruits, grains and vegatables, eat meats in moderation well cooked, and eat more lean muscle meat rather than fat.

Other site references
<ref>http://www.fda.gov/cvm/hormones.htm<ref/>
<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/comments/display?contentID=AR2006111300824<ref/>

Shannon Carpenter   pd. 3

Biology: Issues in Food- Growth Hormones

Do you really know what’s in your food?  Think again.

   Did you know that in 2005, over 32.5 million cattle were butchered to provide beef for the U.S. and that about two thirds of that number were injected with growth hormones to speed up they’re growth rate?  It has been an issue for quite some time now on debating whether or not growth hormones are an advantage in beef and milk production or a huge failure to keep our food safe and overall the consumers who purchase this hormone-exosed food safe.

   I believe that using growth hormones in the production of beef and milk is not worth all of the risks that come attached to it.  Studies show that the exposure to growth hormones in beef could put Americans at risk for infertility and/or women who eat beef regularly are more likely to have boys who grow up to have lower-than-normal sperm counts.  Not only are humans affected, but the animals treated with these hormones are prone to tremendous stress which could cause the cow to loose weight, become infertile, and be infected by a disease more easily.  When a cow gets a disease such as mastitis, the farmer must give the cow antibiotics to help treat it which results in antibiotic residues in milk.  This suggests the idea, that humans can develop health problems from drinking that milk as well as an antibiotic resistance amongst bacteria in the person’s body.  Hormone residues in cow manure can also be a disadvantage in the production of milk and beef.  Apart from the cow manure changing the reproductive capacity and gender of fish, there are also scares of the hormones finding their way back into our foods.

   Although I believe growth hormones mostly cause bad effects on us, animals, and our ecosystem, there are a few beneficial reasons why we use growth hormones.  Milk and beef producers usually inject their cattle with hormones such as rBGH (Posilac) because they help improve the quality of the meat by decreasing the fat content and increasing the creation of lean meat.  Growth hormones can also increase feed efficiency in cows which therefore allows more growth in an animal with less feed.  Last but not least, these hormones reduce the prices for consumers and producers.

   In conclusion, I believe using growth hormones in cattle for the production of beef and milk is not worth the risks that come along with it.  If you agree with me on this issue, there are many ways to take a stand and protect yourself but also decrease the amount of animals who must go through the process of growth hormones.  One way in particular is to buy from your local dairy and beef farmers who don’t use growth hormones in they’re production of foods; this alternative is also sometimes cheaper in the long run.

Resources:

http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php/Growth_Hormones_in_Food#How_growth_hormones_boost_production

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2004-04-01-veal_x.htm

http://www.orpheusweb.co.uk/john.rose/rbgh.html

http://cahi-icsa.ca/pdf/Beef-Hormones-Factsheet.pdf

http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/hormones/

http://www.beefmyths.org/beefmyths/cattlegrowthhormones/

Over 14,000 Chemicals are added to the American food supply. Human bodies were not meant to be exposed to the chemicals in food additives. Additives can also be categorized as preservatives. Salt, sugar and vinegar were among the first used to preserve food. Most food additives are considered safe. However, some are known to be carcinogenic or toxic. Hyperactivity in children, allergies, asthma, and migranes are often associated with reactions to food additives.

Acesulfame K is an additive used as a sugar substitute. Some testing has shown that this additve can cause cancer in animals, which therefore, may increase cancer in humans. Artificial colorings, which are synthetic dyes used in foods are also suspected of being toxic or carcinogens. Another additive, potassium bromate, is used to increase the volume of bread and to produce bread with a fine crumb structure.  Bromate itself causes cancer in animals and has been banned almost worldwide. Sulfites, another additive, are a class of chemicals that can keep cut fruits and vegetables looking fresh. Six scientific studies have been found proving that sulfites could provoke sometimes severe allergic reactions. CSPI and the Food and Drug Administration identified at least a dozen fatalities linked to sulfites. All of the deaths occurred among asthmatics.

In conclusion I believe that the use of additives is a complicated subject. In the case of additives that are harmful to humans and animals, I believe that they should be banned until there is a non harmful way to use them. In the case of food additives that have no solid proof of being harmful or have had studies proving such, I believe that they shouldn’t be banned and should continue to be used by Americans in the food making and preserving process.

http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_additive

http://www.foodsafety.gov/~lrd/foodaddi.html

Thomas Wagner

Period 1

Academic Biology

How would you like to see yourself in 5-10 years? Skinny and fit or Obese and exhausted all the time. Well if you know what you want to look like, just a regular bit of eating habits can help you achieve your goal. Its not too complicated to keep a healthy diet. Just think of it as this, make a rule for yourself like that you can only have a certain amount of sweets and junk food each week, if you pass your limit it will take it from your next weeks amount and plus you have to eat extra vegetables next week.

http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/A-Ap/Additives-and-Preservatives.html

It doesn’t take that much to fix your eating style at all. Just go online and check out some simple websites on healthy foods/diets and you can be right on your way to slim on down. The following link will show you some of the healthy foods to eat along with some bad foods you should stay away from. You can’t just expect you to become your ideal figure over night, it will take time and determination, it will also take strength in yourself to give yourself the extra nudge away from the junk foods even though you may want them. How do you think all the athletes become so fit? You think they eat junk food? well they might a little but another key is to exercise daily. Doesn’t have to be anything that over exerts yourself but you can do something as simple as doing a brisk jog, walking your dog, doing some simple fitness drills like push-ups sit ups, all of those can help you in the long run.

http://www.cspinet.org/nah/10foods_bad.html

I personally believe that if you eat right and exercise well you can achieve your ideal weight and appearance that you want for yourself, and of course everybody likes sweets and junk food but you always need to remember when to say “thats enough” when it comes to it.

Pros and Cons of food additives by Jeremy Neese

Some kid is eating some cereal for breakfast. He starts choking and getting a rash. this is all from some sort of food additive.

There are many purposes of food additives. They help to preserve the food longer.  They prevent mold from growing on the produce. It also holds the food together like peanut butter. They also help us get our daily vitamins and minerals. That was some of the good things that food additives do. There are many good things that can come food additives and they should use them. I got the info from here.  http://www.thefreelibrary.com/PROS+AND+CONS+OF+FOOD+ADDITIVES-a079515236

There are some problems with it though. For starters they have been linked to temper with children. Also many kids are allergic to the different food additives. This means that there are still many different kinds of problems with food additives. The problems out weigh the goods in this case. My resources arehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-453431/The-proof-food-additives-ARE-bad-feared.html

My opinion is that we should not use the food additives yet. They present many problems and until we fix them we should not use them. Some of the problems are allergic reactions, problems with children tempers, and there are even some that increase the risk of cancer so avoid this additive Acesulfame K. Now you know the facts so stop using food additives.

Here is a link for good and bad reasons. http://www.swedish.org/16456.cfm