Since 2006, over 30 percent of America’s bees have vanished. Scientists have not been able to figure out why, but pollution is one of many likely causes. Even surface water sitting around in various parks and farms is loaded with pesticides. In 2008, it was found a neonicotinoid pesticide has in it an ingredient (imidacloprid – IMD ) that is harming the honey bees’ nervous, immune, and digestive systems, leaving the bees more vulnerable to funguses and viruses. It has been foretold that if we lose our bees, we will only have a few years of food left.
Land run off and air fallout into the oceans have increased the contaminates in our fish so much that the fish oils we purchase for our omega 3 healthy oils, now have traces of mercury, PCBs and dioxins in them. And yet, they are also now saying these oils are healthier than eating the fish sources directly, because the fish are even more polluted. If you eat fish, smaller ( younger ) are apparently much healthier.
E. Coli has been present in our food crops more often. There have been warnings on the news every now and again about spinach, lettuce, or strawberries, or some other low growing food. Livestock farmers need to have strict boundaries for fecal contaminated run off, so as to prevent E. Coli from harming our food crops, and as well, food farmers should make sure that their produce crops are never grown too close to fresh manure sources. If everyone is more aware of this problem, that is the first step in fixing it.
We have polluted soil leaching into the lakes, rivers, and oceans, and we also have polluted water being used on our food crops. We have to keep in mind what is going into our water sources, like the antibiotics and over subscribed prescription drugs that go through both us and farm animals. Many of these substances don’t break down completely, and we seem to recycle these substances back through ourselves from the food we eat and the water that both we, and the farm animals drink. Industry dumping, or chemical spills into the rivers and waterways, sewage run off, pills dumped down toilets, mining projects – it’s all affecting our health.
Chemicals that leach out of some plastics, and into our food and drinks is partially to blame for our expanding waistlines around the world. Pollution, they have discovered, may be the biggest offender affecting our waistlines. Some industrial chemicals act as endocrine disruptors, messing up the hormones that control our metabolism and appetites. These chemicals, mostly found in pesticides, flame retardants, and phthalates are used to plasticize a wide range of everyday products, from water bottles to makeup, and are suspected to cause cancer and developmental problems as well as obesity.
Protecting our food and eating safely is getting harder every year. The more aware you are about the problems in the food industry, the easier it is to make better choices. Everyone should know where their food comes from. Growing your own small organic vegetable garden in a sunny window or back yard if you have one, is a great project for kids and adults alike.
