Something calledMetabolicSyndrome has recently been discovered. This basically meansthat every infant should be EXCLUSIVELY breast fed for atleast 6 months, in order to avoid a future of obesity andType II diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, andtoo much bad cholesterol. But guess what’s being found inwomen’s breast milk?rocket fuel! But you don’t have to be aninfant to ingest this: it’s been found in cow’s milk too.It has also turned up in lettuce, so salads may not be as goodfor you as you think.
Robert Roy Britt writes in livescience.com that the toxicchemical perchlorate, which is used in rocket fuel, has beenfound in the breast milk of women in 18 states. It’s alsobeen discovered in store-bought milk in many places aroundthe country. This substance can cause retardation infetuses, among other things. Since women and cows havevastly different diets, where does it come from? It leachesinto groundwater from military facilities.
Researchers at Texas Tech studied 36 samples of breast milkfrom women in 18 states and 47 samples cow’s milk purchasedfrom grocery stores in 11 states. Every single sample ofbreast milk contained perchlorate, and all but one sample ofdairy milk did too. The highest levels were found in NewJersey, New Mexico, Missouri, Nebraska and California. Thechemical pollutes the Colorado river, which provides waterto Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas and is used toirrigate 70% of the nation’s lettuce crops, so it may bedangerous to eat salad as well to as drink milk.
Perchlorate occurs naturally and is also a primaryingredient in solid rocket fuel, ammunition and fireworks.It can interfere with the thyroid gland, affecting adultmetabolism and childhood development. It can cause mentalretardation, as well as deafness, in fetuses.
No national standard exists for the chemical, although theEPA suggests a limit of one microgram per liter of drinkingwater. Excessive perchlorate is in the drinking water of atleast 11 million people in the U.S.
Art credit: http://www.freeimages.co.uk
With news like this, it’s surprising we ever gethungry again!
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