HFCS Food for Bees Found to Increase Colony Collapse Disorder

Heather Callaghan

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A study released on Monday shows that cheaper honey substitutes such as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and sugar (made from genetically modified sugar beets) are contributing to massive bee death via Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) by depriving bees of crucial nutrients, which weakens their immune systems.

Sadly, U.S. bee keepers were devastated by the loss of nearly one-third of their cross-pollinating, food co-creator colonies this past winter alone. That finding is close to the yearly average decline over the past six years, making the cumulative data a great concern for the species and crops. Scientists still like to play it safe and say the decline that's damaging the food supply is largely unexplained, but neonicotinoid pesticides have one of the biggest roles in the loss. And, they have everything to do with why HFCS fed to bees is further killing them.

According to researchers at the University of Illinois in the study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on May 28:

Top 10 Foods That Contain High Fructose Corn Syrup

Elizabeth Renter

It’s super cheap—cheaper than sugar—and that means processed food manufacturers can load up on it, sweetening their goodies at rock-bottom prices and further driving our waistlines out. It’s high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and it’s found in some pretty surprising places. In fact, the foods with high fructose corn syrup may be foods you eat every single day.

While this Huffington Post article on the hidden presence of HFCS says “the jury is still out” on whether it’s dangerous or any more dangerous than sugar, we know differently. This cheap sweetener has been linked to obesity, learning ability and memory, and high blood pressure, to name a few health issues. As if that isn’t enough, it has also been shown to contain toxic mercury.

So, while some would have you believe HFCS is no more dangerous than white sugar (as if that isn’t bad enough), we know differently.

How Corn Syrup Made America FAT (w/Infographic)

Dees Illustration

Mike Barrett

Activist Post

High-fructose corn syrup, an extremely cheap, processed, and easily produced alternative to sugar, has been deemed ‘safe’ by the Food and Drug Administration since 1976. For decades, corn has been converted into high-fructose corn syrup for companies to use in their products at an extremely low cost, but it wasn’t so long ago that the dangers of this sugar alternative and food preservative have been recognized. Below you can view an infographic outlining the many dangers of high-fructose corn syrup, and how the production of corn syrup in general has made America FAT.

Presence of Corn and How There is So Much of It

Not many individuals would be surprised to hear that corn is the most widely planted cereal crop, with nearly 163 million hectares of land area being used for cultivation. Think the state of New York doubled in size for dedication to corn. And what do these corn fields output? 316 million metric tons were produced between 2011 and 2012 – nearly 6x that of wheat and 20x that of cotton.

Frighteningly, much of this corn isn’t even made to eat, as it actually isn’t edible.

Corn Syrup Lobby Courts Mommybloggers, Gets Spanked

Jaelithe Judy
Care2

High fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive sweetener made from highly processed corn that has become an almost ubiquitous ingredient in packaged processed foods, has been getting some bad press of late.

Some scientists and food experts, including the well-regarded sustainable food advocate Marion Nestle, have argued that high fructose corn syrup is really no worse, nutritionally speaking, than traditional refined table sugar, which is certainly no health food. But mounting evidence suggests that subtle chemical differences between the two sweetners might cause HFCS to affect the body differently than regular sugar, in potentially harmful ways.

HCFS Links to Diabetes and Obesity

A 2007 Rutgers University study linked HFCS in soda to diabetes. There was the revelation in 2008 that some brands of HFCS contained traces of mercury. Then a Princeton study, published just this March, connected high fructose corn syrup consumption to obesity in rats.
As a result of all the bad publicity associated with these scientific findings, more than 50% of Americans now believe high fructose corn syrup may pose a health hazard. Sales of high fructose corn syrup have plummeted as manufacturers scramble to replace HFCS with familiar, old-fashioned table sugar.

So last month, the Corn Refiners Association, a trade organization that lobbies the U.S. government on behalf of corn processors, launched a campaign to change the name of high fructose corn syrup to corn sugar.

The CRA issued a press release. They launched a corn sugar website. They contacted major media organizations. They sent a petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, lobbying the government to allow HFCS to be listed on food labels as corn sugar.

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Corn syrup producers to change name to 'corn sugar' as awareness over health concerns grow

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Want Cane Sugar? Drink Mexican Coke

Jen Phillips
Mother Jones

If you haven't heard, there's a craze for Mexican Coke that's only getting stronger. The drink has more than 30,000 fans on Facebook, and demand is such that there's even a web site to help those looking for the sweet drink,WhereToFindMexicanCoke.com. Part of the appeal may be the drink's retro-style glass bottle, but many claim it just tastes better because it's sweetened with cane sugar: Coke in the US uses high-fructose corn syrup. So why must we import this delicious treat from south of the border, instead of getting it from our own American factories? This week,Consumerist tried to answer this question, but all Coca-Cola would tell them is that they don't plan on introducing a non-HFCS version of Coke in the US anytime soon because we already have a sugar-based version: Mexican Coke. Also, the rep claimed that in taste tests, Coca-Cola found that consumers detected "no perceptible taste difference" between HCFS Coke and cane Coke.

There are a few key reasons Coke should consider introducing a sugar cane-based US version, and not just because 89% of Consumerist readers said they'd buy it. Firstly, it would reduce the carbon emissions from shipping those heavy glass bottles all the way from Mexico. Glass is much heavier than aluminum (though readily recyclable) so trucking it any distance is a considerable hit to the environment. Secondly, Coca-Cola reps have repeatedly said that Mexican Coke is a taste of home for Mexican and Latino immigrants. If it's such a homestyle taste, why not capture that fast-growing market by making the same product in the US?

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Corn syrup producers to change name to 'corn sugar' as awareness over health concerns grow

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7 Secret Ways We Are Being Poisoned

Activist Post

The objectivism of the scientific method seems to have been hijacked by corporations who often pay for scientists to support their products, as well as politicians who move through the revolving door between the private and public sector.  Even worse is that sometimes the consumer protection agencies themselves are complicit.  

The trust placed by consumers in scientific studies and Federal oversight committees has been violated in service to profit so that products are allowed to enter the marketplace with reduced safety standards.   The synthetic chemicals we encounter on a daily basis in our food, water, and environment are increasingly shown to be disastrous to our physical and mental well-being.  Volumes can be written -- indeed have been written -- by experts in both mainstream and alternative medicine who have documented the sleight of hand used to hoodwink consumers and threaten our health.  The categories below are worth deeper investigation as prime examples of what we might face as a species if this chemical bombardment continues.

• GMO foods -- Monsanto started as a chemical company that brought the world poisons like Agent Orange and Roundup.  Now they are more well known for their domination of Genetically Modified agriculture, owning nearly 90% of staple GMO crops such as corn, soy, and cotton. In independent studies GMO "frankenfood" has been linked to organ failure, and a recent Russian study has concluded near-total sterility in GMO-soy-fed hamsters by the third generation.  Despite these and many other legitimate health concerns, it is unlikely that the Monsanto-controlled FDA will curb the growth of GMO foods, while the USDA's biotechnology risk assessment research arm has a paltry $3 million at its disposal.  Of course the industry-funded studies show that the effects GMO on human health are "negligible."

• Food additives -- When most of us think of harmful food additives we think ofMonosodium Glutamate (MSG) which is still in many processed foods, but unfortunately MSG appears to be the least of the poisons now found in our food.  In 2008 Melamine was found in infant formula and some food products from China; the FDA went on recordto say it was OK, despite sickening tens of thousands.  Dangerous food additives appear in nearly all processed foods with even the most common food dyes Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 being linked to cancer.  Most recently 92,000 pounds of frozen chicken was recalled because it contained "blue plastic pieces," while McDonald's Chicken McNuggets have been found to have "silly putty" chemicals in them.  In fact, some researchers estimate that today's chicken is so full of chemicals that it only contains 51% actual meat.  

• Fluoride -- Not all fluoride is bad; only the type promoted by dentistry and added to our water and food supply.  Calcium fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral, while its synthetic counterpart, sodium fluoride (silicofluoride), is an industrial-grade hazardous waste material made during the production of fertilizer.  It's past history includes patented use as rat poison and insecticide.   There are many blind- and double-blind studies that show sodium fluoride has a cumulative effect on the human body leading to allergies, gastrointestinal disorders, bone weakening, cancer, and neurological problems.  In this case, the EPA's Union of scientists issued a white paper condemning fluoridation of drinking water.  However, as a hazardous waste, it is extremely expensive to dispose of as such.  And here might be a clue as to why this chemical, more toxic than lead and almost on par with arsenic, has been disposed of for our consumption.

• Mercury -- A dangerous heavy metal in its natural quicksilver form, but more so as the neurotoxin, methylmercury, released into the environment by human activity.  In both organic and inorganic form, mercury wreaks havoc with the nervous system -- especially the developing nervous system of a fetus.  It penetrates all living cells of the human body, and has been documented most as increasing the risk for autism.  This calls into question mercury's use in dental fillings, vaccines, and just about anything containing high fructose corn syrup -- a near staple in the American diet . . . including baby food.  But the Corn Refiners Association naturally supports this chemical that is "dangerous at any level."

• Aspartame -- The king of artificial sweeteners was allowed to the market in 1981 when the U.S. Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Arthur Hull Hayes, overruled FDA panel suggestions, as well as consumer concerns.  Aspartame is a neurotoxin that interacts with natural organisms, as well as synthetic medications, producing a wide range of proven disorders and syndromes.  So who installed this commissioner that would rule against scientists and the public?  Donald Rumsfeld, CEO of G.D. Searle; the maker of Aspartame.  Rumsfeld was on Reagan's transition team, and the day after Reagan took office he appointed the new FDA Commissioner in order to "call in his markers" with one of the most egregious cases of profit-over-safety ever recorded.  Aspartame is now nearly ubiquitous, moving beyond sugarless products and into general foods, beverages, pharmaceuticals, and even products for children.  It recently has been renamed to the more pleasant sounding AminoSweet.

• Personal care and cleaning products -- Everyday household items and cosmetic products are applied directly to the skin, absorbed through the scalp, and inhaled.  TheStory of Cosmetics uses an animated video to tell a haunting tale of industrial violations and complicit "public safety" groups . . . and still only tells half of that story.   The list ofcommon products and their chemical components is encyclopedic.  The sum total of the overwhelming presence of these chemicals has been linked to nearly every allergy, chronic affliction, and disease known to man.  Most recently, household cleaning products have been linked to breast cancer and ADHD in children.

• Airborne pollutants -- In a NASA article titled "Airborne Pollutants Know No Borders" they stated that, "Any substance introduced into the atmosphere has the potential to circle the Earth." The jet streamindeed connects all of us. There is one category of airborne pollution that has been conspiracy theory despite a voluminous number of unclassified documents from 1977 Senate hearings:  chemical spraying (chemtrails) by both private and commercial aircraft.  Recent admissions by public officials strengthen the case.  Fallout from these chemical trails has been tested and shows very high levels of barium and aluminum.  Interesting to note that Monsanto announced that they recently developed an aluminum-resistant gene to be introduced.  Chemtrails might seem like abject paranoia, but there is a current example of chemical spraying that is undeniable: thespraying of Corexit oil dispersant over the Gulf.  This process of aerial application can be likened to crop-dusting, which we know has been going on for nearly 100 years.  Wars abroad even seem to be affecting global air quality, as military munitions such asdepleted uranium have entered the upper atmosphere, spreading around the planet.  Theobservable effects of depleted uranium are not pleasant.  Airborne pollutants have been linked to allergies, genetic mutations, and infertility.  

This is all leading to scientific, governmental, and medical management of the health and rights of the individual.  It is ironic (or coincidental) that when one becomes sick due to the unnatural products listed above, the mainstream medical establishment aims to treat the afflictions with more unnatural chemicals.  Furthermore, some of the people at high levels of American government and academia such as John P. Holdren, the current White House Science Czar, have advocated population control via "pollution particles" as far back as 1977 in books such as Ecoscience.  Holdren's views of humanity could make one question the intentionality of the poisons in our environment.

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