Ralph Nader's consumer group- Benzene in Soft Drinks?

[ghchealth]

Ralph Nader's consumer group sends Texas a soft-drink warning

By W. Scott Bailey

San Antonio Business Journal

Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET April 2, 2006


An Oregon nonprofit organization co-founded by former presidential candidate Ralph Nader has called on state officials to cease the marketing and sales of soft-drink products in Texas public schools.

The Portland-based consumer advocacy group, Commercial Alert, is especially concerned with a number of beverages it claims may contain unhealthy levels of benzene.

According to Commercial Alert co-founder Gary Ruskin, scientists have recently found that certain soft drinks may contain amounts of the carcinogen benzene that are above the U.S. legal limit for drinking water. As such, he says the organization has joined with a number of public health advocates and medical professionals in calling on public school officials to address the issue.

Ruskin claims the products in question include but are not limited to: Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry, Fanta Orange, Hawaiian Punch, Mug Root Beer, Pepsi Vanilla, Sierra Mist, Sunkist and Tropicana Lemonade.

Commercial Alert officials say soft drink manufacturers are not adding benzene to their products directly. Rather, the compound is formed, they claim, by a reaction of ascorbic acid and sodium or potassium benzoate.

The group has sent a letter to Texas Chief Deputy Commissioner of Education Shirley Neeley. That letter asks Neeley and local school officials to stop the sale and marketing of these soft drinks in public schools until they can be proven safe and free from benzene contamination.

Benzene is classified as a known human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Chronic exposure to benzene has been linked to illnesses such as leukemia, aplastic anemia and other blood diseases.

"We expect school officials to take this seriously and to take action," Commercial Alert co-founder Gary Ruskin tells the Business Journal.

"It's a serious issue for Texas," he says.

Pro-active steps

The American Beverage Association's Web site has a statement on benzene, reminding consumers that it is "found in the air we breathe and in dozens of foods we eat, such as bananas, meats and eggs."

The statement also says: "The beverage industry took pro-active steps to resolve the benzene issue when it first cropped up in the early 1990s. The industry reformulated the affected products to address the issue, working with the FDA throughout the process.

"Since then, however, many new companies and beverage brands have entered the fast-growing beverage industry and may not be aware of these formulation practices. The American Beverage Association will provide further guidance to the industry so this issue can continue to be addressed effectively."

Industry trade Beverage Daily reports that more than 1,500 soft drink products containing the combination of compounds that create benzene have been launched across North America, Europe and Latin America since 2002.

Sweet deals

Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Suzanne Marchman says she was unaware of the Commercial Alert letter. She adds that the soft-drink issue is now in the hands of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA).

Officials with TDA and Commercial Alert say they are uncertain how many Texas school districts may be marketing and/or selling any of the products in question, if any.

But Ruskin says the problem goes beyond benzene. His organization argues that there is "substantial evidence" that sugar-sweetened drinks are also contributing to the epidemics of childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Health care experts continue to battle against both problems in San Antonio.

"That's why this is a serious problem," Ruskin says.

In 2003, Commercial Alert called on Texas and other states to cease allowing public school districts to enter into exclusive marketing -- or "pouring rights" -- contracts with soft-drink beverage companies. Their goal: To try and help reduce obesity and diabetes problems and to improve students' overall health.

John Perkins, a senior policy advisor for TDA, says a 2002-03 survey showed that some 70 percent of the state's 1,200-plus school districts had already entered into such deals by then.

In 2004, the state enacted new nutritional policies, which included decreasing public school students' access to soft drinks. But existing district contracts, Perkins explains, were grandfathered.

In San Antonio, more than one school district has an existing beverage contract in place. North East Independent School District (NEISD), for example, has a pair of pacts. One is between the district's food services division and Coca-Cola, and expires in October 2008. Another is between NEISD's athletic department and Pepsi. That contract ends later this year.

Perkins says school districts here and across Texas have worked to limit students' access to soft drinks and to improve their nutritional intake. "We feel like the school environment should be a healthy environment," Perkins says.

[boldyloxx]

Very good info.

If you research the studies of Dr. Hulda Clark, she points out how Benzene is the very culprit that encourages certain fluke worm parasites (and other types) to grow full adult stage in the human body -- even migrating to parts of the body where Benzene settles.

Before the industrial age-- when chemical byproducts such as Benzene were unheard of, many forms of parasites only lived larvea stage in the human body and died before they could reach adult stage. Dr. Hulda Clark has found that Benzene creates an environment that encourages them to grow FULL stage in our bodies these days. Sheep fluke were the particular parasites in her studies. Sheep fluke are only common in rodents and mammals-- especially livestock herds. They normally dont grow to full adult stage in humans-- but when Benzene is present in our foods and cleansing products, they can grow full stage and continually reproduce in the human body.

Dr. Clark feels that many forms of cancer-- including AIDs are encouraged by adult liver and sheep fluke migrating to certain Benzene contaminated organs-- such as the Pancreas.

Ironically,--- at such a toxic Benzene rampant time in our modern history, modern medicine has fallen into a sort of "Dark Ages" in regards to parasite infections-- with increased skepticism and indifference towards the possiblilties modern civilized man can actually have worms these days.

I, myself, had discovered I had sheep fluke after doing a psyllum husk colon cleanse every day for a month. All of the psyllum husk/water I was taking in unlodged sheep fluke egg cases, then a few weeks later, the worms themselves. Through photographs, I was able to identify what they were exactly.
This was what spurred me on to research it further and change my eating habits and lifestyle.

My stomach was distended at this time-- Everyone told me that it was normal for a 40 year-old woman to have a bloated stomach, so I should "get over it".-- yeahh right!

I live in the Country with cowherds, horses, pig herds and lots of wild animals as well as family pets.

Maintenance deworming with herbal dewormers-- as well as doing really effective cleanses--such as Oxypowder are something I pray will always be available to society-- and not be taken away from us.