Rodenticides With Your Bacon?

On Saturday morning cafes ooze the odour of fried crisp bacon.

Under proposed food law changes in Australia, pork products containing traces of rat poison could be sold legally.

"The discovery of rat bait residues in pig livers at some farms has prompted the nation’s food authority to admit chemicals used to control vermin may “inadvertently” spread to the food chain. Tests at piggeries in January found unharmful traces of coumatetrayl or warfarin at three farms. Federal Department of Agriculture coordinated tests at 23 sites in January uncovered “very low” levels of coumatetralyl in slaughtered pig livers at a Victorian and NSW piggery. Warfarin traces were detected at a South Australian piggery. The chemicals kill rodents through internal bleeding. Pigs potentially ingest them by eating feed contaminated by treated rats." (source)

Update:
Maybe it is good that nearly three quarters of bacon sold in Australia is made from imported pork meat? 

Go vegetarian!

Image:
Gauguin, Paul, The ham, 1889
Graffiti, EU, Banksy?

How coffee could help against neurodegenerative diseases in a world of ubiquitous pesticides

In a world doused with pesticides living beings suffer from neurodegenerative diseases. A study has found that drinking a lot of coffee might protect against Parkinson's, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system.

Naomi Yamada-Fowler, Mats Fredrikson, Peter Söderkvist. Caffeine Interaction with Glutamate Receptor Gene GRIN2A: Parkinson's Disease in Swedish Population. PLoS ONE, 2014; 9 (6): e99294 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099294

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Slow Coffee

Fruit & Vegetables and Persistent Organic Pollutants in Australia

Eat only organic fruit and vegetables

"The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international environmental treaty that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) ." Wikipedia

In Geneva 150 governments have met to advance global efforts to rid the world of some of the most hazardous chemicals produced by humankind, such as pesticides, flame retardants. The list includes "Alpha hexachlorocyclohexane; Beta hexachlorocyclohexane; Hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether; Tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether; Chlordecone; Hexabromobiphenyl; Lindane; Pentachlorobenzene; Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride." UNEP

"According to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority website, Lindane is still registered for use in Queensland, and is used for the prevention of white grubs and symphylids in pineapples." abc

"Australia refuses to join ban on pesticide". Endosulfan is used "...on a variety of crops, including tomatoes, carrots, beans, sweetcorn, peas, cereals, oilseeds, citrus fruit and cotton.This stance has placed Australia in the minority of major economies still using the pesticide, along with the United States, Brazil and India" SMH

• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
• UNEP
• National Toxics Network, very informative
  
• Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority

Update:
Australia might be 'forced' to stop using poisons on food."Endosulfan has been linked to breast cancer, immunosuppression and birth defects, and was recently implicated in the discovery of millions of two-headed fish larvae in a Noosa River hatchery...It is still permitted for use on a wide range of citrus fruit, vegetables and cereals, despite a global trend of banning endosulfan outright." SMH 251009