What Makes Me Angry ...

Every so often I get really, really angry. If I stood in front of a mirror, steam would probably be coming out of my nostrils, and my face would have already turned purple. The signs above, at Ballston Beach in Truro, indicate danger. There are no signs to warn us of the toxic chemicals that have infiltrated our lives. We need to turn this situation around, but how?

I get angry when I read the umpteenth article on endocrine disruption and realize that life will go on as desired by the chemical industry with no change. Ignorant human beings will gain weight and develop diabetes, despite today’s news of a new study linking phthalates to childhood obesity. This morning also brought an ABC report on 300 chemicals detected in a nursery. (Express your approval of this type of investigation here.)

Yes, it’s true that enlightenment comes slowly ...

Recently there have been more articles on how to avoid toxic chemicals in food. Here's another. Food bloggers are big on the Internet, but, so far, they have not tackled toxins in food.

I only started studying these issues two and a half years ago, in my effort to prevent NStar from spraying Monsanto’s glyphosate, and four other nasty chemicals, under Cape Cod’s power lines to kill vegetation. One thing led to another and soon I realized Monsanto is an evil empire here on earth. The corporation has infiltrated our government and has been twisting arms to impose GMOs on Europe, for instance.

And, the USA? We’re already doomed unless someone does something fast. Monsanto has managed to bypass rigorous testing and sneak unlabeled GMOs into 80% of the food found on American grocery shelves. Last month NPR's Diane Rehm did a whole show on why GMOs should be labeled. Corn and HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) remain the major offenders. Food Inc. explained how HFCS also makes us fat. It’s still possible to eat local and avoid GMOs, but for how long? Monsanto is buying up seed companies. Argh!!! (Read the latest on this dreadful corporation on the Organic Consumers Web site.)

Meanwhile, here on Cape Cod, NStar has not abandoned its plan to poison our sole-source aquifer with five toxic chemicals. One of them, glyphosate, has been shown to increase risk of birth defects in the unborn. The utility company will put their plan into action in the spring. If you are a pregnant woman on the Outer Cape, you do not want to be drinking unfiltered well water, since NStar already tested its spraying plan in certain areas. These toxic chemicals do not dissolve. They are not absorbed by the soil. In fact, they flow right through our sandbar-of-a-beautiful-tourist-destination into the aquifer. Activists proposed goats early on and NStar scoffed. Google uses goats at its headquarters in California. Why shouldn’t we have them here? Now Eastham has its own herd. Today’s New York Times reports goats are a great way to avoid herbicides, something we already knew, but, hey, it’s refreshing to see people are beginning to talk about it ...