Transcription
You might want to put that box of Cheerios back on the shelf if you're interested in your health. A staggering four out of five Americans are being exposed to a dangerous chemical linked to reduced fertility, altered fetal growth, and delayed puberty. Those chemicals are reportedly found in a huge number of popular oat-based foods in America, including Cheerios and Quaker Oats.
In a study of the chemical chlorpyrifos (sorry if I mispronounced that), published in Nature magazine, the presence of the chemical was detected in urine samples collected from people in the U.S., with detection frequencies of 69%, 74%, and 90% for samples collected in 2017, 2018, 2022, and 2023, respectively. Chlorpyrifos was detected at low concentrations in samples from 2017 through 2022, with a significant increase in concentrations for samples from 2023. We also observed high detection frequencies of chlorpyrifos in oat-based foods.
So, unfortunately, this is the latest example, Jessica, of our food supply literally being poisoned. We have so much processed food in America now that contains all of these chemicals that they claim are for shelf life stability, for the ability of these foods to be preserved for a longer period of time so they don't go bad as quickly. But it turns out that, as we get more science on this topic, a lot of these chemicals are obviously not good for our bodies. I don't think it's any coincidence that we've seen a rise in chronic illnesses, diabetes, and obesity throughout our country as our food supply has gotten away from whole foods and more into these types of boxed, prepackaged goods.
Yeah, what happened to Quaker Oats? He's supposed to be a pacifist, and his Cheerios are poisoning us. They're making us gay—puberty blockers, infertility. I don't know; it is giving Alex Jones "making the frogs gay" to me, but it seems very real. Eighty percent of Americans have been exposed to this in some way, or 80% of Americans eating Cheerios, maybe. But I think it's a huge problem that this chemical is used in ornamental plants, but you can't use it on edible plants in the United States. However, it is used in other countries, so a lot of this has to do with our global supply chain being one that relies on the extraction of resources from other countries or exploitation of their labor, especially in the case of farming. If we're getting wheat from other countries and using that wheat to make the Cheerios, that seems to me an explanation for why they're in there. I don't think Quaker's just adding it in there for fun, but it's time we examine our global supply chain and have the FDA and the EPA actually do their jobs and make sure our food is safe.
There's a reason why people go to Europe and they're like, "I felt great! I had so much energy; I felt so healthy!" Then they come back home to the United States, start eating our food, and start to feel bad again. There's poison in the Cheerios, so yeah, it makes sense.
It's really unfortunate that we don't talk about these global supply chains more, I mean, both from a health and a national security perspective. I remember doing a report a couple of years ago about meatpacking plants in the United States, and there's a huge monopoly for basically three to five meatpacking companies that control most of the supply. One of them is owned by a pair of corrupt Brazilian brothers who have been facing all kinds of indictments and charges related to their corrupt practices—that's JBS out of Brazil. Years ago, they had been accused of basically tainting the meat supply and ended up getting a bunch of people sick.
This is the problem that we have when we export our food supply to other countries; we don't have as much control over the process in terms of how that food gets from growth to processing to actually making it onto store shelves. In this case, the Brazilian brothers from JBS were basically let off the hook by the U.S. government, and JBS continues to operate a huge share of meatpacking in the United States. I think we also have to blame the way that we have done our own agricultural policy in the United States, where the way that we've been giving out farm grants and farm aid has encouraged the monopolization of companies. Because, of course, if you're a bigger company, you get more money and aid, whereas small and middle-of-the-road farmers end up getting left out, put out to pasture, so to speak, getting hung out to dry where they don't get as much and aren't able to compete with these large monopolistic producers.
It's significantly more expensive for Americans to get food directly from a source unless you live in a rural part of the country and can share a cow with another family or you live near a farm where you can buy directly from the farmer. You're basically guaranteed to have your food go through a multi-step, long process where God knows what kind of chemicals or other poisons can be introduced throughout that process. Everything about it is really unfortunate.
I think it's important to point out that the United States is incredibly lucky in that we have great access to a diverse array of food, probably more than anywhere else in the world. But how much of a benefit is that if the so-called food that we're receiving is actually harming our health?
Yeah, absolutely. I went to trade school for agriculture; I was in the FFA, so talking about agriculture is an issue that's very close to my heart. Once upon a time, I was wearing that blue corduroy jacket, but it was really at the time when corporate farming was on the rise. Monsanto Seed Corporation would have their seeds blow onto a small farmer's land, and because they were patented genetically modified technology, they could sue the farmer for everything they had. Farmers were having to declare bankruptcy because of these lawsuits, as the seeds were simply carried by the wind onto their farm, making it seem like they had planted the patented Monsanto seed crops.
It's a bad situation because then, of course, if the farmer is declaring bankruptcy or has to sell their land to pay legal fees to settle the case, then now Monsanto Seed Corporation would end up buying that land. When you have huge food conglomerates, you have a population that's really at risk for famine. Look at what happened when we were short on formula for babies; there were only a handful of companies in the United States that made formula. So when one company had their formula contaminated in some way, it led to a huge shortage. This is something that can cause huge problems if it happens to our agricultural industry when you have mass farming at this scale, but also just a bad way of life for the farmers.
A lot of farmers don't even own the livestock that they raise; they're contracted with companies like Smithfield here in North Carolina. When I lived in Iowa, it was the hogs; you had so many small pig farmers. Similarly, in North Carolina, a lot of small chicken farmers. Instead, you have this dream sold that, "How about you just rent the pigs? All you have to do is pay for feed and raise them, but we'll front the cost for the pigs or for the chickens," in the case of Smithfield.
It's a bad situation because eventually, if you have a loss one year and you're tied to this corporation, you're in debt to them, and that's not a good way to run a farm. The World Bank has done all kinds of studies showing that actually, if you own the farm you live on, you not only produce higher quality food, but you have higher yields. So it's a good way of life for the farmer, and it also produces better food. We've really got to change a lot about our agricultural industry, but for now, we just have to avoid the Cheerios, I guess.
Yeah, and I remember listening to a podcast recently with RFK Jr. where he talked about Monsanto and his lawsuits against them, particularly for some of the chemicals that they were apparently using on their crops that made a lot of people sick—not just on the farms, but in the surrounding neighborhoods. I know Congress is looking into banning Chinese ownership of farmland in the United States; I think that's a good first step. Smithfield, our largest pork producer, has its parent company actually Chinese-owned, so there are a lot of problems with the food industry that we need to be looking into.
That's going to do it for us today on Rising. Thanks so much for tuning in, and a great Friday show with Jessica. Another good Friday show; good to have you back, Amber. Absolutely, thank you! Be sure to like, share, and subscribe so you never miss any content. And for those of you who like to listen while on the go, we are now available anywhere you listen to podcasts. We'll see you next week. Bye! [Music]