Oops! Here we go again. I hope that any manufacturer of feed given to our animals is practicing safe procedures although truth be known the safest (although pesticides are already deeply in our soil) is really grass for sheep, cows, horses et al with pigs being fed the good ol’ slop of yesteryear. Please let us, the people of this island, feel that we are not doing something that is harmful to our bodies by feeding our ‘edible animals’ with dubious content without at least knowing it so that we have choices. It is a little dubious that a chicken today although claimed to be hormone and antibiotic free still reaches a nice plump slaughter age in no real time compared to those “free-range” ones. One wonders what we can eat these days…it is so sad. Even the big guys up there somewhere have come out and said that world food prices are reaching astronomical heights…and the best way is for all lands to become self-sufficient with organic-type farming, so let us hope that this catches the attention of those who produce our foods…we have to start somewhere…and maybe it is time to just clean up before it is too late!

but he has a nice smile, dough! 🙂 – David????

yuh know David in got nuh sense uh humour! 🙂

While it’s always good to ask questions, I’m aware (as a former employee) that Roberts Manufacturing does have an active Lab and Quality Control procedures that test every product produced (oil, margarine, pet and animal feeds). This was in place even before they became ISO 9001:2000 certified. However, I also am aware that some of their feed formularies are “secret”, known only to two or three persons, and that certain vitamins are added, which is the norm nowadays.

Maximus

Is there a goto body John Public can inquiry about the composition of Robert Manufacturing feed?

Grow as much of your own fruit and vegetables as possible.

Use meat sparingly “like back in de day wen we did poor and we mudda had to stretch de stew or gravy.”

You could also continue “fulling yuh guts” and maybe shorten yuh lifespan.

We have a choice.

I know that farmers were able to spec the feed that was delivered to their farms. If a farmer had an outbreak of whatever, he could call the feed producer and have the feed modified to suit his peculiar needs.
So even if there was a standard formula, individual farmers could have it altered if they desired such.
That was back in the late eighties, I do not know if the same occurs today.

I ain’t know how true um is so doan call me as nuh witness, but I hear dat some farmers does get chickens reddy fuh de market in three weeks. You can imagine dat one uh dem lil yellow things dat you pass this mawning by Reed, could be pun you plate in three weeks time. Lord come fuh yuh world!
I

“Perhaps the embattled Minister of Health Donville Innis can find out on behalf of the public he serves whether Roberts manufacturing is supplying animal feed to the B’dos market which contains unacceptable levels of hormones and antibiotics!”
To the Writer above:
Do you have the confidence to accept the Minister’s verdict?
I haven’t!
If there are unacceptable levels, do you think the public would be told? I don’t think so!
People have choices and every one must decide for herself/himself.
Let me remind you of one example:
During the outbreak of the ‘MAD COW DISEASE’, a Minister sought to mislead the whole world that beef was safe to eat… He went as far as to feed his grand daughter with a beefburger.
My take:
Any test must be independent and transparent.

@Tommy

If you are a cricket enthusiast please feel free to submit a contribution. BU is not the Nation with a paid staff :-).

Also try sticking to one user name.

THANKFULLY BU CONTINUES TO KEEP PUBLIC SERVICE ISSUES AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE MASSES…

Peter Singer argues that “Those who claim to care about the well-being of human beings and the preservation of our environment should become vegetarians for that reason alone. They would thereby increase the amount of grain available to feed people elsewhere, reduce pollution, save water and energy, and cease contributing to the clearing of forests.… When non-vegetarians say that ‘human problems come first’ I cannot help wondering what exactly it is that they are doing for human beings that compels them to continue to support the wasteful, ruthless exploitation of farm animals.”

“World hunger is increasing at a rate of 4 million a year. If all the farm produce that is used to feed animals was used to feed people a vegetarian diet then no one in the world would need to be hungry…”

“To produce one pound of wheat takes about 25 gallons of water and a lot of sun. Yet 16 pounds of that wheat (plus soy) and 2,500 gallons of water fed to a cow to make one pound of beef. More than half our farmland and half our water consumption is currently devoted to the meat industry..”

Shawn Dell Joyce writes that “it takes one sixth of an acre of land to produce enough food for a vegan but more than three acres to feed a meat eater. That is a factor of 18! But according to the British group Vegfam. A 10-acre farm could feed 60 people growing soybeans, 24 people growing wheat, 10 people growing corn but only two producing cattle. That is more like a factor of 30!”

“We eat most of our grain in the form of meat, 90 percent actually, which translates into 2,000 pounds of grain a year…”

“The way that we breed animals for food is a threat to the planet. It pollutes our environment while consuming huge amounts of water, grain, petroleum, pesticides and drugs. The results are disastrous.”
(David Brubaker, PhD, Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins University)

Beware! The “Free Range” label is a deceitful lie and “Natural” and “Organic” labels only refer to the feed, nothing to do with the treatment of the animals. Only Farms with the “Certified Humane” seal can be trusted to treat their birds with good husbandry. Visit http://www.all-creatures.org for a reality check.
(cf. peopleforethicalliving)

it is heartening to hear about Barbadians flocking to mthe plantation grounds to dig potatoes and yams which are selling at $10-$15.00 a rod.

Maybe there is hope.

When we make money god, our humanity goes out the window

@David….just got back from four days of bliss by the beach, in the sea and walking the beach. Came straight into this blog to see what’s up. I am sorry to say that I just cannot listen to this video re vaccines…I am so upset about what greed has done to our food, our pharmaceuticals and to add insult to injury now this video. I feel ‘vomitous’ . This world is such a wonderful treasure and all we humans are doing is pillaging and killing it off…

Technology has shown us that we are a cruel, disgusting, lot of skin, bone, organs without soul…but with a surplus dose of greed within…may God help us….!!

From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011
“The World Bank is warning that global food prices have hit dangerous levels, particularly in poor countries where the prices of many key staples have jumped by more than 50 per cent in six months.

Barbados will be affected by global events no matter what BLP operatives say so follow what is happening in the rest of the world to help you figure out how to survive.

Consider growing edible flowering plants in yuh flower garden if yuh doan want de neighburs to know tings tite.

This is why I want my children’s children and their children’s children to have a healthy life so they may still be able to experience some of the wonders of this world. Those of us who love this world of ours must support its existence and we have to start with insisting on clean food/water/air – the three things we absolutely need to survive! Bless….and enjoy this breathtaking look at our world. Hope the Barbados Censorship Board does not ban this ’cause I did see a penis in full bloom within its pictorial beauty!! Go to this….you will not be disappointed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=2HiUMlOz4UQ&vq=large

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/why-arent-g-m-o-foods-labeled/?ref=opinion&nl=opinion&emc=tya2

Lawd send me some manna from heaven so I can live a healthy life….what did I say? I must be living in a fantasy world
cause by the time manna gets into my mouth it will be termed mannapollution = manna + pollution!!

Haitian farmers burn Monsanto seeds.

http://www.peopleofcolororganize.com/news/haitian-farmers-burn-monsanto-aid-seeds/

Here’s another horror story….
http://bimchat.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/german-tv-exposes-the-horrors-of-toxic-gm-soy/

http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/scientists-after-sisnetts-secret/

I am in awe of Barbadian Mr. Sisnett and wish him even a longer life….watching him on TV doing his little exercises brought tears to my eyes, hearing him speak and seeing his smile so wide and beautiful was truly wonderful. At 111 years old I so wanted to find out from him what his diet was like through the years….but I was told that I could not document Mr. Sisnett ’cause ‘someone else’ was doing it. But I have thought about him a lot.

Now I see in The Nation two scientists are here to take samples of his blood and his family in order to study his and their longevity. Perhaps these scientists will discover what I already feel I know…his diet has kept him healthy and strong…the old time way of eating built up his immune system. Bet he did not fill himself up with fast or processed foods out of the U.S. Bet he did not have a farm that sprayed Monsanto products all over the soil and planted GMO seeds so his family could have ‘fresh’ food on the table. But then I am only speculating.

Perhaps these scientists will discover all of the above, tell all the companies producing GMO’s up there…! Ha! Like they will take heed. Perhaps the pharmaceutical people will ignore their findings or sell their genes in a pill that will promise longevity and make millions of dollars more on it. Of course those pills will probably have some corn syrup in them, perhaps a touch of grain just to make things a little better for their brothers in the funeral business.

I hope our researchers (and we have great ones often not thought of in Jamaica, Trinidad and I would imagine here although they seem to be quiet silent on certain matters like what is inside our animal feed for instance) will be looking into Mr. Sisnett’s longevity so that perhaps we in the Caribbean can fully understand why our ‘young’ people are dying of non-communicable diseases so readily these days! …and then do something about it for us. Just for us!

Although this is a slightly different story…I thought it might be apt to place it here….sent to me by a dear friend in Jamaica:

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-01/five-reasons-henrietta-lacks-most-important-woman-medical-history

The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks
Henrietta and David Lacks, circa 1945, standing side by side (Courtesy photo) (the photo is on the internet site)
By Lauren Monsen
Staff Writer

Washington — Through a quirk of fate, an unassuming African-American woman who died of cancer in 1951 became the source of a cell line that has been cultivated for 60 years in laboratories worldwide, contributing to cancer research and medical milestones such as the polio vaccine, cloning, genetic testing and in vitro fertilization.

Today, HeLa cells — named after their donor, Henrietta Lacks — “are the most commonly used cells in research labs all around the world; they’re used in every country where people do research on cells,” according to Rebecca Skloot, author of the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Skloot said Henrietta Lacks’ story is important not only because of the lives affected by the HeLa cell line, but also because it raises questions about economic justice and scientific ethics.

THE FIRST IMMORTAL HUMAN CELL LINE

Lacks was a tobacco farmer and the wife of a shipyard worker in Baltimore County, Maryland, when she was diagnosed with a malignant cervical tumor at age 30. During her treatment, doctors at Johns Hopkins University Hospital removed a sample of her cancerous cells for research. The cells were removed without her knowledge or consent, a common practice at the time. Lacks died in the “colored” ward of the hospital at age 31, leaving five children.

Her story didn’t end there. Using Lacks’ cells, which continued to multiply, researchers succeeded in establishing for the first time an “immortal” human cell line grown in laboratory culture (in previous experiments, human cells grown in culture would die after a certain period of time). “I’ve talked to countless scientists about HeLa, and none could explain why Henrietta’s cells grew so powerfully when others didn’t,” said Skloot.

It would be difficult to overestimate the cells’ critical role in ongoing research, she added.

“Since the ’50s, if researchers wanted to figure out how cells behaved in a certain environment, or reacted to a specific chemical, they’ve turned to HeLa cells,” Skloot said. The cell line grew faster and thus produced results faster; “it’s hardy, it’s inexpensive, and it’s everywhere.” HeLa cells have helped scientists understand cellular function and human genetics, and develop treatments for many diseases.

Neither the doctors who retrieved the cells nor scientist George Gey, who created the cell line from Lacks’ tissue sample, sought or received financial gain. Lacks’ descendants have not been compensated. The HeLa cells, however, have been enormously profitable for pharmaceutical and research firms.

Dear God…help me! David thanks for posting. I have refused to drink bottled water out of the US for years but for the last ten years have been drinking WATA – a Jamaican bottled water. Brought in by Facey Commodity, I was thrilled to see it here. I cannot drink the tap water here because it contains too much ‘calk’ (perhaps wrong spelling! too upset to even look it up!) for me. Now I am really scared watching this because of the plastic…and yes! what happens with the water that might be pretty good in Jamaica but once it gets here. So that is it. Today my last bottle left in the case goes into the rubbish and ‘calk’ will have to live with me and my intestines. Apart from the environmental injustice of these bottles…now it is about how they contaminate the product inside. Can you imagine if water is contaminated by the chemicals of the plastic bottle, what Coca Cola and all those sweet drinks must be attracting with their chemicals…. hmmm….and again boy with the above video in mind, I wonder for instance what pepper sauce attracts from the plastic bottles it is poured into, especially if it sits on shelves where the heat of the sun….oh! the mind boggles and now…boy you real got me here, David…my mind racing a mile a minute….I know I know I know all about plastic but this has literally paralyzed me….Going to the doctor this morning for all manner of tests and that is a promise!!

Questions to anyone out there:

1. Is there a lab in Barbados where I can take whatever product I want and have it tested to see what my people (and myself) are really ingesting?

2. Is there a body here on the island that effectively tests the food processing plants here?

3. I see tons of plastic companies in the yellow pages selling bottles…pardon my ignorance…but if there are manufacturers of plastic bottles for food and drink, are they being regulated, are those bottles being tested?

I think I need to go walk on the boardwalk and get some ozone in my lungs and brain….

May be it is infected. Nice Question.