Presented by
Ronald G. and Emile J. Lewis
RGL Enterprises
International Inc., www.Blackherbals.com
at the Mpambo Multiversity Conference on
"WE ARE ONE PEOPLE:
MULTIPLE DREAMS OF A DIFFERENT WORLD"
Transformative Thought, Learning and
Action
Introduction
Culture can be defined as the way of life of a people. Every culture contains
values and ideals that are taught to their children as definitions of that
culture. Hence, culture is what we teach our children to become. However, we
must realize that different cultures focus and develop different to the same
problems in different ways. This focus includes not only the history of
what values and images are taught as ideal, but also who does the teaching. The
worst thing that can happen to a culture is to have its history told by its
conquerors.
Afrikan culture and worldview is based upon the relationship between human
beings and their environment. This relationship is based on balance, unity,
harmony, interdependence and an all-encompassing optimistic spirituality. Ten
thousand years before the Chinese Taoists taught of these metaphysical
principles in terms of yin and yang, Afrikans along the Nile and the Niger and
their kin people had mapped out the universe; intuited the divine knowledge of
Nut and Tefnut; and expressed it in their symbols, metaphors, parables, sacred
histories, scriptures and sacred rituals. The Afrikan way of
life is in sharp contrast to that of European or western culture in that
Afrikan culture is based on nature, the community and the environment. European
culture is built on science and technology, driven by individualism, greed and
profit.
Western culture has brought forth the world's greatest technologies such as
computers, the automobile, television, medical diagnostics, airplanes, space
flight, nuclear energy, etc. Western European cultures control the
manufacture of nearly all pharmaceutical drugs and pesticides. Using the
principles of genetic engineering, they promote the genetic modifications of
crops, food and animals, leading to patents on plants and other living things.
They develop and produce biological and chemical weapons. They create designer
diseases. Western Europeans are producing animal clones for entry into the food
chain and firmly believe that one day, they will be able to clone themselves.
Through the use of mass media, these predominantly white countries are
seeking to impose their culture on every other culture around the
globe. We should ask ourselves, "Has the rise of Western
civilization and culture been a net benefit to the world" and if so, how
so? Can the benefits, that Afrikans obtain from their assimilation of Western
culture, be measured as a function of economic innovation or technological
expertise? Is it related to the
development of political structures, or philosophical thought, or perhaps by
military prowess and superiority?
Western European culture is oppressive to other cultures that are contained
within its borders. This oppression extends to the entire living world as
well. For instance, the
The desire of the West to impose
its economic and cultural will upon the rest of the planet is not new. For
centuries, Afrika and the world have been terrorized and plundered by numerous
European powers. Disregard for the interests of people with different skin
colour, cultures, philosophies, religions, languages, ways of life and
socio-economic structure is also not new. All European empires built their
fortunes by plundering the world. The West behaves as if it has an
inherited, but undefined right to profit from the misery of the rest of the
world. Many nations of the world had to give up their own culture, their
religions, even their languages, and convert to a Western set of beliefs and
values that are defined as "civilized." Afrikan people did not
initiate the large scale exploitation of natural resources such as those
fostered by western cultures. In fact, many of the present problems of these
countries can be traced to the colonization and industrialization that resulted
from contact with western influences. No official apology has ever been issued;
no compensation has ever been paid.
It is our firm belief that the risks of assimilating western European
culture can best be measured by examining the quality of life and health of
Afrikan people. Viewed from this standpoint, it is clear that the survival of
the Afrikan race as a whole has been severely compromised. Western
medicine is based on European culture and physiology. The chronic ailments and
diseases that affect Afrikans in the Diaspora, i.e. cancer, diabetes, heart
disease etc., are generally based on improper diet and lifestyles, poverty,
lack of health insurance and lack of access to appropriate and adequate health
care services. As a result, Afrikans in the Diaspora have a much lower quality
of life than their European counterparts.
By design, Afrika is currently plagued with natural and unnatural
occurrences of communicable, parasitic and infectious diseases, such as AIDS,
malaria, polio, etc. With their corresponding vaccinations and pharmaceutical
drugs, these diseases are devastating the continent's Black population. The
AIDS/Malaria genocide taking place in Afrika is painting a clear pattern of
death, of cultural, economic and agricultural destruction to be followed by
encroaching Western political and military control.
It would be very difficult, however, to review the overall health of Afrikan
people without first examining the role of melanin in black physiology.
Melanin, the biochemical molecule that gives Black/Afrikan people our
characteristic colours and defences, requires a type of dietary nutritional
support that is not readily available in most western European cultures. There are
not many published research studies on melanin as it relates to health and the
environment; however, the studies that are available to us were written and
published by Afrikan people.
Within the last 100 years, the technological
advances made in medicine, pharmaceuticals, genetic engineering, biotechnology,
food technology, agriculture, chemicals and fast food, have created stressful
and chronically sick lifestyles that are now fully integrated into western
European societies and cultures. Many of these “advances” are detrimental to
the original biological makeup of man and to the global environment as a whole.
In view of the increasing globalisation of western European culture,
particularly on the Afrikan continent, it is imperative that we acquire knowledge
of our unique biological makeup and our spiritual culture. We must learn to eat
the foods that are uniquely beneficial to us. We must not only educate
ourselves on our physical and spiritual uniquity, but also on the health
aspects of living in toxic environments. Afrikans were the healthiest people on
earth. What happened?
Melanin and Afrikan Physiology
The science of Afrikan biochemistry is based on the melanin
biochemical molecule. Melanin is found not only in the skin, hair, and
eyes, but it is also contained in many other vital organs of the body as
well. It is in the nervous system, the
spinal cord, the glands, the brain, the DNA, the muscles, intestines, heart and
liver. Its presence can be found
throughout nature and is also found in many of our foods, such as plants,
seeds, fruits, and vegetables. It is
found in animals, in the soil, in the bark of trees, rivers, streams, and
seas.
Melanin in its most concentrated form is black. It is black because its
chemical structure will not allow any energy to escape once that energy has
come in contact with it. Melanin is a
very old, extremely stable, biochemical polymer composed of smaller chemical
species in varying amounts, e.g. tyrosine, tryptophan, phenylalanine,
serotonin, melantonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine also called
adrenaline. It responds to and absorbs light, sound, and electrical energy and
uses this energy in the body as food. Melanin can convert light energy into
sound energy and back again. It has semiconductive properties outside the body.
This means that it behaves like a conductor at times and may conduct
electricity. It also behaves like an insulator in that it will not allow
electrical current to pass through its structure, similar to rubber and plastic
insulators. Melanin can bind and release many of the known elements that are
essential for proper body metabolism. It can also produce or neutralize
radiation or free radicals (antioxidant effect) and is generally present at the
site of tissue repair, regeneration of cuts and wounds, and infectious
diseases.
Melanin in the human body is synonymous with chlorophyll in plants. Chlorophyll functions as a
converter of solar energy and is essential for maintaining the vitality of the
plant. Thus, no flora without chlorophyll exists on this planet. White leaves
do not exist. Green pigment chlorophyll is necessary for all vegetation.
Melanin, on the other hand, is a converter of physical energy. It is
responsible for manufacturing and sustaining human life and it keeps the Black
human in constant contact with the natural, radiant energies of the Universe.
Melanin is important for proper human physiology. On the molecular level the
electrons in melanin molecules orbit and rearrange themselves. They undergo what is called resonance. This rearrangement of electrons causes
certain energy shifts in the body. This
energy is then used in metabolism and cellular organization. Melanin depends on nitrilosides to keep
itself clean. When we eat synthetic or overcooked foods, we don't get enough B
vitamins and a lot of toxins are not removed. When melanin becomes toxic, it adversely affects the
biochemistry such that the individual becomes susceptible to a host of
diseases. As melanin becomes toxic, it is blocked from making the energy
changes that are needed and this can result in dysfunction and disease.
According to Dr. Laila Afrika, “Blacks have specific nutritional and dietary
needs. These nutritional needs arise because we have specific bodily
differences as compared to other races and cultures. For example, over 70 percent of Black people (worldwide) cannot
digest cattle milk. In addition, the intestinal florae (bacteria, virus,
fungus and yeast) that naturally live in Black people’s intestines are unique
to Blacks. "Subsequently, Blacks assimilate food in the intestines
differently. Also, despite centuries of living in countries outside of Afrika,
their intestinal florae are the same as it was in their ancestor’s stomachs
2,000 years ago. Melanin (black colour
pigment) is obviously most abundant in Blacks. This melanin aids in
protecting Blacks, from the ultraviolet rays of the sun. It also increases the
speed of nerve and brain messages which are transmitted between the left and
right hemispheres of the brain and all signals transmitted throughout the
bodily nerve network. Black people’s
blood crystallizes differently from white people’s blood. These are some of the
many reasons why Blacks have unique nutritional, medical, and dietary needs.”
In the past, melanin was considered by “western scientists” to be a waste
product of body metabolism and served no useful function within the body.
Recently however, scientists have discovered that melanin is a refined,
complex, multifunctional chemical that has a wide variety of important
functions within the human body and in the environment. All aspects of our lives are centrally
involved and controlled by melanin. One property exhibited by melanin, which is
critically important to the well being of the Afrikan, is its ability to combine
or chemically react with various drugs and chemicals. Melanin is a storehouse
of neurotransmitters (brain signals) and releases them into the body when other
sources are depleted. Toxic drugs and chemicals such as pesticides, food
additives, recreational drugs and pharmaceuticals can alter and change
melanin’s chemical structure, its electrical charge and electronic
configuration thus altering many life-supporting activities. Therefore, it is
important that we keep all melanin centres and organs functioning properly for
good mental and physical health.
Health of Afrikans in the Diaspora
Afrikan populations in the Diaspora are dying from chronic illnesses and
diseases. Black/Afrikan Americans, for example, have the highest death rates of
any of
Genetic differences play an important role in our biological makeup. The
U.S. Center for Disease Control’s 2001 Health Statistics shows that the infant
mortality of Black children in the States is 2.5 higher than white children.
Blacks are 1.3 times more likely to die from heart disease than whites. They
are 1.3 times more likely to die from breast cancer, 2.8 times more likely to
die from prostate cancer and 1.4 times more likely to die from colon cancer.
Sickle cell anaemia occurs in approximately 1 in every 500 births.
Approximately 2 million Blacks in the
Blacks living in Western cultures are suffering from a variety of chronic
endocrine problems and degenerative diseases directly attributable to diet such
as: insulin resistance, excessive intake of refined carbohydrates and processed
foods, reduced intake of raw vegetables and fruits, lack of proper fat in the
diet, and lack of exercise. We indulge in high carbohydrate foods that have
been processed, refined, synthesized, artificially-flavoured, and loaded with
chemical preservatives. Blacks in the
Afrikan health scientists have discovered that many of the intricate
biochemical processes that govern the body can be influenced by the presence or
absence of certain vitamins, minerals, or nutrients. If the ailments that
Afrikan people suffer from today are based on our improper diet and lifestyle,
is it possible that hypertension, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, rheumatic
diseases, much of our gastrointestinal disorders, sickle cell anaemia, and skin
disorders are all directly or indirectly related to deficiencies in our diet?
According to Dr. Tariq Sawandi, author of a treatise on “Afrikan Biochemistry”,
Nitrilosides or (beta-cyanogenetic glucosides)-rich
plants and foods are a vital part of an amazing biochemical process in the
Afrikan body type. Referred to commercially as laetrile, an anti-cancer
preparation, the compound nitriloside occurs abundantly in nature in over
twelve hundred edible plants. It is found in grasses, sorghum, millet, cassava,
yams and many other Afrikan foods, that have been removed from the diets of
western societies. Nitrilosides are non-toxic, water-soluble, and completely
normal to and compatible with human metabolism. It was an essential food compound in the diet of our Afrikan
ancestors. For centuries, nitriloside-rich plants were used by Afrikans as a
food and medicinal agent without manifesting any side effects. This diet has
been one of the deciding factors that protected the integrity of the biochemical
processes in Afrikan people. Preventing the formation of cancer cells appear to
be closely related to the traditional Afrikan diet.”
The Afrikan diet is primarily vegetarian. We should eat very little meat or dairy products. Foods that once provided Afrikans with ample amounts of natural nitrilosides, have been replaced by foods almost totally devoid of this factor. Afrikan physiology evolved over millions of years to be in the best possible harmony with the diet our ancestors were eating. If we were to eat now approximately what we ate then, our bodies will automatically tend to resume the harmony of their natural state. In other words, our immune systems would function at its highest level, if we give it the essential food nutrients it requires, in the form that it craves.
The State of
The definition of “medicine” is that which helps, heals or cures sickness
and disease. If that is the case, then we are witnessing a breakdown of western
European systems to cure diseases derived from both natural and unnatural
causes. Health care spending in the
Western medicine does not take into consideration the following monumentally
important aspects of a healthy human organism:
stress and how it adversely affects the immune system and life
processes; insufficient exercise and excessive caloric intake; highly-processed
and denatured foods grown in denatured and chemically-damaged soil; and
exposure to tens of thousands of environmental toxins. Instead of minimizing
these disease-causing factors, medical technology and their overuse of
pharmaceutical drugs have actually caused more illnesses than they have cured. For example, immunization by
vaccination has been the means of spreading some of the most fatal and
infectious diseases, such as leprosy, syphilis, tetanus, tuberculosis, smallpox
and presently AIDS, polio and meningitis. Health is the ideal state to be
sought, not disease.
Vaccination is the implantation of disease; that is its admitted purpose. Disease-causing agents in vaccines are
genetically engineered and grown in putrid mixes of blood, tissue and other
substances from: monkey kidneys, chicken and duck embryos; dog, horse, rabbit,
mouse, sheep and cow tissues. Toxic substances, such as aluminium, thimersol,
formaldehyde, carbolic acid (phenol), antibiotics, acetone, alum, glycerine,
etc. are also present. Vaccines, by their very nature, can actually render
people more susceptible to disease by depressing vital energy and diminishing
the body’s natural resistance to disease.
The RNA & DNA from 11 species contaminate vaccines. Human tissue culture
containing cells notably from the uterine cancer of Henrietta Lack, and human
cells obtained from the dissected organs of aborted fetuses, can also be found
in human vaccines. Henrietta Lack, who
died in the 1960's, was an Afrikan American woman whose cancer cells (called
HeLa cells) were laboratory-proliferated and now contaminate cell lines in
research labs around the globe. Back in the 1950s, HeLa cells were used to test
polio vaccines. Other research uses of her cancer cells helped to create the
fields of molecular biology and virology.
If immunity from all diseases is to be realized through the attainment of
health and not by the propagation of disease, then it is not necessary to set
up a disease in a healthy organism to protect against another. Such procedures
are in violation of the basic principles of hygiene and sanitary science.
In “The Hygienic System”, published throughout the 1930’s and 40’s, Dr.
Herbert Shelton writes, "The whole of the modern medical practice of
vaccine, serum and antitoxin therapy is based upon the supposition
that the body manufactures substances called anti-toxins, anti-bodies,
antigens, etc., which are capable of meeting and destroying toxins that get
into the body. The idea seems to be sound, although it is
possible that the work of destroying such toxins is that of the detoxification
carried on by the liver, and lymph glands, etc. Anti-toxins, antibodies,
antigens, etc., have never been isolated. They have only been assumed,
while the practice based upon their assumed existence has been both a failure
and disaster. However, this may not be due to their non-existence. If they
exist, it is impossible to separate them from the proteins of the animal’s
blood (used in making vaccines) and these proteins when injected directly into
the blood of another animal (or human being) are very poisonous. Besides this,
there is no evidence that the anti-toxins of one species can be made use of by
another species. Where vaccines are employed, it constitutes the introduction
of actual disease matter into the blood.”
Many of the world’s greatest thinkers, scientists, statesmen and even
doctors have condemned vaccinations as being crimes against humanity, a fraud
promoted for private gain, an insult to race and a blot upon the name of
civilisation Yet, this treacherous practice of blood pollution has been adopted
by enlightened governments and forced on the protesting population for profit. Moreover, any information concerning their
development, drug interactions and/or function in the eradication of disease is
obstructed, suppressed and discredited by multinational corporations, having
clear economic interests. The pharmaceutical industry makes over one trillion
dollars from selling drugs and vaccines for ongoing diseases.
The natural purpose and driving force of this multinational
industry is to increase sales of pharmaceutical drugs for ongoing diseases and
to find new diseases to market existing drugs.
By its very nature, the pharmaceutical industry has no interest in curing
diseases. Most pharmaceutical drugs are developed primarily to relieve
symptoms, not to cure diseases. Vaccines were developed to immunize against
disease, but can also be use to spread disease. Economic interest is the main
reason why no medical breakthrough has been made for the control or elimination
of the most common diseases and why these diseases continue like epidemics on a
worldwide scale. They withhold public information about the effects and risks
of prescription drugs and vaccines, and life-threatening side effects are
omitted or openly denied.
For the same economic reasons, the pharmaceutical industry has formed an
international cartel by the code name "Codex Alimentarius" with the
aim to outlaw any health information in connection with vitamins and to limit
free access to natural therapies on a worldwide scale. In order to assure the status quo of this deceptive
scheme, pharmaceutical lobbyists are employed to influence legislation, control
regulatory agencies, and manipulate medical research and education. Expensive
advertising campaigns and PR agencies are used to deceive the public. Millions
of people and patients around the world are defrauded twice: a major portion of
their income is being used to finance the profits of the pharmaceutical
industry. In return, they are offered a medicine that does not even cure. Many
Blacks in the
Western European vs. Traditional
Afrikan Medicine
In all countries of the world, there exists traditional
knowledge related to the health of humans and animals. Traditional
medicine might also be considered as a solid amalgamation of dynamic medical
known-how and ancestral experience. Traditional Afrikan medicine was founded
upon holistic principles. This science
pre-dates Egyptian medical science and is between 20,000 and 100,000 years
old. In fact, it is the oldest medical
science on the planet. Afrikan health practitioners were devoted to teaching
individuals to improve their physical, mental, and spiritual health through
preventative lifestyles. This philosophy is consistent with the laws of nature
and is based upon a belief in the body’s natural ability to heal itself, when
given the appropriate herbs, seeds, and foods.
Western European health science is incompatible with the Afrikan body type.
Western doctors believe that the body destroys itself with disease and that
harmful bacteria and viruses are trying to kill good bacteria and viruses.
Therefore, they must give toxic, poisonous drugs and vaccines to stop the body
from killing itself. The Afrikan system of health disagrees with the idea of
germs being the sole source of disease. The human body supports millions of
micro-organisms to help keep our immune systems healthy, which enables us to
lead healthy lives. The ancient
Afrikans believed that a healthy immune system is responsible for the health
and healing of the human body. From this premise, health problems occur as the
result of “something lacking” in our nutrition, leaving the human body
vulnerable to disease. Afrikan medicine
is a nutrient based system. A diet and lifestyle deficient in vital nutrients
makes us susceptible to opportunistic infections, and cellular disorganisation
(cancer).
In the past, modern science has considered methods of traditional knowledge
as primitive. During the colonial period, traditional medical practices were
often declared illegal by the colonial authorities. Consequently doctors and
health personnel have continued to shun traditional practitioners despite their
contribution to meeting the basic health needs of the population, especially
the rural people in developing countries. Developing countries have begun to
realise that their current health systems are dependent upon western
technologies and upon western medicines that are expensive and whose supply is
erratic. In Afrika, traditional healers and herbal remedies made from plants
play an important role in the health of millions of people. Afrika has a long
and impressive list of medicinal plants based on local knowledge.
The multinational drug companies are helping to place a ban on natural
herbal products as well to monopolize the vitamin and herbal remedies as their
limitless source of revenue. These same multinational companies have introduced
diseases that can destroy the plants and herbs we use as natural sources of
nutrients, so that we can become more dependent on their products. These are
the same multinational corporations that have a monopoly on the development and
production of pesticides and herbicides, which poison the environment and
produce changes in our foods and in our bodies. They score a double purpose of
selling their products and reducing our population. Volatile, synthetic,
pesticide poisons are the largest group of poisonous substances purposely added
or disseminated throughout our environment. All of the major pesticide producers
are also in the health/pharmaceutical, chemical and the
biotechnology/agriculture industries as well. So as you are poisoned, polluted,
sicken and begin to die from their synthetic chemical poisons, they will sell
you synthetic chemical drugs to survive.
Western Technology, Agriculture,
and Food
Pesticides
Studies show that we are being constantly exposed to a cocktail of pesticide
residues in the foods we eat. Current safety levels do not take into account
the impact of the “cocktail effect” of multiple residues in particular foods,
or in our overall diet. Not much research has been conducted into the safety of
pesticide mixtures, but some studies have highlighted potential risks to the
immune system or behavioural changes.
Environmental studies have shown that pesticides can cause immune
systems to collapse, a finding that could help explain the rise in human
autoimmune diseases, particularly in Blacks. In human terms, impaired immune
systems could lead to people dying of common colds or other infections that a
healthy person would be able to resist easily.
Glyphosate, for example, is a broad-spectrum herbicide, widely-used to kill
unwanted plants in a variety of agricultural, lawn and garden, aquatic, and
forestry situations. It ranks among the top ten herbicides used in the
Glyphosate residues have been found in a variety of fruits and vegetables
and can be detected long after treatments have been made. Lettuce,
carrots, and barley planted a year after glyphosate treatment still contained
residues at harvest. Glyphosate reduces the activity of nitrogen-fixing
bacteria. These bacteria transform nitrogen, an essential plant nutrient, into
a form that plants can use. It also reduces the growth of beneficial fungi
that help plants absorb water and nutrients and increases the susceptibility of
plants to diseases. Glyphosate exposure damages or reduces the population of
many animals, including beneficial insects, fish, birds, and earthworms.
The impact of glyphosate on wildlife should serve as an indicator of potential
human health problems. Polyacrylamide, a chemical additive in glyphosate, is
being studied for its contribution to the presence of acrylamide in cooked
foods. Acrylamide is a potent nerve toxin in humans that affects male
reproduction and causes cancer and birth defects in animals.
The herbicide fumigation of vast areas of
Pesticides and herbicides are anti-life. Like chlorophyll, melanin is a
living molecule. Many of the toxic chemicals in these compounds can chemically
interact with melanin, thus causing physical, hormonal and biochemical
imbalances in melanated people. Research suggests that pesticides and
herbicides actually interfere with the production of chemicals called
flavonoids, which are good for our health. Flavonoids are polyphenolic
compounds that have potent antioxidant activity and act as a plant's natural
defence. They are produced in plants in response to environmental stressors
such as insects or competing plants. For example, the phenolic acids in shea
butter, called cinnamates, are more absorptive of UVB rays, which can be very
damaging to skin and is responsible for sunburn and cancer. These phenolic
acids help to protect melanated skin.
Flavonoids and the anti-cancer compounds, nitrilosides, are essential
for building and maintaining our melanin centres.
Antibiotics and Growth Hormones
Microbial food-borne illnesses are the largest class of emerging infectious
diseases. The use of antibiotics and hormones in agriculture is growing. Their prolonged use on farm animals has resulted
in cancerous tumours and unmanageable bacterial and viral infections in animals.
Of particular concern are the antibiotics and hormones fed each year to
hogs, chickens and cattle that are specifically designed to reduce their
bacterial populations and to promote faster growth for food production. By some
estimates, these "sub therapeutic" doses constitute 8,000 tons of
antibiotics a year. One
major important fact is that the bacteria, these antibiotics are designed to
destroy, are growing increasingly resistant to antibiotics and at a faster
pace, than if these antibiotics were only used to treat animals diagnosed with
disease. This creates super-bugs and super infections. Studies show that giving
children antibiotics in the first six months of their life is linked to an
increased likelihood of allergies and asthma. In response to increased warnings
that the widespread use of antibiotics on farms is making antibiotic drugs less
effective for treating people, a well-known fast-food chain directed some of
its meat suppliers to stop using antibiotic growth promoters. Animal diseases are becoming more resistant and these diseases are now
capable of crossing over to other animals and finally to human species. SARS,
Bird Flu,
Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH), a naturally occurring hormone produced by milk
cows, closely resembles the natural growth hormones in human children. The
presence of BGH in milk is shown to significantly elevate hormone levels in
people, creating a host of growth problems. Recombinant BGH (rBGH) is an
unnaturally occurring, genetically engineered hormone that increases a cows'
milk production by an estimated 15-25 percent. This increase in milk production
causes the animals to suffer from mastitis, a bacterial infection of the udder
and widespread occurrences of cystic ovaries and disorders of the uterus.
Bacterial mastitis is a serious disease of dairy cattle and can be passed into
milk for consumption.
Over a quarter of
The highest rates of hormone-dependent cancer, such as cancer of
the breast, endometrium, ovary, prostate, testes and colon are also
found in
Afrikan people have a higher incidence of lactose intolerance and suffer
from a variety of digestive symptoms that result from consuming milk and other
dairy products, including gas, bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, and
indigestion. In total, there are an estimated 50 million lactose intolerant
adults in the U.S., including 15 percent of the white population, 70 percent of
the black population, and 80 to 97 percent of Asian Americans, Native
Americans, and Jews of European descent. People of colour lack the
necessary enzymes to properly digest cow’s milk and are thus unable to ingest
milk for its “enriched” vitamin D content. Vitamin D, a vitamin the body needs
to maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus, is found in the skin
of melanin-dominant individuals after sun exposure. Less “melanated” people
require the intake of dairy products to secrete vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency
leads to thin, brittle bones in adults and rickets in children.
Genetically Modified vs. Organic Foods
Genetic engineering involves taking genes from one species, and inserting
them into another to transfer a desired trait or character. Eighty two percent
of all genetically modified food is produced in the
Genetically engineered foods already on the market in the US and Canada include corn, soybeans, wheat, potatoes,
squash, tomatoes, chicory and papaya as well as milk and other dairy products
from cows treated with a genetically engineered growth hormone. A variety
of enzymes, produced from genetically engineered micro-organisms, are used
throughout the food processing industry. Trade in genetically engineered
food, crops and micro-organisms are dominated by a handful of multinational
corporations, the same corporations involved in the manufacture of
pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, pesticides and other chemicals. Genetically
engineered foods produce toxic reactions as well as food allergies, both of
which are seriously affecting children. Genetically engineered micro-organisms
can unpredictably kill other living things and genetically engineered plants
can harm wildlife.
More than two-thirds of conventional crops in the
Multinational corporations use genetic engineering to monopolize the seed
supply and raise the cost of farming so that the agricultural industry can
consolidate its control worldwide. Billions of people on the planet are
supported by farmers who save seeds from crops and replant these seeds the
following year. Most farmers cannot afford to buy new seeds every year, so
collecting and replanting seeds is a crucial part of the agricultural cycle.
This is the way food has been grown successfully for thousands of years.
Traditional agriculture methods, such as cross-pollination or selective
breeding, are based on natural reproductive mechanisms. These traditional
methods will cross only one kind of plant or animal with a similar species. Fruits
and vegetables grown organically show significantly higher levels of
cancer-fighting antioxidants than conventionally grown foods. Consumer interest
in organic foods, produced without use of antibiotics, pesticides and growth
hormones, has ballooned in recent years due to increasing concerns about health
and food safety.
On