The DC-3 airplane, heavily guarded by uniformed Panamanian soldiers, sat on the far side of the jungle clearing at Penonome, 60 miles southwest of Panama City. Its cargo doors were wide open and chocked tight against the fuselage. The right engine idled slow and rough; the left engine was shut down for the loading operation. Soldiers in two Jeeps outfitted with .50-caliber machine guns guarded the pane fore and aft. One gunner trained his weapon on the loading crew; the other .50-cal was pointed at the cockpit and the unarmed American flight crew.

The pilot, Wayne Howard, stuck his head and left arm out of the cockpit window and waved a small white flag. The soldier in the Jeep waved back and gave a thumbs-up. A line of cargo handlers hurriedly stacked white plastic sacks on pallets; others inside the plane slid the heavy pallets forward and secured them for the 680-mile flight to Costa Rica. [Full article]

Beer is regulated by the Department of the Treasury, not the FDA

Though it is consumed like any other food, beer is surprisingly not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Instead, it is regulated by a division of the Department of the Treasury known as the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), which does not require that the ingredients of beer be disclosed to consumers.

Because of this, beer companies can get away with adding all sorts of flavor enhancers, stabilizers and other chemicals to beer products without beer-drinkers knowing about it. This means that GM corn-derived additives like corn syrup, for instance, are often hiding in beer without proper labeling.

“There is a long list of ingredients allowed in beer—like high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, stabilizers that are linked to intestinal inflammation, artificial colors, ingredients found in airplane deicing liquid, genetically modified ingredients, even fish swim bladders,” wrote the Food Babe.

AIDS from beer?

BENZENE, LUBRICANTS AND AIDS

“The effects of benzene on the human system are as follows: “Confirmed human carcinogen producing myeloid leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, and lymphomas by inhalation. A human poison by inhalation.....skin contact, intraperitoneal, intravenous, and possibly other routes. A severe eye and moderate skin irritant.....blood changes, increased body temperature… Mutation data reported... The bone marrow may be [damaged],.....the changes reflected in the peripheral blood. Anemia, leucopenia, macrocytosis,.....thrombocytopenia may be present... Benzene has a definite cumulative action... In chronic poisoning the onset is slow, with the symptoms vague: fatigue, headache, dizziness, nausea and loss of appetite, loss of weight, and weakness are common complaints [emphasis mine]. There is great individual variation in the signs and symptoms of chronic benzene poisoning.” *

Just when you think there's no end to the diversity of junk food lining supermarket aisles, an insanely detailed infographic comes along to set us all straight. Out of the hundreds of products at our disposal, only ten major corporations manufacture the bulk of what we toss in our shopping carts.

So whether you're looking to stock up on anything from orange soda to latte-flavored potato chips, Mondelez, Kraft, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, PepsiCo, P&G, Johnson & Johnson, Mars, Danone, General Mills, Kellogg's, and Unilever own just about everything you could hope to buy. It seems that six degrees of separation theory has been proven after all, if only because we all drink Diet Coke every now and then. [Full article]