#82 July/August 2006
The Washington Free Press Washington's Independent Journal of News, Ideas & Culture
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TOP STORIES

The Cholesterol Myth

Edmonds Pharmacist Seeks End to Harassment at Border
from the ACLU of WA

Public Transportation
photoessay by Juan Pablo Chiquiza

Northwest and Beyond

FREE THOUGHTS

READER MAIL Vote Better By Mail; Border Guards Save Lives; Think About the Families

Dueling Diets: Or is the problem over-modernized food?
by Doug Collins

'I Don't Subscribe' Sweepstakes Winner!

POLITICS

Who Wants to Buy the State Supreme Court?
by John Merriam

How Green was my Ballot?
opinion by Joyce Harrell, Tom Munsey, Janet Thomas, and Tim White

'Why Is This Not Front-Page News?'
interview of Armen Yousoufian
by Doug Collins

FOOD & ENVIRONMENT

TRASH TALK by Dave & Lillian Brummet

Safer Food Choices
from Washington Toxics Coalition

HEALTH

Why Medicine Fails
opinion by Marjorie Rhodes
cartoon by John Jonik

Disposing the Diaper
by Doug Collins

WAR

'No Hard Evidence on Bin Laden' Says FBI
by Ed Hass, the Muckraker Report

The Prius Strategy to End Dependency on Iraqi Oil
by Roger Lippman

DARK HUMOR DEPT.
Bush: What's a Brazilian?
cartoon by David Logan

RIGHT BRAIN

THE WANDERINGS AND THOUGHTS OF KIP KELLOG, #6
by Vincent Spada

Views of Nature
three poems by Bob Pavlik

Life or Meth
poem by Jesse Lancaster

PUMPKIN EDDIE'S LIGHTNING POEMS
by Vincent Spada

NOTABLE QUOTES

CONTACTS

NORTHWEST NEIGHBORS
contact list of subscribers who like to talk with you

DO SOMETHING! CALENDAR
Northwest activist events

Safer Food Choices

How you can reduce toxins in foods for yourself and your family

from Washington Toxics Coalition

Toxic chemicals such as mercury, dioxin, and PBDEs that remain in the environment for a long time build up in the fatty tissue of animals and fish, including those that people eat. Pesticides that are used in agriculture can remain on or in foods such as vegetables, fruits, and grains.

Although it's impossible nowadays to totally avoid exposure to industrial toxins in food, below are five basic ways to reduce your intake of them.

  1. Make your meat lean
    Choose lean meat cuts, and buy organic meats if possible.

    Cut off visible fat before cooking meat and choose lower-fat cooking methods: broiling, grilling, roasting, or pressure-cooking.

    Avoid frying meat in lard, bacon grease, or butter.

  2. Limit dairy products high in fat
    Choose low-fat, organic dairy products as much as possible.

  3. Know your seafood
    Fish is some of the healthiest food you can eat-choose it wisely.

    Avoid bluefish, wild striped bass, American eel, spotted seatrout, marlin, king mackerel, shark, and swordfish. Women and children should not eat tilefish or tuna steaks, and should also limit their consumption of canned tuna.

    Safer seafood choices include wild salmon, sardines, anchovies, Atlantic herring, Dungeness crab, Pacific cod, Alaskan black cod, farmed striped bass, tilapia, farmed catfish, clams, mussels, and Pacific oysters.

    Check with state advisories before eating sport-caught fish or shellfish.

    Here are some seafood information resources:
    Washington State Department of Health: Fish and Shellfish Consumption Advisories
    (www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/oehas/EHA_fish_adv.htm); Fish Facts for Healthy Nutrition
    (www.doh.wa.gov/fish/)

    Oceans Alive (Environmental Defense): Best and Worst Seafood (www.oceansalive.org/eat.cfm)

    Environmental Working Group: Mercury in Seafood (www.ewg.org/issues/mercury/index.php includes Tuna Calculator)

  4. Prepare fish wisely

    When preparing fish, remove skin, trim the fat, and broil, bake, or grill fish so that the fat drips away.

  5. Eat organic food as much as possible
    Organic food is produced without the use of harmful chemical pesticides that can remain on or in food.

    It's especially important to buy organically grown peaches, strawberries, apples, spinach, nectarines, celery, pears, cherries, potatoes, bell peppers, raspberries, and grapes (imported). These items typically contain the highest levels of pesticide residues.

    Also, wash produce well before preparing.

    For more information on pesticides in produce, see:
    Environmental Working Group: Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce
    (www.foodnews.org/reportcard.php)

    To see the full report "Pollution in People" about toxins present in the bodies of Washingtonians, see www.pollutioninpeople.org .


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