Yoga For Life

Antibiotics, Farm Animals, and your Health!

Did you know that 80 per cent of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are fed to healthy farm animals including farm raised fish! Many conventional chicken eggs are also injected with antibiotics. Antibiotics are fed to farm animals for growth promotion and to keep them alive in conditions that would normally kill them.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finally taken steps to curb the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in food animal production. While this is a welcome change the delay in this action is really shocking.  It has been proven that antibiotics fed to livestock does not kill bacteria, it actually provides the breeding ground for superbugs.

And the bacteria are on the grocery shelves. Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute tested 137 packages of chicken, turkey, and other meat bought at twenty-six grocery stores in five cities across the country. Nearly half - forty-seven percent - of the tested samples were infected with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, which are known to cause staph infections and a host of other serious illnesses. As if that weren't enough cause for concern, half of the bacteria found in the study were resistant to at least three antibiotics. A 2010 report by CBS Evening News noted that antibiotic-resistant infections are on the upswing and killed an estimated 70,000 Americans in 2009 alone.

This is a public health crisis for humans and animals. Protect your health and prevent animal suffering. If going vegetarian doesn’t work for you please know where your food comes from: buy cow, pig, chicken, and fish from sustainable farms. Our future depends on it…
 
 

Save the Planet -  What's in Your Sunscreen?

The warmer weather is here and we have been told to slather on the sunscreen before going out. Beware most sunscreen is not safe, nor effective. The chemicals in your sunblock could be doing you more harm than good.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), which is the nonprofit authority in determining what companies have toxic compounds in their products, say that one in four of more than 800 beach and sport sunscreens passed the test this year. That's good when compared to one in five last year and one in 12 the year before, but it doesn't mean we're in the clear. A fourth of the sunscreens in the test actually had retinyl palmitate or vitamin A in them, a chemical the Food and Drug Administration and National Toxicology Program say heightens your risk of skin cancer. In addition many sunscreens contain parabens, hormone-disrupting chemicals, and “fragrance” (causes allergies and chemical sensitivities).

For a list of the best, safest sunscreens please click here.