CLEANSERS ARE POISONING THE FOOD CHAIN

Moisturizers, toothpastes and other personal care products are slowly poisoning the food chain, environmental activist warn.

The products contain non-biodegradable substances which are finding their way into water bodies, each time they are used and flashed down the drain where  they are consumed by aquaculture and finally land on our dinner tables.  

Microbeads look like tiny, colourful dots suspended in cleansers and other personal care items. Manufacturers like Procter and Gamble and Johnson & Johnson advertise their exfoliating power, offering consumers luxury. But when the beads are rinsed off, by billions of users worldwide, they flow through pipes and drains and into water bodies.

Their effect is similar to grinding up plastic water bottles, other products of concern to environmentalists, and pumping them into oceans and lakes. But because microbeads are small enough to be ingested by fish and other marine life, they can carry other pollutants into the food chain. Thus scrubbing more from our health than they do to our skins and teeth.

Led by Stiv Wilson, an environmental advocate, director of campaigns at a nonprofit group The Story of Stuff Project working, environmental activists in the state of Florida say microbeads, tiny plastic balls in face washes, moisturizers, toothpastes and other personal care products are the most used in making the products and they are a pending danger to human life.

Foreign countries have already passed laws to ban the use of microbeads. Six states — Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, Colorado, Indiana and Maryland — have enacted legislation to restrict the use of microbeads, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, while bills are pending in others, including Michigan, Minnesota, Washington and Oregon.

However the same is yet to happen in the third world countries. This increases the rate of microbeads levels in water bodies since instant beauty products are consumed blindly by billions of people in less developed countries.

Statics show that water treatment plants fail to process over 19 tones of microbeads in the United States alone.

In 2013, Johnson & Johnson pledged to remove polyethylene microbeads, the most common type of microbeads, from its personal care products by 2017.

Procter &Gamble, another global consumer products giant, has made a simmilar pledge. Uniliver, the multinational consumer goods company, phased out the use of plastic microbeads from its Dove soaps and other products at the beginning of the year. 

More than 3,00 products now contain polyethlene, according to The Story of StaffProject's online database.

EATING DESERT LOCUSTS PREVENTS HEART DISEASE

A picture from the Sahel region reveals a shocking scenario. It is a reality which the residents have no control over. This is the presence of desert locusts. The locusts have been chewing every green vegetation leaving farms bear and unproductive. That is a reality which greets Sahel people every morning. Desert locusts have been terrorizing farms for over a decade now.

The agony and pain of farmers however may come to an end soon thanks to the efforts of Prof. Baldwyn Torto, an icipe scientist who has just discovered the benefit of these ugly looking hoppers.  

The idea of having a mouthful of locusts might seem ridiculous, untidy and archaic, right? Well, if you think so all you will have to do is close your eyes have a mouthful and feel the gnash of insects between your teeth as you munch to their delicacy.

According to Prof Baldwyn’s study conducted jointly by icipe , Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and United States Department of Agriculture/ Agriculture Research Service (USDA/ARS), Eating meat of the desert locust could be good for your heart.

Through a paper published in PLOS ONE journal on 13 May 2015, the researchers show that the desert locust, scienctifially known as Schistocera gregaria, contains rich composition of compounds known as sterols, which in turn have cholesterol-lowering properties, thereby reducing the risk of heart disease.

Prof. Baldwyn explains sterols occur naturally in plants, animals and fungi. The sterols from plants are called phytosterols and those from animals are known as zoosterols. Cholesterol is the most familiar type of sterol. Phytosterols and cholesterol have common target of getting absorbed in the intestines. Phytosterols however have been shown to have a competitive advantage as they are able to block the absorption of cholesterol.

Although vegetables are generally the richest sources of phytosterols, insects have the potential to supply these useful compounds to people.

“In our study we found that, as is the case in other insects, cholesterol is the major tissue sterol in desert locusts. However, we observed that after the desert locust has fed on a vegetative diet, most of the common phytosterols are amplified and new ones are also produced in its tissues. In turn, this leads to a high phytosterol content, which suggests that eating desert locusts could reduce cholesterol levels,” explains Prof. Torto.

He adds that aside from cardiovascular protective effects, the researchers also found the desert locust to have a wealth of other nutrients, including proteins, fatty acids and minerals, which are beneficial for anti-inflammatory, anticancer and also have immune regulatory effects. As such, the desert locust is an excellent source of dietary components for both humans and animals.

The findings by icipe are redeeming for the desert locust, which is probably more reputed for its alarming threat to food security, for instance, through outbreaks in the Sahel region of Africa, which have been known to destroy land and crops, leaving hunger and poverty in their wake.

“We hope that our findings will refocus the research on the desert locust in a new emerging dimension; its potential as a component in food and nutritional security in Africa. Despite its negative image, the desert locust is already consumed in many regions in Africa and Asia. As icipe has proven over the years, the desert locust is extremely easy to rear, meaning that it could either be domesticated on a small-scale, or even produced through commercial ventures”, concludes Prof. Torto

SOURCE: www.icipe.org