Lawmakers want better food labeling of allergens, but far more deaths are caused by other ingredients

Breaking News for Saturday, November 22, 2008 Most Vitamin Study Subjects Didn't Take Their Pills; Media Fails to Report Facts Teen Committing Live Web Cam Suicide Was Taking Psychiatric Medications Busted! NPR Radio Doc Caught with Undisclosed Financial Ties to Big Pharma Antidepressant Drugs Destroy DNA of Sperm Bush to End Protection of Endangered Animals Before Leaving Office      See all Breaking News... FREE Natural Health Newsletter Receive natural health product reviews, recommendations and alerts. Instant download of 20+ free health reports and exclusive interviews. Join over 1.2 million monthly readers. Unsubscribe anytime, email privacy guaranteed Products Related to This Article* • Boku Superfood High-potency superfood powder for preventing numerous diseases • Living Fuel SuperBerry Ultimate Delicious superfood meal powder for disease prevention, antioxidant boost • Appetite for Profit (free download) Free download summary of this top book for discovering the truth about food companies * Recommended by the Health Ranger. See more recommendations on right → Articles Related to This Article: • The Honest Food Guide empowers consumers with independent information about foods and health • Interview with "Kevala" Karen Parker, master raw foods chef • Cigarettes, Lies, and Pet Food Advertising

But if lawmakers are so concerned over the 200 deaths caused each year by allergens, why aren't they similarly concerned about the millions of deaths caused by more blatant food ingredients like sodium nitrite (causes cancer), high-fructose corn syrup (causes diabetes), hydrogenated oils (causes heart disease), MSG (causes obesity) and white flour (causes nutritional deficiencies)? If we want to save lives by mandating more informative labels on foods, we should require food makers to include phrases like, "Warning: Causes Obesity" right on the label of any food or beverage made with high-fructose corn syrup -- which would include soft drinks, by the way. Margarine made with hydrogenated oils should carry a large red warning that says, "Warning: This product promotes heart disease."

Let's require food manufacturers to tell the truth about their disease-promoting products. Stop letting them hide behind a tiny list of ingredients that most people don't read in the first place. As a nation, we should require food manufacturers to warn consumers about the health consequences of the foods they eat there. And it shouldn't be limited to grocery products, either: national fast food restaurants should be required to carry similar warnings: "Warning: this hamburger promotes diabetes and heart disease." It should be in large, red letters right on the product box.

Of course, this has been tried already with cigarettes, and people just keep on smoking anyway. Some people don't care what foods do to their health. But awareness is part of the answer here, and better food labeling can certainly enhance awareness. I think there are a great many people who simply aren't aware that sodium nitrite, for example, causes colon cancer. If grocery store products containing sodium nitrite were required to display cancer warnings on the label, you can bet there would be plenty of consumers who would start buying nitrite-free products.

The bottom line? There's nothing wrong with requiring better labeling for consumers who suffer from chronic food allergies, but why not protect everyone else, too? Let's require the labeling of all ingredients that promote obesity and chronic disease.

Boost this article on YahooBuzz! Click "BuzzUp!"

About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of super bright LED light bulbs that are 1000% more energy efficient than incandescent lights. He's also the founder of a well known HTML email software company whose 'Email Marketing Director' software currently runs the NaturalNews subscription database. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, Pilates and organic gardening. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org

Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:

Related Articles: • The Honest Food Guide empowers consumers with independent information about foods and health • Interview with "Kevala" Karen Parker, master raw foods chef • Cigarettes, Lies, and Pet Food Advertising	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/001451.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/001451.html">Lawmakers want better food labeling of allergens, but far more deaths are caused by other ingredients</a>