Decades ago, animals were used to determine whether certain chemicals used in food processing produced cancer or not. Being a very expensive and time consuming procedure, it was replaced by the much cheaper and faster Ames test. However, the Ames test seems to miss the target!
The Ames test is based on the fact that some chemicals cause mutations in bacteria and human cells alike. This gives us a false sense of security in some cases because...
Not every chemical can damage every gene. A chemical can cause mutation in one gene, and not in another. The Ames test checks the carcinogenecity of the chemicals against the bacterial genes. We have a lot of genes that the bacteria don't have, and our cell environment is not the same as that of the bacteria.
In other words, some chemicals can cause mutation in our genes, and not in bacterial genes, and vise versa. Thus, some chemicals that can produce cancer in us go undetected in Ames test. These chemicals are allowed to be marketed, and used in the foods we eat.
By the way, read the following if you use tea or coffee bags. Glue is used in some of these bags which would dissolve in the hot water, and give the consumer a small dose of glue. Perhaps the FDA does not know, but you should. The occasional use of these bags is not significant, but their daily use is. Glue is not used in all tea bags. In some brands, the edges of the bag are jointed under moist pressure. Of course, the same goes for the coffee bags.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT. This article has never been submitted to FDA or any science magazine for verification.
DATED: 9 October 2000
NOTE: The article above is from "Thus Speaks Zarathustra", a 4-volume book (presently not available) by Behrooz Bassim, MD. This book is a 21st century sequel to Nietzsche's 19th century masterpiece. Other pages from it on the internet are:
Abortion
Artificial
Color & Flavor
Capitalism
Civility
Darwin
Was Right So Was LaMarck
Democracy
or Isocracy
Etymology
of sacred, etc
God,
Who?
Guns
in USA
Homosexuality
Honesty
Me
Intelligence
Monetary,
A Unique Unit, A unique
Particle
Physics, Grand Spectrum
Plight
of the Mice
Politician,
The American
Race
& Class
Sermon
Sham
Justice
Soul
Is Mind
Unidirectional
Competition
Universal
Army
Universal
Language
Zarathustra
CONTACT: bassim@usadatanet.net