The Rule of Three and the Right to Life

What is the 'Rule of Three' and why is it important?

This is a simple, yet complex, rule.  A person is very likely facing death if deprived of three minutes of air, three days of water or thirty days of food.  While there may be incidents of people who have survived, in spite of this rule, few choose to test its validity.

This rule should remind people how dependent they are upon these basic elements and how vulnerable they are should these elements be used as weapons of control.  In developing countries, the reminder is often more acute and often experienced daily. In developed countries, such as the USA, it is often less obvious and, therefore, more ominous.

While humans draw lines on maps claiming territory, water and air do not obeyed such boarders. Even human attempts at controlling food proves challenging. An example is how genetically modified crops, created from seeds made in laboratories to withstand toxic pesticides, have created super-weeds. Through natures process of cross-pollination in the fields, the new super-weeds, impervious to pesticides, become destructive and have proven how man and nature war to control natural life. Most often nature wins.

Since the dawn of civilization, powerful entities used air, water and food, as weapons of control. For example, when damns withhold a river, it withholds water from life downstream, which can create a killing drought or life taking floods.  An example is the mighty Mississippi River. It fights for its freedom over damns and locks on one end and levies around the sunken city of New Orleans, at the other end, often wreaking mayhem in its path. Many other rivers flood because of industrial farming techniques. Monoculture crops, such as corn and soybeans, planted in rows, create trenches that siphon rainwater swiftly into rivers, instead of allowing it to seep into the soil to replenish subterranean aquifers. The result is devastating episodes of flooding in cities along the rivers of the plains and depletion of aquifers from where many cities draw their drinking water.

Environmentalists, fighting against the air and water polluters, coal and oil, are scoffed at as idealists in the face of a perceived need for energy. Yet, with all the energy coal and oil can produce, without a sustaining breath of clean air or pure drinking water, under the Rule of Three, life ends or is diminished by illness from pollution and expires slowly.

Food is the third component of the Rule of Three. If you wonder how food controls and is controlled, let us examine the apple.

Few people have experienced the sweet, strawberry flavor of a Chenanago Strawberry Apple. Most people do not know that they have been around since 1850, when grafting produced this jewel of Chenango County, New York. It cannot survive the rough handling of industrial processing so today, it is found only in private orchards. Until recently, the old Granny Smith (1868, Australia) apple suffered a similar state of affairs. However, once it was discovered that the Granny Smith would withstand green picking and processing, it was introduced as a 'new' apple and added to the boring group of Delicious, Macintosh and a limited few others sold from the mass-food industrial assembly line. When people no longer realize the multitude of choices they could have, their desires have been controlled. In the case of apples, the control is for the convenience of an industry focused on profiting from a fruit that withstands hard handling, packaging, and distribution methods. The result is that most apple lovers do not even know what they are missing.

Farmer's Markets, trending to press for a return to non-industrial food, offer an eye opening experience for adventurous eaters. They offer choices from orange, yellow, white and even purple carrots to sweet and juicy tomatoes in every size, shape, color and level of sweetness or acidity imaginable.  People who are aware of the diversity of food available, conscientious eaters, want the industrialized food system to serve people "what they desire" instead of creating their desire, through advertising and controlled availability.

Once one understands the importance and the power of these three elements, it becomes apparent that the most important activity for humankind is assuring the availability of free clean air, water and a diversified supply of clean, healthy, food for all.  It is important that governments, through agencies such as in the USA, the USDA, EPA, and FDA, to implement rules and programs to create a fair business environment for independent farmers, rather than just catering to multinational agriculture and chemical corporations.   Consumers must continue to demand honest and level competitive food production and delivery systems that protect the environment through sustainable production methods and be willing to pay for the true cost of real food.  Government money paid (subsidies) to industrialized farming operations to saturate the markets with unhealthy but cheap food is doing harm to the eater and the environment.

Protecting the air and water involves resisting use of energy forms that cause contamination.  Of particular importance is finding alternatives for coal fired electric plants and gasoline powered and oil dependent machines.  Often these industries create pockets of poor and disadvantaged communities surrounding them and condemning them to drinking contaminated water and breathing polluted air. The people are unable to protect their neighborhoods from having the industries move in, or the industries offer low income housing which, after years of manufacturing and contamination, become health risks as well. Lacking the wherewithal to fight for their rights to clean air and water, these communities become entrapped as the powerful companies subvert local, state and federal agencies to relax or avoid regulation. The cycle must be broken to protect the air and water.

Individuals must take responsibility for their actions, too. Flushing medications, using toxic chemicals around their homes, which ultimately contaminate the water system, are irresponsible acts.  Every breath, drink and bite should be a reminder of the thin and fragile the line between life and end of life can be and how important the Rule of Three is to all of humanity.

Every person, young or old, must protect his or her right to access clean air, clean water and a clean and a diverse variety of healthy food. It is a matter of the right to life.

Plastic – Miracle or Monster

Most packaging used today is not biodegradable and has a never-ending future, which may be ruining our children’s futures.

Plastic is both miracle and monster. The miracles are helmets that save lives; packaging peanuts that protect valuables in transit; utensils, trays and clear wrap for the portability and protection of food; bags for handling groceries and garbage; and indestructible toys and auto dashboards to name a few uses.

The monster is revealed, however, when birds and fish eat plastic forks and spoons, food trays, bags, and take out food packaging like lids and straws. Their stomachs fill with non-nutrient junk and they die. This is not a miracle. This is a preventable disaster. As the per capita demand for fish consumption increases, plastic is taking its toll. In the future, the need for, and loss of, seafood will create another undesired outcome.

Many of our beaches glisten with polymer pearls called ‘nurdles.” From nurdles, all forms of plastic are created, from polyvinyl siding, to food packaging, the elastic polystyrene in truck and car tires and they even find their way into our cosmetics. Nurdles are injected with chemicals to affect the attributes of the final products, making them hard, soft, flexible, brightly colored, shatterproof, etc. The monstrous side of plastic is that once created, it never, ever, degrades and then, buried in landfills or carried by the winds, it pollutes our land and water.

Most of the flotsam at sea comes from the same plastic products that make our lives so convenient. There are several areas at sea, one as large as the state of Texas, where currents create doldrums and the plastic garbage collects there. See the The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

There is hope, however. Beyond the miraculous and monstrous sides of plastic is our American ingenuity. There are biodegradable replacements for many commonly used plastic products. Some are shown at the Natur-Tec site. There are dissolvable shipping peanuts that replace Styrofoam peanuts, biodegradable eating utensils and many other choices available. Americans discovered plastic and now we are developing the cure for its design flaw.

We can have safe, convenience products that will not destroy our planet. We can protect our children without poisoning their environment before they have children of their own. We can make this change happen. We simply have to convince our government and business leaders that we want environmentally safe, biodegradable packaging used exclusively. If we continue to send this message we will enjoy the convenience and flexibility, we have all come to expect, from products that do not have such a monstrous second face.

Navigating the Produce Department with PLU Codes

First, let us be clear; the FDA DOES NOT protect consumers from genetically modified (GMO) food or require informative labels on packaged produce.  The labels we see on produce appear at the whim of grocers and are suggested by industry marketers, such as the Produce Marketing Association (PMA). Marketers advocate use of labels to massage some consumer-identified concerns, such as calories, fat content, sell-by dates, and place of origin and also to assist produce departments with electronic processing and pricing. Dismissed is any industry concern about genetic modification of the seed, from which the produce grows, or the chemical soup in which it is grown.  The lack of labels, to identify GMO produce and processed foods with GMO ingredients, is part of what is driving consumers to seek organics.

Although Produce Look Up (PLU) codes are established by the International Federation of Produce Standards (IFPS) for the industry, consumers can get information from them as well. The PLU codes, when present, appear on the small sticky label stuck to the skin of fruits or vegetables, and identifies how it was grown, what species it is and, of course, helps the industry with electronic processing and pricing.

Most commonly seen are four-digit PLU codes. They indicate produce grown using chemicals, many of which are toxic and some proven carcinogenic, but which the FDA approves. The Agra-industries and chemical-industries, an almost invisible line separating them, have successfully lobbied the FDA to allow many chemicals to be A-listed for use in growing food. Often, those seeking the licenses to sell the chemicals have supplied the only information reviewed by the FDA, before approval.

A five-digit PLU code, beginning with the number "9" identifies organically grown produce. However, it should be noted that the green and white "USDA certified organic" label is the only reliable symbol available to consumers today. The words "organic," "naturally grown, or "all natural" are not trustworthy indicators of a product's pedigree, rather they are terms that are sometimes used to lure consumers to products they might otherwise avoid.

The PLU system is already capable of identifying GMO produce with a five-digit code but it is so rarely used few know it exists.  The first digit of the GMO PLU code is "8". This tells the consumer that the produce was grown from a seed, in toxic conditions for which the plant was "genetically engineered" to survive. More information about  PLU codes is available at http://www.plucodes.com/ .

A PMA executive offered this information, at a meeting of association members, broadcast on YouTube,

"Labels do matter because consumers are bringing their ideals to the grocery store."  Therefore, consumer concerns appear to be important to the industry, and statistics indicate that most consumers would not knowingly purchase GMO foods. Yet, finding a sticker with the PLU code for GMO produce is akin to finding hen's teeth. This may be due to the fact that Monsanto, the patent holder of GMO seeds and primary producer of most of the chemicals used, is a PMA 'partner', as indicated on their website.

Consumers are, somewhat, complicit in their own fleecing, when it comes to buying food. According to the PMA, "the majority of consumers get their produce information from the package, produce section store signs, family and friends and the produce department staff."  Since labeling is at the whim of the store, as are their signs, and the same store sources and department staff educate family and friends; it is easy to see how the equation favors the industrial food industry over consumers. 

Consumers fail before they begin their hunting and gathering expeditions because the places they hunt are laden with information land mines.  GMO produce looks bigger and always picture perfect which can conceal old produce with diminished nutrient values.  It usually lacks taste and ingesting the genetic modification assets of the plant is unhealthy. 

The second choice, and most prevalent, is the produce grown in the FDA's approved chemical soups. These also have less nutrients and taste, and the chemicals that permeate their skins withstand washing. They also have abnormal shelf lives.

Organic grown produce is generally rich in nutrition and taste. It has a normal life span and, after weighing the health liabilities of other produce growing methods, are well worth any difference in price.

While the PLU codes can be helpful for both the industry and consumers, the FDA must seriously address their responsibility to safeguard the American consumer with policies that require informative and appropriate food labels. Consumers must be willing to become informed shoppers and invest their time and money in their own health.