American Politics Are Affecting Our Health
Let’s show this one to those who wish us to believe that the American Health Care System is so much better than in Europe and that by providing socialized care for all Americans, this superior health care will drop.
According to Social Science Quarterly, Americans have stopped growing. Apparently, Americans used to be the tallest in the world, but have been falling behind our European counterparts since World War II. Americans are now between two and six centimeters shorter than Europeans.
Researchers could not understand the reason for this decrease. There is a well known correlation, according to the article, between wealth and height. Apparently, Eastern Europeans have grown significantly since the fall of communism. Yet America is supposed to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and we are falling behind.
A report from Princeton University concludes that “the spotty US health-care system and weak welfare net could explain why Americans have stopped growing”
“We surmise that the health systems and high degree of social security in Europe provide better conditions for growth than the American health system, despite the fact that the system costs twice as much,” said study co-author John Komlos from the University of Munich in a statement. “There are also indications that American diets are deficient in several areas.”
Now, I can’t but wonder if our wonderful genetically modified food might have something to do with this. Europeans have been resisting the incorporation of GMOs and many groups have been fighting for stricter identification of food that contains GMOs (genetically modified organisms).
Europeans have also been resisting the bullying efforts of biotech company Monsanto, who have been attempting to weaken laws that protect consumers. Monsanto has been accused of a skew of corporate attrocities and according to Source Watch, have come to represent “the greed, arrogance, scandal and hardball business practices of too many multinational corporations.”
These atrocities include global pollution, development of the infamous “suicide seeds”, attempts to bully organic farmers, manufacture of napalm and Agent Orange, and a skew of others.
Monsanto appears to have strong connections to the Bush Regime. Under the regime’s “restructuring” in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to “save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years” but will now be forced to purchase their seeds from, you guessed it, Monsanto.
And since I can’t resist a Teach for America reference, Monsanto has recently awarded TFA with a million dollars to train Math and Science teachers. Perhaps Monsanto hopes to see more influence in education that reflects a “sympathy” for their corporate philosophy.
So, it seems that not only are American pocket books and test scores shrinking, but our height is shrinking as well.
If we allow these practices to continue, I will have to believe that our IQ’s are also on the decline.
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Comments
Yes, our food sources have been under attack for quite awhile now. King Korn is a fantastic documentary that gives a look into the lives of American farmers who are under subsidized pressure from our government to produce “crap” crops of chemically engineered corn for no other reason than to produce an insidious product called high fructose corn syrup which is in everything from juice to bread. It causes obesity and I believe it’s the “mysterious” reason Americans are so overweight. Most people aren’t even aware of this dangerous ingredient that has no dietary value, whatsoever. It angers me that I can purchase a bottle of Heinz ketchup in Europe and it will NOT contain high fructose syrup, but such is not the case here. Food is BIG business in this country, and we are being fed garbage intentionally to save money because a crop such as sugar, a natural product, is more costly.
Don’t even get me started on MSG (monosodium glutomate) which is put into MANY products and chain restaurant foods due to it’s additive qualities and is linked to Alzeimers, diabetes, obesity and brain cancer. Try finding a brand name potato chip or salad dressing without it. It also gives me massive headaches, if that’s any testament…Again, no dietary value, and food manufacturers have been looking for ways around labeling ingredients on packages because people have been wising up to MSG. Now, it is legal to list MSG under the vague ingredient of “natural flavors”. If it’s so natural, why not list it????
Notice how expensive it is to actually eat simple, healthy foods and brands without these additives. Notice that people with low incomes eat a lot of fast food, and how cheap fast food costs to purchase. Notice how the fast food chains (some of the biggest high fructose consumers) target their ad campaigns to people of color living in inner cities, having special ads targeted specifically to them. McDonalds and Burger King are prime culprits of this. None of this is a coincidence.
This is all related, you know. Americans now work more hours than anyone else, and that’s a trend big companies would like to see expanded even further. What better than to attack education, the last bastion of vibrant unionism, and replace unionized teachers with overworked underpaid temporary chattel slaves?
As a country, we are seriously ignorant–a great many people mistake the talking heads on TV for newscasters. Me too, sometimes.
NYC Educators last blog post..Right Now