Foodborne Illness

It seems like more and more often we hear of contaminated food being sold in our stores.  I ran across an article  at Whole Food and more concerning an organization called S.T.O.P. (safe tables our priority) a citizen supported group whose only purpose is to fight against foodborne disease. Here is an article from their website:

"Foodborne disease is any infectious disease transmitted via contaminated food. The CDC estimates that every year foodborne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States. It is estimated that 2-3% of foodborne illness cases may cause permanent injuries or health damage, which may never be traced back to the disease source. (Source: USDA/Fightbac).

Many foodborne illnesses are caused by bacterial contamination, including E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Campylobacter jejuni, and Listeria monocytogenes. Viruses, such as Norwalk-like virus and Hepatitis A, are also frequently transmitted through food, as are parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia.

Severe foodborne disease is almost always a preventable tragedy. Most foodborne illnesses result from missteps at several places in the food chain. Pathogens are allowed into the food we consume through ill planned farming techniques and faulty production procedures, exacerbated by lax regulation, spread by careless food handling, and sustained by the lack of sufficient response on the part of individuals, government, industry, medical and public health communities."

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Glitters

Importance of building codes

I watch a lot of home improvement shows on TV, and it seems like every week there are numerous homeowners who discover problems with their homes while doing home DIY. These problems arise either from past homeowners doing their own improvements or unscrupulous home contractors who didn't follow the building codes. It really shows how important it is to always have work inspected by the local building inspector to assure that a contractor is following local codes.

Building codes have been around since the 1700's in the United States. In the 1900's insurance companies pushed for further codes in order to reduce property losses for which they would have to make payouts from losses due to improperly built homes and business properties. Around the same time, local officials working with the building industry developed most of the building codes. But in 1994 the beginning of the International Building Code began to develop, and in 1997 the first edition was published. Later in 2000 it was refined due to previous flaws, merging the codes of the three previous organizations (BOCA, ICBO and SBCOI)and thus superceding all state and local government codes to provide minimum acceptable standards and safeguards for residential and commercial buildings. This code is used by all builders along with architects and engineers when designing a building.

New editions of the IBC are published every three years to include any changes or amendments to the code and in between supplements are published. The IBC provides one source so that contractors, architects and engineers learn one code rather than having to rely on different codes in different areas of the United States. I think we can all appreciate how important it is to have a standardized building code that assures us that our homes and buildings in our communities are built safely and securely, and for everyone involved in the building process to stay up to date with any changes that are made to the building codes.

Winter gardening thoughts

Winter will soon be here, but that doesn't mean all thoughts of gardening have to be put aside until next Spring. Plotting and planning out next year's garden is one of my favorite things to pass the time when I'm stuck inside on a cold Winter day.

One of the things I plan to add to my garden next year is a raised planting bed. You can purchase pre-made raised beds or simply rake your existing soil or add additional soil into a 6 to 12 inch high mound , forming a raised row of soil. A raised bed has many benefits for the gardener. It is easier to weed because the soil is lighter. It's easier to grow some vegetables such as potatoes, carrots and onions that grow beneath the soil because the soil is looser and lighter. And the thing I like best is that you can plant seeds earlier than normal because the soil warms faster in a raised bed.

And every gardener should look into having a compost pile or bin. Compost bins provide an easy way to make your own rich composted dirt, better than any chemical fertilizer. It provides you with a place to throw your leaves and other plant waste such as weeds and plant trimmings, along with food scraps (not meat or fat as these will attract rodents). And the only maintenance is turning the pile once in a while, and you are rewarded with rich soil to put back into your planting beds.

And here's an idea for the gardeners and cooks on your Christmas shopping list - a mushroom garden kit. With a Mushroom garden kit, you can grow your own mushrooms right in your kitchen in about 10 days. These kits provide you with everything you need to grow mushrooms on your windowsill - all you do is plant the spores and mist them twice a day, which is easy for everyone. You don't have to be an expert gardener to grow mushrooms. Avid gardeners who are missing the feel of dirt under their nails will love this kit as well as people who love to cook with fresh ingredients they grow themselves.

Space saving garden and yard tips

As Winter approaches our part of the country, my gardening tasks have come to an end for a few months. However, it's never too early to start thinking about next year's garden and making improvements to your landscape. If you have limited space in your yard but still want to maximize your planting space, going vertically can give you a lot of planting options.

Using your air space can help you get the maximum usage out of your lot. Install a pretty window box under your windows to add both a decorative touch and a useful container for flowers and small herbs. Trellises and arbors also make great supports for flowering vines, climbing roses and even climbing vegetables like cucumbers, squash and tomatoes grow well on a trellis. You can avoid many of the problems such as grubs and mold when your vegetable plants are up off the soil. They come in a large variety of styles and finishes, but I like the vinyl trellis best because it never needs painting and will last for years with no maintenance. A garden trellis makes a real statement to your personal style and provides a welcoming invitation for your guests to enter into your garden area.

Tomatoes and some other vegetables can also be grown quite nicely in hanging containers or large pots set on your patio when space is an issue. My neighbors have done it for years. Also be sure you focus on the hybrid varieties of vegetables that stay compact in size but still give you quite a yield. I'm always amazed at how many cucumbers I get from the smaller hybrid plants.

So to summarize, my tips for having plenty of space for all your plants are to use a window box, an arbor, a trellis, hanging planter, and large patio planter, and to use compact growing hybrid plants to beautify your world. Happy gardening!

(sponsored by trelliscenter.com)

Danger of Sunbeds

The following is a guest post by Trevor Bradshaw on the dangers of sunbeds. I hope you find it helpful and informative.

A Lesson From Asbestos Activists

Banning Sunbeds

Just imagine: a young girl, maybe fourteen or fifteen, walks into a nicely decorated storefront, practically skipping on her way there because she’s been told – from television, from movies, from her friends, from everyone- that within lies one of the easiest and best kept secrets to staying beautiful and tan. She’s inside the small building for about twenty-five minutes before she walks out- tanner, certainly, but also weakened and sickly with a large, irregular brown mole scarring her back, her body clearly fighting against itself.  Now imagine you sat outside this store for a day, and watched dozens of healthy young men and women enter, only to leave cancer-ridden and sick- what would you think?

Of course, you’d think that whatever was inside the store was posing a certain health risk and that the store needed to be shut down – and you’d be right.  The terrifying truth is that this actually is happening every single day, where healthy young men and women enter solariums for sunbeds expecting to find a secret to looking tanner and healthier only to find themselves more than twice as likely to develop melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer.  In fact, sunbeds contribute to the startling 1,850 Australians who die annually from skin cancer.  

And similar to another industry that was famous for disregarding the cancer and health risks it posed to consumers, the asbestos construction industry, the sunbed industry has proven itself to be extremely resistant to regulation and change.  Despite strict regulations passed in May 2009, audits of cosmetic solariums have found that the vast majority of the businesses blatantly have disregarded both these regulations and the safety of their costumers, oftentimes with little consequence.  

The sunbed industry’s resistance to reformation and significant health risk allow for only one option- they must be banned.  There is a significant precedent set for this as well.  After the asbestos industry, which was known to cause several types of mesothelioma cancer including testicular mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma, proved to be impossible to regulate in a way that truly provided for public safety the government, under significant pressure from public health watch groups and activists put in place a ban on importing and using all form of asbestos, beginning in December of 2003.  Of course, the dangers of asbestos had been widely publicized for nearly 30 years at that point, and Australia continues to be one of the leading countries in asbestos-related deaths.  It’s imperative that we force the government to not drag their feet with sunbeds as well, and end the public safety danger that they are as quickly as possible. 

A home's environmental health hazards

Your home environment is key to the health of you and your family. No home is completely free of environmental hazards, but with knowledge and effort you can make your home safer from hazards such as radon gas, asbestos, lead and mold.

If you're just buying a home, make sure to get a home inspection by a reputable company. Whether you're just buying or already own your home, a professional home inspector will have the necessary tools to detect the existence of potential hazardous conditions. For instance, moisture meters are very useful in detecting excess moisture in walls, basement block, concrete, roofing, carpeting etc. which could be causing mold growth that isn't visable to the eye. Mold can be responsible for slight respiratory irritation in some people, all the way to very serious health risks in others and needs to be treated according to the type and amount that exists.

Radon gas is a colorless, tasteless and odorless gas found in the earth and usually enters the home through cracks in the foundation or porous foundation block. If exposed to high levels over an extended period of time, you have an increased risk of lung cancer.

Asbestos is a fibrous material from rocks and soil previously used in home construction, and when the fibers are inhaled, they become lodged in the lungs. Exposure can cause lung or stomach cancer after a prolonged period of time. If asbestos is found in the home, professional removal or containment is required and should never be undertaken by the homeowner.

Lead is found in rocks and soil, and is usually found in paint in homes built before 1960 but occasionally after 1960 as well. Caution should be used when removing lead paint as airborne particles can enter your body by breathing in or swallowing the dust. It will accumulate in the bones and blood and can damage the nervous system, brain and other organs, so removal is best left to the professionals.

Be aware of what can be lurking in your home and take appropriate steps to make it as safe as possible for your family's long term health.

Vitamin C should not be taken with some foods

According to Dr. Robert J Rowen of "Second Opinion," there are some foods that can be dangerous if taken with vitamin C.

Many beverages and foods, such as soda pop, juices, pickles, salad dressings and jams contain the preservative "sodium benzoate." No evidence has been found that sodium benzoate causes any problems by itself. The problem arises when it is mixed with vitamin C; a chemical reaction creates benzene, which is a proven carcinogen.

Many companies add vitamin C to their products, such as soda pop, cereals, snack foods etc. The FDA recently tested 84 soft drink products and found that 54 of them had detectable benzene, some of which had 16 times higher levels than is allowed in drinking water.

So check the labels on your soda pop and processed foods. The best and safest thing to do is get rid of all processed foods. To quote Dr. Rowen "if God didn't make it, don't eat it."

When professional cleaning is needed

 I'm normally a do-it-yourselfer for just about everything around my home.  Even when our home's exterior tile failed and excess rainwater leaked repeatedly into our basement through the walls, we handled the cleanup ourselves rather than file an insurance claim and have it professionally treated.  As long as it wasn't water from the sewer, we handled it ourselves. 

However, there are times when cleanup is best left to professionals such as with biohazards.  Thanks to the TV show "Hoarders" I've learned a lot more about the biohazards that lurk in homes that are left to accumulate items to the point of being a health hazzard to everyone who lives there.  People start out for various reasons hanging onto things - sometimes it's a collection of a favorite item that gets out of control, or a more extreme case where a person has a deep seated trauma from their past by which saving everything seems to bring them a feeling of security.  Whatever the motivation in the beginning, the situation eventually gets out of control to the point where the idividual and other family members lives are threatened.  The fact that there is so much filling the home prevents any kind of real cleaning to take place and things begin to build up such as left over food which attracts insects and rodents.  Soon their droppings begin to accumulate along with mold and mildew from the lack of air circulation, and air quality is threatened by the bacteria everywhere. 

When it gets to this level, the home is not habitable and not safe for an individual to try to handle cleanup.  Just moving around in the filth disturbs the contaminants and puts more bacteria etc into the air.  Hantivirus Pulminary Syndrome is a big threat - it comes from infected rodents through urine or droppings and humans contract it through breathing infected air.  There is no treatment or cure for this at present.  Hoarding clean up is best left up to the professionals who will come in armed with masks, ventillators and professional strength cleaning agents to handle this monumental task. 

As I've read and seen on the TV show, cleaning is not the only part of handling a hoarding situation.  The hoarder will need help sorting through and getting rid of most of their treasured possessions during the process, and will also need counseling to help them get at the route cause of the behavior in the first place to keep it from happening again in the future.  Organizational skills are taught as well to help improve the quality of life for the hoarder and their family members.  

The art of pumpkin carving

Guest post written by Alisha Jennings
It doesn't really feel like fall around our household until we've bought pumpkins and started carving them. It's just so much fun and I couldn't imagine it even being October without making a jack o lantern. It's been a tradition for a long time and I don't look forward to stopping it any time soon, either.
My kids love jack o lanterns just as much as I do, so I always buy pumpkins for doing that early on in October. I was online the other day with our wireless internet Denver looking up some ideas about what to carve on my jack o lantern this year.
I decided that I would make a goofy looking jack o lantern this year. I'm past my days of making really scary looking ones. Instead, I'd like to focus on the humor in Halloween. However, my kids have decided to take the scary route with theirs. My oldest carved a vampire pumpkin. I'm not so sure that it actually looks like a vampire and I think that I made a mistake calling it cute. Oops!