PPO is an extremely volatile liquid, previously utilized as a racing fuel, but now banned by motorcycle and car racing associations as being too dangerous. It is still used in the making of polyurethane plastics as well as fuel-air bombs. The EPA attempted to ban the fumigant twice, and, in 1996, was in the process of revoking its "food additive regulation" status. Yet, the agency apparently bowed to protests from the manufacturer, and permitted the permissible status to remain. An allowable residue level of 150 parts per million was set. However, between then and now, that residue allowance doubled to 300 ppm. Canada, which had previously banned PPO use altogether, also set an approved residue level of 300 ppm in 2009 to comply with its "international trade obligations." Given the choice of treating their almonds with steam or PPO, non-organic farmers are invariably choosing PPO, as cost has become a significant factor. Steam treatments costs are $2.5 million a year whereas PPO costs are only $500,000. Close to 70 percent of almonds grown in the US are treated with PPO. Most health food stores claim to sell raw almonds. They can make that claim because there is no labeling requirement. You can't know if the "raw" almonds have been steamed, or treated with a known carcinogen. If the almonds are U.S. grown, in all likelihood, one or the other of those methods will have been used. Both Whole Foods 365 brand and Trader Joe's almonds are steam-treated. Blue Diamond sliced and slivered almonds are steam-pasteurized, and its whole-nut "natural" line is treated with PPO. Superior Nut non-organic almonds are fumigated with PPO, but their organic sold in bulk at the company's website is not fumigated. Almond milk has recently become popular as a beverage. It has become almost ubiquitous as the base for smoothies. There are various reasons, additional to all the reasons already stated, why commercially sold almond milk is an unhealthy drink. It contains fillers, and often the filler used is soy lecithin. Soy contains equol and genistein; these are isoflavones that affect the production of thyroid hormones. As well, most soy used in the U.S. today is a GMO version of the crop. Another commonly used thickener is carrageenan. Because carrageenan is obtained from red algae, it is tempting to think of it as a healthy natural product. However, it has side effects that include digestive distress, diarrhea and fatigue. Almond milk is not naturally sweet, and is made sweet by adding the best of the choices, cane juice, but more often high fructose corn syrup, or even worse, toxic sugar substitutes like sucralose, aspartame or acesultame. Finally, it is also likely that the almonds used to make most commercially sold almond milks are PPO fumigated. Health food stores can avoid the steam/PPO quagmire by selling Spanish or Italian imported almonds. To date, it is not required that imported almonds be irradiated. However, the tide may be turning in favor of large-scale irradiation for imported foods. In 2003, the Codex Alimentarius General Standard for Irradiated Foods was implemented, stating that there is no upper dose limit on irradiating foods. Irradiation is federally mandated for imported foods. Irradiation does not mean that the irradiated foods are radioactive by the time we get them. And irradiation, contrary to how most of us think about radiation, is not necessarily a bad thing. The idea that a low dose of a bad thing can have a good effect is called hormesis. Other so-called hormetic effects are well documented. At low levels, temporary physical stressors such as exercise, cold, heat, toxins, and fasting all bring health benefits. Homeopathy is the application of a minute dose of a substance. Sometimes the substance is even a poison. I brought my daughter's scarily high 105 degree fever down to a manageable 101 degrees in 10 minutes by giving her homeopathic Bella Donna, a known poison. These hormetic activities and substances work by slightly over-activating the body's repair machinery. The specific phenomenon of radiation hormesis—exposure to low level radiation (as opposed to the destructive capacity of high-level exposure, as used in cancer therapy)—has over 3000 medical and scientific studies documenting its benefits, including better over-all health, longevity, increased fertility, faster recovery from injury, and much more. (See my documentary film, Because People Are Dying, or my co-authored book with Jay Gutierrez, The Hormesis Effect.) Regulations that dictate how food is irradiated, as well as which foods are allowed to be irradiated, vary greatly from country to country. In Austria, Germany, and many other countries of the European Union only dried herbs, spices, and seasonings can be processed with irradiation and only at a specific dose. In the U.S., beef, pork, lamb, poultry, fruits, vegetables, wheat, wheat flour, eggs in the shell, herbs, spices, dried vegetable seasonings are irradiated. Nuts—as well as dried legumes, coffee and honey—are still on the exemption list. The radioactive level that is currently allowed in the U.S. for foods on the "yes" list is higher than any other country, and is exponentially higher than the level of the radiation hormesis that confers benefits. Meat, for instance, is irradiated with a dose that is 15 million times higher than the radiation amount of a chest x-ray, or 150 times higher than the dose that will kill a human being. Imported food is no longer radioactive by the time you are eating it; nevertheless, when the food is a form of produce, after irradiation, it is no longer a living product. Irradiated foods can no longer reproduce. Once the reproductive system of any entity—animal or plant—has been removed, the life vitality is lost. Thankfully, there is one exemption to the law mandating that all U.S. grown almonds be treated, and therein lies the aforementioned "secret." The sole exception is if the farmer has a ROADSIDE STAND. I found one California nut farmer who, indeed, has a roadside stand, and is able to ship out almonds (and other nuts) that are truly raw and organic– Bremner Farms. According to federal regulations, these farmers are limited to shipping 100 lbs. a day to any individual–quite enough for most anyone's needs. I don't cook with recipes or measurements. I wing it every time I prepare food, so every batch of any food I make always tastes a little different. But the ingredients and rough measurements are of my rosemary crackers, using truly raw and organic almonds is:Dermal contact, even with dilute solutions, has caused skin irritation and necrosis in humans. Propylene oxide is also a mild central nervous system (CNS) depressant in humans...Propylene oxide has been observed to cause tumors at or near the site of administration in rodents, causing forestomach tumors following ingestion via gavage (experimentally placing the chemical in the stomach) and nasal tumors after inhalation exposure. EPA has classified propylene oxide as a Group B2, probable human carcinogen.
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