We've already discussed Rachel Carson's famous book, Silent Spring. But what ultimately contributed to taking out DDT was the massive die off of our nation's symbolic bird, the Eagle, and the finding of DDT in breast milk as well as cow's milk in the U.S. " 'Although environmental contaminants may have potential for entering breast milk, pesticides are among the groups with greatest concern,' states one author in Clinical Nutrition. Pesticides such as chlordane, heptachlor, DDT, DDE and other organohalogen compounds do not biodegrade in the environment. Instead they bioconcentrate and are stored in the fat of human beings, who feed at the top of the food chain. The infant feeding on its mother's milk is even higher on this chain."

"In the 1960s, many articles signaled the presence of pesticides in human milk. However, surveys as early as 1948, 1949, and 1951 had already found traces of DDT in one-quarter of market samples of cow's milk in the U.S . In 1978, reports indicated that during the previous years of that decade, 96 percent of commercial milk samples in Illinois had dieldrin residues, 93 percent had heptachlor epoxide, 73 percent had lindane, 69 percent had chlordane, and 48 percent had DDT residues."

"Because cow's milk had become contaminated with widely used insecticides, it should have been of considerable interest to explore the state of human milk. But the first evaluation of human milk for insecticide contamination did not occur until 1951 when 32 non-occupationally exposed black women were surveyed in Washington, D.C., 30 of whom had detectable levers of DDT with à mean value of 0.13 ppm."

"More than a decade passed before another paper was published in the U.S. on the results of a small survey taken in California noting both DDT (0-0.12 ppm) and DDE (0-0.25 ppm) in human milk." (Quotes in the above four paragraphs have been taken from the EAP McGill website section called Magazine Rack's article entitled " Mother's Milk or Mother's Poison? Pesticides in Breast Milk")

Then it became known that DDT and its buddies DDE and DDD, which occur when DDT breaks down, "last in the soil for a very long time, potentially for hundreds of years. Most DDT breaks down slowly into DDE and DDD, generally by the action of microorganisms. These chemicals may also evaporate into the air and be deposited in other places. They stick strongly to soil, and therefore generally remain in the surface layers of soil. Some soil particles with attached DDT, DDE, or DDD may get into rivers and lakes in runoff." (Quote in this paragraph taken from ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry) Toxic Substances Portal Public Health Statement entitled " Public Health Statement for DDT, DDE and DDD" dated September 2002)

A final nail in DDT's coffin was the finding of DDT in our food supply. DDT is part of a group of toxins that are called POPS (Persistent Organic Pollutants). A study conducted in 1998 and 1999, which was 26 years after DDT had been banned found "that POPs residues are present in virtually all categories of foods, including baked goods, fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, and dairy products. Residues of five or more persistent toxic chemicals in a single food item were not unusual, with the most commonly found POPs being DDT and its metabolites [DDE and DDD] (found in 21% of samples tested in 1998 and 22% in 1999)." (Quote in this paragraph taken from the Journal of Epidemiology & Commnity Health article entitled " Persistent toxic chemicals in the US food supply")

Crazy as it may seem, it wasn't until June of 2015, that the International Agency for Research on Cancer met to assess the carcinogenicity of insecticides of which DDT was one. This team of scientist determined that DDT was "probably carcinogenic to humans" and placed it in (Group 2A) right along with Glyphosate!

To summarize, DDT's demise came as a result of the following discoveries over several years:
1. It was shown that DDT was causing the die-off of Eagles
2. It was shown that DDT was a bioconcentrate that was accumulating in cow and breast milk
3. It was shown that DDT lasts in the soil for potentially hundreds of years
4. It was shown that DDT evaporates into the air and travels to distant places where it's deposited
5. It was shown that DDT was in our food supply
6. It was shown that DDT was "probably" carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer

Because Bayer just swallowed Monsanto for a whopping $66 billion.

"Announced Wednesday [September 14, 2016], the bid that sealed the deal is for $128 per Monsanto (MON) share, valuing the U.S. company's equity at about $56 billion. Bayer will also be taking on about $10 billion in debt."

"The big obstacle the companies now face is getting the merger past regulators around the globe."

"Monsanto shares in the U.S. were flat in premarket trading at around $106. That's way below the offer price, suggesting investors doubt the deal will go through."

"If regulators do kill the transaction, Bayer has agreed to pay $2 billion to Monsanto.
Bayer, which is strongest in Asia and Europe, stands to gain from Monsanto's expertise in agriculture and seeds. It would also benefit from the U.S. company's big presence in North America. Bayer has said combining the companies would generate synergies of $1.5 billion over three years. The deal is the latest mega-merger aimed at reshaping the agribusiness and chemical sectors."  

 
As if we needed bigger agribusinesses and chemical sectors. Get ready to boycott Bayer if this deal goes through, which is estimated to take until late 2017. Oh, hell, start Boycotting Bayer right now just for wanting to take over Monsanto. (Quotes in this section have been taken from the CNN Money website article entitled "Bayer is buying Monsanto in $66 billion deal") 

Wonders Never Cease! The Holidays are Here again!

It's truly unbelievable that this is our December 2016 Issue. We have to say that this year went even faster than 2015. In fact, since we passed 2000, all the years have been flying by.

So since this is our December 2016 Issue, that means that according to a tradition we've established, we're going to List this issue in our sidebar along with our December 2014 and December 2015 Issues in January 2017. That way, you'll always be able to access all of our Newsletters from every Newsletter. 

We wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. We so appreciate your following our News- letters, which we're writing especially for you, Our Readers, in an attempt to help you navigate the shark infested waters of Big Food, Big Chemical and Big Agricultural Giants like the ones we just talked about above.

Above is the covering for our new Greenhouse; and we'll be building it soon right along with our Fishroom. We'll be blogging and Newsletter writing about every step of the way. We're living 6,000 ft. up in the White Mountains of Arizona where we recently re-located so we've added a whole new dimension to Aquaponics food growing challenges because it's really cold up here in the winter. 

Our Greenhouse will be climate controlled and heated in a very creative way. As you can see from the above picture, this isn't ordinary Greenhouse covering. It's a product from Germany and is so strong it can hold a gang of men jumping on it without taring. 
Here's the 15' by 75' area that will be our Fishroom and Greenhouse. The Fishroom will be in what is now the enclosed covered area, and the Greenhouse will be in the open, sunny area except it will be even more open as we have to remove the existing roof. We'll leave the rafters to support the covering.

We're saving up our money to move forward with this project and have already spent nearly $2,000 on the covering alone. We can't wait to share our progress to completion of this new Aquaponics USA Greenhouse. So stay tuned.