These important social consequences are highlighted in a case study by Oxfam America.. In it, farmers from Pursat, Cambodia have established the country’s first certified organic rice mill.

And going organic enabled them to step into a more elite segment of the rice market which with growing demand from people such as you is more stable & less cut throat than the conventional, chemicalized stuff that’s more of a standard commodity product.

 It also means using animal instead of chemical fertilizers which has a twofold impact. First, the fertilizer is inexpensive “home grown” as it were vs. the money they had to pay for the chemical fertilizers. Same with pest control. And, in addition, it has been found that often the warnings on the chemicals could not be read resulting in the workers to using them even more unsafely than what’s recommended.

 Net-net, bottom line as it were: the workers are better financially and are healthier. And I suspect that this makes you feel good every time you “throw your money away” by choosing organic.

Related Links:

• Oxfam’s Article on the Cambodian Rice Farmers
• Organic vs Non-Organic Navy Beans (there is a difference)

 This is a Long Grain Rice, Dark Red in Color that cooks up as a rice with a very good texture. The grains hold their own and do not turn into instant mush in our mouths as white rice sometimes can. It’s also has a distinctive nutty flavor which we liked. This combination of good texture and flavor make it a natural addition to your favorite salad dishes. It can also serve very well as a complement to an entree where a a rice with distinctive color and character is called for….

 When we made some we found that the cooking time was actually longer than that stated on the bin. Also, we found that it’s excellent texture held up well after spending the night in the refigerator and being reheated.

 Here’s how to prepare this rice:

• Boil 1 1/2 Cups of Spring Water
• Add 1 Cup of Organic Himalayan Red Rice
• Turn Heat down to Low and Cover
• After 20 minutes the rice is done (this is what the bin said…we found we needed about 30 minutes).

Related Links:

• Organic Risotto Recipe

 The results of this work by Professor David Jenkins has been published in the Journal Metabolism.  What this entails is summarized in a BBC News Article which states:

A typical day on the diet included:

A breakfast of soy milk, oat bran cereal with chopped fruit and almonds, oatmeal bread, vegetable-based margarine and jam;

A lunch of soy cold cuts, oat bran bread, bean soup and fruit; and

A stir-fry dinner with vegetables, tofu, fruit and almonds.
The researchers put 13 people on the combination diet for a month. They found that their cholesterol levels had dropped by 29% by the end of the period.

 Previous research indicated that foods such as oats could have a significant lowering effect but nothing on the levels found here with combining. And if this is done organically where the vegi’s have been found to be higher in nutrients in some situations….that’s some healthy eating.

 Should you stop taking your cholesterol meds or just start this diet without consulting your doctor?…absolutely not. But you may want to ask your doctor about it to see if it’s right for you.

Related Links:

• BBC News Article
• Organic Lifestyle = Health (Not Necessarily)

 Checking out the bag we see that they are certified organic by Australian Certified Organic. They also display the USDA Organic Label and the GMO Free Lable (indicating the product is free of genetically modified ingredients). Nice. They are described as popped corn cakes and here’s their pitch..”The great taste of golden sun-ripened corn with sesame.” OK.. And Organic Test Kitchen .com is the most amazing blog ever written…(you get my drift). But who knows we’ll give a taste and see if this is true.

 As to the nutritional info, well the site says one thing the package another. The package says that a serving size is 2 slices, the website says 1 slice. We’ll go with the package. OK, 2 slices contain 44 calories, 0g Fat, 26 mg cholesterol, 8g sodium, 1g dietary fiber and 1 g protein. As for the actual ingredients we’re talking Organic Corn, Sesame Seeds and Sea Salt. They also mention that it may contain traces of Soy.

 So we open the package and we find 26 of the thinnest cakes we’ve ever seen (about 1/8″). Appearance wise they have a slightly yellowish hue from the corn. The sesame seeds are there but not too many, just right. Taste. subtle corn and sesame. Does not overpower. But the real deal about these things is the texture. Unlike the typical and rice cake these things don’t generate fragments that fall to earth when you bite into one. You take your bite and it’s clean. They also resist cracking and falling apart so the rest of the cake stays together very nicely.

 As it turns out this product is much superior to the standard rice cake if you want to put something on it in sandwich-like fashion (we recommend the open face route). A rice cake is simply too thick and crumbly to this job well. And the corn flavor will be a nice subtle addition to the sandwich more or less like a thin piece of white bread. So like the thin bread these make a pretty good food delivery platform.

 And apparently the manufacturer feels the same way. They have serving suggestions such as cheese or smoked salmon..Actually, the smoked salmon thing would work very nicely. The manufacturer’s suggestion can be accessed here.

 So all in all we’re glad to have discovered this product and are looking forward to integrating it into our organic lifestyle. Needless to say this is rated as a buy. So try these out & come up with your own creative toppings. Enjoy, and live naturally.

 Let’s move from this to a food item such as corn. If it is something that a particular bug likes to eat you could externally override this in the conventional way by spraying pesticides. But the corn (other than being covered with poison) would remain genetically the same. However, if you take it’s genome and change it, you could theoretically make a genetically altered Bt corn that had components which were toxic to the bug (sort of a plant that produces it’s own pesticides…isn’t that wonderful).  So as far as the bug is concerned the corn has become toxic. And this has been achieved without polluting the environment and exposing the workers to chemical pesticides. -Huh-. That might be a very good thing. …But maybe not.

 It seems that they’ve actually done this with corn. So OK we have this bug resistant corn. So now, what’s the problem? 

 First, this is something entirely new which may be harmless … but maybe it isn’t. Well in addition to producing substances deadly to bugs (as in the previous example) it might also be producing something that could hurt humans as well. However, so far, testing shows that GM Corns in general appear safe. But what if all it’s effects are not known? For instance, an example of possible harmful effects that were even known but missed during the FDA approval process involves medical microchips implanted into pets and humans. It seems that some old information has just now been widely disseminated indicates there may be a cancer risk associated with these devices. This information should have been reviewed before the approval process for human use finished but it wasn’t. It was missed. Regulators aren’t perfect. 

 A second issue is that mother nature spontaneously develops changes to the typical genome of living things (anything from subtle differences to mutations). In the wild, these are important as they allow organisms to adapt to changing environments. So say a bacterium is just about wiped out by a certain antibiotic. Maybe one in a million is born with a mutation that allows it to survive. Well, one tiny bacterium may not be much of a problem but when all the other guys are killed they have the entire environment for themselves. So they multiply and multiply without being killed by the antibiotic. This is a basic explanation of how resistant strains of bacteria develop. So the concern is, that a similar process will occur with the bugs in the cornfield as well, and we will end up with genetically modified corn as well as super bugs that now can eat it. This is the second major concern.

 Now in light of this you may want to consider that classic breeding techniques is a form of genetic manipulation. If it certain traits are selected (size for instance) and propagated we can breed a normal size dog into a Great Dane. So how is this different? Well the changes are subtle and in this example the genes are all canine. In contrast, the big unknown with genetic engineering is the impact of the quantum changes being made that would never occur in nature. By this we mean that instead of breeding for a certain characteristic we are splicing in genes from entirely different species (such inserting genes from a soil dwelling microorganism into the genome of corn to develop the Bt GM Strain, see the link later in this article for more information). Such a radical change is what concerns many people who feel that genetic engineering is so way out of the league of classical breeding techniques that it’s incomparable. Try breeding a microorganism with corn in the normal world.

 A third major concern is that you cannot effectively contain the genome of genetically modified plants once they are on the farm. The corn for instance spreads it’s pollen by means of wind and insects. It has been documented that the modified genes of souped up corn turn up in conventional corn miles away. So if it is a monster, and I’m not necessarily saying that it is, it could easily spread itself indiscriminately. And if anyone isn’t too worried about a few mile spread they should consider Dutch Elm Disease distributed by beetles that just about wiped out all the elms from vast areas of the USA. Mother nature is patient and unrelenting. A modest spread occurring year after year adds up to something significant before you know it.

 Then there’s the other issues that should be considered. For instance some genetically modified corn is made to withstand greater amounts of pesticides…Great, just what we need…Also, there have been instances where genetically modified food has accidentally made it’s way into our food supply. And finally you are most likely consuming some genetically modified food right now without your knowledge. So maybe the Pandora’s Box is already opened.

 So it seems that there’s an incredible potential with this technology and it could be a very good thing. In fact many studies seem to attest to GM Food’s Safety, however many feel that more work needs to be done and allergenicity is one area where problems may surface. Also, there are efforts to address the concerns of the development of super bugs and genetic pollution to other crops by regulations in some countries to incorporate non-GM crops into the farm, buffer zones and terminator approaches. These are sensible steps but imperfect. But the push for GM Food is on and there’s definately huge money behind it. But you know, I don’t want to eat a corn product from a crop that could withstand extreme levels of pesticides (not only from the residues left on the food but I don’t want to support such farming practices). And I don’t want to consume something that should be safe. Just give me something that definately is. I’ll take may chances kayaking, not at the dinner table. And I don’t want to support the growing of something that spreads it’s designer genome in an uncontrolled fashion.

 And that’s one more reason for going organic. No genetically modified foods, they’re forbidden in the organic standards. That’s one of the great things I like about Organic Foods. That’s in addition to taste and being clean they promote environmentally responsible practices and that’s a very good thing. You know it’s all about risk assessment. If I’m going to die unless they insert a stint of some experimental material into me…let’s do it, the downside is worth the risk. But in terms of food, the organic option seems to work very well so why take the risk? Is this a case of small benefit at a potentially huge cost? Let’s keep things simple and basic if possible. Please research this issue, make your own informed decisions and live naturally.