Hey there **Steemians!**
It’s spring here in Oregon, and the trees have blossomed, the tulips have bloomed and the pollinators are buzzing happily through the clouds of pollen. Meanwhile the tissue companies are ramping up production as are all of the allergy medicine producers. The other industry revving up for the spring is the herbicide industry.
Herbicide use the in the USA is a model for intentionally poisoning yourself. Our monitoring agencies have found Roundup in popular foods and drinks which are consumed around the world. These food items are [“generally recognized as safe”](https://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/GRAS/default.htm) meaning that in general the industry has decided that the contamination levels are not harmful to people who consume them. But the self-regulating food industry is notorious for allowing dangerous foods to be consumed by the public.
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Because of the nature of government in the USA we have self-regulating industries in many areas of our government. Food manufacturers are allowed to self-regulate. The FDA is currently run by numerous lawyers who once represented Monsanto, In fact we see “the fox guarding the hen house” in many areas of the government here in the USA.The Department of Energy, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Education just to name a few of the agencies which are being intentionally picked apart by their own department heads.
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One of the results of this oligarchical regulatory machine has been the amount of herbicide which has made it into the food supply. We have been seeing reports of [Roundup in popular foods.](https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/dining/ben-and-jerrys-ice-cream-herbicide-glyphosate.html) Whether it’s honey, cereal or soda there are more and more products being found to have unsafe levels of herbicide in them; this despite the fact that there are supposed to be safeguards in place to protect the public from consuming these potentially harmful chemicals.
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A few ailments which are becoming more common in the USA have been linked to herbicides. Leaky gut syndrome, acid reflux disease, and other digestive problems have been associated with Monsanto’s herbicides, as have other neurological disorders, and nervous system ailments. The use of Roundup has been banned in multiple countries because of the known health risks associated with the application and consumption of foods treated with it.
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Our system’s consumer protections are being actively removed. The people in power are not only removing consumer protections, they are also putting in place laws to prevent people from even knowing which poisons we are being exposed to, whether in food-streams, water-streams or waste-streams toxins are being dumped into the lives of people. We no longer have a reasonable expectation of safety where our food is involved. The same is true for water, it may be poisoned, and there is [no guarantee](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/milwaukee-parents-concerned-lead-levels-after-troubling-report/) that you will be protected from being poisoned. Rather there are protections being put in place to limit the liability of the companies who are actively poisoning us.
Is there a way we can reclaim [our power](http://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/May_Day_Strike_of_1886?rec=515) from the oligarchy? Will there be a time in this country, the USA, where we will be able to eat, drink and breathe with the understanding that we will be safe from poisoning? My feeling is that there are not enough people willing to face down the people in power. There are not enough people who desire safe food to stand up to the people who are poisoning the world.The people in power are able to poison the food-stream without worrying about being held accountable for the deaths they are causing. For now we have to accept that the people in charge are allowing toxic food into the stores and onto the shelves where our families shop. Even the designation of Organic has been loosened up enough to allow toxic food to gain a USDA organic certification.
With all of this in mind, heading into the midterm election season we need to make certain that the people we are [putting into office](https://uselections.com/us-congressional-district-map.shtml) have this common value. Poisoning our food and drink is a crime, and killing off our pollinators is no longer allowed. Those who have been a party to the poisoning of our food sources need to be held accountable, not only for the diseases their products have caused, but also for the condition of the water and soil they have destroyed in their efforts to reap ill-gotten gains.
Thanks to [The Steemit Creators’ Guild](https://discord.gg/h3j3znw)
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