msg on produce?

not sure if this is considered off topic, but maybe good to know....aloha,
forest

MSG 
sprayed right on crops as they grow --

even fruits, nuts, seeds, grains, and vegetables used in baby food

In the 1970s, reluctant food processors "voluntarily" took processed free
glutamic acid (MSG) out of baby food. Today it's back, in fertilizers called
"Omega Protein Refined/Hydrolyzed Fish Emulsion" and "Steam Hydrolyzed
Feather Meal," both of which contain hydrolyzed proteins; and in a product
called AuxiGro WP Plant Metabolic Primer (AuxiGro) produced by Emerald
BioAgriculture (formerly Auxein Corporation).  AuxiGro is being sprayed on
some of the vegetables our children will eat, into the air our children must
breath, and onto the ground from which it can move into drinking water. Head
lettuce, leaf lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, and peanuts were among the first
crops targeted. On September 12, 2000, the Auxein Corporation Web site gave
the following information:
Crops registered include: Celery; Fresh Market Cucumbers; Edible Navy and
Pinto Beans; Grapes; Bulb Onions; Bell, Green and Jalapeno Peppers; Iceberg
Head Lettuce; Romaine and Butter Leaf Lettuce; Peanuts; Potatoes; Snap
Beans; Strawberries; Processing Tomatoes; Fresh Tomatoes; and Watermelons.
Today, there is no crop that we know of that has not been approved for
treatment with MSG by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Even in California -- the only state where there are any restrictions on the
use of AuxiGro -- AuxiGro has been approved for use on a number of crops,
and Emerald BioAgriculture continues to push for more. Field tests in
California have been conducted on a variety of crops, and those AuxiGro
treated crops may be sold in the open market without revealing that they
have been treated. We can't tell you which crops those are because the CDPR
has refused to send records of test trials (which are public information) to
the Truth in Labeling Campaign. As of June 13, 2002, AuxiGro was registered
for use on tomatoes, almonds, apricots, cherries, plums, nectarines,
peaches, prunes, grapes (including grapes to be used in wine), and onions.
At that time, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation said they
were not aware of any testing of AuxiGro for use on other crops. They also
said that they did not have any proposals presently in house to register
additional crops for AuxiGro. It would appear, however, that the CDPR has
once again lied to the public since THE CDPR RECENTLY ANNOUNCED THAT EMERALD
BIOAGRICULTURE HAD APPLIED FOR PERMISSION TO USE AUXIGRO ON TOMATOES (NEW
USE) AND ON MELONS (NEW CROP) -- and, to the best of our knowledge, there is
never approval without field testing.

Approval for use on organic crops--in all states--has been requested.

What's wrong with using glutamic acid, an amino acid found in protein, as a
spray on crops? 
- In protein, amino acids are found in balanced combinations. Use of free
glutamic acid as a spray on crops throws the amino acid balance out of
kilter. 

- It's not the glutamic acid found in protein that is being sprayed on
crops, it's a synthetic product. The spray being used is called AuxiGro. The
"free glutamic acid" or so called "L-glutamic acid" component being used by
its manufacturer, Emerald BioAgriculture, contains L-glutamic acid, an amino
acid found in protein; but it also contains D-glutamic acid, pyroglutamic
acid, and other chemicals referred to in the industry as "contaminants." The
free glutamic acid used in AuxiGro is processed free glutamic acid. It is
manufactured -- in chemical plants -- where certain selected genetically
engineered bacteria -- feeding on a liquid nutrient medium -- excrete the
free glutamic acid they synthesize outside of their cell membrane into the
liquid medium in which they are grown. In contrast, the free glutamic acid
found in protein, and the free glutamic acid involved in normal human body
function, are unprocessed. free glutamic acid, and contain no contaminants.

- No one knows what the long term effects of spraying processed free
glutamic acid on crops will be.

That the processed free glutamic acid (MSG) will be absorbed into the body
of the plant and into the fruit, nuts, seeds, or vegetable it produces seems
undeniable.  If it were not, the plant would not be stimulated to grow.
Neither Emerald BioAgriculture or the EPA will address this issue.

That there will be residue left on crops has not been disputed by Emerald
BioAgriculture. But no study of either the amount of that residue, or the
least amount of processed free glutamic acid needed to cause a reaction in
an MSG-sensitive person, has ever been done. "It should wash off" doesn't
mean it will wash off. "It seems unlikely that such a small amount would
cause a reactions" doesn't mean that a small amount will not cause a
reaction or have long term health effects.

Free glutamic acid is known to be toxic to the nervous system. But the
neurotoxic effects that processed free glutamic acid will have on animals
that consume the plants on which it is sprayed - effects over and above any
effects caused by external glutamic acid residue - have never been
evaluated. Neither are there data on the effects that spraying processed
free glutamic acid will have on drinking water.

Consider, also, that children are most at risk from the effects of processed
free glutamic acid. Their undeveloped blood-brain barriers leave them most
at risk from exposure to processed free glutamic acid. It has been
repeatedly demonstrated that infant animals fed processed free glutamic acid
when young, develop neuroendocrine problems such as gross obesity, stunted
growth, and reproductive disorders later in life, and that they also develop
learning disabilities. Emerald BioAgriculture did not address that
particular safety issue in its application to the EPA.

- No one knows how little glutamic acid is needed to kill a single brain
cell or to trigger an adverse reaction.

- Free glutamic acid is a neurotransmitter. It causes nerves to fire,
carrying nerve impulses throughout the nervous system.

- Free glutamic acid is a neurotoxin. Under certain circumstances, free
glutamic acid will cause nerves to fire repeatedly, until they die.

- Processed free glutamic acid kills brain cells. The free glutamic acid
ingested by laboratory animals that caused brain lesions and neuroendocrine
disorders was very often given in the form of the food ingredient
"monosodium glutamate." "Monosodium glutamate" is the name of a particular
food additive. Processed free glutamic acid is the reactive component in
"monosodium glutamate," just as processed free glutamic acid is a reactive
component in AuxiGro.

The glutamate industry research done in the 1970s that was submitted to the
EPA by the Auxein Corporation, that pretended to find that processed free
glutamic acid is "safe," has been long refuted by independent scientists.
Indeed, at the present time, neuroscientists attempting to develop drugs to
block the toxic effects of free glutamic acid are using processed free
glutamic acid to selectively kill certain kinds of brain cells.

- Processed free glutamic acid causes neuroendocrine disorders in maturing
animals that ingest processed free glutamic acid early in life.

- Processed free glutamic acid causes learning disorders in maturing animals
that ingest processed free glutamic acid early in life.

- Processed free glutamic acid crosses the placental barrier and causes
learning disabilities in animal offspring of dams that ingest it.

- Processed free glutamic acid has access to the brain through the
blood-brain barrier, which is not impervious to the unregulated flow of
processed free glutamic acid. The blood-brain barrier is immature at birth
and may continue to develop up to puberty. In certain areas called the
circumventricular organs, the blood barrier is never impervious to the
unregulated flow of free glutamic acid. In addition, the blood-brain barrier
is easily damaged by such events as high fever, a blow to the head, drug
use, stroke, ingestion of processed free glutamic acid, and the normal
process of aging. 

- The National Institutes of Health recognize glutamic acid as being
associated with addiction, stroke, epilepsy, degenerative disorders such as
Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and ALS, brain trauma, neuropathic
pain, schizophrenia, anxiety, and depression.

- For years, free glutamic acid has been produced and used in food additives
with names such as monosodium glutamate, sodium caseinate, and hydrolyzed
soy protein. In some people, the processed free glutamic acid in food
additives causes adverse reactions that include migraine headache, asthma,
arrhythmia, tachycardia, nausea and vomiting, depression, and
disorientation. The processed free glutamic acid in prescription and
non-prescription drugs, food supplements, and cosmetics can also cause
adverse reactions. 

There are badly flawed industry-sponsored studies that have pretended to
find that processed free glutamic acid does not cause adverse reactions.
Inappropriate procedures used by the glutamate industry have included
limiting subjects to people virtually guaranteed not to be sensitive to
processed free glutamic acid, and/or using processed free glutamic acid or
other similarly reactive substances in placebos as well as in test material.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has based its claim that processed
free glutamic acid causes only mild and transitory reactions on those badly
flawed industry-sponsored studies.

- According to the EPA, the food additive called "monosodium glutamate"
causes adverse reactions.

- According to the FDA, the food additive "monosodium glutamate" contains
processed free glutamic acid.

- According to the FDA, many consumers refer to all free glutamic acid as
"MSG." 

- In reviewing the application of Auxein Corporation (now Emerald
BioAgriculture) for use of processed free glutamic acid in a spray to be
applied to crops as they grow, the EPA failed to conform to the requirements
of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which require, in part, that the
EPA review any proposed action for validity, completeness, reliability, and
relationship to human risk. The EPA also ignored Executive Order 13045 which
requires government agencies to consider available information concerning
the variability of the sensitivities of major identifiable subgroups of
consumers, including infants and children. For example, Auxein Corporation
sent the EPA 14 industry-sponsored toxicological studies from the
literature, all done in the 1970's, but failed to mention hundreds of
studies in the literature that refuted those 14 studies.  Auxein Corporation
even failed to send the EPA independent studies that appeared in the same
book(s) as the industry-sponsored studies sent to the EPA. For example,
although processed free glutamic acid causes brain lesions and
neuroendocrine disorders in infant animals, this special hazard faced by
infants was ignored by Auxein Corporation. It would appear that Auxein
Corporation restricted its consideration of "available information" to
information made available by the glutamate industry; and the EPA, even
after having been sent abstracts from other "available information," has not
challenged the Auxein Corporation applications. A more complete discussion
of the shortcomings of the EPA approvals granted to Auxein Corporation has
been submitted to the EPA.

- Questions about the safety of spraying processed free glutamic acid on
plants and into the environment have been raised by the Truth in Labeling
Campaign and by individual consumers. The EPA has refused to address those
concerns. The EPA, and, in particular, EPA spokesperson Dr. Janet Andersen,
has failed to respond to allegations that in approving the spraying of
processed free glutamic acid, the EPA failed to consider the reliability,
validity, and completeness of the Auxein Corporation application or comply
with Executive Order 13045 entitled Protection of Children from
Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks, except to say that the EPA had
complied with executive order 13045. Moreover, while responding to letters
that asked direct questions of the EPA, Andersen failed to respond to most,
if not all, of the direct questions contained in those letters.
What's wrong with the EPA and the EPA's Dr. Janet Andersen?

Neither the EPA nor Dr. Janet Andersen are stupid.  Rather, all evidence
would appear to suggest that the EPA, which is charged with protecting the
health of Americans, says it is protecting the health of Americans, when in
fact the EPA acts to protect the bottom line of big business.  Don't think
for a moment that MSG is the only toxin unleashed on the American public by
the EPA.  Let the words "methyl parathion" and "DDT" jog your memory.

How did Andersen excuse the fact that the EPA approved processed free
glutamic acid for use in an EPA approved spray? First, said Andersen, the
free glutamic acid used in the spray is naturally occurring, and it's 99.3
per cent pure pharmaceutical grade L-glutamic acid. Yet, in admitting that
the free glutamic acid in AuxiGro is not 100 per cent pure L-glutamic acid,
and that it is pharmaceutical grade, Andersen contradicted herself, and
actually made the point that 1) if the free glutamic acid used in AuxiGro
were truly natural, it wouldn't be "pharmaceutical grade;" and 2) if the
free glutamic acid used in AuxiGro were truly natural it would be 100 per
cent, not 99.3 per cent pure L-glutamic acid.

Andersen said something else very interesting. She said that the EPA is well
aware of the fact that MSG causes adverse reactions. However, when Andersen
used the term "MSG" she was referring to the one food ingredient called
"monosodium glutamate," and not to the free glutamic acid in "monosodium
glutamate" that causes adverse reactions. Failure to define terms, as
Anderson did (and does) so handily, is both deceptive and misleading.

What Andersen did is very clever. What she said makes no sense at all. No
one has ever claimed that the processed free glutamic acid in AuxiGro comes
out of a box labeled "monosodium glutamate." So for her to say it doesn't,
is meaningless. On the other hand, the claim has been made that the free
glutamic acid in AuxiGro will cause the same brain lesions, neuroendocrine
disorders, adverse reactions and other diverse disease conditions that are
caused by the free glutamic acid in "monosodium glutamate" and the other
food additives that contain processed free glutamic acid. That claim is
true, but Andersen does not address it. How do you refute someone who
ignores legitimate questions and spews out irrelevant statements as though
they pertained to your legitimate questions? You don't. The EPA defense of
its approval of use of processed free glutamic acid in plant "growth
enhancers" and its registration of AuxiGro has two parts to it: 1) ignoring
those who question EPA actions, and 2) making the irrelevant statement that
AuxiGro does not contain MSG (monosodium glutamate).

Neither Andersen nor anyone else at the EPA ever addressed the criticism
that approvals given by the EPA to allow the use of free glutamic acid and
the product AuxiGro were inappropriate.

The EPA, which approved the used of processed free glutamic acid in plant
"growth enhancers," made a grievous error. But instead of recognizing and
remedying that error once it was pointed out to them, the EPA began a
cover-up. That cover-up included use of ambiguous words and phrases,
half-truths, and downright lies told to consumers. The cover-up continued
(and continues still) with a variation of those ambiguous words and phrases,
half-truths, and downright lies told to legislators who inquire about
spraying MSG into the environment.

AuxiGro's approvals

AuxiGro, the first plant "growth enhancer" to hit the market, has been
approved for spraying on every crop we know of. Even before consumers had an
inkling that crops were being sprayed, the Truth in Labeling Campaign
received reports that MSG-sensitive consumers had gotten sick from head
lettuce and potatoes.

Federal Register notices chronicling the application and approval of
processed free glutamic acid are available on the Web via GPO Access, the
Federal Register, through:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html
<http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html> Application was made
to the EPA in 1997. Testing of the product was also approved in that year,
and many of the test crops sprayed with AuxiGro were brought to market
without notifying consumers. Glutamic acid was granted an exemption from
establishment of a tolerance limit in January, 1998. AuxiGro was also
approved for use on a number of crops in January, 1998, and approved for use
on other crops later. No announcement of these approvals was made in the
Federal Register. 

Due to a technical glitch in the system, the glutes came to need one more
approval to make their California registrations work.  The glutes were
asking for AuxiGro to be approved for use as a fungicide in California, but
the EPA had only approved AuxiGro for use as a pesticide produce or plant
growth enhancer.  And when application was made for this addition to their
approvals, the application was brought to our attention. And the Truth in
Labeling filed a formal protest to this approval of AuxiGro.

The protest of the Truth in Labeling Campaign.

The Formal Objection of the Truth in Labeling Campaign was filed on August
16, 2001 with the EPA <http://www.msgfacts.net/msg-objection-s1.html> . This
is being written in February, 2003.  By law, the EPA must respond to Formal
Objections. 

................................................
INHS website: http://naturalhygienesociety.org ---- PLEASE CUT AWAY OLD TEXT
before sending!! 


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