Most of us blindly agree with Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of physics “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Resting under that same umbrella is the fact that there is a “Cause & Effect” relationship governing everything in nature. Historically, as a civilization we have chosen to ignore this balance and spend the majority of our energy dealing with “effect.”

“The majority of people have arrived at the station that dictates them to take a pill or have a procedure done to overshadow the physical and mental requirements of maintaining good health.”

Countless examples of this can be referenced but I will restrict our discussion to the relationship between food and health. The fact is only three things go into our mouths. These would be air, water and food. It’s these three things only that constitute our bodies almost completely.

When I was a young man I helped an old man out that had lost his health and could no longer drive. One day, he said to me, “Protect your health… because once you loose it, it is nearly impossible to get it back.” I took him seriously and have personally made a lifetime of effort to follow this advice and stay healthy. In addition, since 2004 I have pioneered safer growing methods on my farm, Go Natural Organics, Inc.

Recently, I watched President Obama address a group of about 300 people regarding his health care proposal. Looking at that crowd, I said to myself, “There are few people in that group concerned with health, but all of them are rabid about healthcare.” Collectively, the majority of people have arrived at the station that dictates them to take a pill, have a procedure done or some other easy modern medical solution to overshadow the physical and mental requirements of maintaining good health.

With all this as background let’s explore just one example of the cause and effect relationship governing a monumental health problem. One aspect of the issue is that most of us do not truly understand the facts. Part of that resides in our lack of effort to try and understand the facts and part of that is from the facts being concealed from us for some selfish corporate motive.

Incredible resources are expended on breast cancer. Last year during October, which is the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I participated in two events resulting in over $54,000 being raised for a breast cancer research organization. And just like the billions that came before, it also disappeared into the fundraising abyss. I suspect this same level of activity took place thousands of times, raising millions of dollars throughout our nation and around the world.

When I was in graduate school, studying nutrition at the University of Florida, I had the good fortune of taking a graduate level virology course. It was taught by a world renowned physiologist with expertise in viruses and cancers. We studied the potential contributing factors affecting many ailments on a molecular basis. One thing we studied was breast cancer.This captivated my focus since my own mother had a radical mastectomy due to breast cancer. A contributing factor we uncovered is something I have only seen referenced twice in the many, many articles I have read over the years. It has effectively been masked by those seeking reprehensibly gained rewards — but cannot be disputed.

Early in the development of the Petro-chemical age of agriculture, a pesticide was developed called DDT. It had an incredible success killing mostly every type of insect or pest that came in contact with it. It was primarily used on crops in agriculture to control crop damage from insects, but was also used extensively for many other ubiquitous applications. As an example, during the hard times of the WWII era, personal hygiene suffered and hair lice was a real problem in some civilian populations. You can look up videos of people standing in line to have DDT powder shaken on their heads to stop the ravages of head lice. My own mother can remember being very glad to have this done when she was a young woman.

“DDT was banned in this country nearly 4 decades ago. However, major chemical companies export millions of pounds every year to Central America, South America and throughout the world where it is used extensively — usually without restrictions.”

Several years later, the facts about DDT were discovered. Not only was it a fantastic pesticide, it also had other effects that were not evident when it was brought to the market. The most famous is the fact that DDT binds with calcium in the environment. This was brought to light by Rachel Carson in her book “Silent Spring”. In a nutshell, DDT binding with calcium caused egg shells to be thin in birds like eagles and ospreys that are at the top of the food chain. When the adults rolled their eggs during incubation to keep the embryos from sticking to the shell, the eggs cracked, killing the developing chicks. This nearly wiped out the eagle and osprey populations in areas of the lower 48 states where DDT had been used for years. Due to Rachel Carson’s efforts, DDT was banned in the early 1970’s and the populations of large birds of prey have rebounded as a result.

The other effect of DDT takes place during the first breakdown step when it degrades in the environment as DDE. It turns out DDE is a mimic for estrogen. All cells have receptor sites that govern their metabolism. For mammary cells, the receptor sites for estrogen have a primary influence on that cell’s activity. Occasionally, DDE can bump estrogen off a receptor site, replace it and can influence the growth and activity of that cell. By definition, breast cancer in women, like my mother, is mammary cells growing abnormally.

DDT — Rachel Carson — Silent Spring

DDT was banned in this country nearly 4 decades ago. However, major chemical companies export millions of pounds every year to Central America, South America and throughout the world where it is used extensively — usually without restrictions. In the United States, we import fruits and vegetables from these countries primarily during the winter months. These fruits and vegetables are laced with DDT and other harmful chemicals that are also detrimental to our health. At least in the United States we have some safeguards with the EPA and FDA (as lacking as they sometimes seem to be).

Motion picture of Malaria films. Credit here

Our luxuries and expectations for instant availability of nearly any fruits and vegetables continuously in the marketplace has replaced the time-honored tradition of eating things when they are in season in this country. Our ancestors used to can and store healthy, local fruits and vegetables to have them available when not in season. A contributing factor — healthy food availability in the market place is controlled by major corporations which also grow the food, process it, and are responsible for its safe culture care practices. We spend tremendous energy and resources to import fruits and vegetables year-round from countries that very often have no environmental standards like our EPA and have little concern for our health other than the income we provide them.

Video: DDT is so safe you can eat it? A propaganda in 1947

We have chosen to spend billions on the effect of breast cancer. I suggest the cause of breast cancer is what we should focus on, and it’s all in what we eat. As citizens of the world it is our responsibility to be informed. As a society, we should demand the truth from those with knowledge, and require thorough examination of potential ramifications before anything affecting things that go in our mouths is approved for the market. Perhaps we should all adhere to the wisdom of past generations that lived by “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

~Gilbert Daigneau — Patriotic Farmer