Over ten years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency publically stated its plan to test certain chemicals that were suspect of harming human health.  These substances were ones that were usually found, “…in the packaging, surfaces or contents of many products,” and ones that, “may cause long-term health effects, including cancers of the breast, brain and testicles; lowered sperm counts, early puberty and other reproductive system defects; diabetes; attention deficit disorder, asthma and autism.”  To this day, the EPA has yet to test these chemicals.  We can have hope in the fact that re-vamping this governmental agency is one of Obama’s priorities.

-Serena

Besides chocolate, have you heard of any foods that have been scientifically deemed as “mood enhancing?”  Well, not too long from now, you will.  New studies are emerging that claim this type of food to be the newest market venture of the food industry, as well as one that is gaining appreciation from an aging population in search of more function from what they eat.

-Serena

In spite of his industrial background—or perhaps, because of it—Vilsack is proving to be quite the proponent of sustainable ag.  Just last week, the Secretary of Agriculture met with Food Democracy Now! as its representatives formally explained the petition of 87,000 American signatures that the organization had collected.  The document outlined a collective wish for the twelve under secretary generals of Vilsack to be supportive of the same sustainable principles that Food Democracy Now! and hundreds, if not thousands, of other organizations across the country stand for.
Related to this receptiveness of Vilsack is his acceptance of a letter that was sent to him shortly after Obama’s inauguration.  In that period, a group of thirty-five senators had drafted a request for the Secretary to support the dairy industry.

-Serena