![\"Tyler](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/thumbnail\/public\/pictures\/picture-5.jpg?ssl=1\")
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by Tyler Durden<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friday, Nov 15, 2024 – 03:40 PM<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authored by Charles Cornish-Dale via The Epoch Times,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Scientists at the University of Texas, Dallas recently discovered<\/a> that a common food additive can make flesh translucent – literally.<\/strong> Applying a solution of the yellow food colouring tartrazine to the skin of live mice allowed scientists to see right through the skin, into the tissues beneath, potentially offering a simple and inexpensive alternative to conventional imaging technologies like ultrasound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through the skin covering the skull, the scientists could look directly at blood vessels on the surface of the murine brain, and through the skin of the abdomen they observed internal organs and even the process known as peristalsis, the contractions that move food through the digestive passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pretty cool, huh?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The physics behind this discovery aren\u2019t actually all that complicated. <\/strong>Basically, when added to water, tartrazine changes the water\u2019s refractive index\u2014the way it bends light\u2014so that it matches the refractive index of molecules like lipids in the skin, reducing the degree to which light scatters as it passes through the skin. Instead of scattering, the light travels straight and true, meaning you get to see what\u2019s on the other side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The process is totally reversible. It only takes a few minutes, the tartrazine solution can be washed off, and when it is the effects disappear. What tartrazine is absorbed by the skin is metabolized and excreted through the urine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The researchers\u2019 next goal is to test the solution on humans. Human skin is about 10 times thicker than a mouse\u2019s, so it\u2019s likely a larger dose will be needed, and it\u2019s not clear if the delivery method\u2014just rubbing the stuff on the skin\u2014will be adequate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A miraculous discovery, for sure, and one that will no doubt benefit medicine. <\/strong>But it\u2019s also a reminder of an unpleasant, dangerous truth about the food supply in America today: that it\u2019s full of substances whose properties and safety we know virtually next to nothing about. <\/strong>There are thousands upon thousands of additives\u2014texturizers, colorings, humectants, anti-fungals, anti-caking agents, preservatives\u2014in Americans\u2019 food that have never been independently tested by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or by scientists who aren\u2019t employed by the companies that make those chemicals and add them to their food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n As we\u2019re discovering, many of those additives\u2014the ones we know about and have begun to test\u2014turn out to be extremely harmful, with links to every single chronic health condition you could care to name, from cancer and obesity to neurological and behavioral conditions like Alzheimer\u2019s and autism.<\/strong> Tartrazine, which is found in Twinkies, Mountain Dew, candy, and cereals, among other foods, has been linked to hyperactivity<\/a> in children and cancer<\/a>. In the European Union, foods containing tartrazine must carry a warning label: \u201cMay have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It sounds absurd\u2014insane, actually\u2014but it\u2019s not a glitch or an organized system of corporate deception. We\u2019re not talking about companies lying to regulators or acting beyond the boundaries of the law. No, this is all above board. The system even has a name. The FDA calls it \u201cgenerally recognized as safe\u201d or \u201cGRAS\u201d for short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The GRAS system was first introduced by the FDA in 1958 after the passage of the Food Additive Amendments, to \u201cgrandfather\u201d through additives that were already used in food. <\/strong>The new additive regulations were intended to ensure ingredients capable of causing long-term harm never entered the food supply, but something very different happened. The GRAS designation mutated into a system that allowed companies to introduce and safety-test additives themselves without the FDA ever getting a look-in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This happened in large part because the FDA simply couldn\u2019t keep up with demands from companies to test their new additives for the burgeoning processed-food category. So companies started testing additives themselves and adding them to their food products without any consultation with the regulator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Companies did this for decades, and instead of stepping in to assert its authority, the FDA did what any poorly staffed, hopelessly compromised organization would do: It simply chose to regularize the process, which was completed in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to one study, since 2000, there have been only 10 applications to the FDA for full approval of a new food additive, out of a total of 766 that have been added to the American food supply. The safety of the other 756 was self-determined by the manufacturers themselves, in secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so we\u2019ve ended up in a situation where a company can produce a new food additive, decide it\u2019s safe by whatever means it chooses, and then bring it to market without any scrutiny at all from the FDA. Like I say, nobody knows the exact amount, but a common estimate is that there are as many as 10,000 food additives in use in the United States, compared to around 2,000\u2014all known quantities, by contrast\u2014that are permitted in the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully, the FDA and the GRAS system are now firmly in the sights of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been tasked by president-elect Trump with Making America Healthy Again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/inline-images\/image%20%283%29_9.jpg?ssl=1\")
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![<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nAs we\u2019re discovering, many of those additives\u2014the ones we know about and have begun to test\u2014turn out to be extremely harmful, with links to every single chronic health condition you could care to name, from cancer and obesity to neurological and behavioral conditions like Alzheimer\u2019s and autism.<\/strong> Tartrazine, which is found in Twinkies, Mountain Dew, candy, and cereals, among other foods, has been linked to hyperactivity<\/a> in children and cancer<\/a>. In the European Union, foods containing tartrazine must carry a warning label: \u201cMay have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt sounds absurd\u2014insane, actually\u2014but it\u2019s not a glitch or an organized system of corporate deception. We\u2019re not talking about companies lying to regulators or acting beyond the boundaries of the law. No, this is all above board. The system even has a name. The FDA calls it \u201cgenerally recognized as safe\u201d or \u201cGRAS\u201d for short.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe GRAS system was first introduced by the FDA in 1958 after the passage of the Food Additive Amendments, to \u201cgrandfather\u201d through additives that were already used in food. <\/strong>The new additive regulations were intended to ensure ingredients capable of causing long-term harm never entered the food supply, but something very different happened. The GRAS designation mutated into a system that allowed companies to introduce and safety-test additives themselves without the FDA ever getting a look-in.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis happened in large part because the FDA simply couldn\u2019t keep up with demands from companies to test their new additives for the burgeoning processed-food category. So companies started testing additives themselves and adding them to their food products without any consultation with the regulator.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCompanies did this for decades, and instead of stepping in to assert its authority, the FDA did what any poorly staffed, hopelessly compromised organization would do: It simply chose to regularize the process, which was completed in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAccording to one study, since 2000, there have been only 10 applications to the FDA for full approval of a new food additive, out of a total of 766 that have been added to the American food supply. The safety of the other 756 was self-determined by the manufacturers themselves, in secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAnd so we\u2019ve ended up in a situation where a company can produce a new food additive, decide it\u2019s safe by whatever means it chooses, and then bring it to market without any scrutiny at all from the FDA. Like I say, nobody knows the exact amount, but a common estimate is that there are as many as 10,000 food additives in use in the United States, compared to around 2,000\u2014all known quantities, by contrast\u2014that are permitted in the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThankfully, the FDA and the GRAS system are now firmly in the sights of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been tasked by president-elect Trump with Making America Healthy Again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\nThe \u201cFDA\u2019s war on public health is about to end,\u201d<\/strong> Kennedy said<\/a> in a Tweet last month.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nHe listed a whole range of compounds and treatments that he claims the FDA has suppressed, from psychedelics and peptides to \u201csunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can\u2019t be patented by Pharma.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cIf you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you,\u201d <\/strong>he continued.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201c1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nStrong stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlthough Trump has yet to specify exactly what role Kennedy will play in the new administration, Kennedy himself has already made clear that other priorities, beside root-and-branch reform of agencies like the FDA, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States Department of Agriculture, will include fluoridation of the water supply, vaccinations, environmental pollution, and processed food. This is a comprehensive program, and if Kennedy can make meaningful changes in all of these areas in four years, he will have done the American people and their health an enormous service.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIf anybody can get to the bottom of why Americans are so sick, it\u2019s Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a man who has spent decades campaigning on environmental and health issues, and suffered personal loss and public vilification as a result\u2014but still kept on going.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nHe knows as much as anybody the corruption that lies beneath the fa\u00e7ade of public health in America, and now, at long last, he\u2019s in a position to do something about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nViews expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Tyler Durden Friday, Nov 15, 2024 – 03:40 PM Authored by Charles Cornish-Dale via The Epoch Times, Scientists at the University of Texas, Dallas recently discovered that a common food additive can make flesh translucent – literally. 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