The gun story isn't going anywhere, anytime soon.
In fact, like so many of the issues that really get The PC's Batman Underoos in a twist, with every passing day, more stories add to the topic, making sorting them all out that much more difficult.
But, it is coming.
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Tonight, your Uncle PC would like to comment on a story that has gained traction over the last couple of days.
But first, to give it all context, let me catch you up on...
"What I Believe."In other words...
I believe that Global Climate Change is real, really bad and, mostly, manmade.
I believe that Wall Street knew that the economic collapse of 2008 was coming, and some Wall Street bankers should be in prison because of it.
I believe that the panic over GMO foods is overblown and GMO's have benefited us more than they have harmed us. That said...
I believe that Monsanto is evil and ingesting Roundup™ weed killer is killing us.
I believe that Barak Obama is not now, and has never been, the committed progressive that some of us wished he was. Nor is he the far-left, socialist that the right-wing believes that he is. That said...
I believe that Barak Obama is the best president that the U.S. has had in my lifetime.
I believe that "Two and a Half Men" still has one more season before it runs out of steam.
I believe that the 9/11 attack was not an inside job and the destruction of the WTC and Pentagon were caused by nothing but commercial airliners crashing into their walls. That said...
I believe that a very small number of high level members of the U.S. government were complicit in the success of the attacks and that much of the subsequent investigation was pure fiction.
I believe that the NSA has gone rogue and overstepped it's authority. I also believe that they have collected so many billions of bits of meta-data that they can't do anything practical with it.
Sure, I am a conspiracy theorist.
But, I'm not an alarmist.
Which brings us to this week's revelation that Subway™ and countless other companies have been using a chemical in their products that is also used in the making of foam rubber products.
You can catch up with that story, here.
I believe that the fewer ingredients that we can't pronounce in our foods, the better.
But, when it comes to the hand wringing over azodicarbonamide (ADA), I just can't get too worked up over it.
ADA has been used to make bread products soft and fluffy for decades. You and I have ingested, literally, tons of the stuff over our lifetimes.
And yes, ADA is also used to make yoga mats, flip-flops and attic insulation soft and fluffy.
But, here is the important phrase in the article that the worriers overlook...
"...it is not known to be toxic to people in the concentration approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration."
Do you have any idea how many chemicals are known to be toxic to the FDA that you eat and drink on a regular basis, anyway?
*HINT* Enjoy that aspartame sweetened diet soft drink that you are drinking as you read this, while I enjoy a couple of fingers of fermented grain alcohol and a couple of bowls of nicotine as I write this.
Don't let's even get started on FDA approved pharmaceuticals. One example, just off the top of my head... Warfarin (brand name, "Coumadin,") is the blood thinner of choice in the modern medical world. It began it's existence as rat poison. The rat would eat the warfarin, then scratch itself or get into a fight, and bleed out because it's blood wouldn't coagulate. But, when used under medical supervision, warfarin saves lives.
Some bad shit that has it's good uses.
Azodicarbonamide is a scary sounding word. And it's non-edible uses makes it sound that much scarier.
But, let's consider a couple of other scary sounding ingredients.
Methyl cellulose is used in products like disposable diapers and incontinence pads because it is wicked absorbent.
Methyl cellulose is derived from wood fiber and is used as an absorbent. But, it is also a food thickener.
You will find it in ice cream, milk shakes, pudding and those "super healthy" smoothies you buy at the grocery store.
You have eaten it for, pretty much, your entire lives.
Propylene Glycol, aka: glycerine, is the main ingredient in anti-freeze.
It is also an excellent emollient, (Got dry elbows? Rub it in!) and a sweetener used in gummy bears and other candies.
Blackstrap Molasses is a major component of asphalt.
It's also a major ingredient in those molasses cookies your grandma used to make.
And, BTW...
Molasses is the substance that is left over after sugar has been refined into white poison. In other words, molasses contains all the stuff that makes unrefined sugar good for you.
Don't get me wrong...
I don't know if ADA is good for you or bad.
I'm not advocating for it's use.
Odds are that the bread your mom used to make from scratch, without ADA, is better for you, as well as tastier.
I'm just saying that just because a substance is used in non-edible products doesn't, automatically, mean that it's bad for you.
Don't panic.
Read the ingredients labels on everything you eat.
And, if you have questions about a specific ingredient, hop onto Google™ and do a little bit of research.
*Full Disclosure*
One of The PC's day jobs is an "informational, medical, television show."
Raising alarms about scary, maybe harmful, maybe not, food ingredients is one way to keep viewers interested.
This Blog is pleased to say that my show does a good job of sorting it all out.
Once we have gotten your attention.
But, if you have any doubts about the safety of a food ingredient, don't be passive. And don't believe anything you hear.
Do your homework.
There is never a downside to educating yourself.
That is all.
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