And now, eight things we eat in the US that are illegal elsewhere for the known effects they have on humans. The title is a bit of a misnomer since they're ingredients that are in many foods, so it isn't just eight items to avoid. Damn. That woulda' been easy! (Note: this list is likely not exhaustive.)
One of the most poignant lines in Eating Animals is when Jonathon Safran Foer says that when we grocery shop, we all "farm by proxy".
That is, you (along with all of the other consumers in that grocery store and in grocery stores everywhere) tell the government, farmers, and all of the middle people along the food supply chain, what you will and will not accept as food that you want to consume and feed the people you love. You tell them what you consider acceptable treatment of huge swaths of our environment, millions of animals, and thousands of people who work on these farms or in these manufacturing plants. Thinking about your choice as impacting the world on such a large scale gets a little (lot) daunting, but it's true.
We can't always get to the point of wanting to buy the organic strawberries instead of the normal ones with the difference in environmental effects far away, the difference in health benefits marginal, and the difference in price point staring us in the face. But what we can, and should, do is hold our government to protecting us from chemicals and additives that 1) are not even necessary and 2) other countries have extensively studied and decided to ban.
C'mon US FDA, you can do better than this.
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