Chesapeake Style Online

Spring 2013 25
was out playing with her siblings and
friends and they heard the whistle
blow on the steamboat, they would
run as fast as they could to Merry
Point dock to see who got o the boat
and what was being delivered. e
steamboat came from Baltimore.
It was a very exciting event.
Her mother was young when
she died so Mrs. Jones, the oldest
girl, helped her father take care
of the other children and with the
household chores. When she had
children, clothes were washed with a
wash board and wash tub. ere was
no electricity—kerosene lamps were
used—no running water and wood
was used to cook and heat the house.
When she was 16 she married
the fella she had known all her life,
Welford Jones. Her husband worked
in the oyster houses and farmed. ey
raised their own chickens, hogs and
had a cow for milk and butter. ey
had 13 children and when I asked if
By Barbara Sherman
Nanotechnology
used to be the
stu of science
ction movies.
Today it’s the
latest high tech assault on our
food supply! Nanotechnology is a
powerful new technology for taking
apart and reconstructing nature
at the atomic and molecular level.
e nano particles developed in
special labs are small. So small
that you can’t see them with a
conventional microscope. ey
are signicantly smaller than a red
blood cell and 80,000 times smaller
than the width of a human hair!
Just because they’re small doesn’t
mean they aren’t big business and
just because they’re small doesn’t
mean they are harmless to our bodies.
Because they are so tiny, they behave
dierently and are governed by the
properties of quantum mechanics.
is means they enter and interact
one cow could supply enough milk
for her family she said ,“Oh yes”. ey
took corn and wheat to the mill just
west of Kilmarnock to have it ground
into meal for cooking. ey had fruit
trees in their yard and she canned,
made pickles, jams and jellies. She
helped her husband in the garden
and especially loves owers.
She also worked in a canning
factory peeling tomatoes during
tomato season. She loved to cook
and bake—chocolate and coconut
cakes—and sewed using a manual
sewing machine. Often when her
family gets together someone
invariably comments that whatever
they are eating doesn’t compare
to Momma Nita’s ________!
ey walked to Willie Chapel
Baptist Church she said that it didn’t
seem long. “When you have a whole
passel of children with you we
would play and talk and before you
knew it we would be there.” In 2010
Nanotechnology~A New Threat To Our Food
with our bodies on a cellular level.
Nanoparticles may be able to
penetrate the skin or move between
organs, with unknown health eects.
Not surprisingly advances in
nanotechnology are championed
by food manufacturers as a giant
leap forward with “untold positive
eects for the future of the industry.”
Yummy sounding 50-nanometer
polystyrene carboxylated particles
can be used to deliver nutrients,
ensure longer freshness of food, act
as thickening agents or enhance
taste or avor. Sounds great, right?
But are there any negative side
eects? Nobody knows because
testing has been nearly nonexistent!
Unbelievably, there is very little
oversight and regulation of the use
of nanoparticles in food and food
packaging. e FDA doesn't even
have a list of foods or cosmetics that
contain nanotechnology. Neither
do they require nanoparticles
to be proved safe but they
her birthday fell on a Sunday her
daughter and son-in-law came down
from Maryland, brought a new dress
and took Mrs. Jones to church. I think
that was the highlight of her 97th
birthday! She does miss her church
friends and going each Sunday.
In 1913, bread was 6¢, milk was
32¢, eggs 30¢, the average cost of a
car was $490, gas was 12¢, and the
average cost of buying a house was
$4000. e post oce began parcel
post deliveries, the rst sedan-type
car—Hudson—went on display at
the 13th Auto Show in New York,
Grand Central Station opened, Alpha
Kappa Alpha Sorority, at Howard
University incorporated, the 16th
Amendment, federal income tax
was ratied, and the rst prize was
inserted into a Cracker Jack box.
Welford died after they had been
married for 52 years and although,
she is presently conned to a chair,
I have never heard her complain.
do require manufacturers to
provide tests showing that the
food goods employing them are
not harmful. (sound like the fox
guarding the hen house?)
“Nanofood” is simply the next
step toward the questionable goal of
tomorrow’s food being “designed”
or remade from the atom up to
get a better result. Over the past
several years the food industry has
felt the eects of signicant public
backlash over the introduction of
Genetically Modied Organisms
(GMO’s) in agriculture and our
foods. Considering how little media
coverage these issues have received,
it looks like the lesson the food
industry has learned from GMO’s
is not one about the importance of
transparency, but quite the opposite.
How can you tell if the food
you are buying contains GMO’s or
Nanoparticles? You can’t because the
FDA does not require manufacturers
to divulge this information. www.
Her eyesight is almost gone and
although she says her hearing isn’t
what it used to be, she seems to hear
just ne and she doesn’t have any
trouble talking! She keeps track of
her family and what they are up to.
Mrs. Jones comments on how
fortunate she is that her daughter,
Rachel, lives with her so that she
can stay in her own home. She also
has family members spread over the
Eastern Seaboard who come to see
her often as do those locally. And
why wouldn’t you? You can’t help
but be happy to be in her company.
Many times she makes reference
to the Lord: “e Lord has spared
me to see my children grown
and on their own,” and, “I didn’t
think I would live this long but
I was in the Lord’s hands”.
When I said that the party
must have been tiring she quickly
said, “No, not at all. It was just
good to see everyone.”
sciam.com/article.cfm?id=donanoparticles-and-sunscreen-mix"
Here are some ways you can help
create a healthier food future. Shop
at a farmers market or buy from an
organic store or from the organic
section in a supermarket. Consider
joining a community garden, or
starting a garden of your own. Read
product labels, get involved and
interested. Talk to your friends and
family about the food issues that
matter most to you. Let companies
know through their 800 feedback lines
that you are concerned about the
use of nanotechnology and GMO’s
in their products. Tell your Senator
and Congressman that you want to
see products containing engineered
ingredients labeled to allow you to
make an informed purchasing choice.
Until next time...Healthy Eating!
Barbara and Frank Sherman
own The Health Nut in Callao.