The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1951-09-28

say they followed the advice of De
partment of Agriculture bulletins in
feeding these chickens to their minks
and thereby made the animals in
capable of reproducing.
Canadian authorities have out
lawed the use of stilbestrol, fear
ing it might cause sterility among
people.
The product is still widely used in
this country. 1t is spreading to sheep,
pigs, and cattle. There is no legal
way to prevent the amount used per
animal being stepped up at any time
to hasten the fattening process.
There is no evidence that the chem
ical is injurious to human beings. The
point is, we don't know. Meanwhile
it continues to be used.
BREAD: Because of the demand
of the housewife for ever-softer, ever
whittier bread, chemical ingenuity has
| flourished in this field.
| For at least 25 years, Agene mi
trogent trichloride) was widely used
to give an artificial, quick-aging eff
feet to flour. Three years ago an
English chemist found that bread
made from this flour caused epilep-
tic fits in dogs. Although there was
no evidence that it had deleterious
effect on humans, millers and bakers
voluntarily agreed to abandon it's
use. The point is that no adequate
tests had ever been made on Agene.
Bread softeners are now almost
universally used. Some companies
urge consumer to "feel how soft
the bread is" on the package. They
do not explain that this extra-soft-
ness is arranged chemically. Polyoxy-
ehylene-monostera softeners
were first introduced in 1947, when
the price of shortening was high.
Testimony has shown that many ha-
kers have reduced their shortening
about SO per cent since they started
to use this surface-active agent.
In 1919, two companies alone sold
10000 bakers 100000 pounds of
chemicals. These chemicals are used
as substitutes for fluid milk, butter,
eggs, essential oils, and organic ma
terials.
Although again there is no con-
elusive evidence that these new
of evidence that they have reduced
the nutritive content.
DR.. Anton j. Carlson, Chicago Uni
versity's eminent psychologist and one
of the worlds greatest nutritionists,
testified before the House commit
tee that the insistence on the white
bread is a snob factor that comes
down to us from the days of the Ro-
man Empire 1000 years ago, when
the wealthy classes had white bread
and the slaves dark bread.
Testimony concerning bread has
also revealed that it costs a bakery
only one half cent more to produce
a loaf of the highest quality than
it does to produce one of the lowest
quality. There would be little o. no
surplus of milk or wheat in this cour-
try if all bread products contained
milk and flour in quantities found
desirable by nutritionists. Such poll
~ would be a boon not only to the
consumer but to the farmer as we'll
SOFT DRINKS: The phosphoric
acid used to blend soft drinks should
lot be used, experts have testified,
without more testing. Experiments at
he Naval Medical Research Institute
showed that a human tooth put in
oft drinks containing this chemical
ost its enamel and became soft in "a
lourS.
On rats it was shown that their
nolar teeth dissolved down to the
rum line if the rats were we'll fed
or a period of 6 months but were
'iven nothing to drink but this bev-
rage. DR.. Give McCay, Cornell Uni
'ersity nutritionist, has stated that
he acid may account for this de-
eterious effect, not the sugar.
"Since soft drinks are playing an
important part in the
american diet and tend to displace
UGH good foods as milk, they de-
erve very careful consideration" he
avs.
MEAT: Some of the new chemicals
each our food indirectly through the
Sc of insecticides and fungicides. The
Sc of DOT, for example, has been
in busting crops. 1t has
cen widely hailed as a wonder chem
al in keeping the insect army I'M
Ell control.
Although, several years ago, it was
nown that there was no immediate
7 discernible toxic effect when it
OF into the human system in small
Quantities, it was not realized until
gently that DOT will store itself
Il. L. l. e.