Modern Agriculture? Threatening Traditional FN food?

Modern Agriculture? Threatening Traditional FN food?

Postby Oscar » Sat Mar 26, 2016 11:20 am

“Is Modern Agriculture Threatening Traditional First Nations Herbs and Berries? A Manitoba research study sounds a warning note."

[ http://www.planetinperil.ca/2016/03/is- ... ng_73.html ]

Thursday, 24 March 2016

VIDEO - will air Mon., March 28, 2016 between 7 & 8pm on NACTV, Neepawa, Manitoba on Ch.? Bell; Channel 30 MTS; locally on Ch. 12 Westman Cable and over the air.

Manitoba researchers sound a warning note.

by Larry Powell (A PinP exclusive.)

They call it “The Standing Medicine People Project.”

Researchers from three reserves in south-central Manitoba, Long Plain, Swan Lake and Rolling River, have teamed up with the charity, “Food Matters Manitoba,” (FMM) to conduct the project. [ http://www.foodmattersmanitoba.ca/ ]

They collected samples of six wild plants which grow there – pin cherry, saskatoon, nannyberry, raspberry, grape and the medicinal herb, wiike (or sweet flag). Indigenous gatherers throughout North America have harvested them traditionally as both food and medicine, for centuries. The team submitted the samples to “ALS Laboratory Group,” a certified lab in Winnipeg. There, they were analyzed for 103 different pesticides and heavy metals.

The lab detected several of those 103 toxins, in either the roots, the soil, or both. [ https://earthkind.wordpress.com/2016/02 ... fe-to-eat/ ] However, most of the readings were well below levels of concern. In other words, the risk of getting sick from environmental contamination is low. And, if certain precautions are taken, the berries and herbs are still considered safe to eat.

Still, concerns linger.

VIDEO - will air Mon., March 28, 2016 between 7 & 8pm on NACTV, Neepawa, Manitoba on Ch.? Bell; Channel 30 MTS; locally on Ch. 12 Westman Cable and over the air.

Arsenic, used in farm chemicals and lead batteries, was detected in six out of eight root samples of wiike. Dieldrin, once a farm herbicide, was also found in three samples. (Dieldrin persists in the soil and was banned in Canada in 1984 because of its toxicity to both animals and humans.)

Using a Health Canada formula known as a hazard quotient (HQ), it was determined that average concentrations of contaminants in the wiike samples, “exceeded HQ thresholds.” Nevertheless, the research team concludes, gatherers should continue to harvest and eat wiike, but only after taking precautions. “On average, harvesters should gather wiike from clean areas and use it moderately, brushing off the roots and each should consume no more than 20 grams (half a thumb’s length), per week."

Wiike grows in woods, marshes and along shorelines. Throughout history, many tribes have dried its roots, either eating them directly or boiling them to make tea. It is a common medicine used to purify blood and many other ailments.

Dieldrin, the toxin detected in wiicke, was also found “in significant concentrations” in the nannyberry, grape and pincherry samples. But it only “exceeded the HQ threshold” in a single saskatoon sample. (Saskatoons have been described as the most important fruit for many Canadian tribes, including those on the prairies.)

Other pollutants detected were two herbicides still in prolific use today; glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) and 2,4D. These two chemicals, in particular, were "widespread, having been detected in all soil samples regardless of distance from agricultural areas." But their concentrations are considered “too low to be significant and well below” that HQ threshold referred to earlier.

Fortunately, contaminants were found only in the roots or soil, none in the fruit itself.

In this exclusive interview with PinP, Dave Daniels, an elder on Long Plain First Nation, says he believes he knows why.

“The plant has a mechanism to prevent poisons being transferred into the berries, so they are safe to eat. the long-term impact of pesticides in the ground will eventually diminish the health of the plants. If it persists, the plant wills intake the chemicals into their system and its health will be severely affected. As we find now, the closer to agricultural fields, the more leaf damage you have and some of the trees are actually dead. But the further you get away from agricultural fields, the better the quality of the plant.”

Distrust of the Nearby Farming Communities Still Lingers.

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Oscar
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