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The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast
1KHO 803: Slow Poison Dressed Up as Convenience | Dr. Sina McCullough, Hands Off My Food
00:59:08
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- [00:01]
A
Summer gets busy fast. One minute you're easing into warmer weather, and the next you're juggling sports schedules, swim days, camping trips, road trips, late nights around the fire, and trying to keep the house from completely falling apart in the middle of all of it. And if you're a cat family, too, there's still the everyday stuff waiting for you at home, including the litter box. That's why Whiskers Litter Robot is such a game changer. During busy seasons, it automatically cycles after every use, so you're not constantly scooping or dealing with litter cleanup every single day. It just handles the dirty work for you. And the Whisker app notifies you about your unit, like when a clean cycle is complete, when drawer levels are getting full, or if the unit needs attention. You can always track things like your cat's weight and bathroom usage over time, which makes it easy to stay aware of changes without having to constantly check in. Honestly, during a packed summer, having one last daily chore to think about makes a huge difference. Maintain your cat's litter while focusing on your growing family. Learn more about Whisker Litter robot models and starter kits today to get set up before the summer craziness arrives. Take an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000 when you shop whisker.com 1000hours that's an additional $50 off bundles with Code 1000hours@whisker.com 1000hours welcome to the 1000hours Outside podcast. My name is Jenny E. I'm the founder of 1000 Hours Outside, and I am thrilled to have Dr. Cena McColac. She is a co host of this phenomenal podcast called Beyond Labels with Joel Salatin. They have this book that we've talked to you about before called Beyond Labels, which is a phenomenal book. And then, Stina, you just came out with a new book called Hands Off My Food, how to defend your Food, health and Freedom. I learned so much from it. Welcome back.
- [01:37]
B
Oh, thanks for having me. I love being here.
- [01:40]
A
Yes. Okay, so we're going to briefly talk about your backstory, because we talked about that in the other episode. People can go back and listen, but your backstory is you got a PhD in nutrition, a PhD from University of California at Davis. So you're this expert in food, but you came to, you became debilitatingly sick. And if you read your story in this book or you talk about it in Beyond Labels, this is just something that, like, escalated and escalated. Like, you know, you're trying to you have a tumor on your eye, you know, you can hardly eat any types of foods. The list keeps getting shorter and shorter and basically you think I, I'm perishing.
- [02:15]
B
Yeah, yeah. It got to that point where we knew that if I didn't find a new path, I was going to die. It was pretty obvious. I, as you know, at rock bottom, I couldn't get off the floor, I couldn't wrap my hand around a cup. My ribs felt like they're going to break when I was breathing. My teeth felt like they're going to fall out when I would chew food. And so it really got to that point where I had exhausted every resource that I had known, all the information I had learned in school. As you know, I was listening to, you know, tens of hours of free online health summits just to try to piece the puzzle pieces together so that I wouldn't die. And it really was when I surrendered everything to God that I found my way out. It was immediately that he showed me that path out. It's been over a decade and I have never felt better in my entire life. I have more energy now than I did in my 20s. You know, I gave birth to a healthy nine pound baby girl at the age of 45. I'm now 50. She's the healthiest of all my children I've ever had. I hike on the weekends. I just joined a mountain biking team with my, with my son. I mean, life is good. And I am so profoundly grateful God gave me a second chance. And that's why I do what I do now. I want to help other people find their second chance to.
- [03:41]
A
Yeah. You said you had seen so many primary care doctors in gastrointestinal, intestinal, I guess it's how I say gastrointestinal specialists that you lost count. So many. Three colonoscopies, a sigmoidoscopy, two two endoscopies, all these oscopies, several breath tests for bacterial overgrowth and food sensitivities, too many blood traws, fecal tests, urine tests, and even exploratory surgery. And nothing worked. And so like you said, you promised that if God saved your life so your children would not grow up without a mother, you would dedicate yourself to helping others find true healing. And that led you to a functional medicine doctor. And you have just completely changed your life. And so now you're helping people to understand what is actually going on in the food supply. Because you go to the grocery store, you just grab some things, but there are a lot of underpinnings here. You wrote our food supply is tainted and it is making us sick. You go through societal changes. So this book includes things about the food system, the corrupt food system, the farm bill, the fda. What's the history there? So let's talk a little bit about the history. But I want to focus on a lot, on a couple things that I didn't know at all about, which are crisper technology, gene edited foods, sigs and also pharmaceutical crops. I was shocked. But a little bit of history before we get there. How did the FDA come to acquire so much authority over our food supply?
- [05:09]
B
Oh, that's a great question. So I love this because my whole point of this book is to uncover the things in our food supply that are making us sick and to empower you to teach you how we got the food supply that we have today so that we can all work together as informed citizens and basically restore the integrity of our food. So most of us walk into a grocery store and we think the food is safe because it's on the grocery store shelves. I did that. I assumed that somebody was checking it for safety. I was pretty sure it probably wasn't the food companies themselves. You know, like having a business background myself, I assume they were probably more concerned about the bottom dollar and. But I did assume that because our tax dollars are used to pay for the, you know, well, that's what they say, the fda, the usda, they say they're to protect the safety of our health. So I believed it. So today though, so my story is not unique anymore, right? We've got about 75% of adults and nearly 30% of children who suffer from at least one chronic condition. I mean, imagine that 30% of our children have at least one chronic disease. We have, though, the power to turn this around. And we may not seem like it, it may seem overwhelming. This is a David and Goliath situation. But the reason why it seems that way, I believe, is because we were not taught our role that we play in the food supply. We were not taught how to harness our power as consumers. Instead, we've been taught to wait for this rescue from the top down. And it was never part of the deal to begin with. So our national food laws that, that are the foundation of the fda, they are based on three pillars. Number one, the manufacturer provides proof of safety. It's not the government. Yeah, I know, right? So when you talk about like the grass loophole, for example, which we've talked about in this program before, where so in brevity, that's a loophole that allows thousands of laboratory designed chemicals to enter the food supply without the FDA testing or even monitoring any of those chemicals.
- [07:31]
A
Yeah, so that's the Generally recognized as safe Grass. It's an acronym.
- [07:35]
B
Exactly. Generally recognized as safe. And it was a loophole that came out of a 1958 food additive amendment. So basically what it means is that a company can create a chemical and as long as they get an expert to declare the chemical is safe, they can immediately put that chemical in our food supply. They don't even have to notify the fda. And it was the fda, in fact, that made the process of notification voluntary. The experts are often hired by the companies. They're bought and paid for in large part. And it's estimated about 99% of the chemicals that have been introduced in our food since 2000 entered the food supply through this grass loophole. Secretary Kennedy himself has said that we don't know how many chemicals are in our food supply, but it is estimated that there are 10,000 chemicals and most of them went through this grass loophole. One primary example that most people are not aware of is that genetically modified organisms with GMOs got onto our marketplace because the FDA, quote, presumed them to be grass. So they fell through the grass loophole. And now we have 90% of the corn grown in the US that is genetically engineered and, you know, modified in large part to be resistant to Roundup. And again, that was not long term safety tested. It wasn't tested at all by the fda. Grass chemicals are not monitored by the fda. So if there's a problem with one of these chemicals, like let's say there needs to be a recall on one of these chemicals, the FDA cannot not notify you because they don't have a database of these grass chemicals. So clearly the FDA is not working to protect us. They're saying it is their tagline. They cannot protect you if they don't know what chemicals are in the food supply. But back to the national three laws, the three pillars of our food laws. The first one is the manufacturers must prove safety. That is the case with this grass loophole. So when people get upset that we have this grass loophole, they have to realize that's the way that the system was actually established. They want Secretary Kennedy to close the loophole. He can't legally close that entire loophole because Congress is the one that created the loophole. Okay? But that is the pillar number one.
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A
Okay?
- [09:56]
B
Pillar number two is the label must be transparent. This is the job of the fda. The FDA is in charge of labels now. They have Fallen short tremendously. And we can go into a good example of that too, in a moment, if you'd like. But the labels are not transparent. This is why Joel and I wrote that entire book called Beyond Labels to expose what's actually happening. And then the third pillar of our food laws is the most critical pillar. It is that the consumer is the final judge. So we have the power to control what is on the marketplace. And that power comes from our purchasing power. It comes from our dollar. Every single purchase you make, whether it's at a grocery store, a fast food restaurant, a gas station, a vending machine, you are sending a message not only to that company, but to the government of what you are willing to consume and what you are willing to feed your family. So if you're buying foods that have grass chemicals in it, that have glyphosate in it, that are made up of genetically modified organisms, that basically redesign what God gave us, then you are consenting to what these companies and what the government are doing. That is where our power lies, is when you realize that you are consenting and you have the right to stand up and say, I don't want to consent to that anymore. Now that I'm aware, I'm going to give my informed consent. I'm going to feed the good and I'm going to starve the bad. And it's really as simple as that. That's why our food supply is different than the food supply, let's say, in Europe, where they don't allow all the chemicals that we allow in our food supply, because their citizens were aware and they stood up. We have one example after the next of this happening, not only with synthetic chemicals, food dyes, different additives, grass chemicals, but also of GMOs. Their food supply is much healthier than I. They're still has problems, don't get me wrong, but they have many less, much less chemicals and chemical exposure and their food supply than us, because we have not been an informed citizenry like they have been.
- [12:09]
A
Yeah. Yes. And we're going to be talking about some of the things that, you know, I would say that I tend to try and be in the know. But then I read things in your book, it's called Hands Off My Food, that I was shocked to read. And I mean, I remember a long time ago, like when our kids are three, I remember the house I was at where I watched this documentary called King Corn. And it was like, basically like everyone is made out of corn. And you talk about that in your book. You say to make matters worse, like, we're like, basically corn. Someone said, I think Michael Pollan. We are corn chips with legs. We are predominantly made up of genetically modified processed corn. Can you. I'm super excited to get to these topics about pharmaceuticals in our actual food and also the crispr technology and cigs. But before we get there, I would love to talk about the subsidies. So you have this question. Have you ever wondered why fruits and vegetables are more expensive than chips, soda, and cookies? Last week, I paid 7.98 for container of organic blueberries. Got a box of oreos that contains 33 cookies, cost less than $4 and 50 cents. And I think that is. I mean, that is a tricky part because you're gonna go buy the blueberries, you're gonna pick organic, right? And they might be moldy. I mean, like, some. So it's not only the cost difference, but it's also, you know, like, we bought watermelons before, and you're like, this is, you know, it's no good. It's past its prime or whatever, and you can't even use it. That's never going to happen with a processed package of cookies.
- [13:38]
B
Yes, that's exactly right. The processed cookies are designed that way to sit on the grocery store shelf for a long time. And with the berries, there's a whole bunch of issues with them because most of them are hydroponically grown now, even the organic ones, which is causing issues with the nutrient density of them, the microbial content of them. Like, they're. We're seeing a. Starting to see a difference in the microbiome that's on those berries, which is contributing to them potentially rotting sooner, for example. So there's a lot of things that people aren't aware of. A lot of different layers here, and
- [14:16]
A
that wouldn't be on a label. So that's. That's why you got to read the Beyond Labels book. You brought it up briefly. You know, some different examples that you talk about is like, was your chicken dunked in a corner marine bath, you know, before you bought it? Like, that's not on the label. So not only are the. The labels sometimes misleading, like it might say natural flavors. So you think, oh, this is going to be a great product. I mean, it's misleading. But they're also just incredibly incomplete because your organic blueberries are not going to say, and they're not made to say hydroponically. Nobody forces them to say hydroponically grown though that may be information you would want to know.
- [14:55]
B
Exactly. Right. There's a lot of things that aren't on the label. And this is where the FDA has fallen short. The labels are, are not trans. Transparent. The. The chlorine can show up on the chickens and also the eggs. The government does recognize that those shells of the eggs are porous. They recognize that some of the chlorine gets into the shell, that there's going to be some residue in there. How much they don't know. But this is why Europe banned the use of chlorine to disinfect chickens. Another thing that didn't happen here, it doesn't have to be on the label because the chlorine step is considered a processing aid. And so processing aids don't have to be on the food label. So. Yeah, you're exactly right. But, yeah, so that. So with food, with subsidies, which is the. This, this is a topical time to discuss that because the farm bill is all over the news right now. So the farm bill has actually worked to decrease diversity of our diet without us actually even knowing. It works through price supports, loans, and insurance payments. You know, before I got really sick and started researching our food supply, I never thought to look at the farm bill because I'm not a farmer. So I was like, why would the farm bill affect me?
- [16:08]
A
Right, right.
- [16:10]
B
So, yeah, it affects every single one of us. And part of the way it affects us is because literally when you go into the grocery store, most, like I say in the book, most of what surrounds you is processed, genetically modified, processed, doused in pesticide. Corn, soybeans, you know, and then there's also wheat, rice, and cotton that are also some of the top farm subsidies. So if you're looking, for example, in the processed food aisle, flip over the box, like the back. Flip over those packages and read the ingredient label. And. And sometimes you'll see corn, sometimes you'll see soy. But it can even be tricky to identify it because there's hundreds and sometimes thousands of chemicals that have been made from corn. For example, like citric acid is sometimes derived from corn, and we don't realize it. Yeah, you would think citrus. Citric acid would come from citrus fruit.
- [17:10]
A
Yeah. Like an orange.
- [17:11]
B
That's right. But it largely does not. Not only in the food, but in the supplement industry as well. And the reason why is because. So the government picks winners and losers. And this started under, under fdr. And it was a brilliant, actually political strategy because it, it kept Democrats in office. And, and I will tell you, I'm. I'm a libertarian, so I don't carry the label of Democrat or Republic, I don't really care. I'm a truth seeker, so I'm just telling you the history of what happened.
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A
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- [21:06]
B
it was actually started under FDR under this guise of trying to help the the farmer, you know, during like the Great Depression, for example. And it was actually written that it was going to stop when the emergency stopped. Yeah, it still exists today. And now it's also wrapped up in the SNAP program and school lunches. So the farm bill is here to stay because the vast majority of the budget does not go to farmers. And what you would think of like support of creating our food supply, the vast majority goes to what you would call welfare programs. So the farm bill is untouchable. 90% of the farm subsidies are given to those five crops. Corn, soy, wheat, rice and cotton. What happens is farmers are paid to grow those crops. Sorry, to grow those crops. So we get a surplus of those foods, which means the price goes down for those foods and the farmers are left with these cheap crops. On their hands. And so several things happen to them. They're converted into cheap synthetic byproducts that are put into our processed foods. Sometimes a big portion of them are processed into feed for our livestock, which hurts the livestock. Some of it is exported, and some of it's converted to ethanol, and it's actually burned. High fructose corn syrup was actually developed because of the farm bill. There was a surplus of corn, and so they turned it into high fructose corn syrup, and then the FDA determined it was grass. So, so the high fructose corn syrup started replacing cane sugar. Today, it's 8% of our calories, 1% of our calories are vegetables, just by comparison to 8% of of our calories coming from high fructose corn syrup. Now, the other part of this that people don't usually know is that under the farm policy, we also got artificially inflated sugar cost. So they, they had prices of cane sugar and beet sugar were artificially inflated. I think this was around 1981 in that farm bill, if I'm remembering correctly. And this was part of the U.S. sugar program. And they wanted to guarantee sugar prices and sugar profits. So we have a sugar protection that's happening at the same time that we're having, you know, driving down the cost of these synthetic sugars like the high fructose corn syrup. So if you remove that sugar protection, the cost of the sugar containing products would be even lower, actually. And if natural sugar wasn't artificially inflated in price, the companies might actually return to using more natural sugars instead of these cheap sugars like the high fructose corn syrup. So the government actually has not only chosen these winners or losers, but they are responsible, in my opinion, for, in part, for the downstream consequences. This is one big reason why fruits and vegetables are so expensive and junk food is so cheap. It's why I say the government is choosing your dinner for you. Because the variety is just an illusion. It also dictates what food is grown and how those foods are grown. So as long as the government is going to continue to pay farmers to grow, in large part, these genetically modified crops that are sprayed with all these pesticides, that is what's going to be grown on U.S. soil. And that's what we're going to be getting in our food.
- [24:49]
A
And this is our tax dollars at work. Our tax dollars make junk food cheap and healthy food more expensive. You talked about. I mean, this is billions of dollars. Between 2019 and 2023, taxpayers coughed up $428 billion to subsidize the farm bill. Where is all of that money going? It's squeezing out the family farms. It's giving rise to big agriculture. And then some people are literally being paid to not farm.
- [25:20]
B
That's exactly right. So about 75% of the total subsidies go to the biggest 10% of farms they go to. They actually go to. So the farm bill actually created Big Ag, and it continues to squeeze out the small farmer. And like, just like you said, there are people who are paid not to farm. And. And this is. This is still active today. This is part of the government's conservation program, even under the current administration, where they're. One of their big solutions to. To restore the vitality of the soil, regenerate it, is to stop farming on it, to leave it alone. And Joel, you know, wisely, basically demystified that talking point that that's not actually how you revitalize the soil. So they're even trying to approach this the wrong way. But yet, you know, and the same thing happens with milk, like with school children. So this. The children, they eat subsidized foods in the lunch, right. These. Because these subsidized foods are used in the nutrition program, the wheat, the corn, the soy, but also the milk. And taxpayers subsidize that milk three times. Three times. So we pay the farmer to produce the milk, and then we pay for the food to be used in the school lunch. Right. So we buy the subsidized milk back, and then we buy the milk back at an artificially inflated price. So we are paying, in essence, like, three taxes to have that milk in. In the school program. So this is just one. These are just a couple examples. Yeah. Of how complex the Farm Bill actually is, and it teaches you more of how the government thinks. I will say that lobbyists help write the farm bill. So they're written by politicians and lobbyists. Big Ag and big, Big Food. Every. Every time the Farm Bill comes up, they spend millions of dollars lobbying for rules and regulations that favor them. And again, most of the funding for the farm bill goes to food assistance programs. And in 2028, almost 70% of the budget went to food assistance programs and not to actually farmers. So now urban and rural legislators have actually joined forces under this farm bill. So that's why I say it's untouchable. Now. There's a lot of interest in actually increasing the USDA budget under the current Farm Bill. They're trying. Some are trying not to do that. But as you can see, as soon as you start to try to cut a budget. There's big pushback from that. But. But the farm bill is what actually killed the. The free market, the food supply. Free market. And it further centralized the big food, sorry, the food supply, and again, gave rise to big ag.
- [28:10]
A
So, oh, it's so sneaky because if you didn't know, you would think, oh, this is such a great thing, because is so fickle. Maybe some, you know, maybe this, you know, the farmer down the street who's been there for decades, you know, they had a bad crop year, there was a drought, there was plague, whatever, pestilence, I don't even know. And you're like, oh, so this is going to help them. But it's just. It's not even the name. It's just so sneaky because it's not that.
- [28:40]
B
It is. It's very deceptive. And, you know, that's why Joel will say, too, that this is why farmers would diversify. This is why we don't monocrop. But this farm bill, this system that we have, this industrialized food system, promotes monocrops and. And then really makes the farmer dependent on these subsidies from them, because what if that crop does fail? That's their entire livelihood, and they have so much money invested in the equipment that allows them to do the monocropping and whatnot. So it really has become a trap. And like I said, the farm. Farm bill came about, you know, long, many, you know, decades ago.
- [29:22]
A
Right.
- [29:22]
B
And so our farmers today have inherited that system.
- [29:25]
A
Yeah.
- [29:26]
B
You know, and so that's why Joel is a big proponent, for example, of them starting to opt out to get themselves out of that system. And in part, it's by diversifying because, you know, I'm really big into not shaming or blaming the, you know, people, because if you are a farmer, put yourself in their shoes, what would you do? Would you take the guaranteed money or would you take the risk? I mean, you have to feed your family at the end of the day. Right?
- [29:52]
A
Sure.
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B
And then also the consumers keep the farm bill going because we are willing to purchase the foods that are made from these crops that are subsidized. So we are also driving that, you know, that system that we have when we choose to eat the processed foods that contain these subsidies, and instead we're not choosing to eat, for example, organic fruits and vegetables. We perpetuate this cycle. We tell them with our dollars, we are okay with this system.
- [30:26]
A
And it is. It's just very tricky because like we talked about at the beginning, it is A little bit even more risky. And, you know, risky is like a bad word probably to use, but like to buy the fruits and vegetable versus to buy some shelf, stable thing that you know is not going to go bad, you know, and that's the cheaper option. So you do talk, though, about there's just so much power that the consumer has. There's the power of the one. There's a lot that you can do here. But talking about the farm bill, you say children are the real losers when it comes to the farm bill. They are stuck eating the highly processed foods that the government has encouraged our farmers to overproduce. You talk about the marketing, the propaganda. A hefty sum of money is spent here on marketing, also on the lobbying as well. We are losing our freedoms. The government serves us up as unconsenting guinea pigs for chemical companies while nudging us toward foods that undermine our health. That is in the forward. So the book is called Hands off my food. How to defend your food, health and freedom. This gets worse. Let's talk about crispr. This is the thing that, you know, you kind of read about this stuff if you, you know, you're kind of paying attention to the news and you've heard of GMOs, you know, these are the things that people are talking about, and you kind of think it's reached its pinnacle of awfulness, but it has not. You wrote GMOs are here to stay, and they are evolving quickly. So you talk about crispr, and then you say CRISPR is nothing compared to cigs. So can you explain how this has gotten even worse?
- [32:01]
B
Yes. Yes. Okay. So most of us have heard GMOs, genetically modified organisms, and we've usually heard it in the context of Roundup Ready soybeans or BT cotton or BT corn. So that is now referred to as traditional genetic engineering. In traditional genetic engineering, it does two main things. You can add a new protein. So, like, one or more genes are inserted into the plant, and it forces that plant to make a new protein that adds or changes a trait. And that would be, for example, Roundup Ready soy. Okay, now the important distinction is the gene is usually added at random sites. Most people aren't aware of this. We're told that genetic modification is very precise process. Okay, so under this traditional genetic engineering, a gene gun is often used. And it. It adds that gene at a random site using a bacterium or a gene gun. And then once a cell, a single cell, takes up the insert, it grows into a whole plant, and the new trait Rides along with it. Okay, so that's an example of adding a new protein. You can also reduce a protein. So instead of forcing a plant to make a new protein, a scientist will stop the messenger RNA from being translated into the protein. So basically you have DNA, and the DNA gets transcribed into an RNA or what we call a messenger rna. And this is a natural process. This happens in our bodies too. And that messenger RNA gets transcribed into proteins. And proteins are what make things work in your body, like enzymes, and they make up your muscles and things like that. So when they're reducing a protein, what happens is the scientist will stop that messenger RNA from being translated into a protein. And we say when they do that, they effectively silence the function of that gene. Okay. That is called RNA interference or RNAi. So the DNA instruction is inserted into the plant, it makes a short piece of the messenger rna, and then the plant's own machinery chops that into guides that seek out the MRNA for the targeted gene. And they cut it or they block it so the cell can't make that protein, or they make far less of it. An example of this we've all heard of. It's called the arctic non browning apple. That's the apple that's sold as sliced apples. And they are silenced. They silence the gene that causes browning. That's how the arctic non browning apple can be silenced. Okay, so then we move forward from there. In the 2000s and 2010s, precision gene editing emerged along with spray delivered gene silencing. So the precision gene editing, or what they're calling precision gene editing now, is crisprs and talon and zinc. So crisprs are going to use a short guide rna. So for example, there's molecular scissors that are guided by, like a GPS system. The GPS finds a specific spot on the DNA, it makes a cut, and then it can either delete a gene, it could fix a gene fix or insert a gene. I know, it sounds crazy, right? The bottom line here is instead of adding a protein, the crispr goes in and edits the organism's own DNA, presumably without adding foreign DNA. Okay. That's what crispr is. But we know from studies that sometimes they leave behind fingerprints when a template is supplied. So for example, when modifying a food, a tool gets into the cell via a carrier, like a virus or soil bacterium or a gene gun, and it's known as a vector. The carrier will drop off the tool and then it will leave. But sometimes after the crispr makes the cut, and then your cell will rush in, or the plant cell rushes in to patch up the DNA because it sees it as being damaged, a piece of the carrier's DNA can get glued into the cut site. So studies have reported that there's been quote, extensive on target genetic genomic damage that's frequently gone undetected. So let me give you an example.
- [36:27]
A
This time of year in homeschooling is really special. You're wrapping up projects looking at how far your kids have come and helping them finish strong. It's great moment to reinforce key skills and build confidence as you head into summer and as routines start to shift with travel camps and more time outside, it helps to have something that keeps learning steady without over complicating your days. That's where IXL can be such a helpful tool. IXL is an award winning online learning platform that fits seamlessly into homeschooling. It offers interactive practice across math, language arts, science and social studies from Pre K through 12th grade. It personalizes learning for each child, keeps them engaged and gives parents clear insight into progress. What stands out is the real time feedback and progress tracking. Kids get immediate explanations as they go and you can clearly see growth over time, what's clicking and where. A little reinforcement can go a long way. It's a simple way to finish the year strong and keep skills fresh heading into the summer. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and 1000 Hours Outside listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ixl.com 1000hours. Visit ixl.com 1000hours to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. I think for a long time I underestimated how much your outdoor space impacts your day to day life because ours just wasn't working. It felt unfinished. We had a couple mismatched chairs, no real place to sit comfortably, and I've always had this idea that I'd add lighting or make it feel cozy, but never actually got around to it. Then we started looking on Wayfair and it made the whole process feel doable. We found pieces that actually fit our style. Simple, functional, a little bit modern, but still warm. And suddenly the space came together. We added seating, a few subtle decor touches, and now it's a place we naturally end up at the end of the day. The best part is how easy Wayfair makes it to get there. You can narrow everything down so quickly, compare options, read thousands of reviews and feel confident in what you're choosing. And delivery was seamless. Which matters when you're trying to upgrade a space without adding more stress. It finally feels like a space we use instead of a void. Get prepped for patio season for way less head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. That's W-A-F-A-I-R.com Wayfair every style every Home Lately I've been trying to simplify my closet, just choosing pieces that are comfortable, easy to wear, and still look put together without a lot of effort. That's really why I keep coming back to quints. The quality is there, the fit is right, and everything just makes sense. Quince makes it easy to refresh your everyday this spring with pieces that feel as good as they look. They use premium materials like 100% European linen, organic cotton and ultra soft denim, so you're getting that elevated feel without overpaying. Their lightweight linen pants, dresses and tops start at $30 and they're the kind of pieces you can wear again and again because they're breathable, versatile, and just work. One thing I've been wearing a ton lately is the everyday fleece joggers. They're perfect for those cool spring mornings. Really soft, sweet, super comfortable, but still structured enough that I don't feel like I'm just in loungewear all day. And that's the thing with quints. Everything is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands because they go straight to ethical factories and skip the middlemen. So you're getting great quality without paying for the label. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to quince.com outside for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q U-I-N C E.com outside for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com outside
- [39:44]
B
the black and white Holstein dairy cow. They usually have horns that are removed for safety, but some are hornless. So scientists copied that natural hornless trait into a genetically engineered dairy cow to make them hornless. Okay, now this was using talons, but it's similar to crispr. Later, FDA scientists realized the chunk of bacteria carrying DNA that was used during the editing had been added to the genome. It coded for antibiotic resistance. That antibiotic resistance was passed on to the cows. The cows, babies, the calves. Nobody knows the unintended consequences. There is a 2021 study that reported that CRISPR, the breaks made in CRISPR can cause chromosomal mutations that could lead to cancer. CRISPR is actually being sold as a more precise and by implication than safer method than traditional genetic engineering. But I will remind everybody, in 1990 we were told that traditional engineering methods were precise and safe even as companies were using the gene gun method where the DNA coded particles were shot into the plant cells. So my question is, did they lie then or are they lying now? Right, so and, and some people have heard of these, some CRISPR edited crops are there's high GABA tomatoes. So these are engineered to boost gaba, which is a neurotransmitter linked to stress reduction. This was the first CRISPR edited food to enter the market. It was sold directly to consumers in Japan since 2021. Then you have things like the mustard greens that are edited to be less bitter, your anti browning white mushrooms, a banana that doesn't brown, romaine lettuce that doesn't brown tomatoes with enhanced vitamin D3. You've got soybeans with higher oleic acid content, wheat that has reduced gluten in it. So this is something that is well underway. These things are expected to come to market. Oh, and it's not just fruits and vegetables, it's also animals. Many people have heard of the Gal Safe pig. Now that's a CRISPR precision breeding technique. So that actually happened in 2020. The FDA approved the GAL Safe pig for human consumption and for medical applications. So this pig is engineered to to lack the alpha Gal sugar. The alpha Gal sugar is a molecule that's in mammalian meat that can elicit an immune response in people with alpha GAL syndrome.
- [42:26]
A
That's from the ticks?
- [42:28]
B
That's from the ticks, yes. So they made this genetically modified pig to hopefully they're saying, you know, provide a meat option for people. But also they're hoping the pig's organs are suitable for transplantation into humans. So there's also. So that's the Gal Safe pig. Then there was a pig edited to resist porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome that was approved for breeding and human consumption in 2025. It's thought to be arriving on our plates by 2027. And then there's the slick coat cow. This was a cow that's been edited to give them slick heat resistant coats to help them shed heat to reduce stress and boost productivity. No pre market approval was required because in 2022 the FDA declared that these cattle were quote low risk because the edit mimics a naturally occurring trait. So this is the first genome edited cow that was cleared for human consumption. It's not sold commercially yet. But in 2024 the slick cow progeny was born and was being raised in the US So. So again, they don't have to have approval because when you have these, when you have these CRISPR technologies, for example, you're not introducing a foreign gene into the organism. And so they found a loophole in the regulations and so now it's not, it's not regulated.
- [44:00]
A
But to your point, grass, just like grass a whole. Another loophole.
- [44:04]
B
Another loophole. Yep. Another example of why government is not the solution. Okay. They're not. You're. If you're waiting for a top down savior, you're not going to find it. I mean, God is our savior here, you know. So even worse, genetic tool like you mentioned is called spray induced gene silencing. Or SIGS.
- [44:22]
A
SIGS.
- [44:23]
B
So this is RNAi technology with a twist. So remember how I said that? I know, I'm sorry, I can see it's kind of stressing out.
- [44:30]
A
No, I just, I just wild. I didn't know. Here's what I didn't know till I picked up your book. I didn't know. And it's maybe kind of ignorant to not know or to not assume that all of these scientific interferences with DNA and RNA and, and the, you're like, what they cut it with these scissors, the gun, the. And you're like, who even wants this? You know, and then you talk about like even going back to the. With a growth hormone that's been in this for, you know, decades. You know that the cow went from producing £5,300 of milk a year, £5,300 to £22,000 a year. So like, well, who's really benefiting here? Someone's just making a lot more money off the top. And so when you talk about like non browning apples or non browning bananas, it's like, well, do we need that? I mean, you eat a banana in 14 seconds, you know, I mean the apples, I get it because they're trying to package maybe and sell them, but it's just bananas to have this much interference with normal everyday foods. And for what? So anyway, that's why I'm like, oh my goodness. You even said, can, can this even be called corn? And then cigs, like you said, is even a whole step further.
- [45:53]
B
Six is a whole step further. And I will say part of it is because it's what people are demanding. So people are demanding convenience. You know, we have a very treadmill lifestyle in this culture. People want things quick and, and easy. So the non browning apple in part came about because people now want things so quick and convenient. That they don't want to have to even be bothered to cut an apple up.
- [46:18]
A
Oh, that's interesting too, because also you don't have to cut an apple up. You can just eat it. And that would be better for your kids jaws to begin with. But when they have all these soft foods, that starts to affect that. That's a whole different topic.
- [46:34]
B
That's exactly right. And now we are having an issue with children having like too narrow of mouths, for example. Right. And they're going through, you know, expanders and whatnot to try to open the mouth back up. And this can lead to sleep apnea, but also gum disease and a lot of different downstream chronic health conditions. Yes. It is all tied together. And the companies do a spend a lot of money on market research to try to figure out what the consumer wants and what they can convince the consumer that they want. They know people want convenience. And so if they're going to give you something that you perceive is going to make your life easier, they know they probably got you. And it doesn't, it doesn't have to be labeled, so. So let's do cigs. Yeah. Okay.
- [47:21]
A
And we can't run out of time for pharmaceutical craps, so.
- [47:24]
B
Okay, I'll try to hurry through this one. Okay, so remember we talked about the arctic apple, not brownie, because of the rnai silencing machinery, and that was made within the apple itself. So the apple silenced its own gene. Okay. So CIGS works by spraying the silencing machinery onto the leaves or the soil, or injecting it into, like the trunk of a plant, for example. So there's no again, DNA inserted into the plant by a scientist. Okay. That's key for regulation. So farmers will literally spray a gene silencing message in the form of a double stranded RNA on the plant. So, in a nutshell, a scientist designs a short piece of double stranded RNA whose sequence matches part of a target gene's MRNA in the plant or in an insect or a fungus. The better the match, the stronger the silencing. If the target is a plant, the double stranded RNA will enter through a microscopic pore called the stomata, or a tiny crack, and it's taken up by the roots, for example, where the plant's machinery will chop the double stranded RNA into a short SI Sigs or SI RNA that will seek out and disable any matching messenger RNAs, and that silences the gene. So the small RNAs can move cell to cell and through the plant's vascular system, spreading this silencing effect. So it's like a military scout that's looking for the enemy and then taking them out. Okay, if the, if the target is a pest or a pathogen, the insect will eat the double stranded RNA on the leaves. The fungus will absorb it while infecting. And their own machinery runs the same play by disarming the matching message, which can reduce feeding growth or virulence. And the technology has already been approved in America. So in 2023, the EPA allowed the first sprayable RNAI pesticide in the world. It's called Lead Prona. The brand name is Calantha. They approved it, the first one to be used commercially. Leadproma targets the Colorado potato beetle, which is a major pest of potato crops in the US Lead Prona kills the beetle by silencing the gene that it needs to produce a protein that's essential to keep it alive. So Lead Prona is manufactured and marketed by Green Light Biosciences and then it's sprayed on the plant just like a conventional pesticide, which means it needs a stabilizing formulation. So this, we're talking about rna. Now naked RNA falls apart very quickly in sunlight. So if you'd imagine it's on surface of a leaf, it's going to fall apart. You have to blend it with other carriers. So those help the double stranded RNA stick and slip through the leaf's cuticles, resist breakdown and have a slow release over time. Good formulations can last a couple of weeks actually. So either way, what happens is repeat spraying. Much like conventional pesticides are sprayed, you need repeat spraying. So even though there's stabilizers in this formulation and there's gene silencing RNAs. And even though we know that they're spraying repeatedly, the EPA granted a residue tolerance exemption, meaning there's no limit to the amount of residue that the food crops can contain. That's because the EPA determined there is no risk of concern to human health or the environment. But this double stranded rna, like I said, can last for days to weeks. And it's possible that it can reach non target microbes, for example, in the soil, for example aquatic species, or even animals, you know, through runoff irrigation. And if that intended sequence partially matches their own genetics, those genes can in theory be silenced. So this technology could undergo genetic alteration in even unpredictable ways in non targets, non targets. And again, the approval process for the FDA means there's no pre market approval or mandated long term safety. The, the approval process is voluntary for gene edited crops. So it's, it's similar. They don't call it grass, but it is similar to the grass. It's another loophole because the fda, just like grass, issues a no further questions letter. And the USDA generally exempts gene edited crops from regulation if they say that the crop is determined not to be a plant pest risk, so the crop becomes deregulated, meaning it can be grown and transported without oversight. And then the EPA also has fallen short. They said that if a plan is modified to have a trait that could occur in conventional breeding, they are exempt. So they're also not, you know, up here regulating things. And if you're looking at labels on foods, many are not going to see any of those. Yeah, they're. They're not going to carry the, the label. There's too many loopholes in the USDA's National Bioengineered Food disclosure standards to actually make, make them put it on a label.
- [52:56]
A
Cena. I did not know any of this. GMOs are here to stay and they are evolving quickly. The sigs. The market for cigs is expected to grow significantly as more products move from research and development to commercialization. Chapter 10 Shocking pharmaceutical crops. They are edible vaccines, you say. Imagine sitting down to dinner and getting your Norwalk virus vaccine by eating a baked potato. Picture swallowing your COVID vaccine by chewing on a few leaves of lettuce. It sounds like science fiction, but more than just food is being grown in the fertile fields of America's farmland. I did not know about this, but it's go. It's been going on since the 1990s.
- [53:35]
B
Yes, since. So basically since the 1990s, we've had thousands of crops we think grown that are growing our medicine. It's been happening for over 30 years. This is. Some of them are grown in open fields. So this is the problem there. One of the big problems. They're not, they're not all grown in greenhouses, for example, where they can at least try to contain these pharmaceutical crops. They're grown in part in open fields. The sales pitch is clever. No needles, no cold storage needed, no practitioner needed to administer the vaccine. And these are less expensive. But the problem is this is actually already happening. And we can go, let's go through like step by step because this is probably kind of shocking to a lot of people. So this has happened since the early 1900s. We have corn, rice, lettuce. I mean, lots of different crops now that are being genetically engineered to churn out vaccines, but also pharmaceutical drugs and other medical compounds like reagents. And this is happening right inside their cells. So today we already have the MRNA vaccine, the COVID vaccine that's being grown in lettuce, for example. We have tomatoes where they're trying to produce genetically engineer L dopa for Parkinson's. We have tomatoes expressing antigens to try to delay colorectal cancer. And again, and I'm not saying let's not try to help these people. That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying the very system that has created in large part, these chronic and autoimmune diseases that the vast majority of us suffer from is now trying to swoop in and be your savior. Right? And they're causing the problem to be worse. We already know how to reverse chronic and autoimmune diseases. We don't need to be growing these agents in our food supply. So I know we don't have that much time. So let me skip ahead as to, like, not how they do it, but one example is applied biotechnology institutes. They rely on corn to grow an oral hepatitis B booster vaccine. This may be the first pharma crop vaccine that's going to enter the market. It's ready for clinical trial now. What they do is they grow it in this corn. They mill it into flour, press it into a wafer, like a chewable tablet. Again, they've already advanced through preclinical work. And this is the same type of corn that we grow as food. And the justification is, well, it's a food crop, so you're less likely to have allergic reaction to it. But corn cross pollinates. It can travel for miles on wind and even further on insects like bees. You can't tell the difference by looking at these corn crops, that it contains a pharmaceutical compound or a vaccine. And the corn can be a volunteer crop. It can pop up even two years later. And we've seen this happen. There's actually contaminations that have occurred already. One was the Starlink contamination. This was actually just the variety of yellow corn that was engineered to express a protein to act like a pesticide. But that was a huge, a huge problem. It can. It will only point to half a percentage of the US corn acreage was planted with Starlink in 2000. It contaminated about 50% of the year's corn harvest, even though only half a percent was planted.
- [57:20]
A
Wait, one more time. Half a percent is this type. And because it, because it blows, right? It ended up being in 50%.
- [57:31]
B
It ended up contaminating 50% of that year's corn harvest.
- [57:35]
A
Wow.
- [57:35]
B
Over 300 products nationwide were recalled. There's a financial loss. Some. The, the government estimates between 26 and $288 million. People got sick from it. It's off the market now, but it's still in the gene pool. The EPA. And again, this was 2000. Okay. It's 26 years later. The EPA lab tests still sometimes turn up positive for the presence of starling corn. So what if a stray gene coded for a vaccine antigen ended up detected 25 years later? Right? We have, we already have a case of contamination from a pharmacrop. It's called the Prodigyne case. This happened in 2002. You see, this is how long this has been around and most of us have not been aware. Yes, Monogene created a genetically engineered corn designed to produce a vaccine for pigs. It contaminated 500,000 bushels of soybean in Nebraska. It was worth $2.7 million of damage. So that same land was used to grow the genetically engineered pig vaccine. Then it was used to grow soybeans for human consumption. And the corn grew among the soybean. That's the only way that they knew that it was contaminated. The same year they had another contamination again by Prodigene. This was in Iowa. It contaminated 155 acres of cornfields. Those corn fields had to be burned. At that same time, prodigene had received 85 test permits for experimental open air trials of genetically engineered pharmaceutical and chemical crops. That was slated for at least 96 different locations across our nation.
- [59:15]
A
Oh my goodness.
- [59:16]
B
Yes. Nobody knows how many pharma crops there are. The USDA is in charge of this. They are, they oversee field trials. Their website provides very limited amount of information. They post permits for outdoor trials, but the information is heavily redacted. I looked at every single permit that they have posted on there. Heavily redacted. The information I was able to glean from it. Well they, they say it's proprietary. Yes, just like everything.
- [59:46]
A
Just like everything proprietary. The natural flavors, all of it, it's all proprietary. It's all the same playbook with all these twist, twist, twists.
- [59:53]
B
That's exactly right. So from looking at these permits throughout the years, what I was able to confirm is that there's been multi state field activity including in California, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, North Carolina, North Dakota, Washington, Kentucky, Arkansas, Minnesota, the U.S. virgin Islands and Texas. It tells you how ubiquitous this is now in our culture. I contacted the agency for details. They told me I need to file a freedom of information report or request a FOIA request. In FOIA requests I don't know if People know about this because, like, well, why didn't you just do that?
- [60:28]
A
Okay.
- [60:29]
B
The government is supposed to respond within 28 days to a FOIA. The average response time is 278 days. And usually when they respond, they send you a note acknowledging that they received your request and they've begun a search. Some requests have taken decades to complete, and often when the information is provided, it's heavily redacted. So in 2017, for example, federal agencies withheld 78% of requested records. By 2020, three agencies because. Because Americans started waking up.
- [61:04]
A
Yeah.
- [61:05]
B
In demanding transparencies.
- [61:07]
A
Yeah.
- [61:07]
B
So in 2023, agencies received nearly 1.2 million FOIA requests. Over two thirds of those were redacted, withheld, or denied. Only 16% of the requests were fully granted. That's your tax dollars at work.
- [61:20]
A
Unbelievable. Unbelievable. And one of the things you talk about in the book. We've run out of time. We're going to have to come back together soon to talk more. The book is called Hands Off My Food. I thought I knew a lot and I read the book and I was like, oh, there's a lot of things I don't know how to defend. This isn't a new book. It's a. It's a phenomenal cover. I love the COVID It's like the, like these soldiers, you know, like they're at war, but they've got this corn stalk. It's a phenomenal cover. Hands Off My Food. How to defend your food, health and freedom. One of the things that you talk about in this section on pharma crops is dosage. What about dosage? You know, like you're going to eat this potato. It's got some, you know, medicine component to it, and you just don't even know. And then also, I love this sentence. Well, you say our food is being rewind, rewritten, not to nourish us, but to serve as an industrial drug factory. And then you say this. The future of medicine might be growing in a field near you. Let's hope the wind is calm this pollen season, because you just can't control it. So there is so much to know. Basically you say, how much do you know about your food? You kick it off by talking about you. There could be dye in your oranges to make them appear more orange. There could be ground up insects in your yogurts and your candies for coloring. You can irradiate foods like eggs, poultry, beef, lettuce, and spices. You have a whole chapter on glyphosate. I mean, you think you know, and
- [62:43]
B
then you read it.
- [62:44]
A
And it's just important because it reminds you to make better choices when you can. That is a big part of the book. I know we talked a lot about what's going on and the science behind it, but you definitely talk a lot in the book. You bring up a certain person who like, was able to get Gatorade changed and she was a teenager and she was one person and she kept at it for two years. So you definitely give hope. Hope that real food heals and that we do have a say in what's going on. And also, people can come meet you and Joel and come to the Two Days of Truth Summit. It's at Poly Face Farms. This is June 12th and 13th. So people can get their tickets and come see you there and just learn more and be around other people who are like minded and, and who are on the forefront of making sure that we are healthy and our kids are healthy. So I highly recommend. Plus, Poly Face is an amazing place to visit anyway, so, Cena, it's always a pleasure to see you. Huge congrats on this brand new book and thanks for your time with us today.
- [63:42]
B
Thank you so much for having me on. I just, I love this so much. I love your energy. You're fabulous at what you do. Like, seriously, I'm like, man, if I ever move again, I'm moving to be your neighbor. Like, you're amazing. Thank you so much for having me.