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What did we eat under socialism and what do we eat today? What effect do current foods have on the human body? What remains hidden from us and why? Martin Hyroš, author of the book The Current Quality of Foods – the Hidden Genocide of the Czech Nation., answers these questions.
Genocide
Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such:
- causing serious bodily harm or mental disorders to members of such a group;
- deliberately placing any group in living conditions calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- measures intended to prevent births within the group.
Throughout human history there have been many periods when people had nothing to eat, and therefore ate anything that at least apparently could stave off hunger.
However, there is only one period when people live in relative prosperity and yet deliberately mix poisons into food that demonstrably damage their health. Unfortunately, we have been living in this period for the past 20 years.
Food quality – how to compare it
To objectively compare and assess food quality, we must go into the past and look at the standards that regulated this area before and now.
Fruit and vegetables
With vegetables and fruit we must be especially careful about two things. Nitrates and pesticides.
Nitrates
What are nitrates?
Nitrates are chemically salts of nitric acid (e.g., potassium or sodium salts) forming a natural part of plant and animal matter (metabolic products).
Possible dangers to the human body:
Through metabolic conversion of nitrates in the human body nitrites are formed, and these are further converted into nitrosamines with carcinogenic (cancer‑causing) effects. Another danger is posed by nitrates in infants.
They bind to the red blood pigment hemoglobin, which in small children has a different chemical structure, thereby blocking the transport of oxygen in the body.
This can cause respiratory problems in children accompanied by bluing of the tissues – the so‑called infant cyanosis – up to suffocation.
Limits on nitrates under socialism and today
At present, official media inform us that nitrate limits “are not being exceeded.” It would seem that everything is in order.
Let’s look at what lies behind the phrase “limits have not been exceeded.”
Abolition of the nitrate limit for most fruit and vegetables
Here is a clear table of limits as they changed over time. In it you see the original, very strict standards valid under socialism (column year 1986), through the partial relaxation of these standards after the regime change (column year 2002) up to the present time, when we are in the EU, and when limits were mostly abolished and the rest massively raised (column 2012).
The table shows that everything is subordinated to the highest possible yields, i.e., massive use of fertilizers. It’s about money; nobody cares about the population’s health.
Conclusion
For most fruit and vegetables, limits are not set at all. Limits have been increased several times compared to 1986. The original standards valid under socialism are commonly exceeded by hundreds of percent. In practice, nitrates have stopped being monitored – for the entire year 2012 only 99 samples of vegetables were tested. Basic types of vegetables, such as peppers and tomatoes, are not being tested.
