McDonalds "fast" "food"

You'll never catch the owners in the store. They are a giant corporation called Arco Dorados with head office in Puerto Rico. They are the largest McD franchise owner in the world operating 1700+ stores in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Already pointed out earlier - post #9, I think, by Cruz.

On a trip to PR, I stopped to get McD and it was "weird" that, after I got the ticket and change on the first window, when I looked ahead to the second window, they were already holding the bags waiting for me... Total time for the process = about 3 minutes... P.S. I wasn't the only car, mind you...

My first time at McD on Golden Rock, 45 minutes... My last time (many years ago) at the same restaurant, after a 20 minute line to order, I get told they DO NOT have the 1/4 pound beef patties... Huh??? I said goodbye and drove off never EVER to return... and now healthier thanks to them... 😛

You are absolutely correct. What I meant to say is the agent for Arco Dorados.

Here is an interesting article.

http://www.infowars.com/over-30m-spent-last-year-on-lobbying-to-keep-gmos-hidden-in-foods/

There's a lot of studies right now on how these GMOs can change DNA.

I remember when I heard about the honey bee situation, I joked about it being the engineered foods being the culprit. I'm sure that's got something to do with it as more information comes out. Scary times.

On June 17, 50,000 bumblebees were found dead under trees in a Target parking lot in Wilsonville, Oregon. Dead honeybees, lady bugs and other beneficial insects were also discovered, according to the nonprofit Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

Rich Hatfield, a conservation biologist with the Xerces Society, describes the devastating sight of seeing dead bumblebees “literally falling out of the trees.” 150 colonies were wiped out in what Hatfield says is “to our knowledge … one of the largest documented bumble bee deaths in the Western U.S.” One Wilsonville resident, Adria Condon, says that bees have still been crawling around the Target parking lot later in the week: “It’s almost like they’re hanging on trying to get through…. whatever is on there is not good.”

The consequences for the region’s agriculture could be profound as bees are key pollinators of many berry crops and other seed crops in the Willamette Valley.

Investigators have confirmed that the bees died as a “direct result” of a pesticide, Safari. While Safari is said to be “safe” for humans and animals, it is (clearly) lethal for bees and other insects. After residents of another Oregon community, HIllsboro, saw hundreds of bees falling out of trees later in the week, officials have covered trees in protective netting.

Mace Vaughan of the Xerces Society explains why Safari has been so deadly for the bees and other insects. This pesticide is not “just a residue on the surface” but actually gets “taken into the plant, comes out in the pollen, in the nectar and it gets handed to bees and other pollinators basically on a platter.” That is, Safari infiltrates the systems of plants and then those of the bees; it is what its manufacturer Valent boasts it to be, “a super-systemic insecticide with quick uptake and knockdown.”

The executive director of the Xerces Society, Scott Hoffman Black, says that the landscaping company made a “huge” mistake and applied the insecticide while the trees in the Target lot were in bloom. He also notes that such an error is not at all uncommon. No wonder that the Xerces Society is working with Oregon lawmakers to ban the use of Safari.

Ironically, both of these massive bee die-offs in Oregon occurred during “National Pollinator Week,” which is supposed to be an event to celebrate the crucial role that bees plays in our ecosystems, John Upton writes on Grist.

A group is organizing a memorial for the thousands of dead bees, in full awareness that they are (as organizer Rozzell Medina writes), “dying in the millions, unnaturally, worldwide” and with “far-reaching effects for humans, who rely on bees to pollinate our crops.”

Bees are equally under threat around the world. In England, a third of all honeybee colonies did not survive the winter due to especially cold temperatures and, in some areas, relentless rainfall. Many bees starved to death in their own hives in a phenomenon called “isolation starvation,” in which a cluster of bees become too cold to move within a hive to where their food is stored.

A few week ago, the European Union voted to suspend the use of three pesticides that have been found to cause serious harm to bees. It is a step that the U.S. urgently urgently to take. As the deaths of so many bee colonies in England suggest, tougher regulations for pesticide use can help to save bees, though they are not the only answer. Given all that bees do for us, we need to do all that we can to help them survive.

Additional Information:

A new study published in the American Chemical Society’s journal of Environmental Science and Technology creates a stronger link to what many scientists have already expressed concern over; the relationship between insecticides and mass die offs of honey bees.

Since seed coating with neonicotinoid insecticides was introduced in the late 1990s, European beekeepers have reported severe colony losses in the period of corn sowing (spring), according to researchers.

The study, entitled Assessment of the Environmental Exposure of Honeybees to Particulate Matter Containing Neonicotinoid Insecticides Coming from Corn Coated Seeds, focused on the technology used to plant the seeds and the use of neonicotinoid insecticides coated on corn seeds, which are commonly used because they’re believed to be less toxic to non-target animals.

Scientists believe the mass die offs may be caused by particles of the insecticide that reach the air when the drilling machines that are used for planting suck the seeds in and expel air, which contains the toxins. Researchers used different seeding methods and insecticide coatings, but all were found to kill bees that flew through the area.

“Experimental results show that the environmental release of particles containing neonicotinoids can produce high exposure levels for bees, with lethal effects compatible with colony losses phenomena observed by beekeepers,” according to the study.

France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia have all suspended the use of neonicotinoids, and a recent report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is calling the loss of honey bees a global crisis that could affect 70 percent of the world’s food supply, yet the EPA continues to allow their use in the U.S.

“Human beings have fabricated the illusion that in the 21st century they have the technological prowess to be independent of nature,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director. “Bees underline the reality that we are more, not less, dependent on nature’s services in a world of close to seven billion people.”

The executive director of the Xerces Society, Scott Hoffman Black, says that the landscaping company made a “huge” mistake and applied the insecticide while the trees in the Target lot were in bloom. He also notes that such an error is not at all uncommon.

If they are able prove the landscaping company is responsible because of a "huge mistake", can they hold them accountable for it and fine them or something. I know its not as simple as start a new bee colony because as long as these insecticides are being used the bees will continue to die but I feel these "errors" and "mistakes" should have some sort of repercussions so they don't keep happening.

Alana- do you mind sharing your sources for this info. I don't doubt credibility of it, I just would like to read up on it a bit more. Thanks!

On the subject of bees, is it common for people to start/maintain bee hives on their property in the Virgin Islands?

there are people that have hives here

Thanks speee1dy! Its really becoming popular where I currently live and was just curious how popular it was there.

Kind of related to the GMO discussion earlier, most honey in the grocery store is not technically honey because the pollen has all been micro filtered out. The pollen is an important part of honey. Local grown honey has local pollen which help folks with allergies from local sources. Buy local if you can afford it. It tastes better than major store brands, and, is a darker color. I know that there a few small producers here in the islands.

Oh, and how about the reports that some Chinese imported honey is corn syrup desguised as honey! Stay away from the Chinese plastic "rice" too.

Local grown honey has local pollen which help folks with allergies from local sources.

This and your comment about the corn syrup being disguised as honey are the exact reasons I buy local honey. I know what I am getting, supporting someone local, and the honey definitely tastes way better.

My St John Bay Rum trees are in profuse flowering right now, hundreds od small white clusters and they are surrounded by bees - more bees than I have ever seen at my house. And the hummingbirds seem to like the flowers too.

The executive director of the Xerces Society, Scott Hoffman Black, says that the landscaping company made a “huge” mistake and applied the insecticide while the trees in the Target lot were in bloom. He also notes that such an error is not at all uncommon.

If they are able prove the landscaping company is responsible because of a "huge mistake", can they hold them accountable for it and fine them or something. I know its not as simple as start a new bee colony because as long as these insecticides are being used the bees will continue to die but I feel these "errors" and "mistakes" should have some sort of repercussions so they don't keep happening.

Alana- do you mind sharing your sources for this info. I don't doubt credibility of it, I just would like to read up on it a bit more. Thanks!

On the subject of bees, is it common for people to start/maintain bee hives on their property in the Virgin Islands?

Here's a few links:

http://www.opb.org/news/blog/ecotrope/xerces-society-wilsonville-bees-died-from-pesticide-poisoning/

http://grist.org/news/huge-bee-die-off-in-oregon-parking-lot-blamed-on-insecticide-spraying/

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/25000-bumble-bees-found-dead-target-parking-lot.html

http://www.care2.com/causes/beemageddon-is-here-but-we-still-havent-banned-insecticides.html

Store bought honey, agave and maple syrup are all just artificially flavored corn syrups. ALL of them.

By local honey, from as close to your water shed as possible and give thanks.

Not much fake maple in the stores here in VT. The maple capital, and plenty of good honey too!

Not much fake maple in the stores here in VT. The maple capital, and plenty of good honey too!

My comment was made for the VI and most of the world.

Store bought honey, agave and maple syrup are all just artificially flavored corn syrups. ALL of them.

You must stay up nights making this stuff up.

What proof can you offer to back up your ridiculous claim?

Store bought honey, agave and maple syrup are all just artificially flavored corn syrups. ALL of them.

You must stay up nights making this stuff up.

What proof can you offer to back up your ridiculous claim?

google it yourself. takes about 5 minutes to figure that out.

http://www.realfooduniversity.com/best-sweetener/

http://greenlitebites.com/2010/11/11/sweetener-comparisons-honey-agave-molasses-sugar-maple-syrup/

lots of info to Google if so inclined.

I saw this and thought it was interesting,
http://www.trueactivist.com/scientists-officially-link-processed-foods-to-autoimmune-disease/