Most of us here in BTD world except ABs have a hard time with wheat…it’s the big 5-letter word we don’t want to see, hear or eat. Monsanto…a company famous for their product, Nutrasweet (another big avoid…apparently turns into formaldehyde once broken down in your body) is coming out with genetically modified wheat…Roundup Ready Wheat. It is said that this wheat could grow in the snow (it’s pretty indestructible…it can withstand hail and drought). Anyway it has all the wheat growers in Canada (organic and regular farmers) in a bit of a stink. A poll showed that 60% of Canadians would avoid products made from GM wheat. Greenpeace is fighting hard to stop Monsanto from producing it but it will probably come down to the government of Canada and our food and drug agency to stop the production of it. AB’s beware…everyone else, try not to eat wheat period.

Speaking of governments…going stateside…Mr. Bush has threatened to pull out of a landmark treaty, the Montreal Protocol of 1987 that was a global agreement to phase out the production and use of chemicals that cause the depletion of the Ozone layer. Bush wants the strawberry and tomatoes farmers to have continued access to a pesticide, methyl bromide, one of the most dangerous ozone depletion chemicals in use. With an election brewing it looks like Bush needs votes from the growers…probably from critical states in the electorate A good reason to buy organic if these two foods are on your B or N lists.

Lastly, came across a new food product on the shelves this week…Wasabi (horseradish) Peas. Yes, just when you thought a food could not get commercialized, someone comes up with Wasabi Peas, because we all need to eat more peas, right? Here's where you take a naturally good food, not on anybody's avoid list and you butcher it. Here are the ingredients:

Peas

Glutinous rice flour

Wheat flour (who knows, could be genetically modified)

Horseradish

Palm oil

Sunflower oil

Blue dye

Yellow dye (dyes mixed together make green because the natural pea green isn't good enough)

The only good thing about the product is that you can fit two tennis balls in the aluminum cylindrical container it comes in.

Enough said......Anyone for tennis?