Website of the Week: Down to Earth

Today, when I logged into my E-mail, a news article caught my eye. In case you haven't seen the topic, here's the summary: Contaminated milk, including infant formula, has been found in China. According to CNN, "A third baby has died and at least 6,200 children have fallen ill after drinking formula tainted with the same chemical involved in a massive pet food recall last year, Chinese officials said Wednesday." As best I can tell, the toxic ingredient, melamine, was added intentionally so that, in laboratory tests, the infant formula would appear to be more protein-rich.

I know that I am sometimes naive, but the idea that someone -- anyone! -- would intentionally poison children to boost their company's profit margin astounds and horrifies me. To whom could I vent my frustration?

I dropped a line to Down to Earth, a blog devoted to demystifying the issues surrounding food production. Recent posts have covered controversial topics such as the corn industry's recent advertisements about high fructose corn syrup, the pros and cons of irradiation of food, and the use of synthetic growth hormones in cattle.

I may not agree with everything written at Down to Earth, but I think the authors of this blog really strive to present a balanced view of the issues. (And I had no idea there were so many hot button issues surrounding food production! Wow!) I particularly liked a recent post about the charity Send a Cow and the Weekly Earthlinks, a list of sometimes amusing, sometimes thought-provoking links to current food production topics (I also appreciated the nod to Mama Joules in the Sept. 13th post -- thanks!).

But back to my opening topic, my fervent prayer tonight is that all of the tainted milk is recalled soon and that the death toll stops rising.