Tasters' Choice -- Drug of Choice?
In a comment to a recent post done by DazzlinDino, with regards to the three main federal parties and their stands on the "drugs problem" we apparently have in this country, I mentioned that I would look for an article on the dangers of caffiene.
Well, I found the article -- and it's in a print book. I have no scanner, and I really don't want to go through the hassle of getting copyright from one medium to another. And you don't want to buy the book (it's an herbalist's version of the PDR, it's expensive, and the article is one page out of 500 -- you don't want to buy it!).
Next best thing? Run a search. And I found even better information than what was in the book. Check out the pics at the top of the page to see what caffeine does to a spider's ability to spin a web...
The idea was that, if coffee were just now being introduced to the world, it would never in a million years get past our definitions of dangerous and addictive. Caffeine would be a controlled substance, available only by prescription, if at all. We would be invading countries like Costa Rica and Brazil for the sole purpose of wiping out their cash crop. Coffee shops would be as scarce as opium dens. And politicians wouldn't be hanging out at Tim Horton's before heading in to the House to vote on legislation.
Then, on top of the problem with just the caffeine, I also found some reference to other dangers. When a coffee plantation grows their trees, they use a variety of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and synthetic fertilizers -- some of which are banned in North America and Europe because they are so toxic. But American (and possibly Canadian, as well as European) chemical manufacturers gladly sell these chemicals to coffee growing nations where the health laws are so lax. Then we buy those chemically-treated alkaloid-laden crops of beans, and we fuel our mornings (at the very least) with them.
But that's another post -- possibly in the future.
And now, having warned you about the detrimental effects of your morning java, I have only one thing further to say on the subject:
Don't decaffeinate me -- my heart will stop!
Well, I found the article -- and it's in a print book. I have no scanner, and I really don't want to go through the hassle of getting copyright from one medium to another. And you don't want to buy the book (it's an herbalist's version of the PDR, it's expensive, and the article is one page out of 500 -- you don't want to buy it!).
Next best thing? Run a search. And I found even better information than what was in the book. Check out the pics at the top of the page to see what caffeine does to a spider's ability to spin a web...
The idea was that, if coffee were just now being introduced to the world, it would never in a million years get past our definitions of dangerous and addictive. Caffeine would be a controlled substance, available only by prescription, if at all. We would be invading countries like Costa Rica and Brazil for the sole purpose of wiping out their cash crop. Coffee shops would be as scarce as opium dens. And politicians wouldn't be hanging out at Tim Horton's before heading in to the House to vote on legislation.
Then, on top of the problem with just the caffeine, I also found some reference to other dangers. When a coffee plantation grows their trees, they use a variety of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and synthetic fertilizers -- some of which are banned in North America and Europe because they are so toxic. But American (and possibly Canadian, as well as European) chemical manufacturers gladly sell these chemicals to coffee growing nations where the health laws are so lax. Then we buy those chemically-treated alkaloid-laden crops of beans, and we fuel our mornings (at the very least) with them.
But that's another post -- possibly in the future.
And now, having warned you about the detrimental effects of your morning java, I have only one thing further to say on the subject:
Don't decaffeinate me -- my heart will stop!
posted by Chimera at 1:12 PM
1 Comments:
And on the plus side...coffee is great for easing mild asthmatic wheezing, is the drug of choice for some with ADD instead of ritalin, and perks up the brain wonderfully! It's not as addictive as let's say nicotine or crack, and you don't need to enter detox to come off it like you do for alcohol. And as for the toxicity from chemicals used to grow coffee, that's easily solved by buying organically grown Fair Trade coffee. Tastes a heck of a lot better too!
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