The Everyday Green: Angelina Jolie Hits a Farmer's Market!
by Katherine Butler
Okay, so Angelina Jolie may or may not have been recently photographed walking the dirt-covered aisles of a local Hollywood farmer’s market. But I got your attention! And that doesn’t mean Jennifer Garner,Lisa Bonet,Reese Witherspoon, and Jake Gyllenhaal haven’t check out organic apples and peaches along open aired stalls! And more importantly, why do we care?
American seems to have an obsession with celebrities stuffing tomatoes into their cloth bags – hey, they’re just like us! And with spring upon us, it’s just likely to get worse. So I’m here to get to the bottom of it. Why? Because of deep, deep scars of trauma.
A few years ago, I was moping around the Gelsons in a certain ritzy Southern Californian hamlet. I had just broken up with a (cough cough evil) ex-boyfriend, and this was my first venture out into the real world. Well, it was actually a venture to a friend’s house to cry over a bottle of wine – but I had to stop for cupcakes on the way. Who wouldn’t do the same? Anyhoo, I walked into the produce aisle (yes, I know it’s not technically a farmer’s market, but there were organic kiwis) and almost dropped my cupcakes when I saw a couple making out over cabbage. I mean, you’ve never seen such public displays of love. They were clasping over corn, sizzling over squash, and mooning over mangos. Horrified, (and this is my issue with extreme PDA, not a judgment on the happy lovers,) I hastened out of the store, only to stumble over paparazzi snapping away at the doors. Since then, the idea of celebrities and aisle of organic produce unleash bone-chilling flashbacks in me. Today, I confront that fear.
(And if you’re curious as to the identity of the loving celebrity couple, click here. And imagine me, jaw dropped on the floor, cropped just out of frame.)
Anyone who lives in Hollywood knows that the best place for celeb sightings aren’t the latest Aston Kutcher-owned supper clubs or the glitzy diamond merchants of Rodeo Drive. If you want to see Hollywood royalty, the place to go is the local Farmer’s Market. Why? Because at a farmer’s market, a celebrity gets to be photographed surrounded by hip, green freshness. Not to mention, they get some killer organic tomatoes out of the deal.
Now, I am certainly not proposing that celebrities are anything but sincere in their efforts to buy locally-grown yams from the San Fernando Valley or honey from Southland bees raised on California poppy. But when every tabloid in the country has multiple photos of Jennifer Garner buying locally-raised string beans, or Jessica Alba nine-months pregnant walking through organic produce, one has to wonder. And just who are these celebrities who make Farmer’s Market so hot? As mentioned, Jennifer Garner and adorable daughters Violet and Seraphina Affleck are known to make the rounds. Carrie-Ann Moss, Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Matthew McConaughey, Katie Holmes, Naomi Watts, and Gwen Stefani have all been photographed purchasing local organic goods from an open-air So Cal stall.
So next time you’re in Los Angeles and want to get in some green shopping, (or emotional trauma,) hit up a farmer’s market and keep your eyes peeled. The person grabbing the last of the organic apples just might be the most famous actress in the world.
Low sperm count seen in Chinese workers exposed to high levels of plastics chemical BPA
CHICAGO (AP) -- Chinese factory workers exposed to high levels of the plastics chemical BPA had low sperm counts, according to the first human study to tie it to poor semen quality. The study is the latest to raise health questions about bisphenol-A and comes two weeks after Canada published a final order adding the chemical to its list of toxic substances. Whether the relatively low sperm counts and other signs of poor semen quality translate to reduced fertility is not known. Study author Dr. De-Kun Li, a scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., noted that even men with extremely low sperm counts can father children. But Li said finding that BPA may affect sperm is troubling because it echoes studies in animals and follows his previous research in the same men that linked BPA exposure with sexual problems. If BPA exposure can reduce sperm levels, "that can't be good" and means more study is needed to check for other harmful effects, Li said. The study was published online Thursday in the journal Fertility and Sterility. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health funded the research. Andrea Gore, a pharmacology and toxicology professor at the University of Texas who was not involved in the research, called it an important but preliminary study. The results "are at least suggestive of the possibility that BPA may be one of the compounds that are causing some of these changes" in sperm, she said. But Gore said stronger evidence is needed to prove that BPA is indeed the culprit. BPA is used to make resins and strengthen plastics and is found in many consumer products: hard plastic bottles, metal food container linings, dental sealants and eyeglasses. Most Americans' urine contains measurable levels of BPA. Studies in animals have linked the chemical with reproductive problems and cancer. That's led to millions of dollars in new research in people. Steven Hentges of the American Chemistry Council, an industry group, said the study in China "is of limited relevance" to U.S. consumers, who typically are exposed to very low BPA levels that pose no health threat. The study involved 130 Chinese factory employees who worked directly with materials containing BPA and 88 workers who didn't handle it and whose exposure was similar to that of typical American men. Low sperm counts were found in workers who had detectable levels of bisphenol-A in their urine. Poor sperm quality was two to four times more prevalent among these men than among workers whose urine showed no sign of BPA. The lowest sperm counts were in men with the highest levels of BPA. BPA in urine was linked with lower-quality semen even in men who didn't work with the chemical, although their average BPA levels were much lower than in the other group. Li said the average level in this group was similar to that detected in U.S. men. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been evaluating the chemical's safety but declined to say if it is considering following Canada's lead in declaring the chemical toxic. In an e-mailed statement, the FDA said it is working with the National Institutes of Health and others "to advance scientific understanding of BPA and inform our decisions." AP-->
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Okay, so Angelina Jolie may or may not have been recently photographed walking the dirt-covered aisles of a local Hollywood farmer’s market. But I got your attention! And that doesn’t mean Jennifer Garner, Lisa Bonet, Reese Witherspoon, and Jake Gyllenhaal haven’t check out organic apples and peaches along open aired stalls! And more importantly, why do we care?
