Made in China’ products

The following are among the top food products from China brought into the United States:

• Apple juice

• Mandarin oranges

• Confections/candy

• Dried garlic

• Cocoa butter

• Hog guts, bladders, stomachs for sausage casings

• Dry berries

• Some families tried to avoid Chinese products for a year
•  They found the source of food products the most difficult to discover
• USDA: 50 percent of apple juice in U.S. comes from China
• Expert says U.S. companies need to better police the products they bring in

 

Medicinal Herbs

Getting to the root of your medical ailments may be as simple as getting to the root, or leaves, of the herbs in your garden.

Whether you are plagued by restless sleep, an annoying paper cut or a migraine, herbs can offer an alternative to a trip to the doctor or drug store.

Naturopathic medicine, the use of western herbs for medical purposes, has been practiced and studied in Europe since the Middle Ages, according to Robin Depasquale, a professor of naturopathic medicine at Bastyr University and a naturopathic physician.

Depasquale said growing herbs gives people more options concerning their health. “I think it gives them other options, economically and medically. Things in their backyard can help them,” she said.

The use of naturopathic medicine in the United States is growing rapidly, she said.

“It’s something people are really recognizing. No. 1, it seems to be very useful, it works … No. 2, we call it the medicine of the people, people can grow these herbs in their garden. I can teach someone to grow a plant that can help them medically. People are so happy to feel more empowered.”

The following herbs can be purchased at local nurseries, either in plant or seed form. Once they are in your garden, herbs can be prepared several ways, but the easiest is to make a tea, said Depasquale. When making a tea from herbs, the upper part of the plant can be steeped or the root of the plant can be boiled.

Depasquale and Debra Ching Wu, certified in herbology and acupuncture for Chinese medicine, recommended a few herbs that can be grown in the United States and safely used to treat medical ailments.

1: Mint is helpful to the gastro-intestinal system and is good for anyone with digestive problems. Mint helps dispel gas and tastes good as well. Use the leaves of the mint plant to make a tea.

2: Chamomile is a gentle, soothing herb that calms both the stomach and the nerves. The daisy-like flowers are used to make a tea. Research shows chamomile is gentle enough even for pregnant mothers.

3: Lavender is a popular plant used for its pleasant scent as well as its medical aid. Lavender is mainly a relaxant. It can be used in potpourri or in a bath. The flowers are edible and can be used in baking or in a tea. You can make a small pillow from the flower petals to treat insomnia. 4: Sage, of the mint family,. is useful in cooking. Also, the leaves of the sage plant are effective in treating hot flashes when mixed into a tea with peppermint. A tea from sage leaves is beneficial to both the heart and liver and acts as an antioxidant.

5: Garlic is a natural anti-viral agent. Planting garlic around other plants can aid in avoiding pests. Garlic can be used in soups and other foods to stimulate the immune system. The bulb of the garlic plant is used. Garlic can be effective in fending off a cold.

6: Echinachea is a popular immune stimulant that can be used to fight off infections. The root of the plant can be used to make a tea, or the whole plant can be dried to make a powder. Echinachea is more effective in preventing illness than in treating it.

7: Rosemary is calming to the nervous system, dispels gas, and is helpful with memory. The stems and leaves of the plant are used in a tea.

8: Oregano is a culinary herb that is also very medicinally active. It is often used as a gargle for sore throats. The leaves can be used to treat fungal growths on the skin. 9: Lemon balm, also in the mint family, is easy to grow. Often called the “happy plant,” the leaves are used to lift the spirit.

10: Calendula is a healing plant used on cuts, scrapes, bruises, burns and rashes. Its flowers can be applied topically, made into a tea, or infused with oil to make a topical treatment.

11: The dandelion plant’s leaves are used to stimulate the digestive system, as a diuretic. The entire plant is beneficial to the liver.

12: Plantain, known as “nature’s Band-Aid,” heals tissue. Chewing up plantain and placing it on a wound will aid in healing it. Placing a wad of it on the gum line will relieve a toothache.

13: Feverfew, in the daisy family, is for migraine headaches. The leaves can be chewed or prepared in a tea.

14: The blueberry, an often forgotten herb, strengthens capillary walls. It is effective in treating varicose veins, hemorrhoids and weakness in the cardiovascular system. Eating half a cup of blueberries per day is effective treatment for these ailments. The leaves of the plant are good for the urinary tract.

15: Yarrow is used to stop bleeding, using the leaves either topically or by making a tea. The whole plant is used in a tea to treat fevers by bringing on a sweat.

By LAURA M. SCHNEIDER (Click here to read about the writer)
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire

The World’s Largest Hershey’s Kisses Chocolate

The iconic Hershey(R)’s Kisses(R) Brand Chocolates commemorated its 100th anniversary today with a record-breaking celebration in Hershey, Pa. The Hershey Company celebrated the brand’s centennial by unveiling “The World’s Largest Hershey’s Kisses Chocolate” at a birthday event hosted at Hershey’s Chocolate World(R) Attraction in Hershey, Pa., The Sweetest Place on Earth(R). Complete with a seven-foot-long plume and 16,460-feet of foil wrapping, The World’s Largest Hershey’s Kisses Chocolate weighed in at 30,540 pounds and was certified by Guinness World Records(R) as “The World’s Largest Piece of Chocolate.”

The World’s Largest Hershey’s Kisses Chocolate took nine days to construct and stands 12-feet tall. Consumers can see the making of the commemorative Hershey’s Kisses Chocolate by logging on to http://www.kisssomeone.com

A Guide to the Global Positioning System (GPS)

A Brief History of Navigation and GPS Since the beginning of time, mankind has been trying to figure out a dependable way to know where they were, and to guide them to where they wanted to go and get back again. Seamen followed the coastline to keep them from getting lost. They discovered, when they sailed out into the open sea, that they could use the position of the stars to chart their courses.Major developments in early navigation were the compass and the sextant. The needle of the compass always points north. So even if they didn’t knew where they were, at least they knew in what direction they were traveling. The sextant measures the exact angles of stars, the moon and the sun above the horizon by the use of adjustable mirrors. Early sextants could only measure the latitude and sailors were still not able to work out their longitude.As this was determined to be a serious enough problem, in the seventeenth century, Great Britain formed a group of well-known scientists called the Board of Longitude. They offered a substantial cash reward to any person who could find a way of working out the longitude of a ship within thirty nautical miles. In 1761, a man named John Harrison developed a timepiece called a chronometer. This invention lost or gained only about one second a day. Sextants and chronometers were used together to provide travelers with their latitude and longitude. Radio-based navigation systems were developed in the early twentieth century, and were used in World War II. As this technology advanced, both ships and airplanes used ground-based radio-navigation systems. The disadvantage of using a system that uses ground generated radio waves, is that a choice has to made between a high-frequency system that is accurate, but does not cover a wide area, and a low-frequency system that covers a wide area, but is not very accurate. When Sputnik was launched into space by Russia on October 4th, 1957 it became known that “artificial stars” could be used for navigation. The evening after the launch researchers of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology determined the orbit of the Russian satellite by noting that the Sputnik’s radio signal increased as it approached and decreased as it left. So the fact that a satellite’s position could be tracked from the ground was the first step in recognizing that a subject’s whereabouts on the ground could be determined using radio signals from the satellite. The U.S. Navy experimented with satellite navigation. In the mid-sixties there was the Transit System that was developed for submarines carrying Polaris nuclear missiles. This system has six satellites that circled the earth in polar orbits. In measuring the Doppler shift of the radio signals the submarines could locate its position within fifteen minutes. The Global Positioning System, now commonly known GPS was designed and built and is operated and maintained by the U.S. Department of Defense. It used to be known as the Navstar Global Positioning System and was first brainstormed at the Pentagon in 1973 as they were looking for a satellite system that was error-proof. In 1978 the first operational GPS satellite was launched. By the mid-1990s the system was fully operational with 24 satellites.

How GPS Works

The basic principle behind GPS is the measurement of distance between satellites and the receiver. The distance to at least 3 satellites must be known in order to find out a position. Satellites and receivers generate duplicate radio signals at exactly the same time. As satellite signals travel at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second), they take a few hundredths of a second to reach the GPS receiver. This difference and the speed at which signal travels is used in the equation to find out the distance between the GPS receiver and the satellite. Speed x Time = Distance So, if it takes 0.09 of a second for a satellite’s signal to reach the GPS receiver, the distance between the two must be 16,740 miles (186,000 miles per second x 0.09 seconds = 16,740 miles). The GPS receiver must be located somewhere on an imaginary sphere that has a radius of 16,740 miles.  If it takes 0.08 seconds for the signal to reach the GPS receiver from a second satellite then the receiver must be located somewhere on an imaginary sphere that has a radius of 14,880 miles, and where the two spheres intersect. Supposing it takes 0.07 seconds for the receiver to receive a signal from a third satellite then the GPS must be located somewhere on a sphere that has a radius of 13,020 miles and where the three satellites intersect. Now there will be two location possibilities but one of these is located in space and is mathematically discarded by the GPS receiver as impossible. Not only do the satellite signals contain data that the GPS receiver uses to calculate distance, but data that enables the receiver to make adjustments needed to get an accurate position. Atmospheric data is sent in the signal as the receiver has to account for delays in the time it takes for the signal to reach it. These decreases in the speed of the signal are caused by the ionosphere and the troposphere. This information is usually used in conjunction with software on a laptop or PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) in the form of a map, to show the GPS receiver user their location.

How to Baby-Proof Your Home for Those First 12 Months

Baby-proofing your home is one of the most important things you can do for your newborn. Here are some tips to get you started. Newborns and Infants (under three months) Before you introduce your newborn to his new home, remove or fix possible household hazards. Start with the basic precautions and continually modify according to your baby’s development. Here’s what to do from day one: Use a crib made since 1992 that meets safety standards set by the American Society for Testing and Material (ASTM). Be sure the crib mattress fits snugly. You should be able to slide just one finger between the mattress and the side rails and headboard, so your child can’t slip between the mattress and crib. Do not use a crib that has elevated corner posts or decorative cutouts in the headboard since a baby’s head could become trapped there, or loose clothing could become snagged and cause strangulation. The slats on the crib should be 2 3/8 inches apart or less so baby’s head doesn’t get trapped between them. Make sure all screws, bolts, and other hardware are securely installed to prevent the crib from collapsing. Never put pillows, soft bedding, electric blankets, heating pads, or stuffed animals in a crib. If you use a playpen with mesh sides, the mesh “holes” should be less than 3/4 inch across (playpens made since 1974 meet this requirement) and free from tears or small holes to prevent an infant from becoming trapped. For the same reason, wooden playpens should have slats that are less than 2 3/8 inches apart. Install and use a safety belt on your infant’s changing table. Always use a safety belt when your baby is sitting in a bouncy seat or swing. Place a rug under the changing table and crib, which will offer some cushion in case of a fall. Nightlights should be at least three feet away from the crib, bedding, and draperies to prevent fire. Set your water heater to 120 degrees F or below. Four Months to One Year (or until baby is walking) Once a baby is walking, making your home safe for baby is almost a daily chore. Here are some important things to watch for: Keep coins, small toys, nail scissors, and balloons — any item that is small enough to fit inside a cardboard toilet paper roll — out of infant’s reach. Remove mobiles and other hanging toys from the crib as soon as your child can reach up and touch them. Shorten drapery and blind cords. Remove the plastic end caps on doorstops, or replace the stops with a one-piece design. Drill breathing holes into any trunk you are using as a toy box in case a child gets trapped inside. (And install safety hinges on toy boxes, or buy one with a removable lid to prevent pinched fingers.) Lock any potentially dangerous substance in an upper-level cabinet. This includes alcoholic beverages, household cleaning formulas, laundry supplies, medications (including nonprescription varieties like vitamins, children’s Tylenol or Advil), paint, kerosene, gasoline, charcoal, lighter fluid, bug spray, pesticides, and fertilizers. Place houseplants out of children’s reach; know the names of all plants in case a child eats one of them. Keep a bottle of Ipecac and activated charcoal in your home, but use only when instructed by a medical professional. Cover every electrical outlet in your home with a child-resistant outlet cover (the plastic plugs are easy to pry out). Install ground fault circuit interrupters on outlets near sinks and bathtubs since they stop the electrical current when an appliance gets wet. Place screened barriers around fireplaces, radiators, and portable space heaters. Install hardware-mounted safety gates at the top and bottom of stairways with two or more steps. Pressure-mounted models may not be strong enough. Pad the edges of coffee tables and brick or tile fireplaces. Remove the crib bumper pad as soon as your infant can get up on all fours since baby may use it as a step to climb out. Position audio/video equipment so children cannot pull televisions or stereos off furniture. Keep appliance cords wrapped short so children cannot pull coffee makers, toasters, and other appliances. Secure bookshelves, entertainment centers, and bureaus to walls since they can topple onto children who use furniture to pull up and stand. For more information about creating a child-safe home, visit the National Safe Kids Campaign at www.safekids.org.