Food
Additives - R
Rainforests - Rainforests
plants have been a cornucopia for medicine: from drugs to treat cancers,
to pain killers like morphine and codeine, to coffee, chocolate, bananas
and rice: each one of us has been touched by the discoveries and cures
originating from biologically diverse regions. A reduction in biodiversity
in tropical forests will have an impact on human health, because we have
only begun to discover the potential of tropical plants for medicine.
Currently 25% of the active ingredients in drugs are rainforest-derived,
and less than 1% of species there have been examined for their medicinal
potential.
Little wonder that chemical
companies want property rights to species that are beneficial to humans,
at the expense of indigenous peoples from whom the discoveries were so
often 'stolen'. India in 1997 instituted a claim against a US company
who had gained a patent for a strain of genetically engineered basmati
rice, and is speculating about was to deal with other countries seeking
to patent cardamom, coriander and fenugreek, all of which they consider
part of their scientific and cultural heritage. 92, 95, 96
Rayon - derived from eucalyptus 2,
55
Recycling - "The potential resource
and employment gains from increased recycling are well known. For example,
A refillable glass bottle, used ten times requires less than 10% of
the energy needed for an equivalent aluminium can, used once. According
to a Worldwatch study, steel produced from scrap reduces air pollution
by 85%, cuts water pollution by 76% and eliminates mining wastes altogether.
Another Worldwatch researcher estimates that recovering just one Sunday's
print run of The NewYork Times would leave 75,000 trees standing." (RWRG)
The three Rs: Reduce, Reuse
and Recycle need always be remembered in that order. Though recycling
projects are admirable int her conception and "the development of technologically
sophisticated recycling projects...may boost recycling rates. However
they bypass the fundamental problem of getting citizens to take responsibility
for the wastes they create..." 55
Reducing disposable items
is imperative: "According to Jeremy Rifkin, optimistically assuming only
a doubling of the world's present population, it would take 200 times
the present output of many minerals to give everyone the present American
standard of living. As Richard Gilbert of the Canadian Federal Task Force
on Packaging puts it, 'recycling is just reinforcing the throwaway society'
" (Real World Resources Guide) 55
Rennet - an enzyme extracted
from a calf's stomach lining. Used in cheese making and Junket. Substitutes
can be derived from a fungus (Mucor Miehei) which makes it suitable for
vegetarian consumption. Rennet is more often genetically engineered: synthesised
from yeast genetically altered with calf genes. 3, 8
Reticulin - animal protein
Rosin - Resin, pine
resin, colophane. Gum tapped from pine trees. Used in chewing gums, and
as a polishing agent for coffee beans. Used to coat some tablets, and
in depilatory products, hair tonics, makeup and mascara. Also used to
produce glues, solder flux, paints, furniture polish, wood preservative
and wax, paper and an additive in cigarettes. Up to 3.6% of Europe is
supposed to be sensitive to Resin. 3, 47
Roundup - a popular glyphosphate
herbicide, the manufacturers refuse to release the names of other ingredients.
Roundup was proven to have caused the death of three species of frogs
in Western Australia in 1996, when used near aquatic environments. The
manufacturer, Monsanto, has reported "severe local effects and testicular
effects in rabbits" giving wider implications for other species as well
as humans. It has yet to be tested in movement and accumulation studies.
Monsanto, however, claims that "Comprehensive
toxicological studies in animals have determined that glyphosate, the
active ingredient in Roundup, does not cause cancer, birth defects,
mutagenic effects, neurotoxic effects or reproductive problems." see
also Gene technology, addresses for action. 4, 34
Royal jelly - secretion of worker bees designed to
propagate more queens.
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