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.