Standing at the register at Old Navy while my daughter did a return, I busied myself reading the labels on a display of candy, to see where they were made. Sour Patch. Swedish Fish. Others I can't remember the name of, but are popular candies. Made in Mexico. Thailand. Spain. China. Turkey.
Five brands of candy, made in five different countries. Just in one display at the register.
None made in the USA.
I'm not implying that those candies are unsafe. We simply don't know, because they are being made in countries where manufacturing is under the governance of that country. Maybe some have strict guidelines and enforcement protocol. Who knows?
I don't know that even if the food/candy was manufactured here that it would be safer.
The Consumer Protection Agency, the FDA, the FTC. All the agencies that are thought to protect us from harmful substances in foods and products are agencies that are severely underfunded. The USA has been historically lax in regulating chemicals and substances, lax in testing for safety. The European Union bans and disallows hundreds of substances and chemicals from being put in the foods and products their consumers buy. The USA does not. We are on our own to decide what to buy and buyer beware.
Shopping has become an unpleasant experience. No matter what store you go in, they are all filled to the brim with cheaply made stuff. Cheaply made stuff has always been available, but it used to be you could also find well made things as an alternative. That no longer feels so. Why is that? Where has all the quality gone? Everything is made to not last.
The quality control went away when manufacturing went away. And now you can't even buy candy that was made here at the register. Everything is made elsewhere and shipped here.
What does that have to do with cleaners? You have to read the labels on everything, including household cleaners. They are made here. Ever wonder why that is?
The corporations that make them are chemical, industrial, military, and fossil fuel industries. There are tons of petro-chemicals in everything. These industries make and sell 'cleaners' that are anything but clean. They are by-products of the industrial military chemical companies, and they end up in products we buy without ever giving thought to what is in them and whether it is harmful to us, our children, our pets, the environment. This is what we've come to, and this is what must change.
It is yet another stark reminder that something that feels very not right is happening all around us.
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