warning of their dangers, the point cannot be made too often. There is perhaps no other single thing we do to food that affects its nutrient content and life-sustaining energy— and hence our health— as negatively as the addition of chemicals. The problem is widespread. In one of the earliest books on the problem, William Longgood wrote, Virtually every bit of food you eat has been treated with some chemical somewhere along the line. Dyes, bleaches, emulsifiers, antioxidants, preservatives, flavors, buffers, noxious sprays, acidifiers, alkalizers, deodorants, moisteners, drying agents, gases, extenders, thickeners, disinfectants, defoliants, fungicides, neutralizers, sweeteners, anticaking and antifoaming agents, conditioners, curers, hydrolizers, hydrogenators, maturers, fortifiers, and many others. These are the tools of the food technician— a wizard who can beguile, deceive, and defraud.… His alchemy can make stale products appear fresh, permit unsanitary practices, mask inferior quality, substitute nutritionally inferior or worthless chemicals for more costly ingredients. These chemicals almost without exception perform their mission at the cost of destroying valuable vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, stripping food products of their natural life-giving qualities. 22 Dr. Chauncey Lake, past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, warned in 1963“ that general use of new chemicals in large quantities has created a new hazard— subclinical poisoning— so insidious that physicians cannot connect the poison with the ailment.” 23 Dr. Jacqueline Verret, the FDA research scientist who first alerted the nation to the dangers of cyclamate and thalidomide, wrote,“ That things are this bad is not something your government is officially likely to tell you. There is not likely to be a press release from the FDA’ s public information office saying,‘ nothing’ s left that’ s fit to eat,’ or‘ Whole population being slowly poisoned.’ After all, in most cases it was the government that allowed things to get into such a sorry state, and it does have a self-protective stake in the affair.” 24 No one knows the exact number, but it is estimated that even today, despite the growing consciousness about the dangers of chemicals, there are over five thousand, maybe even up to seven thousand, additives still used to enhance the appearance, color, aroma, texture, flavor, keeping qualities, and other details of both prepared and natural foods. Yes, natural foods too. Oranges are dyed to look more orange, for example, and the lettuce of salad bars is sprayed with potassium bisulfite so it won’ t wilt. And this despite the fact that chemical additives have been linked conclusively to many diseases, from allergies to cancer, as well as blurry vision, aching backs, and hyperactivity in children. § Generally, preservatives such as BHT and BHA are added to foods in the form of gelatin beadlets and work by blocking the access of oxygen to nutrients and microorganisms, in effect eliminating life processes within the food substance. And that’ s where problems may arise. Just as the various spoilage processes are halted by chemical preservatives, so can the processes of natural function be interrupted as well. Rudolf Hauschka, a German scientist, scholar, and researcher at The Clinical Therapeutic Institute at Arlesheim, and disciple of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy, has set forth an extremely helpful concept that clarifies the basic difference between the natural and the artificial, and explains why the latter is so harmful to life, especially in the case of coal and petroleum-derived chemicals. He points out that for as long as humanity has existed, its life has been sustained by the world of plants, both directly and indirectly. Plants give us food, fuel, shelter, construction material, fibers for clothing, oils, sweeteners, flavors, colors, aroma, and medicinal substances. Interestingly enough, we get almost the same elements from coal and petroleum: fuel for heating, construction materials( plastics), fibers for clothing( nylon, Orlon, and so forth), mineral oil and cream( Vaseline), saccharin, artificial flavors, colors, perfumes, and synthetic medicinal drugs. But coal and oil are what’ s left of trees that lived millions of years ago— plants long dead, entombed within the bowels of the earth, paralyzed at a biological zero point. And from that point, says Hauschka,“ human ingenuity takes hold and conjures forth a synthetic mirror-image of the natural world. Contrasting the two realms, we get the impression that the upper one is the realm of dynamic biological reality, the scene of a ceaseless harmonization of the living polarities of earth and heaven, giving rise to an endless range of metamorphoses. The underworld of coal tar chemistry, on the other hand, seems— figuratively speaking— like a ghostly reflection of the dynamic creativity of the cosmos.” 25 The“ natural” plant world above carries life— things grow and change, are born and die. The“ artificial” oil world below is dead: No change occurs in its elements without human technological manipulation. Substances from this realm, then, will not support life. In fact, they will probably block the harmonious flow of a live energy field. If we ingest artificial foodstuffs, our life processes will be undermined by not being supported. It may be significant that cancer, that frightening epidemic of our time, is a disease in which the life process( the buildup and breakdown of cells) has become deranged.