Healthy Shelf Monthly Giveaway - May 2012

What is your favourite product on Healthy Shelf?

Simply leave your answer in a comment below and you will go into the running to win a free Onya Bag Black/Pink - Retro Onya worth $11.95!

Please include your first name, surname initial and postcode in your comment to be eligible for the giveaway.

Now you can proudly have a stunning, long lasting bag that has its origins in a single use plastic drink bottle.

Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (rPET) is what you get if you recycle old plastic bottles (from soft drinks and bottled water) into fibre. So here we are not only creating a reusable bag, but we are also making it out of recycled materials.

 
Made from attractive, strong rPET material and easily stuffs into it's own key-ring sized pouch.

This Original Onya Bag is made from 51% recycled plastic water bottles. Brilliant!!

Here's a thought; because someone thought to recycle 2 drinking bottles we were able to make you this great bag!

* Convenient caribiner clip means it is literally always 'Onya'

* Built-in shoulder strap makes this a very versatile bag

* Built-in shopping caddy loops for easy packing

*Just 50g total weight

* Generous gusset to allows for 14.7 litre capacity

* Useful front pocket

* Holds several kilos (infact, more than most of us can carry)


Find more great products from Onya Innovations in the Bags & Accessories, Drink Bottles & Cups and Value Deals sections of your Healthy Shelf.

Please include your first name, surname initial and postcode in your comment to be eligible for the giveaway.

This competition closes midnight (WST) Thursday May 31st 2012 and is open to residents of Australia.  The winner is drawn at random and will be posted here on our Healthy Shelf Blog and on the Healthy Shelf Facebook page within 48 hours of the close of the competiton.

Healthy and Happy Families Expo Fremantle 2012 Flyer

Congratulations to our April 2012 Monthly Giveaway Winner!

Caroline Kelly, you are the winner of our April 2012 Monthly Giveaway, CONGRATULATIONS!

Please contact us via mail@healthyshelf.com.au with your postal address and we will send your 2 pack of Waggy Dog Bakehouse Large Hearts to you shortly.

Thank you to everyone who entered our Monthly Giveaway. For your chance to win stay tuned to the Healthy Shelf Blog for our May 2012 Monthly Giveaway starting soon!

Popcorn giveaway from Healthy Shelf

Join us at the Happy & Healthy Families Expo in Fremantle on the 6th of June 2012 and take advantage of our Expo specials like this one!  To find more information and other deals on offer at this Expo click here.

Happy & Healthy Families Expo Fremantle 2012

50th Anniversary of Silent Spring: Synthetic chemicals cause the decline of bees

by Carlos Duarte, The Conversation blog, 22 April 2012, 6.35pm AEST

This Sunday we are celebrating Earth’s day, and Earth corresponded to our recognition by slowly spinning once again around its own axis, thereby allowing us to enjoy yet one more beautiful sunrise and, later on, a beautiful sunset.

As our planet completes one more spin, my thoughts on the 2012 Earth Day are with Rachel Carson and her landmark book “Silent Spring” published in September 1962, 50 years ago.

Silent Spring alerted society, with very compelling, scientifically-sound arguments and beautiful prose, of the risks of the massive use of synthetic pesticides, in particular DDT. Over a decade before this publication, Paul Müller received the Noble Award in Physiology for the demonstration of the efficiency of DDT to control insect populations.

Whereas massive application of DDT proved to be effective in reducing the prevalence of malaria, arguably saving many human lives; it came at a huge cost to all life, as DDT was not only effective in controlling mosquitoes carrying human pathogens, but all insects alike. DDT accumulated in living tissues and increasing in concentration upward in the food web. Decades after the ban on the use of DDT, all of us can still detect significant, but decreasing, concentrations of DDT in our own blood. Hence, massive application of DDT affected insects, both beneficial and noxious, wildlife and humans alike.

Rachel Carson’s work reacted to emerging evidence at the high environmental impacts of DDT, but was met with vigorous opposition from industry, which tried to prevent the publication of her book and made every possible attempt at discrediting her.

Much too often we have seen this same pattern: with the role of CFCs in destroying the ozone layer; the dirty campaign of industry to suppress the evidence for the health impacts of smoking; and the concerted campaign of some industrial sectors to discredit climate science and scientists.

Rachel Carson was, however, a brave woman, if with fragile health, and held her ground against these pressures, driving President J.F. Kennedy to consider seriously the risks of synthetic pesticides. Almost a decade later, following Rachel’s death from cancer, her efforts came to fruition in the form of US legislation regulating the application of synthetic pesticides.

Whereas Rachel Carson’s fight was hugely successful, it is not yet over. Our biosphere continues to receive emissions of synthetic chemicals, many of which have important negative consequences on biota, humans and the Earth System (e.g. acting as powerful greenhouses, impacting upon the ozone layer or interfering with the immune and reproductive systems of organisms, including our own).

The inventory of synthetic chemicals ever synthesized by humans is in the order or a million compounds, of which tens of thousands have been produced industrially and thus released in the environment. Many of these chemicals are biologically active, persistent in the environment and enter global transport. The resulting “anthropogenic chemosphere” (Dachs and 2010) is an important, if not sufficiently acknowledged, vector of global change.

Indeed, Rachel Carson’s fight is not yet over, and we need to continue to be alert at the pervasive effects of synthetic chemicals. A recent paper in Science (Whitehorn et al. 2012) provided compelling experimental evidence, linking the widespread and hereto mysterious decline of bumble bees with Neonicotinoid insecticides. Bees, tiny as they are, play a fundamental role in maintaining biodiversity, and even the production of fruits for human consumption, through their role as pollinators. The widespread decline of bees can have, thus, major impacts on biodiversity and food webs.

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, effective from May 2004, aims at eliminating or restricting the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The original list of twelve compounds was expanded to add ten more compounds in 2010, and an additional 3 have been proposed for regulation. Yet, the rate of adding synthetic compounds to the Stockholm Convention is far slower than the rate of release of new POPs.

One of the POPs included in 2010 is PolyBrominated Diphenyl Ethers or PBDEs. PBDEs are used as flame retardants in a diversity of materials, including building materials, electronics, furnishings, vehicles, airplanes, plastics, polyurethane foams and textiles. They have been shown to reduce human fertility at levels found in households; and we can be certain that these households include our own.

A mature industry should produce sufficient robust scientific evidence for the absence of significant impacts of new synthetic chemicals in the environment, assess their likely persistent and transport pathways in the environment, and provide the scientific community and governmental labs with analytical techniques to resolve the ambient levels of these chemicals. A mature society should demand that industry does just that.

This is, however, not the case, and much too often we discover dangerous impacts of synthetic chemicals long after they were introduced in markets and, therefore, in the environment.

As the Earth Day comes to a quiet end, I see the reflections of the purple tones of the clouds in the quiet waters of the Mediterranean, and remember that Rachel Carson should also be celebrated for other contributions, including her beautiful books about the marine environment. Try, for one, Rachel Carson’s “The Sea Around Us”.

References

Dachs, J., and L. Méjanelle. 2010. Organic Pollutants in Coastal Waters, Sediments, and Biota: A Relevant Driver for Ecosystems During the Anthropocene?. Estuaries and Coasts 33:1–14

Whitehorn, P.R., S. O’Connor, F.L. Wackers, and D. Goulson. 2012. Neonicotinoid Pesticide Reduces Bumble Bee Colony Growth and Queen Production Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1215025.

Healthy Shelf Monthly Giveaway - April 2012

Who is your favourite dog?  Is it your family dog(s), past or present, or a beloved movie or book character?

Simply leave your comment below and you will go into the running to win a free 2 pack of Waggy Dog Bakehouse Large Hearts (12.5cm long each)!

Give a little love back to your four-legged friends!

Waggy Dog Bakehouse aims to provide tasty, healthy treats for dogs whilst practicing sustainable methods of manufacture and promoting adherence to animal welfare standards.

10% of the profits raised from the sale of Waggy Dog Bakehouse treats are donated to the Dogs’ Refuge Home in Shenton Park, Western Australia.

• Organic ingredients
• Grain-Free
• Gluten-Free
• Corn-Free
• Soy-Free
• Dairy-Free
• No added sugar
• No preservatives
• No artificial colours 

Of course we also wanted our treats to be mouth watering and irresistably delicious for dogs! The end result is a healthy and tasty freshly baked organic treat which will have your dog begging for more.

Find more Waggy Dog Bakehouse Treats and much more for all of your dogs, cats and most other pets in the Pet Care section of your Healthy Shelf.

Please include your first name, surname initial and postcode in your comment.

This competition closes midnight (WST) Sunday April 29th 2012 and is open to residents of Australia.  The winner is drawn at random and will be posted here on our Healthy Shelf Blog and on the Healthy Shelf Facebook page within 48 hours of the close of the competiton.

Congratulations to our March 2012 Monthly Giveaway Winner!

Annette P, you are the winner of our March 2012 Monthly Giveaway, CONGRATULATIONS!

Please contact us via mail@healthyshelf.com.au with your postal address and we will send your Moo Free Easter Egg 100g to you shortly.

Thank you to everyone who entered our Monthly Giveaway. For your chance to win stay tuned to the Healthy Shelf Blog for our April 2012 Monthly Giveaway starting soon!

Healthy Shelf at the Gluten Free & Healthy Living Expo!

Healthy Shelf Monthly Giveaway - March 2012

What's your favourite thing about Easter?

Simply leave your comment below and you will go into the running to win a free Moo Free Chocolate Easter Egg 100g!  

May contain traces of nuts and soya.  Dairy free, lactose free, gluten free, wheat free, egg free, casein free, vegetarian, vegan. Made with fair trade sugar and cocoa.

This dairy free Easter Egg is made from our organic dairy free and Vegan alternative to milk chocolate in a factory that has only ever been used to make dairy free products. The dairy free and organic Easter Egg is packaged in a lovely Easter Egg box that features Mikey Bunny. Our dairy free Easter Eggs are perfect for kids or adults of any age who can't have dairy products, are Vegan or enjoy quality tasting milk chocolate.

This organic, dairy free Easter Egg is unique. We don't believe that you will find another organic, milk chocolate tasting dairy free Easter Egg manufactured anywhere else in the World. Moo Free bring you all the taste of great tasting milk chocolate Easter Eggs but make them without using any milk. 

Please include your first name, surname initial and postcode in your comment.

This competition closes midnight (WST) March 18th 2012 and is open to residents of Australia.  The winner will be posted here on our Healthy Shelf Blog within 48 hours of the close of the competiton.