ESSAY OF THE WEEK
Pesticides on Your Food? Not to Worry
Research has demonstrated that pesticides and other agricultural chemicals are neurotoxic, capable of damaging your nervous system. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 60 percent of herbicides, 90 percent of fungicides, and 30 percent of insecticides are also carcinogenic.
All of these toxins are permitted on conventional farms. And any number of them can end up on your plate when you eat conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables.
Yet despite all the known risks, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) wants you to believe there’s no cause for concern when pesticides turn up on your food.
According to the agency’s latest report, more than half of all foods tested last year had detectable levels of pesticide residues. But, the agency claims, most are within the “safe” range. And what chemicals doesn’t the USDA test for? Glyphosate, the key active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, and the most widely used herbicide in the world. Because, the agency says, it would be “too expensive.”
Who determines how much poison is “safe”? And is there really any such thing as a “safe” amount of pesticide on your food?
ACTION ALERT
GMO Bedfellows: Monsanto & TNC
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) calls itself“the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people.” According to its website, TNC “addresses the most pressing conservation threats at the largest scale.”
So you might be surprised to learn that TNC is run and funded by some of the world’s worst polluters and destroyers of the earth’s soil, air, water and food system—and that one of those companies is Monsanto.
TNC, ranked among the nation’s most trusted organizations, makes no attempt to hide its connections to companies like Monsanto, Alcoa, BP Oil, and Dow. It’s right there on the organization's website.
Here’s what TNC CEO Mark Tercek has to say about GMOs. (Warning: It’s pretty much the same thing Monsanto has to say about GMOs):
“Another agricultural technology we should consider carefully is genetic modification. The National Academy of Sciences has found no adverse health effects from GMOs, and also concluded that they can be environmentally beneficial in some ways.”
TAKE ACTION: Tell Nature Conservancy CEO Mark Tercek: Get Out of Bed with Monsanto!
Post on TNC Facebook Page
TNC CEO Mark Tercek on Twitter
ACTION ALERT
Frankenfish: Put a Label on It!
Photo Credit: Seattle Municipal Archives via Compfight cc
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet approved AquAdvantage, a variety of salmon genetically engineered (by a company called AquaBounty Technologies) to reach market weight in just 18 months, instead of the usual three years.
But Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) isn’t taking any chances that if approved, “Frankenfish” will wind up in Alaska grocery stores and restaurants without a label.
In order to protect Alaska’s wild salmon industry, and the state’s environment, Young has introduced HR 393, a federal bill that would require labels on genetically engineered fish sold in U.S. grocery stores and restaurants.
It should come as no surprise by now, that the AquAdvantage GMO salmon has been inadequately tested for its potential impact on human health. As for its potential to escape and contaminate wild salmon populations, well, all we’ve got is AquaBounty’s word that that won’t happen.
TAKE ACTION: Ask your representative to support HR 393, a bill to require labels on genetically engineered fish sold to consumers in the U.S.
Call your representative (find them here)
10 Freakiest Things about Frankenfish
MORE FROM OUR BLOG
Enough to Make You Sick
Photo Credit: JeepersMedia via Compfight cc
Monsanto’s Roundup. It’s been around since 1974. But it wasn’t until the late 1990s that the use of Monsanto’s flagship poison surged. That’s when the company came up with the idea to genetically engineer seeds to grow food crops, like corn, soy, alfalfa, sugar beets and canola, that could tolerate high doses of the poison.
This allowed farmers to spray entire fields of crops, killing everything in sight—except Monsanto’s genetically engineered crops.
Then, eager to sell even more Roundup, Monsanto encouraged farmers to use the toxic herbicide as a dessicant, to dry out all of their crops so they could harvest them faster. So Roundup is now routinely sprayeddirectly on a long list of non-GMO crops, including wheat, barley, oats, canola, flax, peas, lentils, soybeans, dry beans and sugar cane.
Over the years, Monsanto has falsified data on Roundup’s safety, and marketed it to parks departments and consumers as “environmentally friendly” and “biodegradable," to encourage its use on roadsides, playgrounds, golf courses, schoolyards, lawns and home gardens.
In the nearly 20 years of intensifying exposure, scientists have been documenting the health consequences of Roundup and glyphosate in our food, in the water we drink, in the air we breathe and where our children play.
Here’s what they’ve found. It’s enough to make you sick.
SUPPORT THE OCA & OCF
Silencing the ‘Emotional Extremists’
Photo Credit: Cristian V. via Compfight cc
The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA)—that’s one of the groups suing Vermont to overturn the state’s recently passed GMO labeling law—held its annual conference this week in Florida.
OCA planted a mole at the conference. We’ll bring you more news about that next week.
But we did want to share what we learned regarding the IDFA’s opinion of you—you, the consumer who questions the impact of industrial, factory farm dairies on human health and the environment. According to a presentation attended by our mole, the IDFA has branded you as an “emotional extremist” for daring to question the industrial dairy industry’s polluting ways, its widespread use of GMO crops as livestock feed, and its heavy, routine use of antibiotics on dairy cows.
Seems the IDFA has taken a page out of Monsanto’s playbook, by hiring fancy PR firms to “engage in a conversation” with consumers (as in, promote its propaganda).
We can’t wait to engage in that conversation. We’re brushing up on our facts. Drafting our campaign plans. Crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s on our reports.
We’re fired up. And we’re gonna need your help in 2015 to expose the IDFA’s and industrial dairies’ dirty secrets. Are you in?
Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and public education)
Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our GMO labeling legislative efforts)
MILLIONS AGAINST MONSANTO
Still Time to Meet Us in St. Louis!
Tomorrow (Friday, January 30) OCA, Moms Across America (MAA) and other groups will descend on St. Louis, Mo., for what we hope will be a meaningful—and memorable—protest at Monsanto’s annual shareholder meeting.
MAA Founder Zen Honeycutt, acting as shareholder proxy for Harrington Investments, will attend the shareholder meeting. She'll present a proposal intended to pave the way for more accountability on the part of Monsanto’s Board of Directors. She will also present scientific evidence linking Roundup’s key active ingredient, glyphosate, to a host of human health issues, and she'll deliver a stack of personal testimonials, collected by OCA and MAA, from people whose health has suffered because of exposure to glyphosate.
Outside the meeting, two physicians—Dr. Norm Shealy and Dr. Jeff Ritterman—will speak out about the health hazards of GMO foods and Monsanto’s Roundup.
If you live in the St. Louis area, please come out at noon on Friday, January 30, to show your support for all of the groups who are working on behalf of consumers to get Monsanto’s Roundup banned. Following the rally, we’ll build a memorial to Monsanto’s victims, and later meet up at a potluck dinner.
Details on the January 30 protest
More on the health hazards of GMOs and Roundup
Download this leaflet and share with friends
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Raw Milk: The Raw Truth
Things are about to get raw on Portlandia.
In the words of Candace and Toni: If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention to the lies that the FDA is feeding you about the joys of raw milk.
This week, Brendan (Fred Armisen) and Michelle (Carrie Brownstein) were feeling lethargic, sluggish and generally under the weather until they discovered that raw milk is a miracle cure-all. A miracle that the FDA is trying to prevent you from enjoying. Check out this clip as they storm a doctor’s (Ed Begley Jr.) office to spread the truth about raw milk.
LITTLE BYTES
Essential Reading for the Week
Monsanto Once Again Developing Herbicide Resistant Wheat
Essential Oils Could Be the New Antibiotics
Research: Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria May Travel via Feedlot Dust
A Young Generation Sees Greener Pastures in Agriculture
Worst Fracking Wastewater Spill in North Dakota Leaks 3 Million Gallons into River
Thirteen Reasons to Establish a Home Permaculture Food Garden
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