BLOG POST OF THE WEEK

ENOUGH Already

We’ve all grown accustomed to the steady parade of television ads—$3 billion year worth, by some estimates—urging us to “ask our doctors” about the latest miracle drug. Pharmaceutical ads have been commonplace since the 1990s, after the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the way for prescription drug companies to aggressively market their wares directly to consumers.

Wisdom and ethics aside, it’s easy to see why Big Pharma would push pills to humans, to treat human ailments. It’s big money. 

But a drug company that makes animal drugs, purchased not by consumers but by factory farms, advertising direct to consumers who will never actually purchase those drugs? How does that make sense?

If you’re Elanco, the $2.3-billion animal drug division of Eli Lilly, you make it seem sensible by spinning the message. In Elanco’s case, the message is this: Without our animal drugs, the world will starve.

It’s a message that paints the drug maker as an altruistic savior, instead of the profit-motivated animal abuser and public health threat it actually is.

Read the blog post

ACTION ALERT

Invitation Only

As the calendar flips over to 2016, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, Monsanto and the rest of the GMO junk food industry are growing ever more desperate to prevent Vermont’s GMO labeling law (Act 120) from taking effect on July 1, 2016.

Their next move? A closed-door, invitation only meeting with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and GMO labeling advocates in the hope of striking a compromise, one that would no doubt preempt Vermont’s law.

Should the GMO labeling movement, which has fought so long and so hard to require food manufacturers to disclose this basic information about their products, settle for anything less than a mandatory labeling law like Vermont’s?

We don’t think so. Vermont’s GMO labeling law must be allowed to take effect July 1, 2016, as scheduled. Then we can talk about potential next steps, including federal regulations or legislation.

We don’t yet know the date of this upcoming meeting, other than that Vilsack has publicly said it would happen in January. OCA hasn't received an invitation.

But we do know this: Vilsack needs to hear from you, from all of us, now!

URGENT! TAKE ACTION: Tell USDA Sec. Tom Vilsack to back off and let Vermont’s GMO Labeling Law take effect!

Text "Back off" to 97779 to join OCA's mobile network and take action!

ACTION ALERT

Waste Not

People go to bed hungry every night in nearly 7 million households in the U.S., according toa report published last month by the National Commission on Hunger.

And yet, Americans throw away 40 percent of our food—the equivalent of $165 billion each year—according to the National Resources Defense Council.

It doesn’t make sense. That’s why U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, (D-Maine) has introduced H.R. 4184, the Food Recovery Act—a bill to address food waste.

H.R. 4148 proposes comprehensive legislation to address food waste in four areas: at the consumer level; at the retail (grocery stores and restaurants) level; at the institutional (schools, hospitals and other institutions); and on the farm.

For consumers, that means better information about expiration dates. For the hungry, it means redistributing perfectly good food to those who need it. For farmers, it means tax incentives to waste less. For the environment, it means less planet-warming methane spewed into the atmosphere.

Heck, this bill could even help protect endangered species. What’s not to love?

TAKE ACTION! Tell Congress to support H.R. 4184 the Food Recovery Act!

SUPPORT THE OCA & OCF

Gratitude

It’s a new year.As we rev up our laptops, clean off our desks, and dig in to projects old and new, we at OCA (and Via Organica and Regeneration International) are about as grateful as it gets.Sure, we face a long list of challenging battles. Some old and familiar, like the ongoing fight for labels on foods containing GMOs, and bans on dangerous pesticides. Some newer, and fraught with heavy-duty learning-curve challenges—like our Regeneration International project, which will require us to coordinate with partners in all corners of the world, to keep up with the latest soil science and best farming practices, all while coping with the looming threat of a planet that’s nearing the breaking point.Along the way, we will have to deal with profit-hungry corporations who value shareholder approval above public health, environmental safety and the very future of our planet.But we will deal, thanks to your generous support.We are grateful that nature has shown us the path toward health, food security, climate stability. It’s up to us to push for the policies, at all levels—local, state, federal, global—that will allow us to work with nature, not against it, so we can quickly scale up a new, regenerative food and farming system. One that will feed the world, while it cools the planet.We are reminded daily that without you, we could not do this important work. Thank you.

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)

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

From Chaos to Life

How did Ernst Gotsch, a Brazilian farmer, transform 1,200 acres of completely deforested land into a biodiverse, working farm? In spite of odds like drought? And strong winds?He worked with nature, not against it.“Life in Syntropy” tells the story of how Gotsch used agroforestry and organic regenerative practices—self-perpetuating systems found in nature—to accomplish what others told him would be impossible.It’s a beautiful story. And a reminder that organic regenerative farms not only restore biodiversity, rebuild soil organic matter, restore local economies and provide healthy food—they also play a key role in carbon sequestration and cooling the planet.

Watch the video

NEW REPORT

Risky Business

Concern about financial portfolios may not be the best reason to boycott factory farms and the companies that profit from them—companies like Tyson Foods and Hormel Foods. And it’s clearly not the only reason.But at least one financial analyst has laid out the many reasons that corporations tied to factory farming are a bad financial risk.

Jeremy Coller’s latest report, “Factory Farming: Assessing Investment Risks,” highlights the many reasons, including consumer concern about their own health, and the health and welfare of animals, along with investor concern about the potential crackdown on factory farms that violate environmental regulations, that investors may want to put their money somewhere, well, less risky.

Whatever your reason for boycotting factory farms, Coller’s report contains a wealth of information about a system that commits crimes against animals, crimes against nature and crimes against public health.

One particularly telling statistic? A full 99 percent of U.S. farm animals are now confined in filthy, unhealthy, inhumane factory “farms.” If it takes a few big investors rejecting this despicable system, purely on the basis of financial risk, to help bring down the system, we’re all for it.

Read the report

LITTLE BYTES

Essential Reading for the Week

How Much Omega-3 Is Right for You and What Are the Best Sources?

EPA Confirms Activists' Longtime Claims: Neonicotinoid Pesticide Threatens Honeybees

Monsanto Cuts 16% of Work Force as Sales in Roundup Herbicide Fall 34%

As If Slavery Weren’t Enough, 6 Other Reasons to Avoid Shrimp

After Paris: Now Comes the Hard Part

There's a Way to Save Our Future. So Why Aren't More People Talking about It?

Michael Pollan: What You Should Eat to Be Healthy