[cgfc-discuss] [Biodemocracy] Organic Bytes #27 - Organic and food news tidbits with and edge!

Wed Jan 28 16:16:10 CST 2004

ORGANIC BYTES #27
Organic and food news tidbits with an edge!
1/29/2004    By Organic Consumers Association

Feel free to forward this informative publication to family and friends,
place it on websites, print it, and post it. Knowledge is power.

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WE NEED TO TALK
Interested in sharing your thoughts and ideas with hundreds of thousands
of other like-minded folks locally and around the world? Register free
for OCA's new online web forum and chat center. The OCA website has been
getting 2-6 million hits every month, so we decided it's time to open up
the communication channels and let everyone share their ideas, post
articles, comment on related issues, and come together with others who
share your concerns. Start talking with others in the organic consumers
community right now! http://www.organicconsumers.org/chat/index.php

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MILLIONS AGAINST MONSANTO
The Organic Consumers Association announces the launch of its new
"Millions Against Monsanto" campaign. If you're talking about PCBs,
Agent Orange, Bovine Growth Hormone, water privatization, biopiracy,
untested/unlabeled genetically engineered organisms, or persecuting
small family farmers for seed saving, you're talking about the Monsanto
Corporation.  Join OCA's campaign to mobilize one million consumers to
end Monsanto's global corporate bullying. Send an instant fax to
Monsanto, demanding the corporation:
-Stop intimidating small family farmers. 
-Stop force-feeding untested and unlabeled genetically engineered foods
on consumers. 
-Stop using billions of dollars of U.S. taypayers' money to subsidize
genetically engineered crops--cotton, soybeans, corn, and canola.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.html

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MONSANTO BULLIES CANADIAN FAMILY FARMER
Seventy-three year-old Percy Schmeiser, a family farmer on the brink of
bankruptcy, is currently being attacked in Canada's Supreme Court by one
of the world's most controversial and powerful corporations, Monsanto.
Schmeiser's canola fields were contaminated with Monsanto's genetically
engineered Round-Up Ready canola by pollution from nearby farms.
Monsanto says it doesn't matter how the contamination took place, and is
suing  Schmeiser for millions of dollars, for unlicensed use of its
patented GE seeds. "I never had anything to do with Monsanto," says
Schmeiser. "If I would go to St. Louis (Monsanto Headquarters) and
contaminate their plots--destroy what they have worked on for 40
years--I think I would be put in jail and the key thrown away." Hundreds
of other farmers across North America have had their crops contaminated
by pollen from neighboring genetically engineered crops and have been
forced to pay fines to Monsanto. However, a thousand organic farmers in
Canada have decided to turn the tables, and have sued Monsanto for
polluting their farms with Frankengenes. Stand up with Percy Schmeiser
and family farmers and get involved with OCA's Millions Against Monsanto
campaign.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.html

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MENDOCINO LEADS THE WAY
Northern California farmers and consumers are challenging Monsanto and
the biotech industry directly. In Mendocino County CA, voters will soon
be deciding whether or not to ban genetically modified crops, once and
for all. The vote will be held March 2, 2004 and would make the county
the first in the U.S. to ban genetically engineered crops. The ballot
initiative has been organized and supported by local farmers and
citizens, but they are being outspent 50 to 1 by biotech and
agribusiness front groups. OCA encourages people everywhere to follow
Mendocino's example and go on the offensive. Your help is needed:
http://www.gmofreemendo.com/

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USDA SAYS GMOs SPREAD LIKE WEEDS
A new study, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
confirms that genetically modified organisms pose a dramatic risk to the
environment, given the fact that they simply cannot be contained, once
released into the wild.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/gmopollution012104.cfm

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ORGANIC FOOD BOOMS
Natural and organic food popularity within the foodservice sector of the
U.S. is exploding. According to current market statistics, if the
current growth curve continues, organic foodservice sales will reach $2
billion by 2007.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/foodservice012204.cfm

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IS MONSANTO'S CONTROVERSIAL COW HORMONE CAUSING CANCER?
Since its release onto the market in 1994, Monsanto's recombinant Bovine
Growth Hormone (rBGH) has been banned in most industrialized nations,
other than the U.S., Brazil, and Mexico. While the genetically
engineered hormone is regularly being injected into 22% of the dairy
herd in the U.S. to force cows to give more milk, scientists warn that
it may increase your risks of getting cancer. Knowing consumers want to
avoid rBGH, Monsanto has successfully sued a number of dairies over the
years for labeling their products "rBGH-Free."  After a decade of
forcing rBGH-tainted milk and dairy products on consumers, Monsanto has
recently admitted to having mysterious production problems in the
Austrian factory supplying them with rBGH. Last week, the company
announced it is being forced to cut back production of rBGH (trade name
Posilac) by 50%, due, in part, to failing FDA inspections at its
manufacturing plant. Rumors are circulating in the dairy industry that
rBGH, the first genetically engineered animal drug put into the U.S.
food supply, may be pulled off the market. 
http://www.organicconsumers.org/rbgh/cowhormone012804.cfm

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EPA BUSTED FOR BACKROOM INDUSTRY DEALS
A lawsuit has been filed against the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) for secretly allowing chemical companies exclusive power
over weakening environmental regulations. In 2000, under the new Bush
Administration, the EPA established the new "Endangered Species Task
Force." It has now been discovered that this powerful task force is
comprised of only 14 members, and they are all agro-chemical companies.
Thanks to the private "consultation" meetings from these industry
groups, the EPA has announced new pesticide regulations that eliminate
certain endangered species protections.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/epa012004.cfm

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WHO SAYS SWEETS MAKE YOU FAT
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a report addressing
global obesity as it relates to diet. To regulate caloric intake, the
report logically suggests limiting added sugar consumption. In response
to this recommendation, the United States Department of Health and Human
Services (lobbied heavily by sugar intensive U.S. food corporations) has
issued a response, stating that the WHO report is not based on good
science. http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/sugar012304.cfm

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MAD COW USA--STOP THE MADNESS
As news headlines of the Mad Cow crisis rock the nation, beef industry
lobbyists have effectively put a muzzle on regulatory decision-makers in
Washington, at least in regards to mandatory testing of all animals at
slaughter. However there are a number of Congress people, like Rep.
Miller of CA, who are calling for mandatory and universal testing. As
John Stauber, author of MAD COW USA, puts it, "unless there is a
complete and total ban on the billions of pounds of rendered byproduct
being fed to cattle and other livestock in the US, the disease will just
keep amplifying and spreading." Responding to consumer pressure, the FDA
announced on Jan. 26 they will no longer permit cows and calves to be
fed cattle blood or chicken manure, nor allow cow and ruminant brain
parts of animals 30 months or older to be used in cosmetics and
nutritional supplements. The FDA still gives the green light to feeding
slaughterhouse wastes, manure, and blood to chickens and pigs, however,
as well as feeding these animals back to cows. Join OCA's "Mad Cow
USA--Stop the Madness" campaign:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm

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NOTE TO CO-OP AND NATURAL FOOD STORE SUBSCRIBERS:
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ORGANIC BYTES is a publication of:
ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION 6101 Cliff Estate Road Little Marais, MN
55614 Phone: (218) 226-4164 Fax: (218) 353-7652
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For additional daily environmental and political news, visit:
http://www.ens-newswire.com http://www.planetsave.com
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