Organic Bytes #185: Health, Justice and Sustainability News
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009From the Organic Consumers Association:
Alert of the Week
Send a Letter to the Editor: Organic Food IS More Nutritious
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was nothing wrong with our industrial agriculture and chemical food system? Wouldn’t it be a relief to learn that it doesn’t matter whether we buy organic or conventional food, because there isn’t really any difference in their nutritional value? Last week, the corporate media, responding to a biased article in the British press, slandered the now mass-based organic food and farming movement with headlines reading: “Organic Food No Better Than Conventional”.
Unfortunately, the articles are in reference to a new study which actually did show some nutritional benefits to organics. In addition, chemical and energy intensive industrial farming degrades the soil, pollutes the environment, and destabilizes the climate with CO2, methane and nitrous oxide greenhouse gas pollution. Food produced with agri-toxic chemicals loses its nutritional value, while organic farming replenishes the soil, sequesters climate destructive greenhouse gases, and produces food which is safer and far more nutritious. Forty years of field trials and research have clearly demonstrated the superiority of organics, but no doubt your local media outlets probably missed this point when reporting on the bogus “organics are no better” story which was planted in the UK media.
Alert Update of the Week
Food Safety Act Passes House
The US House of Representatives passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act, H.R. 2749, late last week. This was the second attempt to pass the bill. Representative Dingell’s willingness to address the concerns of organic and small producers was one of the factors that eased passage the second time around. It’s now up to the Senate to move similar legislation. The Organic Consumers Association will be organizing its members to contact the Senate to ensure that their version has stronger language to protect small producers from a regressive fee structure and burdensome tracking requirements, and organic producers from conflict with National Organic Program regulations designed conserve wildlife habitat.
It is a new year, we have a new administration, and the time is now to rein in genetically engineered foods and crops once and for all. Recent news and scientific research has underscored the urgent need to take action. For example, the USDA recently
Dannon (or Danone), the French-based multinational that owns Activa and the popular organic brand Stonyfield Farm, has 
President Obama’s new stimulus package is now signed into law. Here’s how it affects the green-minded home owner:1) New incentives and tax credits are now available for households for energy conservation and alternative energy. Homeowners investing in energy-saving insulation, replacement windows, duct seals, or high-efficiency heating and cooling systems can now receive a tax credit worth 30 percent of the upgrade cost (maximum credit value: $1,500). The previous tax credit was 10 percent of an upgrade cost, up to a maximum of $500.2) If you have been thinking about switching to sustainable energy, now is the time. Solar panels, geothermal heat pumps, and windmills also qualify for a 30 percent tax credit. For example, a $24,000 investment to make a home solar-powered would generate a federal tax credit worth $7,200. Previously, the cap was $2,000 for geothermal and solar; $4,000 for wind. Add state and utility credits to this and consumers will see significant discounts in these purchases.
This new program looks at the links between eating local and the costs of not doing so. Explore the business of small family farms, and the health benefits derived from eating organic, not to mention the economic benefits to the community from supporting local farms. We’ve posted two of these half-hour programs to our website for your viewing. Watch how one family starts up their own small farming operation from scratch. In the second episode, watch how this group of people fulfills Obama’s request to U.S. citizens to begin volunteering one day per week when they start getting involved helping out at a local sustainable farm.
Alexis Baden-Mayer from OCA’s Washington, DC, office attended the 2009 BioFach World Organic Trade Fair in Nuremberg, Germany, February 19-22. In her first report back from the expo, she says, “I learned that by eating organic food and composting our waste, we can turn back global climate change!”
This week, OCA’s Alexis Baden-Mayer is in LaCrosse, WI at the U.S. National Organic Action Plan summit where a grassroots group of organic producers and consumers discussed the creation of a coordinated plan articulating a shared vision, set objectives and benchmarks for measuring organic agriculture’s social and environmental benefits, and proposals for the future growth of U.S. organic food and agriculture for the next decade and beyond. Countries all over the world have developed and implemented national organic action plans with clear targets, benchmarks, and protocols to facilitate public accountability of agricultural policies. The U.S. National Organic Action Plan builds on this experience, but it is driven by a non-governmental group of grassroots participants.
Thousands of you have been active in OCA’s Web Forum, but did you know it also contains a section where folks, like you, are setting up their own blogs. Just go to the 
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Last week’s Organic Bytes featured an 
This short 7 minute video will give you a brief overview of USDA’s Big Brother National Animal Identification System and why it should be stopped.
Although more than 70% of the non-organic food in American supermarkets contains genetically engineered ingredients, massive opposition to GMO crops in Europe has basically kept them off the market (except for imported animal feed). According to the majority the EU, biotech crops pose unacceptable risks to human health and the environment– despite industry, U.S. Government, and many trade officials’ insistence that they are perfectly safe. This week, France’s Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo announced that his country, along with several other European nations, would be renewing its ban on all genetically engineered (GE) crops, including Monsanto’s GE corn (MON 810), which is the only biotech crop allowed for human consumption in the EU. According to Borloo, “The basis of the safeguard clause, which tackles open-field cultivation of the Monsanto 810 maize, is on risks considered as severe for the environment…”
According to a recent (December 2008) global summary report from the Worldwatch Institute:1) The U.S. leads the world, by far, in genetically engineered crop production and consumption.
Moving way beyond OCA’s ongoing campaign to press the Obama Administration and industry to drop “business as usual” and green the economy–before it’s too late–Orlov reminds us, with brilliant historical analysis and humor, that it probably is too late, and we’d better start comparing “best practices” for collapsing societies, to guarantee our collective survival in the coming catastrophic times.
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The USDA has proposed a rule to require all farms and ranches where animals are raised to be registered in a federal database under the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) for existing disease control programs. The draft rule covers programs for cattle, sheep, goats, and swine. It also sets the stage for the entire NAIS program to be mandated for everyone, including anyone who owns even one livestock animal, for example, a single chicken or a horse.
The U.S. system of petroleum-based, biotech, and chemical-intensive agriculture produces an enormous amount of relatively inexpensive food. Of course, that’s ignoring the huge hidden costs to taxpayers and damage to public health, the environment, and climate stability (not to mention the routine exploitation of farmers and laborers). Our leaders in Washington are currently looking at making some major policy changes, so there’s no better time to let our elected public officials to create jobs in the food and farming sector that help, rather than undermine public health; that conserve and rejuvenate the environment; and that guarantee workers living wages, safe working conditions, and the right to organize. Energy-efficient, carbon-sequestering organic agriculture is the only system with the potential to turn back global warming, create millions of green jobs, and produce healthy, affordable food.
Yoplait, a leading brand of yoghurt, and the 19th largest dairy producer in the U.S., has announced, that as of August 2009, it will no longer purchase milk from dairies injecting their cows with Monsanto’s controversial genetically engineered synthetic hormone, recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH). Yoplait’s rejection of rBGH-tainted milk comes in the wake of a consumer campaign organized by the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, the OCA, and dozens of allied public interest organizations. Yoplait’s action is amplified by a growing number of mainstream companies who have recently turned their backs on rBGH, including Starbucks, Caribou, Cabot cheese, and Subway. For over ten years, OCA and our allies have led the charge against rBGH and other genetically engineered foods and food ingredients. Although rBGH is not allowed on organic farms and is banned in most of the industrialized world because of its threats to both animal and human health, this cruel and dangerous drug is still injected into approximately 10% of U.S. dairy cows–to force them to produce more milk. With your help, OCA and its allies will continue our campaign until Monsanto’s rBGH is driven completely off the market.
The Organic Consumers Association put together this fun animated web video a few years ago, but most of the information is still relevant, other than the dude in the White House. Learn how to avoid getting “slammed” this Valentines with Fair Trade and organic chocolate and flowers.
The Organic Consumers Fund, Organic Consumers Association’s partner for legislative and electoral advocacy, has a new graduate student intern, Chantal Wei-Ying Clement, who is working on our 
While Congress debates a second major federal stimulus package, the banks are salivating in anticipation of their next payout. Meanwhile, thousands of family farmers find themselves squeezed between increased energy and production costs and a monopolized banking and distribution system bent on maximizing corporate profits. To stand up for the family farmer, a coalition of farm groups are pushing Congress to include loan restructuring for family farms as part of the economic stimulus package. As noted by Willie Nelson, the President of Farm Aid, “American family farmers are the backbone of our economy, the first rung on the economic ladder. When family farmers thrive, local economies thrive, and that’s a common-sense approach for rebuilding our country.”
The first 100 days of the current presidency will be the most heavily scrutinized in history, and the number one concern for the new administration is the financial crisis. Desperation has driven many to support approaches that are just re-infusions of lifeblood capital into the dying appendages of Wall Street– treating the symptoms rather than curing the disease. A new book by author David Korten offers a better approach: dismantle Wall Street, and its foundation of phantom wealth, spinning gold from nothing. And bring into being a new economy-locally based, community oriented, and devoted to creating a better life for all, for generations to come. David Korten says the ideal banking system emulates farmer’s markets.
The sushi that we eat today is derived from traditional recipes that are hundreds of years old. Back then, the oceans seemed to have an endless supply of fish. The increasing popularity of sushi cuisine has created a massive and often unsustainable demand for multiple species of fish that most Americans didn’t even know existed. So, how is the green-minded consumer supposed to know which of these exotic fish are sustainably harvested and safe to eat? Scientists at Monterey Bay Aquarium recently analyzed the data and put together a handy and practical “Seafood Watch Sushi Pocket Guide” that helps you order seafood that’s sustainable and healthy.
The OCA is now on Twitter! We will be posting from our news feed, as well as new campaigns, alerts, and anything else we think you’ll like! Get OCA news anywhere and everywhere you go.
