Organic Bytes #195: GMO Vaccines, Obama’s Biotech Friends, and More…
Friday, October 16th, 2009This week from the Organic Consumers Association:
Quote of the Week
World Food Day – Organic Is the Answer to Food Security
“Organic agriculture puts the needs of rural people and the sustainable use of natural resources at the centre of the farming system. Locally adapted technologies create employment opportunities and income. Low external inputs minimize risk of indebtedness and intoxication of the environment. It increases harvests through practices that favor the optimization of biological processes and local resources over expensive, toxic and climate damaging agro-chemicals…in response to a frequently asked question: Yes, the world can be fed by the worldwide adoption of Organic agriculture. The slightly lower yields of Organic agriculture in favorable, temperate zones are compensated with approximately 10-20% higher yields in difficult environments such as arid areas.”
-International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements World Food Day, October 12, 2009
- Quote of the Week: World Food Day – Organic Is the Answer to Food Security
- Alert of the Week: Get Genetically Engineered Vaccines Out of Organic!
- Victory of the Week: Kucinich Secures Funding for Organic Farming Research
- Alert Update of the Week: Obama’s Biotech & Chemically Dependent Friends
- Movie of the Week: Meet the Farmer TV
- Book of the Week: The Raw Milk Revolution
- Organic News of the Week: MOOMilk Is Local and Organic
- Little Bytes: Go Locavore and Cool the World
- Planting Peace and Grassroots Netroots News
Read the full newsletter on their website.
Alert Update of the Week
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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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.
