Organic Food

[Guest guest]

Dear Herbalists,

This is rathera long speech by Ronnie Cimmins of the Organic

Consumers Association.

The reason I am posting it here is because there are a lot of facts

that you may find interesting to back up your own ideas of using Natural

Methods..........Best Wishes Penny (Organic Consumers Association

Volunteer)

 

September 2000

 

Getting Political--Why Americans Are Voting with Their Forks and Wallets

 

by Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association

 

Cutting through the rhetoric and slick PR of yet another electoral

season,

it's obvious that most politicians are still in denial about America's

food

and farm crisis. When was the last time we heard a politician in

Washington or in our state capitol talk about the fact that we have 76

million cases of food poisoning a year; that 16% of all males and 13% of

 

all women can look forward to getting a food-related case of cancer;

that

8% of our children have food allergies; that 16% of our children are

diagnosed with behavioral or learning disabilities; that food-related

antibiotic-resistant diseases are a growing public health problem; that

the

majority of the population are overweight or obese; and that we have a

literal epidemic of diet-related heart disease? Not to mention that 30%

of

our topsoil is gone; that conventional farmers spray a billion pounds of

 

toxic pesticides and apply 12 billion pounds of chemical fertilizers

every

year; that industrial agriculture is our greatest source of water

pollution

and greenhouse gas emissions; that toxic sewage sludge is routinely

spread

on non-organic farms; that thousands of species are going extinct;

family

farmers are going bankrupt; dead and diseased animal parts are being fed

 

back to animals on a massive scale; and that the nation's

slaughterhouses

are filthy, disease-ridden, and inhumane.

 

It's clear that most politicians are more interested in listening to

agribusiness and biotech special interests than what consumers and small

 

farmers have to say. The title of Texas populist Jim Hightower's latest

book says it all: If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote, They Would Have

Given

Us Candidates.

 

America's organic consumers, animal protectionists, and

environmentalists

have a long way to go in terms of getting organized and making our

presence

felt in Washington, the state capitals, and on Main Street. But in the

meantime, even though we're short on political candidates, millions of

us

have started voting everyday, with our forks and knives, with our

pocketbooks and food dollars, and our grassroots public education and

mobilization efforts. And with this new type of food politics, we're

having

a major impact, if not yet in Washington, at least in the marketplace

and

in the court of public opinion.

 

Organic foods are the fastest growing and most profitable segment of

American agriculture, according to USDA statistics. A February 1997 poll

by

the biotech giant Novartis found that 54% of US consumers would prefer

to

see organic agriculture become the predominant form of food and fiber

production--as opposed to conventional, chemical-intensive farming or

agricultural biotechnology. A June 2000 survey carried out by the

National

Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank, indicated that 69%

of

the American public believe that the organic label on food products

means

that they are safer and better for the environment. This is the main

reason

why 10 million organic consumers will buy eight billion dollars worth of

 

organic food this year in the US. By 2010, at the current rate of

growth,

organic will constitute 10% of US agriculture. But of course this is not

 

enough. In Europe trends indicate that 30-50% of all farming may be

organic

by the year 2010.

 

More and more health and environmentally conscious Americans are turning

to

organic food. And for good reason:

 

* Concern over toxic pesticide residues. A March 1999 study by Consumer

Reports found that organic foods had little or no pesticide residues

compared to conventional produce. A 1999 study by the Environmental

Working

Group found that millions of US children eating non-organic fruits and

vegetables were ingesting dangerous amounts of a variety of pesticide

neurotoxins and carcinogens.

 

* Concern over antibiotic drug residues. Organic farming prohibits the

use

of antibiotics in animal feed. Recent scientific research has confirmed

the

fact that antibiotics, routinely fed to factory farm animals to make

them

grow faster, are creating dangerous antibiotic-resistant pathogens which

 

are infecting Americans who eat these animal products.

 

* Concern over food poisoning, deadly e-Coli 0157:H7, campylobacter,

salmonella, listeria, and other food borne diseases. The Centers for

Disease Control admit that there are at least 76 million cases of food

poisoning every year in the US. While there are no documented cases of

organic meat or poultry setting off food poisoning epidemics, filthy

slaughterhouses, contaminated feed, and diseased animals are commonplace

in

industrial agriculture. According to government statistics, most

non-organic beef cattle are contaminated with e-Coli 0157:H7; over 90%

of

chickens are tainted with campylobacter, and 30% of poultry are infected

 

with salmonella.

 

* Concern over food irradiation, use of toxic sewage sludge spread on

farmland, and genetic engineering. Organic certification prohibits

irradiation, sewage sludge, and genetic engineering. A 1997 poll by CBS

found 77% of Americans opposed to food irradiation, while a recent

survey

by the Angus Reid polling group found the majority of US consumers

opposed

to genetically engineered foods. Consumers are especially incensed that

industry and the FDA refuse to require labeling of genetically

engineered

food. Numerous polls over the past 15 years have found that 80-95% of

Americans want labels on gene-altered foods, mainly so that they can

avoid

buying them.

 

* Concern over the environment.

 

Studies indicate that the industrialization and globalization of

agriculture are a leading contributor to greenhouse gases and climate

destabilization. Other research shows an increasing percentage of

municipal

water supplies are contaminated by pesticide residues, chemical

fertilizers, and sewage runoff from factory farms and feedlots.

 

* Concern for animals and biodiversity.

 

Factory farms and genetic engineering are nothing less than

institutionalized forms of cruelty for farm animals. Industrial

agriculture

poses a mortal threat to wildlife and the entire web of biodiversity.

Only

a sustainable, decentralized, humane, and organic form of agriculture is

 

defensible in moral and ethical terms. The patenting of living organisms

is

inherently immoral.

 

It's no wonder consumers are turning to organic foods while

biotechnology

and agri-chemical special interests are starting to panic.

 

So keep in mind this election season that those of us who care about

food,

family farms, animals, and sustainability have to start getting more

political. We've got to organize ourselves into a powerful nationwide

consumers network, which is what my organization, the Organic Consumers

Association, is trying to do, so that we can make our voices heard, and

turn this country in the right direction. But in the meantime we need to

 

keep on voting every day--with our forks and our pocketbooks. And

finally,

there's is at a least one politician running for national office this

fall

who has spoken out against genetic engineering, factory farming, and

corporate control and who has spoken out for an organic system of family

 

farm based agriculture. Of course we're not talking about Bush or Gore,

but

rather Ralph Nader, the first Presidential candidate in modern history

to

make the politics of food a cornerstone of his platform. Ralph may not

win

this year, but his candidacy heralds a promise of things to come. As Bob

 

Dylan predicted many years ago. The times they are a changing.

 

Ronnie Cummins, National Director, Organic Consumers Association

<www.purefood.org>

Author of the new book, Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense

Guide

for Consumers (Marlowe & Company)

 

###

 

Ronnie Cummins

Organic Consumers Association

6114 Hwy 61

Little Marais, MN 55614

Tel. 218-226-4164

Fax 218-226-4157

<ronnie

<http://www.purefood.org>

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