Fwd: [Biodemocracy] Organic Bytes #26 - Organic and Foods News Tidbits with an Edge

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Fri, 16 Jan 2004 14:02:36 -0600

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[biodemocracy]

Organic Bytes #26 - Organic and Foods News Tidbits with an Edge

 

ORGANIC BYTES #26

Organic and Food News Tidbits with an Edge

1/16/2003 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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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

" Universal testing of every cow slaughtered for human consumption in the

U.S. is the only way to ensure the safety of the American beef supply. "

 

Dr. Michael Greger, M.D. 12/31/03

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/greger123103a.cfm

 

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IS MAD COW DISEASE CAUSING THOUSANDS OF HUMAN DEATHS IN THE U.S.?

Thanks to a massive marketing blitz (funded by scarce taxpayer money)

the U.S. Government has been working overtime to alleviate the public's

concerns about Mad Cow Disease and its human counterpart Creutzfeldt

Jacob Disease (CJD). Consumers no longer know who to trust. Regardless,

experts on all sides of the political spectrum agree with one basic

fact: the two diseases are undeniably connected. In both cases, aberrant

proteins, known as prions, begin to multiply and literally cause holes

in the brain, ultimately leading to death. According to the U.S. Center

for Disease Control, hundreds of CJD human fatalities have been

occurring in the U.S. every year, but until now, they have simply been

written off as unexplainable and spontaneous cases. At the same time, it

is well known that ingesting meat contaminated with these prions causes

the same fatal reaction to occur in the human body. Based on that basic

understanding, coupled with the fact that the vast majority of U.S.

cattle are never tested for Mad Cow Disease, scientists like Dr. Michael

Gregor, a world renowned expert on the issue, and dozens of research

institutions around the world are now linking these deaths to the food

supply. http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/GregerCJD.cfm

 

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WHO DO YOU TRUST?

The Bush Administration gave the USDA Secretary of Agriculture position

to Anne Venemon (who once served on Monsanto's Calgene Board ofs). She appointed Dale Moore as her Chief of Staff. Prior to

playing his new role of " protecting " consumers from food safety threats

like Mad Cow Disease, Dale Moore was the chief lobbyist for the National

Cattlemen's Beef Association.

Source: http://www.usda.gov/agencies/gallery/moore.htm

 

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BREAKING NEWS: HUMAN LIFE MAY BE WORTH AS MUCH AS A NICKLE! Although the

U.S. banned beef imports and frowned upon the UK when Mad Cow Disease

related CJD began to take the lives of British citizens, recently

revealed documents show little has been done to protect U.S. consumers

from similar outbreaks within our own borders. In fact, internal USDA

papers dating back to 1991 show that the U.S. government (and related

lobbyists) have been basing food safety related decisions on corporate

profit margins over human health. Specifically, the USDA refused

precautionary measures that would mitigate the possible outbreak of Mad

Cow Disease, stating that " the cost to the livestock and rendering

industries would be substantial. " This assessment may be true, depending

on what the price of human life is. Indeed, the cost of testing all

cattle for this fatal disease would add 3 to 5 pennies per pound to the

price of beef.

Reference: Rampton, S and J. Stauber. Mad Cow USA Common Courage

Press; http://prwatch.org/books/madcow.html

 

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MILLIONS OF CONSUMERS UNITE

Last year, while the E.U. tested 10 million cattle for Mad Cow, the

U.S. only tested 20,526 cows out of 35 million slaughtered. In response

to this threat to food safety and consumer rights, the OCA has launched

a massive campaign to pressure the USDA into creating standards that

emulate those of Japan and the EU. Every day, thousands of citizens are

signing on to this important petition. Help the OCA in achieving its

goal of gathering over a million petition signatures, demanding that the

U.S. Government adopt and enforce:

~ Mandatory testing for all cattle brought to slaughter, before they

enter the food chain.

~ Ban the feeding of blood, manure, and slaughterhouse waste to animals.

 

Please forward this email to family and friends! Sign the petition here:

http://organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm

 

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GOT BLOOD?

The Mad Cow Disease outbreak in the UK sent off global warning signals,

regarding various beef industry practices that perpetuate the disease.

On the top of this list was the logical push to ban feeding cows to

other cows, since the disease spreads via ingestion of infected beef.

Despite this, in order to maximize profit margins in the U.S., calves

are regularly fed cow blood as a protein supplement. The OCA is

coordinating a donation drive to post a quarter page educational ad in

the Sunday Washington Post, highlighting the obvious threats of cow

cannibalism to the human food supply. Check out the ad and consider

donating to this educational campaign!

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/gotblood.cfm

 

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FAMILY FARMERS VS. TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS

In Mendocino County CA, voters will be deciding whether or not to ban

genetically modified crops, to protect the county's organic farmers from

possible contamination from neighboring GE crops. The vote will be held

March 2, 2004 and would make the county the first in the U.S. to pass an

anti-GMO resolution. The biotech industry has responded with a goliath

investment into persuading the voters of the county against the measure.

Indeed, the biotech battleplan is to call every household in the county

with a paid 20-30 minute conversation, in order to assuage voter

concerns about GE issues. Can Mendocino organic family farmers compete

with transnational corporations? Your help is needed:

http://www.gmofreemendo.com/

 

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ORGANIC TOXIC SLUDGE

Much of what you flush down your toilet likely ends up being spread on

local farm fields as fertilizer for the food you eat. At face value, it

seems like a perfectly natural process. Historically, manure has been a

preferred fertilizer for farmers worldwide. In the U.S. 60% of sewage

sludge is treated, dried and shipped out to the farm. Proponents claim

the sludge has only low levels of bacteria, but what about the chemicals

homeowners and industry dump into the wastewater system? Those toxins

don't just disappear. When applied to the soil, they work their way into

the ground water, the air, and the plants we eat. Award winning

scientist, David Lewis, a microbiologist, was recently fired from the

Environmental Protection Agency for his criticism of the U.S.

Government's sewage sludge policies. Lewis and likeminded opponents

question how the EPA, in 1992, determined that sewage sludge was too

toxic to continue dumping in the oceans, yet it's perfectly legal to

apply the same stuff to food crops intended for human ingestion. The

EPA is now considering selling this same sludge under the label " organic

compost " . Write a letter to the EPA, expressing your concerns:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/sludge011504.cfm

 

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NOTE TO CO-OP AND NATURAL FOOD STORE SUBSCRIBERS:

Organic Bytes is a great tool for keeping your staff and customers up to

date on the latest issues. Feel free to forward this email to your staff

and print for posting on bulletin boards and staff break tables. You are

also welcome to use this material for your newsletters. There's a

super-pretty print-friendly PDF version of this available for free

download at http://www.organicconsumers.org/organicbytes.htm

 

 

 

To to Organic Bytes, send an email to:

biodemocracy-request with the word

" " in subject.

 

 

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

 

 

 

For additional daily environmental and political news, visit:

http://www.ens-newswire.com http://www.planetsave.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

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