Fwd: [Biodemocracy] Organic Bytes #28 - Food and Consumer News Tidbits with an Edge!

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Thu, 19 Feb 2004 15:06:32 -0600

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Organic Bytes #28 - Food and Consumer News Tidbits with an Edge!

 

ORGANIC BYTES #28

Food and Consumer News Tidbits with an Edge!

2/19/2004 By Organic Consumers Association

 

Please forward this publication to family and friends, place it on

websites, print it, and post it. Knowledge is power.

 

 

 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

" What you ask is who you are, and what shapes our lives are the

questions we ask, refuse to ask, or never think of asking..... "

Sam Keen

 

 

 

OCA FILES FORMAL COMPLAINT ON FRAUDULENT ORGANIC LABELS

On February 18, 2004, The Organic Consumers Association (OCA), on behalf

of its national network of 500,000 consumers and 350 natural food

stores, coops, and organic businesses, submitted a formal Complaint to

the USDA's National Organic Program (NOP) against the California-based

company, Bayliss Ranch, and the organic certifier, Quality Assurance

International (QAI), for illegally counting ordinary water in Bayliss

Ranch's water extracts as " organic. " This scheme enables Bayliss Ranch's

customers--manufacturers of food and body care products for Consumers

such as Avalon. Nature's Gate, and Jason's--to make fraudulent claims

that their body care products are " 70% organic, " by counting the

ordinary water in the Bayliss extracts as the primary " organic " content

of the products. This practice threatens to undermine consumer

confidence in the USDA organic label, which assures consumers that

products claiming organic status are truly at least 70% organic WITHOUT

counting water as " organic. " Sign the petition to the USDA:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/bodycare/links2.cfm

 

 

 

MAD COW BOMBSHELL

The New York Times reported on Feb. 17 that researchers in Italy have

discovered a new strain of Mad Cow Disease that could be responsible for

infecting hundreds of Americans and Europeans with a fatal brain wasting

disease called " sporadic CJD " or Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. U.S.

Government scientists and the beef industry have previously admitted

that 300 Americans are dying every year of so-called " sporadic CJD, " but

have denied that these cases, and hundreds like them in Europe, are

caused by eating infected meat products. Dr. Pierluigi Gambetti,

director of the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center,

said the discovery of a new strain of Mad Cow Disease closely resembling

sporadic CJD in humans underlines the need for more stringent testing of

cattle in North America for Mad Cow Disease.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm

 

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FEDERAL COURT SLAPS DOWN DEA BAN ON HEMP FOODS

A federal appeals court has ruled that hemp foods are safe and legal to

consume. Three years ago, when the Drug Enforcement Agency called for a

ban on hemp food products, 100,000 consumers and natural food companies,

and even the Canadian government, wrote letters opposing this decision.

Subsequently a lawsuit was filed against the DEA by the hemp industry,

natural food companies, supported by public interest groups such as the

Organic Consumers Association. Hemp seed, oil, and nuts are a rich

source of protein, dietary fiber, minerals, iron, vitamin E, and a near

perfect composition of essential fatty acids - Omega 3 and 6.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/Toxic/hemp_seed.cfm

 

 

 

MONSANTO BIOPIRATES STEALING INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE

The European Patent Office (EPO) has approved a patent which gives the

Monsanto Corporation " ownership " rights over a traditional variety of

wheat cultivated in rural communities in India for generations. Rainer

Osterwalder of the EPO claims that authorities don't have the legal

power to be able to stop corporations from committing " biopiracy " .

" Sometimes the office cannot prevent that indigenous knowledge is used

for a patent, and then the indigenous people can not use it anymore.

Science is often one step ahead of the laws. "

http://www.organicconsumers.org/Patent/biopirates.cfm

 

 

 

MENDOCINO JUST DAYS AWAY FROM LANDMARK VOTE

March 2 marks the day when voters in Mendocino County (CA) will choose

whether or not their county will become the first in the U.S. to legally

ban genetically engineered crops. The biotech industry is using its

financial and political clout to try to stifle the voices of Mendocino

consumers and farmers, but the OCA predicts a victory for the people.

Stay tuned for the vote results...

http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/mendocino-gmos.cfm

 

 

 

GENETICALLY ENGINEERED WHEAT GENERATES GRASSROOTS RESISTANCE

Monsanto, the corporation that brought us Agent Orange, DDT, Bovine

Growth Hormone and PCBs, has engineered wheat to withstand applications

of the company's toxic Roundup herbicide. Scientists from the University

of Manitoba recently released a report stating that " Under current

conditions the release of Roundup Ready wheat in Western Canada would be

environmentally unsafe. " Monsanto's GE wheat would lead to an increase

in the use of glyphosate herbicide, a widely-used chemical now being

linked to increased growth of fungal plant pathogens, known as fusarium

head blight (FHB). FHB has already caused tens of millions of dollars in

losses for wheat farmers on the eastern prairies of Canada. Consumers in

Japan, South Korea and Europe - some of the biggest international

consumers of wheat - have indicated they do not want an engineered

version of the crop. http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.html

 

 

 

KRAFT & GE WHEAT

FDA officials are completing their perfunctory review of Monsanto's

application for Roundup Ready wheat. Food companies, especially Kraft,

have publicly expressed concerns about consumers rejecting products with

engineered ingredients, especially the new engineered wheat. If Kraft,

the largest food company in the U.S., rejects wheat, it will send a

clear message to farmers not to grow it. Call Kraft CEO Roger Deromedi

at Kraft Foods Headquarters at 1-847-646-2000 or their consumer hotline

at 1-800-323-0768.

 

Please tell Kraft:

-You are concerned about the health, environmental and economic risks

posed by the new genetically engineered wheat and other genetically

engineered food, and -You'll avoid Kraft products that have genetically

engineered ingredients

 

Please ask Kraft to:

-Pledge not to use the new genetically engineered wheat

-Stop using genetically engineered ingredients in its products -Live up

to its promise to do more to ensure a safe food supply

http://www.Krafty.org

 

 

 

WE NEED TO TALK

Interested in sharing your thoughts and ideas with 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

4-6 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

 

 

 

Help others learn about food safety, organics, and related topics. Place

a link on YOUR website to http://OrganicConsumers.org Banners for your

use http://OrganicConsumers.org/logos.htm

 

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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 an

attractive 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:

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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

 

 

 

For additional daily environmental and political news, visit:

http://www.ens-newswire.com

http://www.planetsave.com

 

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