[Biodemocracy]Organic Bytes - Food and Consumer News Tidbits with an Edge!

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[biodemocracy]Organic Bytes - Food and Consumer News Tidbits with an

Edge!

 

Organic Bytes #34

 

 

Food and Consumer News Tidbits with an Edge! --- by the Organic Consumers

Association (OCA)

 

June 2004

 

In this issue

 

· GE-FREE ZONE UPDATES

 

· HOW TO STRETCH YOUR ORGANIC FOOD DOLLARS

 

· AQUATIC TERMINATORS: GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON

 

· JUNK FOOD WREAKING HAVOC ON KIDS

 

· GETTING SCHOOLS TO SELL HEALTHIER FOOD

 

· BREAST FEEDING ADS WATERED DOWN

 

· ORGANICS DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

 

· LIVESTOCK FACTORIES POOP ON PUBLIC

 

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

print it, and post it. Knowledge is power!

 

--------

 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK " If there's a human race here in a hundred years, it won't be

any big thing that will save it -- a big slogan, a big movement, a big

organization of any kind. It'll be saved by literally hundreds of millions of

little things going on. " Pete Seeger, American folksinger and activist,

5/12/2004

 

GE-FREE ZONE UPDATES

Directly challenging the powerful biotech industry, a dozen counties in

California are now working towards becoming free of genetically engineered crops

and animals. Following the lead of Mendocino County, whose citizens voted on

March 2, 2004 to make it a GE-free zone, counties including Marin, Sonoma,

Humboldt, Butte, San Luis Obispo, and others are gathering petition signatures

by the thousands in order to place " GE-Free Zone " ordinances on voter ballots

for November. A parallel effort is underway in Boulder County, Colorado.

Organizers of these campaigns are working on tight petition deadlines and need

volunteers and donations in their area. Additional campaigns are sprouting

across the nation, from Vermont to Hawaii.

 

Check out OCA's Biodemocracy Alliance webpage to find out how you can get

involved with a GE-free campaign near you.

 

HOW TO STRETCH YOUR ORGANIC FOOD DOLLARS

 

Although the price of organic foods has been steadily dropping, due to better

distribution and larger economies of scale, organic foods, on average are still

more expensive than conventional foods. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published

an article this week that offers tips for stretching your organic food dollars.

Some suggested methods include buying in bulk, starting a buying club, growing

and canning your own food, joining a Community Supported Agriculture program

(CSA), and getting shopper discounts by volunteering at your local co-op.

 

More tips...

 

AQUATIC TERMINATORS: GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON

 

A troubling new study from the National Academy of Sciences indicates that

genetically engineered salmon will not only consume all the food needed by other

species of salmon, but will even gobble up members of their own schools.

Scientists documented inter-fish relations between genetically engineered (GE)

salmon and normal coho salmon in closed tanks with varying levels of food input.

Total war erupted, as the frankenfish gobbled up all the food and then started

attacking each other. At study's end, there were only one or two GE fish left in

tanks that originally held 50 fish. The GE mutants were engineered to grow twice

as fast as normal salmon, but in the gene-splicing process, it seems their drive

for food and aggressiveness have also increased. The GE fish would ostensibly be

raised in enclosed nets on salmon farms on the coasts, but there is great

concern for what could happen when these GE salmon escape from their pens. As a

note, hundreds of thousands of factory farmed salmon

have escaped into the wild in the Northwest, just in the past few years, when

floating pens were torn apart by storms or sea lions.

 

More...

 

JUNK FOOD WREAKING HAVOC ON KIDS

 

A new study out of the UK reveals that additives in foods increases

hyperactivity in children. The study of a test group of 277 preschoolers found

that when additives were removed from the children's diets, the rate of

hyperactivity decreased substantially. According to Dr. John Warner, the lead

scientist in the study, " The effect is significant but its magnitude requires

further elaboration before making any sweeping recommendations about legislation

on permitted food additives. "

 

More...

 

 

GETTING SCHOOLS TO SELL HEALTHIER FOOD

 

Congress is in the process of reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act, providing

citizens with an opportunity to phase junk foods out of schools. The act governs

the food schools feed to children, and Senator Tom Harkin is introducing a new

amendment to the act that would require schools to adopt wellness policies.

These policies would phase out soda pop and junk food machines in schools and

would also ask the Institute of Medicine to recommend nutritional standards for

foods sold to or eaten by children in school. Send an email of support to the

Senate Today.

 

Take Action...

 

 

BREAST FEEDING ADS WATERED DOWN

 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched a television

advertising campaign to promote breast feeding and to highlight the risks of

formula feeding. Although the program was initially designed to provide strong

educational messaging for mothers across the U.S, it was ultimately " watered

down " by the powerful drug and infant formula industry. ABC News uncovered

documents that showed Secretary of Health, Tommy Thompson, met privately with

infant formula industry officials, while sculpting the campaign. At the same

time, he refused to meet with breast-feeding advocates. " The fact that they

managed to get this campaign watered down is evidence that money can influence

good medicine, and that large amounts of money can influence even good doctors, "

said Dr. Larry Gartner, of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

 

Read on...

 

ORGANICS DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

 

The California-based Organic Express (BOX) is demonstrating a new way to support

local family farmers while bringing fresh organic produce to the doorsteps of

some 3,500 families in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas. BOX serves as a

middleman between organic farmers and consumers by picking-up fresh produce at

its member farms and delivering it directly to customers. The produce is

guaranteed to be delivered within 24 hours of being harvested. The process

allows folks with hectic schedules to more conveniently join a community

supported agriculture program (CSA), while allowing the farmers to focus on

doing what they do best... farm. The success of this innovated business model

could and should catch on in communities everywhere.

 

Read on...

 

LIVESTOCK FACTORIES POOP ON PUBLIC

 

United States livestock processing plants are close to striking a cozy deal with

the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In an attempt to set specific

pollution standards for the largest factory processing plants, the EPA is

requesting these plants collect ongoing data regarding pollution output and

submit it to the EPA. In return, the processing plants gain an alarming 4-10

years of immunity from key environmental legislation, like the Clean Air Act.

Opponents object that this will threaten human and environmental health, given

that the nation's largest processing plants spew out an estimated 575 billion

pounds of manure every year.

 

More...

 

 

 

Quick Links...

 

 

· The Organic Consumers Association

 

· Printable PDF version of this newsletter

 

· Share your thoughts and meet-up with other organic consumers at OCA's web

forum!

 

· For more enviro-daily news visit Planetsave.com

 

· For more enviro-daily news visit ENS-Newswire.com

 

· Place an OCA banner on your website

 

 

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