Organics at a Crossroads

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Organic Bytes #39 - Food and Consumer News Tidbits

with an Edge!

 

 

Thanks for Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth is!

 

Alert from the Organic Consumers Association (OCA)

 

9/9/2004

 

Save money and help the OCA by buying one or more of

the OCA's Organic Coupon Books for $10 (up to $400 in

savings). See a detailed list of the coupons here:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/coupons/index.cfm

 

 

Host an OCA House Party and show the new highly

acclaimed film, " The Future of Food, " by Debra Koons

Garcia. http://www.organicconsumers.org/party.htm

 

 

Donate: All contributions are tax-deductible.

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

 

 

Stay tuned to Organic Bytes and our website

http://www.organicconsumers.org

for the latest news and developments.

 

 

 

Organics at a Crossroads

 

" Regime change " seems to be in the air this fall;

whether we are talking about personal lifestyle

changes, converting the marketplace, or transforming

the political arena. Millions are saying " No! "

to junk foods, frankenfoods, pesticides, industrial

agriculture, and the general " Wal-Martization "

of American life.

 

Hopeful trends, such as the growth of the organic food

and holistic health sector, suggest that a critical

mass of consumers are beginning to comprehend

that our personal and family's health and well-being

are directly related to what we eat and drink, what we

breathe into our lungs, and what we wear or apply to

our skin.

 

In terms of organic food, demand is growing so fast

that most grocery items sold in North American and

European supermarkets will likely be labeled

" organic " within 20 years. The question is, how

" organic " will they be? Genetically engineered crops,

namely corn, canola, cotton, and soybeans, are already

starting to contaminate the fields and seed

stocks of organic and traditional indigenous farmers.

Big corporations are lining up to buy out organic

companies, monopolize retail outlets, and work with

government bureaucrats to lower organic standards.

 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/save090604.cfm

 

The biotech and agri-toxics lobby are planting stories

in the press, claiming that organic foods are neither

safer nor better than industrial foods.

 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/attack090704.cfm

 

Congress doles out $25 billion a year to subsidize

biotech and industrial agriculture, while family

farmers, who desperately need help to convert to

organic and sustainable practices, are getting next

to nothing.

 

And finally, global treaties such as NAFTA and the WTO

are programmed for disaster, designed to enthrone

biotech and industrial agriculture, while driving

two billion farmers and rural villagers off the

land and into urban slums.

 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/slums090604.cfm

 

We need to meet up and move together, as a massive

organic consumer bloc and body politic, and change

course.

 

 

We need to raise significant funds and raise mass

consciousness.

 

 

We need to reward the farmers, the organic

companies, and the politicians who are doing the

" right thing, " and put the " Biodevastators "

on notice that regime change is coming.

 

What You Can Do:

Vote with your consumer dollar! By supporting

products and businesses that are established on the

principles of Fair Trade and sustainable

agriculture, you're putting your money where your

mouth is. One way you can save money, support positive

products, and the OCA, all at the same time, is by

purchasing a $10 OCA Organic Coupon book, containing

up to $400 worth of savings on nationally

distributed products (for a detailed list of coupons,

click here).

 

Please give us your support now, so we can expand our

nationwide public education and mobilization

activities... both before and after the upcoming

November elections.

 

Save money and help the OCA by buying one or more of

the OCA's Organic Coupon Books for $10 (up to $400 in

savings). See a detailed list of the coupons here:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/coupons/index.cfm

 

 

Host an OCA House Party and show the new highly

acclaimed film, " The Future of Food, " by Debra Koons

Garcia. http://www.organicconsumers.org/party.htm

Donate: All

contributions are tax-deductible.

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

Stay tuned to Organic

Bytes and our website http://www.organicconsumers.org

for the latest news and developments.

 

Bon Appetit,

 

Ronnie Cummins

 

ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION

6101 Cliff Estate Road

Little Marais, MN 55614

Phone: (218) 226-4164 Fax: (218) 353-7652