Rocket Fuel in Your Lettuce & Water (and other News Tidbits: Organic Bytes #48)

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Subject:Rocket Fuel in Your Lettuce & Water (and other News Tidbits:

Organic Bytes #48)

 

 

Organic Consumers Association

 

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Organic Bytes #48

Food and Consumer News Tidbits with an Edge!

1/14/2005

 

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ALERT: STOP THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX FROM POLLUTING OUR FOOD &

WATER This week the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released its

long awaited report on perchlorates, a byproduct of rocket fuel that

has contaminated water, vegetables, and dairy products across the

United States. Perchlorates, recklessly discharged into streams and

rivers near military bases and weapons manufacturing facilities, have

contaminated drinking water in 35 states, and have been detected in

measurable amounts in 93% of lettuce and milk samples as well,

including organic products. The government funded NAS study has found

that perchlorates are roughly ten times more toxic to humans than the

Department of Defense has been claiming. Perchlorates can inhibit

thyroid function, cause birth defects, and lower IQs. Perchlorates are

considered particularly dangerous to children. In monitoring wells

across the U.S., scientists have found perchlorate levels as high as

30,000 times what the NAS report indicates would be " safe " exposure.

Due to pressure exerted on Congress by military officials and defense

contractors, there are currently no federal restrictions or tolerance

levels regulating perchlorates. To date, only one Senator, Diane

Feinstein from California, has had the backbone to propose legislation

that would clean up perchlorate pollution and make the military (and

other perchlorate polluters) pay for this clean-up. Please send a

quick letter urging Congress to support Senator Feinstein's (CA) bill

to create federal perchlorate safety regulations, and to allocate

funding for its clean-up. Take action here:

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

 

 

 

21st CENTURY TIMELINE OF U.S. ROCKET FUEL POLLUTION SCANDAL

 

* 2002: EPA releases draft report highlighting widespread water

contamination of a toxic rocket fuel byproduct known as perchlorate.

The report indicates that most of the pollution is coming from U.S.

military sites. [source]

* January 2003 : Courtroom proceedings reveal that aerospace and

defense contractor Lockheed Martin was concealing documents for

several years indicating the company knew about toxic levels of

percholate contamination in the nation's vegetable produce. [source]

* March 2003: California's Senator Feinstein demands the military

clean up perchlorate pollution as a matter of public safety. The

Department of Defense responds by saying it should be exempt from

perchlorate liability, as a matter of anti-terrorist " readiness. "

[source].

*

April 2003: Bush Administration puts gag order on the

Environmental Protection Agency, mandating complete silence regarding

military perchlorate pollution and human health impacts. [source]

* November 2004: FDA finds perchlorate in 93% of lettuce and milk

samples across the nation. Bush Administration requests no regulatory

action take place until the National Academy of Sciences (NAS)

concludes investigation of human health implications. [source]

* January 2005: NAS announces perchlorates are as much as ten

times as toxic as what the Department of Defense had been claiming.

Senator Feinstein of California announces forthcoming bill proposal to

create federal perchlorate regulations and to allocate funding for

clean-up of existing contamination. [source]

 

 

WARNINGS OF DISASTER FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

According to National Geographic, there have been a significant number

of reports documenting animals who seemed to sense the recent Asian

tsunami before it hit. For example, Sri Lanka's Yala National Park

suffered many human casualties, but park managers said the wildlife

suffered almost no casualties. " The elephants, wild boar, deer,

monkeys and others had moved inland to avoid the killer waves. " In

Thailand, seemingly insane elephants broke their chains and fled

inland before the waves hit. Authorities in India reported that " the

indigenous, stone-age tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar islands

escaped the effects of the tsunami because they heeded warning signals

from birds and animals. " A number of scientists have pointed out that

this remarkable behavior should alert us to pay closer attention to a

wide range of warnings from the animal kingdom, not only in regards to

natural disasters, but also in relation to danger signs of the impact

on animal and human health of environmental pollution, such as the

recent outbreak of frog mutations, species extinctions, and drops in

mammalian fertility.http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/tsunami.cfm

 

 

 

 

MAD COWS AND INSANE BUREAUCRATS

Despite repeated claims that " all is well. " a third case of Mad Cow

Disease has been confirmed in Canada. The discovery has prompted the

U.S. Department of Agriculture to reconsider their plan to reopen U.S.

borders to Canadian cattle exports. The beef industry and the USDA

have always claimed that North America was free from the fatal brain

wasting disease--until the first confirmed case in 2003. Mad Cow has

killed approximately 150 consumers in UK and Europe since 1996. Mad

Cow disease is spread through the routine practice of feeding blood,

manure, and slaughterhouse waste to cattle, a practice banned in

Europe and prohibited on organic farms across the world. OCA Policy

Board member John Stauber, co-author of the book, Mad Cow USA, points

out how current U.S. and Canadian regulations are putting public

health at risk http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/jokeregs011305.cfm

 

 

 

ANOTHER CALIFORNIA COUNTY MAY GO GE-FREE

Activists in California's Sonoma County, have successfully placed an

initiative on the ballot for a 10 year moratorium on genetically

engineered (GE) crops. After 500 grassroots volunteers collected a

record 45,387 petition signatures, proponents of the ballot initiative

are optimistic the vote will turn out in their favor. The proposal is

considered slightly more moderate than bans that passed in Mendocino,

Trinity, and Marin counties last year, since it calls for a 10 year

moratorium on commercial cultivation of GE crops, rather than a

permanent ban.http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge-free.htm

 

 

 

MONSANTO FOUND GUILTY OF INTERNATIONAL BRIBERY

Monsanto, the leading global producer of genetically engineered seeds

and crops, has been found guilty of bribing government officials in

Indonesia. The Justice Department has fined Monsanto $1.5 million for

bribing the Indonesian Ministry of Environment to allow the company to

ignore required environmental impact studies before proceeding to

plant genetically modified crops. Meanwhile, in the U.S., bribery

seems hardly necessary for the Gene Giant, given that the Bush

administration and regulatory agencies are stacked with former

Monsanto employees and pro-biotech bureaucrats. Monsanto strengthened

its grip on U.S. policymaking last week when one of its former

lobbyists, Martha Scott, was appointed as Staff Director of the Senate

Agriculture Committee. Other Monsanto boosters in the Washington power

elite include former Secretary of Agriculture Anne Veneman (formerly

head of the Monsanto subsidiary Calgene), Secretary of Defense Donald

Rumsfeld (formerly CEO of a Monsanto pharmaceutical subsidiary,

Searle) and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (formerly a Monsanto

lawyer). http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.html

 

 

 

" ORGANIC " FACTORY FARMS?

The Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute has filed a formal complaint

with the USDA National Organic Program against an " organic " dairy farm

in Colorado. The industrial sized feedlot, Aurora Dairy, claims its

milk is organic, despite the fact the facility houses 5,600 dairy cows

in a factory farm setting with no real access to pasture (which is

required by the National Organic Standards). A similar factory farm in

Idaho supplies Horizon Organic (now owned by dairy giant Dean Foods)

with much of its " organic " milk. Mark Kastel, Cornucopia's Senior Farm

Analyst, said that such factory style operations go against the spirit

of organic standards and threaten the livelihood of genuine organic

family farmers. Almost immediately following the complaint submission,

the USDA issued an internal memo, asking the National Organic

Standards Board to develop strict policies on the pasture

requirements. http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/cornucopia011205.cfm

 

 

 

ORGANIC MILK HAS MORE NUTRIENTS AND ANTIOXIDANTS

A new study has found that organic milk has higher levels of nutrients

and antioxidants than conventional milk. According to research

spearheaded by the UK's Soil Association, dairy cattle raised on an

organic diet produce milk with 50% more Vitamin E and 75% more beta

carotene than conventionally farmed dairy. The organic milk is also

two to three times higher in zeaxanthine and lutein, which are

powerful antioxidants. Jill Eisberg, chief executive of The Dairy

Council said the research is " an interesting new development for the

dairy industry " . http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/milk011005.cfm

 

 

 

 

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