Any Volunteers?

 

Would you knowingly volunteer to be part of a giant experiment that could have dangerous implications for your health? Probably not.

But the author of this week’s essay argues that we are all just that—unwitting lab rats in an experiment designed by the industrial chemical agriculture giants whose only motive is profits, not science.

In this week’s essay, Dave Chapman, executive director of the Real Organic Project and owner of Long Wind Farm in Thetford, Vermont, explains how industrial agriculture is destroying soil health, destroying plant and animal health, destroying human health—and if that weren’t bad enough, destabilizing our climate.

Chapman says that industrial ag “has chosen yield over taste, and shelf life over nourishment.” Pointing to research on the relationship between soil health and human health, he writes:

“For the first time in history, humans are eating food grown without the benefit of a healthy soil microbiome. The health consequences are likely to be very serious. Any volunteers to participate in this experiment? It is hard to avoid volunteering.”

According to Chapman, humans have evolved to thrive on a diet rich in antioxidants and polyphenols. We are not getting that diet from industrial agriculture.

Read ‘May the Fork Be With You’

Label Loophole

 

When you see a “Product of U.S.A.” label on a package of meat you should be able to assume that the meat you’re looking at came from an animal raised and processed here in the U.S.

But chances are, the meat or some portion of it was actually imported from another country.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Services Agency allows the use of the “Product of U.S.A.” label on any beef as long as the meat passed through a U.S.-based inspection plant, and/or was blended with meat from animals that were born and raised in the U.S.

This policy defrauds consumers who are committed to supporting local producers, and who assume the label means what it says.

The policy also hurts U.S. ranchers, especially those who produce grass-fed and grass-finished beef from cattle born, raised and processed in the U.S.

It’s time to close this labeling loophole.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to stop grass-fed beef fraud!

Concerns about misleading product labeling or advertising? Let us know! [email protected]

'Suggestion of Death'

 

At last count, nearly 42,000 people have joined lawsuits against Monsanto parent company, Bayer, alleging Roundup weedkiller caused their cancer.

This week, U.S. Right to Know’s Carey Gillam reports that as the litigation drags on, “several plaintiffs have died or are nearing death, or have suffered such extreme health problems that their ability to undergo the rigors of depositions and trials has become limited.”

Some of those deceased or dying plaintiffs will be represented at trial by family members, under a legal process called “Suggestion of Death.”

Gillam also reports on the status of the upcoming trials, and on the story of Chris and Elaine Stevick. Elaine was the first to sue Bayer, alleging that her repeated use of Roundup caused her cancer. Now, her husband, Chris—who often mixed Roundup for his wife and tested the sprayer used to dispense the weed killer, has chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Meanwhile, we have a suggestion of our own for Monsanto-Bayer: Stop killing people.

Read 'Cancer Taking Toll as New Roundup Trials Near'

TAKE ACTION: Support our Millions Against Monsanto campaign with your tax-deductible donation

In. Your. Face.

 

The Trump administration has officially abandoned any last shred of pretense when it comes to the role of U.S. regulatory agencies.

Those agencies, funded by your tax dollars, now exist for the sole purpose of protecting corporate profits.

The latest in-your-face assault on your health and safety?

The (under this administration, laughably still named) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to “limit the scientific and medical research that the government can use to determine public health regulations”—even though scientists and physicians say the new rule would “undermine the scientific underpinnings of government policymaking,” according to the New York Times.

That’s right. We don’t want any scientific or medical research getting in the way of writing “environmental protection” policy.

The new euphemistically named “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” proposal would require scientists to disclose all of their raw data, including confidential medical records, before the agency could consider an academic study’s conclusions.

As the Times reports, this “would make it more difficult to enact new clean air and water rules because many studies detailing the links between pollution and disease rely on personal health information gathered under confidentiality agreements.”

Even worse? The proposal could apply retroactively to public health regulations already in place.

Goodbye health and safety, hello smog and mercury-contaminated waterways.

Maybe this administration figures that the more they attack us, the weaker and more overwhelmed we’ll become. Until we just give up.

We’re not willing to give up. Are you?

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Support Citizens Regeneration Lobby, OCA’s 501(c)(4) lobbying arm (not tax-deductible)

Click here for more ways to support our work

'Ground War'

 

Andrew Nisker’s dad was a health nut. And a golfer.

After his dad died—of a rare type of blood cancer called mantle cell lymphoma—Nisker, a documentary filmmaker went looking for answers.

As reported in Salon, Nisker found a 2011 annual report from his father’s former golf course, listing the pesticides used on the golf course.

The tally, for just that one year, came to 16 products—including 2,4-D, a component of the Vietnam War-era Agent Orange herbicide, and chlorpyrifos, known to affect the nervous system.

If you or your kids play outside, you’ll want to watch this film when it’s available. Or sign up to host a screening in your town.

Watch the ‘Ground War’ trailer

Read ‘Golf, Pesticides and a Father’s Death’

Host a ‘Ground War’ screening

TAKE ACTION: Ask your state lawmakers to ban chlorpyrifos!

TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to ban Monsanto’s Roundup Weedkiller

Turkey Travesty

 

Thanksgiving dinner means only one thing for millions of us: turkey. Of the 100 million turkeys on farms around the U.S., 46 million of them will be eaten on Thanksgiving Day.

When turkeys arrive at our supermarkets, plucked and cleaned, there’s nothing to alert most of us to the conditions endured by most of the birds that eventually land on our holiday tables.

But the vast majority of the turkeys we eat come from industrial factory farms, where as many as 25,000 birds—pumped full of antibiotics and GMO corn—are crammed into a single barn.

The lives of industrially produced turkeys are short and miserable. And the environmental damage and human health consequences of supporting factory farm turkey producers are well-documented.

What’s the alternative? Organic, pasture-raised turkey from farmers who treat the birds humanely and are also good stewards of the land.

Read ‘Factory Farmed Turkeys—Nothing to be Thankful For’

Holiday Turkey Buying Guide

Map of regenerative turkey producers

DIG DEEPER: Read this new report on animal welfare labeling claims

TAKE ACTION: Make a tax-deductible donation to our ‘End Factory Farming’ campaign

Essential Reading

 

Shocking Truth How Google Censors Health News

There Are 2,000 Untested Chemicals in Packaged Foods — and It’s Legal

Thailand Wants to Ban These Three Pesticides. The U.S. Government Says No.

Scientific American Warns: 5G Is Unsafe

EPA to Limit Science Used to Write Health Rules

Olive Oil Lobby to FDA: Regulate Us, Please

Trans Fats Linked to Increased Risk for Alzheimer’s