Journalist George Monbiot wants us to believe that getting rid of farmers will
save the planet. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
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ESSAY OF THE WEEKOH, GEORGE

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Writer and campaigner Pat Thomas recently attended the Oxford Real Farming
Conference, a prestigious event whose primary audience is farmers.

One of the speakers was the well-known environmental journalist, George Monbiot.

Monbiot was there to argue in favor of replacing farmers with “fermentation
farmers, bioengineers, protein engineers, metabolic engineers, cell biologists,
computer scientists, IT workers, food scientists and designers, nutritionists,
and other similar professions.”

In other words, out with the farm, and in with the lab.

The farmers in the audience weren’t amused. In fact, it was a “wonder” that
Monbiot “wasn’t chased down the street by an angry mob with pitchforks,” Thomas
writes.

Monbiot may sincerely—or may not, depending on his true motives (which Thomas
questions in her article)—believe that the key to solving the climate crisis is
to end animal agriculture. This despite the fact that many scientists argue just
the opposite—animals are key to a healthy, carbon-sequestering ecosystem
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But oh, George . . . getting behind the techno-food movement? Lab-grown food,
and food created “out of thin air,” are unlikely solutions for “saving the
planet.” And they’re definitely not the solution to improving human health.

Read: ‘Save the Planet—by Destroying Farming?’
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DIRTY DAIRYSAD COWS, HAPPY NEWS?

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Ben & Jerry’s will no longer state on its packaging that the milk and cream used
in its ice cream comes from “happy cows.”

That’s (a little) good news for consumers who have been misled for years into
thinking that all of the milk and cream in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream comes from
dairy farms where cows contentedly frolic outdoors. It doesn’t. In fact, Ben &
Jerry's uses milk from conventional, industrial factory farm-style farms.

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream packaging will continue to use the brand’s cartoon image
of a cow—depicted outdoors, on a green pasture, under a big blue sky. According
to the lawyers representing Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever, the cows
“did not look happy to begin with.”

We’ll let you be the judge of whether or not Ben & Jerry’s cartoon cows look
“happy.” But to be clear—no matter how much fun the media is having with this
happy cow narrative—Ben & Jerry’s deceptive marketing tactics are serious
business.

A little history: OCA sued
[[link removed]] Ben & Jerry’s in July 2018 for the deceptive labeling, marketing and sale of
its ice cream. We alleged that, contrary to Ben & Jerry’s representations of
humane sourcing and environmental responsibility, the ingredients are sourced
from typical factory farms and some of the products contain
[[link removed]] traces of glyphosate, an environmentally harmful biocide and the key ingredient
in Monsanto’s Roundup® weedkiller.

In January 2019, the District of Columbia Superior Court rejected
[[link removed]] Ben & Jerry’s motion to dismiss OCA’s lawsuit
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(CPPA).

In October 2019, a class action lawsuit alleging similar claims was filed
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Then, in a motion to dismiss the Vermont lawsuit, filed
[[link removed]] earlier this week, Ben & Jerry’s revealed publicly that it is removing the
“happy cows” statement from its packaging.

That’s a pretty good indication that the ice cream maker can’t back up its
“happy cows” claims. But, as we allege in our lawsuit, the company— long accused
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pollution problem—can’t back up a lot of other claims, either.

Why does it matter? We explained
[[link removed]] that back when we first sued the brand. And we’re committed to seeing this
lawsuit through to a satisfactory end.

Read OCA’s press release
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Read Vermont Public Radio’s coverage: ‘How Now Unhappy Cow? Ben & Jerry’s Drops
Claims of Contented Bovines
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Read Food Navigator’s coverage: ‘Ben & Jerry’s Hits Back at Lawsuit. We Never
Said *All* of Our Milk Came from Happy Cows’
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SIGN THE PETITION: Tell Ben & Jerry’s: Roundup Ready Ice Cream Isn’t Socially
Responsible. Go Organic!
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Make a tax-deductible contribution to our End Factory Farms campaign
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VIDEO OF THE WEEKBUGGED MEAT?

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You probably don’t give antibiotics much thought—until you need them. But what
happens if you need them, and they don’t work?

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says
[[link removed]] antibiotic-resistant bacteria and fungi cause more than 2.8 million infections
and 35,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. On average, someone in the U.S. gets an
antibiotic-resistant infection every 11 seconds. And every 15 minutes someone
dies.

One of the big reasons infections have grown resistant to antibiotics?
Industrial factory farms—which use nearly 12 million pounds of medically
important antibiotics every year to stave off diseases caused by filthy, crowded
conditions, and (though they don’t like to admit it), to make animals grow
faster.

Interviews
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dominated by a handful of multinational corporations, will go to keep
researchers and safety inspectors from learning the full extent to which the
industry is jeopardizing public health—all while pretending to protect farmers.

The segment also revealed how every package of pork brought into a consumer’s
kitchen contains antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Dr. Lance Price, a
microbiologist at George Washington University and a leading expert in
drug-resistant bacteria, told 60 Minutes:

“. . . these bacteria, we consume them with the meat. Those bacteria then get
into our system and they cause infections. Then, the infections, because they're
already resistant to antibiotics, the doctors don't have any antibiotics to
treat those infections.”

Sure, you may be able to cook the pathogens out of the pork, Price said. But:

“The problem is that when you bring that package into your house you're bringing
a package, a raw package of meat. When you open that up, you have now just
potentially released bacteria pathogens, potentially drug-resistant pathogens,
into your kitchen.”

Dont want antibiotic-resistant bugs in your meat or kitchen? Stick with organic
[[link removed]] pasture-raised pork
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Read and watch: ‘Is Overuse of Antibiotics on Farms Worsening the Spread of
Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria?’
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TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress: Healthy Farm Animals Shouldn’t Get Antibiotics that
Sick People Need
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NEW STUDYDOUBLE WHAMMY

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Two new reports related to pesticide use in the U.S. caught our eye this week.

The first is an analysis
[[link removed]] released by the Center for Biological Diversity reveals how the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—which really ought to be renamed the U.S.
Chemical Industry Protection Agency—is on a roll when it comes to greenlighting
new, and potentially dangerous, chemicals.

According to the analysis, from 2017-2018, the EPA approved 69 new pesticide
products containing an ingredient the EPA recognizes as a “known” or “likely”
carcinogen.

The other study [[link removed]] , out of the University of Iowa College of Public Health, suggests that people
who have high levels of exposure to pyrethroid insecticides are three times more
likely to die of cardiovascular disease than people with low or no exposure.
Pyrethroid insecticides are used on some vegetables and fruits, including
strawberries.

University of Iowa researchers said their study included adults who never worked
in agriculture, which means that the findings have “relevance for the general
public.”

If only our government regulatory agencies found this, and other studies like
it, “relevant.”

Read: ‘New Report Details How EPA Is Promoting ‘Worst of the Worst’ Pesticides
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Read: ‘UI Study Finds Potential Link Between Cardiovascular Death and Some Types
of Pesticides’
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EDUCATION DEPARTMENTDIRT MATTERS

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A growing body of evidence linking healthy soil, healthy humans and a healthy
ecosystem can only lead to one conclusion: Dirt matters. According to a recent article
[[link removed]] in Force of Nature:

The complexity of the soil microbiome, and the way it affects the health of all
other creatures in the ecosystem and the food chain, is simply stunning.

The authors of the article argue that though “the health of most of the planet’s
soil is currently in dire straits,” there’s an obvious solution:

Only by changing our agricultural system, by reverting to a system in which all
organisms in an ecosystem—a diversity of plants, animals, insects, and
microorganisms—are recognized as crucial to the survival of the ecosystem, can
we ensure that our soil, crops, animals, and even our digestive health, will
thrive.

We’ve partnered with Kiss the Ground to offer a 7-week training program to
empower activists, students, farmers, business owners and concerned citizens to
spread awareness about the potential of regenerative agriculture to rebuild
soil, replenish water cycles, reverse global warming and improve human health
worldwide.

The first training program starts Wednesday, January 22. Are you in?

SIGN UP here and get a 20-percent discount with the code: REGEN2020
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LITTLE BYTESESSENTIAL READING

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Anticipation Builds for Settlement of Roundup Cancer Claims
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New Government Website Meant to Clarify GMO Regulations Does Little to Answer
Lingering Questions
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Can Chili Peppers Prevent Heart Attacks and Strokes?
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Missouri Charmer Led Double Life, Masterminded One of the Biggest Frauds in Farm
History
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Soil and the Gut: Two Ecosystems with a Deep Connection
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Asafoetida: Why This Stinky Herb Is so Beneficial
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