Hello Viewers,

Sustainable Food Pledge, Sludge, and Frankencrops

#215, March 9, 2010

Health, Justice and Sustainability News
from the Organic Consumers Association

Edited by Alexis Baden-Mayer and Ronnie Cummins

In this issue:

• Quote of the Week: Edward Bernays: " Those who manipulate the unseen..."
• Take Action:
  • Protest " Sham-Poo," Tell USDA and Faux Organic Cosmetic Companies to Come Clean
  • Press Whole Foods Market and United Natural Foods Inc. to Sign the Sustainable Food Pledge
• Action Updates:
  • More Than 200,000 Consumers, Farmers, and Organic Businesses Call for USDA to Prohibit Genetically Engineered Alfalfa
  • America's Greenest Mayor: " Let Them Eat Toxic Sludge!"
  • Procter and Gamble Agrees to Reformulate Body Products After OCA and Allies Expose Toxic Contaminant
• Little Bytes

Connect with us:

Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate

" Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of. In almost every act of our lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind."

-Edward Bernays, Pioneer of Corporate PR and Propaganda

PLEASE DONATE!

OCA Needs Your Help to Spread the Organic Revolution

OCA and our international network of organic consumers and farmers understand that we have a positive life-affirming solution for the global food, health, and climate crisis: organic food, farming, and ranching. But to get out our all-important message we need your support. Please send us a tax-deductible donation today.

PLEASE DONATE

Take Action: Rally for Organic Integrity at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, CA

March 12, 2010 at the Anaheim Convention Center at 10 a.m.

Are you concerned about the rampant misbranding of so-called " organic" personal care and cosmetics products?

Join the Organic Consumers Association at the Anaheim, California Convention Center for a rally and press conference March 12 at Expo West, the largest annual gathering of the natural and organic products industry. Join us as we demand that all fraudulent " organic" brands clean up their act or leave the organic personal care aisle altogether!

The Organic Consumers Association's " Coming Clean" Campaign has been working to clean up the natural and organic personal care industry for the past six years. We believe that organic bodycare standards should mirror organic food standards. The word " organic" is not properly regulated on personal care products (examples: soap and bodywash, toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, etc.) as it is on food products, unless the product is certified by the USDA National Organic Program. Due to this lax regulation, many personal care products have the word " organic" in their brand name or otherwise on their product label, but unless they are USDA certified, the main cleansing ingredients and preservatives are usually made with synthetic and petrochemical compounds. In November of 2009, OCA launched a consumer boycott of all offending brands, and in January 2010 OCA filed a complaint with the National Organic Program requesting an investigation into this issue.

Giant 5 ft. tall shampoo bottles mocking fraudulent " organic" brands will greet attendees at the trade show while OCA activists distribute Consumer Warning leaflets. Speakers from genuinely certified organic companies and OCA staff will give updates on the fight to clean up rampant labeling fraud in the body care and cosmetics sector. Join us as we expose the organic imposters and recognize the ethical companies that are upholding organic integrity.

Contact Alexis Baden-Mayer at alexis[a]organicconsumers.org or 202-744-0853 to get involved

Read More and Take Action

Activists Protest at Whole Foods Market Shareholder Meeting in Vancouver

Sustainable Supply Chain Coalition Delivers a Clear Message: Whole Foods' " Business as Usual" is Bad for People and Bad for the Planet

The international Sustainable Supply Chain Coalition, comprised of environmental groups, food activist organizations and labor unions, including the OCA, Sierra Club of Canada, and the Teamsters Union, protested inside and outside the Whole Foods Market shareholder meeting in Vancouver, BC on Monday March 8, 2010 to support four shareholder resolutions and call for a change in Whole Foods Market's unsustainable practices.

The international coalition is calling on Whole Foods Market and its major supplier United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) to sign the Sustainable Food Pledge and stop marketing conventional chemical, GMO, and energy-intensive foods and products as " natural" or " almost organic " increase sales of certified organic products from 1/3 of current sales to 2/3 of sales within three years and to pressure all of their so-called " natural" suppliers to sign a contract with an accredited organic certifier to begin to make the transition to organic.

The pledge also calls on WFM and UNFI to practice what they preach in terms of domestic Fair Trade, to recognize the rights of workers - from farm workers in the fields, to food processing workers, truck drivers, warehouse workers, and retail clerks - to organize themselves into unions if they so choose. The Pledge also calls on WFM and UNFI to recognize the rights of all citizens to universal health care and to acknowledge the fact that only a massive transition to organic food and farming can sequester sufficient greenhouse gases to prevent climate catastrophe.

Read More and Take action

Action Update: More Than 200,000 Consumers, Farmers and Organic Businesses Call for USDA to Ban Monsanto's Genetically Engineered Alfalfa

The contamination of non-GE and organic alfalfa hay and seed With Monsanto's Roundup Ready Alfalfa would likely devastate the organic dairy and beef industry.

More than 200,000 people submitted comments to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) critiquing the substance and conclusions of its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on Genetically Engineered (GE) Alfalfa. Groups including the Organic Consumers Association, the National Organic Coalition, Center for Food Safety (CFS), Food and Water Watch, CREDO Action, and Food Democracy Now, mobilized our communities to help generate the unprecedented number of comments.

Read More and Take Action

Action Update: World's Greenest Mayor: " Let Them Eat Toxic Sludge!"

A " sludge dump" organized by San Francisco garden activists and the Organic Consumers Association made national news last week. TV cameras from all the major networks filmed us as we took sewage sludge that the city had told gardeners was " organic compost" and dumped it on the steps of City Hall.

Sadly, Gavin Newsom, the man Organic Style Magazine called the World's Greenest Mayor, doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong with using sewage sludge on food crops.

Learn More and Take Action

Action Update: Procter and Gamble Agrees to Reformulate Body Care Products Due to Toxic Contaminant

On Friday March 12, 2009, the Organic Consumers Association, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and the Green Patriot Working Group will announce the details of an agreement from Procter and Gamble to reformulate 18 products from its top-selling Herbal Essences brand to reduce levels of the carcinogenic petrochemical 1,4-Dioxane.

In addition, OCA and allies will announce new results from a continuing study that has tested over 150 consumer products for the toxic chemical. This year, 20 laundry detergents were tested, including major " natural" and conventional brands. Ironically, the seven laundry detergent brands from PandG had by far the highest levels of 1,4-dioxane overall. The independent third-party laboratory, Exova, known for rigorous testing and chain-of-custody protocols, performed all testing. Over the past two years, OCA research, litigation, and marketplace pressure have forced dozens of so-called organic and natural brands to reformulate their health and beauty products.

Read More

Little Bytes

New Drug-Resistant Bacteria Emerging in Hospitals
A new " superbug" called Acinetobacter is causing severe bloodstream infection and pneumonia in many hospital patients. READ MORE

Why are Women Being Left Out of Climate Decision-Making?
The U.N. announced a new climate change financing group last week, but out of the 19 people named, no women were included, even though women will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change and are key to any climate solutions. READ MORE

Time for a U.S. Revolution - Fifteen Reasons
Government works for big corporations, banks, insurance companies, military contractors, lobbyists, and for the rich and powerful, but it does not work for people. READ MORE

While We Were Sleeping...GM Food and the Brink of No Return
" The process behind genetically modified food involves a careful re- configuration of genes combining e-coli bacteria, soil bacteria and the cauliflower mosaic virus that causes tumors in plants. They add an antibiotic and then artificially force it into plant cells with a gene invasion technique. All this is so farmers can douse nearly unlimited amounts of Roundup Herbicide on the crops and the plants won't die." READ MORE

LOCAL NY NEWS OF THE WEEK

NY - Get Involved Locally

• Learn more about OCA related action alerts and other news in NY here.
• Join NY discussion groups in our forum.
• Post events in NY on our community calendar.

Message from our Sponsors

Eden Foods Offers OCA Customers 15% Discount

Eden Foods is one of the few national organic food producers who goes beyond the USDA Organic Standards. Although Eden Foods is USDA certified, their products do not bear the USDA seal, because they say the USDA standard really represents a " minimum standard" that Eden Foods goes far beyond.

As a subscriber to Organic Bytes, you can enjoy a 15% discount rate on any Eden Foods products by going here.

Learn More

Obama's Monsanto Man, GMO Alfalfa, and Toxic Sludge

Hello Viewers,

#214, February 25, 2010

Health, Justice and Sustainability News
from the Organic Consumers Association

Edited by Alexis Baden-Mayer and Ronnie Cummins

In this issue:

• Quote of the Week: Erich Fromm
• Take Action:
  • Ninety-Eight Organizations Oppose Senate Confirmation of Pesticide and Biotech Lobbyist Islam Siddiqui for USTR Agriculture Negotiator
  • March 3 Deadline: Obama USDA Poised to Take Away Our Right to GMO-Free Food
  • Support San Francisco Garden Activists Returning Toxic Sludge to City Officials Who Called It " Organic Compost"
• Action Update: Thank You From the Cornucopia Institute
• Little Bytes

Connect with us:

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" Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity.

'Patriotism' is its cult. It should hardly be necessary to say that by 'patriotism', I mean that attitude which puts the own nation above humanity, above the principles of truth and justice not the loving interest in one's own nation, which is the concern with the nation's spiritual as much as with its material welfare - never with its power over other nations.

Just as love for one individual which excludes the love for others is not love, love for one's country which is not part of one's love for humanity is not love, but idolatrous worship."

-Erich Fromm (1900-1980), U.S. psychologist. Posted on Information Clearing House Newsletter Feb. 19, 2010

PLEASE DONATE!

OCA Needs Your Help to Spread the Organic Revolution

OCA and our international network of organic consumers and farmers understand that we have a positive life-affirming solution for the global food, health, and climate crisis: organic food, farming, and ranching. But to get out our all-important message we need your support. Please send us a tax-deductible donation today.

PLEASE DONATE

Take Action: OCA and National Coalition Oppose Obama's Monsanto Man

Oppose Islam Siddiqui for US Agricultural Trade Negotiator!

Organic Consumers Association is part of a 98-organization coalition formed by the Pesticide Action Network and the National Family Farm Coalition to block the Senate confirmation of President Obama's nominee for US Agricultural Trade Negotiator, CropLife pesticide lobbyist Islam Siddiqui.

We're sending a letter signed by all 98 groups to the Senate. The letter outlines our opposition to Siddiqui based on his support for pesticides and genetically modified foods and his opposition to organic practices.

Siddiqui was instrumental in drafting the first proposed organic standards in 1997-98 that would have allowed toxic sewage sludge, Genetically Modified Organism (GMOs), and irradiated food to be labeled " Organic."

As Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at President Clinton's USDA, Siddiqui oversaw the release of the first-ever proposed federal standards for organics, an accomplishment the Obama White House has cited in support of his nomination. However, these rules created an uproar when USDA overruled recommendations of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) and recommended the use of GMOs, irradiation and toxic sludge under the organic label. After a nationwide campaign spearheaded by the OCA, in which the USDA was deluged with 280,000 irate letters and emails, Siddiqui, Monsanto, and the USDA backed off. This Organic Consumers Rebellion remains one of the most passionate outpourings of public sentiment on any government regulation in modern U.S. history.

Read More and Take Action

March 3 Deadline: Genetic Pollution from Monsanto's GMO Alfalfa Threatens Our Right to Organic and GMO-Free Food

Organic and genetically modified " Frankencrops" cannot coexist. Any open-pollinated crop that is genetically modified will inevitably contaminate non-GMO and organic varieties.

President Obama's USDA, like all administrations since GMOs were first patented in the 1990s, wants to help agribusiness force-feed new genetically modified crops on consumers. Currently, the USDA is working on getting Monsanto's Roundup Ready (pesticide-resistant) alfalfa to market.

Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the US and it is the first perennial crop to be genetically engineered. GMO-contamination of organic alfalfa fields and organic alfalfa seed production would happen very quickly. Once Monsanto's GMO alfalfa is widely cultivated, it will inevitably contaminate organic alfalfa sprouts and alfalfa hay grown for organic dairy cows.

Genetically modified DNA sequences have been found in the milk of dairy cows fed GMO corn and soybeans. If Monsanto gets its way, conventional milk and dairy products will be similarly contaminated.

Organic consumers have fought hard to keep GMOs out of national and international organic standards, but if we allow Monsanto's genetically modified alfalfa to be widely grown in the US, organic integrity will be jeopardized.

Take action

Support OCA and San Francisco Garden Activists Giving Toxic Sludge Back to the City that Has Been Distributing It as " Organic Compost"

If you think human waste is the worst thing that enters the sewage system, think again. All across the country, factories using toxic chemicals, meat-packing plants slaughtering animals from factory farms, hospitals treating sick people with heavy duty antibiotics, anti-microbials, pharmaceuticals and radiation therapy, nuclear power plants using cool water to stave off melt-downs, and farms spreading dangerous pesticides and fertilizers, all have access to the sewer systems.

The sewage system is supposed to take all this tainted waste water, separate out the solids and toxins and produce water clean enough to return to the environment. Well, you may have heard that our oceans, lakes and rivers aren't as clean as they should be, but what about all the toxic stuff that's been removed from the water? Where does that go?

Ever heard of toxic sludge? That's the product of wastewater treatment and, up until the 1990s, it was dumped in the oceans. Now, it's spread on farmland.

A lot of it is even sold at garden stores as " organic compost." Please, if you ever see something called " organic compost" make sure it's certified organic by OMRI or an accredited organic certifier.

San Francisco, home to Gavin Newsom, who some have called the World's Greenest Mayor, is actually giving the stuff away to unsuspecting organic gardeners, calling it " organic biosolids compost."

On March 4th at 12 noon, OCA National Director Ronnie Cummins will join garden activists at San Francisco City Hall to give this toxic sludge back to the city. If you're in the Bay Area, please join us! (Link directs to a Facebook event)

Join Us

Action Update: A Special Thank You to the Organic Consumers Association and Its Members

The organic community has something to be proud of - the recent victory in Washington with the publication of new regulations that will crack down on factory farms scofflaws producing " organic" milk.

As an organic farming watchdog, on behalf of our farmer-members, we want to sincerely thank Ronnie Cummins and the rest of the staff at OCA for their decade of hard work that has helped lead to this victory.

For years OCA has been an invaluable partner in the efforts to rein-in abuses by Dean Foods' Horizon brand and Aurora Dairy (producer of private-label milk labeled organic for the likes of Wal-Mart, Costco and many grocery chains).

For years, during the Bush administration, the USDA looked the other way while giant corporations overtly cheated. But the potent partnership between organic farmers and consumers has proven that people power still can still trump corporate money and clout.

Less than 2% of our citizens farm today, both conventional and organic. Farmers have no clout in Washington or the marketplace. But when the leading organic farming group partners with the most powerful representative of organic consumers, OCA, we are all potent force to be reckoned with.

To all of you who have, over the years, contacted your elected officials, written the USDA and, most importantly, carefully continued to buy organic dairy products - but only from the true heroes in this industry - we want to sincerely thank you.

-Mark A. Kastel, Co-director
The Cornucopia Institute

Read More

Little Bytes

Say 'No!' to Corporate Control of Agriculture and Food!
April 17th 2010 is the International Day of Peasant Struggle. La Via Campesina is calling for a day of action against transnational corporations which seek complete control over food and agriculture systems around the world. READ MORE

Bayer Pesticide Banned Over Threat to Honeybees
A U.S. District Judge from Manhattan has banned the sale of spirotetramat, a pesticide produced by Bayer CropScience that is toxic and is killing off the nation's honeybee population. READ MORE

World Wildlife Fund: Loyal Ally of Corporate Agribusiness and Monsanto
WWF is engaged in a mega-greenwashing operation to cover up the environmental and social destruction caused by soy production in South America impacts include deforestation, environmental pollution and poisoning of people. READ MORE

Natural Food Industry Giant, UNFI, Refuses to Sign Sustainability Pledge
The Coalition for a Sustainable Food Supply Chain has been trying to get UNFI to sign pledge to cease marketing conventional food as " natural," to increase the sales of certified organic foods, to adopt fair trade standards that honor the right of workers to freely choose representation and collective bargaining and to promote a sustainable environment that includes the elimination of business practices that accelerate climate change. READ MORE

Authors Attempt 'Death By Rubber Duck'
Inspired by Morgan Spurlock's fast-food gluttony in the movie Super Size Me, two environmental activists from Canada devised their own experiment. Instead of fast food, Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie absorbed themselves in everyday products like shampoos, soaps and cleaners to find out what kind of damage might be done to their health. READ MORE

LOCAL NY NEWS OF THE WEEK

NY - Get Involved Locally

• Learn more about OCA related action alerts and other news in NY here.
• Join NY discussion groups in our forum.
• Post events in NY on our community calendar.

Message from our Sponsors

Dr. Bronner's is Celebrating Our 60th Anniversary!

Marking the 60th Anniversary of the company, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps is pleased to announce that all classic liquid and bar soaps are now not only certified under the USDA National Organic Program, but also certified Fair Trade! In addition, we are pleased to introduce a revolutionary new range of high-quality organic products, from hair rinses to shaving gels - all certified under the same USDA program that certifies organic foods.

Please visit us on the web at www.drbronner.com

Organic Dairy, Sludge, and GMOs

Hello Viewers,

#213, February 18, 2010

Health, Justice and Sustainability News
from the Organic Consumers Association

Edited by Alexis Baden-Mayer and Ronnie Cummins

In this issue:

• Victory of the Week: New Organic Regulations Ban Factory-Style Dairy Feedlots
• Take Action:
  • Obama USDA Poised to Approve Monsanto's Genetically Engineered Alfalfa
  • Tell San Francisco to Stop Giving Away or Selling Toxic Sludge Under the Guise of " Organic Compost" or Fertilizer
• Vignette of the Week: Eating Like Our Parents Left for the Weekend by Will Allen
• Video of the Week: Vandana Shiva on Monsanto Indian Farmer Suicide

Connect with us:

Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate

New Organic Rules Ban Intensive Confinement Dairy Feedlots

After years of claims that the organic dairy " access to pasture" requirement was vague and couldn't be enforced, the USDA NOP has finally come out with a rule that bans intensive confinement feedlots and requires that organic cows get at least 30% of their feed from grazing for at least four months out of the year.

Read more about the history of the organic dairy pasture fight and the new pasture rule victory.

This rule is a great victory for organic consumers and organic dairy farmers who properly graze their animals, but what about beef? The USDA wants to know what consumers think about " finishing" or fattening up organic beef cattle for four months in factory farm-style feedlots.

Studies show that cattle confined and fed grain in feedlots are prone to E. coli 0157H contamination, whereas healthy organic cattle grazing on grass are typically free of this dangerous pathogen. The meat from grass-fed beef is also healthier and more nutritious than beef that's been " marbleized" in the feedlot.

Take Action: Tell the USDA National Organic Program that you don't want organic beef cattle to be kept in factory-farm-style feedlots for the last four months of their lives.

Deadline: April 19, 2010

Take Action

PLEASE DONATE!

OCA Needs Your Help to Spread the Organic Revolution

OCA and our international network of organic consumers and farmers understand that we have a positive life-affirming solution for the global food, health, and climate crisis: organic food, farming, and ranching. But to get out our all-important message we need your support. Please send us a tax-deductible donation today.

PLEASE DONATE

Obama USDA Poised to Approve Monsanto's Genetically Engineered Alfalfa

Don't believe Monsanto's green-washing. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), aren't meant to feed the world or survive the evermore frequent droughts and floods brought on by global warming. GMOs are designed to sell Monsanto's herbicide Roundup and the patented " Roundup Ready" genes now spliced into millions of acres of corn, cotton, soy, canola, sugar beets and alfalfa. A 2009 study showed that, in 13 years, Roundup Ready crops increased herbicide use by 383 million pounds.

During the Bush administration, the movement to stop GMOs was making progress. Reflecting public concern over GMOs, in 2007, a Federal court ruled that the Bush USDA's approval of Roundup Ready alfalfa violated the law because it failed to analyze risks such as the contamination of conventional and organic alfalfa and the development of " super-weeds." The court banned the planting of GM alfalfa until USDA completed a rigorous analysis of these impacts. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals twice affirmed the national ban on Roundup Ready alfalfa planting, but Monsanto is appealing. They're taking organic alfalfa farmers all the way to the Supreme Court!

Now the Obama Administration's USDA is trying to get the court-ordered ban on Roundup Ready alfalfa lifted. They've issued a new draft environmental impact statement (EIS) that denies and downplays the obvious environmental and human health hazards of GM alfalfa.

Widespread GMO-contamination of organic alfalfa is inevitable if the Obama Administration successfully distorts science and ignores public opinion and allows Monsanto's GM Roundup Ready alfalfa to be planted across the U.S.

We must stop the Obama administration from taking away our right to grow and consume organic and GMO-free food. The " change we believe in" is a healthy and sustainable future based upon organic food and farming and a green economy.

So far, 16,099 Organic Consumers Association activists have sent letters, if you haven't...

Take Action Now

If you happen to be in San Diego, Monsanto's coming to town! Join the demonstration here:

Say No to GMO! A Peaceful Eat-In (Facebook event)

Take Action Against Toxic Sludge

Tell San Francisco City Officials to Stop Endangering Public Health and Degrading the Word " Organic" by Distributing Toxic Sewage Sludge Under the Guise of " Organic Compost"

The city of San Francisco, along with other municipalities across the U.S., are trying to trick Bay Area gardeners and farmers into spreading toxic sewage sludge on their fields and gardens. We need to stop San Francisco from promoting and distributing toxic sludge, and then we need to stop your city from doing the same thing.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission pays Synagro, the corporate giant of the toxic sludge industry, to take its toxic sewage sludge, mix it with the waste of a half-dozen other California counties, and then claim that it's been magically transformed into " high-quality, nutrient-rich, organic biosolids compost." But of course sewage sludge is hazardous waste, not " organic fertilizer." Sewage sludge is banned in organic agriculture and it should be banned for all land applications, period.

Municipal sludge is the toxic residue that is left over after household, industrial, hospital, and storm-water sewage has passed through a waste-water treatment plant.

Municipal sludge routinely contains hundreds of dangerous pathogens, toxic heavy metals, flame retardants, endocrine disruptors, carcinogens, pharmaceutical drugs and other hazardous chemicals.

Cities such as San Francisco and the toxic sewage sludge industry shouldn't be allowed to continue to lie to us and poison us!

San Francisco and other cities' toxic sewage sludge giveaways must stop.

Over 4,000 OCA activists have emailed San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in protest and hundreds have called, but his office still claims not to understand the problem.

Please help us get their attention by sending a free fax to Mayor Newsom!

Take action

" If these kids can't afford to go to Biggest Losers to change their lives, they are probably reduced to eating bad burgers, on bad bread, with fries and a coke. Seeing their beauty, and their diminished hopes, and viewing the fat swollen cage they find themselves in it makes me feel desperate. They are young folks stuck with nearly useless bodies, chronically sore knees and hips, aching feet, a puzzling future, a dicey surgical hope, and always-hungry stomachs filled with shit food."

" The plight of the young couple reminds me of a Roseanne segment from the TV show. Her husband had just returned from the market and they were unloading the bags. After a few minutes of pulling cookies, potato chips, cokes, candy, ice cream, more cookies, and a cake out of the bags, she ranted, as only Roseanne could: " You know, at some point we need to grow up and stop eating like our parents just left for the weekend." That segment really struck me. We are a nation that eats like its parents just left for the weekend!"

Read More

Vandana Shiva on Monsanto Indian Farmer Suicide

" Every seed that is in the market in cotton today, linked to one company or others, is licensed and controlled by Monsanto."

Watch

LOCAL NY NEWS OF THE WEEK

NY - Get Involved Locally

• Learn more about OCA related action alerts and other news in NY here.
• Join NY discussion groups in our forum.
• Post events in NY on our community calendar.

Message from our Sponsors

USDA Certified Organic Household Cleaners are Finally Here! Greenology Products Has Made History

The word " natural" continues to remain undefined and is often confusing to consumers. Many manufacturers push the boundaries of what is truly considered natural. Because of this, Greenology Products spent 18 months developing a line of organic All-Purpose, Bathroom, Glass and Kitchen Cleaners that met NOP (National Organic Program) requirements and are certified by the USDA. We have recently won approval for the worlds first and only certified organic Laundry Detergent as well. It wasn't easy, but we were on a mission to change the way cleaning products are produced and used by families and businesses. Wanting to significantly raise the standards bar in cleaning was easy motivation for us because so much evidence points to chemical related health symptoms and poor indoor air quality at home, school and work.

As for performance, our Glass cleaner was given a " BEST" rating by the NY Times in a May 14th, 2009 review against 19 other national brand Glass cleaners. Not only are we certified organic, but the product works extremely well and is competitively priced against the national brands. It's a win for consumers and families.

Learn More

Organic Consumer Alert: Toxic Sewage Sludge

Hello Viewers,

#211, February 4, 2010

Health, Justice and Sustainability News
from the Organic Consumers Association

Edited by Alexis Baden-Mayer and Ronnie Cummins

In this issue:

• Take Action: Tell the " World's Greenest Mayor" to Stop Poisoning His City with Toxic Sludge!
• Horror Story of the Week
• The People Who Want You to Believe Toxic Sludge Is Good for You
• Recommended Reading: The Big Necessity
• Break the Chains of Toxic Pesticides and Child Slavery on Valentine's Day

Connect with us:

Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate

In 2008, Organic Style Magazine called San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom the World's Greenest Mayor, complementing his initiatives on recycling, green building, low-emission vehicles, and energy audits, among many unique innovations he has brought to the city.

But the true test of a green city may be what happens to its toxic sewage sludge. San Francisco - like just about every other city in the country - contracts with a sewage sludge disposal company (Synagro) to take its sludge away. Now that it can't be dumped in the oceans, most of it is dumped on farmland. The law actually allows toxic sewage sludge to be used to grow food! It's so common and accepted, in fact, that the Organic Consumers Association had to fight hard to keep toxic sludge out of federal organic standards (this was back when Obama's favorite pesticide lobbyist, Islam Siddiqui, proposed organic standards for the Clinton administration).

The thing that distinguishes San Francisco from other cities dumping sludge on farmland is that it is the first and only city to launch an aggressive PR offensive around getting their citizens to take some of their toxic sludge back. The way they manage to do this is by giving it away to San Francisco's gardeners, claiming that it is " high-quality, nutrient-rich, organic Biosolids Compost."

If the World's Greenest Mayor can get away with this, watch out, because there's no telling what the toxic sludge industry will do in your town!

That's why we're putting out a national call to all of our members and readers to encourage organic consumers across the country to help us stop San Francisco's toxic sewage sludge giveaways. Please take action today!

Take Action

Please go to the OCA's Toxic Sludge Page to learn more!

PLEASE DONATE!

OCA Needs Your Help to Spread the Organic Revolution

OCA and our international network of organic consumers and farmers understand that we have a positive life-affirming solution for the global food, health, and climate crisis: organic food, farming, and ranching. But to get out our all-important message we need your support and your donations. So please send us a tax-deductible donation today.

PLEASE DONATE

The following is excerpted from first-person accounts posted to Sludge News:

" Our government says its safe, my body says its not. The sludge trucks are coming now in 2009. Class B sludge, no less. After moving into my new home in 2008, having no idea that sludge is surrounding my home. To the northwest of my home 1/2 mile farmer gets sludge in some kind of holding tanks that stinks like something truly UNGODLY in the winter months when its, freezing outside, so you can imagine the summers here. To the east, less than a 1/4 mile from my home , 2 other big fields get sludged in summer months. BUT next to my home, 1240 TONS of CLASS B SLUDGE, thats approx ( 54) tractor tralilers started dumping on 8/4/2008...

So now I'm getting ready for the nosebleeds to start, the headaches are starting, I'm hoping I don't get paralysis and chest pains like last year. You can talk to anyone in government and it's not in theie back yard, so they don't care. And most pass the buck...and say they have no control. Or its the law...well, laws are changed everyday in this country...I am really disgusted with the lack of ethics and political will of our so called leaders...No wonder some mid easterners refer to USA as infidels, we just spread our shit all over the planet."

Read more

Members of the Organic Consumers Association staff went undercover to a meeting of San Francisco Public Utilities Commission employees and the toxic sludge industry last week.

What we found surprised us. We figured, in such a green city, that SFPUC employees would keep an arms length distance from for-profit sludge companies like Synagro that make their money dumping city sludge on rural lands. We thought that they would be trying to figure out green alternatives to flushing waste away with clean drinking water.

Little did we know. SFPUC, Synagro and CASA, the state lobbying group for all of California's city sewer commissions, are mounting a coordinated effort to salvage the business-as-usual practice of flushing household and industrial waste away with clean water and then contaminating farmland with toxic sludge leftover when the water is removed. They see San Francisco's sludge giveaway program as an essential component of their national campaign to build public acceptance for the disposal of toxic sewage sludge on yards, gardens and farms. They will fight any effort to shut the program down, and specifically named OCA allies the Center for Food Safety and RILES, who filed a legal petition with the San Francisco to stop the sludge giveaway, as enemies of their campaign.

The scary thing is, this public-private trifecta is well-resourced and unscrupulous. The Synagro rep boasted of earning the support of a local university for a toxic sludge project by promising a $25,000 yearly donation. The CASA rep talked about using " Congressional funny money" to fund studies that would provide science that backed-up the industry. And, the SFPUC rep, the public employee, stood by them smiling and nodding as they applauded her for not backing down in the face of public opposition to the contamination of San Francisco's green space with toxic sludge.

Read More

In the early twenty-first century, when surgery can be done microscopically and human achievement seems limitless, 2.6 billion people lack the most basic thing that human dignity requires. Four in ten people in the world have no toilet. They must do their business instead on roadsides, in the bushes, wherever they can. Yet human feces in water supplies contribute to one in ten of the world's communicable diseases. A child dies from diarrhoea - usually brought on by fecal-contaminated food or water - every 15 seconds.

The Big Necessity - as one Mumbai toilet builder called the toilet - is the account of travels through the profoundly intriguing but stupidly neglected world of the disposal of human waste, which houses characters like Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organization Wang Ming Ying, who is attempting to alleviate environmental devastation and deforestation in China by persuading rural Chinese to install biogas digesters, which produce cooking gas from human feces Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, whose NGO Sulabh has built half a million toilets in India, as well as the world's only museum of toilets and the flushers of London and New York's sewers, who scoff at roaches but hate rats nearly as much as they hate congealed cooking fat and tri-ply toilet paper.

Human " waste" is full of nutrients. It is a rich, valuable, inexhaustible material, as rich as the world of people who work with it. The Big Necessity is an overdue exploration of a hidden world and of the world's biggest unsolved public health crisis. It is a cultural, colourful travelogue around a fact of life that is common to everyone, as necessary as breathing, and a source of endless fascination, if only we dare to look.

Read More

Now is the time of year when more than 20 million Americans are buying sweets and flowers for their loved ones on Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, these tokens of love aren't as sweet or pure as they may appear. Over 40 percent of the world's conventional chocolate (i.e. non-organic and non-Fair Trade) comes from Africa's Ivory Coast, where the International Labor Organization and US State Department have reported widespread instances of child slavery. Meanwhile, commercial flowers, most of which are produced in countries such as Colombia, are the most toxic and heavily sprayed agricultural crops on Earth. Supplying the global market, poorly paid workers in Third World countries put in up to 18 hour work days for poverty wages during peak flower buying times such as Valentine's Day. But don't let the bad news squelch your Valentine's plans. Show your love by choosing Fair Trade and organic flowers and chocolate for your Valentine's Day gifts.

Please send a letter to the editor action exposing toxic pesticides and child slavery in the flower and cacao industries

LOCAL NY NEWS OF THE WEEK

NY - Get Involved Locally

• Learn more about OCA related action alerts and other news in NY here.
• Join NY discussion groups in our forum.
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Message from our Sponsors

USDA Certified Organic Household Cleaners are Finally Here! Greenology Products Has Made History

The word " natural" continues to remain undefined and is often confusing to consumers. Many manufacturers push the boundaries of what is truly considered natural. Because of this, Greenology Products spent 18 months developing a line of organic All-Purpose, Bathroom, Glass and Kitchen Cleaners that met NOP (National Organic Program) requirements and are certified by the USDA. We have recently won approval for the worlds first and only certified organic Laundry Detergent as well. It wasn't easy, but we were on a mission to change the way cleaning products are produced and used by families and businesses. Wanting to significantly raise the standards bar in cleaning was easy motivation for us because so much evidence points to chemical related health symptoms and poor indoor air quality at home, school and work.

As for performance, our Glass cleaner was given a " BEST" rating by the NY Times in a May 14th, 2009 review against 19 other national brand Glass cleaners. Not only are we certified organic, but the product works extremely well and is competitively priced against the national brands. It's a win for consumers and families.

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Fighting Organic Corruption

Hello Viewers,

#210, January 26, 2010

Health, Justice and Sustainability News
from the Organic Consumers Association

Edited by Alexis Baden-Mayer and Ronnie Cummins

In this issue:

• Take Action:
  • Don't Let the White House Weaken Organic Dairy Standards
  • Help OCA Investigate Whole Foods' " Whole Paycheck" Pricing
• Campaign Updates:
  • The Worst Faux Organic Cosmetic Brands Revealed
  • Teamsters Urge United Natural Foods, Inc. to Uphold Workers' Rights
  • Whole Foods CEO John Mackey Stepping Down As Chairman of the Board
• Featured Article: Who's Trying to Kill Organic? A Revolutionary Movement Undermined by Its " So-Called Friends," Feedlot " Organic" Dairies and Whole Foods

Connect with us:

Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate

Urgent Action: Tell Obama to Stop Factory Farms from Degrading Organic Dairy Standards

Organic dairies that graze their cows on pasture produce food that is healthier, safer, and more nutritious than chemical or GMO food, while protecting the environment and removing dangerous greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

The USDA is finally coming out with new rules to better enforce the longstanding requirement that organic cows must graze on pasture, rather than be confined in feedlots. Only one last hurdle remains: the President's Office of Management and Budget review.

Straus Dairy (based in California) and Aurora Dairy (based in Colorado) are making a last-ditch effort to prevent the USDA from cracking down on their feedlot operations. They're making a determined effort to sway the Obama administration, utilizing " insider influence" gained through campaign contributions to Obama and politicians like Tom Vilsack, who now heads the USDA.

In order to prevent factory dairy farms from driving ethical organic farmers out of business, and stop special interest manipulation of organic standards, thousands of us need to pick up the phone today. Call the Obama administration and tell them you're furious that the USDA has never adequately enforced the pasture requirement for organic dairy farms. Tell them that you'll never forgive the President if he lets ties to political contributors destroy the strict standards that safeguard organic integrity.

Tell the President that you won't settle for less! If a farm's dairy cows are kept in confinement or aren't on pasture, then its milk and dairy products are not organic!

Take Action

Help OCA Investigate Whole Foods' " Whole Paycheck" Pricing

Whole Foods: 1/3 Organic... Whole Foods Claims Their Organic Foods Are Reasonably Priced: Is This True?

Approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Market and their main distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI) are not certified organic, but rather conventional (mostly chemical and GMO-tainted) foods and products disguised as " natural."

One of the reasons, WFM and UNFI apologists will tell you, for selling billions of dollars of low-cost conventional or so-called " natural" foods is that it enables WFM and UNFI to sell genuine certified organic products at a reasonable price.

OCA finds this hard to believe.

Help us do a price survey of WFM in your local community, by comparing " Whole Paycheck's" prices on organic products with other outlets, including coops, independent natural food stores, farmers markets, CSAs, and other chains.

Click here to download the " Whole Paycheck" Organic Price Survey Worksheet which you can use to list Whole Food's organic prices in your local community!

PLEASE DONATE!

OCA Needs Your Help to Spread the Organic Revolution

OCA and our national, now international, network of organic consumers and farmers understand that we have a positive life-affirming solution for the global food, health, and climate crisis: organic food, farming, and ranching. But to get out our all-important message we need your support and your donations. So please send us a tax-deductible donation today.

PLEASE DONATE

The Worst Fake " Organic" Cosmetic Brands Revealed: OCA Spreadsheet Summarizes " Organic Cheater Brand" Personal Care Product Hazard

The OCA has prepared a spreadsheet summarizing " Organic Cheater brand" products and their Hazard Rankings according to the Environmental Working Group's " Skin Deep" Cosmetic Safety Database. The tabs at the top of the spreadsheet list various brands horizontally: click each tab to view that brand's product scores from the Skin Deep" database. By far the majority of fake organic products score in the " Moderate Hazard" category. Conversely, Dr. Bronner's Skin Deep product scores show that the vast majority of true NOP certified organic personal care score in the safest " Low Hazard" category. A couple of brands, Jason " Pure, Natural and Organic" and Nature's Gate " Organics" , even had some of their fake organic products score in the unsafest " High Hazard" category.

Perhaps even more disturbing, two of the " organic cheater" brands who are the subject of OCA's Complaint to USDA NOP, have reneged on their signed promise to provide product and ingredient information to Skin Deep so that their products' safety can be assessed. Those brands are Eminence " Organic" Skin Care and Head " Organics" . Another two brands, while they have not reneged on any promises, have also decided to not submit product and ingredient information to Skin Deep: Ilike " Organic" Skin Care and Surya Sapien " Organic" . As noted in the Complaint, all these brands utilize surfactants made in part or entirely from petrochemicals as primary cleansing ingredients, which contain no organic agricultural material whatsoever. Eminence in particular deceptively claims that Alpha Olefin Sulfonate, the primary cleanser in its " Organic Stone Crop Bodywash" , is from a " plant source," when in fact this cleanser is commercially available only in pure petrochemical form.

Both Nature's Gate and Eminence do produce a few true USDA NOP certified organic products under their respective brands. However, the vast majority of their product lines are not certified under the USDA's National Organic Program, because their main cleansing and moisturizing ingredients are generally based on conventional or petrochemical, rather than organic agricultural, material. As a general rule when shopping for organic personal care, check for the USDA seal to be sure you're buying true organic personal care rather than fake organic products.

View The Spreadsheet

Teamsters Urge United Natural Foods, Inc. to Uphold Workers' Rights

On January 13, 2010, one of OCA's closest labor and fair trade labor allies, the Teamsters Union, delivered a letter to the Board of Directors of United Natural Foods, Inc., the largest natural and organic foods distributor in the U.S., urging the Board to work with stakeholders to produce an enforceable and transparent code of conduct that upholds workers' fundamental rights at the company and throughout its supply chain - from small farmers and farmworkers all the way to warehouse workers, truck drivers, and retail staff.

Noting United Natural Foods, Inc.'s 2009 announcement with Walden Asset Management that it will develop a code of conduct, the Teamsters asked the board to adopt a code that is based on the International Labor Organization standards and that applies to both internal operations and suppliers.

The Union also asked the Board to enter into an agreement guaranteeing workers' right to form a union and bargain collectively without influence or interference from United Natural Foods, Inc.'s management.

Read more

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey Stepping Down As Chairman of the Board

The chief executive of natural supermarket chain Whole Foods Market Inc. is giving up his title of chairman of the board, following several years of petitioning by activist shareholders to kick him off the board. OCA has called for the Board to fire Mackey for his arrogance, anti-labor stance, and most recently his claim that global warming and climate change are a myth.

Co-founder and CEO John Mackey is voluntarily giving up his chairmanship, a position he's held since the Austin, Texas, company's inception in 1978, according to a Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mackey will remain on the board.

Read more

The 40 year-old organic movement to promote and expand the market for organic, fair trade, union made and locally produced food and products may not seem to be much of a threat to the powers that be. After all, what possible threat can the creation of new healthy products and market opportunities be to the capitalist system?

However, make no mistake, the organic movement IS a revolutionary movement. It is a revolutionary movement, because it is working to undermine and eventually replace a rich, powerful, and politically connected industry based upon life-threatening chemicals and GMOs and exploitation of farm and food workers. America's chemical-industrial Food Inc. poses major threats to workers' rights, public health, the environment, and the climate.

If everyone opted to buy - or produce themselves - only organic, fair trade, union made and locally produced agricultural products, Food Inc. would soon be out of business. The organic means of food and fiber production and consumption would be in our hands.

The organic revolution is the ultimate consumer boycott. Once we move past the tipping point, U.S. agricultural production and household nutrition will be radically transformed. Monsanto and Corporate Agribusiness will no longer be able to poison the water and the air and pollute the atmosphere. Organic production methods will clean the water, air, soil, and our bodies and sequester billions of tons of climate-destabilizing CO2 from the atmosphere. Safe, healthy, nutritious organic foods will become the norm while junk foods will gradually disappear. Millions of farm and food production workers, routinely exploited in our profit-at-any-cost food and farming system, will be empowered and liberated.

When the organic revolution is complete worldwide, we'll have a stable climate, a clean, healthy environment, economic self-sufficiency, food security and good-health for all. And of course following the Via Organica, the organic way, we will conserve precious resources including fossil fuels, water, and land, and thereby eliminate the root cause of resource wars, finally giving " peace a chance" in the world. That's what the organic revolution is all about.

One of the biggest threats to the success of the organic revolution are our supposed allies greenwashed businesses in the food industry that garnered the public's trust by being the first to support organic, but are now abusing that trust by backsliding on their commitment to the revolution.

Companies like Monsanto and Wal-Mart are the worst enemies of the organic movement. But, our movement also has plenty of Janus-like " friend/enemies," companies like Whole Foods, Horizon, and UNFI that on one hand have given the organic community the market clout to reach the mainstream, but on the other hand have begun to put profits before principle, gradually selling mostly conventional food, disguised and premium-priced as natural.

Friend/enemies of the organic revolution that are particularly troublesome are:

Feedlot " Organic" Dairies

Whole Foods

LOCAL NY NEWS OF THE WEEK

NY - Get Involved Locally

• Learn more about OCA related action alerts and other news in NY here.
• Join NY discussion groups in our forum.
• Post events in NY on our community calendar.

Message from our Sponsors

Eden Foods Offers OCA Customers 15% Discount

Eden Foods is one of the few national organic food producers who goes beyond the USDA Organic Standards. Although Eden Foods is USDA certified, their products do not bear the USDA seal, because they say the USDA standard really represents a " minimum standard" that Eden Foods goes far beyond.

As a subscriber to Organic Bytes, you can enjoy a 15% discount rate on any Eden Foods products by going here.

Learn More

Millions Against Monsanto

Hello Viewers,

#209, January 21, 2010

Health, Justice and Sustainability News
from the Organic Consumers Association

Edited by Alexis Baden-Mayer and Ronnie Cummins

In this issue:

• Take Action
  • Stop Monsanto's Genetically Modified Alfalfa!
  • Senator Puts a Hold on Obama's Pro-Pesticide Nominee Siddiqui
• Action Updates
  • Nearly 9,000 OCA Members Tell DOJ to Break Monsanto's Monopoly
  • Pro-Monsanto Rajiv Shah Confirmed as USAID Director
• Monsanto in the News
• Organic Empowerment 2010: Taking Action Locally
• Strategic Local Campaign of the Week: #5 - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Compost

Connect with us:

Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate

Stop Monsanto's Genetically Modified Alfalfa!

Don't believe Monsanto's greenwashing. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), aren't meant to feed the world or survive the evermore frequent droughts and floods brought on by global warming - they're designed to sell Monsanto's patented Roundup resistant or Bt seeds and pesticides now spliced into millions of acres of corn, cotton, soy, canola, sugar beets and alfalfa.

A 2009 study showed that, over the last 13 years, Roundup Ready crops have increased herbicide use by 383 million pounds! In addition, once GM alfalfa and other Monsanto crops are planted in the open environment, they contaminate non-GMO and organic varieties as well as plant relatives. So if you are operating an organic dairy, feeding your cattle organic alfalfa, a nearby farm growing GMO alfalfa will almost inevitably contaminate your alfalfa fields, causing you to lose your organic certification.

During the Bush administration, the movement to stop GMOs was making progress. Reflecting public concern over GMOs, in 2007, a Federal court ruled that the Bush USDA's approval of Roundup Ready alfalfa violated the law because it failed to analyze risks such as the contamination of conventional and organic alfalfa and the development of " super-weeds." The court banned the planting of GM alfalfa until USDA completed a rigorous analysis of these impacts. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals twice affirmed the national ban on Roundup Ready alfalfa planting, but Monsanto is appealing. They're taking producers of organic alfalfa seed all the way to the Supreme Court!

Barack Obama, despite promising us " change we can believe in," is unfortunately turning out to be just as pro-GMO as the preceding Bush and Clinton administrations, packing the USDA and other government bureaucracies with Monsanto men and biotech cheerleaders such as former Iowa Governor, Tom Vilsack, named " Biotech Governor of the Year" in 2001, now serving as USDA Secretary. Vilsack, notorious for flying around in a Monsanto company jet during one of his previous election campaigns, is now busy trying to get the court-ordered ban on Roundup Ready alfalfa lifted by issuing a new draft environmental impact statement (EIS) that denies or downplays the obvious environmental (genetic pollution and creation of herbicide-resistant superweeds) and human health hazards of GM alfalfa.

Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the U.S. and a key source of dairy forage and hay. The first perennial crop to be genetically engineered, GM alfalfa can regenerate itself from its root-stock. It is open-pollinated by bees, which can cross-pollinate at distances of several miles, spreading Monsanto's patented, foreign DNA to non-GMO and organic crops. Widespread GMO-contamination of organic alfalfa is inevitable if the Obama Administration successfully distorts science and ignores public opinion and allows Monsanto's GM Roundup Ready alfalfa to be planted across the U.S.

Consumers who ingest GM alfalfa are likely risking their health since even the Obama Environmental Impact Statement admitted that, " acute toxicity in mice was observed."

According to the EIS, consumers who ingest foods with residues of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide may experience " general and non-specific signs of toxicity from subchronic and chronic exposure to glyphosate includ[ing] changes in liver weight, blood chemistry (may suggest mild liver toxicity), liver pathology, and weight of the pituitary gland."

The EIS warns that, " Based on upper estimates of exposure ... infants consuming fruit and all age groups consuming vegetables may be at risk of adverse effects associated with acute exposure to glyphosate [the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide] residues."

Consuming milk and meat from animals fed crops that are genetically engineered is also risky. Mounting evidence shows damage to animals and humans from unlabeled and untested Frankenfoods. Even in Europe, where farmer and consumer rejection has kept GMO corn and soybean acreage to a bare minimum, (massive quantities of GMO tainted animal feed is imported from the U.S.) a survey of milk products sold in stores in Italy, results from the screening of 60 samples of 12 different milk brands demonstrated the presence of GM maize sequences in 15 (25%) and of GM soybean sequences in 7 samples (11.7%).

Most consumers, especially organic consumers, are determined to avoid Roundup Ready alfalfa, and meat and dairy products derived from animals ingesting Roundup Ready alfalfa, but according to the EIS, we don't have that right because, " At the present time, there is no policy regarding the unintended presence of GE (genetically engineered) material in organic products or food, consistent with the fact that the NOP (National Organic Program) is a process-based program for certifying a farm or production system as organic, and not a product-based program that tests or certifies individual products as organic."

We must stop the Obama administration from taking away our right to grow and consume organic and GMO-free food. The " change we believe in" is a healthy and sustainable future based upon organic food and farming and a green economy.

Take Action

Senator Puts a Hold on Obama's Pro-Pesticide Nominee Siddiqui

President Obama is trying to get the Senate to confirm Islam Siddiqui as the US Trade Representative for Agriculture.

Islam Siddiqui is one of Obama's " Monsanto men." A contributor and fundraiser for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, Siddiqui currently serves as the Vice President of CropLife, a powerful lobbying arm for the pesticide and biotech industry, representing, among others, the six multinational corporations that control 75% of the world's seeds and chemicals: Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF, Dow and DuPont.

There is still time to block Siddiqui's Senate confirmation. Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), for partisan political reasons of his own, that have nothing to do with protecting us from GMOs, has put a hold on Siddiqui's confirmation - giving us time to voice our opposition to Monsanto's takeover of U.S. Food and farm policy.

Take Action

PLEASE DONATE!

Donate to OCA and Receive Access to Yoga, Fitness and Meditation Videos Online

The Organic Consumers Association is partnering with My Yoga Online to provide OCA donors with a month's worth of instructional web fitness videos at no cost with any size donation. Your donations help us continue to do the important work that you read about each week in Organic Bytes and each day on our website. Just put " yoga offer" in the comments of your donation!

PLEASE DONATE

Thousands of OCA Members Tell Department of Justice to Break Monsanto's Monopoly

After years of complaints from the Organic Consumers Association and our allies, the Justice Department is investigating how big biotech and food corporations, including Monsanto, are monopolizing and controlling our seeds, food and farming. On November 13, 2009, the Obama Administration opened a public comment period that closed on December 31, 2009, seeking comments and information about how corporate control of the food system affects average Americans.

Organic Consumers Association members sent 8,954 letters to the Department of Justice last month about how control of the food system by companies like Monsanto affects us and our children. We've compiled a sample of the letters in a Daily Kos diary. The letters are articulate and passionate, many written by farmers and consumers who have first-hand experience of the health problems, pollution, and economic harm brought on by the biotech bullies and agribusiness monopolies.

Read more

Pro-Monsanto Rajiv Shah Confirmed as USAID Director

Despite the efforts of 17,096 Organic Consumers Association members who sent letters to their Senators in opposition, the Senate confirmed Rajiv Shah to lead US foreign assistance as director of USAID.

On January 7, 2010, Shah was sworn in by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who gave a speech outlining USAID's " enormous agenda," including food security and global health. Sec. Clinton said this agenda will be accomplished, in part, by expanding partnerships with corporations, non-profit organizations, and foundations. Clinton specifically highlighted Shah's ongoing collaboration with the Gates Foundation " to transform the global system of vaccine financing." She also subtly referenced Bill Gates by saying that Shah had provided a list of people willing to go to bat for him in the Senate confirmation process that included " giants ... in the foundation world." Gates, billionaire tycoon founder of the Microsoft empire, is a friend and ally of Monsanto, and an avid supporter of genetically engineered crops and foods.

In his inaugural speech, Shah thanked Secretary Vilsack, who had supervised him in the few months he worked as USDA Under Secretary for Research, and said that he would " remain deeply committed to the work we began to strengthen science and improve nutrition, wellness and food security in our nation and around the globe."

Echoing Clinton, Shah said USAID needs " to better coordinate our work ... with public, private and multilateral partners. ... And we need to develop new capabilities to pursue innovation, science and technology..."

Public-private partnerships and the pursuit of science and technology are a reference to Shah's work at the Gates Foundation, which involved partnering with Monsanto to open markets in Africa for genetically modified crops.

In an interview with NPR, Shah made this explicit, saying, " We are also going to do things a little bit differently: bring in outside expertise and become more of a coordinating platform so that we can work with private sector innovators, like the Gates Foundation... So, that people standing in line for immunizations in a health clinic outside of a city in Mali can actually get immunizations for their kids. Or, so that women farmers trying to make - grow enough food for their family and their community can do that in places like Kenya or Senegal or Rwanda."

In a speech the day before Shah's swearing-in ceremony, Clinton spoke enthusiastically about biotech crops:

" We are expanding our direct funding of new research, for example, into biofortified sweet potatoes that prevent Vitamin A deficiency in children, and African maize that can be grown in drought conditions. We're exploring venture funds, credit guarantees, and other tools to encourage private companies to develop and market products and services that improve the lives of the poor."

Read more

• The Gates Foundation and Monsanto Working Hand-in-Hand
• Forbes Magazine Names Monsanto 2009's Company of the Year
• Three Approved GMOs Linked to Organ Damage
• Review of Recent Monsanto and Biotech Bullying
• Why Seed Consolidation Matters
• Monsanto Stumbles into Antitrust Trouble

More news, videos, alerts and information can be found here

Strategic Local Campaign of the Week: #5 - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Compost

The problem of " waste" in the U.S. is both a local and a federal issue, with the Environmental Protection Agency providing the scientific veneer, among others, for the nation's profit-at-any-cost, multibillion dollar sewage sludge, garbage, and chemical fertilizer industries. Several decades ago, after public pressure forced corporations and municipalities to stop dumping toxic sewage sludge into the oceans and waterways (it was killing all the fish and marine life and polluting beaches), the EPA decided it was time to rename this hazardous waste " organic fertilizer" (or " biosolids" ) and to begin to spread municipal sewage sludge on millions of acres of non-organic farmland and rangeland. Emboldened by their success, EPA and the sludge industry then tried to tell us in 1998 that it would be OK to spread sewage sludge on organic farms as well. Fortunately OCA and the organic community beat them back as part of a massive nationwide grassroots campaign called Save Organic Standards (SOS).

A steady stream of greenwashing and false solutions that encourage waste production instead of waste reduction are coming at us from corporate marketing departments and the federal government. OCA believes that positive action to encourage waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting (real organic composting, not renaming sewage sludge or industrial waste as compost) is most likely to arise at the local level. Several cities have taken positive actions in the direction of zero waste, but the devil is in the details.

Take household and industrial sewage sludge for example. For decades sewage sludge (the end product of the nation's thousands of Wastewater Treatment Plants) was dumped in the oceans and rivers, now it is spread on non-organic farms and rangelands, while current industry plans include burning it and turning it into an energy source but the fundamental problem isn't what to do with billions of pounds of toxic sewage sludge produced every year (obviously we must isolate and contain it as hazardous waste), but rather how can we stop producing it in the first place. Household sewage, contaminated as it is with chemical cosmetics, toxic household cleaners and any number of pharmaceutical drugs poured into toilets and kitchen sinks, isn't pristine but, to paraphrase Bob Hope, it's not the shit, it's what we've done to it. After the toilet is flushed or the drain is emptied, household waste is funneled into a vast underground sewage system, where it joins a toxic stew of industrial and hospital wastes and rainwater runoff from our streets and highways. Allowing corporations to flood the environment and the waste stream with 100,000 synthetic, mostly toxic chemicals, (most of which end up in sewage sludge), less than 1% of which have ever been proved to be safe for the environment and public health, is a form of insanity. Besides contaminating the water and soil, this irrational so-called " sewage treatment" process wastes enormous amounts of potable water.

At a certain point, cities and towns must come to the realization that using clean water to flush away household waste engineering rooftops, roadways and streets to funnel rainwater into our sewage systems (instead of capturing it or percolating it back into the soil) and allowing industry and hospitals to discharge toxic chemicals into our wastewater stream just doesn't make sense. Composting (non-water) toilets, rooftop water catchments and cisterns, and zero discharge of synthetic chemicals potentially or actually proven to hazardous to human health and the environment (the " precautionary principle" ) are not fringe ideas, but rather the wave of the future. That is if there is a future.

Human and animal manure, (separated from and free from chemical and pharmaceutical residues), throughout the centuries, and in the present time can and should be safely composted and utilized as a fertilizer on fields, farms, and forests. Although current organic standards prohibit the use of compost derived from human manure (properly composted animal manure is allowed) on food crops, feeding the soil with properly composted " humanure" (or producing methane gas for energy use through bio-digesters) will no doubt become the norm in the future as fossil fuel and water supplies dwindle and chemical fertilizer costs become prohibitive.

Tune in to future issues of Organic Bytes for OCA's ideas on how we can and must reform our garbage, sludge, and chemical fertilizer industries and put an end to the rampant consumerism that is literally poisoning the planet with garbage and toxic chemicals.

10 Local Causes to Work for in 2010

Next week:

#6 - Reduce Energy Use and Build a Renewable Energy Infrastructure
#7 - Tell the Toxic Industrial Food Producers to Take a Hike
#8 - Implement the Precautionary Principle
#9 - Eliminate Corporate Personhood to Protect Democracy
#10 - Make Peace At Home

LOCAL NY NEWS OF THE WEEK

NY - Get Involved Locally

• Learn more about OCA related action alerts and other news in NY here.
• Join NY discussion groups in our forum.
• Post events in NY on our community calendar.

Message from our Sponsors

Dr. Bronner's is Celebrating Our 60th Anniversary!

Marking the 60th Anniversary of the company, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps is pleased to announce that all classic liquid and bar soaps are now not only certified under the USDA National Organic Program, but also certified Fair Trade! In addition, we are pleased to introduce a revolutionary new range of high-quality organic products, from hair rinses to shaving gels - all certified under the same USDA program that certifies organic foods.

Please visit us on the web at www.drbronner.com