Info on Food Manipulation

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Organic Consumer

Action Alert: FDA Moves to Force-Feed American Consumers Cloned Animals

Despite a September survey, which found that 64% of Americans are repulsed by the idea of eating food from cloned animals, the FDA announced this week that milk, eggs and meat from cloned animals will soon be allowed on the market. Ignoring a number of disturbing studies suggesting potential human health hazards, Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDACenter for Veterinary Medicine said “that meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones is as safe to eat as the food we eat every day.” Consumer, food safety, and animal welfare groups have condemned the announcement, pointing out that animal cloning is inherently unpredictable and hazardous, and that the practice of cloning has led to a high number of cruel and painful deformities in the experimental animals’ ofspring. Recognizing that requiring labels on cloned food would lead to a massive boycott by consumers, FDA bowed to industry lobbyists by stating that there likely will be no required labeling of food products containing ingredients from cloned animals. The FDA’s controversial proposed regulations in the Federal Register will now be followed by a three-month public comment period. The OCA is calling on health and humane-minded consumers across the nation to stop this outrageous and hazardous regulation from coming into force as federal law. Take action here: www.organicconsumers.org/rd/clones.htm

OCA’s Annual Donor Drive Needs You
OCA’s donor drive has brought us very close to our $75,000 goal.Tanks to all who have donated so far. If you have not donated yet, please do so now. Your grassroots donations—providing over 80% of our budget—are the lifeblood of the OCA. There are only two days lef in the drive and we need $5,000 to meet our goal. Please donate now: www.organicconsumers.org/donations.htm

Alert Update: USDA Stacks Government Organic Panel With Industry Reps
In the last issue of Organic Bytes, OCA blew the whistle on the USDA’s appointment of four new representatives to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) with strong ties to corporate agribusiness. Te NOSB is the organic community’s traditional watchdog over organic standards. According to the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, the USDA is supposed to appoint an NOSBthat is broadly representative of the organic community, including environmentalists, consumer representatives and scientists. But the USDAhas begun to arbitrarily fill vacant seats with industry representatives from companies such as General Mills and Campbell’s, companies whose profts are almost entirely based on nonorganic crops grown with synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Thousands of organic consumers have responded to this outrage by sending emails to the USDA demanding the removal of these appointees. Te USDA’s stonewalling so far indicates the agency feels that its appointees are as “diverse” as federal law requires. In a letter to the Syracuse New Times Standard, the agency points out that diversity is truly present in the current industry appointees, pointing out that they all work in diferent parts of the US. Now that’s diversity! Please contact the USDA and demand that true organic advocates be appointed to the NOSB: www.organicconsumers.org/rd/nosb.cfm


Breyer’s and Good Humor
Breyer’s Ice Cream is beginning to utilize what it calls an “antifreeze” technology, derived by utilizing genetically modifed fsh proteins from the blood of the ocean pout (a polar ocean species). Te experimental biotech substance, which is supposed
to help the ice cream re-crystallize if it warms above freezing, has undergone little, if any, safety testing. In fact, the FDA approved the ingredient as “safe” based on human
safety protocols conducted on codfish blood proteins, not on blood proteins from the ocean pout. Codfsh and the ocean pout do not even belong to the same sub-class, in the “Order of Species,” thereby making the studies worthless. The “antifreeze”ingredient is currently used in Breyer’s Light Double- Churned, Extra Creamy Creamy Chocolate ice cream, as well as a Good Humor ice cream novelty bar. The ingredient is referred to as “ice structuring protein” (ISP) on the products’ingredient panels.
www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_3637.cfm

ASSOCIATION ORGANIC CONSUMERS
Food and Consumer News Tidbits with an Edge… From the Organic Consumers Association Please forward this publication to family and friends, websites, print it, & post it. Knowledge is power! December 29, 2006 · Issue 99 http://www.organicconsumers.org/

Written and edited by
Craig Minowa & Ronnie Cummins
Monsanto’s Pesticide Breeding Giant Superweeds
Te discovery of a pesticide-resistant weed that can grow up to 10 feet tall has cotton farmers in the US worried. “It is potentially the worst threat since the boll weevil,” said Alan York, a weed scientist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Te boll weevil destroyed cotton crops in the early 1900s and caused farmers to switch to alternatives such as peanuts, until the beetle was eradicated in some states 70 years later. Now a new adversary has arrived: a pesticide- Resistant pigweed, known as Palmer amaranth, which has been confrmed in ten North Carolina counties, four Georgia counties and is suspected in Tennessee, South Carolina and Arkansas. In Georgia, amaranth literally took over some felds and the cotton had to be cut down, rather than
harvested. Scientist blame the pesticide resistance on the overuse of Monsanto’s
Roundup (glyphosate). “This is something we do look at very seriously,” said Monsanto representative Michelle Starke.
www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_3639.cfm

E. Coli, Food Safety and Your Food Source

80 percent of non-organic beef in the US is slaughtered by four companies.
75 percent of non-organic pre-cut salad mixes are processed by two companies.
30 percent of non-organic milk is processed by one company.
Depending on the time of year, up to 70 percent of the produce sold in the US comes from other countries.
The solution to this problem can be found at www.localharvest.org
(see below…)
New Year’s Resolutions and Local Harvest
Local Harvest lists almost 10,000 farmers’ markets, cooperative
grocery stores, restaurants and retailers that provide locally-grown, organic produce to consumers. It’s one of the best tools online for helping you fnd these important resources near you. Buying your food locally or regionally cuts down on the amount of energy consumed to transport your food, supports your local economy, and can provide
you and your family with safer, fresher foods. Make a New Year’s resolution for 2007 to put a special efort towards buying local. http://www.localharvest.org/

Family Farmer Protection Law Deemed “Illegal”
Afer 24 years of successfully protecting family farmers, a Nebraska law, which bans corporate farms, has been struck down by a US District Judge. Its demise could also mark the end to corporate farming bans in fve other states. Nebraska’s Farmer Union president, John Hanson, said of the court’s decision, “This is not a good day.”
www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_3612.cfm

EU Begins to Remove Thousands of Toxic Chemicals from Consumer Products

Te European Union has passed one of the most far-reaching consumer and environmental protection regulations ever. EU’s REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of
Chemicals) law, based upon the “Precautionary Principle,” will force chemical companies and consumer product manufacturers to prove that all of the synthetic ingredients in their products are safe, or else replace those chemicals with safe alternatives. The rules will take efect in mid-2007, at which time companies will be required to lay out plans to gradually replace the most high-risk chemicals. Some 13,000 substances, deemed of high concern, face automatic testing and possible removal from the market. A number of US cities and counties, including San Francisco, have recently passed laws based upon the precautionary principle
www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_3639.cfm

Please Donate to the OCA
As a nonproft, we need your donations so we can continue to move forward. You can donate online at: www.organicconsumers.org/donations.htm
Or mail your tax deductible donation to the OCA:
Organic Consumers Association
6771 South Silver Hill Drive · Finland, MN 55603
Or by phone: 888-403-1007 (toll free).
For many more food issue daily headlines:www.organicconsumers.org/log.html
Organic Bytes is a publication of the Organic Consumers Association · 6771 S. Silver Hill Drive · Finland, MN 55603 Phone: 218·353·7454 · Fax: 218·353·7652
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www.organicconsumers.org/organicbytes.htm