That organic food in your freezer or refrigerator is probably owned by Kraft, Cargill, Kellogg, Pepsi, Hershey, M&M, Coca Cola and others. Click here fora link to research done by Phil Howard, Assistant Professor at Michigan University.
It’s obvious that ‘big food’ wants to cash in on the recent rise in demand for organics. Private labels go from Wal-Mart, Costco, Sam’s Club, Kroger, Target and down to more ‘organic’ companies like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.
Ah, but things get dicey when the so-called ‘organics’ get caught with their pants down like Aurora Dairy did in 2007. Co-mingling non-organic milk with organic, stepping outside the organic standards for feed and bedding, moving cows from organic facilities to non-organic and continuing to claim milk was organic, and failure to process milk according to the National Organic Program (NOP), and along with a host of other violations. These ‘greenwashed’ products often contain pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones from cross contamination.
Wal-Mart too, has been involved in investigations which allege ‘greenwashing‘ of its products.
What IS Organic? Watch this short video and see if you are making a difference with your purchases.
Organic certification is under attack.Go to these sites to read more about….
Beauty and Cosmetics: http://www.organicconsumers.org/bodycare/index.cfm
Food: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4756
To HELP PRESERVE ORGANICS, visit the Organic Consumer’s page and use their links to fight back FOR ORGANICS!
Because I feel very strongly about supporting local food endeavors and educating people on environmental issues, I recently made an announcement of an upcoming showing of “Fresh, The Movie” and “Food, Inc.”
In my e-mail I stated: “Please keep this in the back of your minds to come to because these are two VERY IMPORTANT films that anyone concerned about our food supply really needs to see.”
I received an reply from a editor in the Charlottesville area:
“I question the validity of your statement that either or both of these films are important for everyone to see.”
Excuse me????
If you are truly concerned about our food system I would think that you’d want people to see these films.
If you feel that the public has been purposely kept in the dark by the FDA, USDA, the food industry, large corporations like Wal-Mart, chemical giants such as Monsanto, fast food companies and large agribusiness concerns, how can you ‘question the validity’ of my attempt to educate consumers?
Current health statistics cite rising rates of cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, food allergies, birth defects and a host of diseases from our modern diet. Consumption of food laced with pesticides, additives, hormones, antibiotics, artificial colorings and flavorings are making people sick. Society’s dependence on cheap processed foods, proffered by our ‘friends’ in the food industry and fast food chains, have led to a frightening rate of obesity, illness & premature death. With this in mind, can you honestly say that either or both of these films are NOT important?
Pending legislation threatens the very existence of small farms and farmer’s markets across this country. Passage, without amendments, will sound a death knell for small farmers and severely damage organic food concerns. If you support our farmers and local food initiatives, then I would hope you would be for the dissemination of this information.
If you are committed to preserving the right of citizens to get their food directly from small farmers, instead of corporate giants who put profits ahead of the health of their customers, why then do you not support this venue?
Are you at all concerned about Monsanto and their tactics of bullying, spying on and putting small farmers out of business through litigation?
Do you question Monsanto’s worldwide monopoly for Round-Up Ready crops? What about the environmental effect of farmer’s increasing use of pesticides on all GMOs? Are you unfazed about the environmental impact of pesticides on the health of this planet & ALL of its inhabitants?
“Fresh” captured many accolades in 2009. Among them were official selections from: Environmental Film Festival, Sustainable Living Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Maine International Film Festival and the Kerry Film Festival. It was reviewed far and wide, garnering praise for insightful views into the food world.
“Food, Inc” also was applauded in many circles last year. In addition to the Gotham Award, it also was on the list for Academy Award for Best Documentary, the 25th Anniversary Spirit Award, and is on the list for an Oscar Award.
Everyone that I’ve talked to who has seen either (or both) agrees that these two films are important.
Methinks, dear scribe, that you are outnumbered!
A recent study in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, has linked organ damage in mammals (rats) to consumption of Monsanto’s GMO corn, NK603, MON 810 & MON 863. Closely monitoring each animal within set parameters for 90 days, effects were noticed in the kidney, liver, heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system (formation of blood). The study goes on to say that there is a potential toxicity relating to the pesticides specific to each species of corn. It was noted by the scientists in the IJBS:
“Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity….These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods are currently unknown.”
In another GMO report, Greenpeace reiterated that Monsanto’s methods were not intrusive enough to detect inconsistancies in the parameters used in its testing. In other words, the whole testing process is flawed.
Monsanto obviously complicates the test data by testing with unrelated groups, therefore there can be no clear conclusion.
GMOs have been linked to bee colony collapse and butterfly deaths. Why wouldn’t this be so? After all, the plants on which the bees and butterflies feed will kill them. Between GMO crops and the use of pesticides on them, it is a death knell for pollinators.
GMO corn is in all of our food, be it from the U.S. or imported in food from China or other nations.
Forbes has even bought into the lie that Monsanto is ‘The Company of The Year”. Read on and get sick!
We need to push for more organic food. Consumers have a voice against GMO products.
Organics from China probably aren’t. As reported on the Organic Consumer site:
“One company that had an excellent opportunity to meet consumer expectations by supporting the growth of organic acreage in North America was Dean Foods, makers of the industry’s leading soy milk, Silk. Instead, after buying the Silk brand, Dean Foods quit purchasing most of their soybeans from American family farmers and switched their primary sourcing to China. This cost-cutting move helped them build their commanding soy milk market share using soybeans of questionable organic certification from China.
“White Wave (the operating division of Dean Foods that markets Silk and Horizon organic milk) had the opportunity to push organic and sustainable agriculture to incredible heights of production by working with North American farmers and traders to get more land in organic production, but what they did was pit cheap foreign soybeans against the U.S. organic farmer, taking away any attraction for conventional farmers to make the move into sustainable agriculture,” said Merle Kramer, a marketer for the Midwestern Organic Farmers Cooperative.
And now Dean, the $11 billion agribusiness behemoth and the nation’s largest dairy concern, has quietly abandoned organic soybeans in most of the Silk product line, switching to even cheaper conventional soybeans without changing UPC codes for retailers or lowering pricing to consumers.”
Furthermore, many small independent organic food producers are being bought by large corporations who are switching to imported products to boost profitability. This is how American companies are selling out to the Chinese in favor of cheap food with lower and potentially dangerous standards.
The Cornucopia Institute has issued a scorecard report that everyone who eats organics should read.
Hexane, a chemical which is a toxic petrochemical, is used to extract the oils and protein from soy products.