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Interview of the Week
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Dr. Mercola Interviews OCA Director Ronnie CumminsMillions Against Monsanto Alert
Obama's USDA Betrays Organics Again
Tell Secretary Vilsack to Stop Sabotaging Organic!
Two weeks ago we reported that despite receiving hundreds of thousands of letters in opposition, President Obama's USDA approved Monsanto's new "Roundup Ready" alfalfa. GM alfalfa will massively increase the use of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide and is certain to contaminate organic dairy, alfalfa sprouts and honey.
Then, last week, just as Organic Bytes reached your inboxes, USDA Secretary (and former Biotech Governor of the Year) Tom Vilsack dropped another Frankenbomb on organic, announcing that GM sugar beets would be planted this spring in defiance of a federal court ban issued to protect organic sugar beet seeds and related crops such as kale and table beets from contamination.
This is outrageous! We've got to stop Vilsack and Obama's sabotaging of organic!
February Fundraising Appeal
Donate and Help OCA Mobilize Millions Against Monsanto and Factory Farms
The powerful antidote to corporate crime and villainy is mass grassroots awareness and grassroots action. GMOs, Factory Farms, and deceptively labeled consumer products pose a mortal threat to public health, the environment, climate stability, farm animals, and all living things. GMOs and organic crops, GMOs and biodiversity, cannot "coexist." As we speak, organic crops are being contaminated with Monsanto's GMOs. We need your financial support to educate and mobilize consumers, to protect and maintain strict organic and Fair Trade standards, and to pressure the entire food industry to adopt Truth-in-Labeling practices.
Webinar of the Week
Announcing the First Millions Against Monsanto Truth-in-Labeling Webinar!
Natural News' Mike Adams joins OCA director Ronnie Cummins for a live discussion on the myth of "coexistence" between organics and GMOs, and how grassroots action and truth-in-labeling can start to drive Monsanto's genetically engineered crops and foods off the market. This is the first in a series.
When: February 24th, 2011, 7pm Central Time
Registration for this free event is limited. You can go here to register.
Millions Against Monsanto Actions
Do-It-Yourself GMO Labels: Show Grocers How to Label Their GMO and Factory Farmed Foods!
This month, the Millions Against Monsanto Truth-in-Labeling Campaign will start taking matters into our own hands. We're sticking "Oh No! Is It GMO?" labels on non-organic foods likely to contain GMOs as well as non-organic meat, dairy, and eggs coming from animals raised in CAFOs, (Confined Animal Feeding Operations), where they are force-fed GM grains. Utilizing OCA's petitions, you can send grocers photos of your handiwork.
First, download the Non-GMO Shopping guide and our "Oh No! Is It GMO?" sticker from the links provided. Take them to your local grocery store, Whole Foods or Trader Joe's and label the products that you suspect to be contaminated with GMOs. Take a picture of the product with the new "truth label" and then send it to your grocers using the "See Me" function at the end of the action alerts below.
Not comfortable "guerrilla stickering" in your store? Look in your pantry. Unfortunately, there's bound to be some GMO products in there too. Put a label on them, take a picture and send it to the grocer you got it from, using the alerts below.
Here are the tools you need:
#2 "Oh No! Is It GMO?" Stickers PDF (Prints on Avery# 5160 address labels.)
#3 The Millions Against Monsanto Petitions: To Whole Foods, to Trader Joe's , & to the top 6 food retailers
Millions Against Monsanto Congressional District Chapters
So far, over 2,000 organic activists have signed up to volunteer to launch Millions Against Monsanto campaign chapters in their congressional districts, but we still need volunteers in the following districts:
AL-1, AL-6, AL-7, AR-1, AR-4, CA-21, CA-34, CA-39, CA-43, CA-44, CA-47, CA-51, FL-3, FL-12, FL-21, GA-2, GA-8, GA-9, GA-10, GA-12, GA-13, IA-1, IA-5, IL-2, IL-18, IL-19, IN-3, IN-4, IN-7, IN-8, IN-9, KS-4, KY-2, LA-4, LA-5, MI-5, MI-6, MI-10, MI-14, MN-2, MN-7, MO-4, MS-1, MS-2, MS-3, NC-6, NC-12, NE-3, NJ-10, NM-2, NY-9, NY-16, OH-3, OH-7, OH-18, OK-2, OK-3, PA-3 PA-4, PA-9, PA-15, SC-3, TN-2, TX-01, TX-14, TX-15, TX-22, TX-27, TX-29, TX-32, UT-3, VA-2, WI-7, WV-2, WV-3
If you are willing to represent one of these districts, please click here to volunteer!
Don't know which congressional district you're in? Click here
Volunteers! Do you use Facebook Causes?
Can you create a Facebook Cause for the Millions Against Monsanto Chapter in your congressional district?
Censored Story of the Week
Monsanto Nation
Last week Organic Bytes featured OCA Director Ronnie Cummins' latest essay, "Monsanto Nation: Exposing Monsanto's Minions".
Huffington Post censored the article by Cummins, up until now a regular columnist for Huffington, and posted in the place where Cummins' articles are archived, an attack on the OCA by Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm (a subsidiary of the giant multinational corporation Dannon). The attack included an attempt by Hirshberg to gloss over the fact that Organic industry leaders were prepared to accept "coexistence" or "controlled deregulation" of Monsanto's GE alfalfa until two weeks ago, when their "friend" at the USDA Tom Vilsack and the White House basically slapped them in the face with complete deregulation of GE alfalfa and sugar beets. Perhaps Huffington censored "Monsanto Nation" because Whole Foods and Stonyfield are valued advertisers, or perhaps because Huffington has now been bought out for $315 million by the infamous, profit-at-any-cost media conglomerate AOL. Several dozen other alternative health and political columnists have likewise been recently censored by AOL/Huffington's thought police.
Please help us spread the word by circulating Ronnie Cummins' censored essay "Monsanto Nation" far and wide.
And please tune in to these online sites that do not censor the news:
Organic Consumers Association, Natural News, Mercola, Common Dreams, Counterpunch, Firedoglake, Alternet, & Democracy Now!
Campaign Update
OCA's Fair World Project News
1) Request the Fair World Project publication for free distribution
Distribute "For a Better World" for free at your business, organization or center of worship. "For a Better World," a free semi-annual publication, is the first of its kind. Featuring articles from a variety of perspectives; from farmer workers to 100% committed fair trade brands to deciphering certification schemes and trade organizations, "For a Better World" is an excellent resource to educate consumers.
Click here to request copies of "For a Better World" for distribution
Click here to download a free PDF of "For a Better World"
2) OCA's Fair World Project Tour: Fair Trade and Beyond in Nicaragua June 17, 2011 - June 25, 2011
Please join the Fair World Project (FWP) and Maggie's Organics to explore the promise and challenges to Fair Trade in Nicaragua. Join FWP on our inaugural tour to Nicaragua where together you will learn from the growers, the workers, and the families about their lives and working conditions. As the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most beautiful as well, Nicaragua provides a clear window into the stark distinctions between Fair Trade and so-called "Free Trade."
Tour highlights:
* San Augustin and Malpaisillo, women's agricultural cooperatives
* El Porvenir Coffee Cooperative, see how opposing sides in the civil war are working side by side today
* Esperanza en Accion, a fair trade craft cooperative
* Ginning and Spinning Coops
* Managua, Granada, Leon Cultural tours
* Relax in beautiful Laguna de Apoyo
Go here for more information and to register
OCA International
The Zero Waste Club: Via Organica wants to make San Miguel de Allende the First Zero-Waste City
The objective of the Zero Waste movement is to move all reusable, recyclable, and organic matter out of landfills. Composting is an important part of the Zero Waste movement. Food waste that would otherwise be rotting in the landfill, releasing dangerous methane gas and making garbage haulers and pickers sick, is instead transformed into an essential ingredient in healthy soils.
With a 50 peso (about $4 US) donation, residents can become part of Via Organica's Zero Waste Club. We give them two buckets; a small, black one for kitchen scraps and a big, white one for storage until they deliver it, full, to Via Organica. We will take all food scraps to our organic farm school and turn it into healthy compost! When they drop off a full bucket we give them a clean one in return.
In addition, we are urging people to separate all non-food items that go to the dump. In Mexico glass and aluminium is valuable, so it is separated out before being taken to the landfill. This is a dirty and dangerous job. Many trash-pickers get sick and injured on the job. If we separate your garbage before it goes to the landfill then garbage pickers won't have to, making it more likely that the materials will get recycled and the garbage workers will not get sick or injured picking through our trash.
In the United States, green-minded cities like San Francisco and Seattle have now passed laws requiring all household and commercial food wastes to be separated and composted. We're following their lead and becoming pioneers in Mexico's Zero Waste future.
Alerts of the Week
Don't Forget to Take Action...
Ban Triclosan! Take action by April 8, 2011
New York: Label Milk From Cows Given rBGH (Genetically Engineered Bovine Growth Hormone)!
Nationwide: Get a GMO Labeling Bill Introduced in Your State
Valentines Day
Unchain Your Heart! Give Fair Trade & Organic This Valentine's Day
Join the Organic Consumers Association and our allies around the world to put your money where your values lie and to show your loved ones that you truly care by choosing Fair Trade and organic flowers and chocolate for your Valentine’s Day gifts.
Little Bytes
World Social Forum: A Time of More Complex Global Crises
READ MORE
Neotame Receives FDA Approval But is Not Widely Used Yet
READ MORE
Junk Food Diet Hits a Child's IQ, Reveals Major UK Study
READ MORE
One out of Every Seven Americans Survives on Food Stamps
READ MORE
Food, Egypt and Wall Street
READ MORE
LOCAL [[State]] NEWS OF THE WEEK
[[State]] - Get Involved Locally
- Learn more about OCA related action alerts and other news in [[State]] here.
Message from our Sponsors
Eden Foods Offers OCA Customers 15% Discount
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As a subscriber to Organic Bytes, you can enjoy a 15% discount rate on any Eden Foods products by going here.
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