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Can your food choices make a real difference in the world? Beyond just improving your own personal health?
Yes, say the producers of Revolution:Food.
And there’s no better time in history to participate in the food system, than now.
We can no more disconnect our own health from the health of the soil. We can no more disconnect diversity from our very survival. – Vandana Shiva
You’ve heard the pundits talk about a drug-free society. But what about a drug-free hamburger?
As health officials sound the alarm about antibiotic resistance caused by the overuse of antibiotics in meat production, a few fast-food chains are taking steps to clean up their acts. But overall, when it comes to getting antibiotics out of their supply chains, the fast-food restaurant industry gets a failing grade, according to a new report compiled by Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Consumers Union, FACT, Center for Food Safety and Keep Antibiotics Working.
The report, Chain Reaction, includes a scorecard on the top 10 fast-food chains. The only two chains to earn an A grade? Panera Bread and Chipotle Mexican Grill. (Chipotle was attacked by the media earlier this year, for announcing plans to go GMO-free. OCA National Director defended Chipotle’s decision to heed consumer demand for GMO-free food).
According to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, each year in the U.S., at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections.
Antibiotic-resistance is largely attributed to the routine use of sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics on factory farms. The factory farm industry says the antibiotics are needed to prevent disease—partly true, as animals confined indoors in cramped, inhumane conditions, are more susceptible to disease. But it’s widely known that industry uses the drugs to grow bigger animals, faster.
It’s been nearly two years since the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced a plan to curb the routine use of sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics to treat and fatten up livestock on factory farms. But the mostly voluntary, loophole-riddled “plan” falls far short of what scientists say is needed to stop the spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs that now pose a real and widespread danger to public health.
It’s clear that the FDA isn’t going to regulate away the problem. So who will solve it?
You. By not buying any meat that comes from factory farms. And by encouraging your fast-food restaurant-going friends to at least choose brands that are rejecting meat from animals pumped full of antibiotics.
Many of you have been calling and writing your Senators, asking them to oppose H.R. 1599, or what we call the DARK—Deny Americans the Right to Know—Act.
Some of you have reported back to us. From what you’ve told us, we know that the DARK forces who oppose your right to know are doing a brilliant job of misrepresenting the DARK Act.
Here’s what Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said in an email response to one of his constituents:
H.R. 1599 was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Mike Pompeo (R-KS) on March 25, 2015. H.R. 1599 would authorize the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish a nationwide labeling standard for foods made with genetically modified (GMO) ingredients. Currently, the FDA does not require labeling for GMO foods. This legislation comes in response to efforts from state legislatures and through ballot initiatives that have pursued requiring labeling for GMO foods.
Anyone with any knowledge whatsoever about the DARK Act knows that this is a blatant misrepresentation of H.R. 1599.
H.R. 1599 would strip the FDA of the power to require mandatory labeling of GMOs. It would preempt state GMO labeling laws, and it would guarantee that there will never be premarket safety testing of GMO foods. Ever.
The only “nationwide labeling standard” that would be established under H.R. 1599 would be a voluntary standard for non-GMO foods—and it would be run by the USDA, not the FDA.
Does Sen. Sullivan really not understand the intent—and the details—of the DARK Act? Or is he just complicit in Monsanto’s plan to keep GMOs untested and unlabeled, forever?
What about your Senator? If you’ve never picked up the phone and called your Senator, now would be a good time. Please sign the alert below, then follow up with a phone call. (You’ll find your Senator’s phone number after you fill in your zipcode).
TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Senators: Defend States’ Rights to Label GMOs!
Things are heating up in Washington D.C. around Monsanto’s DARK Act.
Can you join OCA, Moms across America and March against Monsanto for two days of anti-DARK Act events, October 16 – 17?
Here’s what’s going down, at least according to the latest reports. On October 7, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA)—the multi-billion-dollar lobbying group that helped Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan) write the DARK Act—will hold a lobbying day.
Sometime during that same week—October 5 – 9—the Senate Ag Committee will hold a hearing on H.R. 1599, even though the Senate hasn’t introduced its own DARK Act yet. Or, it’s possible, according to a PoliticoPro report, that the Senate will introduce a bill next week, or soon after, even if no Democratic co-sponsor steps up to the plate.
You can bet the GMA will spare no expense hammering your Senators to support Monsanto’s DARK Act. And once there’s a bill, or even just a hearing, in the Senate, Pompeo and his band of pro-GMO propagandists will kick into high gear.
So will we.
If you can get to D.C. on Friday, October 16, OCA, Moms Across America and Truth-in-Labeling could use your help lobbying the Senate. Contact alexis@organicconsumers.org to join the lobbying team.
A day of marches, rallies, live music and an organic potluck picnic is planned for Saturday, October 17. The day will wrap up with OCA International Director Ronnie Cummins speaking on Capitol Hill.
Monsanto and the GMA are intent on turning the lights out on the GMO labeling movement. Please join us in Washington D.C. to shine a light on the ugly truth about Monsanto, GMOs and the DARK Act.
RSVP for October 16-17 March Against Monsanto Events in D.C.
Never underestimate the power of a mom. Or a blogger. Or, worse yet, a mommy blogger.
Leah Segedie was “completely shocked” when she learned that Monsanto and the American Academy of Pediatrics were bedfellows, joined by a “sponsor partnership.”
So the mom, blogger and founder of the popular blogger network, Mamavation, reached out to the Academy’s public affairs team, via a personal friend.
The result? The American Academy of Pediatrics will sever ties with Monsanto at the end of this year.
It’s good to see that an organization entrusted with the final word on the health of kids is finally joining other physicians in taking a stand against one of the chief poisoners of a whole generation of our children.
We devote a lot of time to fighting the anti-GMO war in state and federal legislatures, because we have to. It’s important work, and we’ll keep doing it.
But it’s important to remember the power we all have to influence those outside of the State Houses and the U.S. Capitol. And the good that can come of that power.
We know how busy you are. And how you aren’t keen on sitting in front of your laptop for hours on end.
So we’ve made it easier for you take action and mobilize while you’re on the go!
Want to join OCA’s new mobile action network? Text JoinOCA to 97779.
When you join our mobile network, we’ll let you know about the latest news and most urgent actions. We’ll also give you the opportunity to sign some of our petitions via text, instead of email, if that’s your preference. We promise to text you only when it matters most.
Join the OCA mobile action network by texting JoinOCA to 97779
Sign our petition asking these 12 Senators to promise not to cosponsor H.R. 1599, a bill to preempt state and federal GMO labeling laws, by texting the word “twelve” to 97779.
“Resistance… because if we fight we might lose but if we don’t we’ve already lost.”
Every time we hit a fundraising goal we’re grateful. Thank you.
We’re also reminded that raising money is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
We would love to say that we’re reached the end. The end of corporations being allowed to poison our food and natural resources. The end of a political system that answers to corporate money, not individual citizens or the voice for the common good.
We would love to be celebrating the end of Monsanto’s reign of toxic terror.
We aren’t there yet. But thanks to the millions of you who are willing to keep the pressure on, the end is no longer a pipe dream. As more and more scientists and journalists step up to challenge a system that is as poisonous as it is unsustainable, the end is coming into view.
Thanks to you, we are not afraid to lose as often as we need, in order to finally win. Thank you!
Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and public education)
Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our GMO labeling legislative efforts)