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List of Most Pesticide-Contaminated Fruits and Vegetables
The True Costs of Industrial Agriculture
This Bill Could Make More Kids Obese—and No One Is Talking About It
Socialist MEPs Reject European Commission Proposal for Glyphosate Re-Approval
Nation’s Leading Yogurt Maker Will Remove GMO Ingredients and Source Milk From Non-GMO Fed Cows
The World In a State of Extreme Transition
Fast Food – Significant Source of Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals
Consumer and climate activists in Mexico face the same challenges we face here in the U.S. when it comes to government support of degenerative, rather than regenerative, agriculture policies and practices.
And just like us, they’re doing something about it.
On April 18 (2016), Regeneration International (RI), a project of OCA, and the Asociación de Consumidores Orgánicos (OCA in Mexico) along with other groups organized a meeting in Mexico City to introduce France’s 4 per 1000 initiative to government officials, including representatives of the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), Mexico’s equivalent of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). France’s 4 per 1000 Initiative, introduced at the Paris Climate Summit in December and so far endorsed by 26 nations, is a regenerative agriculture and land use plan to draw down and sequester in the soil as much CO2 (10 billion tons of carbon per year) as is presently being emitted by fossil fuel use and deforestation.
The meeting brought together representatives from consumer and civil society groups, the French Embassy and French research institutions, regenerative producers and organic producers and certifiers to talk about agriculture and climate, how they are related, and what needs to be done support organic regenerative agriculture in Mexico.
Sadly, some of the officials representing SAGARPA had no interest in discussing the elephant in the room—Monsanto and GMO monoculture crops, and the policies and subsidies that support degenerative agriculture practices in Mexico.
Following the meeting, RI and Mexico OCA followed up with a “Declaration” challenging the Mexican government to “restore Mexican land.” From the declaration:
We consider this issue fundamental in defending food sovereignty and security, and therefore consider essential the immediate organization and promotion of coordinated and transparent actions and public policies promoting regenerative practices in Mexico that will guarantee small producers’ basic rights, ensure the return of carbon to the soil, increase soil fertility, restore Mexican land and contribute to a safe, healthy, and high quality food system.
This was just the first of many meetings to come, as we continue our work to support an organic regenerative future for Mexico.
“But the responsibility does not lie with big thinkers and media personalities alone. Each of us must also step up and know that our individual actions do matter.”– Daniel Pinchbeck, Schuyler Brown
You’ve heard us say it many times.
It’s time for a transformation. A new paradigm. For agriculture, yes. But there’s so much more than just our toxic industrial agriculture system that needs changing.
We need to change the way we look at local and global economies. The way we look at capitalism, at “growth,” at economic, environmental and climate justice.
We need a new world view. We need to adjust our moral compass. We need a full-on revolution.
Or, as writers Daniel Pinchbeck and Schuyler Brown outlined in a recent article, we need an “extreme transition.”
We know what we need to do. Now we just have to do it.
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)
Donate to OCA’s Regeneration International Project (tax-deductible, helps support our work on organic regenerative agriculture and climate change)
Actor Robert De Niro (rightfully) took some heat for allowing the Tribeca Film Festival to censor the film “VAXXED—From Cover-Up to Catastrophe” after initially supporting the films’ screening.
But in an April 13 interview with the “Today Show,” De Niro stood up for the film, telling the interviewers “Let’s find out the truth.” De Niro, whose 18-year-old son is autistic, also did interviews with FOX News and NBC, in which reporters tried to discredit the film and downplay the risks of vaccines. But each time, De Niro stood up for the film and urged people to watch it.
“VAXXED” is a documentary film based on claims by Dr. William Thompson that he and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lied about the results of their own study, a study showing a link between the MMR vaccine and the rise of autism in African American boys.
The film, directed by Andrew Wakefield and produced by Del Bigtree, features journalist Ben Swann who examines Thompson’s claims through interviews he conducts with doctors, journalists, authors and former CDC specialists.
De Niro is right to defend “VAXXED.” The science on vaccines and autism is far from settled. Last year, researchers discovered the brain is directly connected to the immune system via previously unknown vessels — a discovery that could have significant implications for autism.
Please urge De Niro to use his star power to keep this issue front and center in the media.
Watch De Niro on the “Today Show”
TAKE ACTION: Tell Robert De Niro: Please Keep Seeking the Truth about Vaccines!
Text “VAXXED” to 97779 to sign the petition
Chances are, if you choose an “organic” infant formula for your baby or toddler, you do it because you want to feed your baby something wholesome, healthy and safe—and free of ingredients that don’t pass that test.
You rightfully expect to be able to trust the USDA organic seal. But what happens when you can’t?
OCA is suing two makers of popular infant formula brands—Hain Celestial Group (Earth’s Best) and The Honest Co.—because these two corporations are flat-out lying to consumers when they label their products as “organic.”
Of all the food products out there in the market, the products parents choose to feed infants and toddlers, whose brains are still developing, and whose immune systems are still fragile, are the products we should hold to the highest of standards.
That’s why the deceptive labeling practices of Honest and Hain Celestial are so, well, egregious.
We’ll keep you up to date on these lawsuits, which are intended to force Honest and Earth’s Best to remove the organic seal from their products—unless of course they want to remove the offending ingredients. Stay tuned.
Read the complaint against Hain Celestial (Earth’s Best)
Read the complaint against The Honest Co.
Post on Earth’s Best Facebook page
Enough with the waiting.
It’s clear that world governments lack the will to stop Monsanto from poisoning our food and our planet—much less hold the agribusiness giant accountable for its crimes.
That means it’s up to us, the citizens of the world, to take on Monsanto.
OCA is part of a committee organizing a Citizens’ Tribunal. The tribunal will take place October 15 and 16 (World Food Day), in The Hague, Netherlands. Prior to the start of the tribunal, on October 14, we will hold a People’s Assembly. During the two-day tribunal, judges and lawyers experienced in international law will hear testimony from witnesses from multiple countries, who have suffered harm from Monsanto’s poisons.
Citizens’ Tribunals have a long history of drawing global attention to corporate crimes. While the opinions handed down by the judges aren’t enforceable, they often—and in this case, will—lay the foundation for future legal cases where judgments will be enforceable.
The power of this tribunal will depend a lot on how much global attention we can draw to it. That’s why we’re coordinating with March Against Monsanto to publicize the tribunal during May 21 global marches, and use the May 21 marches to begin organizing the largest yet global March Against Monsanto for October 16, 2016—the day the tribunal wraps up in The Hague.
We’ll have much more to report on the tribunal, as judges are named, legal memos are published and witnesses are chosen.
But for now, we need your help to kick off a massive publicity effort, beginning with the May 21 global March Against Monsanto.
Register your March Against Monsanto event: email addmymarch@gmail.com
Email campaigns@organicconsumers.org for help organizing an event in your city
Sign up to receive a Monsanto Tribunal leaflet and other materials
Monsanto’s friends in Congress will try to slip a version of the DARK Act (H.R. 1599), the bill that would Deny Americans the Right to Know about GMOs, into the end-of-year appropriations bill.
The appropriations bill, essentially a budget bill, must pass by midnight December 11. Or the federal government will shut down.
Stopping this sneak attack on GMO labeling is even more urgent now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved GMO salmon.
Contrary to FDA claims, the AquAdvantage® salmon is not the same as farmed salmon that has not been genetically engineered. Developed in a laboratory by inserting the genes of a Chinook salmon and eelpout (an eel-like fish) into an Atlantic salmon, “frankenfish” is less nutritious than normal salmon, more likely to trigger an allergy, and could increase cancer risks by raising levels of IGF-1, a hormone linked to prostate, breast and colon cancers in humans.
Right now, the only states where GMO salmon will have to be labeled are Alaska and Vermont. But those laws could be wiped out by a last-minute “sneak attack” rider to the appropriations bill preempting states from enacting laws on any foods containing GMOs, including frankenfish.
Read our letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture
When consumers, 68 members of Congress, and food safety and animal welfare advocates objected to a new rule that could lead to contaminated poultry in grocery stores, and endanger the safety of workers who slaughter chickens, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) revised the rule.
But good luck finding out what the new-and-improved Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection rule says. Because the USDA ain’t sayin.’
Earlier this year, more than 100 groups (including the OCA) signed a letter to President Obama and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack urging them to rescind what Food & Water Watch dubbed the "Filthy Chicken Rule." Hundreds of thousands of consumers also publicly opposed the rule.
How did the USDA respond? By making "secret" changes to the rule. And then working to push through a final version without public comment.
Maybe they’re just too chicken to tell us the truth?
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced an amendment to the spending bill that would have prohibited the USDA from spending any funds to implement the new rule. DeLauro had this to say about the USDA’s secret changes and refusal to allow comments:
I remain concerned this rule drops food safety oversight from USDA into the hands of the industry itself and places workers in jeopardy. The Administration needs to address the concerns raised by myself, other members of Congress, and worker, consumer and animal welfare advocates, as they continue to finalize the rule. The Administration should also publish the revised rule now, open a 120 day comment period, and hold public meetings around the country. We need more transparency and public health stakeholders need to receive due consideration.