ESSAY OF THE WEEK

Legal. But Safe?

Weedkillers in wheat crackers and cereals, insecticides in apple juice and a mix of multiple pesticides in spinach, string beans and other veggies—all are part of the daily diets of many Americans.

For decades, federal officials have declared tiny traces of these contaminants to be safe. But a new wave of scientific scrutiny is challenging those assertions.

According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) latest report, more than 75 percent of fruits and more than 50 percent of vegetables sampled carried pesticides residues. Even residues of the tightly restricted bug-killing chemical DDT are found in food, along with a range of other pesticides known by scientists to be linked to a range of illnesses and disease.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb claims that because the residues fall below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tolerances, they pose no risk to consumers.

But as U.S. Right to Know’s Carey Gillam reports, recent scientific studies have prompted many scientists to warn that years of promises of safety may be wrong. In fact, repeated low-level exposures to trace amounts of pesticides in the diet could be contributing to a range of health problems, particularly for children.

Read ‘Chemicals on Our Food. When ‘Safe” May Not Really Be Safe.’

Help us support U.S. Right to Know with your tax-deductible donation

ACTION ALERT

Green New Deal

The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) recently delivered its Fourth National Climate Assessment.

The authors of the apocalyptic report couldn’t be more clear: It’s high time the U.S. had a plan for dealing with global warming.

We agree. But we want to make sure that the architects of that plan acknowledge industrial agriculture’s contribution to global warming—and that they also recognize the potential of organic regenerative farming, ranching and land use to reverse global warming.

That’s why we’re supporting the Green New Deal. And why we’re asking you to ask your members of Congress to support it, too. (These members of Congress have already signed on. Please thank them)!

TAKE ACTION: Ask your members of Congress to support the Sunrise Movement’s Green New Deal!

Join us December 10 in Washington, DC, the Sunrise Movement's demonstration to demand Congress make a real plan to address climate change.

MILLIONS AGAINST MONSANTO

We'll See

Dewayne Johnson never wanted to be a celebrity acting out his life on an international stage. He’d much rather be a healthy man, going to work, taking care of his family, making a modest-but-steady living.

In a recent interview with Time magazine, the former school groundskeeper said:

“I’ve never really been a fan of attention or fanfare. And now it seems like that’s taken over my life. I get requests for media interviews from all over the world, and people ask me to come to their events and speak, and I’ve had people telling me they want to buy my 'life rights' to try to get movie deals . . . It’s crazy.”

Crazy, maybe. But Johnson, who recently won a $289-million judgment (later reduced to $78 million) against Monsanto (now Bayer) for manufacturing a product he says (and the jury agreed) caused his terminal cancer—and hiding evidence of that product’s lethal toxicity—has perhaps done more than any one single person to shine a spotlight on how bad Roundup weedkiller is. And how deceitful Monsanto is.

There are more than 8,000 cases now pending against Monsanto as more victims come forward to tell their stories of how they believed Monsanto’s public claims of safety, only to become deathly ill from exposure to Roundup.

Next up is the case of Edward Hardeman, whose trial is set to begin on February, 25, 2019, in a San Francisco federal court. Reuters reports that Hardeman’s case was selected as “a so-called bellwether, or test trial, frequently used in U.S. product liability mass litigation to help both sides gauge the range of damages and define settlement options.”

Bayer CEO Werner Baumann says the lawsuits are "nuisances." We'll see.

Read ‘Monsanto Lost Its Most Important Case Yet. Soon More Victims Will Get Their Day in Court’

Make a tax-deductible donation to OCA’s Millions Against Monsanto campaign

SUPPORT OCA & CRL

Politics of Food

As much as we might wish it weren’t true, politics and food are intertwined.

Politics and policy are why we don’t have labels on GMO foods, even though 90 percent of consumers want those labels.

It was a U.S. Food & Drug Administration policy decision that granted approval of GMO salmon—and said it could be sold in supermarkets with no labels to distinguish it from non-GMO salmon.

And the Farm Bill, a giant $90-billion piece of policy, determines that taxpayers will subsidize the growing of GMO monoculture commodities—but not the growing of healthy, organic regenerative fruits and vegetables.

Here’s the thing. If we want better food and farming policies, we need to lobby for them. And we definitely need to elect better policymakers.

OCA can do a lot on that front. But as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, our lobbying activities are limited. That’s why we also have a 501(c)(4) lobbying arm, the Citizens Regeneration Lobby (CRL).

Congress made little progress on the Farm Bill last year. So as we head into 2019, we have an opportunity to let new members of Congress know that it's time to fix the Farm Bill, so that it helps the farmers who grow food responsibly. And we have a great opportunity to let Congress know that it's time to act on climate—it's time for a Green New Deal!

We can do some of that work through OCA. But much of it will have to be done through CRL. Can we count on your support? 

Make a tax-deductible donation to the Organic Consumers Association

Support Citizens Regeneration Lobby, OCA’s 501(c)(4) lobbying arm (not tax-deductible)

Click here for more ways to support our work

NEW STUDY

'Final Countdown'

We tend to think about species extinction as something in the realm of “environmental protection.” It’s not something that the majority of consumers see as a food issue.

But when brands like Unilever, Nestlé and Mondelez include palm oil in their ingredients, they’re destroying wildlife habitat—and, eventually, the wildlife that depends on that habitat.

A new investigation reveals that the world’s biggest brands are responsible for destroying an area of rainforest almost twice the size of Singapore in less than three years.

Why? Because these Big Brands use palm oil in a host of food and personal care products, including frozen pizzas, ice cream, cookies, chocolates, soaps, candles, makeup and detergents.

Read ‘Final Countdown: Are Your Food Choices Pushing Wildlife to Extinction?’

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Herd Mentality

Who doesn’t love watching goats and sheep do their thing? And who can resist hearing about an almost-104-year-old sheep farmer, and why she got into sheep farming 53 years ago?

We chose this video to share this week for both those reasons. But also because it contains timely insights into how to protect California’s agricultural land from devastating fires.

“Resilience in Progress” touches on many of our favorite subjects—from regenerative agriculture, biodiversity and climate-resilience, to consumer demand for better products, produced in harmony with nature.

The film also suggests ways to build bridges between farms and people who want to work on them. As James Irwin, of Kaos Sheep Outfit, puts it:

“At the end of our run, our biggest achievement won’t be how many acres we grazed, but how people we got excited about doing what we’re doing.

Watch ‘Relilience in Progress: Re-Integrating Animals into Cropping Systems'

LITTLE BYTES

This Week's Essential Reading

Tanzania Orders Destruction of Monsanto/Gates' GM Trials Due to Illegal Use for Pro-GM Propaganda

Millions of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Released in Scheme to Get Rid of Diseases Like Malaria. It Didn't Work

‘Superfuel’ - Your Definitive Guide to Dietary Fats

Global Anger Erupts After Chinese Scientist Claims First Gene-Edited Babies

Feds, State Pay Deer Farmers $330k After Wiping Out Herds

Being Grateful Is Good for Your Health

U.S. Autism Rate Up to 1 in 40 Children, CDC Says