TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK

Worst of the Worst

The reckless proliferation of genetically engineered crops, specifically designed to be used in tandem with increasingly deadly chemicals, has wreaked havoc with human health, and the health of our entire ecosystem.

Now the worst of the worst possible uses for genetic engineering has come home to roost. And it was totally avoidable.

As sane scientists have warned for decades, researchers in labs around the world are employing genetic engineering technologies, largely in secret, for no other purpose than to create “novel” viruses, for which humans have no immunity.

These novel viruses are engineered to be as infectious to humans, and as transmissible, as possible.

Despite an ongoing cover-up by government authorities, the biotech industry, the military industrial complex and the mass media, there is growing scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was created and (most likely accidentally) leaked from a dual-use military/civilian lab in Wuhan, China.

The creation of COVID-19, engineered by repeatedly “passaging” a bat virus through animal and human cells and/or genetic engineering or splicing specific genetic sequences into the virus, violated a ban on gain-of-function experiments called for by many of the world’s top scientists.

Why is gain-of-function research allowed, despite the known, potentially catastrophic risks? How do we end it—before it ends us?

Read ‘COVID-19—Reckless ‘Gain-of-Function’ Experiments Lie at the Root of the Pandemic’

SIGN THE PETITION: Stop the Genetic Engineering of Viruses! Shut Down All Biowarfare Labs Now!

#BOYCOTTBIGMEAT

13 Reasons

Last week, we officially kicked off our #BoycottBigMeat campaign, joined by Forward Latino, Socially Responsible Agricultural Project, Regeneration International and the national coalition of U.S. Farmers & Ranchers for a Green New Deal.

So far, about 60,000 people have watched our virtual launch. If you missed it, you can watch the full panel discussion on Facebook or YouTube. 

Now that the #BoycottBigMeat campaign lift-off is behind us, we’re moving on to next steps. These include a series of panels on individual issues—climate, water quality, public health, policy reforms and many others—that intersect with large-scale industrial meat production.

Up first, on August 25, will be a panel of guests who will explain why, even though they are vegans or vegetarians, they support regenerative ranchers.

Meanwhile, we hope you’ll check out our list of 13 Reasons to #BoycottBigMeat. (Here’s a downloadable PDF version for sharing).

As we roll out this campaign over the coming months, we’ll add in-depth research for each of the 13 points . . . one more reason to stay tuned into this campaign.

Read ’13 Reasons to #BoycottBigMeat'

Looking for grass-fed or pasture-raised meat products near you? Check out the Regenerative Farm Map

SIGN THE PETITION: It’s Time for Radical Reform: No More Factory Farms!

MILLIONS AGAINST MONSANTO

'Hear, Hear!'

It’s tough to imagine any scenario in which someone with terminal cancer “wins.” 

But DeWayne Lee Johnson, suffering from terminal non-Hodgkin lymphoma, can at least say that he prevailed over one of the worst corporations in the world.

As U.S. Right to Know’s Carey Gillam reports, on July 20, an appeals court rejected Bayer’s effort to overturn the trial victory notched by a California school groundskeeper who alleged exposure to Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicides caused him to develop cancer.

The court did say that the amount awarded to Johnson should be lowered, to $20.5 million. But the court also said this:

“In our view, Johnson presented abundant—and certainly substantial— evidence that glyphosate, together with the other ingredients in Roundup products, caused his cancer. Expert after expert provided evidence both that Roundup products are capable of causing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma . . . and caused Johnson’s cancer in particular.”

“Expert after expert.” And still, we have to fight this battle. Thank you, Mr. Johnson, for taking on the poison cartel.

Read ‘Appeals Court Upholds Groundskeeper's Roundup Cancer Trial Win Over Monsanto’

Read what one juror had to say about the verdict

TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Ban Monsanto/Bayer’s Cancer-Causing Roundup Weedkiller!

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

SUPPORT OCA & CRL

'Good Trouble'

When Congressman and longtime civil-rights activist John Lewis died last week, words he spoke a few years ago popped up in many of the articles written about him:

"Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble."

If ever there were a time to make noise, and get in good—and necessary—trouble, that time is now.

The battle for social, environmental and economic justice, the battle for safe food and safe streets, the demands for an end to factory farming and genetic engineering—and for a real plan to reverse global warming—have always required a long-haul mentality.

In the face of a global pandemic, a disintegrating democracy and an imploding economy—all of which intersect in some way with our food and farming system, and the policies that shape that system—we find ourselves engaged in what is truly the “struggle of a lifetime.”

Thank you for being in this struggle with us. Thank you for continuing to support our work, even in these most difficult of times.

We share your sense of urgency. We promise to keep making noise, to keep pushing for the radical, not incremental change, we believe is possible. We invite you to get into good, necessary trouble, with us.

Make a tax-deductible donation to OCA

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

Donate $100 or more and we’ll send you a copy of Ronnie’s new book

Click here for more ways to support our work

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Wisdom

When she first heard of COVID-19, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim said to herself, “Wow, what is this thing? If it comes to my community we will be all done.”

Ibrahim is an award-winning environmental activist and indigenous woman from the Mbororo nomadic herding community in the Republic of Chad, a landlocked country in north-central Africa.

Most of her community lives on Lake Chad, which thanks to global warming, has lost 90 percent of its water since 1960. That, Ibrahim says, makes her community—already living on the frontlines of climate change—highly vulnerable during a pandemic:

“We can't ask people who don’t have clean water to drink, to wash their hands every hour,” Ibrahim says.

In the latest “Trails of Regeneration” video, Ibrahim talks about indigenous wisdom, and the need to listen to nature.

Read ‘Perspectives from Chad, Africa: COVID-19, Climate Change and Indigenous Knowledge’

Watch the video

Watch more ‘Trails of Regeneration’ videos

Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

LITTLE BYTES

Essential Reading

GM Mosquitoes, Citrus and Antibiotics: Recipe for Disaster?

UV Radiation Protects Against Coronavirus

Feds Fire Another Shot at Homeopathy

Conflicts of Interest Plague GM Mosquito Experiments

Could a Detroit Experiment Unleash the Power of Urban Soil?

Revealed: Development Banks Funding Industrial Livestock Farms Around the World