News
Conclusions
The many types of integration between fish and poultry farming clearly present opportunities for the dissemination of AI viruses through poultry faeces. There is, however, no firm information that AI has been disseminated in this way, but this possible means of transmission should be considered when interpreting outbreaks of AI in wild and domestic birds at water bodies.
Web Note: Sales of certified organnic products in the USA reached $15 billion in 2005, of which $1.5 Billion or 10% were imported. USA organic exports, on the other hand, totaled $150 million or 1% of sales.
Shortages of many organic raw ingredients, including dairy, produce and meat, is stunting growth of the U.S. organic industry, according to a January 2006 report from research firm Organic Monitor in London. "Nearly all market sectors would grow at much higher rates if sufficient supply was available,² the report stated.
Ask someone who's studied industrialized agriculture and they'll tell you it's bad because large monocultures and confined animals pollute the air and water. Then they'll tell you the food that comes from industry is tasty but unhealthy. They'll tell you it's cheap because it's subsidized by the government with so many subsidies that the big companies ought to give it away.
The Journal of the American Medical Association is rocking the boat in conventional medicine. An article in JAMA has come up with the suggestion -- aghast! -- that doctors should stop accepting bribes from drug companies. Most people didn't know that doctors routinely accept bribes (including hundreds of thousands of dollars in "contractor's fees" for signing patients up for drug trials), so this news may come as a bit of a shock to some.
QUESNEL, B.C. -- Millions of acres of Canada's lush green forests are turning red in spasms of death. A voracious beetle, whose population has exploded with the warming climate, is killing more trees than wildfires or logging.
The mountain pine beetle has infested an area three times the size of Maryland, devastating swaths of lodgepole pines and reshaping the future of the forest and the communities in it.
______________________________________________________________________
Americans Are Cautiously Open to Gas Tax Rise, Poll Shows
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/national/28gas.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>
By Louis Uchitelle and Megan Thee
The New York Times, February 28, 2006.
Web Note: In the past 48 hours over 25,000 members of the Organic Consumers Association network have sent an email to the House Representatives in Congress, calling for them to vote against HR Bill 4167, the so-called "National Uniformity for Food Act." Tens of thousands of other consumers, responding to Action Alerts from the Consumers Union, the Center for Food Safety, the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, and other groups have done the same thing.
Ag Policy Issues
Food Labels
We speak with Liz McIntyre, author of "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track your Every Move with RFID" that examines radio frequency identification - a technology that uses tiny computer chips to track items at distance. Major corporations are working right now to install RFIDs on all consumer products. What about in you arm? Or in your kids? We also speak with freelance journalist Annalee Newitz who recently had an RFID implanted in her arm.
"Imagine a world of no more privacy.
The recent controversy over the Harvey lawsuit in the United States organic community stirred a heated debate over the use of non-organic substances and ingredients in organic foods. One major issue not addressed was the fact that many non-organic ingredients provide a pathway for genetic contamination of organic foods. Many such ingredients, including citric acid, lecithin, vitamins, and enzymes, may contain or be derived from genetically modified organisms.
In the last couple of years, bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) have become immensely popular with governments disillusioned by the slow pace of trade liberalisation talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). At present there are over 200 FTA negotiating processes under way across the globe. While ostensibly aimed at breaking down trade barriers, these agreements are increasingly targeting indigenous peoples' and local communities' traditional knowledge in very real ways.
