Fw: Organic Bytes: Organic Dairy, Sludge, and GMOs

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From: Organic Consumers Association <oca@...>Subject: Organic Bytes: Organic Dairy, Sludge, and GMOsepifany97523@...Date: Thursday, February 18, 2010, 12:35 PM

Organic Dairy, Sludge, and GMOs

#213, February 18, 2010

Health, Justice and Sustainability Newsfrom the Organic Consumers Association

Edited by is Baden-Mayer and Ronnie Cummins

In this issue:

Victory of the Week: New Organic Regulations Ban Factory-Style Dairy Feedlots

Take Action:

Obama USDA Poised to Approve Monsanto's Genetically Engineered Alfalfa

Tell San Francisco to Stop Giving Away or Selling Toxic Sludge Under the Guise of "Organic Compost" or Fertilizer

Vignette of the Week: Eating Like Our Parents Left for the Weekend by Will

Video of the Week: Vandana Shiva on Monsanto Indian Farmer Suicide

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Victory of the Week

New Organic Rules Ban Intensive Confinement Dairy Feedlots

After years of claims that the organic dairy "access to pasture" requirement was vague and couldn't be enforced, the USDA NOP has finally come out with a rule that bans intensive confinement feedlots and requires that organic cows get at least 30% of their feed from grazing for at least four months out of the year.

Read more about the history of the organic dairy pasture fight and the new pasture rule victory.

This rule is a great victory for organic consumers and organic dairy farmers who properly graze their animals, but what about beef? The USDA wants to know what consumers think about "finishing" or fattening up organic beef cattle for four months in factory farm-style feedlots.

Studies show that cattle confined and fed grain in feedlots are prone to E. coli 0157H contamination, whereas healthy organic cattle grazing on grass are typically free of this dangerous pathogen. The meat from grass-fed beef is also healthier and more nutritious than beef that's been "marbleized" in the feedlot.

Take Action: Tell the USDA National Organic Program that you don't want organic beef cattle to be kept in factory-farm-style feedlots for the last four months of their lives.

Deadline: April 19, 2010

Take Action

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OCA Needs Your Help to Spread the Organic Revolution

OCA and our international network of organic consumers and farmers understand that we have a positive life-affirming solution for the global food, health, and climate crisis: organic food, farming, and ranching. But to get out our all-important message we need your support. Please send us a tax-deductible donation today.

PLEASE DONATE

Take Action Against Monsanto's GE Alfalfa

Obama USDA Poised to Approve Monsanto's Genetically Engineered Alfalfa

Don't believe Monsanto's green-washing. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), aren't meant to feed the world or survive the evermore frequent droughts and floods brought on by global warming. GMOs are designed to sell Monsanto's herbicide Roundup and the patented "Roundup Ready" genes now spliced into millions of acres of corn, cotton, soy, canola, sugar beets and alfalfa. A 2009 study showed that, in 13 years, Roundup Ready crops increased herbicide use by 383 million pounds.

During the Bush administration, the movement to stop GMOs was making progress. Reflecting public concern over GMOs, in 2007, a Federal court ruled that the Bush USDA's approval of Roundup Ready alfalfa violated the law because it failed to analyze risks such as the contamination of conventional and organic alfalfa and the development of "super-weeds." The court banned the planting of GM alfalfa until USDA completed a rigorous analysis of these impacts. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals twice affirmed the national ban on Roundup Ready alfalfa planting, but Monsanto is appealing. They're taking organic alfalfa farmers all the way to the Supreme Court!

Now the Obama Administration's USDA is trying to get the court-ordered ban on Roundup Ready alfalfa lifted. They've issued a new draft environmental impact statement (EIS) that denies and downplays the obvious environmental and human health hazards of GM alfalfa.

Widespread GMO-contamination of organic alfalfa is inevitable if the Obama Administration successfully distorts science and ignores public opinion and allows Monsanto's GM Roundup Ready alfalfa to be planted across the U.S.

We must stop the Obama administration from taking away our right to grow and consume organic and GMO-free food. The "change we believe in" is a healthy and sustainable future based upon organic food and farming and a green economy.

So far, 16,099 Organic Consumers Association activists have sent letters, if you haven't...

Take Action Now

If you happen to be in San Diego, Monsanto's coming to town! Join the demonstration here:

Say No to GMO! A Peaceful Eat-In (Facebook event)

Take Action Against Toxic Sludge

Tell San Francisco City Officials to Stop Endangering Public Health and Degrading the Word "Organic" by Distributing Toxic Sewage Sludge Under the Guise of "Organic Compost"

The city of San Francisco, along with other municipalities across the U.S., are trying to trick Bay Area gardeners and farmers into spreading toxic sewage sludge on their fields and gardens. We need to stop San Francisco from promoting and distributing toxic sludge, and then we need to stop your city from doing the same thing.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission pays Synagro, the corporate giant of the toxic sludge industry, to take its toxic sewage sludge, mix it with the waste of a half-dozen other California counties, and then claim that it's been magically transformed into "high-quality, nutrient-rich, organic biosolids compost." But of course sewage sludge is hazardous waste, not "organic fertilizer." Sewage sludge is banned in organic agriculture and it should be banned for all land applications, period.

Municipal sludge is the toxic residue that is left over after household, industrial, hospital, and storm-water sewage has passed through a waste-water treatment plant.

Municipal sludge routinely contains hundreds of dangerous pathogens, toxic heavy metals, flame retardants, endocrine disruptors, carcinogens, pharmaceutical drugs and other hazardous chemicals.

Cities such as San Francisco and the toxic sewage sludge industry shouldn't be allowed to continue to lie to us and poison us!

San Francisco and other cities' toxic sewage sludge giveaways must stop.

Over 4,000 OCA activists have emailed San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in protest and hundreds have called, but his office still claims not to understand the problem.

Please help us get their attention by sending a free fax to Mayor Newsom!

Take action

Vignette of the Week

Eating Like Our Parents Left for the Weekend by Will

"If these kids can't afford to go to Biggest Losers to change their lives, they are probably reduced to eating bad burgers, on bad bread, with fries and a coke. Seeing their beauty, and their diminished hopes, and viewing the fat swollen cage they find themselves in it makes me feel desperate. They are young folks stuck with nearly useless bodies, chronically sore knees and hips, aching feet, a puzzling future, a dicey surgical hope, and always-hungry stomachs filled with shit food."

"The plight of the young couple reminds me of a Roseanne segment from the TV show. Her husband had just returned from the market and they were unloading the bags. After a few minutes of pulling cookies, potato chips, cokes, candy, ice cream, more cookies, and a cake out of the bags, she ranted, as only Roseanne could: "You know, at some point we need to grow up and stop eating like our parents just left for the weekend." That segment really struck me. We are a nation that eats like its parents just left for the weekend!"

Read More

Video of the Week

Vandana Shiva on Monsanto Indian Farmer Suicide

"Every seed that is in the market in cotton today, linked to one company or others, is licensed and controlled by Monsanto."

Watch

LOCAL OR NEWS OF THE WEEK

OR - Get Involved Locally

Learn more about OCA related action alerts and other news in OR here.

Join OR discussion groups in our forum.

Post events in OR on our community calendar.

Message from our Sponsors

USDA Certified Organic Household Cleaners are Finally Here! Greenology Products Has Made History

The word "natural" continues to remain undefined and is often confusing to consumers. Many manufacturers push the boundaries of what is truly considered natural. Because of this, Greenology Products spent 18 months developing a line of organic All-Purpose, Bathroom, Glass & Kitchen Cleaners that met NOP (National Organic Program) requirements and are certified by the USDA. We have recently won approval for the worlds first and only certified organic Laundry Detergent as well. It wasn't easy, but we were on a mission to change the way cleaning products are produced and used by families and businesses. Wanting to significantly raise the standards bar in cleaning was easy motivation for us because so much evidence points to chemical related health symptoms and poor indoor air quality at home, school and work.

As for performance, our Glass cleaner was given a "BEST" rating by the NY Times in a May 14th, 2009 review against 19 other national brand Glass cleaners. Not only are we certified organic, but the product works extremely well and is competitively priced against the national brands. It's a win for consumers and families.

Learn More

Please forward this publication to family and friends, place it on web sites, print it, duplicate it and post it freely. Knowledge is power!

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