ORGANIC BYTES #114
Health, Justice and Sustainability News
Tidbits
7/26/2007
Written and edited by Craig Minowa and Ronnie
Cummins
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IN THIS
ISSUE
- GRASSROOTS VICTORY OF THE WEEK: COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
LABELING AND NAIS
- ALERT OF THE WEEK: CONGRESS VOTES ON FARM BILL
TODAY!
- STUDY OF THE WEEK: MORE PROOF THAT ORGANICS HAVE
HIGHER NUTRITIONAL VALUE
- CONSUMER TIP OF THE WEEK #1: WHO OWNS YOUR FAVORITE
ORGANIC BRANDS?
- CONSUMER TIP OF THE WEEK #2: STUDY SAYS PVC
PACKAGING VIOLATES CONSUMER SAFETY LAWS IN 19 STATES
- ORGANIC BYTES READERS TALK BACK: ORGANIC
LANDSCAPING AND ORGANIC LAWNS
- CORPORATE BULLY OF THE WEEK: SCOTTS MIRACLE-GROW
COMPANY SUES SMALL ORGANIC FERTILIZER BUSINESS
- HEALTH TIP OF THE WEEK: FINDING A SUNSCREEN THAT IS
SAFE AND EFFECTIVE
- SOCIAL JUSTICE NEWS OF THE WEEK: CHEMICAL COMPANIES
SUED BY THOUSANDS OF STERILE FARMWORKERS
- SUSTAINABILITY TIP OF THE WEEK: LISTEN TO BARBARA
KINGSOLVER ON "THE ETHICS OF EATING" ONLINE NOW
- YOUR
ONLINE ORGANIC COMMUNITY IS HERE
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GRASSROOTS VICTORY OF THE WEEK:
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
LABELING AND NAIS
Responding to escalating public concerns over the
safety of imported foods, reflected in tens of thousands of constituent
calls and emails from the OCA and our allies all over the country, the
House Agriculture Committee has finally agreed to require mandatory
Country of Origin labels on beef and some other foods. Thanks to all of
you who participated in this campaign, the committee also agreed to remove
the National Animal Identification System from the draft legislation text
as the OCA and its allies have been requesting. The final version of the
Farm Bill is still up for grabs, and now heads from committee to the House
floor, so please contact your Congressional Representative and let them
know you support COOL labels for all foods: http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/cool.htm
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ALERT OF THE WEEK:
CONGRESS VOTES ON FARM BILL
TODAY!
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote
on a new Farm Bill, legislation that will determine agriculture policy for
the next five years. The current version of the bill is mostly more
corporate welfare for polluting industrial agriculture with few incentives
to make healthy food more widely available or protect labor rights or the
environment. Please contact your Member of Congress today to urge them to
vote for important amendments for sustainable agriculture, including
amendments to protect farmers and consumers from Mad Cow Disease and GMO
contamination, and an amendment that would transfer money earmarked for
the richest agribusinesses to conservation and nutrition
programs.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_5813.cfm
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STUDY OF THE WEEK:
MORE PROOF THAT ORGANICS HAVE
HIGHER NUTRITIONAL VALUE
A new study in The Journal of Agriculture
and Food Chemistry found that organic tomatoes are twice as high in
flavanoids as conventional tomatoes. Flavanoids protect against heart
disease and other chronic ailments. Researchers analyzed and compared
organic to conventional tomatoes over a ten year period. The organic
tomatoes not only scored better, but their flavanoid levels actually
increased over time. Prior similar studies have found organic foods to
have higher levels of a variety of vitamins and minerals. Scientists
attribute the higher quality of organic foods to the healthier soil on
organic farms.
Read full study here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6181.cfm
Another
related study, published this month in the British Journal of Nutrition,
showed that organic dairy and meat products in a mother's diet positively
affect the nutritional quality of her breast milk by increasing beneficial
fatty acids. "These findings provide scientific support for common sense,
by showing that organic foods are healthier," says Dr. Lukas Rist, who is
the lead author of the study and the head of research at the Paracelsus
Hospital in Switzerland. The study involved 312 breastfeeding women with
1-month old infants from the Netherlands.
Read the full
study here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6245.cfm
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CONSUMER TIP OF THE WEEK #1:
WHO OWNS YOUR
FAVORITE ORGANIC BRANDS?
As the $20 billion organic marketplace
continues to expand, major corporations continue to take over many of the
most familiar organic brands. Dr. Phil Howard, an Assistant Professor at
Michigan State, has provided a new update on his popular chart "Who Owns
Organic." Are you supporting corporations like Kraft, M&M, or Pepsi
with what you thought was a purchase of your old familiar
brand?
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CONSUMER TIP OF THE WEEK #2:
STUDY SAYS PVC
PACKAGING VIOLATES CONSUMER SAFETY LAWS IN 19 STATES
A new study
from a network of nine state environmental agencies reveals that over 60%
of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) packaging tested contains toxic heavy metals
that violate laws in 19 states. "This new study underscores the need for a
global phase out of PVC packaging," said Michael Schade, of the Center for
Health, Environment and Justice. Due to compounding evidence of PVC's
toxicity, particularly its release of dioxin (the most potent carcinogen
on the planet), a growing list of manufacturers and retailers have
publicly committed to phase out this toxic plastic in their packaging.
Unfortunately, PVC is as equally ubiquitous in the products themselves.
Consumers can avoid PVC products by looking for the number "3", "PVC" or
the letter "V" inside the recycling symbol. Not all PVC products are
labeled as such, but soft flexible PVC products (common in baby toys)
often have an odor similar to vinyl shower curtains.
Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6091.cfm
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ORGANIC BYTES READERS TALK BACK:
ORGANIC
LANDSCAPING AND ORGANIC LAWNS
QUESTION FROM
ORGANIC BYTES READER: (reference: Organic Bytes #113 " How to
Have the Best Looking Organic Lawn on the Block") -- You make good
points about how to have healthy organic grass, but you should provide
your readers with more information on how to rid of conventional grass
lawns altogether. Are there more options?
RESPONSE FROM
THE OCA: This is definitely true. As noted in our article, more than a
third of urban water use is soaked up by grass lawns, and 67 million
pounds of pesticides are used each year on these lawns. While converting
your conventional lawn to an organic lawn is a HUGE positive step in
reducing chemical and water use, even greater conservation can be achieved
by transitioning your grass lawn into a low maintenance and diverse
landscape of native plants - called "naturescaping. For those interested
in taking their lawn beyond organic grass, http://www.plantnative.org is an
excellent website about naturescaping, including an excellent how-to
section and directory of native plant nurseries.
Note to
readers: If you have questions or comments about issues covered in
Organic Bytes, like the reader above, please post them in our Organic
Bytes forum here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/forum/index.php |
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CORPORATE BULLY OF THE WEEK:
SCOTTS MIRACLE-GROW
COMPANY SUES SMALL ORGANIC FERTILIZER BUSINESS
Terracycle, an
eco-friendly business established by college students to sell worm poop (a
highly effective organic fertilizer) has been sued by the Scotts
Miracle-Gro Company, a $2.2 billion assets giant. Scotts claims
Terracycle's product labeling looks too much like Miracle Gro. Scotts is
also suing Terracycle for claiming its plant food is as good or better
than "a leading synthetic plant food". TerraCycle manufactures all-natural
garden products by feeding organic waste to worms and bottling the
resulting worm compost tea as ready-to use plant food in soda bottles
collected by schools and other charities across North America.
Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6207.cfm |
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HEALTH TIP OF THE WEEK:
FINDING A SUNSCREEN THAT
IS SAFE AND EFFECTIVE
After reviewing over 400 peer-reviewed
studies and analyzing over 700 products, the Environmental Working Group
has released a tool for consumers to help find sunscreen that is safe and
effective. The analysis resulted in some rather disturbing
results:
- 83% of 785
sunscreen products offer inadequate protection from the sun, or contain
ingredients with significant safety concerns.
- More than
half of all sunscreen products have misleading labeling claims.
- Fully 12%
of high SPF sunscreens (SPF of at least 30) protect only from sunburn
(UVB radiation), and do not contain ingredients known to protect from
UVA radiation, the sun rays linked to skin damage and aging, immune
system problems, and potentially skin cancer. FDA does not require that
sunscreens guard against UVA radiation.
Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6195.cfm
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SOCIAL JUSTICE NEWS OF THE WEEK:
CHEMICAL
COMPANIES SUED BY THOUSANDS OF STERILE FARMWORKERS
Over 5,000
Latin American banana plantation workers are suing U.S. companies for
poisoning them with pesticides that caused them to go sterile. The
complainants, all of whom worked on banana farms, accuse Dole, Dow and
Amvac of negligence and fraudulent concealment while forcing workers to
use the pesticide DBCP. According to the lawsuit, the transnational
companies "actively suppressed information about DBCP's reproductive
toxicity." This is the first time any case for a banana worker has come
before a U.S. court.
Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6012.cfm |
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SUSTAINABILITY TIP OF THE WEEK:
LISTEN TO BARBARA
KINGSOLVER ON "THE ETHICS OF EATING" ONLINE NOW
Barbara Kingsolver
describes her family's adventure to spend one year eating primarily what
they could grow or purchase from local farmers. As a food consumer and a
mother as well as a keen critic of modern culture, Kingsolver and her
family have produced a remarkable and uplifting narrative. Food, according
to Kingsolver, is a "rare moral arena" in which the ethical choice is
often the pleasurable choice. Listen now (Real Audio: 53
minutes) http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6208.cfm |
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YOUR ONLINE ORGANIC
COMMUNITY IS HERE
In a matter of just two minutes from now, you
could be posting your thoughts on OCA's website for thousands of people to
read. OCA's new interactive web Forum is now buzzing with green-minded
folk, like you, from all over the world. Even if you are unfamiliar with
web forums, this easy-to-use tool provides you with a place to post
questions and comments about any OCA related issue... all the while
building community and solidarity.. Whether your passion is organics, food
safety, sustainability, social justice issues, politics, or any other
related topic, we welcome you to login today and start posting your ideas
and questions for discussion. http://www.organicconsumers.org/forum/index.php |
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