permaculture

["maria morehead" <spiralmother@gmail.com>]

Dear friends,

We asking for NBC's "Today Show" to give equal time on organics. The show
ran a piece yesterday, which paints organic food as unsafe, leaving the
impression that conventional chemically grown food is better. Please join us
in asking the Today Show to get the facts right. See video clip below, how
to contact the Today Show, and our abbreviated comments (which you can use)
below. You can also view our longer letter to the Today Show at
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/today_show_organic.pdf.

Thanks.
Beyond Pesticides

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=18cf1bd8-4c53-4cee-b6de-c625b114d0ce&f=05&fg=rss

Viewer Comment Line: 212-664-3499
General Number 212-664-4249
today@nbc.com

-----------------------------------------------------

December 5, 2006

Today Show
NBC Universal
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
(212) 956-2395

Re. *How Fresh Is Organic Food?
*A Call for More Truthful & Accurate Reporting

Dear NBC Today Show Producers:

I appreciate your attention to organic food in your December 4, 2006 segment
*How Fresh Is Organic Food?, *but I am troubled by the serious lack of focus
on the hazards of chemical-intensive agriculture and food commodities. The
piece glosses over key organic issues and leaves viewers with the impression
that chemically-treated food is safer. Nothing could be further from the
truth. As a disappointed viewer and concerned consumer, I am writing to ask
you to do a follow-up story, giving equal time and consideration to the
value of organics. Please take the following into consideration:

*1. Your piece does not articulate effectively the hazards of pesticides and
the importance of curtailing their use. *The key issues for concern are
pesticide residues in and on food commodities and agricultural practices
that hurt the environment and those working on farms. Pesticides found in
and on food are known to cause cancer, birth defects and other serious
health effects.

*2. Creating a false choice between chemically-treated food with less
bacteria and organic.* Because of the hazards of pesticides, the Today Show
piece created a false choice between what you characterized as safer
chemically-grown food and more dangerous organic food. Instead, the choice
is to adopt adequate cleaning practices, recognizing the important role that
bacteria plays in digestion and the environment.

*3. Additionally, no mention was given to other health concerns resulting
from conventional agriculture*, such as use of antibiotics in animal
production. Antibiotic use in animal production has been linked to
antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

*4. Your piece also glosses over a key issue when it comes to the freshness
of organic.* People increasingly want fresh food, rather than food preserved
by chemicals for lengthy periods. Buying organic and local is increasingly
an option consumers are turning to, and in turn, are supporting their local
economy.
*
*Thank you for your attention to this issue.

Sincerely,



--
Sonya Lea

"The more technological our societies, the more our walls ooze ghosts." --
Italo Calvino--

http://burningwomanstories.blogspot.com/
www.followpeace.com