Organic Bytes: Join Millions Against Monsanto on World Food Day

 

| SUBSCRIBE & Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Join Millions Against Monsanto on World Food Day #298, October 13, 2011 In this issue: Quote of the Week: The California Ballot Initiative to Label Genetically Engineered Food Urgent World Food Day Alerts: Take Action This Weekend with Millions Against Monsanto! Bring Millions Against Monsanto to Occupy Together! Stop AquaBounty's Frankenfish! Video of the Week: Dr. Mercola Interviews Ronnie Cummins Little Bytes Quote of the Week The 2012 California Ballot Initiative "After twenty years of biotech bullying and force-feeding unlabeled and hazardous genetically engineered (GE) foods to animals and humans, a critical mass of food and health activists has decided it's time to move beyond small skirmishes and losing battles and go on the offensive. It's time to move the food fight over labeling GE food from the unfavorable terrain of Washington D.C. and Capital Hill, where Monsanto and Food Inc. exercise near-dictatorial control, to California, the heartland of organic food and farming and anti-GMO sentiment, where 80-85% of the body politic, according to recent polls, support mandatory labeling." - Ronnie Cummins, OCA National Director, "The California Ballot Initiative: Standing Up to Monsanto" October 6, 2010 Volunteer to Collect Petition Signatures in California or to Donate to this historic campaign WORLD FOOD DAY ALERTS Take Action This Sunday with Millions Against Monsanto! Join One of More than 100 World Food Day Events Nationwide! October 16: Biggest U.S. Day of Action Yet for Labels on Genetically Engineered Food! The Organic Consumers Association's Millions Against Monsanto campaign is marking Non-GMO Month (October) and World Food Day (October 16) with more than 100 World Food Day events nationwide, making it the biggest single day of action for labels on genetically engineered food in U.S. history. - Map of More than 100 Millions Against Monsanto Events, October 16 - List of Events by State Anger and frustration over the problem of unlabeled genetically engineered ingredients in our food reached a high point this year when the Obama Administration approved Monsanto's sweet corn, alfalfa, and sugar beets without any regulations to prevent contamination of organic varieties and no labeling requirements, and also indicated that it will approve the first genetically engineered animal for human consumption, AquaBounty salmon, again without the labels demanded by 93% of U.S. consumers. The Millions Against Monsanto World Food Day events take their inspiration from the first wave of protests, the dozens of Right2Know Rallies held on March 26, 2011. The events are organized in solidarity with and in support of: - LabelGMOs.org's campaign for a 2012 California ballot initiative - GMOLabeling.webs.com's campaign for a 2012 Michigan ballot initiative - Right2KnowMarch.org's walk from New York City to Washington, D.C. - JustLabelIt.org's FDA petition - Federal & state legislation to label and regulate genetically engineered food - The WhiteHouse.gov petition asking President Obama to label genetically engineered food - OccupyWallSt.org and OccupyTogether.org - If we had a real democracy, where the will of the voters - the 93% of us who think genetically engineered foods should be labeled - trumped corporate money, we wouldn't have to fight "Food, Inc." for our right to know what's in our food. - 350.org - Monsanto has disingenuously promoted its unsustainable crops as biofuels deserving of carbon credits. Transitioning from global industrial food production to local organic farming and ranching, which increase soil organic matter and sequester carbon, is the best way to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Support the OCA Stop Monsanto and Move the Organic Revolution Forward Since the first battle over organic standards in 1998, OCA has been "growing the revolution" - fighting against genetically engineered foods, preserving strict organic standards, expanding the organic market, and spreading the good news that organic agriculture can sustainably feed the world while reversing global warming. The time is right to step up our efforts and move the Organic Revolution forward, but OCA needs your financial support to do so. Please donate WORLD FOOD DAY ALERTS Bring Millions Against Monsanto to Occupy Together! No World Food Day Event in Where You Live? Take the Millions Against Monsanto Message to Occupy Together! Events are springing up across the country in solidarity with Occupy Wall St. Already, there over 1,000 "occupied" cities. What does Millions Against Monsanto have to do with Occupy Wall St. and the Occupy Together Movement? Well, for one thing, we can all agree it's time to get money out of politics! Why do we need a Millions Against Monsanto campaign? Why do we need to fight for labels on genetically engineered food? Why isn't our right to know respected? Corporations run this country. Companies like Monsanto have the economic power and they have the political power. Their campaign contributions determine the outcome of elections. Their lobbyists literally write our laws! As workers, consumers and voters, we have very little influence. When corporations like Monsanto write the laws, they saddle us with a multitude of problems like the ones enumerated in the list of grievances published in the Declaration of the Occupation of New York City,including: "They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization. "They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices. "They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. "They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit. "They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them." If we had a real democracy, where the will of the voters - the 93% of us who think genetically engineered foods should be labeled, for instance - trumped corporate money, we wouldn't need to fight Monsanto. We could get on with the urgent task of going organic to save our health and our planet. What can Occupy Wall St. and the Occupy Together movement learn from the Millions Against Monsanto campaign? Monsanto is the perfect poster child for the greed-driven corporate takeover of American Democracy. Millions Against Monsanto, Occupy Wall St, and Occupy Together are one and the same; one movement; 99%. Click here to download and distribute the Millions Against Monsanto OccupyWall St. flyer (PDF) Here's just a brief outline of the Monsanto's anti-democratic behavior: Monsanto, Never Having to Say They're Sorry In 2004, Jill Montgomery, a spokesperson for Monsanto, said Monsanto should not be liable AT ALL for injuries or deaths caused by its Agent Orange, saying: "We are sympathetic with people who believe they have been injured and understand their concern to find the cause, but reliable scientific evidence indicates that Agent Orange is not the cause of serious long-term health effects." The Dept. of Veterans Affairs lists cancer and spina bifida in children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange among several conditions associated with exposure to the herbicide. Monsanto, Keeping that Revolving Door Spinning In the Clinton Administration, FDA deputy commissioner Michael R. Taylor wrote the labeling guidelines for Monsanto's genetically engineered bovine growth hormone, rBGH, which blocked rBGH-free dairies from telling consumers about the hormone's link to cancer in humans and birth defects in cows. Taylor had previously worked as a lawyer for Monsanto crafting legal theories on how to stop laws that would require milk produced with rBGH to be labeled. Now he's in the Obama Administration, along with many others with ties to biotech, including USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. Monsanto at the Top of the Charts, Consistently the Worst Corporation Monsanto is the least ethical company in the world according to the Swiss research firm Covalence. The company, which leads the world in the production of genetically engineered seeds, has been subject to myriad criticisms. Chief among them, the company is accused of frequently and unfairly suing small farmers for patent infringement. Genetically modified crops and the international patent regime block farmers' ability to save and share seeds, threatening biodiversity and food security. Patents restrict innovation, as seed breeders can no longer freely use patented plants. Monsanto, Worst Climate Lobbyist Monsanto can't top the horrors wrought by companies extracting fossil fuels from tar sands, mountaintop removal or gas fracking, but it's a climate criminal, too. It was voted Worst Corporate Climate Lobbyist for promoting its genetically engineered crops as a solution to climate change and pushing for biofuels when the expansion of GMO soy in Latin America is contributing to major deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. Climate activists chose Monsanto as the company who did the most to sabotage efforts to stem climate change by lobbying for their vested interests. WORLD FOOD DAY ALERTS Stop Frankenfish! FDA Ready to Approve First GMO Animal! The Food and Drug Administration has completed its highly-anticipated evaluation of the environmental impact of the world's first genetically-engineered (GE) fish for human consumption and written a document supporting its commercialization on the U.S. market. The FDA previously issued a report saying that the fish is safe for human consumption. Eighteen months ago, it issued a more than 100-page environmental assessment report that was open to public comment for a month. The FDA then released a finalized version of that report, and this past summer it completed an inter-agency review. When the final version is released, we'll only have one more 30 day period to let the Obama Administration know we want it labeled because we won't eat it! The jury is still out on the long-term effects of genetically engineered salmon on humans - there simply isn't enough data. But what we do know is that these genetic changes increase allergy risks and produce a salmon with lower levels of Omega-3 fatty acids - the "good" fat which has important health benefits. The fish also has elevated levels of growth hormone. This poses a cancer risk, as elevated IGF-1 levels are linked to prostate, breast and colon cancers. GMO salmon isn't safe and shouldn't be approved for human consumption. Stop Frankenfish! Video of the Week Dr. Mercola Interviews Ronnie Cummins on the Dangers of Genetically Engineered Foods Watch Little Bytes Leading Brands of So-Called 'Natural' Breakfast Cereals, Including Whole Foods and Kashi Contain GMOs Read The Warning Occupy Wall Street Has for President Obama Read Occupy Elections: A Call for the Second American Revolution in 2012 By Victoria Collier and Ronnie Cummins Read Tell the FDA: Just Label It! Genetically Engineered Foods ARE Different Read GMO foods Linked to Digestive Problems and Ecosystem Destruction Read Sponsored Message Join the OCA-Endorsed National Buying Club for Organic and Non-GMO Foods: The Green Polka Dot Box OCA is happy to announce the formation of a new national distribution service for home delivery of organic and non-GMO foods, at 30-50% below the cost of retail, with free shipping on orders of $150 or more. The new national distribution club is called the Green Polka Dot Box (GPDB). Click here Connect With OCA! Facebook Pages: organicconsumers millionsagainst comingclean Twitter Feeds: @organicconsumer @againstmonsanto @OCA_comingclean More: rss feed youtube channel Please forward this publication to family and friends, place it on web sites, print it, duplicate it and post it freely. Knowledge is power! Organic Bytes is a publication of Organic Consumers Association 6771 South Silver Hill Drive - Finland, MN 55603 - Phone: 218-226-4164 - Fax: 218-353-7652 Subscribe & Read past issues and print- friendly PDF versions of Organic Bytes