Monsanto Withdraws High Lysine GM Maize from Europe, Safety Concerns

Monsanto withdraws maize from regulatory approval citing commercial reasons

By Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Prof. Peter Saunders

In a dramatic move, Monsanto has withdrawn its genetically modified (GM) maize, LY038, from commercial approval in Europe after safety concerns prompted the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to request further evidence from the company [1].

Consumer Reports Studies BPA in the Food Supply

Concern over canned foods

Our tests find wide range of Bisphenol A in soups, juice, and more

By Consumer Reports

The chemical Bisphenol A, which has been used for years in clear plastic bottles and food-can liners, has been restricted in Canada and some U.S. states and municipalities because of potential health effects. The Food and Drug Administration will soon decide what it considers a safe level of exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA), which some studies have linked to reproductive abnormalities and a heightened risk of breast and prostate cancers, diabetes, and heart disease.

Now Consumer Reports’ latest tests of canned foods, including soups, juice, tuna, and green beans, have found that almost all of the 19 name-brand foods we tested contain some BPA. The canned organic foods we tested did not always have lower BPA levels than nonorganic brands of similar foods analyzed. We even found the chemical in some products in cans that were labeled “BPA-free.”

BPA in Our Food, Our Bodies

By Nichoals D. Kristof

Your body is probably home to a chemical called bisphenol A, or BPA. It’s a synthetic estrogen that United States factories now use in everything from plastics to epoxies — to the tune of six pounds per American per year. That’s a lot of estrogen.

More than 92 percent of Americans have BPA in their urine, and scientists have linked it — though not conclusively — to everything from breast cancer to obesity, from attention deficit disorder to genital abnormalities in boys and girls alike.

Under wraps: Genetically Engineered Seeds

By Emily Waltz

Are the crop industry’s strong-arm tactics and close-fisted attitude to sharing seeds holding back independent research and undermining public acceptance of transgenic crops?

The increasingly fractious relationship between public sector researchers and the biotech seed industry has come into the spotlight in recent months. In July, several leading seed companies met with a group of entomologists, who earlier in the year had lodged a public complaint with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over restricted access to materials. In a letter to the EPA, the 26 public sector scientists complained that crop developers are curbing their rights to study commercial biotech crops.

Antibiotics bill gathers momentum in Congress

By Margaret Mellon

In a recent speech on the House of Representatives floor, Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) encouraged House members to support the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA). The bill would end the use of antibiotics in the feed and water of livestock and poultry that are not sick, a practice that leads to antibiotic-resistant diseases in humans.

Farmers arrested for planting hemp at DEA HQ

By NORML

I drink raw milk (sold illegally on the underground market)

By Joel Salatin

From Joel Salatin’s foreword to The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America’s Emerging Battle Over Food Rights by David Gumpert.

I drink raw milk, sold illegally on the underground black market. I grew up on raw milk from our own Guernsey cows that our family hand-milked twice a day. We made yogurt, ice cream, butter, and cottage cheese. All through high school in the early 1970s, I sold our homemade yogurt, butter, buttermilk, and cottage cheese at the Curb Market on Saturday mornings. This was a precursor to today’s farmer’s markets.

Pollinator Conservation in Your Ecosystem Garden

By Carole Brown

The Pollinator Conservation Handbook, by The Xerces Society and The Bee Works, is a wonderful resource for all Ecosystem Gardeners to support native pollinators.

Most of you have probably heard of Colony Collapse Disorder, a phenomenon where honey bees are dying off by the millions. A large part of our agricultural food supply is dependent on pollination by honey bees, this collapse is a matter of great concern to farmers across the country.

Guerilla Gardeners Get a Green Light

By Sue Jackson

Guerrilla gardens might not have ‘owners’ but they sure have defenders, as Yarra Council discovered when it tried to wipe out the gardens. 

At its regular monthly meeting in August, Melbourne’s Yarra Council won itself a green star for forward thinking. Instead of razing local unauthorised street gardens as it had threatened to shortly before the meeting, it did a complete about-face, voting unanimously to become a champion of such initiatives instead.

Activist’s Message at USF: End Needless Waste of Food

By  The Herald-News (Illinois)

JOLIET — Vandana Shiva is giving new meaning to the old metaphor, “You reap what you sow.”

Shiva, a world-renowned environmental thinker and activist, urged more than 225 people to consider the food and ecological crisis as one in the same during her speech at the University of St. Francis.

NAIS Stinks: A look at the opposition

Darol Dickinson

By Lee Pitts

NAIS, the national animal identification system, is a big government boondoggle that can easily be compared to President Obama’s plan to borrow trillions of dollars, much of it from the Chinese, to save a bad economy that was created in the first place by too much borrowing. NAIS will NOT make our food safer, but it will most certainly make thousands of small stockmen disappear. It will require ranchers to spend a great deal of money on equipment, inserting the chips, and reporting any changes, with terrible fines for computer errors, acts of nature, or noncompliance. Yet factory farms are exempt from those same rules.

The Potato Underground: How the ‘outlaw’ Cariboo spud, once blacklisted by agribiz advocates, was saved

By Joanne Will

When Jerry LeBourdais learned that big agribusiness couldn’t handle the Cariboo potato, he knew he’d found a variety that he wanted to support. The name didn’t hurt either. If there was a potato out there named “Cariboo,” it had a natural home on the back-to-the-land commune near Williams Lake that LeBourdais had founded.

All he needed was some seed. It sounded simple enough.

The Raw Milk Revolution Book Review

By OldRoses

There is a revolution going on. At first it was a quiet revolution. The initial skirmishes were fought on the fringes of society. Over the past few years, the revolution has become more vocal, more powerful. It has moved from the fringes to the very center of our culture. People are becoming more conscious of the food they eat. And not just what kinds of food. They also want to know where it came from and how it was produced.

The food issue has become so central that the government, normally oblivious to anything that happens outside of the Beltway, has become aware of and is even co-opting the terms and principles of the movement.  

Risk Reloaded: Risk analysis of genetically engineered plants within the European Union

A report by Testbiotech e.V.
Institute for Independent Impact Assessment in Biotechnology
Christoph Then, Christoph Potthof
October 2009

SUMMARY

This is a report on the risk assessment procedure for genetically engineered plants in the EU. It reveals substantial flaws and loopholes in the procedure and practice of the institutions concerned. Many of the flaws have their origin in the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) own main concept of risk assessment. 

Vilsack Earns Boos for Pushing GM Food

By Jeffrey M. Smith

Vilsack Mistakenly Pitched “GMOs-Feed-The-World” to an Audience of Experts–Oops

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was getting lots of appreciative applause and head nods from the packed hall at the Community Food Security Coalition conference today, held in Des Moines, Iowa. He described the USDA’s plans to improve school nutrition, support local food systems, and work with the Justice Department to review the impact of corporate agribusiness on small farmers. But then, with time for only one more question, I was handed the microphone.

GE Not the Answer – Straight from the Farmer’s Mouth

By Greenpeace

Oct. 15, 2009  Brussels, Belgium — From the paddy fields of Thailand, 62-year old rice farmer Samnieng Huadlim joined Spanish and Swedish farmers in Brussels to present the EU Commissioner for Health Androulla Vassiliou with our 180,000-signature-strong petition against potential legislation authorising the introduction of GE rice; along with a selection of delicious organic tapas.

United against NAIS and the 2010 Agriculture Appropriations bill

R-Calf Letter to the US Senate

Re: 2010 Agriculture Appropriations bill and the National Animal Identification System

To the Honorable Members of the U.S. Senate:

The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) is deeply disappointed that the Agriculture Appropriations Conference Committee (conference committee) has granted the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) $5.3 million to continue carrying out the ill-conceived National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

Largest Farmers Market in South Florida to open Sun., Nov. 8

Photo by Paul Burg

By Rady Ananda

The much-anticipated 100,000-square foot Yellow Green Farmers Market opens soon in Hollywood, Florida, promising fresh, local produce, meat and goods.

South Florida’s largest farmers market opens Sunday, Nov. 8

Photo by Paul Burg

By Rady Ananda

The much-anticipated 100,000-square foot Yellow Green Farmers Market opens soon in Hollywood, Florida, promising fresh, local produce, meat and goods.

Peanut Alert: Mars Snackfood US ISSUES ALLERGY ALERT ON UNDECLARED PEANUTS in Dove Caramel Pecan Perfection Ice Cream

Company Contact:
Jessica Graves
908-619-0782

October 26, 2009 – Today, Mars Snackfood US announced a voluntary recall of its Dove Caramel Pecan Perfection ice cream with the lot number 931AB5YN07 because it may contain undeclared peanuts. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to peanuts run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products. No related illnesses have been reported to date. For consumers who do not suffer from a peanut allergy or sensitivity, this product is safe to eat. The lot number is found on the bottom of the containers.