Independent Science News by Thomas Bøhn and Marek Cuhra Soybeans Credit: USDA NRCS Food and feed quality are crucial to human and animal health. Quality can be defined as sufficiency of appropriate minerals, vitamins and fats, etc. but it also includes the absence of toxins, whether man-made or from other sources. Surprisingly, almost no data exist… Read more »
Citizen-Lobbyists: Testify at Spring NOSB Meeting!
Can you help stand up for organic food and farming in San Antonio, Texas? The Cornucopia Institute needs citizen-lobbyists to testify at the National Organic Standards Board this April 29-30 in San Antonio. You need not be an expert—only dedicated to organic integrity. And your appearance will be brief. Each speaker gets one to four minutes. We will provide… Read more »
USDA Seeks Nominations for the National Organic Standards Board
Four seats are open on the 15-member citizen board that advises the USDA National Organic Program. Nominations to fill the vacancies—for an environmentalist, an organic producer, an organic handler, and a retailer—are due May 15. “NOSB members serve a vital role for the organic community advising the Secretary of Agriculture (mostly through the NOP) and… Read more »
The Cultivator – Spring 2014
The Spring 2014 Cultivator, Cornucopia’s quarterly newsletter, is now available online. Download the PDF here. In it you’ll find: Cover story: Leaving a Sour Taste: Conventional “Yogurt” Masquerades as Health Food While Organic Keeps It Real FDA Withdraws Controversial Food Safety Rules Feature: The Insidious Effects of Monsanto’s Roundup Commentary: Lessons Learned from GMO Labeling… Read more »
What are the Legal Differences between Organic and ‘Natural’ Labels?
[NOTE: This is an excerpt from Cornucopia’s report: “Cereal Crimes: How “Natural” Claims Deceive Consumers and Undermine the Organic Label—A Look Down the Cereal and Granola Aisle.” To read the full report, click here.] It seems like an almost daily occurrence: major food brands facing lawsuits over use of the term “natural” on foods that… Read more »
Pesticides Make the Life of Earthworms Miserable
Science Daily Source: University of Southern Denmark Credit: Rob Hille Pesticides are sprayed on crops to help them grow, but the effect on earthworms living in the soil under the plants is devastating, new research reveals: The worms only grow to half their normal weight and they do not reproduce as well as worms in… Read more »
Bycatch Catastrophe: The Amount of Fish the U.S. Wastes Will Make Your Head Spin
Rodale News by Leah Zerbe There’s no doubt that eating the right seafood helps saturate your brain in healthy fats, possibly helping to ward off everything from Alzheimer’s to birth defects. It’s also true that fishing is a vital part of the way of life in coastal communities in the United States, bringing not just… Read more »
Gut-Wrenching: New Studies Reveal the Insidious Effects of Glyphosate
By Pamela Coleman, PhD Farm and Food Policy Analyst The Cornucopia Institute Credit: Tim McCabe, USDA NRCS Glyphosate is the active ingredient in one of the most heavily used herbicide in the world: Monsanto’s Roundup®. The industry claims that Roundup® is quite safe, but authors of a recent article in the scientific journal Entropy reach… Read more »
New Report: Widely-Used Neonicotinoid Seed Treatments Are Unnecessary in Most Cases
eNews Park Forest Source: CommonDreams.org Credit: USDA NRCS Study Reveals that Costs Outweigh Benefits of Toxic Insecticides Implicated in Bee Kills WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–March 24 – Center for Food Safety today released a scientific literature review which reveals that neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatments offer little benefit, do not increase crop yields, and cause widespread environmental and economic damage. In… Read more »
ACLU Challenges Idaho ‘Ag Gag’ Law, Saying It Violates Free Speech And Freedom Of The Press
Huff Post – Food for Thought by Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho, March 17 (Reuters) – The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho on Monday asked a federal judge to strike down a state law it says violates constitutional rights to free speech by banning the documentation of animal abuse at livestock operations. The law in… Read more »
