PBDE Flame Retardants and Triclosan Found in Tests Conducted for the Food Rights Network Food Rights Network John Stauber [Note: for the obvious reasons articulated below sewage sludge is strictly prohibited in organic farm production] San Francisco, CA: Independent tests of sewage sludge-derived compost from the Synagro CVC plant -- distributed free to gardeners since 2007 by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission in their "organic biosolids compost" giveaway program -- have found appreciable concentrations of contaminants with endocrine-disruptive properties. These contaminants include polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants, nonylphenol detergent breakdown products, and the antibacterial agent triclosan. The independent tests were conducted for the Food Rights Networkby Dr. Robert C. Hale of the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences. PBDEs are persistent and bioaccumulate in the environment, and elevated levels have been found in California citizens. The average total of the PBDE congeners tested in the compost was 731 ng/g (or ppb - parts per billion) (dry weight basis). The congeners found closely match those of the PentaBDE formulation, which are the congeners most commonly found in human tissue and wildlife. PentaBDE has been banned in Europe and its manufacture was voluntarily ended in the US in 2004, yet exposure continues.

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Transgenic canola found growing freely in North Dakota Nature Natasha Gilbert A genetically modified (GM) crop has been found thriving in the wild for the first time in the United States. Transgenic canola is growing freely in parts of North Dakota, researchers told the Ecological Society of America conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, today. The scientists behind the discovery say this highlights a lack of proper monitoring and control of GM crops in the United States. US farmers have dramatically increased their use of GM crops since the plants were introduced in the early 1990s. Last year, nearly half the world's transgenic crops were grown in US soil — Brazil, the world's second heaviest user, grew just 16%. GM crops have broken free from cultivated land in several countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan, but they have not previously been found in uncultivated land in the United States.

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From verdant rows in Delco, chef Mitch Prensky harvests the ripe raw materials of the veggie creations he serves nightly at Supper on South Street Philadelphia Inquirer By Rick Nichols It is an enchanting spread, Blue Elephant Farm, 75 sloping acres, dappled with stone stables, a barn-red barn or two, the occasional sculpted elephant rising in the fields. This is where - on the outskirts of Newtown Square, Delaware County - the urban-farmhouse restaurant called Supper, at 10th and South, procures its "daily [vegetarian] harvest menu." What Supper's chef Mitch Prensky picks that morning (well, he may skip a day or two), is what you get that night: See those waxy Romanian peppers? Seven hours from now they'll be on your plate, stuffed and braised in paprika-spiced tomato confit.

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Rochester Post-Bulletin By Laura Horihan PROSPER, Minn. — Marie Nickell and her husband Mark were roofing their well pit in Prosper last Thursday night when they heard a helicopter flying overhead. A few minutes later a smokey-colored cloud began to drift over the small town located on U.S. 52 on the Minnesota-Iowa border. Suspecting that the cloud was created by an agricultural chemical, the couple quickly went inside, shut all of their windows and then decided to get in their car and drive as far away from the cloud as a they could. "We didn’t know what it was at first," Nickell recalled earlier this week. She said it wasn’t windy at the time, so it took a while for the chemical drift to dissipate. When the skies appeared safe they returned home; however, a few hours later both noticed they had sore throats. They’re also worried that the organic fruits and vegetables they grow have been contaminated with chemicals.

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Politics Daily Alissa Irei, Contributor Willie Adams has been waiting for more than 10 years. But his wait could be almost over. Adams is one of more than 70,000 black farmers who still haven't received their share of money from the 1999 United States Department of Agriculture discrimination-lawsuit settlement, in which a federal judge ruled that the USDA was guilty of decades of loan and subsidy practices that favored white farmers over blacks. The $1.15 billion in funding – the second part of what's known as the Pigford settlement – was approved by the House this year, but has been repeatedly stripped from larger spending bills in the Senate. The measure could be brought up this week as part of a stand-alone unanimous consent bill. Under the unanimous consent rule, a bill is considered passed if no senator objects. John Boyd, the president of the Black Farmers Association, said the action represents "long-overdue justice for nearly 80,000 black farmers who, spiritually and mentally, have really given up on the federal government ever treating them right."

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