NY Times By Jim Robbins HELENA, Mont. THE world’s worrisome decline in biodiversity is well known. Some experts say we are well on our way toward the sixth great extinction and that by 2100 half of all the world’s plant and animal species may disappear. Yet one of the most important threats to biodiversity has… Read more »
GE Crop Risk Assessment Challenges: An Overview
Food Safety News By Dr. Charles Benbrook There have been dramatic changes in the transgenic composition of GE corn and soybeans over the last five years, coupled with a substantial increase in reliance on pesticides and Bt toxins. Compared to the first five years of commercial use (1996-2000), today’s GE corn and soybeans in the… Read more »
Antibiotics and the Meat We Eat
New York Times By David A. Kessler SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration systematically monitor the meat and poultry sold in supermarkets around the country for the presence of disease-causing bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. These food products are bellwethers that tell us how bad the crisis of antibiotic… Read more »
Organics in the Ozarks
By Jill Ettinger It’s a fairytale story if ever there was one: budding, idealistic farmers meet in the high peaks of Arkansas’ Ozark Mountains and find more in common than just the 40-acre border of organic land they share. Meet Carole Anne Rose and Curly Miller of Sweden Creek Farm. While they started out as… Read more »
UPDATE: Antibiotics in Organics— News from Portland, Clarifications and Amplification
Sparks really flew at the National Organic Standards Board meeting in Portland, Oregon yesterday. In one of the most contentious issues to come before the organic community in many years, the continued use of antibiotics (oxytetracycline) on tree fruit was on the agenda. Apple growers from Washington State petitioned the USDA to allow for the… Read more »
Antibiotics in Organic Tree Fruit Production — Simple Questions/Answers
USDA is deliberating these questions right now in Portland, OR Is the Use of This Material a Threat to Human Health? There is no debate that low level, chronic dietary exposure to antibiotics is deleterious to human health. This is especially important in light of the disproportionate intake of apples and apple products by children…. Read more »
DSM and Monsanto to Partner (corrupting your diet and organics)
By Mark Kastel How sweet. DSM (the parent of Martek Biosciences) partners with our friends at Monsanto to bring you new novel life forms to be incorporated into your diet (see the article below). That’s right, DSM, the same company that bamboozled the National Organic Standards Board, with raw lobbying might, bringing you genetically mutated… Read more »
Why Do G.M.O.’s Need Protection?
New York Times By Mark Bittman Genetic engineering in agriculture has disappointed many people who once had hopes for it. Excluding, of course, those who’ve made money from it, appropriately represented in the public’s mind by Monsanto. That corporation, or at least its friends, recently managed to have an outrageous rider slipped into the 587-page… Read more »
How to Force Ethics on the Food Industry
New York Times A COURT has struck down, at least for now, New York City’s attempt to slow the growth of obesity by limiting the portion size of sweetened beverages. But governments should not be deterred by this and should step up their efforts to protect the public health by limiting the marketing tactics of… Read more »
The Farming Technique That Could Revolutionize the Way We Eat
The Atlantic Cities By RomanGaus On an early June morning in 2010, I stood outside the Aquaponics research facility at the University of Applied Sciences, perched on a green hilltop in Wädenswil, Switzerland, 20 minutes outside Zurich. The lab director, Andreas Graber, had finally given in to my persistent calls requesting a visit. Graber, Switzerland’s… Read more »
