Public Enemy No. 1

 

“I'd say Roundup is our public enemy number one probably, but that's one of 260 chemicals that are now prevalent in our food system. So, we have completely chemicalized the human experience and the planet itself, and so the level of toxicity has superseded the planet's capacity for life.” - Dr. Zach Bush, October 14, 2019, interview published in Salon.

Two important articles about pesticides, food and health were published this week.

One highlights the insanity of allowing the unleashing of billions of pounds of glyphosate into our environment and food systems every year.

The other raises this question: Who’s the real Public Enemy No. 1?

Is it Monsanto (now owned by Bayer)?

Or is it the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) which defends the use of Roundup weedkiller and other equally or even more dangerous toxic chemicals on our food?

Read 'Pesticides on Our Food: Will the Real Public Enemy No. 1 Please Stand Up?'

SIGN THE PETITION: Tell Congress to ban glyphosate!

Oh, the Hypocrisy

 

Photo: Julie David, CC BY-ND 2.0

It’s been more than a year since we sued Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s for misrepresenting its ice cream brand as “humanely sourced” and “environmentally responsible.”

The lawsuit followed our announcement—more than two years ago—that many popular Ben & Jerry’s flavors tested positive for residues of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller.

What’s happened since? Through our attorneys, we’ve continued to push for Ben & Jerry’s to stop misleading consumers.

So far, Unilever hasn’t budged.

This week, things got a little more interesting: A consumer in Vermont just filed a similar lawsuit against Unilever.

There’s also this new bit of information: It seems that in addition to having a pesticide problem, Ben & Jerry’s also has a drug problem.

How so? According to this report hot off the presses from Regeneration Vermont, some of the conventional factory farm dairies in Vermont that supply Ben & Jerry’s sold antibiotic-contaminated milk.

Yet despite the glyphosate in its ice cream, despite supporting dairies fueled by pesticide-drenched GMO grains, despite contributing to the global antibiotic resistance crisis, Ben & Jerry’s still proudly (and wrongly) claims to “make the best possible ice cream in the best possible way.”

We can’t think of any company that comes close to doing a better job than Unilever at duping consumers into thinking the Ben & Jerry's brand is “socially responsible.”

One of the latest examples of Unilever’s corporate hypocrisy? Ben & Jerry’s joined other companies in signing a petition to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration asking the agency to end the use of glyphosate as a dessicant (drying agent) on oats.

Seriously? From a company that supports the growing of more than 90,000 acres of GMO corn in Vermont—much of it treated with glyphosate, atrazine and metolachlor?

It’s time to ramp up the pressure on Unilever. It’s time for Ben & Jerry’s to stop supporting the industrial "dirty dairy" system.

It's time for Ben & Jerry's to go organic.

Read ‘Ben & Jerry’s Drug Problem’

Post on Ben & Jerry’s Facebook page

Call Ben & Jerry’s: (802) 846-1500

Use this customer complaint form

SIGN THE PETITION: Tell Ben & Jerry’s: Roundup Ready Ice Cream Isn’t Socially Responsible. Go Organic!

'Dazzle and Distract'

 

While defenders of organic have been (rightfully so) pushing back against GMO crops and the pesticides used to grow them, another, more sinister form of genetic engineering has been stealthily entering the food system.

The organic community is about to face a “buffet of temptations” from synthetic biology, said Alan Lewis in comments he made to the National Organic Coalition.

Lewis said this about synbio’s “reductionist solutions:”

“[They] have the power to dazzle and distract organic producers from their original principles and goals: nurture the existing natural system as a whole to grow nutritious food in ways that can continue forever.”

Lewis warns that the new synbio paradigm is “stealthy, massively complex, constantly innovating and wrapped in a global coordinated propaganda campaign to normalize it.”

Read ‘Wake-Up Call for Organic Advocates: Syn Bio Poses Greater Threat than Old-School GMOs’

Too Uncool for School

 

Can we get Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller off university campuses?

These two women think so—if enough college students on campuses across the U.S. get involved.

In May, thanks to the inspiring work of two University of California (UC) students—Mackenzie Feldman and Bridget Gustafson—UC President Janet Napolitano declared a moratorium on the use of Monsanto-Bayer’s glyphosate-based herbicides at all 10 UC campuses.

Napolitano also set up an Herbicide Task Force to consider the possibility of phasing out these toxins altogether.

In November, the Herbicide Task Force is expected to make its recommendations to President Napolitano who will then have to decide whether to leave her glyphosate ban in place when she retires from her post next year.

It’s time for us all to speak up in favor of kicking Monsanto-Bayer off campus permanently at the University of California—and eventually, off campuses across the nation.

TAKE ACTON: Join the campaign for glyphosate-free and organic campuses

'Broken-Record Syndrome'

 

As we wrote last week, we’re invested in the climate movement for a number of reasons, including this one: Floods, droughts and extreme temperatures will ultimately lead to a food crisis.

Nobody knows this better than farmers.

And farmers are already struggling with the impact of climate change.

In a recent interview on the Kojo Nnamdi Show, Nick Maravell, owner and operator of Nick’s Organic Farm in Buckeystown, Md., put it this way:

“It used to be farmers would get together and talk about having a good year. Now we're getting together and hoping for a normal year, and we haven't had one in a long time. We're getting what I call the broken record syndrome. Every few years we break another record . . . We go from the driest year on record to the wettest year on record back to back. We go from the coldest spring to the warmest spring back to back. We have these stretches of erratic from a farmer's perspective unusual long hot spell, long cold spell. That never used to happen to us. I've been doing this 40 years and believe me, the climate has changed."

If there’s anything that every human being in the world has in common it’s this: We all need food to survive.

If we do nothing to avert an irreversible climate crisis, if we do nothing to support farmers—especially those farmers committed to producing healthy food while also increasing the soil’s potential to store excess carbon—we’re pretty much doomed.

Even the makers of the worst possible, highly processed junk food will run out of options in the face of a total climate-driven ecosystem collapse.

So, to those of you who are already on board with our collaboration around the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers for a Green New Deal project, thank you!

Not familiar and/or not sure? Please check it out.

And please support this important work.

Make a tax-deductible donation to the national coalition of U.S. Farmers and Ranchers for a Green New Deal!

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Support Citizens Regeneration Lobby, OCA’s 501(c)(4) lobbying arm (not tax-deductible)

Click here for more ways to support our work

Living Downwind

 

As an infant and child, Dana Fulton endured four major surgeries and hundreds of procedures. Today she’s 28 years old. And she can’t breathe without a tracheostomy tube.

Max Coleman was born with hydronephrosis (swelling of the kidneys). He also has severe asthma and ADHD, according to his mother, Lory Marques.

Fulton and Coleman were both born to mothers who lived in a residential area in Maui that was downwind from a Monsanto test field—where toxic chemicals were sprayed at a rate 17 times higher than in normal fields.

Fulton and Coleman’s mother are suing Monsanto, now owned by Bayer.

Bayer’s “official statement?” “ . . . we are confident that pesticide use on our Maui farms did not cause the health claims described in the lawsuit.”

Right.

Watch ‘Maui Mother Sues Monsanto’

Essential Reading

 

As Roundup Lawsuits Surge, Monsanto Fights to Keep PR Work Secret

Why $4.99 Costco Chicken Is a Massive Problem

Leave the Leaves on the Ground: Nature Conservancy Says to Stop Raking Your Lawn

Top U.S. Toxicologist Was Barred From Saying PFAS Cause Disease in Humans. She's Saying It Now.

Timberland Announces Partnership to Build Leather Supply Chain From Regenerative Ranches

Nature’s Solution to Climate Change

Fluoridated Water May Soon Be Outlawed