Important GE Study Released

It's been all over the news . . .  the first peer-reviewed, long-term study of the effects of consuming genetically engineered corn was recently released. Rats that were fed genetically engineered "Roundup Ready" corn developed massive mammary tumors, liver and kidney disease, and premature death. Of course, some geneticists are criticizing the study and calling it "flawed," but at the very least this should spur on further independent studies and prove the need for labeling of GE foods . . . if only to be able to track any possible ill effects.

If you live in California, it is so important that you vote YES on Proposition 37 to mandate labeling of GE foods. It could set a precedent that other states will follow. In the meantime, to make sure you don't consume GE products, buy organic.

Take a Stand--Support our Right to Know!

In recent weeks, several public interest groups, including the Organic Consumers Association, Cornucopia Institute, Mercola.com, and Natural News, have pointed out the gross hypocrisy and greed of large food and beverage corporations selling billions of dollars of organic and natural food, while meanwhile bankrolling the industry opposition to GMO labeling. These organic and “natural” traitor companies and brands include:

- Kellogg’s (Kashi, Bear Naked, Morningstar Farms);
- General Mills (Muir Glen, Cascadian Farm, Larabar);
- Dean Foods (Horizon, Silk, White Wave);
- Smucker’s (R.W. Knudsen, Santa Cruz Organic);
- Coca-Cola (Honest Tea, Odwalla);
- Safeway (“O” Organics);
- Kraft (Boca Burgers and Back to Nature);
- Con-Agra (Orville Redenbacher’s Organic,
- Hunt’s Organic, Lightlife); and PepsiCo (Naked Juice, Tostito’s Organic, Tropicana Organic).

All of these companies are profiting from the sale of billions of dollars of their proprietary organic and “natural” food brands while at the same time funneling large sums of money to the Monsanto-led campaign to defeat the November 6th GMO labeling ballot initiative (Proposition 37) in California. We need to send a clear message to these traitor brands, in the only language they understand: lost profits and lower sales. Today, the Organic Consumers Association and Mercola.com are formally calling for a boycott of 7 organic and “natural” brands.

The above is reprinted from The Organic Consumers Association. Click here to read the full article. And I hope you'll join me in boycotting those brands.

Organic food myths video

Today I watched this segment from "The Doctors" which supposedly is debunking three organic food myths. So go watch it and then come back . . . it really ticked me off.

Myth #1: You need to buy organic dairy to avoid bovine grown hormone. So the speaker says that some brands are free of rBGH and that they are a lot cheaper than organic so that is what she recommends.

Well, it is true that you can get non-organic rBGH free milk, like the Trader Joe's brand for example. But there is much more to organic than that. With nonorganic milk, you are still getting pesticides from the nonorganic feed fed to the cows, antibiotics, and the cows don't have to have access to pasture. If you consume dairy products, I think it's worth the extra money for a cleaner product and better treatment for the cows.

Myth #2: Whole-wheat pasta is healthier than organic pasta.

Huh? That's like comparing apples and oranges. Are those the only two choices? Why not buy organic, whole wheat pasta. Then you get the fiber without the pesticides and chemicals.

Myth #3: Cage-free eggs do not mean the hens are treated any better than the caged ones.

While I agree that cage-free is only slightly better for the hens than non-cage-free . .. what does that have to do with organic? She doesn't even mention anything about organic eggs.

What a terrible, misleading video. The only thing I thought was good was the little add-in at the end that with lettuce, you don't need to buy the packaged lettuce to get organic. Of course, that's only if your supermarket carries it as I found out a few weeks ago.

So what'd you think?

Which would you buy?

So last week was incredibly crazy . . . on top of my already too busy schedule, both of my daughters were in two different plays and I was doing all I could just to make sure everyone was in the right place at the right time and that I didn't get too far behind with everything else in my life. So . . . we basically ran out of fresh fruit and veggies, and I could not make it to the farmers' market, farm stand, or even a health food store during the times they were open. The only place open at 9:30 at night when I finally found a minute to shop was the local chain supermarket.

I did okay on fruit--found some organic oranges. But I wanted to make a salad for dinner the next day and my choices for lettuce were conventionally-grown heads of lettuce at $1.99 or organic, washed romaine lettuce in a plastic container for $4.99. I found the produce guy and asked if he had organic lettuce not in plastic and he said no (they go bad too quickly). So I asked if the any local lettuce--again the answer was "no." So maybe my overly-tired and stressed state had me making too big a deal of this, but I just didn't know which one to get. I picked up the conventionally-grown head and then put it back. I picked up the organic, packaged lettuce and then put it back. Did I want to feed my family pesticides or did I want to pollute the earth with yet more plastic and the energy it takes to make the plastic container--not to mention that $5 for a head of lettuce seemed a bit crazy. I went back and forth, and even in the checkout line was still questioning my decision.

So tell me . . . what which one would you buy? (I'll tell you what I did and why next week.)

Restaurant Review: Real Food Daily

Years ago, I reviewed the Real Food Daily Cookbook. I liked the organic, vegan gourmet/comfort food so much, I told myself that if I ever went to LA, I was going to eat there. Well, this week my daughters and I took a trip to LA to go to the Museum of Tolerance. I looked up Real Food Daily online and found out that it was between the museum and the hotel, so great!

After spending an emotional day at the museum (don't get me wrong, the museum was great, but the exhibits were about the Holocaust, etc.). Anyway, we left the museum at the 5 pm closing time--exhausted and hungry and ready for a relaxing dinner. Of course, we were now in the middle of LA rush hour traffic. I found what I thought was the right street, but we couldn't find the correct number ... in fact the numbers weren't even close and then the street ended. So we drove around. It was now dark and there was so much traffic and then I got lost. I eventually found a road I recognized and we headed back to toward the hotel ... but further on, we saw the road that the restaurant was on (the one I thought I'd found before) and this time, the numbers matched up and hooray we saw the restaurant. But then we had to find a place to park, because it seems all LA neighborhoods are permit-only parking. As we circled around, we passed Bloomingdales realized that we were back at the corner we had been at over an hour ago! Man!!!!! Anyway, we finally found a metered space and walked to the restaurant. I was stressed, the girls were starving, and then the girls were a bit intimidated by the menu. Although they are used to vegan food, I don't use much fake meat or mock cheese sauces, so it took us another half hour to decid what to get. But I'm happy to say, we all LOVED the food and had a wonderful dinner.

I ordered the special which was the Hippie Love Loaf made with lentils, butternut squash, and millet and covered in a mushroom gravy and came with root vegetables and brussels sprouts. Very delicious but the portion of loaf was HUGE. I would have loved a portion half the size and a scoop of mashed potatoes, but still--yummy.

Aimie went for the pizza made with a herb cornmeal crust (gluten free), topped with sun-dried tomato pesto, tomatoes, spinach, basil, melted cashew and mozzarella cheeses, sautéed daily greens & cannelini beans. The waitress suggested adding avocado which sounded weird but according to Aimie was fantastic. Emily decided to play it safe with side orders of brown rice, black beans, and the house salad topped with a delicious vegan ranch dressing--and was very happy with her choice.

All of the desserts sounded incredible. Emily decided on the Gluten Free Double Layer Chocolate Cake, which I have to say was the best chocolate cake I've ever had. (I'm not a big cake fan, but this was moist and the raspberry was so good!) Aimie chose the Coconut Cream Pie but didn't care for it (though I thought it was fine), and the waitress was nice enough to let her switch to the Blackout Cake, which she liked.

Anyway, we made it back to our hotel without incident and next time we go to LA, we will most likely go again . . . this time I'll borrow a GPS though.

Deception in the Natural Cereal Industry

There is a huge difference between cereals labeled "organic" and those labeled "natural" according to a report done by the Cornucopia Institute. The word "natural" is basically a marketing ploy to get us to think the product is safer and healthier than regular cereals, but there is no regulation or really even a definition of what "natural" means. "Natural" cereals contain ingredients grown on conventional farms where the use of toxic pesticides and genetically engineered organisms is widespread. In fact the Cornucopia Institute tested cereals by leading natural brands including Kashi and Mothers (now owned by Kellogg and Pepsico) and found that they contained high levels of genetically engineered ingredients.

Many companies that offered organic cereals are switching to conventionally-grown ingredients and calling their products "natural." Barbara's and Annie's have drastically reduced their organic cereal offerings . . . so don't assume the cereal you've always eaten is still organic . . . be sure to check the label and buy only those with the USDA organic seal, not those trying to mislead consumers.

To make the deception even worse, the supposedly "natural" cereals are often priced higher than regular cereals. Watch this short video to find out more and check out this cereal scorecard to see how your cereal rates.

October is NON-GMO Month

According to the Organic Consumers Association:

- In 2011, Monsanto added sweetcorn, sugar beets and alfalfa to the list of GMO crops that already included field corn, cotton, canola, soy, and papaya - without regulations to protect organic farmers from contamination and no labels to respect consumers' right to know.

- However, also in 2011, Monsanto couldn't hide its failure any longer. Its GMO crops toppled over and were strangled in the fields, attacked by the very insects and weeds they were genetically engineered to resist.

October, 2011 is Non-GMO Month. You can get involved. Check out these sites for more information:

California: LabelGMOs.org

NYC to DC - Oct 1-16 - The Right2Know March

Austin, TX - Oct 2 - Rally for Real Food

Nationwide - Oct 15 & 16 - Millions Against Monsanto World Food Day Events

Eden Foods Organic Beans--No BPA

As I continue my quest to find out what canned foods do not contain BPA - - - this from Eden Foods: "Eden Organic Beans are packed in steel cans coated with a baked on oleoresinous (a natural mixture of an oil and a resin extracted from various plants, such as pine or balsam fir) c-enamel lining, that does not contain bisphenol-A. These cans cost 14% more than the industry standard cans, which do contain bisphenol-A.

It looks like they've switched to glass for their tomatoes products too.

More body care safety news

I posted a while back about the deception of so-called organic body care products that were using non-organic and even in some cases toxic ingredients. Well, I hope you haven't been using Herbal Essences shampoos because this Friday, details of an agreement from Procter and Gamble to reformulate 18 products from its top-selling Herbal Essences brand to reduce levels of the carcinogenic petrochemical 1,4-Dioxane will be announced by the Organic Consumer's Association and other groups. In addition, OCA and allies will announce new results from a continuing study that has tested over 150 consumer products for the toxic chemical. This year, 20 laundry detergents were tested, including major "natural" and conventional brands. The seven laundry detergent brands from Procter and Gamble had by far the highest levels of 1,4-dioxane overall.

Check out this link for a list of safe body and personal care products.

Organic really is healthier

A new study done by the University of Aix-Marseille for the French food agency (AFSSA) and published in the journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development shows that organic foods are nutritionally superior to conventionally-grown versions. According to the study, organic produce contains more minerals and higher levels of antioxidants. Animal foods produced organically contained significantly more polyunsaturated fat than non-organic animal products. In addition, organic vegetables contained 50 percent less nitrates than non-organic produce. No more than 6 percent of organic produce tested contained pesticide residue. For more information, check out this article.

Make a resolution to eat more organic foods

There are so many reasons to eat organic foods--here are some excerpts from this article by the Organic Consumers Association:

- Many unprocessed organic foods contain more nutrients than conventionally-grown foods
- Organic food doesn't contain food additives, flavor enhancers (like MSG), artificial sweeteners (like aspartame and high-fructose corn syrup), contaminants (like mercury) or preservatives (like sodium nitrate), that can cause health problems.
-Organic food doesn't contain pesticides. More than 400 chemical pesticides are routinely used in conventional farming and residues remain on non-organic food even after washing. Children are especially vulnerable to pesticide exposure. One class of pesticides, endocrine disruptors, are likely responsible for early puberty and breast cancer. Pesticides are linked to asthma and cancer.
- Organic food isn't genetically modified.
- Organic animals aren't given drugs. Organic farming standards prohibit the use of antibiotics, growth hormones and genetically modified vaccines in farm animals. Hormone-laced beef and dairy consumption is correlated with increased rates of breast, testis and prostate cancers.
- Organic animals aren't fed animal remains or slaughterhouse waste, blood, or manure. Eating organic reduces the risks of CJD, the human version of mad cow disease, as well as Alzheimer's.
- Organic animals aren't fed arsenic.
- Organic animals aren't fed byproducts of corn ethanol production (which increases the rate of E. coli contamination).
- Organic crops aren't fertilized with toxic sewage sludge or coal waste, or irrigated with E. coli contaminated sewage water.
- Organic food isn't irradiated. Cats fed a diet of irradiated food got multiple sclerosis within 3-4 months.
- Organic food contains less illness-inducing bacteria. Organic chicken is free of salmonella and has a reduced incidence of campylobacter.

Not to mention organic (and especially locally-grown) foods just plain taste better.

I know some people are hesitant to buy organic because of the cost . . . but really it's the processed organic stuff that costs a lot. Brown rice and other whole grains, fruits and veggies, and other unprocessed ingredients really aren't that much more expensive . . . and the savings to your health and the planet more than make up for it.

So when you're making those New Year's resolutions, add eating organic to your list.

Wishing everyone a great 2010!

GE Crops and Pesticides

Contrary to what the biotech companies would like us to believe, genetically engineered crops do NOT reduce pesticide use. According to a Rueters article based on a recently released report, GE corn, soy, and cotton has "promoted increased use of pesticides, an epidemic of herbicide-resistant weeds and more chemical residues in foods"--in fact, herbicide use has grown by 383,000,000 pounds since 1996 and 46% of that was between 2007 and 2008!

Check out the article here. And remember you can avoid genetically engineered foods by buying organic.

Genetically Engineered Sugar

The good news is that a Federal court ruled that the USDA's approval of genetically engineered sugar beets was unlawful, according to an article by The Center for Food Safety.  The USDA has to now conduct an assement of the impacts on farmers and the environment. Over 100 companies have joinedthe Non-GM Beet Sugar Registry which oppose the introduction of GE sugar beets and says they will avoid using GM beet sugar in their products. Unfortunately, American Crystal Sugar, the largest processor of sugar beets, remains pro-GE. Go to Organic Consumers Association for more info and ways to take action.

Support Organics in California

California Assembly Bill 1401, the Transition To Organics Act, will create a fund to provide financial assistance to California farmers who want to transition from conventional farming to organic farming. Assembly Bill 1401 will promote more organic farming! This bell is on Governor Schwarzenegger's desk right now. If you are a California resident, let him know how important organic farmers are. Ask Governor Schwarzenegger to sign AB 1401 into law!

Here's a link that will send your email.

Tell the USDA not to lower organic standards

The USDA wants to allow genetically engineered foods and the use of nanotechnology to be organic!

Here's the letter I sent to Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture:

I am concerned that the USDA is trying to degrade organic agriculture by trying to allow genetic engineering and nanotechnology into organic regulations. A May 2009 report issued by the USDA Foreign Agriculture Information Network, "The Unexplored Potential of Organic-Biotech Production," argues that "Governments should change their regulations to allow producers to gain organic certification for biotech crops grown with organic methods." Also in May, the National Organic Standards Board began talking about a ban on nanotechnology in organic, but felt stymied by their assumption that "Under the current definition, most nanotechnology would not fall into the category of excluded methods."

For organic consumers like myself, there is no question that these developing technologies have no place in organic agriculture--and I do not want them in the food and products I give my family. Genetically modified organisms are not safe. They have been linked to thousands of toxic and allergenic reactions, thousands of sick, sterile, and dead livestock, and damage to virtually every organ and system studied in lab animals. Nanotechnology is also very dangerous. Early scientific evidence indicates that some nanomaterials produce free radicals which destroy or mutate DNA and can cause damage to the liver and kidneys.

Every day, new evidence of the dangers of nanotechnology emerge: 

- Workplace nanoparticle exposure was linked to seven cases of serious and progressive lung disease in China - including two patient deaths.
- Nanoparticles present in a chemical found in sunscreens - titanium dioxide - are being studies for their connection to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Genetically engineered and nanotech products are already unlabeled because the government refuses to acknowledge that genetically engineered and nanotech versions of natural substances are very different from the original. Buying food and personal care products that are certified organic is the only way for me to avoid these dangerous and untested technologies. Please do not lower the organic standards and allow these dangerous and unnatural technologies in organic products.

--------------------------

To get more info or to send a letter, go to the Organic Consumers Association Web site.

Unbelievable!

I just heard that the USDA wants genetically engineered food to be allowed to be called organic. This is completely outrageous. There has been so much evidence showing that GE foods are not equal to their non-GE counterparts and are causing both health and environmental problems. Read this article showing what the USDA is saying to justify their position.

Genetically Engineered Corn

I was incensed by a letter to the editor in the San Luis Obispo Tribune stating that the consumer gets more BT by eating organic corn than by genetically engineered BT corn. View my response.

Pesticides in food

Here are some interesting facts right from the US Government:

- The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that one of the main sources of pesticide exposure for US children comes from the food they eat.

- Over 400 chemicals can be regularly used in conventional farming as biocides to kill weeds and insects. For example, apples can be sprayed up to 16 times with 36 different pesticides.

- According to the EPA's "Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment," children receive 50% of their lifetime cancer risks in the first 2 years of life.

Check out this fact sheet from Organic Consumers Association for more information and references.

Also, here's a great site called  What's In My Food where you can search a food and find out what pesticides are in them. 

And the moral is . . . .  buy organic or from local growers who grow chemical-free.

Organic Soy Brands Importing soy beans from China

The Organic Consumers Association just reported on a study done by the Cornucopia Institute. It seems like many organic soy brands when bought up by bigger corporations are switching from soybeans grown by American farmers to cheaper beans from China. Not only does this discourage our US farmers from growing their soy organically, but when the USDA sent auditors to inspect Chinese sites, they found multiple noncompliances and found that certifying agents did not always even have a translated copy of the US organic certification standards. 

Even worse, some companies that have been know to be organic are now dropping switching to nonorganic beans. Why is this a problem? Well besides the fact that soy is often genetically engineered and grown with toxic herbicides, it is also usually processed with the chemical solvent 'hexane' which is a neurotoxic chemical. Despite the fact that hexane residue can end up in the soy product, according to the OCA the government does not require testing before selling food to consumers -- even for soy-based infant formula.

Dean Foods who now owns the Silk soymilk line, has quit using organic soybeans and switched to cheaper conventionally grown varieties in most of the Silk products--without changing the UPC codes or LOWERING PRICES. I just went and checked my carton of Silk creamer -- it still says 'organic soybeans' in the ingredients, but do I want to continue to support this company?

According to the article, Eden Foods, Small Planet Tofu, and Vermont Soy work directly with North American organic farmers. Here's the OCA article. Here's the full Cornucopia study.

 

Organic Baby Food Evaluation

Check out this article on The Grist giving the pros and cons of various organic baby foods.