Everywhere: Organic Consumers Association's Amazing Newsletter

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From: "" <ronniecummins@organicconsumers.org>
Date: Nov 4, 2017 4:59 AM
Subject: Is your natural food store carrying this contaminated brand?
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Subscribe & Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate | View on Web ESSAY OF THE WEEK Rural Regeneration, Not Walls It's one of the most politically charged debates today, especially in the U.S. and Europe—the so-called "immigration crisis." Inter Press News Service reports: Recent elections around the world have clearly shown growing public support for candidates and political parties advocating the deportation of migrants and stricter restrictions on immigration, including halting it altogether. At the same time, opposition, challenges and resistance to deportations and immigration restrictions have become more widespread, visible and vocal. Is there a better solution than building walls? OCA's Ronnie Cummins recently participated in the Summit on Migrants and Returnees in Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala, where he heard this over and over from attendees: If people could make decent livings in their own countries and communities, they'd much rather stay home, than migrate to where they aren't wanted. Could the creation of local, grassroots-powered economic development projects based on regenerative food, farming and land-use practices make that possible? Regenerative agriculture projects are already popping up in rural communities—in Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras. They are restoring local food sovereignty, healthy soils—and hope. Read Ronnie's essay DUMP DIRTY DAIRY Up a Notch Many of you have written us recently about your experiences handing out leaflets in front of stores that sell Ben & Jerry's ice cream, including scoop shops and grocery stores. You've talked to a lot of consumers about why we need to boycott Ben & Jerry's until the Unilever-owned brand commits to transitioning to 100% organic. Thank you! But there's someone else who needs to stop buying Ben & Jerry's ice cream—and that "someone" is your local food co-op or natural food/health store. Some of these stores, who cater to conscious consumers like you, carry only organic ice cream. But some of them also carry glyphosate-contaminated Ben & Jerry's. Not only that, many of these stores display Ben & Jerry's ice cream right next to the organic brands they sell—a move that misleads consumers into thinking Ben & Jerry's ice cream is organic, too. But here's the real kicker. In doing some preliminary research of our own, we've found that some natural food/health stores and co-ops not only sell Ben & Jerry's, they sell it for the same price, or more, than the organic brands on their shelves! That's why this week, we're asking you to start pressuring your local stores to #dumpBenandJerry's. We've compiled a list of stores. If yours is missing, please email campaigns@organicconsumers.org to let us know. Please find out if your co-op or natural food store sells Ben & Jerry's. If the answer is yes, please download this letter and take it to your store manager. Then fill out this questionnaire. We know we've got the attention of Ben & Jerry's and its parent company, Unilever. But we don't yet have the company's commitment to transition to 100% organic. So let's kick things up a notch. Find co-ops and natural food stores near you Download this letter to store managers After your store visit, please fill out this questionnaire to let us know what happened ACTION ALERT Not This Guy Photo: Alex Hanson, cc 2.0 UPDATE: On Thursday, Trump's pick for top scientist at the USDA pulled his hat out of the ring, largely because of reports about his connection to the investigation into Trump's campaign and Russia. Coincidentally, the Washington Post reported that Clovis had previously admitted to having none of the required qualifications for the job. We're glad he's out. Instead of signing the petition below, please call your Senators and ask them to support only qualified scientists for this important job at the USDA. Trump's pick for top scientist at the USDA—Sam Clovis, a non-scientist—has yet to be confirmed. But Clovis is making news—for his "polite" role in the alleged goings-on between the Trump presidential campaign and certain shady characters in Russia. Maybe this would be a good time to remind your Senators that the title "Chief Scientist" ought to go to, well . . . an actual scientist. Not a climate-denier. Not a loyal Trump campaigner. According to the 2008 Farm Bill, nominations for the top USDA scientist position are required to go to "distinguished scientists with specialized or significant experience in agricultural research, education, and economics." Clovis meets exactly none of those requirements. TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Senators: Vote NO on Trump's Pick for Top USDA 'Scientist'! SUPPORT THE OCA & OCF We've Always Known "We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals, we now know that it is bad economics." - Franklin D. Roosevelt The industrial, factory farm, GMO monoculture agricultural model was always intended to benefit a shrinking number of big corporations, mostly chemical and junk food companies. Monsanto's claims about "helping farmers" or "feeding the world" are nothing more than carefully crafted public relations messages, unfounded and ungrounded in reality. Costco's plans to build the largest poultry factory farm in the U.S. will benefit only Costco—not the chicken farmers who will be locked into lopsided contracts that put them at risk of losing everything. And certainly not the consumers who will get cheap, but drug- and antibiotic-contaminated chicken. This degenerative food and farming model, built on "heedless self-interest," is little by little, news article by news article, scientific study by scientific study, being exposed for what it is: a model that has failed consumers, failed the environment, failed economically for all but a few greedy corporations, failed to deliver anything but unhealthy food, polluted waterways, degraded soils. Who will build a new model, founded on traditional organic regenerative farming practices? Farming practices that work with the Earth's natural systems, instead of against them? A model that works economically for farmers and local communities, not the Monsanto and Costco types? A growing army of organic regenerative farmers, around the world, who will feed their local and regional populations—and who will reap the profits and good will of their hard work, instead of seeing their livelihoods eroded by corporate greed. Who will help those farmers? Conscious consumers who will reject Big Ag and Big Food, and support the farmers and producers who grow healthy food, without fouling the environment. In the coming weeks and months we hope you'll join us in building local, community-focused regeneration core groups all over this country. Because it's up to all of us to create a food and farming system that works for everyone, not just a few greedy corporations. Your generosity makes this work possible. Thank you. Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and public education) Donate to Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our GMO labeling legislative efforts) VIDEO OF THE WEEK 100% GMO-Free! A coalition of 100 mayors in the Philippines have joined forces to rid their cities of GMOs and pesticides—and they mean business! While in Manila for the AgriLink Agri-Business Conference, Regeneration International's Oliver Gardiner filmed the mayors signing on to the League of Organic Agriculture Municipalities and Cities (LOAMC). LOAMC is an initiative of the Organic Trade Producer Association and Ecoveritas. Watch as Mayor Rommel Arnado and others talk about how their newly formed coalition plans to get toxic pesticides and GMOs out of more than 100 cities. Could organic consumers and concerned citizens convince mayors in cities around the U.S. to follow the lead of these forward-thinking Filipino mayors? Watch the video Show your support for Mayor Arnado on Facebook Start a Regeneration Movement in your own community Support Regeneration International, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit partially funded by OCA NEW STUDY 'Expensive' Food Two new studies call attention—yet again—to the link between pesticides and health problems—and how widespread those health issues are. The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems and The Global Alliance for the Future of Food published a 120-page report that says, among other things, that the industrial food system is mostly to blame for our "staggering" healthcare costs. And a new study in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found that women who consume fruits and vegetables with high amounts of pesticide residue are less likely to conceive—and if they do, more likely to miscarry. The Rodale Institute pulled these numbers, representing the healthcare-related costs of our industrial food system, from the IPES-Food report: $760 billion yearly cost of obesity (global estimate for 2025) $673 billion yearly cost of diabetes (global number for 2012) $3.5 trillion global cost of malnutrition $557 billion cost of endocrine disruptor exposure (the U.S. and the EU) Not on the list? The cost—financial, physical and emotional—of infertility treatments. More from the IPES-Food report: . . . many of the most severe health impacts trace back to some of the core industrial food and farming practices, e.g., chemical-intensive agriculture; intensive livestock production; and the mass production and mass marketing of ultra-processed foods. The next time someone tells you organic food is "too expensive," um . . . Read 'Expert Panel Identifies Unacceptable Toll of Food and Farming Systems on Human Health' Read 'Unraveling the Food-Health Nexus' Read 'Study ties pesticides in food to reduced fertility in women LITTLE BYTES Essential Reading for the Week New Finding: Broccoli Helps Heal Leaky Gut The Golden Ticket: Farmers Go Organic in Quest to Make Money Again How Wolfe's Neck Farm in Freeport, Maine Is Combating Climate Change Leave the Leaves! Diet Soda Makers Sued Over Deceptive, False and Misleading Advertising Prepare for a World 3°C Warmer in 80 Years Laboratory Testing Reveals Substantial Amounts of Glyphosate in Foods and Population

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