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Organic Plus!

jeffcox — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 02:54:46 +0000

I’m gratified to see more and more food products certified as organic, but now I’m seeing other labels attached to them, too. I’m thinking about terms like “air-chilled chicken,” and “grass-fed beef,” and “pastured cows” for milk production, and “wildcrafted,” and so on.
What are these terms? Are they valid? Even moreso, are they valuable? The answer is yes, they are valid and valuable, but only if they are appended to foods labeled organic. Otherwise, they may represent an improvement over conventional food that doesn’t carry one of these terms, but the food may still be raised conventionally. And that means farming methods that cause environmental damage to the land and water, that disrupt healthy ecosystems, and that produce commodity-scale foods using toxic chemicals, routine antibiotics, artificial hormones, and disease-causing husbandry.
Let’s look at the terms one by one.
“Air-Chilled Chicken.” When the birds are slaughtered, their carcasses need to be cooled quickly, before microbes can proliferate. It’s typically done by plunging them into cold water. If a bird is infected, its pathogens will spread to other carcasses dipped in that water. Air chilling prevents the spread of germs by cooling the carcasses with blasts of cold air. It’s a good thing, but no protection from birds fed GMO feed and shot with antibiotics if they’re raised conventionally. For full protection, the air-chilled birds have to be organic.
“Grass-Fed Beef.” Feeding cattle grass encourages healthy bacteria in their multi-chambered digestive systems. Feeding them grains like corn and soybeans encourages the growth of pathogenic organisms. When cattle are grass fed, their meat is leaner and more nutritious. When they are also organically raised, that’s beef about as good as it gets.
“Pastured Cows.” This is grass feeding applied to dairy cows. Their milk contains more healthful essential fatty acids than grain-fed cows. They also aren’t confined to a barnyard that concentrates manure and can contaminate both cows and milk, requiring antibiotics to be used routinely. Pastured cows spend their days in pasture. When milk is organic, the cows also have not been fed GMO feed.
“Wild–Crafted.” This means the food is sourced from the wild. Thus it can’t be organic. The absence of agricultural chemicals doesn’t qualify a food as organic. Organic is a whole set of things to do as well as to avoid. Wild-crafted organic” food is a contradiction in terms.

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The folks at Food Democracy Now are pressing for an organic farm bill. Here’s their proposal:
In order to meet the serious challenges of the 21st century, U.S. agricultural policy in the farm bill must shift from its focus of creating cheap commodities and artificially propping up income for farmers, toward implementing best agricultural practices for sustainable and organic production methods. Find out more at these sites:

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/540?akid=477.101853.QyWsnk&t=10

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/539?akid=477.101853.QyWsnk&t=13

Right now the perennial debate in Washington DC about food and agriculture policy is once again picking up with the renewal of the Farm Bill. Politicians are listening to lobbyists more than ever. Last year you helped shut down the undemocratic Secret Farm Bill with more than 100,000 phone calls from Food Democracy Now! members across the country. But that’s not good enough. We have a larger mission. It’s time to change the debate in Washington. Click here to say I want an Organic Farm Bill! We’ll deliver your message to Congress, the USDA and the White House that it’s time to make organic food and sustainable farming a priority.
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U.S. Leaves Wine Out of Organic Deal with EU

The U.S. and EU concluded a major deal on organic food labeling last week, basically agreeing to recognize each other’s certification processes. In other words, if canned peaches are certified organic in Spain, they may be labeled as organic in the US. The only product left out of the agreement was wine, and once again sulfites were the culprit. The EU allows sulfites in organic wine. The US does not. Sulfites are crucial for wine production; wine is not likely to have fresh fruit flavors and aromas without them.
Many of the EU’s member countries simply know more about wine than the U.S. The U.S. National Organics Standards Board considered a petition to allow sulfites in organic wine last year, and a steering committee voted 5-0 to approve it, but the full board voted against it.
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Derek Singleton, a distribution analyst at Software Advice, sent us the following note about food distribution in this country:
The U.S. has traditionally relied on a centralized approach to food distribution, which is part of the reason that the average food item travels roughly 5,000 miles before it reaches our plates. There are indications, however, that the centralized approach to food distribution may give way to a more local and regional approach to distribution.
Singleton recently looked at three trends he believes are pushing the industry toward a regional approach: a renewed interest in living in urban centers, increasing demand for fresh organically grown food, and rising gas prices will all contribute to a restructuring of the food distribution industry. Under this restructuring there will be much more attention focused on serving local regions. You can read his full post at The Future of U.S. Food Distribution.

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The simplest way to avoid genetically engineered foods is to buy whole, certified organic foods, says Dr. Joseph Mercola in a recent blog. By definition, foods that are certified organic must never intentionally contain or use genetically engineered organisms, must be produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers, and come from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters, or other drugs.
Additionally, grass-fed beef will not have been fed genetically engineered corn, although now that genetically engineered alfalfa has been approved, grass-fed will not always mean they animals have not consumed genetically engineered feeds. Unless the grass fed animals are organic.
Read Dr. Mercola’s important information on GMOs and how some journalists think that the move to label GMO foods as such is a terrible idea by visiting this website:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/29/gmo-food-labeling.aspx?e_cid=20120224_FNL_artTest_A1

Why Organic Food Tastes Better

jeffcox — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:31:15 +0000

Not every example of an organic food is going to beat its conventional counterpart in the taste department 100 percent of the time. In a well-known taste test conducted by Time magazine, using New York City chefs as the tasters, the chefs preferred the taste of organic over conventional foods 66 percent of the time. The TV personality Dr. Oz asked his audience to taste-test organic vs. conventional and organic did win, except for the frozen enchiladas. (My guess is that the conventional frozen enchiladas had been given some artificial flavor boosters, but I don’t know that.)
What’s important is that most of the time, people can taste the subtle quality differences between organic and conventional foods. The question arises, why does organic food taste better?
Think about the soil first. In a conventional field, chemical fertilizer contains nitrogen compounds, phosphorus, and potassium—the so-called macro nutrients. There’s nothing to blow the life in the soil aflame by feeding the naturally-present soil bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, worms, and the myriad of other creatures that live in the soil. Far from it. Conventional soil is doused with pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides—chemicals designed to kill things. And so in conventional agriculture, the soil is used mostly to prop up plants. The plants themselves are given a meager diet of mineral fertilizer and the plants’ roots don’t find much else of value to absorb from the soil.
In good organic soil, on the other hand, life abounds. And the metabolic processes of that life feed the plants all kinds of nutrients besides the nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium minerals of the conventional system. The result is that the plants—and the animals that live from those plants—become healthy. All their systems and functions are turned on because they have the raw materials they need for the systems to perform well.
First, they produce additional nutrients. Many, many studies have shown that organic food has more nutrients than conventional, despite corporate agribusiness’s propaganda to the contrary. Studies from the U.S., Europe, even the United Nations have shown the nutritional superiority of organic foods. Some of these nutrients add to the flavor of a food, or are associated with flavor development.
Think of a factory where automobiles are made. If the factory has only a limited number of parts, it will only be able to make a bare-bones automobile—engine, clutch, drive shaft, universal, seats, steering wheel. Now if that factory is supplied with lots of parts, the car might have a CD player and radio with surround speakers, antilock brakes, hybrid engine, and all the bells and whistles the engineers can think up.
A good patch of organic soil is like that well-supplied factory, giving its crops the ability to express all the systems programmed into their DNA. That’s why there’s more taste and better flavor, as well as greater amounts of nutrients.

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The Prince’s Speech

By the way, Rodale has just published a pamphlet called, “The Prince’s Speech: On the Future of Food,” by H.R.H. Charles, the Prince of Wales, who is an indefatigable organic farmer and gardener. It’s as clear an exposition of why organic farming must become the way we conduct our food production as any I’ve seen. Wendell Berry wrote the introduction. It’s just $6.99 and you can buy a copy with one click at Amazon.

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The following is based on reporting by Jane Ayers from Nation of Change, originally posted on February 15, 2012.

Willie Nelson, President of Farm Aid, recently called for the national Occupy movement to declare an “Occupy the Food System” action. “Corporate control of our food system has led to the loss of millions of family farmers and destruction of our soil,” he said.
Hundreds of citizens, (even including NYC chefs in their white toques) joined Food Democracy Now, gathered outside the Federal Courts in Manhattan on January 31st, to support organic family farmers in their landmark lawsuit against agribusiness giant Monsanto (the case is Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association v. Monsanto). Oral arguments were heard that day concerning the lawsuit by 83 plaintiffs representing over 300,000 organic farmers, organic seed growers, and organic seed businesses.
The lawsuit addresses the issue of Monsanto harassing and threatening organic farmers with lawsuits for “patent infringement” if any organic farmer ends up with any trace amount of GM seeds on their organic farmland.
Judge Naomi Buckwald heard the oral arguments on Monsanto’s Motion to Dismiss, and the legal team from Public Patent Foundation represented the rights of American organic farmers against Monsanto. After hearing the arguments, Judge Buckwald stated that on March 31, she will hand down her decision on whether the lawsuit will move forward to trial.

Is Raw Milk Safe?

jeffcox — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:05:08 +0000

Raw milk, like any raw food, comes equipped with all its natural enzymes and other health-promoting factors that are destroyed by pasteurization and ultra-pasteurization (sterilization). It is also a breeding ground for Lactobacillus lactic, one of the good bacteria that inhabit our intestines and make our cheeses, yogurts, kefir, and other curdled milk products. Remember Little Miss Muffet.
One of the other good things this and other beneficial bacteria do is to curb the growth of pathogenic bacteria. So raw milk has its own, built-in disease suppressing system. However, just as pests can “break out” and destroy a crop on a farm, a deadly germ like listeria can infect milk—if the cows are not properly raised.
Cows are fit by nature to eat and digest pastures grasses, weeds, and forbs. Given their natural food, their four-chambered digestive systems are very effective at digesting grass by action not only of the cows’ digestive juices, but especially by the beneficial bacteria in their stomach chambers. Like the soil bacteria that digest fresh organic matter in a compost pile, these bovine bacteria turn stalky plants and grass into rich food that supports the cow as she produces milk.
The problems start when farmers feed their cows beans and grains. The cows’ natural bacteria can’t digest beans and grains, and so other bacteria that can digest them find their way into the cow and set up shop. These bacteria cause disease not only in the animals, but in humans that drink infected milk.
A second matter is cleanliness. Cows are not naturally clean animals, the way cats are. If they are confined to barnyards, cows will slop along through a mixture of mud and cow dung. Here’s a video of what Dr. William Campbell Douglass, the author of The Milk Book, has to say about cows and cleanliness:

I drink raw, organic, whole milk every day. I make it into kefir. The milk comes from a dedicated dairyman near Fresno whose cows are pastured, clean, and whose milk is regularly tested for the presence of pathogens. I buy it at Oliver’s Market, a local chain of three stores in Sonoma County that actively seeks out the best organic products.
As for the safety of raw milk, consider that many of the world’s finest cheeses are made from raw milk. Don’t take my word for its safety. Do some research on the topic. Decide for yourself whether you want to seek out a source for you and your family. I’ll only say that I personally am a confirmed believer in its value in an organic diet, especially when it’s so easily made into kefir.

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How Does Natural Differ from Organic?

The following was written by Ronnie Cummins, the co-founder and National Director of the Organic Consumers Association. He makes the point that the “natural” label on food products has no legal meaning—other than to allow markets to mark up conventional produce as though it’s “almost organic.” It’s worth reading.

Walk down the aisles of any Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods Market, or any upscale supermarket and look closely. What do you see? Row after row of attractively displayed, but mostly non-organic “natural” (i.e. conventional) foods and products. By marketing sleight of hand, these conventional foods, vitamins, private label items, and personal care products become “natural” or “almost organic” (and overpriced) in the “natural” supermarket setting.
It’s no wonder – and no accident – that consumers are confused. Companies selling these products are simply telling us what we want to hear, so they can charge a premium price.
In fact, all these “natural,” “all-natural,” and “sustainable” products are neither backed up by rules and regulations, nor a third-party certifier. Most “natural” or conventional products – whether produce, dairy, or canned or frozen goods – are produced on large industrial farms or in processing plants that are highly polluting, chemical-intensive and energy-intensive.
Test these so-called “natural” products in a lab and what will you find? Pesticide residues, Genetically Modified Organisms, and a long list of problematic and/or carcinogenic synthetic chemicals and additives.
Trace these “natural” products back to the farm or factory and what will you find? Climate destabilizing chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and sewage sludge – not to mention exploited farm workers and workers in the food processing industry. Of course there are many products in WFM, Trader Joe’s and other natural food retailers that bear the label “USDA Organic.” But the overwhelming majority of their products are not so labeled.
Demanding that natural and conventional products and producers make the transition to organic is a matter of life or death. And standing in the way of making this great transition are not only Fortune 500 food and beverage corporations, Monsanto, and corporate agribusiness, as we would expect, but the wholesale and retail giants in the natural products sector as well.
We cannot continue to hand over 88 percent of our consumer dollars to out-of-control, biotech, chemical-intensive, energy-intensive, greenhouse gas- polluting corporations and “profit-at-any-cost” retail chains such as Wal-Mart.

News Note: Thanks to consumer pressure, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and General Mills have all agreed to not use Monsanto’s GM (Bt) sweet corn in any of their products.

The Tragedy of Bt Corn

Speaking of Monsanto’s Bt sweet corn, let me explain what it is. There is a bacillus called Bacillus thuringiensis that organic farmers and gardeners have used for decades to kill caterpillars—the kind that are the larval stages of insects like corn earworm, corn rootworm, monarch butterflies, tomato hornworm, gypsy moths, cabbage worms, and many others. This bacterial disease primarily targets caterpillars. Corn farmers, especially, have found it to be cheap and effective. Bt was one of the most effective and environmentally safe pest controls that organic practitioners had, because it was spot-applied just to places where the pests had broken out.
So Monsanto comes along and takes the genetic code that produces the caterpillar toxin in the bacteria and inserts it into the genetic structure of the corn itself. Now the corn produces its own pesticide as it grows. This is sweet corn we’re talking about—the kind we eat at summer barbecues and picnics. This is unique corn, so Monsanto owns the patent on it. It’s hard to keep these genetic modifications confined, however, and pollen from the Bt corn may blow in the wind and land on non-Bt corn silk in neighboring fields. Now the pesticide gene is transferred to the corn kernels in the neighboring fields. Now Monsanto comes to the farmer who grows corn in the neighboring fields and says to him, “You’re growing our patented corn. We’re suing you.” And so Monsanto has done, over a hundred times.
Worse, because so much corn now produces oceans of Bt toxin, evolutionary processes select for those insects that can resist the toxin, and so the Bt corn becomes the driving force behind the development of Bt-resistant insects. As resistant insects proliferate, Bt toxin becomes less and less effective. This is already happening. Tragically, Monsanto has ruined a perfectly natural and effective, organic insect control in its profit-driven quest to dominate world agriculture. And that’s no exaggeration, even if it sounds like one.
Dr. Joseph Mercola, an osteopath who writes at his website (www.mercola.com), has other news that should interest you. Here’s just a little of what he has to say:
“Cry1Ab,” he writes, “a specific type of Bt toxin from genetically modified crops, has for the first time been detected in human and fetal blood samples. It appears the toxin is quite prevalent, as upon testing 69 pregnant and non-pregnant women who were eating a typical Canadian diet (which included foods such as soy, corn and potatoes), researchers found Bt toxin in 93 percent of maternal blood samples, 80 percent of fetal blood samples, and 69 percent of non-pregnant women’s blood samples. This insecticide toxin is already showing up in fetal blood, which means it could have an untold impact on future generations.
“Given that Bt toxin has now been confirmed in the human bloodstream, it should come as no surprise that it has also infiltrated the environment.. According to one study, 50 of the 217 streams, ditches and drains near cornfields that researchers tested were found to contain Cry1Ab above six nanograms per liter. The protein is getting into the waterways via corn stalks, leaves, husks and cobs that blow into the water — a phenomenon that’s incredibly common since farmers often leave such material in fields to help minimize soil erosion.
“A new study in the UK has confirmed that if you eat GM foods that contain the insecticidal Bt toxin, it appears likely that it will be transferred to your bloodstream…however, the UK government, which funded the study, chose not to fund any follow up research to see if GM corn — which contains the BT toxin — might continue to create insecticide inside your intestines. Now the evidence has come through that it does transfer, at least to your bloodstream (and the bloodstream of your baby if you’re pregnant).”
Dr. Mercola has gone on record saying that due to the amount of GM crops now grown in the United States, every processed food you encounter at your local supermarket that does not bear the “USDA Organic” label is filled with GM components.
This means that the public has been eating GM foods for the last decade, whether people knew it or not. Thank Congress for this, and the USDA and Monsanto. What ultimate impact these GM foods will have on our health is still unknown, but auto-immune diseases top the list of most likely side effects. This is yet another very important reason to choose organic food. The thought that Bt corn may be turning our intestinal flora into living pesticide factories is appalling.

Kefir!

jeffcox — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:53:56 +0000

About two months ago, I bought a kit to make kefir (pronounced keh-FEER, although Americans, with our penchant for putting the emphasis on the first syllable, tend to call it KEE-fur) from a seller on eBay. The cost was $26. The kit included a baggie of milk kefir grains and one of water kefir grains, a plastic strainer, and instructions for use. It has turned out to be one of the best $26 purchases I’ve ever made.
If you buy commercial kefir at the store, it’s a thin and rather unappealing version of what you can make at home. My local market sells raw, whole, organic milk from pastured cows, and believe me, that makes kefir that’s a hundred times better than the commercial product.
Kefir grains are a combination of bacteria and yeast in a matrix of proteins, fats, and milk sugar (lactose), and this symbiotic matrix forms “grains” that resemble cauliflower florets. For this reason, a complex and highly variable community of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts (SCOBY—symbiotic combination of bacteria and yeast) can be found in these grains. Some scientific sources have found up to 30 different kinds of bacteria in the grains.
Kefir grains contain a water soluble polysaccharide known as kefiran, which imparts a thick texture and smooth feeling in the mouth. Kefiran ranges in color from white to yellow. The grains can grow to the size of walnuts (although rice-sized grains and sizes in between also develop).
Kefir has microorganisms that colonize the intestines and benefit health by protecting the intestine against disease-causing bacteria and by strengthening the diverse ecosystem of the gut, which supports health. The kefiran in kefir has been shown in one study to suppress an increase in blood pressure and reduce blood cholesterol levels in rats. Kefir also contains compounds that show antimutagenic and antioxidant properties in vitro, although it is not yet clear whether these results occur when kefir is drunk.
Making kefir is simple. In the morning, when I’m making breakfast, I strain off the kefir to be drunk straightaway, then fill the quart canning jar that holds the kefir grains halfway with raw, organic milk. I cover the top with a piece of paper towel and screw it down with the metal band that comes with the canning lid, although I don’t use the lid. This let’s the kefir breathe and keeps out insects and dust and any odd bacteria, fungal spores, or yeasts that are floating in the air. The next morning, I take off the paper lid, pour the contents of the jar through the plastic strainer that catches the grains into a bowl that catches the freshly-made kefir. The lumpy, milk-sodden grains go back into the jar, and I again fill it halfway with the milk, then set the jar back in the kitchen cupboard at room temperature, where the grains will make tomorrow’s kefir over the next 24 hours. Every three or four days, I let the grains rest in their plastic strainer (never use metal on or in the kefir grains, or put them in a metal container) and scrub out the quart jar. Then I put the grains into the clean jar and add the milk.
For water kefir, I dissolve a couple of tablespoons of Sucanat—natural and organic sugar—in two or three cups of water and add this to a quart jar holding the water kefir grains, which resemble small, translucent cubes. I add half an organic lemon, to give the water kefir a nice citrusy flavor. This sits covered like the milk kefir with paper toweling held tight with a canning lid band in the cupboard next to the milk kefir. After two or three days, I drain off the water kefir and store it in the fridge, then prepare a new batch with the same grains. These grains also reproduce, and, like the milk kefir, extra grains can be frozen.
Milk kefir has a slightly sour taste and a texture like a thin yogurt, but it’s rich and feels good just drinking it. You can add a splash of fruit juice to the kefir if you find the kefir’s taste too cheese-y, but many people prefer it plain because its taste fairly shouts the word, “Wholesome!”
Kefir originated in the North Caucasus region, but no one knows precisely where or when. It comes to us from the mists of time, made by the SCOBY that has been handed down through many generations. As you make your kefir every day, you’ll find that the grains grow in number, doubling in amount over a month or so. The extra can be frozen in plastic baggies, given to friends, or shared with members of your local Fermenters Club (www.fermentersclub.com). But don’t throw them away. They are our friends and they are partners in health.
One noticeable way they will improve your health is to increase your regularity, lessen the need to strain at stools, and decrease any digestive problems you may have. It reduces flatulence and is a wonder food for your intestinal flora. In fact, kefir microbes colonize your gut, especially the colon, and become part of your intestinal flora—part of you, in fact.

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The Rodale Institute: Label GM Foods Now

The Rodale Institute has issued the following statement:

“We wholeheartedly support the movements across the country to institute labeling laws for genetically engineered products. Research has already shown serious risks associated with the genetic engineering of our food supply including:
• Toxicity to human embryonic cells and endocrine disruption.
• Transfer of GE genes from the food we eat to microflora in our intestines.
• Herbicide resistant ‘superweeds’ infesting 13 million acres in 23 states, many of which can be linked directly back to genetically engineered crops.
• 1,500 percent increase in glyphosate use since the introduction and widespread adoption of glyphosate-resistant GE corn, soybeans and cotton.
• Rampant contamination of non-GE crops.
“Even setting the research aside, the fact remains: If genetically engineered products are different enough to patent, different enough to protect, different enough to market as unique plants to farmers, then they are different enough to be labeled.
“All American citizens have the right to know what is in the food they are buying, and should be able to choose for themselves whether or not they eat genetically engineered products.”

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Good News from France!

According to The Scottish Farmer magazine, France has held firm in its opposition to Monsanto’s genetically modified MON 810 corn and the agrichemical multinational has admitted defeat.
Monsanto had been putting legal pressure on the French government to lift its 2008 cultivation ban on MON 810, first with a successful appeal to the European Court of Justice, then with a follow-up case heard in France’s own highest court, the Council of State.
But despite both these institutions’ ruling that the ban was “insufficiently justified in law,” the French government, backed by President Sarkozy, has insisted that it will still not allow cultivation of the biotech maize.
Now Monsanto has announced that it will not be selling seeds for MON 810 in France this year.
France’s stand–and Monsanto’s capitulation–has been warmly welcomed by anti-GM lobbyists GM Freeze, whose campaign director Pete Riley said: “The decision by Monsanto not to market MON 810 seeds in France in 2012 is yet another sign that Monsanto has failed to convince the public or policy makers that there is any benefit to growing to growing GM crops.
“This needs to be acknowledged by industry and politicians and there should be a big shift to agricultural research and development which addresses the future sustainability of farming in Europe. EU policy needs to forget about the bottom line of biotech corporations and focus on developing agro-ecological farming which provides for the needs of farmers, consumers, the environment and future generations.”
Five other EU countries–Germany, Greece, Austria, Luxembourg, and Hungary–have current bans on MON 810 cultivation in place. The European Court of Justice has also ruled that honey contaminated with GM pollen must be authorized as a novel GMO product and labelled as such before it can be sold.

Peas Four Ways

jeffcox — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:02:37 +0000

There came a day in 1976 when I first heard that snap peas had been invented and that we—the editors at Organic Gardening magazine—were going to get pea seed to plant and sample.
I erected trellising in the garden and planted the peas on St. Patty’s Day, March 17, the traditional day for planting peas in USDA Climate Zone 6, where I was living while working at the magazine.
Those first peas showed promise, but they also had problems. First, they had so much hybrid vigor that they grew to the top of my six-foot trellis and then continued to grow for another two to three feet, flopping over themselves. While the pods were edible, they also had a string running down the concave side of the pod that had to be pulled off by hand. Years earlier, gardeners grew string beans that had a similar string running down one side. That’s why they were called string beans. But breeders had bred the strings out of them, and by 1976, string beans were known as snap beans, a name they bear even today. Same with peas. The first edible-podded peas that weren’t Asian snow peas had the string, but it was subsequently bred out of them. Breeders also increased their sweetness and tamed their vigor. Today we have bush snap peas that only grow two to three feet high, with no strings in the pods, and a wonderful sweetness. And you can eat these well-behaved snap peas in four different ways.
First, if the seeds are organic, meaning they are not treated with fungicides, you can sprout the pea seeds. Pea sprouts have a delightful, full pea flavor and make a fine addition to sandwiches and salads.
Second, you can harvest pods when the peas inside the pods grow so they
just touch one another—like regular garden or English peas. Then you just have to shell out the peas, discard the pods, gently give the peas a little cooking, and serve them as peas only.
Third, you can blanch them pods and all for a minute in boiling water and eat them that way, or simply crunch into the raw pods, mange-tout. Personally I like them raw, pods and all.
Fourth, if you grow them, you can harvest the little packets of folded leaves and tendrils at the tips of the growing vines and stir-fry or steam them as Asian-style pea shoots. But don’t take them all, because those packets will unfold to become flowering shoots that will give you snap peas.
Of course, do it all organically.

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As you know, we organic types have been trying to get the FDA to require foods containing GMOs to be labeled, so we can avoid putting GMOs into our bodies and our children’s bodies—so far without success. Now a California group is trying a different tack. It’s trying to get an initiative on the California ballot requiring GMO labels on all GMO-containing foods produced in California, and as you know, California produces a lot of the food that’s sold across America, so a successful ballot initiative will have wide-ranging effects. To get the measure on the ballot requires signatures—millions of them. So the group (www.labelgmos.org) has mounted a campaign to find volunteers who will collect signatures to get GMO labeling on the ballot. Visit the website or email them at newsletter@labelgmos.org for more details.

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America’s largest corporate dairy, a biotech firm, and the USDA are being accused of conspiring to corrupt rulemaking and pollute organics. An organics watchdog group is seeking an investigation and has filed ethics charges, according to its recent press release.
The press release is important enough to reprint here. It contains information every person interested in keeping the organic label strong should know. Here’s the release:

The Cornucopia Institute, an organic industry research and watchdog organization, announced it has formally requested the USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) to investigate corruption at its National Organic Program resulting in the use of illegal synthetics in organic food and then allowing powerful corporations to “game the system” for approval “after the fact.”
The controversy surrounds products developed by Martek Biosciences Corporation. Martek is part of a $12 billion Dutch-based conglomerate that recently petitioned USDA for approval of its genetically modified soil fungus and algae as nutritional supplements in organic food.
Martek’s formulated oils are processed with synthetic petrochemical solvents in a blend containing a myriad of other synthetic chemicals. Supplements derived from these oils, commonly marketed as DHA and ARA, are being added to milk, infant formula, and other organic foods by such companies as Dean Foods (Horizon), Abbott Laboratories (Similac) and Nurture, Inc. (Happy Baby).
“This is a long-standing controversy that the USDA seems to think is just going to go away,” said Mark A. Kastel, co-director of the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute.
After a formal legal complaint by Cornucopia and an investigative story by the Washington Post, the USDA announced in April, 2010, that it had “inappropriately” allowed Martek oils to be included in organic foods.
The scandal contributed to the removal of the previous director of the National Organic Program (NOP), who overruled her staff’s decision finding Martek supplements were illegal in organics, after she met with a prominent Washington lobbyist, William J. Friedman.
The former NOP director’s decision was reversed in April, 2010. But instead of immediately ordering the removal of these unapproved synthetics from organic food, the USDA delayed enforcement by 18 months.
“It’s unacceptable that these materials are still in organic food and that corporations think they can manipulate the system and get away with it,” said Kastel.
In December, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), the expert panel set up by Congress to advise the USDA Secretary on organic matters, narrowly approved the Martek petitions for their patented versions of DHA and ARA. “All hell broke loose at the meeting in Savannah as the controversy grew extremely heated,” Kastel noted.
In its complaint to the OIG, Cornucopia alleges that Martek misrepresented their synthetic products and manipulated the vote by the NOSB. “Martek oils, marketed under the Life’s DHA™ brand and included in organic infant formula, milk and baby food, are processed with petrochemical solvents like hexane or isopropyl alcohol, both of which are explicitly banned in organic production,” stated Charlotte Vallaeys, Director of Farm and Food Policy at Cornucopia.
Although Martek told the board that they would discontinue the use of the controversial neurotoxic solvent n-hexane for DHA/ARA processing, they did not disclose what other synthetic solvents would be substituted. Federal organic standards prohibit the use of all synthetic petrochemical solvents, including isopropyl alcohol, which is currently used to extract DHA algal oil for use in products such as Horizon milk.
Martek again brought in William J. Friedman, with the powerful Washington law firm of Covington and Burling, to lead the approval process. Friedman appeared to deliberately mislead NOSB members into believing that the powdered form of Martek’s DHA oil was not covered in the petition for approval. “That’s not the petitioned material,” he stated. This particular product formulation uses microencapsulation (banned in organics) and includes a number of additional synthetic materials that have never been reviewed or approved for use in organics.
“Mr. Friedman’s statement thus appears patently false in an apparent attempt to intentionally mislead the NOSB. This apparent subterfuge led, in turn, to the NOSB’s failure to review other aspects of these materials which would have disqualified them, under law, for inclusion in organic food,” Cornucopia’s Kastel said.
In addition to the letter to the OIG, Cornucopia has requested the District of Columbia Bar to conduct a formal ethics investigation of Mr. Friedman’s conduct. “The dog and pony show put on by Martek and their largest customer, Dean Foods, was without precedent in the organic industry,” said Alexis Baden-Mayer, Political Director of the Organic Consumers Association, who was present in Savannah.
The only scientists who testified at the meeting on the DHA issue were all on Martek’s payroll, and focused on research showing benefits of consuming naturally occurring omega-3 fatty acids (such as those found in fish and breast milk), while ignoring the preponderance of published peer-reviewed research that shows that these health benefits are not gained from consuming Martek’s manufactured DHA additive.
Dean Foods, Martek’s largest customer, brought in a well-known web pediatrician, Dr. Alan Greene, who has acted as a public relations agent endorsing Horizon brand organic milk with the added Martek DHA oils.
Although Dr. Greene represented himself as a “consultant,” simply answering questions for Dean Foods, and stated he had previously worked for two other organic companies, he failed to disclose his multiple conflicts of interest in commenting on the benefits of Martek’s manufactured DHA supplements.
Dr. Greene has also accepted compensation from Mead Johnson, the largest conventional infant formula manufacturer, to promote Martek’s DHA oil in their products, and even has his own product line of nutritional supplements that include Martek DHA, marketed by Twinlabs with his name and photograph on the product package.
“It is unconscionable that a physician, who accepted money from a big drug company to promote synthetic DHA—which many believe promotes the use of baby formula at the expense of the nutrients in breast feeding—failed to disclose such a gross conflict of interest when he testified before the governmental body on certified organic standards,” said Lisa Graves, Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy/PRWatch, which helps expose corporate PR tactics.
Cornucopia’s complaint to the OIG also included evidence documenting that three corporate-backed members of the NOSB, who voted in favor of this petition, had undeclared conflicts of interest. Two of the board members work for Earthbound Farms, a giant produce distributor that also compensated Dr. Greene during 2011. A third member of the NOSB board works for General Mills which partnered with Martek, starting in 2009, on the technology to microencapsulate their DHA and ARA oils.
Adding fuel to the controversy, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just announced the end of its investigation into Dean Foods’ advertising campaign for Horizon DHA supplemented milk. The FTC is forcing the dairy giant to alter claims in its advertising concerning “brain development or function, cognitive development or function, intelligence, and learning abilities in children over the age of two.” This action resulted from a complaint filed by The Cornucopia Institute based on its research of the fraudulent and misleading health claims.
Although the FDA has dismissed complaints about the safety of Martek products in infant formula, reports persist from parents and healthcare providers of infants who experience serious gastrointestinal symptoms from consuming Martek’s DHA and ARA oils in infant formula, raising serious public health questions about the marketing of these products.
The Cornucopia Institute has sent a formal briefing paper on these matters to all members of the National Organic Standards Board. “We are asking the NOSB to reopen their deliberations and consider rescinding their approval of Martek nutritional oils,” Kastel added. “If the board fails to act now, protecting the integrity of organics, it risks changing the working definition of the organic seal and degrading its value in the eyes of consumers.”

Toward an Organic Twinkie

jeffcox — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:42:01 +0000

Have you noticed that more and more products at the organic markets are simply the same kind of processed foods you can buy at the conventional supermarkets, only made from organic ingredients? Mmm—organic pizzas, frozen dinners, snack crackers and chips; heavy on the organic fats, organic sugars, and organic sea salt. How long before we find organic Hot Pockets, donuts, and Twinkies?
Granted that processed foods made with organic ingredients don’t carry the typical load of agricultural chemicals, or any of the hundreds of chemicals used to flavorize, texturize, emulsify, preserve, and color the conventional products. But they are still processed foods, drained of their life force, less than whole, mere mouth fun instead of delicious-and-nutritious, and usually with a lot of fat, sugar, and salt.
Now, I’m all for occasional mouth fun. One of my local organic supermarkets offers a scoop of ice cream in any flavor of your choice, served in an eat-all cone, for $1. Maybe once every month or so, I’ll indulge. Everything in moderation, right? Including moderation. But that kind of thing doesn’t replace good whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and even a decent sandwich. When was the last time you had an apple and a carrot, with maybe a bit of good cheese, for lunch? They’re whole, they’re filling, and they are good for you.
One of the reasons we eat organic is to enhance our health. Heavily processed foods, even if they are organic, don’t help in that department.

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The environmental press reports that in addition to continued reports of Colony Collapse Disorder — a still mysterious phenomenon in which entire bee colonies disappear, leaving not even their dead bodies behind — bee populations are suffering poor health in general, and experiencing shorter life spans and diminished vitality. And while parasites, pathogens, and habitat loss can deal blows to bee health, research increasingly points to pesticides as the primary culprit.
Of particular concern is a group of pesticides, chemically similar to nicotine, called neonicotinoids (neonics for short), and one in particular called clothianidin. Instead of being sprayed, neonics are used to treat seeds, so that they’re absorbed by the plant’s vascular system, and then end up attacking the central nervous systems of bees that come to collect pollen. Virtually all of today’s genetically engineered Bt corn is treated with neonics. The chemical industry alleges that bees don’t like to collect corn pollen, but new research shows that not only do bees indeed forage in corn, but they also have multiple other routes of exposure to neonics.
A Purdue University study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, found high levels of clothianidin in planter exhaust spewed during the spring sowing of treated corn seed. It also found neonics in the soil of unplanted fields near those planted with Bt corn, on dandelions growing near those fields, in dead bees found near hive entrances, and in pollen stored in the hives.
Bees, of course, pollinate many of our most important food crops, such as apples and other fruit trees, squashes, as well as annuals that support beneficial insects in the rural ecosystem. Without them we are in trouble.

***

Speaking of Bt corn—corn into which a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces a caterpillar toxin, has been spliced using genetic modification techniques—people around the world are beginning to catch on to Monsanto’s plan to corner the world market on seeds.
According to an article published this month in the journal Nature Biotechnology, Monsanto is facing biopiracy charges in India. In an unprecedented decision, India’s National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), a government agency, declared legal action against Monsanto (and its collaborators) for using local eggplant varieties to develop a genetically engineered version of eggplant that carries the Bt gene–but without prior approval of the competent authorities, which is considered an act of biopiracy in that country. Let’s see how far the government of India can get against Monsanto.
In the United States, Monsanto has been challenged by many environmental and family farm organizations for introducing Bt corn and other GMO seeds into the environment, contaminating nearby organic crops. According to the Public Patent Foundation, Monsanto has one of the most aggressive patent assertion agendas in history. Between 1997 and 2010, Monsanto admits to filing 144 lawsuits against America’s family farmers, while settling another 700 out of court for undisclosed amounts. The farmers’ violation? They let their crops be contaminated with Monsanto’s GMO frankengenes, and that’s a patent violation. It’s like a guy walking up to you on your own property, punching you in the nose, then suing you for getting your blood on his suit.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s response has been to approve genetically modified alfalfa and soybeans as well as corn, and to name a Monsanto executive to head up our nation’s food safety program.
Good luck, India.

***
As long as we’re talking about Monsanto and its frankenseeds, Anthony Gucciardi reports in L’Osservatore Romano that on January 5, 2012, a prominent member of the Vatican spoke out against genetically modified crops. Cardinal Peter Turkson said that genetically modified crops are a “new form of slavery,” and went on to discuss the impact that they have on both the environment and the economy. Farmers have risen up against Monsanto and genetically modified seeds, with Monsanto’s control of seed sales forcing thousands of farmers into debt worldwide. In India, Monsanto has ruined the lives of so many farmers that the prevalence of their suicides has led a large farming area to be called the “suicide belt of India,” the article states.
Meanwhile, back in the U.S.A., our Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration still won’t require big corporate food producers to disclose on their labels whether their any of their ingredients are genetically modified. Such disclosures are required in Canada, Europe, and Australia—but not in “the greatest country in the world.”

Top 10 Ways to Eat Local Year Around

jeffcox — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:41:18 +0000

From midsummer to late fall, it’s easy to eat local. The summer fields and orchards are full of locally grown vegetables, seeds, nuts, and fruits. But what about the other seven months of the year, from December to June? How can one eat locally when nothing is growing?
Remember that when a food is in season in your area, it is at its best quality and its lowest price. If it’s a wild food, like wild berries, it is not only at its peak quality, it’s free. So when foods are in season locally, that’s the time to stock up for the off months.
If you grow a garden, think about planting enough to see you through the off months. Here are 10 tips for extending summer’s bounty through the whole year. Many involve a freezer. If you don’t have a freezer, consider buying one. It will pay you back many times over. Buy one that self-defrosts. Defrosting a freezer yourself is a time-consuming, messy business. Take it from someone who knows.

1) When spring garden peas are in season, don’t open their pods, but blanch them for one minute in boiling water, then freeze the pods in plastic freezer bags—enough for a meal in each bag. When you want to use them, place the bag in a bowl of hot tap water on your kitchen counter about an hour before dinner. By dinnertime, they will have thawed. The pods will have turned to mush. Discard them. The peas inside will be perfect. Heat them gently on the stove top and serve.

2) In August, buy lots of summer-ripe, delicious tomatoes. Make tomato sauce from them. Set a large pot of water to boil on the stove, then put batches of tomatoes into the boiling water for about two minutes. The skins will then be easy to slip off. Put the skinned tomatoes into another large pot and cook down into sauce. Can the sauce. Make enough for one quart a week for seven months—about 30 quarts. Or, even easier, Freeze whole tomatoes in freezer bags and thaw them for sauce or ingredients as needed in the off months.

3) Grow or buy thick-skinned winter squash, such as Butternut, Acorn, or Hubbard, in the fall when they are plentiful and cheap. Lay newspapers on the floor of a cold room like a garage or outbuilding and place the squash on them so the squash don’t touch each other. Most of the squash will keep through the winter, getting sweeter as they get older. Discard any that soften.

4) Grow or buy onions and garlic with the tops still on. Braid these and hang them in a cool, dark place. Sweet onions like Maui, Vidalia, and Walla Walla won’t store well, but yellow onions with tight necks, and garlic, will last through the winter.

5) Summer stone fruits like peaches, nectarines, cherries, apricots, pluots, and others have remarkably short seasons. In the late spring or summer when they are at the farmers’ markets, buy plenty. Preserve their summer-fresh flavor this way: make a syrup of spring water, lemon juice, and honey. To one gallon of water add a cup of lemon juice and a cup of honey and stir until dissolved. Cut stone fruits in half and remove pits. Peaches and nectarines can be cut into slices, but other stone fruits are best frozen as halves. Place a serving’s worth of fruit in a pint or quart freezer bag and add enough of the freezing syrup to just cover. Close the bag, excluding air, and twist-tie shut. Freeze. To thaw, place a bag in a bowl of hot tap water for an hour. Don’t reheat or add more hot water. The fruit will be almost as good as in the summer.

6) When either wild or farmed berries are in season, buy plenty for the winter months. These include red and black raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, huckleberries, or, if you live in the far north, salmonberries, cloudberries, and watermelonberries. Place them in a single layer on cookie sheets and freeze. When they’re frozen, put them into freezer bags, twist-tie shut, and place them back in the freezer. This keeps them from making a large frozen clump. Add berries to your frozen stone fruits for fabulous winter desserts.

7) Make peach nectar for the holidays. Make an inch-thick layer of sugar in the bottom of a crock. Put in a single layer of whole peaches—no stacking. Cover these peaches with another layer of sugar, then add another single layer of peaches, until you almost reach the top. Finish with a layer of sugar. Cover the crock with a cloth and secure it tightly so no fruit flies can enter. Place the crock in the back of a closet. Around the end of December, bring out the crock and ladle the liquid you’ll find into a funnel set on a gallon plastic jug, preferably one that held water. When the jug is nearly full, leave an inch or two of headspace for expansion and freeze the jug. When it’s frozen, put it in a large bowl, cut away the plastic, and, using an ice pick, break the frozen parts away, catching the remaining liquid in the bowl. It’s this liquid that’s the peach nectar and it is delicious.

8) Grow or buy a large supply of hard root vegetables like potatoes, beets, turnips, rutabagas, and carrots when they’re cheap and in season. Place these in mixed single layers in a clean plastic garbage can, layered with dry peat moss, and store the can in a cold basement, garage, or storage shed. They’ll keep fine all winter.

9) Grow or buy lots of culinary herbs when they are in season. Chervil, for instance, has a lovely anise flavor but is hard to find except for its short season in late spring. Tie up bunches of these herbs with string, making a loop at the string’s end. Place each bunch of herbs in a large paper bag and tie off the bags with the stem ends of the herbs and the string with the loop protruding. Hang these bags in a warm, dry, dark place such as an attic. When the stems break with a snap, the herbs will be dry. Crumble them by crunching the bags with your fingers. The crumbled dried herbs will fall into the bags and you can gather them and store them in marked jars for off season use.

10) Fill jars with de-pitted summer stone fruits and fill the jars with vodka. After a few months, you’ll have fruit flavored vodkas for making mixed drinks to tide you through the rest of the year.

***

According to OpenSecrets.org, which tracks corporate lobbying practices, Monsanto spent more than $5.1 million in 2011 lobbying the federal government. In 2010, Monsanto spent over $8 million, and in 2009, over $8.6 million. Monsanto’s largest lobbying year was in 2008, when it spent nearly $9 million lobbying the federal government and your elected lawmakers.
And what did all these millions buy? Well, its patents on its genetically modified organisms are safe. GMO alfalfa and sugar beets just got the go-ahead. A Monsanto exec is in charge of U.S. food safety. And there doesn’t appear to be any serious regulation of GMOs in sight. And, oh yes, you still can’t find out from food labels whether there are GMOs in your food. Monsanto won’t hear of it.

Remember the OLS

jeffcox — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:22:02 +0000

You see the word “sustainable” a lot in regard to agriculture these days. But it’s rarely explained. Some people use it as a broad term to indicate that farms are using environmentally-friendly methods. Others use it merely as a marketing gimmick. Mostly it’s a mushy word without a precise meaning. But forget about “sustainable” as jargon, and let’s go back to what the word meant before it became trendy. It meant something that could continue in perpetuity, using whatever renewable resources were available.
Now let’s apply that definition to agriculture. Conventional agriculture has never been, is not, and never will be sustainable. It is so resource intensive that it will eventually exhaust its energy resources, or will create such super-insects that farming in the open air will become impossible, or it will destroy the soil so completely that erosion will render farmland useless.
The only sustainable form of agriculture is organic, with a small “o.” So that includes regular organic farming, French intensive agriculture, Biodynamic farming, traditional Chinese peasant farming methods (read “Farmers of Forty Centuries,” written a century ago about how Chinese peasants replenish their soil and keep fertility strong in perpetuity), and other wrinkles in what is organic farming.
That’s because organic agriculture recycles organic matter such as crop wastes, animal manures, and—when we become more enlightened—household garbage through a composting system and back to the land. When renewable sources of energy come on line, organic farming will be completely sustainable in every way. Right now farmers are still using fossil fuels in their tractors and to heat their buildings, but that will change as hydrogen fuel cells and other renewable energies become available. Organic farming as currently practiced isn’t completely sustainable yet.
One reason it isn’t is that, as it has become successful and even mainstream, many techniques used to move organic food to market are based on the conventional system and are not sustainable. Blueberries in January from Chile, garlic from China, jet-fresh pineapples from Hawaii, winter crops from Florida and southern California and Mexico—nothing sustainable about that.
True sustainability in the food supply will approach optimum only when the farms are organic and use only renewable energy, when the food is locally produced so it’s not trucked halfway around the world, and when it’s seasonal, which is a consequence of its being locally grown. Obviously, all local produce is seasonal by nature or farmers wouldn’t be able to grow it. You just don’t grow melons in January in Minnesota unless you do it in a heated greenhouse, and that’s not sustainable.
What it comes down to is that Organic, Local, and Seasonal are the definitions of sustainability in farming. We can do our part in making sure our food is sustainably grown by making sure it’s as OLS as possible.

Time to Plant the Onions

jeffcox — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:52:00 +0000

If you’ve never grown your own onions, you have a treat coming.
How many kinds of onions do you find at your market? Two or three, maybe four? Well, if you look at a seed catalogue, you’ll find many more. Some will be sweet onions with a short shelf life. Others will be skinny-necked onions that will keep through next winter. Some will be big slicers, like the red onions you put on hamburgers. Choices run into the hundreds.
Onions are easy to grow. Bugs seldom bother them. But there are a few things you should know. First, order your seeds now. Pick a variety that sounds good to you. In early February, sow seeds according to the packet directions in a flat of potting soil somewhere away from freezing temperatures but where they get plenty of sunlight. If you live in USDA Zones 7 or warmer, you can put the flats outside. Keep the soil moist but not sopping wet, making sure there’s good drainage in the bottom of the flat.
After a couple of weeks, the onions will send up a single spear-like leaf. When this leaf is about four inches long, using a fork, prick out each little plant and transplant it to its own small paper cup with a hole for drainage punctured in the bottom and filled with potting soil. Water it in well and let it continue to grow.
Onions don’t mind the cold weather of early spring. About mid-April, dig up an area of soil about four by six feet. Amend the soil with plenty of compost—four bags would be ideal—but don’t dig the compost into the base soil. Spread it out evenly on top. If it’s put on thick enough, it will smother the weeds seeds below.
Plant your onions by turning the paper cups upside down and keeping the spear-like leaf between open fingers. Take this plant, turn it right side up, and plant it in the compost, firming it in. Space the plants six inches apart in rows eight to 12 inches apart. There’ll be room for about 50-60 onions.
Onions hate weed competition. Keep weeds down by covering the soil between the onions with an inch deep sprinkling of grass clippings (make sure the grass hasn’t been treated with herbicides). If any weeds poke through, pull them out as soon as you can. Weed free is the motto of your onion patch.
Onions will grow and enlarge until the summer solstice, at which time, most varieties will stop growing and start maturing. As they mature, they develop a tough papery outer skin and their tall, hollow spear-like leaves begin to turn brown. When the tall leaves are about half brown, push them over so they lay flat on the ground. In about two weeks, they will have dried and withered. Using a spading fork, gently lift the onions and place them in warm, bright shade—not full sun—such as under a tree. This cures them for storage. At this point make onion braids. If you have grown yellow onions with skinny necks rather than sweet onions, you can hang the braids in an outbuilding where they’ll keep just fine until freezing weather arrives. Then hang them in a dry basement or cold attic so they don’t freeze. Sweet onions will last into fall but no longer.
All winter, as you need an onion, you’ll have your own, self-selected variety, organically grown, right at hand. And remember, every good meal starts by chopping an onion.

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The following is a report from Dave Murphy at Food Democracy Now. If you want to know more about this group or make a much-needed donation, visit www.fooddemocracynow.org.

“In retrospect, 2011 will be remembered as the year that our federal government let Monsanto go wild.
“Right now there’s a battle being waged for the future of our food and our democracy and you and your family and everyone who eats is on the front line.
Over the past 20 years Monsanto has led the way in corrupting our democratic institutions, rotating their lobbyists in and out of our federal agencies (Michael Taylor, former Monsanto super lobbyist is now the current FDA food safety Czar), and writing the rules that govern their genetically engineered products while high-jacking science and our democracy.
“Currently, with Monsanto’s help, the USDA has intentionally weakened the agency’s own oversight, handing over the power to complete the required environmental impact statements (EIS) on Monsanto’s own products back to the company. Once again, our government is happy to let the fox guard the henhouse.
“This is at a time when the dangers of Monsanto’s flagship products, such as Roundup Ready crops, are being increasingly linked to crops diseases and livestock infertility, and their genetically engineered Bt insecticide gene is failing in fields all over the Midwest.
“In 2011, Food Democracy Now! helped expose these major flaws in Monsanto’s GMO products and stood up to our government’s continued collusion with the world’s leading seed and biotech giant.
“If you need any evidence that the Monsanto train is not slowing down, consider this: in the past twelve months Monsanto has had five new GMO crops greenlighted by the USDA, including Roundup Ready alfalfa, GMO sugar beets and a new “triple-stack” GMO sweet corn that will put both Monsanto’s Roundup Ready and BT insecticide genes directly on your plate.
“In the weeks leading up to Christmas, the Obama administration quietly approved 2 brand new Monsanto GMO seeds, including Monsanto’s drought tolerant corn and Monsanto’s GMO Soybean Vistive Gold, which is engineered to lower its fat content.
“If you don’t think that Monsanto won’t stop at anything to push their untested GMOs on the world, think again.
“Right now Monsanto’s CEO is working to raise money with the United Nation’s World Food Program to peddle their toxic seeds in troubled countries around the world under the guise of alleviating hunger. If there’s one thing we now know about Monsanto, it’s that they never let a crisis go to waste, but this is appalling.”

Organics and Probiotics—Friends or Foes?

jeffcox — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:19:31 +0000

What’s up with all these “probiotic” products on the shelves these days? Are they organic—not only certified, but do they figure into a truly healthy organic lifestyle?
The answer is yes, probiotics are a part of a healthy lifestyle even if you never buy a probiotic product. That’s because probiotics refers to beneficial bacteria that inhabit our intestines. Did you know that nine out of every 10 cells in your body—and 99 percent of the DNA in your body—are your intestinal flora. These are bacteria that have important functions within each of us.
First, they help decompose the food we eat into nutrients that our intestinal walls can absorb and pass along to our bloodstream, where they are used to build tissue and bone. Sound familiar? Sure—like the bacteria in a compost pile or good organic soil that decompose dead vegetable and animal material, reducing it to soluble nutrients that plant roots can absorb into their internal sap and use to build leaf and root and seed and fruit. Not only do bacteria share these functions in our intestines and in the soil, but in some cases are the same kinds of bacteria.
Second, the bacteria within us and in the compost or soil produce vitamins that we might otherwise not have access to. They are intimately bound up with the health of the plants that grow in the soil and with the health of our bodies.
Third, these bacteria within us form colonies that protect our intestinal walls from pathogens that we may have ingested in our food. They prevent disease even as they promote better health. In the soil, microorganisms colonize plant roots and help deliver scarce nutrients to the roots that the plants might otherwise not get from the soil solution, the nutrient-laden natural moisture in the soil.
Probiotic products, whether bought from the store or made at home, deliver trillions of beneficial microorganisms to our intestines. Some set up shop there. Some stay for a while and do some good. Some pass through our digestive systems quickly, but do a lot of good on their quick tour. The mix of bacteria within us is always shifting, depending on what we eat. Probiotic products help maintain a great diversity of these one-celled organisms. A healthy ecology is defined by its great diversity. So while the kinds of naturally-occurring bacteria in our intestines are shifting this way and that, probiotics help keep a constant flow of diverse organisms in the mix, and that spells health.
And yes, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on kombucha or kefir at the store. Both of those probiotic beverages can be easily made at home. In fact, I’m making both right now. Here are a couple of links to introduce you to kombucha and kefir. They are far from the only fermented, probiotic products on the market or that can be made at home, but they are powerful probiotic sources.
Visit www.yemoos.com/milkkefirguide.html and www.yemoos.com/waterkefirguide.html for kefir information.
For kombucha, visit www.GetKombucha.com and snoop around the site.

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Did you know that most brand-name mattresses are soaked in chemicals? Flame retardants, preservatives, adhesives, and more are used in fiber-based beds, and they have dozens of toxic chemicals in them. Synthetic memory foam mattresses of polyurethane, like Tempurpedic, are loaded with chemicals like toluene, dimethylformamide, vinilideine chloride, and others.
But you can buy organic mattresses, made from natural materials grown organically, using natural rubber in the latex form, and made without toxic chemicals. The only trouble is the organic mattresses are usually prohibitively expensive, but they don’t have to be if you buy the organic mattress direct from the manufacturer.
A store that makes organic mattresses to order—eliminating the wholesaler, the whole brand name infrastructure, the costs of advertising, the bloated CEO payouts, and all of it—is The Natural Mattress Store in San Rafael, California. My wife and I just bought a brand new mattress there, to be made to our specifications for size, firmness, and materials, for half the price of brand name organic mattresses sold at nearby sleepware stores. If you’re interested, visit www.thenaturalmattressstore.com.