Genetic Roulette  A film by Jeffrey M. Smith - a 28 minute documentary film on Genetically Modified Foods.  It is free until September 22nd.

                             http://www.GeneticRouletteMovie.com

Let's ban rGBH...

Other countries are banning rGBH. Why isn't the US doing it? Learn more: http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/rbgh/

Victory for Voluntary GMO-Free Labels!

Monsanto and Eli Lilly have successfully blocked consumers' right to know about factory-farm dairy production by concealing the use of their genetically engineered bovine growth hormone, a.k.a. rBGH or rBST.

Still, when it comes to voluntary labels on non-GMO food, consumers are winning!

The first blow to biotech was in 2010 when a Sixth Circuit court ruled that milk produced with synthetic hormones is different than milk produced without it and struck down a Ohio rule that would have removed "rBGH-free" labels from dairy products. The court found:

- A compositional difference does exist between milk from untreated cows and conventional milk.

- The use of rBGH (rbST) in milk production has been shown to elevate the levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), a naturally occurring hormone that in high levels is linked to several types of cancers, among other things.

- rBGH (rbST) use induces an unnatural period of milk production during a cow's "negative energy phase." Milk produced during this stage is considered to be low quality due to its increased fat content and its decreased level of proteins.

- Milk from rBGH-injected cows contains higher somatic cell counts, which makes the milk turn sour more quickly and is another indicator of poor milk quality.

The final blow to the Ohio rule came this week when the state agreed that, instead of revising the rule to comply with the court's opinion, it would abandon it altogether.
Read more

What's in your milk? Hundreds of dairies have been breaking laws designed to keep antibiotics and other drugs out of our food supply. Indianapolis- WTHR, Indiana.  http://www.wthr.com/story/14656493/whats-in-your-milk

The real price of Cheap Food

Food Med 2007  Downloads  Changing our Cheap Food Mentality Hugh Joseph, PhD Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University Food Med 2005 Downloads   Time Magazine:  Getting Real about the Cheap Price of Food http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1917458,00.html. FoodMed 2009 Downloads
		What is a CAFO? Cheap Meat and Poultry Public Health Issues with Industrialized Beef, Hog and Poultry Production Doug Gurian-Sherman, Union for Concerned Scientists Monday, March 8, 2010 at 11:00 AM EST http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/03/protecting-the-global-food-chain Protecting the Global Food Chain A quarter of the calories that feed the planet come from wheat. It’s going to take a lot more wheat to feed the world as its population moves toward 9 billion. But keeping that vast hunger fed is a constant race against pathogens that can wipe out a harvest, climate change that can strangle a crop. It takes non-stop breeding and new hybrids. Breeding that can depend on some very old and out-of-the-way strains. On seeds you’d never think of. In the most exotic locations. Seeds that keep your family fed. This hour, On Point: the staff of life, and the wild story of how bread stays on your table.

We Won: Schools Can Serve rBGH-Free and Organic Milk!

School Milk Campaign Victory! This is a victory for consumers, parents and kids across the country, schools can now source better milk. Help Spread the News

Great news! We just won our campaign to make sure schools can source organic milk or rBGH-Free milk! We've been working over the last year to pressure Congress and the USDA to make it clear that schools can purchase better milk for their students. The USDA got the message and has made it clear schools have the choice. Help us spread the word so all schools know they can serve better milk!

Thanks to folks like you who contacted your members of Congress, participated in our School Milk Days of Action, and contacted your local schools, our nation's schools will not become the dumping ground for milk produced with artificial growth hormones. Here are a few highlights from our School Milk Campaign:

- Over 30,000 petition signatures were delivered to Congress
- School Milk Campaign activists made over 2,000 calls to Congress
- Hundreds of schools across the country were contacted about their milk, directly influencing three schools to go rBGH-Free
-Our Healthy School Milk or Bust road trip hit seven key states, raising visibility of this issue with the media, consumers and congressional staff

Now that it's clear schools can buy organic milk or milk that's produced without artificial hormones, we need to make sure schools know they have this choice.  Can you tell your friends and family the great news, and ask them to spread the word?

We've been working to make sure that schools have the opportunity to purchase organic milk and milk that's free of artificial growth hormones because of the serious health concerns associated with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH).  The artificial hormones are injected into cows to make them produce more milk, which can cause health problems for the cows, and may be linked to cancer in humans. We're proud that schools will now have the clear choice to offer milk that's produced without artificial growth hormones. Please help us spread the word.


Thanks for taking action,
Sarah Alexander, Senior Food Organizer
Food & Water Watch
goodfood(at)fwwatch.org

Organic Bytes #180

July 1, 2009

Organic Bytes #180

Health, Justice and Sustainability News

from the Organic Consumers Association

In This Issue

• Breaking News of the Week: Horizon Sells Out Organic Farmers With New "Natural" Milk
• Alert of the Week: Whole Foods Market Undermining Our Organic Future
• Alert Update of the Week: Stop Big Brother's NAIS
• Political Plunder of the Week: Who is Spending What on Lobbying?
• Sustainability News of the Week: Some Resources for Getting Started with a Backyard Chicken Coop
• Web Video of the Week: Bill McKibben on U.S. Climate Politics
• Other Headlines of the Week

Organic Dairy Family Farmers Need Support

Alert Update of the Week

The OCA has called for a boycott of bogus organic dairy brands such as Horizon and Aurora (suppliers to Wal-Mart, Safeway and other giant chains), who have inundated the market with misleadingly labeled "organic" milk produced on factory farms. Recently, the situation has worsened as organic feed prices have increased and recession-pummeled consumers have cut back on the amount of organic milk they are purchasing. The result is a surplus of organic milk, depressed milk prices, and an increasing number of organic dairy farmers across the U.S. being driven into bankruptcy. Consumers can support ethical organic dairy farmers and preserve organic integrity by boycotting Horizon and Aurora products and instead supporting local organic farmers and dairy cooperatives like Organic Valley and others.

Learn More

Eliminate rBGH milk from school meal programs

As you know, Breast Cancer Action works to eliminate the causes of cancer in our environment. This year, the focus of our Think Before You Pink campaign will be to rid the entire dairy market of rBGH--the cancer-linked artificial growth hormone.

As part of the 2009 Think Before You Pink campaign, we're partnering with Food and Water Watch to eliminate rBGH milk from school meal programs. As consumer demand increases for hormone-free milk, many schools don't have a choice. School kids are drinking milk we refuse to drink ourselves!

Everyone deserves rBGH-free dairy. Keep the pressure on. Sign the Petition to Congress at
http://bcaction.org/index.php?page=school-milk-petition.

Breast Cancer Action
55 New Montgomery St. #323
San Francisco, CA 94105

Toll-free at 877-2STOPBC (278-6722)
www.bcaction.org
www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org

Jamie Harvie, HCWH, NRDC Thought Leader

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 11, 2009
Contact: Jamie Harview, 218-525-7806 harvie@isfusa.org
Eileen Secrest, 866-998-0007 esecrest@hcwh.org

Jamie Harvie, Founding Member of Health Care without Harm, Named 2009 “Thought Leader” by National Resources Defense Council

Honored for Work in Sustainable Food in Healthcare

Jamie Harvie, founding member of Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), and director of the Institute for a Sustainable Future, has been named a “Thought Leader” by the National Resources Defense Fund (NRDC). The honor was bestowed as one of the inaugural NRDC Growing Green Awards. Harvie was honored for his work on sustainable food production and especially for his work in sustainable food in healthcare.

“How we produce and distribute food has a profound impact on ecological health, and by obvious extension, human health,” stated Harvie. “As places of healing, hospitals have a natural incentive to provide food that is healthy for people and the environment in which they live. But they must go further. They must use their purchasing power to move markets, their moral authority to garner support, and their voices to effect a change in procurement policies.”

An independent panel of sustainable food experts selected the award winners from a pool of 140 impressive candidates that included diverse growers, entrepreneurs and business leaders across the country. In a statement announcing the awards, NRDC said, “Harvie has helped catalyze a national campaign to encourage the inclusion of social and environmental awareness in hospital food service.” Harvie is the co-chair of HCWH’s Food Work Group. More than 200 hospitals around the country have signed Health Care Without Harm’s “Healthy Food in Healthcare Pledge,” most recently by the Cleveland Clinic and Boston Medical Center.

Hospitals signing the pledge agree to work to increase the availability of locally-sourced food, encourage vendors to supply pesticide-, hormone- and antibiotic-free foods; implement a step-wise sustainable foods programs; ask Group Purchasing Organizations to supply local, certified foods; educate the community about nutritious, socially just, and ecologically sustainable healthy food practices; minimize food waste; support ecologically sound packaging; and promote and source from producers and processors supplies that uphold the dignity of family, farmers, workers and their communities and that support sustainable and humane agricultural systems. While this seems a large undertaking, many hospitals and health care facilities are making tremendous strides in meeting all of the pledge elements.

“What if around the globe hospitals and clinics became recognized in their communities for providing some of the most affordable, nutritious, tasty, local and sustainably produced food,” said Harvie. “What if these same hospitals and clinics provided clean drinking water and hosted farmers markets and became a community gathering point? Perhaps then we could say we have truly developed a global health care system based in primary prevention.”

Harvie and other Growing Green Award winners were honored at NRDC’s 2009 benefit, “Food for Thought,” an event that also honored Michael Pollan for his contributions to the field of sustainable food. The event took place at San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences on May 9.

“Health Care Without Harm is very proud to have Jamie working with us,” stated Anna Gilmore Hall, co-executive director of HCWH. “He is an invaluable resource and committed to sustainable food production, one of our fastest growing and most successful initiatives. Jamie also led the organization’s highly successful global effort to eradicate the use of mercury in health care and is an invaluable member of the international sustainable health care community.”

ISF is a not-for-profit organization working to support and improve ecological health, through advocacy, research and education. ISF works to build, support and replicate models of success. Consistent with its ecological approach, ISF engages in campaigns which foster relationships and collaboration. ISF recognizes science and the arts as equally important in building a healthy, sustainable world. www.isfusa.org

HCWH is an international coalition of more than 430 organizations in 52 countries, working to transform the health care industry worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. For more information on the rBGH and the role of healthcare see http://www.noharm.org/us/food/resources#rbgh.

HCWH has an ambitious healthy food agenda, which includes buying fresh food locally and/or buying certified organic food; avoiding food raised with growth hormones and antibiotics; encouraging group purchasing organizations (GPOs) to support healthy food in healthcare; supporting local farmers and farming organizations; introducing farmers markets and on-site food box programs; reducing food waste; and establishing an overarching food policy at each health facility. More than 200 hospitals have signed the HCWH “Healthy Food in Healthcare Pledge.” Signers pledge to work toward developing sustainable food systems in their facilities. To learn more about HCWH’s work on food and other issues related to health care www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org.

Celebrate Breast Cancer Action Victory

We recently celebrated a major victory over General Mills (GM) in the name of women's health. GM (the parent company of Yoplait) committed to making yogurt without the use of the cancer-linked recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH). General Mills operates globally with 29,500 employees. Breast Cancer Action has 10 employees. With your help, we pulled together as a community and persuaded this major US food manufacturer to put breast cancer before profits. Now that's what I call working together. This victory has inspired us to take a bold next step to eradicate rBGH from the entire U.S. dairy market. We need all the people we can to support this effort. Share this email with 3 of your closest friends and tell them why you support us. Your donations enable us to protect women's health. Please, send this E-alert to 3 of your dearest friends. Urge them to make a donation. If you received this email from a close friend, join us and keep the momentum going. Donate today. With thanks,

Our publication The Source is online 4 times a year. We preserve trees,avoid toxins in ink, save costs and still keep you up to date. It's easier than ever to access. Go online and read the latest issue.

Write Sebelius

Tell the future HHS Secretary you want accurate labels on your milk!

Last week the Kansas state legislature passed a bill restricting how much information consumers get about the milk they buy. The state legislature of Kansas wants to restrict dairies' ability to label their products as rBGH-free. Tell Governor Sebelius to protect consumers' right to know and veto this bill.

The artificial hormone rBGH has been linked to increased rates of cancer in humans, and consumers have increasingly rejected milk produced with the artificial hormone. So why does a bill in Kansas matter to you? It is part of a national effort to prevent consumers from knowing whether their milk was produced with rBGH.

It's not too late, though, because Governor Kathleen Sebelius can still veto the bill. The governor is President Obama's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, the agency that houses the Food and Drug Administration. Let's make sure that she doesn't give in to big agriculture.

The FDA already has national rules for rBGH-free labeling, and they've worked fine for years. This bill would harm consumers and water down existing national labeling rules by requiring a misleading disclaimer on all rBGH-free labels. Tell Governor Sebelius we don't want her to water down FDA's rules right before she comes to Washington.

This legislation would place a financial burden on small dairy producers. It would also force national producers to have different labels for Kansas than the rest of the country - which could mean many bigger producers simply stop using any rBGH-free labels at all.

Contact Governor Sebelius now to let her know we want our future HHS Secretary to protect consumers' right to know.


Thanks for taking action,

Sarah, Alex, Noelle and the Food Team
Food & Water Watch
goodfood(at)fwwatch.org

Can you meet with your Member of Congress?

Sign up to attend a district meeting.

March 20, 2009

Can you meet with your member of Congress to ask them for better school milk?

Last week on National "Know Your Milk" Day, you and fellow activists made over one thousand calls to Congress. We've already heard that this made a huge impact and now members of Congress are ready to listen. Can you meet with your member of Congress to help get better milk into the National School Lunch Program?

From April 6-17, members of Congress are going to be in their home districts for Easter recess. This is the perfect opportunity for you to meet with your member of Congress to ask them in person to support better school milk.

Attending a district meeting is easy and important. We know that milk that has been produced using the artificial hormone rBGH makes its way into the School Lunch Program every year. About one out of five pints of milk distributed through the school nutrition programs in fiscal year 2005-2006 may have been from rBGH-treated cows.

Kids deserve the best nutrition, parents deserve a say in what their kids are fed, and schools need the tools to be able to purchase the best food for their students. Can you ask for a district meeting with your member of Congress?

The more meetings we have, the better chance we'll have to get healthy milk for schools.

Thanks for taking action,
Sarah, Noelle, Alex and The Food Team
Food & Water Watch
goodfood(at)fwwatch.org

Got rbST?

http://www.usatoday.com/money/ industries/food/2009-03-15- dairy-growth-hormone-ban_N.htm

Companies cut synthetic hormone from dairy products

USA TODAY March 15, 2009 By Bruce Horovitz

Got rbST? That's not the latest space critter in a George Lucas film. It's a synthetic growth hormone (recombinant bovine somatotropin) used to spur cows to produce more milk. Many dairies and retailers - including General Mills (GIS) , Dannon and Wal-Mart (WMT) - are nixing it from dairy products in a world of rising food fears....

Hospital Leaders Help Shift Dairy Market

Yoplait, Dannon, & Cabot announce their move to eliminate hormone rBGH

Across the country nurses, hospital food service directors, and administrators have sent letters to dairy producers asking them to eliminate rBGH from the dairy supply chain. The supply chain is beginning to respond.

The controversial industrial animal hormone (rBGH) also called rBST is known to cause adverse health effects in cows leading to the increased use of antibiotics and the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria according to the recent statement released by the American Cancer Society in February 2009. Healthcare systems across the country have been switching their dairy products away from those produced with rBST due to these implications. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and all 27 countries of the European Union have banned its use.

New England's largest dairy cooperative, Agri-Mark , has officially banned rBST from its products setting a cut-off date of August 1, 2009. One of its most popular brands Cabot, is local to Vermont. Nationally, big dairy brands Yoplait and Dannon both announced their intentions to provide only dairy products produced without rBGH.

If your facility is interested in this issue, you can use the Purchasers Guide to Dairy Produced Without rBGH

General Mills announces No rBGH in Yogurt

Yoplait goes rBGH free! We did it!

General Mills announced that they are taking the rBGH dairy out of Yoplait yogurt, something that just four months ago they assured us was impossible.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who wrote General Mills, made a contribution or took any action to support this effort.

See BCA's press release.

---

Dannon follows suit! No rBGH by 2010

Two weeks after General Mills announced they were going rBGH free, Dannon responded to public pressure and made the same promise to consumers.

These two companies represent two-thirds of America's dairy products and their policy change shows a cultural shift.

This is a tremendous acknowledgment of grassroots activism and a victory for all of us.

Give rBGH the Boot from our Nation's Schools

rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) is a genetically engineered variant of the natural growth hormone produced by cows. Formerly manufactured by Monsanto, it is sold to dairy farmers under the trade name Posilac. Injection of this hormone forces cows to boost milk production by about 10%, while increasing the incidences of mastitis, lameness, and reproductive complications.

The federal nutrition programs are a major provider of milk to our nation’s school-age children. According to the National Milk Producers Federation, nearly 430 million gallons of milk were distributed through the National School Breakfast, Lunch, and Special Milk programs during the 2005-2006 school year. Unfortunately, a significant amount of this milk may have been produced with artificial growth hormones.

Take action today and tell Congress to mandate that schools purchase artificial hormone-free milk and organic milk.

>>Learn More

Dannon will drop rBGH

Dannon (or Danone), the French-based multinational that owns Activa and the popular organic brand Stonyfield Farm, has announced it is committed to eliminating rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) by the end of 2009. This controversial genetically engineered growth hormone was originally developed by Monsanto and is injected into cows to force them to produce more milk. Dannon joins a host of other companies, like Starbucks and Yoplait, that have also recently responded to your emails and pressure by removing rBGH from their products.

We and our allies are making progress driving rBGH off the market and educating the public about the health and environmental hazards of genetically engineered foods, and the benefits of organics. Unfortunately, hazardous rBGH-tainted dairy products are still force-fed to our children and low-income consumers as part of the national school lunch program and federal nutrition programs such as Food Stamps and the WIC program. But you can change that. Tell Congress to mandate that school lunch and other taxpayer-funded federal nutrition programs purchase only rBGH-free milk and instead supply our children and low-income communities with certified "USDA Organic" milk.

Learn more and take action

For more information on the rBGH and the role of healthcare see http://www.noharm.org/us/food/resources#rbgh

Yoplait Eliminates rBGH Milk from Products

Hospitals and Healthcare Leaders Shift Dairy Market

Yoplait has announced to its hospital customers that it will stop using milk from cattle injected with the growth hormone rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) to make its yogurt products, beginning in early August 2009. Yoplait is among the first major manufactures to totally eliminate rBGH from their product line, a move widely seen as a response to demands by the health care sector and consumer groups to provide rBGH-free products.

The health care system purchases approximately $12 billion worth of food and beverages annually. In their drive to serve safer, more sustainable foods, major health systems across the country are switching to rBGH-free (also called rBST) milk and milk products, due to the evidence showing the hormone’s adverse effects on animals and potential to harm human health. The use of rBGH in banned in Canada, the European Union, Australia and Japan.

“This speaks to the collective buying power of hospitals to shift the marketplace,” said Jamie Harvie, Health Care Without Harm Food Coordinator. “Now we need Dannon and other milk and milk product producers to show the same leadership.”

“This is great news for the health of consumers, communities and the planet,” stated Pat Burdullis, R.D Administrator, Non Clinical Contracts, Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) Supply Chain Management, one of the many hospitals across the country that have initiated steps to eliminate their use of dairy produced with rBGH. “To date we are approximately 90 percent rBGH-free in our liquid dairy.” CHW is the largest Catholic health system in the United States and was among many healthcare organizations that sent letters to their suppliers requesting products produced without rBGH.

Upon receiving the news, Diane Imrie, Director of Nutrition Services, Fletcher Allen Health Care, Burlington, Vermont, stated, “This is a major act by Yoplait, one which we have asked for and totally support. It is a large step that will help hospitals reach their goal to provide safe, healthy foods to their patients, staff and visitors. I hope that other major brands, like Dannon, will follow their lead.”

The American Nurses Association also supports the development of national and state laws, regulations and policies that specifically reduce the use of rBGH or rBST in milk and dairy production in the United States and has called on nurses and hospitals to purchase dairy produced without rBGH. In 2008 HCWH nurses work group developed a rBGH free toolkit and initiated a letter writing campaign demanding that Yoplait and Dannon change their practice.

HCWH is an international coalition of more than 430 organizations in 52 countries, working to transform the health care industry worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. For more information on the rBGH and the role of healthcare see http://www.noharm.org/us/food/resources#rbgh. To learn more about HCWH’s work on food and other issues related to health care and the environment, visit www.noharm.org/.

HCWH has an ambitious healthy food agenda, which includes buying fresh food locally and/or buying certified organic food; avoiding food raised with growth hormones and antibiotics; encouraging group purchasing organizations (GPOs) to support healthy food in healthcare; supporting local farmers and farming organizations; introducing farmers markets and on-site food box programs; reducing food waste; and establishing an overarching food policy at each health facility. More than 200 hospitals have signed the HCWH “Healthy Food in Healthcare Pledge.” Signers pledge to work toward developing sustainable food systems in their facilities.

In 2008, Catholic Healthcare West sent a letter to Health Care Without Harm discussing their Sustainable Food Vision and other food-related positions. View the letter at http://www.noharm.org/details.cfm?ID=2134&type=document.

Heath Care without Harm, an international coalition of more than 473 organizations in 52 countries, is working to transform the health care sector, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. For more information on the healthy food pledge see http://www.noharm.org/us/food/pledge. To learn more about HCWH’s work on food and other issues related to health care www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org.

###

Expel Hormones from School Milk

The food kids eat today will have a lasting impact on their health in the future. Unfortunately much of the food kids eat today is produced with harmful chemicals and artificial hormones. We've got a great opportunity to affect what kind of milk is in the National School Lunch Program. Can you take action now to get better milk into school lunches?

This spring we have a great chance to bring milk free from artificial hormones into our schools as Congress takes up legislation on the National School Lunch Program.

We are asking Congress to clarify that schools do have the option to purchase milk from cows that are not treated with artificial growth hormones. With nearly 430 million gallons of milk distributed through national school milk programs, we have to take action now to get artificial hormones out of our school milk!

Can you sign our petition to ask Congress to clarify that schools can purchase artificial hormone-free milk and organic milk?

Food & Water Watch is on the ground all across the country launching our School Milk Campaign, and this petition is the first step. Through town hall meetings, school board and city council bans, and other grassroots organizing, we can improve the health of America's schoolchildren by eliminating artificial hormones from school milk programs.

Take the first step in expelling the hormones from school milk by signing our petition and joining our action team.

Thanks for taking action,

Sarah, Noelle, Alex and The Food Team
Food & Water Watch
goodfood(at)fwwatch.org

P.S. Watch for alerts coming soon to find out how you can be involved in our National Day of Action on March 11, 2009!