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Andrew Kimbrell of the Huffington Post outlines reasons to be worried about former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture. Will this decision hamper the new President's ability to chart a course towards a new green economy?
There is still time to let Obama know that he needs to make more radical choices for USDA undersecretaries. Sign the petition at Food Demogracy Now! The Organic Consumers Association is campaigning to voice public opposition to Vilsack's nomination. Sign that petition at the OCA website.
American's have been duped by the myth of mono cultures. This article gives the history and science that explain our mineral-deficient soil.
Many of us have witnessed the strong empirical evidence that a postive outlook is a powerful weapon in the fight against cancer and other diseases. This article summarizes a study that explains how optimism can be medicine.
2008 may mark the year when we started the return to the "roots of wellness." As Byron Richards of NaturalNews.com points out:
The drug-based paradigm of Western medicine is crumbling under the weight of its own massive fraud. New technology is proving how nutrients interact at the fundamental gene level to promote health and prevent disease. The discoveries are occurring at a breakneck pace – these are exciting times.
According Dr. Marion Nestle of NYU, corporate motives have corrupted the intent of the USDA's organic certification program:
As is usual for government agencies in the current political environment, business concerns take precedence. In setting the organic standards, the USDA tackled good and clean (although with some unfortunate compromises), but didn't bother at all with fair or sustainable.
This article by Kerry Trueman delves into issues of trust which are at the hearth of the organics industry.
The California Crop Improvement Association has been reprimanded by the NOP. Their status as an organic certification agent has been revoked for a period of at least three years.
The University of Wisconsin has created a new sweetner dubbed "Brazzein" by processing extracts from a berry indigenous to West Africa. As this article points out:
Because the University of Wisconsin used an artificial process to extract the brazzein sweetener from oubli berries, it was able to obtain patents over the sweetener itself. No credit was given or payment made to the indigenous Africans who had used the sweetener for centuries, drawing accusations that the university had engaged in "biopiracy," stealing ancestral knowledge for private profit.
According to this article the average Australian consumes 900% of the salt necessary for health. We here in the US aren't far behind. It goes on the make the point that most of the salt we eat is added in the preparation of the food, not at the dinner table. All those ready-to-eat foods may be convienient. But until we get some similar restrictions here in the US, make sure and check those sodium levels!
It makes common sense that cows that are allowed graze on a diverse selection of grasses and clover would be healthier then those raised on bulk feed. So why don't organic standards support this supposition?
Ever found yourself staring at the rows of packaged cerals in aisle 2? The options seem endless. Make the right choice and buy a cheap ticket to morning nirvana. Make the wrong one and risk a sugar jolt, broken tooth or worse.
The city of Toronto has taken the bold move of banning the ubiquitous plastic water bottle.
Scientists are close to completing the argument that sugar addiction is real.
In a new study, researchers are experimenting with this natural addidtive for wine.
The International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) strives to give local farmers a voice on the national scene. They are bringing awareness to the integral role that farmers play in turning the tide against climate change. Read the full article at the OCA website.
Have the good people at PETA finally lost their noggins? Maybe not. This article by Lou Bendrick makes the case for test-tube meat not being so yucky. In fact it make all the cases, then lets you decide.
PETA co-founder and president Ingrid Newkirk told me that she attempted to serve vegetarian hot dogs at a baseball game in Virginia just 12 years ago. The baseball fans recoiled and reached for the real ones. "Do you know what's in a real hot dog?" she asked in disbelief. "Pigs anuses, bits of their inner snouts, nipples, tail, and fecal matter?" The point is that a food's acceptance is cultural. "So it's not really that there's a grossness factor [to test-tube meat]," she insists. "It's a visceral reaction to something new. A new generation will come along and not believe that generations before them actually ate the decomposing corpses of tortured animals."
GMC adoption contiunues to grow with the US leading the way. As the article points out we still have options.
In research conducted at Penn State, selenium has shown remarkable cell-fortifying properties in the fight against HIV. This article sums up the data nicely. There's also evidence of selenium's other positive affects on the immune system.
Eating blueberries can reverse memory loss & may help in treating Alzheimer's, according to British scientists. Get the full scoop at the BBC website.
Get the full scoop on the NaturalNews.com website! Warning: you may lose some sleep once you've digested the concept of "brain plaques."
Our fight for raw milk in CA continues. Despite hundreds of calls and letters and overwhelming bipartisan support of the Legislature, our bill was vetoed by the Governor. Politics were at play as the Governor ignored testimony from UC Davis and other scientific experts that HACCP plans and increased pathogen testing are a better way to regulate raw milk than coliform limits. Instead, the Governor succumbed to pressure from the CDFA and other parties who would like to regulate raw milk out of business. Read the entire artice at the Organic Consumers Association website.
According to a report by the Organic Consumers Association, a toxic chemical that is a byproduct of rocket fuel is rapidly poisoning the food and water supply in the United States. Known as perchlorate, this chemical has been found in 93% of the nation’s milk and lettuce supply in a recent FDA study. You can read the entire article here. And be sure to read the original OCA report and send a letter to your Senators. Rainbow can special order combo reverse osmosis/carbon filtration systems which can eliminate perchlorate (and fluoride) from your tap water. Talk to a Housewares worker if you're interested.
In response to outbreaks of Salmonella in 2001 and 2004 traced to raw almonds grown in California, the Almond Board of California and the USDA have created a mandatory program requiring all raw almonds to be sanitized through pasteurization.
This rule requires fumigation of commercially grown almonds with Propylene Oxide (a possibly carcinogenic chemical) or high temperature heat, and allows almonds to be deceptively labeled as "raw" following this treatment. It imposes a significant financial burden on small-scale and organic growers, lacks scientific justification, damages domestic almond markets, and does not address the unsustainable methods used on industrial-scale almond orchards where the only traced-back Salmonella outbreak occurred.
Rainbow Grocery Cooperative's Bulk Department is committed to not carrying any products that have been pasteurized with Propylene Oxide. We are asking all our manufacturers to use steam pasteurization for their commercially grown almonds. We also are in the process of replacing any products that continue to use almonds pasteurized with the PPO process.
For more information about the almonds and almond products that Rainbow sells, consult our Almond Information Board (in the Bulk Department) or ask a Bulk Worker. For detailed specifics on problems associated with the almond treatment rule, please see the Almond Fact Sheet, prepared by The Cornucopia Institute.
