The news doesn’t surprise me. Female infants in China have been growing breasts. “According to the official Chinese Daily newspaper, medical tests performed on the babies found levels of estrogens circulating in their bloodstreams that are as high as those found in most adult women. These babies are between four and 15 months old. And the evidence is overwhelming that the milk formula they have been fed is responsible.”
Supreme Court Rules In Monsanto vs. Geerston Seed Farms
Remember how the Supreme Court heard it’s first case involving genetically-engineered crops in April? Today they announced their decision. It is a mixed victory for us Real Foodies.
The high court left the ban on the planting of Roundup Ready alfalfa in place, so for all practical purposes the “good guys” are celebrating today. The court did say, however, that the lower-court judge had overstepped his authority.
The Gulf Oil Spill & Seafood Safety
Images like the one above are nothing short of horrific. It’s so easy to abuse our environment and shrug off the consequences when we don’t see them. And then a tragedy like the Gulf Oil Spill happens, and we start seeing images like this one, and I cringe. This isn’t just BP’s fault, or an inept U.S. Government’s fault. It’s my fault. This is the cost I pay for choosing the lifestyle I do, even when I try to mitigate the effects of that lifestyle by paying extra for renewable electricity sources, walking places as often as possible, reducing use of plastics, etc.
These images have far-reaching consequences. Not just for oil, or for the environment, but even for things as simple as the food we eat. I see images like this one, and I have to ask: how does the Gulf Oil spill affect seafood safety? I don’t really know the answer to that question, so I asked Norbert Sporns of HQ Sustainable to help.
Save Small-Scale Slaughterhouses
I’ve alluded to it before. I’m not sure that I’ve actually highlighted the problem in its own post. Of course, now it’s threatening to deteriorate into a full-scale crisis. What am I talking about? U.S. government regulations designed for large-scale meat slaughtering. Rather than scaling down the regs to accommodate small-scale or artisan processors, the regs just put a whole lot of small-scale slaughterhouses out of business. Now the USDA has proposed changes in the works that will make it even harder to be a small-scale processor.
In other words, if these proposed regulations pass, your beloved grass-fed beef farmer will most likely have to send his cattle to an inhumane, nasty, industrial slaughterhouse before passing the meat on to you.
Roundup Resistant Weeds Not A Surprise
Monsanto, the developer of the herbicide Roundup, should have seen it coming. All across the country, weeds are quickly mutating to become resistant to Roundup. Many scientists did see it coming, including Jane Rissler and Margaret Mellon of the Union for Concerned Scientists. They even wrote a book on The Ecological Risks of Engineered Crops in 1996 in which they warned of just such a thing.
But now the New York Times has posted a nearly hysterical article about the End of Roundup. Think: Oh NO, America! Without Roundup and the benefit of genetically-engineered monocultures, agriculture will totally fall apart, get even more expensive, require us to use even more toxic chemicals just to keep our plants alive, and contribute to extensive erosion!! The impact on the environment will be terrible.
It would be laughable if it weren’t all such a bunch of marketing spin. It reminds me of the marketing campaign Monsanto launched last year. You know the one. The one where they declared their total dedication to “sustainable agriculture.”
Will Allen in Time Magazine’s Top 100 People
I hope you know who Will Allen is. If not, check out this introduction to him I wrote last year.
Anyhow, this has been a BIG week for Will Allen. The urban farmer was not only named in Time Magazine’s top 100 influential people, but he was also given the key to the city of Milwaukee!
Supreme Court Hears Case Against Monsanto & GMOs
Today the United States Supreme Court is hearing the case of Monsanto vs. Geertson Seed Farms, which began in the lower courts back in 2006. A coalition of alfalfa farmers (conventional and organic), with the help of the Center for Food Safety (CFS) sued the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) over the USDA’s approval of Monsanto’s genetically engineered “Roundup Ready” alfalfa. The plant, like Roundup Ready soybeans and other crops, had been engineered to withstand repeated spraying of Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup. Farmers and environmental advocates warned about the unintended spread of Monsanto’s patented variety of alfalfa, given that alfalfa is pollinated by bees that can fly many miles distance.
Court after court sided with CFS against the USDA. The history of this case is actually quite encouraging.
The Soil Crisis And The Problem Solvers
It’s easy to forget that good soil is the wealth of nations. Everything about today’s economy is so abstracted and global that the quality of your local dirt isn’t likely to make your list of top 5 economic resources.
Nevertheless, it’s true. Soil is far more than just dirt for your kids to play in.
Backyard Farming Is A Feminist Act
So says Peggy Orenstein last week in The New York Times Magazine. Are you a stay-at-home mother who keeps chickens, maybe a small garden, perhaps even a beehive? Do you dabble in preserving your food, making your own bread, and cooking nourishing, wholesome, seasonal food for your family? Then you’re what’s quickly becoming known as a “femivore,” a woman who turns her homemaking into something more earthy and industrious than the consumer-driven model that’s dominated America’s cultural landscape for the last half century.
It’s the Junk Food Commercials
Remember all those studies that show a direct correlation between the number of hours kids watch TV and their weight? The conclusions of these studies all warn that too much television leads to an all too sedentary life, which leads to obesity.
Well. Today a study was released which concluded that it’s not the hours of TV, but the number of junk food commercials! Oh, those savvy junk food marketers. Did you know that by the time a child is 5 years old, they have seen an average of more than 4,000 television commercials for food annually? During Saturday morning cartoons, children see an average of one food ad every five minutes! And up to 95 percent of those ads are for junk foods.
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