Because that's what we do...

Going Against Nature: USDA Found to be Exterminating Bees, Crops, and Birds

Another reason to avoid Kansas

USDA okays rice modified with human gene to be grown on 3,000 Kansas acres

Monsanto and your food

ACT TODAY! Or Kiss Your Organics Goodbye!

After years of bureaucratic wrangling, a recent USDA environmental review may finally approve Monsanto’s GMO alfalfa. If approved, GMO alfalfa will fundamentally undermine the entire organic industry overnight. In addition, the USDA says Americans consumers don't care about the contamination of organics. ACT TODAY: comments are due by close of business Wednesday, March 3rd.

Please join us in calling on Secretary Vilsack to stand up for organic family farmers and reject approval of Monsanto's GMO alfalfa by signing this petition.

And or here:

During the Bush administration, Monsanto illegally won USDA approval for its genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa by convincing regulators to bypass a mandatory environmental review. In response to a lawsuit by consumer groups, the courts then stepped in and banned GE alfalfa until the USDA followed the law.

In December, the USDA released its belated review of Monsanto's GE alfalfa seed and determined that Monsanto's alfalfa met the Obama Administration's standards, despite the risk of organic contamination.

This conclusion came despite the acknowledgment by USDA researchers that GE alfalfa is virtually certain to "contaminate" normal seeds. Cross-contamination is the number one concern with genetically engineered crops.

Organic contamination is devastating for organic farmers, especially organic dairy farmers, most of whom use organic alfalfa for feed. The presence of even the smallest amount of GE material can cause a farm to lose its organic certification. And court documents indicate that early plantings of GE alfalfa did contaminate conventional alfalfa. Yet the USDA maintains that Monsanto's existing safety protocols are good enough. This is ridiculous!

Even worse, the USDA concluded that the possibility of contamination of organic fields is of no concern, since consumers won't care if their organic food or milk contains genetically engineered components. Yet central to the definition of the USDA Organic label is the total absence of genetically modified ingredients. An overwhelming majority of consumers buy organic to avoid GE products and would be shocked to learn the USDA is so cavalier about the risks of transgenetic contamination.

The USDA is accepting public comments on Monsanto's application through Wednesday, March 3. Make your voice heard today.

Once the genie is out of the bottle

There is no way to put him back in...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. food supply is at risk of being invaded by unapproved imports of genetically modified crops and livestock, a USDA internal audit report released Wednesday said.

[snip]

The audit found that the USDA needs to develop screening measures to weed out undeclared GMO crops and livestock. The department currently has no measures in place to identify a shipment of unapproved GMO imports unknown to the U.S. regulatory system, the report said.

The United States has been a forerunner in developing GMO plants and animals since the 1990s, but other countries are beginning to invest more in biotechnology.

[snip]

Although the implications associated with Americans consuming unapproved GMO food are unknown, the health and environmental concerns that it poses could threaten commerce.

The USDA's lack of policies and monitoring capability on the matter reflect the United States' dominance over the global market concerning genetic modification.

"Department officials stated that they have not needed such a strategy because most transgenic plants were first developed within the U.S. regulatory system, and it was unlikely that anything unfamiliar would be imported," the report said.

[snip]

In a letter to the Office of Inspector General, the USDA said it would create a plan for monitoring GMO plant and animal developments worldwide by November 30. But further action on policy would require approval from the incoming administration.

So we're only supposed to eat Monsanto grown frankenfoods? They don't like it when we get foreign genetically modified food products? Why? Horning in on their efforts to wedge their way in between the plant and the farmer, the pig and the plate? Aren't they always telling us chemicals in our food is good for us and wonderful for the farmer?

What could go wrong?

What the hell are they asking us to eat?

Our food products are being poisoned.

The USDA wants to cut pesticide reporting:

A coalition of U.S. public interest groups including Pesticide Action Network, Center for Food Safety, Natural Resources Defense Committee (NRDC), Union of Concerned Scientists, and The Organic Center are protesting budget cuts that will kill the collection and public reporting of pesticide use by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), according to the Associated Press. In a letter to USDA Secretary Ed Schafer, 45 public interest groups argued that the NASS’s Agricultural Chemical Usage reports are the only reliable, publicly available source of data on pesticide and fertilizer use outside of California. According to NRDC's Jennifer Sass, "eliminating the program will severely hamper efforts of the USDA, the EPA, and state officials to perform risk assessments and make informed decisions on pesticide use." PAN's Science Department Director Brian Hill commented: "Allowing growers and applicators to use highly toxic pesticides without a comprehensive, national reporting structure is as dumb as flying in a storm without instruments." NASS, a program that has published pesticide use data since 1991, has been dramatically scaled back by the Bush administration. First, the agency’s annual surveys were cut to biennial reviews. In 2007, data collection was reduced to just three crops—cotton, apples and organic apples. Now, NASS has announced it will not collect agrichemical use data on any crops during the 2008 growing season.

Monsanto wants to patent living genetic material that you are going to eat.

And hidden away in a report about rising food prices is this stunner of a sentence: (my bold)

Record prices for farm crops should gradually come down, but they will remain substantially higher than average over the next decade because of fundamental changes in demand, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

[snip]

The report also encouraged countries that have balked at allowing genetically modified crops to reconsider their use as a way to improve yields.

Um... has anyone been reading the news? Genetically modified crops do not give you more yield. In fact, the crops produce LESS.

Buy locally. Grow your own.

Of course they waited 18 days!

How else could they get sell the last of the contaminated beef without the customers knowing?

WASHINGTON - The Agriculture Department will speed up warnings about contaminated meat in the future, officials said Thursday, as they sought to quell criticism of an 18-day delay in seeking the recall of millions of pounds of tainted ground beef.

Briefing reporters, department officials acknowledged that they knew as early as Sept. 7 that frozen hamburger patties could be contaminated after preliminary tests indicated the E. coli bacteria strain O157:H7.

They said it was impossible to seek a recall without conducting a more sophisticated test to confirm the original results, but said they would reevaluate what USDA can do better to warn the public sooner.

"Let me be clear from the beginning, at this point we weren't able to take action based on the initial test," said David Goldman, assistant administrator of the USDA's Office of Public Health Science.

Still, "this agency is not completely satisfied with the time elapsed and the issuance of the recall," he said. "We will be reviewing data related to this recall as well as our own protocol to determine how we might improve."

Richard Raymond, the department's under secretary for food safety, then added: "It's a policy we will be changing here."

The department's response comes after news reports disclosed an Agriculture Department e-mail showing the department knew on Sept. 7 about possible contamination but waited 18 days before concluding Topps Meat Co. should issue a recall.

Is the guy running this a loyal Bushie? The amazing incompetence made me wonder....

Frankenfood with a side order of Melamine

(Stolen from Fiat Lux)

Steve Bates of The Yellow Doggerel Democrat has a very potent post about Frankenfoods. He ends it with these questions:

Putting aside for a moment (but only a moment) the potential long-term catastrophe, what about us as individuals? Should a person in a free society at least have the opportunity to know what she is eating, whether chemical pesticides and fertilizers were used in its production, and most especially whether its genes have been tampered with? The EU seems to think so. The US? not so much. Not only has the USDA introduced proposed changes to the definition of "organic," but a provision has been inserted in the farm bill that would prohibit state and local governments from imposing additional safety and labeling requirements on foods, beyond those approved by the Secretary of Agriculture. If these foods are so manifestly safe, why are both the producers and our corporatocracy federal government so reluctant to tell us what we are eating, or allow us to impose restrictions on it?

The Bush administration declares we will eat what they tell us to

And like it. (Steve Bates of The Yellow Doggerel Democrat provided the link.)

Item in Farm Bill Takes Away State & Local Rights to Regulate GMOs & Food Safety

Center for Food Safety Recognizes that Proposal Ties States' Hands, Weakening Food Safety Protections at a Time When they Need to be Strengthened

Washington May 24, 2007 - Earlier today, the House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry approved new language slipped into the 2007 Farm Bill that pre-empts any state prohibitions against any foods or agricultural goods that have been deregulated by the USDA. The passage appears to be aimed at several recently enacted state laws that restrict the planting of genetically engineered (GE) crops, but could also prohibit states from taking action when food contamination cases occur.

"Given the recent spate of food scares, it's shocking to see this attempt to derail safeguards for our food and farms," said Joseph Mendelson, Legal Director of the Center for Food Safety. "We need a Farm Bill that will promote stronger food safety standards, not one that attacks these vital state-level protections."

The passage approved by the House Subcommittee today states that "no State or locality shall make any law prohibiting the use in commerce of an article that the Secretary of Agriculture has inspected and passed; or determined to be of non-regulated status."

Organic no longer means organic, Toto

Thanks to the Compassionator and his concerned cabal of conservatives. We are now eating what the Wicked Witch of the West cooks up.

Kirk James Murphy, M.D. of Firedoglake:

Last week the USDA unveiled their new “standards” for 39 food materials. Amazingly enough, all 39 proposed “standards” simply declare chemicals or chemically grown foodsstuffs can now be hidden in foods labelled “organic”. The comment period ended Tuesday, May 22.

Big Industrial Food (and their colleagues temporarily on detail as Bushie political appointees at USDA) have been chewing this over for years. The Bushies at USDA generously gave the public seven days of comment (instead of the usual 30 or 45) on the latest loopholes Big Ag and Big Bug Spray found for our tables.

Big Ag and Big Bug Spray have entered their “Harry Potter” phase. They want the USDA to magically declare:

• Chemically grown rice magically produces organic rice starch
• Chemically grown hops magically make organic beer.
• Chemical cheese from chemically raised milk magically contains organic whey protein
• Chemical fish raised in pens and fed nothing but artificial food pellets and antibiotics will – when passed through industrial grinders – magically produce organic fish oil.

Big Ag and Big Bug Spray believe in magic. Who knew?

Melamine has been in our food supply for at least a year

And probably more. Via cookie jill at skippy the bush kangaroo, Goldy at Horsesass:

Who knows what kind of shit is adulterating our imported and domestic food supply? But whatever it is, it’s about to hit the fan.

Months after dogs and cats started dropping dead of renal failure from melamine-tainted pet food, American consumers are beginning to learn how long and how wide this contaminant has also poisoned the human food supply. Last week, as California officials revealed that at least 45 people are known to have eaten tainted pork, the USDA announced that it would pay farmers millions of dollars to destroy and dispose of thousands of hogs fed “salvaged” pet food.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Through the salvaging practice, melamine-tainted pet food has likely contaminated America’s livestock for as long as it has been killing and sickening America’s pets — as far back as August of 2006, or even earlier. And while it may seem alarmist to suggest without absolute proof that Americans have been eating melamine-tainted pork, chicken and farm-raised fish for the better part of a year, the FDA and USDA seem to be preparing to brace Americans for the worst. In an unusual, Saturday afternoon joint press release, the regulators tasked with protecting the safety of our nation’s food supply go to convoluted lengths to reassure the public that eating melamine-tainted pork is perfectly safe.

In a fit of reverse-homeopathy the press release steps us through the dilution process, tracing the path of melamine-tainted rice protein through the food system. The rice protein is a partial ingredient in pet food, we are told, which is itself only a partial ingredient in the feed given to hogs, who then “excrete” some of the melamine in their urine. And, “even if present in pork,” they reassure us, “pork is only a small part of the average American diet.”

How comforting. But the press release reaches its Orwellian best in its insistence that there is no evidence of any “human illness” due to melamine exposure:

“While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention systems would have limited ability to detect subtle problems due to melamine and melamine-related compounds, no problems have been detected to date.”

Translation: “We are unable to detect such problems, but don’t worry, no such problems have been detected.”

It is hard to read this as anything but a preemptive press release, a calculated effort to reassure the public that it is safe to eat trace quantities of melamine… just days before they inevitably reveal that Americans have in fact been consuming it unawares for months. Menu Foods, the company at the center of the controversy, has recalled product dating back to November 8, 2006. Manufacturing forty to fifty percent of America’s wet pet food, the salvaged product from their massive operations must have surely contaminated livestock feed nationwide.

The New York Times:

Here at the Shandong Mingshui Great Chemical Group factory, huge boiler vats are turning coal into melamine, which is then used to create plastics and fertilizer. But the leftover melamine scrap, golf ball-size chunks of white rock, is sometimes being sold to local agricultural entrepreneurs, who say they mix a powdered form of the scrap into animal feed to deceive those who raise animals into thinking they are buying feed that is high in protein.

“It just saves money if you add melamine scrap,” said the manager of an animal feed factory here.

Last Friday here in Zhangqiu, a fast-growing industrial city southeast of Beijing, two animal feed producers explained in great detail how they purchase low-grade wheat, corn, soybean or other proteins and then mix in small portions of nitrogen-rich melamine scrap, whose chemical properties help the feed register an inflated protein level.

Photo by Ariana Lindquist for The New York Times



Update: Make that 16 years.

The USDA is ignoring testing for Mad Cow

Nobody is surprised by this, I hope....

Mad Cow Disease has now been discovered in the United States. Given the fact that the USDA only tests one cow out of every 2,000, no one really knows how many of these infected animals may have already entered the human food supply.

Sign the Petition

Join tens of thousands of citizens and sign the Mad Cow USA-Stop the Madness petition, demanding that the US Government adopt and enforce the same strict standards required by the European Union and Japan:

Mandatory testing for all cattle brought to slaughter, before they enter the food chain.

Ban the feeding of blood, manure, and slaughterhouse waste to animals.

Stop harassing farmers and food processors who are interested in independently testing their own beef.