#162 18 F e b 0 9

ORGANIC
Org a nic Consum er s A sso ci at ion
BY TES F o o d & C o n su m e r N e w s W e e k ly
w w w.org a n icconsum e r s.org

Alert Update: Government to If It’s Certified Organic,

Electronically Track Your Animals is It Organically Shipped?
Last week’s Organic Bytes featured an alert targeting the USDA on OCA Web Forum User ‘Michael’ posted the following question. :
the pending National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Over “When I buy organic apples from Chile the certification says that
12,000 people have taken action, rejecting the NAIS program as a they were ‘organically grown’. Does that also mean they were
threat to family-scale and sustainable farms and ranches. Great organically shipped? The reason I ask is that I have traveled quite
job! Visit OCA’s new NAIS campaign page, where you can read OCA’s a bit to and from other parts of South America. It seemed to me
NAIS frequently asked questions and send a message to your Con- that they were spraying a lot of stuff, including luggage, with pes-
gresspersons and tell them to reject the NAIS and fund sustainable ticides then wrapping it in plastic before loading it on the airplane.
and organic alternatives: organicconsumers.org/nais_faq.cfm It occurred to me that they might be doing something similar with
the organically grown fruit they ship from there. Is there some
European Countries Continue Ban on GE Crops way to get assurance that they do not do this?”
Although more than 70% of the non-organic food in Ameri- Over 9,000 people have viewed the question and many have
can supermarkets contains genetically engi- replied at OCA’s Web Forum: organicconsumers.
neered (GE) ingredients, massive opposition to org/forum/index.php?
GMO crops in Europe has basically kept them
off the market (except for imported animal Yoplait Dumps Monsanto?
feed). According to the majority the EU, bio- Note from Organic Bytes Reader: “Thank you very
tech crops pose unacceptable risks to human much for the latest issue of Organic Bytes (#161). I
health and the environment— despite indus- am always anxious to read it. I am writing in refer-
try, US Government, and many trade officials’ ence to your story about Yoplait’s decision to stop
insistence that they are perfectly safe. using rBGH in their yogurt. The title of the newslet-
This week, France’s Environment Minis- ter announces this article with the phrase “Yoplait
ter Jean-Louis Borloo announced that his Dumps Monsanto”, but Yoplait continues to use
country, along with several other European GE Crops Creating More another controversial Monsanto product—Aspar-
nations, would be renewing its ban on all GE Pesticide Addiction in US tame—in its low-fat yogurt (which is one of the rea-
crops, including Monsanto’s GE corn (MON sons I don’t eat it!). Because of this fact, I find the
According to a recent global summary
810), which is the only biotech crop allowed announcement “Yoplait Dumps Monsanto” pretty
report from the Worldwatch Institute:
for human consumption in the EU. According misleading. I’m sure it was not intended that way—
to Borloo, “The basis of the safeguard clause, g The US leads the world, by far, in GE but some clarification would be greatly appreciated
which tackles open-field cultivation of the crop production and consumption. in the future.”
Monsanto 810 maize, is on risks considered g The widespread planting of crops
Response from OCA: Thanks for your thoughtful
as severe for the environment…” Learn more: genetically engineered to resist spe- response. You are certainly correct, and we apol-
organicconsumers.org/gelink.cfm cific pesticides (which allows farm- ogize for the misleading headline. Although the
ers to apply more pesticides to their G.D. Searle chemical company developed aspar-
Preparing for the Great Collapse crops) has created 15 new species of tame back in 1965, Monsanto bought Searle in 1985
Moving way beyond OCA’s ongoing campaign plants known as “superweeds” that and then sold it later. The headline “Yoplait Drops
to press the Obama Administration and indus- are resistant to commonly used pes- Monsanto” is indeed incorrect since in late 2008,
try to drop “business as usual” and green the ticides. In 2008, these superweeds Monsanto announced it would be selling Posilac,
economy—before it’s too late—Dmitry Orlov were discovered on hundreds of which is the rBGH drug, to Eli Lilly. So, technically
thousands of acres of US farmland.
reminds us, with brilliant historical analysis speaking, the headline should indicate Yoplait is
and humor, that it probably is too late, and g Due to the presence of these new dumping Eli Lilly. As always, we thank you and
we’d better start comparing “best practices” superweeds, GM crop production has our readers for pointing out any mistakes in our
for collapsing societies, to guarantee our col- already led to a $60 million annual reporting. We also thank you, again, for pushing
lective survival in the coming catastrophic increase in pesticide use in the US. Yoplait to dump rBGH and aspartame!
times. Read Orlov’s essay: organicconsumers. Most of that money goes to the same Post your questions and comments about Organic
org/articles/article_16876.cfm companies that developed the GM Bytes in OCA’s Web Forum: organicconsumers.org/
crops that were supposed to reduce forum/index.php?
Do You Twitter? pesticide use in the first place.
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Writ ten and edited by Cr aig Minowa & Ronnie Cummins · Please post, distribute, & subscribe: organicconsumers.org/organicby tes.cfm