Industrial Food Archive

Have Corporations Hijacked Academic Research?

by Jill Richardson, via AlterNet.org

Corporate influence of academic researchHere’s what happens when corporations begin to control education.

"When I approached professors to discuss research projects addressing organic agriculture in farmer's markets, the first one told me that 'no one cares about people selling food in parking lots on the other side of the train tracks,’” said a PhD student at a large land-grant university who did not wish to be identified. “My academic adviser told me my best bet was to write a grant for Monsanto or the Department of Homeland Security to fund my research on why farmer's markets were stocked with 'black market vegetables' that 'are a bioterrorism threat waiting to happen.' It was communicated to me on more than one occasion throughout my education that I should just study something Monsanto would fund rather than ideas to which I was deeply committed. I ended up studying what I wanted, but received no financial support, and paid for my education out of pocket."

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UCLA Study Finds Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup Can Hamper Learning

Another sweet surprise: UCLA Study Finds Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup Can Hamper LearningAttention, college students cramming between midterms and finals: Binging on soda and sweets for as little as six weeks may make you stupid.

A new UCLA rat study is the first to show how a diet steadily high in fructose slows the brain, hampering memory and learning—and how omega-3 fatty acids can counteract the disruption. The peer-reviewed Journal of Physiology publishes the findings in its May 15 edition.

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HBO Takes on the Weight of the Nation

by Sarah Henry, via Grist.org

The Weight of the NationHBO has a history of tackling important American healthcare crises. In recent years, the cable network has taken on addiction and Alzheimer’s to much critical acclaim. And now the network has turned its attention to another huge health problem: Obesity and its enormous economic, emotional, social, and health cost on individuals, families, communities, and the country at large.

As Americans have gained weight in recent years, rates of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other obesity-related health problems have also skyrocketed. Type 2 diabetes (once known as “adult-onset diabetes”) rates are soaring among kids. And this is a generation that may well die at a younger age than their parents, largely because of medical concerns associated with excess weight.

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Is the Chesapeake Bay Environment Henpecked by the Chicken Industry?

by Tom Laskaway, via Grist.org

Chesapeake Bay dead zoneThe Gulf of Mexico dead zone seems to get all the attention. Yes, this low-oxygen area that forms every year in the waters surrounding the Mississippi Delta is the largest dead zone—currently around the size of Massachusetts—but it’s not the only one in U.S. waters.

The Chesapeake Bay has a dead zone, too. In fact, it covered a third of the Chesapeake last year and continues to grow. And last month, the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science gave the Bay a D+ in its annual “health report card.”

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Technology Breakthrough Offers Improved GMO Testing

by Cookson Beecher, via Food Safety News

GMO TestingDoes this food contain genetically modified organisms?

That's what many consumers, including overseas trading partners, want to know about the food they're buying.

A prime example of that is the recent initiative in California, dubbed the "Right to Know" campaign, which calls for food manufacturers in the Golden State to identify genetically engineered ingredients on the labels of food products sold in that state.

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Are There Drugs in Your Chicken Dinner?

by Richard Schiffman, via The Huffington Post

Banned drugs are being found in factory-farmed chickensIn 2005, the antibiotic fluoroquinolone was banned by the FDA for use in poultry production. The reason for the ban was an alarming increase in antibiotic-resistant campylobacter bacteria in the meat of chickens and turkeys -- "superbugs," which can lead to a lethal form of meningitis that our current antibiotics are no longer effective against.

Antibiotic-resistant infections kill tens of thousands of people every year, more than die of AIDS, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America. This problem is on the rise because antibiotics are recklessly overused, especially in the commercial livestock industry, where 80% of all antibiotics manufactured in the U.S. end up.

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Making Childhood Obesity Our Business

by David Katz, MD, via The Huffington Post

"Food" marketed to kidsThere was an expression, once commonly used, to describe a situation in which it was easy to exploit people: "like taking candy from a baby." As with all such similes, the illustration itself was meant to be the extreme, self-evident case. Stealing a baby's candy is something so outrageously objectionable that all decent people must oppose it. It would concern anyone, and everyone. It would be everybody's business.

We don't hear that expression much any more for fairly obvious reasons. There is, if anything, far too much "candy"—and variations on the theme of candy, such as soda, sugary cereals, and so on—to go around; and too much of it in particular heads right into the mouths of our babes. The new-age problem is selling far too much candy to babies (well, children, really). That, too, is objectionable!

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The Folly of Big Agriculture Fighting Nature

by Verlyn Klinkenborg, via Yale Environment 360

Corn field. Photo by by fishhawk, via FlickrIn its short, shameless history, big agriculture has had only one big idea: uniformity. The obvious example is corn. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that American farmers—big farmers—will plant 94 million acres of corn this year. That’s the equivalent of planting corn on every inch of Montana. To do that you’d have to make sure that every inch of Montana fell within corn-growing parameters. That would mean leveling the high spots, irrigating the dry spots, draining the wet spots, fertilizing the infertile spots, and so on. Corn is usually grown where the terrain is less rigorous than it is in Montana. But even in Iowa that has meant leveling, irrigating, draining, fertilizing, and, of course, spraying.

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2,4-D—The Pesticide that Scares Even Conventional Farmers

by Tom Laskayway, via Grist.org

Aircraft spraying Agent Orange in VietnamA new coalition is trying to throw sand in the gears of industrial agriculture’s chemical treadmill. And this one just may have what it takes to slow it down. I’m referring to the fight over USDA approval for Dow AgroScience’s new genetically modified corn seeds (brand name “Enlist”), which are resistant to the herbicide 2,4-D.

This is part of biotech’s “superweed” strategy, by which they hope to address the fact that farmers across the country are facing an onslaught of weeds impervious to the most popular herbicide in use, Monsanto’s glyphosate or RoundUp (and in some cases impervious to machetes as well!). Of course, this is a problem of the industry’s own making. It was overuse of glyphosate caused by the market dominance of Monsanto’s set of glyphosate-resistant genetically engineered seeds that put farmers in this fix in the first place.

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New Study Links Autism to HFCS and Industrial Food

by Katie Rojas-Jahn and Renee Dufault, FIHRI, via Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

The epidemic of autism in children in the United States may be linked to the typical American diet according to a new study published online in Clinical Epigenetics by Renee Dufault, et. al. The study explores how mineral deficiencies—affected by dietary factors like high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—could impact how the human body rids itself of common toxic chemicals like mercury and pesticides.

The release comes on the heels of a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that estimates the average rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among eight year olds is now 1 in 88, representing a 78 percent increase between 2002 and 2008. Among boys, the rate is nearly five times the prevalence found in girls.

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New Science Tracks Industrial Agriculture’s True Climate Impact

by Tom Laskaway, vai Grist.org

Industrial agricultureWhen I examined the reasons agriculture often gets a pass in climate negotiations recently, I pointed to the fact that precise measurement of the climate impact of many industrial farming practices remains difficult and controversial. This is especially true when it comes to synthetic nitrogen fertilizer.

The effect of excess fertilizer on our waterways gets much more attention than it does when it enters the air. And for good reason. It’s toxic to consume nitrates in your drinking water. We’re learning that agricultural overuse of fertilizer has contaminated the drinking water of whole regions of California. Meanwhile, nitrogen that runs into the ocean causes oxygen-depleted “dead zones” around the world. The dead zone in our own Gulf Of Mexico (measured every summer) keeps getting larger — last year’s was the size of New Jersey.

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Is BPA the FDA’s Latest Gift to the Chemical Industry?

Guest post by Michele Simon, Appetite for Profit

BPA can leach out of plastics into foods and liquidsIn a long-awaited decision, last week the Food and Drug Administration disappointed health advocates once again by allowing Bisphenol A or BPA, a known endocrine disruptor, to remain approved as a chemical additive in food containers such as plastic bottles and metal cans.

While the agency says it’s still studying the matter, a number of groups say the science is clear enough. Indeed, in the four years since the filing of a legal petition asking for a ban (a court order was needed to force FDA to respond), evidence of potential harm from BPA exposure has only increased. Of particular concern are young children, as the chemical often lines infant formula containers and baby bottles.

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Pesticide Isolated as Cause of Bee Colony Collapse

Honey beeThe likely culprit in sharp worldwide declines in honeybee colonies since 2006 is imidacloprid, one of the most widely used pesticides, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

The authors, led by Chensheng (Alex) Lu, associate professor of environmental exposure biology in the Department of Environmental Health, write that the new research provides “convincing evidence” of the link between imidacloprid and the phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in which adult bees abandon their hives.

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The Implications Beyond Pink Slime

by David Katz, MD, via The Huffington Post

Pink slimeAs those who know me best will attest, I am far from crude. If anything, I tend to err the other way—with an excess of Monkish fastidiousness. It is in deference to that inclination, and on the chance you may share it, that I warn you in advance of a departure this conversation requires. I am about to use the word "snot" in a less-than-pleasant context.

I was having dinner in an airport restaurant last week, around the time nutrition news was slathered in pink slime. Two young businessmen were sharing a meal and spirited conversation at a nearby table. I was not listening in, and don't know what their conversation was about. But I couldn't help but notice, out of the corner of an eye, that one of them was repeatedly dipping a fork into a small plastic container of salad dressing, before spearing some portion of his salad.

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Pink Slime Maker Goes on the Defensive

Guest post by Michele Simon, Appetite for Profit

Beef Products Inc's defense for Pink Slime: t-shirtsIn a surreal press conference on March 29th, 2012, Beef Products Inc took its best shot at making up for its silence during weeks of public lashing over what has been dubbed “pink slime,” an additive in ground beef made through a high-tech process that BPI invented. (See my previous posts here and here.) The event came in the wake of major grocery chains announcing they would stop selling beef containing the filler.

But while I was expecting a slick corporate PR presentation, instead all we got was a pathetic display of politicians out of touch. One by one, the governors of the three states that are home to BPI plants spoke of the media’s “smear campaign” and (predictably) the potential job losses in their respective states.

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Local Action—Bypassing Congress on Farm Bill 2012

by Jill Richardson, via AtlerNet.org

Local actions will likely be more effective than the 2012 Farm Bill (Photo: Stockbyte/Getty Images) I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I don't care about the 2012 farm bill. Here's why.

The sustainable food and agriculture movement has a lot of momentum and a lot of opportunities right now, but only limited resources in terms of lobbying power. The movement has a large amount of people who care, but a relatively small amount of money compared to entrenched agriculture interests. It has a few strategically placed sympathetic appointees and elected representatives in the government. But, unfortunately, Dennis Kucinich alone cannot pass the vastly revamped farm bill we need.

But outside of Washington, the ranks of those who care about localizing our food supply and making agriculture more sustainable are growing every day. After all, delicious food is a powerful recruiting tool. The sustainable food movement is not powerless. Not nearly. But the movement can make far more progress if it focuses its energy on more winnable issues. Focusing on the farm bill for the whole of 2012 will use up endless resources and result in relatively little gain.

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The Non-GMO GMO?

GMO No MoIn a stunning reversal of stance, biotech megacorporation FoodGen Inc. has made a guarded admission that genetically modified crops might actually be harmful to human health, soil, and other non-GMO crops. On the heels of this announcement, however, FoodGen also revealed plans to release their new line of GMO corn, which contains genetically altered traits that work to counter previous GMO traits introduced into the corn, thereby producing a “non-GMO” variety.

“We are very attentive to the needs of our consumers,” John J. Phlegm, FoodGen vice president for public awareness told Organic Connections. “Due to considerable misunderstandings of GMO technology created by various radical food factions, many in the public sector have come to believe that GMOs are harmful. While our scientific research runs completely counter to these beliefs, we nonetheless wish to deliver to our customers products which they think are good for them.”

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A Road Map to Sustainable Agriculture

via University of Wisconsin

Sustainable agricultureAn independent commission of scientific leaders from 13 countries on Wednesday, March 28, 2012 released a detailed set of recommendations to policymakers on how to achieve food security in the face of climate change.

In their report, the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change proposes specific policy responses to the global challenge of feeding a world confronted by climate change, population growth, poverty, food price spikes and degraded ecosystems. The report highlights specific opportunities under the mandates of the Rio+20 Earth Summit, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Group of 20 (G20) nations.

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McDonald’s Now Sells to Kids Through Goats

Guest post by Michele Simon and Kelle Louaillier

The McDonald's GoatTo call McDonald’s latest advertising campaign aimed at children cynical doesn’t give enough credit to the fast food giant and its ad agency, Leo Burnett. The company says the new series of ads starting this month is part of McDonald’s “nutrition commitment to promote nutrition and/or active lifestyle messages in 100 percent of its national communications to kids.”

How will the purveyor of Big Macs, fries and Coke accomplish this lofty goal? Perhaps by explaining that McDonald’s is an occasional treat? Or that sharing home-cooked meals is one of the best ways for families to ensure good eating habits? Perhaps McDonald’s could educate kids about the federal MyPlate recommendations to make half your meal fruits and vegetables?

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Can the New Farm Bill Reform US Agriculture?

by Jim Robbins, via Yale Environment 360

2012 Farm Bill could change a lot for the good. (Photo:Tony Link/Getty Images) More than ever, U.S. corn is king. Across the Midwest, farmers are expanding their corn acreage to take advantage of record high prices. More corn will be planted this year than any since World War II, with 94 million acres under cultivation, up from 78 million in 2006.

While the boom may be good for the farmer, it takes a steep toll on the environment. The planting is changing the countryside as farmers plow fencerow to fencerow, eliminating trees, land in conservation programs, and riparian areas. Meanwhile, cheap, federally subsidized corn is used to make high-fructose corn syrup, which is added to thousands of products and is implicated in many chronic illnesses that plague Americans. Experts say it’s an important factor in obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even cancer.

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FDA Decision to Ban BPA Getting Close

via The Environmental Working Group

Most food cans contain coatings with biphenol AThe federal Food and Drug Administration will announce its decision on whether to ban bisphenol A from food packaging by March 31st, 2012! Environmental Working Group, our supporters and many like-minded organizations have been fighting for this moment for years. But for just as long, the food and chemical industries—and their lobbyists—have been striving to make sure it never comes.

The food and chemical industries are so nervous about the FDA's upcoming decision that one sympathizer went as far as to write and publish an outrageous fake strategy memo—purportedly from the environmental community—claiming that this potent synthetic estrogen is safe.

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Down to the Wire—Making GMO Labeling Fact

Labels matterTuesday, March 27, 2012, marks the date the FDA must respond officially to the Just Label It petition which would require the FDA to mandate labeling of foods that contain GMO ingredients. We are almost at the target of 1 million petition signatures submitted. This is a phenomenal accomplishment, especially for a movement that was not operating before Fall of 2011. As of this writing, we have about 3,500 signatures to go.

This movement has not only gotten the attention of the media and the multinational biotech companies, but members of Congress as well. A letter was submitted March 12, 2012 to the Commissioner of the FDA, signed by 55 Members of Congress, urging her to take action and require labeling of GMO contaminated foods.

Organic Connections and its parent, Natural Vitality, are delighted to be partners in this push. We urge you to share this with your friends and anyone who has not already signed on, to help push this to a done.

We have a right to know what is in our foods. Help bring the fight for this right to a full and complete finish!

Click here to add your name!

 

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Parental Alert: Selling GMO to Schoolkids!

by Ronnie Cummins, via AlterNet.org

Parental Alert: Selling GMO to Schoolkids!It's not enough that the biotech industry—led by multinational corporations such as Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, BASF, and Dupont—is poisoning our food and our planet. It's also poisoning young minds.

In a blatant attempt at brainwashing, the Council for Biotechnology Information (CBI) has widely circulated what it calls a Biotechnology Basics Activity Book for kids, to be used by "Agriculture and Science Teachers." The book—called Look Closer at Biotechnology—looks like a science workbook, but reads more like a fairy tale. Available on the council's Web site, its colorful pages are full of friendly cartoon faces, puzzles, helpful hints for teachers—and a heavy dose of outright lies about the likely effects of genetic engineering on health, the environment, world hunger and the future of farming.

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Secret of the Seeds—GMO Film Preview

At this year's Natural Products Expo West, documentary director Jeffrey Seifert played an excerpt from an upcoming film about GMOs (introduced as "Secret of the Seeds"), inspired by Haitian farmers who destroyed Monsanto's donation of 475 tons of genetically modified vegetable seeds after the 2010 earthquake. The film project is produced by Joshua Kunau and Elizabeth Kucinich (wife of Dennis Kucinich).

 

 

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Battle against GMOs: Update

GMO updateby Bruce Boyers

Since 2006, Bill Freese has been the Science Policy Analyst for the Center for Food Safety (CFS)—a nonprofit organization leading many legal and scientific battles against genetically modified organisms (GMOs). He recently sat down with Organic Connections to share his considerable insight into the latest developments in the push for labeling and eventual eradication of GMOs, of which he and CFS are an integral part.

Dow 2,4-D-Resistant Corn

The most alarming news that has emerged in recent months is the impending USDA approval of Dow Chemical’s 2,4-D-resistant corn. 2,4-D is a highly toxic herbicide, and approval of this strain would mean increased 2,4-D use.

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