Re-occupy your body or accept the 3 reasons to die for

Veggies on Wheels is the newsletter that comes with Pfenning's organic box and this time it reports on Pfenning's participation at the Guelph Organic Conference (which I did not go to because it's in Guelp and I don't have a car to get there). One of the biggest issues were GMO, courtesy of Monsanto. Apparently the majority of Canadians still don't know anything about GMO (which box do they live in?). The reader is then referred to the article Re-occupy your body and a pamphlet has been enclosed from Cban.ca (Canadian Biotechnology Action Network) with info on GMO but I talk about that in another post.   


I have not read the whole article yet because it's long but I'm sure it's good. The three reasons that are most threatening to our health, and according to the newsletter make up the primary causes of disease and death nowadays, are: 
- bad food 
- most prescription drugs
- a poisoned environment

Which one disturbs you most and which one can you influence the best? Go figure. 
I am not concerned with the second point (yet) as I don't take any drugs. The first one is half-concerning to me. I know we still do not eat completely organic.  I am not feeling great about our daughter drinking non-organic milk but she drinks lots and the non-organic costs enough. Also, I am sure we'd eat a bit more meat if the organic stuff did not cost a fortune. But it's not actually that difficult to eat healthy and decent food. You do the shopping, you decide what's in your cart, it's in your hands. And by the way, buying non-organic produce and peeling it in the hope to get rid of the bad stuff does not seem the best idea. You are still supporting the farmers who contaminate our environment and the bad stuff will go through the skin of some fruits and vegetables. 

The poisoned environment is a huge concern, especially with this government that's big on setting up environmental disasters. You can't really "un-poison" the environment and get rid of all the harm that has been done but we can slow down the add-on of chemicals and toxic substances to our air, water and soil. Looking around me it still doesn't happen enough. For example, when I cycle or walk I probably breathe in more greenhouse gases than the car drivers. That's nuts! I'm the victim of other people's polluting habits. I noticed that most people are happy to give me a ride (if I ask) but carpooling is still not very common. That's nuts too! Driving is just one issue, but you scan make up the list yourself of activities that harm our environment. And then start ticking off the bad habits you give up. This should become a mandatory, annual exercise for everyone. I wonder how slowly or quickly things would change and how big the procrastination rate is.  

Organic Milk

The Organic Box sells organic milk from Saxby Foods, an Edmonton business. In its latest newsletter they list all the organic dairies the milk comes from as well as some of the standards of how the cows are fed. The Edmonton Journal recently had an article on Saxby Foods too which is quite interesting. For example, does Saxby Foods not only sell their organic milk (and soon other dairy products) via independent retailers such as the General Earth's Store they also sells through the Safeway brand O Organics. As much as I dislike Safeway for being just another huge chainstore, it is the closest supermarket we live to and knowing that this milk is from local farms and processed by a local creamery makes me somewhat more inclined to buy it. Being a wholesaler the milk is also less expensive compared to other stores, unfortunately. 


In the newsletter I also hear from the infamous genetically modified crops again. Since most pasture crops are already contaminated with  GMO farmers are currently fighting to keep GM alfalfa out of the country. Alfalfa is at the moment still a very important food for organic cattle. If it becomes GMO contaminated organic farmers might be forced into what they usually try to avoid: feed grain. Looking at the link to the Organic Alberta Association an article catches my eye immediately:  Conservatives continue to block vote on moratorium on GM Alfalfa  Of course it's the effing Conservatives who spoil it, quote: “Conservatives are trying to play both sides of this issue because they know farmers want GM alfalfa stopped, but Conservatives don’t want to cross Monsanto. Presumably, Conservatives delayed the vote so that an election could save them from having to take immediate action to stop GM alfalfa.”

Too bad I can't vote and I am not convinced yet that there's enough smart Canadians to not tick the C box but this is just unbelievable. How can they even think about pleasing Monsanto, at the same time putting a large part of the organic food industry at risk of survival. Eating anything non-organic seems already almost suicidal to me and with a growing demand for organic food one really hopes the turn will come and people stop buying crap food so farmers stop growing crap food, I mean food stuffed with toxins. This would also stop the contamination of our soil, water and air with all those toxic chemicals.

Organic Food and other things we eat - Monsanto

The DVD cover for the documentary The World according to Monsanto reads like this:

“With operations in 46 countries, Monsanto has become the world leader in genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as well as one of the most controversial corporations in industrial history. Since its founding in 1901, the U.S. multinational has faced trial after trial due to the toxicity of its products. Today, it has reinvented itself as a “life sciences” company converted to the virtues of sustainable development.

Calling on hitherto unpublished documents and first-hand accounts by victims, scientists and politicians, The World according to Monsanto pieces together the story of an industrial giant that, thanks in part to lies, collusion with the American government, pressure tactics and attempted corruption, has become one of the world’s leading seed manufacturers, spreading GM crops worldwide with no real monitoring of their effects on nature and human health.”

The film made by Marie-Monique Robin, 2008, is a France-Canada co-production with co-operation of several TV stations from Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and others.

-         Canada did not approve GM crops after Health Canada staff raised concerns about its safety to human health - BUT three Health Canada staff members got fired for raising concerns. In the UK something similar happened.  Scientists working for the British Health Services who were asked to assess GMOs from the USA got fired for raising alarm. One of the scientists later figured out that there must have been intervention from the UK and US governments and the UK gave in after the US warned them of what’s at stake. After all one of the largest corporations in the world spent a lot of money on developing these crops and wants to make profit of it.                   

-         In India Monsanto crops have been called suicide seeds, ruining lots of small farmers. They bought the seeds at double the price of regular seeds but the seeds required Monsanto’s fertilizers and pesticides to actually grow well. The little money earned from selling the harvest still left the farmer with a mountain of debt from the initial investment. Monsanto does not allow farmers to save seeds either so farmers have to buy them again next year.     

-         Monsanto’s pesticides are so strong their run-off from fields during a rain period killed 60 geese and ducks of a Paraguayan farmer. This farmer lives close to the GM crop fields. Although never planting GM crops himself his fields have been taken over by the GM crop. He has trouble planting and growing other foods for his family, therefore losing his subsistence. In addition, his boy who walks across the GM crop field every day to the market has developed skin eczema that the family can't afford to get treated.

-         Mexico’s variety of corn is being contaminated with GMOs as seeds spread naturally and changes the DNA of traditional corn breeds. Mexico is very proud of its corn varieties and a healthy environment needs biodiversity.  

-         Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) is widely used in the USA to increase milk production in cows. The United States is the only developed nation to permit humans to drink milk from cows given this artificial growth hormone, marketed as Posilac. Posilac was banned from use in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and all European Union countries by 2000 or earlier. But in Canada, bulk milk products from the US produced with rBST are still allowed to be sold and used in food manufacture (cheese, yogurt etc.). In the EU, both meat and dairy products from the US are banned from import.

 Monsanto bought up about 50 agricultural companies worldwide making it difficult to track what’s a Monsanto product, even for the ordinary person that goes to the store to buy pesticides and seeds. The USA, conveniently for Monsanto and contrary to Europe, does not require labelling for GM food because it’s considered ‘safe’ for consumption. Corn for example is found in a huge range of foods and  when it comes in the form of starches, sweeteners or syrups it’s not all that obvious to the consumer.   

Type "Monsanto Suicide Seeds" into Google and you'll find out all the things you have never dared to think about with regards to food. I noticed that the term suicide seeds is more often used in association with the Terminator gene. In order to enforce the farmer's dependence on Monsanto crops seeds will be sterile and unable to reproduce once the plant has grown. Monsanto then can demand any price and the farmer will have to pay this price to be able to grow this crop again. Considering Monsanto's worldwide influence this corporations is able to control large parts of the food market - food that we all depend upon. Unfortunately, although there is protests and resistance Monsanto mostly gets its way and faces no major repercussions for its actions. All the law suits aimed at the giant have not stopped it. The following article http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990111-1,00.html  explains quite well the details behind the Terminator genes. I do not agree with the tone of the article though since it plays down the risks far too much. How can anybody say "it's not going to be that bad" when a similar seed has not been there before. The interference of such seeds with our environment can surely only be based on guess work and small scale lab tests. Note that the article is dated 1999!! There's something going on that's very well covered up from the public and it stinks.             

Food seeds are just one thing that Monsanto is involved in. There are tree seeds, animal testing, Agent Orange, DDT, Aspartame, recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone and much more - check out http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Monsanto  

   

           

Organic Food and other things we eat - part 2

When I am at school supervising my first-graders during lunch it occasionally makes me shiver what parents give their kids to eat. Junk food, that’s what it is. That name is there for a reason. Kids bring sandwiches made from white bread, dry buns with chicken nuggets in between the bun halves, 2-minute soups, macaroni and cheese, and worst of all, “lunch mate” kits - lots of packaging for a few DIY-mini hot dogs or mini pizzas. Some bring fruit but unless it’s chopped into bit-size pieces they take a bite or two and throw it away because the whole apple is too much for them. If I catch the kid on time, I tell it to take the fruit back home or finish it later. I dislike food waste. Ruby only gets food that I would eat. We had once packaged organic baby food that gets mixed with water – it tasted like water. Of course, I don’t add spices, salt or sugar to Ruby’s food.      

The food of most school kids is low in nutrional value and high in fat and salt and that’s because a lot of it is processed food. I don’t believe the claims that processed food from the store is cheaper than preparing meals yourself. We’d be bankrupt if that was the case because I avoid processed food wherever I can. At a recent food fraud talk the speaker, a dietician, pointed out that when you read the ingredients list what you don’t want in your food (e.g. salt) should be less than 5% and what you want (e.g. carbohydrates or fibre) should be at least 20%. Good luck finding something with less than 5% salt! I am notorious for reading ingredients lists and I put a lot of stuff back on the shelf because of its high sodium or sugar content. Processed organic food is not necessarily better than non-organic. I held an organic vegetable lasagne in my hands the other day – it had 30% of my recommend daily amount of salt in one serving! Oh no!         

That’s still not where it stops. Remember Monsanto – I mentioned it before. It’s a chemicals-company gone agriculture. They developed genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) – corn is the best-known example. I’ll write more about it later because I watched a DVD about Monsanto but they also got these GMOs approved by the US American Food & Drug Administration (FDA). It makes me very suspicious about foods from the USA. How they managed? Oh well, the same people that work for the FDA have at some point worked for or with Monsanto or have otherwise ties with the company. No questions asked; the crops were not properly tested for their food safety before they were approved and today Monsanto has spread its crops in 46 countries - and in my understanding these crops have become pests themselves. Alone the name makes me sick: Monsanto – Mon Santo – My Saint, there is nothing saint about this company, it should go to hell, the faster the better.