#235 29 J u ly 10

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

An Urgent Fundraising Appeal from the OCA Toxic Sludge Is NOT Organic!
Thank you to everyone who has already made a donation to the OCA this year! We are The toxic sludge end-product of the industrial, hospital, and
very grateful to have more supporters than ever! Unfortunately, the average donation household waste that passes through our municipal sewer
that people are able to give is a lot smaller than in past years. The Great Recession has systems is routinely dumped on non-organic farmland or
hurt nearly everyone and we’re all struggling with less these days. This is definitely true fraudulently sold as “organic compost” to backyard garden-
for the OCA. We’ve implemented temporary layoffs and pay cuts and will now be forced ers and used to grow food. Sewage sludge fertilizer is banned
to operate with a smaller staff until the financial situation improves. in organic agriculture because it routinely contains hundreds
If you haven’t given this year, or can make an additional donation, we badly need your of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and pathogens that threaten
help. One budget item in particular, the action alert system that allows us to send you public health and the environment. Out of 80,000 chemicals
this e-mail and provide you the opportunity to contact decision-makers, is in jeopardy. in commercial use, only 10 are regulated in the sewage sludge
We must raise $24,000 before September 15 to renew our contract for the next year. that is used as fertilizer on thousands of non-organic farms
Please donate as much as you can today. Everyone who gives $100 or more will receive a and ranches across the country.
Millions Against Monsanto T-shirt. No donation is too small. We have Millions Against San Francisco, like most municipalities, struggles to find
Monsanto bumper stickers for all! Put “Monsanto Bumper Sticker” in the comments cheap ways to dispose of its sewage sludge. The city sends it
field to receive yours. Thanks! Please Donate: organicconsumers.org/donations.cfm to landfills, farmland in surrounding counties, and, believe
it or not, has been giving it away it to Bay Area gardeners and
Quote of the Week schools, claiming that its sewage sludge is “organic biosolids
“The future of life on this planet may depend on what we eat. Factory farmed junk food is compost.”
the #1 cause of climate change, but we can save the planet by going organic. When the OCA learned that San Francisco, where Gavin New-
“The greenhouse gas emissions from factory farms, deforestation, industrial crop pro- som had been named “World’s Greenest Mayor” by Organic
duction, food processing, and long-distance distribution make the food sector the big- Style magazine, was giving away sewage sludge and calling
gest cause of climate change, responsible for at least a third of worldwide greenhouse gas it “organic,” one of the first persons we thought would want
emissions. Factory farmed meat, dairy and eggs alone may contribute as much as 51%! to help us was Alice Waters. Waters, the celebrity chef and
“But we can change food system pollution into food system solutions. A worldwide shift author who founded the Chez Panisse restaurant, is one of
to local, organic food production would drastically reduce food system emissions and the world’s most famous organic advocates. Plus, she’s a Bay
turn the world’s farmland into a carbon sink to capture and store 40% of global green- Area community gardener who started the Edible Schoolyard
house gas pollution.” - Excerpt from OCA’s “Food Agenda 2020: The Organic Alternative”. movement. We were sure that Alice would be appalled by San
organicconsumers.org/food-agenda/ Francisco’s practice of calling toxic sludge “organic,” and basi-
cally dumping sewage sludge on backyard gardens, school-
Sign the “Food Agenda 2020” Petition yards, and farms. But, our request for help from Alice Waters
1. Truth in Labeling and her Chez Panisse Foundation was rejected. We were
Local, organic & fair trade food and products are the climate-friendly, humane and shocked when we learned why! www.is.gd/ecs0X
healthy choice, but consumers should have the same right to know when their purchases
have a negative impact on health, justice or sustainability. Food labels should reveal the Stop Industrial Farm Antibiotic Abuse!
presence of GE ingredients and pesticide residues, the use of antibiotics and artificial Healthy chickens, pigs, and beef cattle raised on industrial
hormones, the product’s carbon footprint and its country of origin. farms are routinely fed antibiotics to make them grow faster
2. Subsidize Solutions Not Pollution! and compensate for overcrowding and unsanitary living con-
Voters want clean energy, green jobs, and a food system that’s local, organic and fair ditions.
trade, but it’s not going to happen as long as our tax dollars are spent on industrial food This practice can lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria in
and farming, fossil fuels, and war. Taxpayer subsidies to fossil fuels and industrial food humans.
and farming amount to $60 billion a year, while resource wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Antibiotics are vital tools used to treat scores of human ill-
cost us $200 billion annually. This wasted money is enough to fast-track the conversion nesses, but drug-resistance is on the rise.
of the US and global economy to organic agriculture and clean energy and save the world The overuse and misuse of antibiotics on industrial farms cre-
from climate catastrophe. ates stronger and more drug-resistant bacteria, also known
3. Protect Consumers and the Environment from Hazardous Agricultural Practices as “superbugs.” And, when these superbugs are acquired by
There’s no denying that Food Inc.’s “business as usual” practices—polluting the earth, humans through contaminated meat, direct contact with ani-
destabilizing the climate, using toxic chemicals, cutting corners on ingredients and mals, or the environment, the results can be tragic.
nutrition, and exploiting workers from the farm to the checkout counter—generate Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are cropping up throughout the
products with lower sticker prices. If you add in the hidden health and environmen- country causing serious, painful illnesses and even death in
tal costs and collateral damage of GMOs, pesticides, antibiotics, heavily processed and vulnerable individuals such as children, the elderly, and those
packaged foods, and the climate and environmental “footprint” of chemical and energy- with weakened immune systems, as well as in healthy people.
intensive food and farming, our cheap food system is in fact dangerously expensive. To Now the FDA may weaken a regulation and make it even eas-
level the playing field for healthy, organic climate-friendly foods and products, we need ier for agribusiness to feed antibiotics to healthy livestock and
to make the polluters and junk food purveyors pay for the damage they are causing to poultry, putting our health at greater risk. In addition, a recent
public health and the environment, and to demand sensible and equitable regulations FDA directive on antibiotics in food animal production only
from our elected public officials that protect consumers and the environment. We need called for voluntary measures to curb usage by agribusiness.
these policies now, not in ten years. We can start by phasing out the inhumane confine- We don’t need more unenforceable recommendations. Now is
ment of animals in factory farms and eliminating billion dollar subsidies for GE crops the time for definitive action forcing agribusiness to end the
and biofuels. We can phase out toxic pesticides, methane generating chemical fertiliz- overuse and misuse of antibiotics. Tell the FDA and the White
ers, artificial hormones, the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics, sewage sludge “fertilizer,” House to stand up for human health and end the misuse and
and animal feed made from slaughterhouse waste. Sign the Petition: www.is.gd/ecrYn overuse of antibiotics: antibioticsaction.com
Written and edited by Alexis Baden-Mayer & Ronnie Cummins · Please post, distribute, & subscribe: organicconsumers.org/organicbytes.cfm
We are Making Positive Change · Our Work Depends on You! Please Donate: www.organicconsumers.org/donations.cfm