The Missouri House recently passed an “ag gag” bill that would criminalize employees taking photos or digital recordings of animal or crop facilities. The Missouri Senate will be considering a similar bill this week. The effect of these laws is that environmental and health violations go unreported, covered up, and the state does not discover them until it is too late. Citizen involvement in this process is necessary to ensure healthy agricultural practices exist. Iowa and Utah have passed similar bills this year; don’t let Missouri fall to Big Ag interests!
Your state Senator needs to hear from you that you oppose laws that favor industrial agriculture at the expense of public health, the environment, and animal welfare!
We’re reached our goal of one million comments, but your comment still counts!
In the U.S., we pride ourselves on having choices and making informed decisions. Under current FDA regulations, we don't have that choice when it comes to genetically engineered (GE) ingredients in the foods we purchase and feed our families.
GE foods are required to be labeled in the 15 European Union nations, Russia, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries around the world. A poll released by ABC News found that 93 percent of the American public wants the federal government to require mandatory labeling of GE foods. Yet the U.S. is one of the only developed countries in the world that doesn’t require labeling.
The Center for Food Safety has filed a formal legal petition with FDA demanding that the agency require the labeling of GE foods and is spearheading a drive with the Just Label It Campaign to direct one million comments to the FDA in support of our petition. We have surpassed the one million mark--and counting!
Please send your comment below to FDA and President Obama in support of mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.If you have already sent your comment please share this with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or email!
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is set to enact an Invasive Species Order (ISO) that would make it a felony for anyone – including family farmers - to possess certain kinds of pigs. Scheduled to go into effect only a few days from now, on April 1st, 2012, the ISO will criminalize owning heritage pigs, and protect pigs raised by industrial feeding operations. While the ISO may have good intentions—targeting feral pigs that can damage Michigan’s environment—the Order is so poorly worded that it puts family farmers raising heritage breeds at risk of losing their pastured pigs, or even imprisonment.
The State of Michigan needs to hear from you that you support preserving genetic diversity in agriculture, farmers’ rights to raise heritage pigs, and that the ISO must either be rescinded or revised to make clear that the Order applies only to feral pigs.
The Center for Food Safety has joined beekeepers and partners in filing a legal petition that calls on EPA to suspend registration of Bayer’s controversial bee-toxic pesticide, clothianidin. We also delivered over a million signatures from individuals around the world calling on the Agency to take decisive action to protect honey bees from neonicotinoid pesticides before it is too late.
Bees are still sick, and EPA is still stuck. Bees and other pollinators are still dying off at catastrophic rates – commercial beekeepers lost an average of 36% of their hives last year according to U.S.D.A. Honey bees pollinate one in every three bites of our food and, as indicator species, they serve as sentinels whom we ignore at our peril. With our legal petition, we’re redoubling our efforts to protect them.
As the public debate over causes behind Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) – a syndrome in which bees seemingly abandon their hives – carries on in the media, more and more new science has shown that neonicotinoid pesticides are indeed a critical piece of the puzzle. Neonicotinoids like clothianidin are not the sole cause of CCD, but they are making our bees sick, and at least one of them is on the market illegally.
While we may not know the exact cause of CCD, EPA knows enough to act, and has the authority and responsibility to suspend Bayer’s bee-toxic pesticide, clothianidin – yet for over a year the Agency has failed to do so.
Congress has the authority to exercise oversight over federal agencies like the EPA. We will continue to pressure EPA to take action on clothianidin, and expect our petition to initiate a public comment process, but in the meantime, join our petition urging Congress to step up!
Surveys over the past decade have consistently shown that Americans don’t want to eat genetically engineered (GE) food. Despite the overwhelming opposition to this risky new food technology, the biotech giant Monsanto continues to impose its unlabeled GE foods onto our dinner plates.
The latest: Monsanto’s new GE sweet corn. This experimental corn will not be labeled, so consumers cannot know when they may be eating sweet corn that contains a toxic pesticide in every bite. Monsanto’s corn is a new GE variety that has been genetically modified for three different traits, to resist two different insects and to withstand heavy spraying with Monsanto's toxic Roundup herbicide. Because there are already varieties of other insect-resistant and Roundup-Ready varieties on the market, federal regulators are not requiring ANY approval process—which means NO public comment on its introduction into our food supply.
CFS has teamed up with the Center for Environmental Health and Food and Water Watch to urge major food companies and grocers to reject Monsanto’s GE sweet corn, and we need your help to tell leading retailer Walmart to reject this new GMO corn. General Mills (Green Giant, Cascadian Farms), Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods have already indicated that they will not use Monsanto’s new GMO sweet corn in their products—so can Walmart!
We’ll be delivering the petition to Walmart by April 1st, so please sign the petition today!
In the U.S., we pride ourselves on having choices and making informed decisions. Under current FDA regulations, we don't have that choice when it comes to GE ingredients in the foods we purchase and feed our families. This led the Center for Food Safety to submit a legal petition to the FDA demanding that the agency require the labeling of GE foods. In response, Senator Barbara Boxer (CA) and Representative Peter DeFazio (OR) have authored a bicameral Congressional letter in support of our legal petition and will be urging their fellow Members on Capitol Hill to sign onto their letter.
Unsuspecting consumers by the tens of millions are being allowed to purchase and consume unlabeled genetically engineered foods, despite the fact that FDA undertakes no testing of its own, instead relying only on a voluntary consultation with industry and confidential industry data to assure safety. Internal FDA documents discovered in prior CFS litigation actually indicated the foods could pose serious risks, but those views were overruled.
Genetically engineered foods are required to be labeled in nearly 50 countries around the world including the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, China, New Zealand and many others. A recent poll released by ABC News found that 93 percent of the American public wants the federal government to require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. As ABC News stated, “Such near-unanimity in public opinion is rare.” Yet the United States is one of the only developed countries in the world that doesn’t require labeling of GE food!
Please email your U.S. Senators and Representative and urge them to join the Boxer-DeFazio letter in support of labeling!
Dow Chemical is currently requesting an unprecedented USDA approval: a genetically engineered (GE) version of corn that is resistant to 2,4-D, a major component of the highly toxic Agent Orange. Agent Orange was the chemical defoliant used by the U.S. in Vietnam, and it caused lasting ecological damage as well as many serious medical conditions in both Vietnam veterans and the Vietnamese.
Exposure to 2,4-D has been linked to major health problems that include cancer (especially non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma), lowered sperm counts, liver disease and Parkinson’s disease. A growing body of evidence from laboratory studies show that 2,4-D causes endocrine disruption, reproductive problems, neurotoxicity and immunosuppression. Further, industry’s own tests show that 2,4-D is contaminated with dioxins, a group of highly toxic chemical compounds that bioaccumulate, so even a minute amount can accumulate as it goes up the food chain, causing dangerous levels of exposure. Dioxins in Agent Orange have been linked to many diseases, including birth defects in children of exposed parents; according to EPA, 2,4-D is the seventh largest source of dioxins in the U.S.
USDA approval of Dow’s GE corn will trigger a big increase in 2,4-D use – and our exposure to this toxic herbicide. Yet USDA has not assessed how much, nor analyzed the resulting impacts on public health, the environment or neighboring farmers (2,4-D is prone to drift and cause damage to nearby crops). Instead, USDA has once again bowed to the pesticide industry, by giving preliminary approval to still another pesticide-promoting crop that will likely harm people and their children, including farmers, and the environment. USDA claims to be adhering to a scientific process, yet the Agency is blatantly ignoring the science on 2,4-D.
Tell USDA To Do Its Job And Reject 2,4-D Resistant GE Corn!
We’re reached our goal of one million comments, but your comment still counts!
In the U.S., we pride ourselves on having choices and making informed decisions. Under current FDA regulations, we don't have that choice when it comes to genetically engineered (GE) ingredients in the foods we purchase and feed our families.
GE foods are required to be labeled in the 15 European Union nations, Russia, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries around the world. A poll released by ABC News found that 93 percent of the American public wants the federal government to require mandatory labeling of GE foods. Yet the U.S. is one of the only developed countries in the world that doesn’t require labeling.
The Center for Food Safety has filed a formal legal petition with FDA demanding that the agency require the labeling of GE foods and is spearheading a drive with the Just Label It Campaign to direct one million comments to the FDA in support of our petition. We have surpassed the one million mark--and counting!
Please send your comment below to FDA and President Obama in support of mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.If you have already sent your comment please share this with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or email!
Want to reduce global warming? Take the “Cool Foods” Pledge and help take a bite out of global warming by changing the way you eat.
The Cool Foods Campaign educates people about the connection between food and global warming and empowers them with resources to reduce their environmental impact.
Our goal is to raise public knowledge about the effect of food choice on global warming and promote sustainable alternatives so we can all reduce our “FoodPrint.” With your help we can inspire people, organizations and businesses across the country to change the way they eat.
Surveys over the past decade have consistently shown that Americans don’t want to eat genetically engineered (GE or GMO) food. Despite the overwhelming opposition to this risky new food technology, the biotech giant Monsanto continues to impose its unlabeled GMO’s onto our dinner plates.
The latest: Monsanto’s new GMO corn, intended for the frozen and/or canned corn market. This experimental corn will not be labeled, so consumers cannot know when they may be eating a GMO food that contains a toxic pesticide in every bite. Monsanto’s corn is a new GMO variety that has been genetically modified for three different traits, to resist two different insects and to withstand heavy spraying with Monsanto's toxic Roundup herbicide. Because there are already varieties of other insect-resistant and Roundup-Ready varieties on the market, federal regulators are not requiring ANY approval process—which means NO public comment on its introduction into our food supply.
CFS has teamed up with the Center for Environmental Health to urge major companies that make frozen and/or canned corn to take action to avoid Monsanto’s new crop. We need tell Del Monte, Bird’s Eye and other major food makers to reject this new GMO corn. General Mills (Green Giant, Cascadian Farms), Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods have already indicated that they will not use Monsanto’s new GMO sweet corn in their products—so can the other top companies!
Take action today! Send food makers a message that we don’t want Monsanto’s food experiments!
Targets:
Neil Harrison, Del Monte (Del Monte, S&W)
Robert J. Gamgort, Pinnacle Foods/Bird's Eye
Roderick L. Allen, Allen's Inc. (Veg-all, Allen's, SteamSupreme, Freshlike, Freshlike Selects)
Kraig H. Kayser, President & CEO, Seneca Foods (Libby's, Aunt Nelly's, Read, Stokely's, Festal, private label brands)
Steven A. Burd, President & CEO, Safeway
David B. Dillon, Kroger
Michael T. Duke, Walmart
Craig R. Herkert- President, CEO, & Director, Supervalu
Gregg Steinhafel, Chairman, President and CEO, Target (Archer Farms, Market Pantry)
In poll after poll, the American public has said that it does not want to eat food that comes from cloned animals. A 2008 Food Marketing Institute poll indicated that 77% of Americans are not comfortable with eating foods from cloned animals.
But we won’t have much choice about eating cloned foods unless USDA creates a robust system to track clones and their offspring.
Dozens of food companies have pledged to avoid cloned animals in their supply chains, and the National Organic Program has determined that cloned animals and their offspring cannot be certified organic. But these efforts may not be successful unless clones and their offspring can be reliably identified through a national tracking system.
Tracking is also necessary for any kind of labeling about cloned foods. The radio frequency tagging system proposed by the cloning companies stops at the slaughterhouse door and only covers clones, not their offspring; that’s not good enough.
Take Action Now! Tell Congress they must allow for real consumer choice by establishing a national DNA-based tracking system for cloned animals and their offspring.
Support the bipartisan legislation to ban GE fish, require labeling
Despite nearly 400,000 comments in opposition, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to announce its approval of genetically engineered (GE) salmon any day now. To make matters worse, FDA argues that these GE salmon don’t even need to be labeled!
In response to FDA’s imminent approval, Congress is taking action. Senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) recently introduced bipartisan legislation in Congress that would ban GE fish (Bill# S. 230/H.R. 521) and require mandatory labeling for consumers if approved (Bill# S. 229/H.R. 520).
The legislation has been endorsed by 64 consumer, worker, religious and environmental groups, along with commercial, recreational and subsistence fisheries associations, food businesses and retailers—including the Center for Food Safety, Ocean Conservancy, Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development, the Alaska Trollers Association, Food and Water Watch, the National Cooperative Grocers Association and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations among others—who know that the approval of GE salmon would represent a serious threat to the survival of native salmon populations, many of which have already suffered severe declines related to salmon farms and other man-made impacts. Wild Atlantic salmon are already on the Endangered Species List in the U.S.; approving these GE Atlantic salmon could be the final blow to these wild stocks. Additionally, the human health impacts of eating GE fish are entirely unknown. If GE salmon are approved, these fish must be labeled so people can make informed choices.
Please write your U.S. Senators and Representative and urge them to protect fishers, consumers and the environment by co-sponsoring S. 230/H.R. 521 and S. 229/H.R. 520!
Despite public opposition, the USDA recently approved Monsanto's Roundup Ready, genetically engineered alfalfa for commercial planting in the absence of sound science to prove that contamination can be prevented or that it is safe for human health or the environment.
Alfalfa is primarily used as animal feed in dairies. Now that GE alfalfa has been cleared for commercial production, dairies need to hear from you that you will not purchase dairy products from companies that allow GE alfalfa!
Current Actions
The Missouri House recently passed an “ag gag” bill that would criminalize employees taking photos or digital recordings of animal or crop facilities. The Missouri Senate will be considering a similar bill this week. The effect of these laws is that environmental and health violations go unreported, covered up, and the state does not discover them until it is too late. Citizen involvement in this process is necessary to ensure healthy agricultural practices exist. Iowa and Utah have passed similar bills this year; don’t let Missouri fall to Big Ag interests!
Your state Senator needs to hear from you that you oppose laws that favor industrial agriculture at the expense of public health, the environment, and animal welfare!
We’re reached our goal of one million comments, but your comment still counts!
GE foods are required to be labeled in the 15 European Union nations, Russia, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries around the world. A poll released by ABC News found that 93 percent of the American public wants the federal government to require mandatory labeling of GE foods. Yet the U.S. is one of the only developed countries in the world that doesn’t require labeling.
The Center for Food Safety has filed a formal legal petition with FDA demanding that the agency require the labeling of GE foods and is spearheading a drive with the Just Label It Campaign to direct one million comments to the FDA in support of our petition. We have surpassed the one million mark--and counting!
Please send your comment below to FDA and President Obama in support of mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. If you have already sent your comment please share this with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or email!
The State of Michigan needs to hear from you that you support preserving genetic diversity in agriculture, farmers’ rights to raise heritage pigs, and that the ISO must either be rescinded or revised to make clear that the Order applies only to feral pigs.
Bees are still sick, and EPA is still stuck. Bees and other pollinators are still dying off at catastrophic rates – commercial beekeepers lost an average of 36% of their hives last year according to U.S.D.A. Honey bees pollinate one in every three bites of our food and, as indicator species, they serve as sentinels whom we ignore at our peril. With our legal petition, we’re redoubling our efforts to protect them.
As the public debate over causes behind Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) – a syndrome in which bees seemingly abandon their hives – carries on in the media, more and more new science has shown that neonicotinoid pesticides are indeed a critical piece of the puzzle. Neonicotinoids like clothianidin are not the sole cause of CCD, but they are making our bees sick, and at least one of them is on the market illegally.
While we may not know the exact cause of CCD, EPA knows enough to act, and has the authority and responsibility to suspend Bayer’s bee-toxic pesticide, clothianidin – yet for over a year the Agency has failed to do so.
Congress has the authority to exercise oversight over federal agencies like the EPA. We will continue to pressure EPA to take action on clothianidin, and expect our petition to initiate a public comment process, but in the meantime, join our petition urging Congress to step up!
The latest: Monsanto’s new GE sweet corn. This experimental corn will not be labeled, so consumers cannot know when they may be eating sweet corn that contains a toxic pesticide in every bite. Monsanto’s corn is a new GE variety that has been genetically modified for three different traits, to resist two different insects and to withstand heavy spraying with Monsanto's toxic Roundup herbicide. Because there are already varieties of other insect-resistant and Roundup-Ready varieties on the market, federal regulators are not requiring ANY approval process—which means NO public comment on its introduction into our food supply.
CFS has teamed up with the Center for Environmental Health and Food and Water Watch to urge major food companies and grocers to reject Monsanto’s GE sweet corn, and we need your help to tell leading retailer Walmart to reject this new GMO corn. General Mills (Green Giant, Cascadian Farms), Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods have already indicated that they will not use Monsanto’s new GMO sweet corn in their products—so can Walmart!
We’ll be delivering the petition to Walmart by April 1st, so please sign the petition today!
Unsuspecting consumers by the tens of millions are being allowed to purchase and consume unlabeled genetically engineered foods, despite the fact that FDA undertakes no testing of its own, instead relying only on a voluntary consultation with industry and confidential industry data to assure safety. Internal FDA documents discovered in prior CFS litigation actually indicated the foods could pose serious risks, but those views were overruled.
Genetically engineered foods are required to be labeled in nearly 50 countries around the world including the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, China, New Zealand and many others. A recent poll released by ABC News found that 93 percent of the American public wants the federal government to require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. As ABC News stated, “Such near-unanimity in public opinion is rare.” Yet the United States is one of the only developed countries in the world that doesn’t require labeling of GE food!
Please email your U.S. Senators and Representative and urge them to join the Boxer-DeFazio letter in support of labeling!
Exposure to 2,4-D has been linked to major health problems that include cancer (especially non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma), lowered sperm counts, liver disease and Parkinson’s disease. A growing body of evidence from laboratory studies show that 2,4-D causes endocrine disruption, reproductive problems, neurotoxicity and immunosuppression. Further, industry’s own tests show that 2,4-D is contaminated with dioxins, a group of highly toxic chemical compounds that bioaccumulate, so even a minute amount can accumulate as it goes up the food chain, causing dangerous levels of exposure. Dioxins in Agent Orange have been linked to many diseases, including birth defects in children of exposed parents; according to EPA, 2,4-D is the seventh largest source of dioxins in the U.S.
USDA approval of Dow’s GE corn will trigger a big increase in 2,4-D use – and our exposure to this toxic herbicide. Yet USDA has not assessed how much, nor analyzed the resulting impacts on public health, the environment or neighboring farmers (2,4-D is prone to drift and cause damage to nearby crops). Instead, USDA has once again bowed to the pesticide industry, by giving preliminary approval to still another pesticide-promoting crop that will likely harm people and their children, including farmers, and the environment. USDA claims to be adhering to a scientific process, yet the Agency is blatantly ignoring the science on 2,4-D.
Tell USDA To Do Its Job And Reject 2,4-D Resistant GE Corn!
We’re reached our goal of one million comments, but your comment still counts!
GE foods are required to be labeled in the 15 European Union nations, Russia, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries around the world. A poll released by ABC News found that 93 percent of the American public wants the federal government to require mandatory labeling of GE foods. Yet the U.S. is one of the only developed countries in the world that doesn’t require labeling.
The Center for Food Safety has filed a formal legal petition with FDA demanding that the agency require the labeling of GE foods and is spearheading a drive with the Just Label It Campaign to direct one million comments to the FDA in support of our petition. We have surpassed the one million mark--and counting!
Please send your comment below to FDA and President Obama in support of mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. If you have already sent your comment please share this with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or email!
Want to reduce global warming? Take the “Cool Foods” Pledge and help take a bite out of global warming by changing the way you eat.
The Cool Foods Campaign educates people about the connection between food and global warming and empowers them with resources to reduce their environmental impact.
Our goal is to raise public knowledge about the effect of food choice on global warming and promote sustainable alternatives so we can all reduce our “FoodPrint.” With your help we can inspire people, organizations and businesses across the country to change the way they eat.
The latest: Monsanto’s new GMO corn, intended for the frozen and/or canned corn market. This experimental corn will not be labeled, so consumers cannot know when they may be eating a GMO food that contains a toxic pesticide in every bite. Monsanto’s corn is a new GMO variety that has been genetically modified for three different traits, to resist two different insects and to withstand heavy spraying with Monsanto's toxic Roundup herbicide. Because there are already varieties of other insect-resistant and Roundup-Ready varieties on the market, federal regulators are not requiring ANY approval process—which means NO public comment on its introduction into our food supply.
CFS has teamed up with the Center for Environmental Health to urge major companies that make frozen and/or canned corn to take action to avoid Monsanto’s new crop. We need tell Del Monte, Bird’s Eye and other major food makers to reject this new GMO corn. General Mills (Green Giant, Cascadian Farms), Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods have already indicated that they will not use Monsanto’s new GMO sweet corn in their products—so can the other top companies!
Take action today! Send food makers a message that we don’t want Monsanto’s food experiments!
Targets:
But we won’t have much choice about eating cloned foods unless USDA creates a robust system to track clones and their offspring.
Dozens of food companies have pledged to avoid cloned animals in their supply chains, and the National Organic Program has determined that cloned animals and their offspring cannot be certified organic. But these efforts may not be successful unless clones and their offspring can be reliably identified through a national tracking system.
Tracking is also necessary for any kind of labeling about cloned foods. The radio frequency tagging system proposed by the cloning companies stops at the slaughterhouse door and only covers clones, not their offspring; that’s not good enough.
Take Action Now! Tell Congress they must allow for real consumer choice by establishing a national DNA-based tracking system for cloned animals and their offspring.
Support the bipartisan legislation to ban GE fish, require labeling
Despite nearly 400,000 comments in opposition, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to announce its approval of genetically engineered (GE) salmon any day now. To make matters worse, FDA argues that these GE salmon don’t even need to be labeled!
In response to FDA’s imminent approval, Congress is taking action. Senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) recently introduced bipartisan legislation in Congress that would ban GE fish (Bill# S. 230/H.R. 521) and require mandatory labeling for consumers if approved (Bill# S. 229/H.R. 520).
The legislation has been endorsed by 64 consumer, worker, religious and environmental groups, along with commercial, recreational and subsistence fisheries associations, food businesses and retailers—including the Center for Food Safety, Ocean Conservancy, Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development, the Alaska Trollers Association, Food and Water Watch, the National Cooperative Grocers Association and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations among others—who know that the approval of GE salmon would represent a serious threat to the survival of native salmon populations, many of which have already suffered severe declines related to salmon farms and other man-made impacts. Wild Atlantic salmon are already on the Endangered Species List in the U.S.; approving these GE Atlantic salmon could be the final blow to these wild stocks. Additionally, the human health impacts of eating GE fish are entirely unknown. If GE salmon are approved, these fish must be labeled so people can make informed choices.
Please write your U.S. Senators and Representative and urge them to protect fishers, consumers and the environment by co-sponsoring S. 230/H.R. 521 and S. 229/H.R. 520!
Alfalfa is primarily used as animal feed in dairies. Now that GE alfalfa has been cleared for commercial production, dairies need to hear from you that you will not purchase dairy products from companies that allow GE alfalfa!