Organic Consumers Association
Our Global Ponzi Economy
Our mismanaged world economy today has many of the characteristics of a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme takes payments from a broad base of investors and uses these to pay off returns. It creates the illusion that it is providing a highly attractive rate of return on investment as a result of savvy investment decisions when in fact these irresistibly high earnings are in part the result of consuming the asset base itself. A Ponzi scheme investment fund can last only as long as the flow of new investments is sufficient to sustain the high rates of return paid out to previous investors. When this is no longer possible, the scheme collapses-just as Bernard Madoff's $65-billion investment fund did in December 2008.
Why Ethanol Production Boosts E.Coli in Cattle
Emerging research is suggesting that in addition to boosting food prices, ethanol production may have another unintended consequence: higher E. coli infection rates in cattle.
Swine Flu Vaccine Victims Encouraged to Post Reports of Side Effects
As the swine flu vaccination campaigns begin sweeping across America, NaturalNews has created a new website where victims of swine flu vaccine side effects can post their true stories about what happened to them or their children. The website is www.SwineFluVaccineReport.com and it was created by NaturalNews editor Mike Adams for the simple purpose of "shedding light" on the potential side effects of the swine flu vaccine.
Sewage Sludge: Oozing with Controversy
Leftover sludge from water treatment plants contains human waste, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals and whatever else washes into the sewer system. It's also used as fertilizer - which concerns some experts
Monsanto's Increasing Seed Monopoly Power Under Scrutiny
Monsanto's exclusionary behavior "could only be accomplished using their various forms of influence like a well-oiled machine"...[including] large financial contributions to elected officials, consuming state and federal bureaucracies, and "covertly pointing" former employees into judicial positions, interfering with policy in organizations and associations "that claim to represent us."
Small Organic Farmers Can Cool the World That Chemical Farming Has Overheated
A new report, published today by GRAIN, shows that agriculture can put much of the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere back into the soil.
Sugar Beets Spur County to Reconsider Biotech Food
A request from six Colorado farmers to grow genetically modified sugar beets on public land in Boulder County has sparked a debate that could ban any genetically altered crop from county land.
Obama Caves in to Agribusiness
“Lobbyists won’t find a job in my White House.” President Obama assured us with this claim upon inauguration. And yet he just nominated to two key posts “Big Ag” industry power brokers, who come straight from the chemical pesticide and biotechnology sectors. While they may not be registered as lobbyists, both men come from organizations representing powerful agribusiness interests, which every year spend millions of dollars in lobbying to advance their companies’ chemical and transgenic products.
Eating Organically on a Food-Stamp Budget
For the past three years, following the typical Michael Pollan-fueled, now-I've-seen-the-locavore-light conversion experience, I've been trying hard to feed my family good food. It's more difficult than it sounds; the supermarkets are full of tempting, affordable foodlike products that ultimately owe more to industry than agriculture, once you start reading the labels. It took me an embarrassingly long while to figure out that buying foods so basic that they don't have a label is the key.
The Latest Stupid Fixes for Conventional Agriculture's Problems
Here are a couple of articles that I read today and can't help but compare and comment on: "Helping Crops Shed Pesticides" and "Gulf dead zone fix falls flat."
Thoughts on Irradiated Food
Dear Lou, Is food irradiation good enough that we could theoretically go back to having rare hamburgers, soft-boiled eggs and unpasteurized milk? I miss all of those!
Despite Recession, the Market for Healthy and 'Ethical' Consumer Products Remains Healthy
The market for products positioned and marketed on the basis of ethical standards (eco-friendly/green, natural/organic, humane, and fair trade) is thriving despite the recession, reveals a new report by leading market research publisher Packaged Facts.
Gaiam Admits Aluminum Bottles Leach BPA at Nearly 20 Times SIGG's Levels
A week after Z Recommends published an exclusive report that provided extensive evidence that Gaiam water bottles previously marketed as "BPA-free" were likely to contain the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A, the company has quietly added information to its retail website which admits to independent lab test results showing leaching levels at 23.8 parts per billion.
Funk the War: 8 Years of War and Protest
October 7th 2009 marks the eighth year that the U.S. has been at war with Afghanistan, under the auspice of fighting “the war on terror.” In eight years under occupation, tens of thousands of Afghans have been killed by U.S. air strikes, bombs, and bullets, and the Afghan infrastructure has been devastated. These videos of "Funk the War" commemorate 8 years of war and protest.
Video: Mobilization for Health Care for All
Millions of Americans have no health insurance and over 45,000 die every year because they can't get the care they need. That's more than 120 people every day.
Activist Arrested for Tweets (Iran? No, US!)
Democracy Now: Elliot Madison was arrested last month during the G-20 protests in Pittsburgh when police raided his hotel room. Police say Madison and a co-defendant used computers and a radio scanner to track police movements and then passed on that information to protesters using cell phones and the social networking site Twitter. Madison is being charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution, criminal use of a communication facility, and possession of instruments of crime. Exactly one week later, Madison’s New York home was raided by FBI agents, who conducted a sixteen-hour search. We speak to Elliot Madison and his attorney, Martin Stolar.
Regulators Plan to Study Risks of Atrazine
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to conduct a new study about the potential health risks of atrazine, a widely used weedkiller that recent research suggests may be more dangerous to humans than previously thought.
Whatever Happened to 'Change'?
There is something uniquely depressing about the fact that the National Portrait Gallery's version of the Barack Obama "Hope" poster previously belonged to a pair of lobbyists. Depressing because Mr. Obama's Washington was not supposed to be the lobbyists' Washington, the place we learned to despise during the last administration.