HomeGrown Directory

(4,536 OCA members have taken action on this issue so far): Nine thousand EPA scientists have submitted a strongly worded letter to the EPA's Administrator, Stephen Johnson, protesting that "industry pressure" is compromising the "integrity of the science upon which agency decisions are based." The scientists are calling for a ban on pesticides known to be highly toxic. Research indicates that several dozen widely sprayed organophosphate pesticides, similar in composition to bio-warfare nerve gases, pose serious health threats, especially to children. Learn more and Take Action: http://organicconsumers.org/epa7.htm

A new study in the Lancet medical journal (UK) suggests that variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the human variant of Mad Cow Disease, may not peak in the human population for several decades, by which time many thousands of beef eaters and hospital patients that have received tainted blood transfusions could die. The study shows how Kuru, a similar fatal brain-wasting prion disease in New Guinea, has been found to have an incubation period of 35 to 41 years. Researchers suspect it could be longer for vCJD because the infection is transmitted between species, from cows to humans. The 160 fatal human cases of the disease that have already surfaced around the world could represent a distinct genetic subgroup of the population with an unusually short incubation period, according to John Collinge, the study leader and a professor at University College, London.

A new Harvard study has linked pesticide exposure to a 70% increase in Parkinson's disease. The study, which is the largest ever conducted, was released in the July 2006 issue of the Annals of Neurology. This research backs up earlier animal studies linking pesticide exposure to brain and nerve damage. For those who were exposed, occupation was not a risk factor, as farm workers and everyday home bug-sprayers all had the same increased risk. The study did not correlate the increased risk with any specific pesticides, but rather found the connection in overall general use of pesticides. "This is certainly the biggest and most serious populations study on people, and it appears to be the best proof today that there is a general association between pesticide and Parkinson's among people," sai

The Organic Consumers Association's (OCA) call for a boycott of the nation's largest organic dairy brand, Horizon Organic has recently generated stories in the New York Times, USA Today, National Public Radio, and the Associated Press. The media coverage has highlighted the growing backlash by organic consumers against industrial scale dairy feedlots, who are misleadingly labeling their products as "USDA Organic," even though the animals on these factory farms have little or no access to pasture. In addition, most of the cows on these giant feedlots have been imported from conventional dairies, where they were weaned on blood, injected with hormones and antibiotics, and fed genetically engineered grains and slaughterhouse waste. While Horizon sources half of its milk from family farms where the lactating cows do have access to pasture, Aurora Organic, OCA's other major boycott target, gets all of its milk from intensive confinement feedlots. Aurora sells its "organic" milk to supermarket chains including Costco, Safeway, Giant, and Wild Oats, who bottle it under their own private labels. For more information, see the Safeguard Organic Standards section of the OCA website http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm as well as http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_923.cfm

For the first time in recorded history, scientists are finding that the glacier on Africa's Mount Kilamajaro is melting. Halfway around the world, in North America, locals say they don't remember this ever happening this before, but Lake Erie didn't freeze over this winter.

It's a topic that we just can't ignore anymore. It's true... some people's diets can be a little on the gassy side. Now before you turn your noses up, take a moment to think about how we all might be able to find a little relief in these matters. Erhum... to be more specific, a significant amount of greenhouse gases are generated by how we choose to eat. Industrial agriculture and long-distance food transportation generates between 20-25% of all climate destabilizing greenhouse gases in the U.S. and other industrialized nations. The average conventional food was produced using petroleum based chemical fertilizers and pesticides, packaged in petrochemical plastics, refrigerated in electricity-hungry coolers, and shipped 1500 miles in fuel-inefficient trucks. In this week's blog, Ronnie Cummins, National Director of the Organic Consumers Association, shares the good news about how buying local and organically grown food can play a significant role in reducing global warming. Learn more in Ronnie's blog and post your thoughts here:

For over three decades, Dow and Monsanto have denied that Agent Orange is toxic, thereby avoiding billions of dollars in financial liabilities resulting from the massive and indiscriminate spraying of the toxic defoliant during the Vietnam War.

The USDA has passed a new regulation that will use U.S. taxpayer money to pay for the slaughter of tens of thousands of horses annually in the U.S. for export overseas. The USDA rule contradicts a previous Congressional mandate that banned the use of federal funding for the horse slaughter industry. In a letter to the USDA, 40 members of Congress wrote, "The agency (USDA) has absolutely no authority to circumvent a Congressional mandate and effectively rewrite an unambiguous law at the request of the horse slaughter industry." The USDA has not responded. Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/horse021006.cfm

A new study published in the journal Nature indicates that eating certain vegetables can repair damaged DNA. Previous studies have found nutrients that can help prevent cancer, but this research shows that certain vegetables can actually reverse cell damage that has already occurred.

A government scientist has been forced to resign, after discovering dangerous levels of a toxic chemical in the Mississippi River. The toxins, specifically known as perfluoronated chemicals (PFCs), are a byproduct of the manufacture of a number of products including Teflon and Scotchgard.