Oregon PSR Campaign For Safe Food Update
Nov. 10, 2008
Oregon PSR Launches New Initiative
Since our program’s founding five years ago, we have tried to inform the public on all genetically engineered food issues. With our limited staff, money and time, we have, by necessity, concentrated on two issues - discontinuing the use of rBGH and preventing contamination of our food supply and environment from biopharmaceutical crops. This focus has allowed us to both raise awareness and generate grass roots movements that have produced tangible results.
Now that program coordinator Gretchen Miller has joined the staff, we have the internal capacity to add a third focus area – the American industrialized meat system. It’s difficult to imagine a system more harmful to our health, the environment and our society in general. It was no fluke that Eric Schlosser’s 2001 classic Fast Food Nation was a best seller for years.
As bad as our conventional meat system is, it’s getting worse. True to our roots in opposing genetic engineering, we’re going to confront the risks inherent in cloning and genetic engineering of animals. Just as it has with GE crops, the FDA is ignoring scientific red flags and approving these techniques without requiring labeling. Here we go again.
And there’s more. Farm animals are fed with genetically engineered soy and corn. Beef cattle are routinely given antibiotics and hormones because the living conditions in CAFO’s (concentrated animal feeding operations) are not conducive to health. These same CAFO-confined animals produce so much manure and flatulence that they have become a major cause of global warming. And the conditions in the nation’s slaughterhouses make them the most dangerous of any job in the country.
There are a number of meat producing companies that provide humane living conditions and refuse non-therapeutic antibiotic and hormone use. This is the direction the country must go in. (Please note that Oregon PSR is not taking a stance on eating meat vs. vegetarianism – that decision is entirely up to you.)
As always, we’ll collaborate with other like-minded organizations and individuals to combine our strengths. We’re excited about this opportunity to educate the public and catalyze another grass roots initiative for positive action. Gretchen will be the lead staff person on this, so please feel free to contact her directly at 503-274-2720 or gret...@oregonpsr.org with any comments or questions.
And Speaking of Meat . . .
Congratulations to California for passing Proposition 2 in last week’s election! The measure required that by 2015 farm animals be able to stand up, lie down, turn around and fully extend their limbs. It will ban the two-foot-wide crates that regularly confine pregnant pigs and calves raised for veal, as well as "battery cages," in which several hens are crammed into a small wire-mesh cage. It will mainly affect the egg business, since California doesn’t have a very large cattle or hog industry. The Humane Society of the U.S., Humane Farming Association and many others deserve a tremendous amount of credit for this landmark achievement.
rBGH-Free Labeling Battle Looming in Kansas
Earlier this year, we helped coordinate local, state and national opposition to an awful bill in the Kansas legislature that would have banned any rBGH-free type labeling. Working with our colleagues, we were able to build a massive grass roots campaign that killed that bill.
Unfortunately, the Kansas Dept. of Agriculture is trying to do an end run around the legislature by proposing rules that are almost as bad as the bill, although they would only restrict the labeling, not ban it. I’ve already presented at a stakeholders’ meeting in Topeka in April protesting these rules, along with many others, all to no avail. There is another hearing coming up Dec. 2 and I will testify again. In the meantime, we are working every day with our colleagues to generate opposition to the rules.
USDA Strikes Again
Earlier this year, thousands of people had made comments to USDA asking them to strengthen their rules on oversight of the permitting of genetically engineered crops, including biopharm. So what did the USDA do? They proposed rules that actually weakened the biopharm permitting procedures and regulations.
I was in on the conference call with USDA officials when they announced this, and both Union of Concerned Scientists staff and I both asked questions about this turn of events. The response was mainly government-speak that left me as confused as ever. Now that we’ve had a chance to review the proposed rules, we’re even more concerned. We will be sending a response to them. This makes it even more imperative that Oregon follows through on its proposed biopharm rules.
The Poetry Corner
Long-time supporter Marian Drake composed a little poem – we’ll dedicate it to the FDA and USDA.
Franken meat, Franken meat,
this is stuff that I won't eat.
Something else puts me on edge:
That's disgusting Franken Veg.
I'll buy something else, if able --
But "Franken Food" needs to be on the label.
Robert Frost would be proud.
Rick
Rick North, Project Director – Campaign For Safe Food
Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
503-968-1520
hrn...@hevanet.com
www.oregonpsr.org
