Blog Posts: August 2012

By Genna Reed

herbicide-resistant weeds take over tractor

Like a ticking time bomb, the USDA’s GE crop “rocket docket” is on track for approval, which will result in an explosion of new genetically engineered crops. Once the public comment period ends on Sept. 11, the USDA could decide to approve three new GE seeds and advance nine others through to the final step of the process. The most concerning of the bunch – with evidence of adverse agricultural and environmental impacts mounting – are two 2,4-D tolerant soybean, and Monsanto’s dicamba-tolerant soybean. 2,4-D, short for 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, was a primary ingredient in Agent Orange, which continues to wreak havoc on human health nearly four decades after it was used in the Vietnam War. 

This month, a study done by the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) showed that waterhemp in Nebraska has become resistant to 2,4-D. Waterhemp notoriously is one of the most difficult weeds to eradicate in corn and soybean fields in the Midwest. Some individual waterhemp plants have developed resistance to up to four different herbicide families. WSSA’s results indicated that after 10 years of treatment with 2,4-D, even the highest doses of the chemical were unable to control half of the resistant waterhemp plants from one native-grass seed field. Read the full article…

By Sarah Borron

Photo by Tom Varco used with permission.

Imagine you are a patient at in a hospital. You come to the hospital for treatment, for surgery, to get better. While you’re there, you pick up a bacterial infection. It’s common – over a million patients acquire infections while in the hospital every year. But what’s not normal this time is that there’s no treatment. Your infection won’t respond to any kind of antibiotic. Now, instead of healing from the condition that brought you to the hospital, your life could be in danger. It is the stuff of nightmares. 

This horrifying scenario recently played out at the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center here in the D.C. area, as detailed by the Washington Post last week. Despite numerous precautions, a deadly superbug spread from one patient to 17 over the course of several months. Six people died before the outbreak was finally over. Meanwhile, doctors tested every patient and added hyper-vigilant safety precautions, and hospital administrators ordered parts of rooms walled off and vaporized with chemicals. Hospital staff were confounded as the outbreak persisted in the face of their unprecedented efforts. Nationally, six percent of hospitals are battling such outbreaks.

What the Washington Post article neglected to mention was how those scary superbugs developed in the first place. Germs naturally gain resistance to drugs over time. Misuse of antibiotics hastens the process. Medical professionals agree that antibiotics should be used “judiciously,” or only as needed to treat illnesses, so the drugs can be effective for as long as possible. Read the full article…

Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter

By Wenonah Hauter

Updated 9/2/12*

I have news for the Environmental Defense Fund: the fracking activist community is shocked that you received $6 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies to advocate for fracking regulations. And we aren’t going to stand for it.

EDF says that they’ll be working for “responsible” regulation in 14 states. Of course, this is just double speak that means swooping into states where there is a strong grassroots movement against fracking and shilling for the oil and gas industry. They will claim to represent environmentalists while they promote regulation that is so weak even the gas industry can live with it.

Of course, everyone in the environmental movement knows that this is EDF’s modus operandi. In fact, for years, public interest advocates have rolled their eyes and complained to one another in private about how EDF undercuts their work time and time again. But, everyone is afraid to speak out because they might upset funders, who are turned off by disagreements among environmentalists.

Read the full article…

By Mitch Jones

Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it is awarding over $7 million in grants to organizations and state agencies across the country to develop water quality trading, or cap-and-trade for nitrogen and phosphorous pollution. Under the guise of controlling pollution, the government is actually trying to give people the option of buying and selling the “right” to pollute.

This is a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.

Water quality trading is nothing new, although the government is pushing to make it the dominant way that we try to control pollution in our waterways. In fact, over the past 20 years, few if any trading schemes have delivered positive results. Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc., the trade industry for the poultry industry in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, knows the real effect of water quality trading. In their June 2010 newsletter, they described the idea as “a program … to help farmers earn money while providing polluters with the opportunity to increase their pollution to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.” And taxpayers subsidize it all. 

Water quality trading is really just a way for the government to avoid regulating pollution in our waterways while turning over its responsibilities to financial interests. Wall Street bankers are looking for new opportunities to create big bonuses for themselves, and they are turning their sights to our common resources. In awarding $7 million to help make this possible, the USDA is selling out our resources to the Wall Street casino. If you like what they did with the housing market, just wait ‘til you see what they do with our water. 

Ballistic BJ (left) and Heidi (right) were healthy dogs who passed away shortly after eating chicken jerky treats from China.

 The Chinese chicken saga continues…

By Walker Foley

Pet owners across America have reason to fear for their furry friends’ safety. Since 2007, the FDA has been conducting an investigation into pet owners’ claims that chicken jerky treats imported from China have been the cause of canine deaths – more than 600 cases of illness and death to date.

In response to a blog by Tony Corbo focusing on questionable Chinese poultry exports, a couple of dog owners contacted Food & Water Watch with their own horror stories detailing how tainted imports sold as treats have victimized their pets.

Rita from Illinois was unable to enjoy Memorial Day this year after her German Shephard, Heidi, died two days after being fed chicken jerky treats imported from China. Unable to contact her vet over the holiday weekend, Rita watched helplessly as Heidi suffered a painful death. In her words,

“The void her passing has left in my life is almost unbearable. I live alone and Heidi was my constant companion, my loyal friend, my fierce protector.”

Terie and Alex had a similar story. In February they fed their four dogs the same jerky treats with mixed results. A day later two of them, Tashi and BJ, refused food, drank water constantly and vomited. Tashi eventually got better, but BJ’s liver, kidneys and heart failed four days later in an animal hospital. Left without any other explanation, Terie only had the treats to blame.

When roughly 62 percent of American households own a dog, it would be reasonable to assume that chicken imports would be better monitored or, failing that, better regulated. As Corbo explained, the politics of international trade are taking priority over the safety and overall quality of food imports. The result? Canine casualties, expensive vet bills and heartbroken families.

Now, it has come to light that Chinese government officials overseeing the plants that make the treats blamed for thousands of illnesses and deaths among American dogs have refused to allow U.S. inspectors to collect samples for independent analysis.

If you are concerned for your pet’s safety, there are a few precautions you can take. Several brands could be in question, but news outlets report that treats made by Nestlé Purina PetCare Co. and the Del Monte Corp. have the most complaints. Always check the country of origin labeling on your pet food containers and avoid products made in China. Commonly seen symptoms among affected dogs are loss of appetite, increased water consumption, lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea and increased urination. The FDA also provides more information on the problem and how to file a formal complaint, and a Facebook group has been started for more information and people whose pets may have been affected.

Join Food & Water Watch in asking FDA Commissioner Hamburg to issue a recall of the chicken jerky treats that are making pets sick, ban further imports of pet food from China and help implement new food safety laws to keep pets and people safe.

By Alex Beauchamp

Update: Check out coverage of our commercial in The New York Times here.

If you’ve seen our commercial (above) running in New York State, you know that 6 percent of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) wells fail immediately, and 50 percent—yes, that’s half—fail over 30 years. That means if Governor Cuomo proceeds with his proposal to open up five counties in New York State to fracking, our water will be contaminated by this dirty process within a single generation.

That’s why we’ve teamed up with Josh Fox, Oscar-nominated director of Gasland, on this ad running on network and cable TV stations in the Southern Tier—which will cover the five counties that the Governor is considering handing over to the oil and gas industry as sacrifice zones. The ad urges New Yorkers to call Governor Cuomo and tell him that there is no such thing as “safe fracking.”

Read the full article…

By: Alison K. Grass

Eminent domain, the government’s right to condemn (or take) private land for “public use,” has at times been a highly contentious topic because it can displace people from their homes to make way for construction of different projects, like highways or roads, civic buildings and other types of public infrastructure. However, what some may not realize is that several states have granted eminent domain authority to certain private entities, including oil and gas companies. These companies are using it as a tool to seize private land, which increases profits and benefits their wallets.

According to the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, in order to pursue eminent domain, the land must be taken for “public use” and the private property owners must receive “just compensation.”

No person shall be . . . deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Traditionally, the “public use” provision referred to projects like roads, schools, parks and other public facilities that could be directly used by all. However, the meaning of “public use” has been loosely interpreted in recent years.

Read the full article…

By Rich Bindell

Magazines devoted to modern gadgetry and technological advances are quick to write stories about science making our lives better. But they often gloss over the unanswered questions that hover over these “life-improving” inventions. DVICE had it right when they said that, “some strange aquaculture is going on,” off the coast of Hawaii. Unfortunately, they seem unaware of just how destructive strange can be when you put a factory fish farm in the middle of the ocean.

DVICE’s August 14 article touting aquaculture didn’t surprise me at all. It’s probably the fourth or fifth time I’ve seen a tech or gadget rag do a misleading story on how aquaculture is going to have a positive affect on seafood production. But articles like this one are so one-sided that it’s easy to mistake them for a press release for the aquaculture industry, and particularly for Kampachi Farms.

While Kampachi Farms’ experiment—called the Velella Project—was admittedly small, confining thousands of fish in pod-like cage is still similar in many respects to the land-based factory farm model, and it’s not exactly sustainable. Factory fish farming requires feed, and a lot of it. This feed is usually made from smaller, wild-caught fish processed into meal and oil, and extensive fishing of these small fish can unbalance the food chain of natural predators that depend upon them. Read the full article…

By Seth Gladstone 

Some things just don’t mix well. Like drinking and driving. Or rain and parades. So as Governor Andrew Cuomo seeks to encourage and expand dairy production in New York State to meet a growing demand for yogurt, he’d do well to avoid things that might hamper those efforts – things that don’t mix well with dairy production. Things like fracking.

At the Capitol today, Gov. Cuomo brought together hundreds of dairy industry professionals for what he has billed as a “Yogurt Summit,” an opportunity to discuss ways to bolster New York’s yogurt production as nationwide demand for the creamy treat – particularly Greek-style yogurt – grows.

Gov. Cuomo is right to be looking at ways to help New York’s dairy farmers and the struggling upstate economy with solutions based on agricultural sustainability and smart land use. But wouldn’t common sense dictate that he also consider factors that could hamper the very business he’s looking to promote? Cuomo’s foolhardy push to open his state to the dangers of fracking is directly at odds with his quest to increase dairy production in New York.

Read the full article…

Independent free-range poultry farmer Carole Morison

An inspiring post by independent chicken farmer Carole Morison on the Delmarva Peninsula in Maryland. Read the original post and Carole’s full blog here: http://oldfarmerlady.wordpress.com/

Many Thanks and Some Thoughts

I’ve been overwhelmed this week with many heart felt comments and well wishes for the farm and my work. I have to admit that I’m stunned! All joking aside….. I sat here at my computer in amazement. I had no idea that so many people cared or recognized how horribly messed up our food production system is.

Food INC gave a glimpse into the food system that dominates our country and for my part I can say that I’m only one of thousands of farmers. Many of you have commented on the difference in my appearance or looks from Food INC to now. One commenter described me as looking haggard during my Food INC time and I have to agree. It’s a look and mental condition that I recognize well in the faces of my farmer friends who are stuck in the industrial system.

Taking that a step further…. I know so many who are stuck with no way out. They’ve been beaten down to the point of exhaustion. Many have lost the will to fight a power that is so great that there is no place that can’t be reached through wealth and influence. Facing complete financial ruin for one’s self and family is a powerful tool to ensure silence and compliance. I view myself as being blessed and lucky to have gotten out from under the thumb of corporate agriculture however I haven’t forgotten the many who haven’t. It will take a tidal wave of voices to free farmers from the restraints that bind them. Read the full article…