Press Releases: All

Media Statement: “Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would finally take steps to protect U.S. consumers from the potential hazards of perchlorate by issuing the first ever limits of the chemical in drinking water. A component of rocket fuel, perchlorate has been found in the drinking water supplies of 35 states and the District of Columbia.

Media Statement: “Yesterday, U.S. Senators Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) reintroduced a critical bill to keep the first genetically engineered (GE) food animal, Aquabounty salmon, off our dinner plates. The controversial fish, which the FDA may approve any day now despite widespread opposition from the public and federal lawmakers, has potentially disastrous consumer health and environmental consequences.

Press Release: National consumer organization Food & Water Watch demonstrated today outside a press conference by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announcing the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Along with its coalition partners, Food & Water Watch drew attention to the USDA’s decision last week to allow the unrestricted planting of genetically engineered alfalfa, as well as the FDA’s pending approval of the first GE animal to be approved for human consumption – AquaBounty’s AquaAdvantage salmon.

Media Statement: “Today, USAID, Unilever and Monsanto unveiled their ‘Realizing a New Vision for Agriculture’ proposal at the World Economic Forum in Davos.” “There is nothing new in this so-called ‘vision’. It comes from the same interests that have set agricultural policy for decades, which has done nothing to demonstrate hunger alleviation around the globe.”

Media Statement: “We are extremely dismayed that the USDA has buckled under the pressure of biotech industry by deciding to allow the planting of genetically engineered alfalfa. Allowing GE alfalfa will have long-term, far reaching consequences on many aspects of agriculture, putting non-GE and organic seed supplies at risk of contamination by GE alfalfa. The USDA has given lip service to these concerns, but today’s decision by the agency demonstrates the financial influence that well-connected biotech lobbyists wield over our federal agencies and Congress.”

Media Statement: “This week’s release of the USDA 2011 Consumer Price Index analysis demonstrates that a more industrialized, consolidated food supply does not translate to lower grocery bills for consumers. I encourage the news media to look beyond the routine justifications of rising feed and fuel costs and take a critical look at the role consolidation of our food system plays in consumers’ rising food bills.”

Press Release: On the heels of the recent visit to Washington by China’s President Hu Jintao, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) published an interim rule yesterday in the Federal Register that opens the door to poultry and poultry product imports from countries that have experienced outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, including animals raised in the People’s Republic of China.

Chinese poultry product imports will not be immediately permitted since USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) must still approve the poultry slaughtering procedures in China. But the announcement of today’s rule clears a major hurdle in that process.

Media Statement: “On Monday, The Hawai`i State Legislature introduced two significant bills: one to stop the reckless expansion of factory fish farms operating in the state’s pristine coastal waters (HB221) and another to require fish farming corporations to conduct and submit a full analysis of the environmental, socio-economic and cultural impact of their businesses (SB626).”

Press Release: Washington, D.C. – Food & Water Watch today submitted a Citizen Petition asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to remove the People’s Republic of China from the list of countries eligible to export processed poultry products to the United States.

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, Food & Water Watch has found that the USDA’s process for approving a rule that would grant China permission to export processed poultry products to the United States has been flawed and serious mistakes were made due to pressure on the agency to allow the imports to begin as soon as possible.

Media Statement: “This weekend, despite the wishes of the New York State Legislature, New York Governor David Paterson vetoed legislation that would have put a moratorium on vertical and horizontal hydraulic drilling, a controversial practice known as fracking. Bowing to industry interests, the governor instead issued an executive order placing a weaker moratorium on horizontal fracking alone.”