This Saturday, May 25, tens of thousands of activists across six continents, 41 countries and more than 330 cities are expected to “March Against Monsanto.”  Instigated and driven completely by grassroots activists, this global day of action hopes to demonstrate that, when many people ban together for justice and transparency, they can fight back against the powerful few. Watch this InfoWars news alert about Monsanto’s CEO feeling threatened by grassroots efforts, particularly social media.

Food & Water Watch supports the solutions that March Against Monsanto advocates for – the need for mandatory GE food labeling and further scientific research on the health and environmental impacts of GE food and repealing the Monsanto Rider that slipped into the recent budget bill (also known as the Monsanto Protection Act).

We too call for more transparency about the undue influence that Monsanto and other biotechnology seed corporations hold over our government and recently released a stunning report about how the U.S. State Department works to promote Monsanto and the biotech seed industry on the taxpayer’s dime. Link to that report as well as a corporate profile on Monsanto and a primer on GE food, below.

Food & Water Watch is proud to be supporting March Against Monsanto activities in various cities across the country – New York City; New Brunswick, New Jersey; Miami, Florida; Portland, Maine; Mystic, Connecticut; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Detroit, Michigan (check out these great pictures from a sign and costume making party earlier this week); Chicago and Springfield, Illinois; Des Moines and the Quad Cities, Iowa; Cincinnati, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle and Ramond, Washington.

Whether or not you’re planning to March Against Monsanto this weekend, arm yourself with the facts. Food & Water Watch reports, fact sheets, blogs, press releases and sharable images can all be found here: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/genetically-engineered-foods/monsanto/, and more information on GE foods here: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/genetically-engineered-foods/.

Northwest Organizer, Julia DeGraw stands with Oregon Representative Dembrow after the Oregon Senate passed the Renew America’s Water Memorial.

By Julia DeGraw and Ronnette Steed

It’s been a good week for clean water lovers. On Monday, May 20, the Oregon State Legislature gave final passage to a memorial to Renew America’s Water with overwhelming bipartisan support as the Senate voted 29-0 on passage. The House previously passed House Joint Memorial 7 by a vote of 55-0.

HJM 7 calls on Congress to reinvest in our deteriorating water infrastructure and it sets an important precedent for other states to follow. The resounding endorsement of the Oregon Legislature to adequately fund our sewer and drinking water systems is something Republicans and Democrats both agree on. Updating and maintaining our public water systems creates much-needed jobs in both urban and rural communities, improves the environmental quality of our lakes, rivers and beaches and ensures clean, safe water for kids in our schools and for families across America.

HJM Chief Sponsor Representative Michael Dembrow (D-45) summed up the need for reinvestment in our water systems with this statement:

“Safe, clean water is one of the most precious public resources that we have. Across Oregon and the rest of this country, our public drinking water and wastewater systems are facing a crisis. These public water systems have provided clean, affordable water to generations, but they are falling into a state of disrepair. Congress must act now to increase investment in state revolving loan programs that assist communities with repairing and upgrading their water infrastructure, to maintain access to affordable water.”

According to a Congressional Budget Office 2010 report, federal investment in water and sewer systems has fallen 82 percent from 1977 to 2009 from about $15.6 billion per year to a mere $2.8 billion. The dismal amount money set aside by Congress also varies widely from year to year, which means municipal public utilities cannot rely on that money to plan important projects. Our public water and sewer utilities need an adequate and reliable source of funding from the federal government. With water systems and pipes built 50 to 100 years ago aging out and new rules for water quality from the EPA, it is high time to bring our public water systems into the 21^st century.

Getting our water systems up to snuff and properly maintained isn’t just critical for public health and safety, but it is also good business. If Congress fills the budget gaps for our aging water infrastructure it could create over 5,000 jobs in Oregon alone. Most of those jobs would be in rural communities that need the economic boost the most.

Congress could create jobs, boost the economy, improve the environment and ensure clean safe water for the majority of Americans by passing legislation to Renew America’s water. We have a trust fund for transportation; having one for our water systems is long overdue. If Republicans and Democrats in the Oregon State Legislature can get together to support a full-fledged endorsement to fix our water systems, hopefully they can motivate Congress to do the same.

Ronnette Steed is a Food & Water Watch volunteer in Portland, Ore.

By Tim Schwab

Journalism and agriculture students at public universities, watch out.

Your administrators are laying out the red carpet for corporate junkets at a campus near you. With names like HungerU and Biotech University, these “educational” opportunities amount to little more than a slick propaganda campaign from biotech corporations.

DuPont Crop Protection (translation: herbicides and pesticides) is visiting universities in California and Arizona this week, wooing students with $2,500 grants and embarking on a mission to “educate college students about the significance of modern agriculture.” It’s called HungerU.

That’s a catchy name, but does a profit-driven chemical producer whose goal is to expand herbicide and pesticide sales really have much to offer students on the issue of food security? Something tells me its answer to hunger is more chemicals.

Meanwhile, Biotech U goes beyond the ag school to influence an entirely different set of future professionals: journalism students. Each year, the industry-friendly United Soybean Board partners with our nation’s journalism schools in an effort to “educate” future reporters about the role of biotechnology. The program includes all-expense paid gigs on agricultural reporting in exotic places like Turkey and China. This year, the winner goes to Italy. Who wouldn’t want a trip to Italy?

Noting that these future journalists will be “shaping the public’s perception of biotechnology in the coming decades,” Biotech U is part of a long-term strategic plan by the biotech industry to foster public acceptance of genetically engineered crops. The program also intends to “enlist future biotech advocates identified within university journalism programs to develop a draft program at other journalism schools.”

These insidious efforts by the biotech industry are a very small part of the hundreds of millions of dollars pouring into academia from corporations, distorting the science and perverting the mission of higher education. Our public universities increasingly function like corporate laboratories—taking corporate research money to conduct experiments in corporate-sponsored laboratories, then publishing pro-industry findings in corporate-sponsored “scientific” journals.

Food & Water Watch detailed the ways in which industry is buying influence at our public universities in our report Public Research, Private Gain.

This new era of corporate influence is undermining intellectual freedom and academic independence. Professors that might otherwise pursue research that might challenge the bottom lines of biotech companies—for example, studying the negative health, environmental or economic effects of pesticides and biotech crops—simply choose not to for fear of losing future industry research funding or upsetting tenure-granting administrators. That means federal agencies writing the rules and regulations that govern biotech corporations often base their decisions on a body of science that only says industrial agriculture is safe, good and necessary.

Meanwhile, farmers that might want to want to pursue an alternative production model to agrochemicals, monocultures and factory farms have little research or academic support.

And students—our next generation of journalists, farmers and policy makers—graduate from schools that increasingly offer only the virtues of big business instead of teaching students to think critically about the dominant model of industrial agriculture or consider alternative solutions.

Don’t biotech and pesticide companies already have too much influence over our public universities? If you attend one of these schools, call your university administrators and tell them enough is enough.

A.B. 1301, A.B. 1323, A.B. 649 Pass Assembly Natural Resources Committee Despite Oil Industry Pressure

SACRAMENTO, Calif.— Three bills that would halt fracking in California won key votes last night, passing the Assembly Natural Resources Committee despite intense pressure from the oil industry. Richard Bloom’s A.B. 1301, Holly Mitchell’s A.B. 1323 and Adrin Nazarian’s A.B. 649 would place a moratorium on fracking while threats posed by the controversial practice to California’s environment and public health are studied.

Oil and gas wells have been fracked in at least nine California counties without fracking-specific regulation or even monitoring by state oil and gas officials. Fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing, employs huge volumes of water mixed with sand and toxic chemicals — including known carcinogens — to blast open rock formations and release previously inaccessible fossil fuels.

A.B. 1301 — sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity, Food & Water Watch and Clean Water Action — is supported by the California Nurses Association, Breast Cancer Action, Family Farm Defenders and more than 100 other health, labor, environmental and social justice organizations. A.B. 649, A.B. 1301 and A.B. 1323 will next go to the Assembly Appropriations Committee

“This is a huge win for Californians threatened by fracking pollution,” said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity. “These bills will protect the air we breathe and the water we drink from cancer-causing chemicals and other fracking pollutants. That’s why a fracking moratorium is supported by nurses, farmers and so many others concerned about our state’s health and environment.”

Fracking is linked to air and water pollution and releases large amounts of methane, a dangerously potent greenhouse gas. About 25 percent of fracking chemicals could cause cancer, according to scientists with the Endocrine Disruption Exchange.

“The Natural Resources Committee sided with the people of California yesterday when it voted to advance legislation that places a moratorium on fracking,” said Kristin Lynch, Pacific region director for Food & Water Watch. “From the food that California farmers grow today to the long-term future of our state’s water resources and air, California’s economy and vital resources hang in the balance if we allow fracking to continue in California.”

The huge volume of water used and contaminated by fracking is a critical issue for drought-ridden states like California. A new report from the Western Organization of Resource Councils estimates that fracking consumes about 7 billion gallons of water in four western states where fracking has become widespread. The report, titled “Gone for Good,” warns that water consumption by the oil and gas industry “simply cannot be sustained.”

“This vote is an important step in the effort to protect California from the dangers of fracking,” said Andrew Grinberg of Clean Water Action. “This committee gets it that the state needs to slow down and assess the many threats to our air, water, climate and communities of extreme oil extraction.”

Fracking also pollutes the air by releasing dangerous petroleum hydrocarbons, including benzene, toluene and xylene. It can also increase levels of ground-level ozone, a key risk factor for asthma and other respiratory illness. Air pollution caused by fracking contributes to the risk of asthma, cancer, and other health problems in people living near fracked wells, according to a Colorado School of Public Health study.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 500,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.

Clean Water Action is the nation’s largest grassroots group focused on water, energy and environmental health. With 1 million members, Clean Water Action works for clean, safe and affordable water, prevention of health-threatening pollution, and creation of environmentally-safe jobs and businesses. Clean Water Action’s nonpartisan campaigns empower people to make democracy work.

Contact:       
Kassie Siegel, (951) 961-7972, ksiegel(at)biologicaldiversity(dot)org
Kristin Lynch, (415) 293-9917, klynch(at)fwwatch(dot)org
Andrew Grinberg, (415) 298-8314, agrinberg(at)cleanwater(dot)org

Wenonah signing books at a recent event in Red Bank, N.J. Photo Credit: Jim Rapp

By Wenonah Hauter

Since January, I have been traveling the country promoting my book Foodopoly. While the travel is exhausting, the people I meet on the road keep me going. They tell me how much they appreciate Foodopoly’s honest account of the imbalance of power at the root of our dysfunctional food system and often share with me their personal experiences. Farmers impart stories of having to sell their land and find other work because they can’t compete in an unfair marketplace. Former neighborhood market owners explain how they’ve been pushed out of business by large national chains. And everyday consumers lament their frustration with the consolidation of every type of food – especially organic – that has diminished most real choice on grocery shelves. These are the people I wrote Foodopoly for.

Today, I am in Willits, a little town in Northern California, where I will be speaking at the Little Lake Grange. Willits is called the Gateway to the Redwoods – majestic tree groves and farmland form a beautiful patchwork in this tiny town in the heart of Mendocino County – and it is a welcome detour from my typical tour route of big cities.

Sadly, however, this beautiful patchwork is endangered by an unnecessary freeway bypass project. And peaceful protests by residents against the project have been trounced by a massive occupation by the California Highway Patrol. Since March 21, Willits has had the highest CHP-to-citizen ratio in the state.

The Willits Bypass would require clear-cutting an old growth forest, cause severe damage to the watershed, seasonal wetland and wells. The bypass construction and mitigation would take more than 2,060 acres of farmland out of production. If the bypass is constructed, the valley would essentially be owned by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), with no mind to the farmers and residents who will be forced to live in the bypass’s shadow.

And, the saddest part of this obsolete monstrosity is that there is no need for it. Sara Grusky, who runs Save Little Lake Valley and coincidentally used to work for Food & Water Watch, tells me that the traffic volumes through Willits do not call for a project of this size and her group has proposed several time- and environment-saving alternatives to the bypass.

“The bypass is an obscene waste,” Sara told me. “It is all part of the same obsolete model as the Keystone XL pipeline, fossil fuel intensive energy solutions that we just cannot let go forward.”

Which is why Sara, the brave tree sitters, and other residents of Willits are risking arrest and injury to protect their town and precious ecosystem. I am awed by the fortitude shown by the people of Willits and hope their courage will inspire others to stand up for what they believe in. Whether it’s stopping a destructive, wasteful freeway project from tearing your town apart, fighting to get genetically engineered food labeled in your grocery store, or holding the Department of Justice accountable for blocking food monopolies that harm farmers and consumers, we must all do our part to take back our political system.

By Adam Scow

Despite the narrow loss of Proposition 37 last November, the movement to label genetically engineered foods in California is stronger than ever. A new statewide coalition has emerged to continue and grow the movement to win labeling in California. Coalition participants include a wide range of organizations at the forefront of food issues including the Center for Food Safety, Pesticide Action Network, Consumers Union, California State Grange and dozens of other organizations. The coalition is considering advancing state legislation and revisiting the possibility of another ballot initiative in the near future. Stay up-to-date on the lastest by following us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/FoodWaterWatchCalifornia

The looming threat of the approval of GE salmon by the Food & Drug Administration has also galvanized local activists across California to petition the agency to not allow the potentially dangerous salmon to reach our plates. If approved, GE salmon would be the first “transgenic” animal allowed into our food supply. It’s also unlikely that it would have to be labeled, so you might not even know you’re eating it. Recognizing these threats, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to approve a resolution to oppose FDA approval of the salmon and we were pleased to testify and support its passage, introduced by Councilmember Paul Koretz.

Video courtesy of Citizens for Health

This Pike’s Place Market employee makes a good point – this is why Governor Inslee and Washington state legislators need to support the People’s Right to Know Initiative.

By Julia DeGraw

Food & Water Watch is proud to work on the “Label It WA” campaign to pass a genetically engineered food labeling law (I-522) in Washington State. Citizens deserve the right to know what’s in their food and it appears that Washington could lead the way in being the first state to pass a GE food labeling law.

Our field campaign is off to a great start. With our allies including Label It Washington and Seattle Tilth, we are laying the groundwork for victory. We hosted five days of action throughout the state collecting photo petitions from locations like the iconic Pike Place Market, University of Washington Vancouver and the Main Market Coop in Spokane. GE Food Labeling volunteers are having fun as they build this historic campaign in Washington.

On January 31, Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman certified the signatures that will ensure that I-522, “The Peoples right to know Genetically Engineered Food Act” will either be voted into law by the legislature or go to the ballot for public vote this November. On Feb. 14, the state legislature held a public hearing on the initiative, which was well attended with supporters of the initiative. From the hearing, it seems most likely that the legislature will choose to let the initiative go to a popular vote.

Kids in Seattle support I-522 to make GE food labels the law.

With the help of our volunteers we are well on our way to reaching our goal of 5,000 petition signatures calling on state legislators and Governor Inslee to endorse The Peoples Right to Know Initiative. Our Washington Organizers have also garnered endorsements from several Washington businesses and groups such as Dog Mountain Farm, and Lazy R Ranch who will also help pressure the state’s leaders to support labeling GE food in Washington.  We are making great progress but our job is not done. All of our voices need to be heard. If you also agree that we have the right to know what’s in our food please ‘like’ us on our Food & Water Watch—Washington Facebook page to join our campaign to help pass I-522 this November.

Statement from Kristin Lynch, Pacific Region Director of Food & Water Watch

SAN FRANCISCO—“With proposed regulations, which took nearly a year to draft, today the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) proves that it has no intention to move beyond the lawless Wild West when it comes to fracking in our state, leaving us at the mercy of the oil and gas industry.

“DOGGR’s draft regulations will do nothing to protect Californians from the dangers fracking poses to our air, water and climate. It does not address the federal environmental and health legislative exemptions the oil and gas industry currently enjoys, including the key exemption to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Nor does it provide meaningful chemical disclosure requirements and it would have the industry police itself by evaluating and monitoring its fracking operations for safety. The ‘regulations’ proposed are akin to having state speeding regulations where automobile drivers are expected contact law enforcement on their own volition if they break the posted speed limit at any given time.”

Contact: Anna Ghosh, aghosh(at)fwwatch(dot)org, 415-293-9905

In 2007 Jerry Sanders, then-mayor of San Diego, put out his proposal to give the private sector control of public services, including water and sewer services.  

This announcement came shortly after San Diego voters approved Proposition C, authorizing a type of privatization known as Managed Competition. Mayor

Sanders touted managed competition as the solution to San Diego’s pension and fiscal problems.

Sanders ignored the success of the San Diego Water and Metropolitan Wastewater Department’s Bid-to-Goal program, in which a ‘mock’ bid from a private contractor was used as a benchmark for city workers to do the same work for less money. Through the Bid-to-Goal program, city workers saved San Diego taxpayers millions of dollars on wastewater treatment and reduced the number of sewage spills.

In early October 2009, the city of San Diego released a five-year financial report that projected the largest budget deficit of in the history of the city: $179 million. San Diego City Councilmembers Carl DeMaio and Kevin Faulconer pushed for immediate implementation of Managed Competition to help solve the city’s projected deficit.

The managed competition is underway for many city departments. Fortunately, public opposition has stopped the privatization of the Miramar landfill, and the public workers have won many of the bids, including the one for the Storm Water Department.

Food & Water Watch has responded to the mayor’s proposal and councilmembers’ push for privatization by building relationships with local organizations, citizens and elected officials to prevent the privatization of San Diego’s water. We have also given several presentations and sponsored speaking events to further educate the public about the perils of water privatization. 

In July 2012, the city issued a request for proposals for “consulting services for operation optimizations for the public utilities department.” Bids were due in mid-September, but as of December, the city had not announced the selection of any winning bid. During an industry conference in November, however, Veolia Water Americas CEO Laurent Auguste mentioned San Diego as a city that was talking with his company. It remains to be seen if the city will hire Veolia as a consultant.

Learn More

• Top 10 Reasons to Localize San Diego’s Water (fact sheet)
• Top Five Reasons to Keep CA’s Water in Public Hands (fact sheet)
• Faulty Pipes: Why Public Funding — Not Privatization — Is the Answer for U.S. Water Systems (report) 

Marisa Tomei, James Franco, Stacy Keibler, Minnie Driver, Brett Ratner, Trevor Plouffe, Tony Goldwyn, James Van Der Beek, Lisa Bonet, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Eloise Mumford, China Chow, Molly Ringwald and More in a New Series of Ads to Make Genetically Engineered Food Labeling Mandatory in California

LOS ANGELES — To combat the growing intensity of deceptive advertising blanketing California airwaves – funded by the giant chemical and food corporations opposed to Proposition 37 at an estimated $1 million a day – Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water, sponsored by Food & Watch, has created a second big wave of viral Internet celebrity videos and TV ads asking Californians to vote YES on Proposition 37.

As Election Day nears, the top myth being spread by the opposition to create confusion and doubt among voters is the fallacy that Prop 37, a measure to require that GE foods (GMOs) be labeled, will raise food costs. A new series of Public Service Announcement videos featuring Academy Award-winning and nominated actors along with other celebrities and California parents and their kids, takes the issue of cost head-on and reminds Californians not to fall for the food industry’s deceptive scare tactics.

The featured PSA “Grocery Costs” stars Marissa Tomei, James Franco, Minnie Driver, Lisa Bonet and Mary Elizabeth Winstead telling viewers, “Large processed food companies have always claimed that giving consumers basic information about their food – using labels – would increase their grocery costs. And every time…it’s been a lie. Now those same companies are at it again, making more outlandish claims that your grocery bill will skyrocket under Proposition 37-which requires labels for GMO’s. Well IT’s NOT TRUE! And we’re fighting back…with the truth.”

“Grocery Costs” along with another powerful spot entitled “I’m A Mom” will air on television across Los Angeles during popular shows like Good Morning America, Meet the Press and an NFL game in the final days of the campaign. These videos and two other PSAs will also be shared virally through social media.

 These new videos are part of a larger series of videos released since October 15, 2012, by Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water. Previous videos featured celebrities such as Danny DeVito, Bill Maher, Dave Matthews, Jillian Michaels, Emily Deschanel, John Cho, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, KaDee Strickland and Kristin Bauer van Straten, as well as children describing the problems with GE foods (GMOs) and encouraging adults to vote YES on Prop 37.

The first series of PSAs have received over 310,000 online views combined and the overwhelmingly positive response led to a generous outpouring of individual donations to help expand the videos’ reach further across television.

“Since the pesticide and junk food companies opposed to Prop 37 don’t have the truth or public opinion on their side, they’re spending about $1 million a day on ads attempting to confuse the public into voting against their right to know what’s in their food,” said Food & Water Watch Pacific Region Director Kristin Lynch. “While we may never be able to match our opponent’s spending, we’re hoping these popular celebrities and everyday moms and kids will help make this message viral so that every Californian realizes that a yes vote for Prop 37 is a vote towards a healthier, more transparent food supply for everyone.”

Proposition 37 is a ballot measure that requires simple, clear labels letting consumers know if foods are genetically engineered. It was written with broad input from food groups, industry, science, legal and health experts and qualified for the November ballot with more than 1 million signatures from California citizens.

The series of PSA videos is part of a larger campaign that Food & Water Watch is waging nationally and Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water is waging throughout California in support of Proposition 37 and mandatory GE labeling. Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water’s efforts include grassroots organizing that contributed to the LA City Council unanimously endorsing Yes on 37, 90 billboards throughout Los Angeles County, a $10,000 contribution to the California Right to Know campaign, efforts to attract and coordinate volunteers for phone banking and other campaign activities, and email notifications to its more than 60,000 California supporters.

Versions of the videos and more information about Prop 37 and Food & Water Watch’s commitment to mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods can be found at: www.voteyes37.com

Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water is the political action committee for Food & Water Watch. Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.

 Contact: Anna Ghosh, 415-265-1568, aghosh(at)fwwatch(dot)org