Organic Bytes

Edited by Ronnie Cummins

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING

USDA Finally Moves to Outlaw “Made in USA” Labels on Foreign Beef

OCA, RI, and scores of food, farmer, and rancher groups have demanded for years that the USDA outlaw “Made in USA” labels on foreign beef and to reinstate country of origin labeling. Finally, the Biden Administration appears to be listening. American AG Network reports: “Farm Action and American Grassfed Association applaud USDA’s announcement of a proposed rule limiting the use of the voluntary “Product of U.S.A.” label exclusively to meat, poultry, and egg products derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered, and processed in the United States…

Current policy allows imported meat to bear a ‘Product of U.S.A.’ label provided it passes through a USDA-inspected plant. This heavily exploited loophole has allowed multinational corporations to import meat, repackage it, and pass it off as a higher-quality product raised by U.S. farmers and ranchers. Today’s announcement is an important step toward closing this loophole, and was met with applause by the groups that initiated the effort.

‘Truthful labels protect consumers and keep the playing field fair,’ said Joe Maxwell, president and co-founder of Farm Action. ‘After a five-year fight, we’re pleased to see the USDA stepping up to stop the cheaters picking the pockets of America’s farmers and ranchers.’

‘Our petition filed in 2018 has finally been acted on,’ said Carrie Balkcom, executive director of American Grassfed Association. ‘We are pleased to have the USDA act on the “Product of U.S.A.” as promised in the executive order issued by President Biden in July 2021. This proposed rulemaking change will help American grassfed farmers not be undercut by mislabeled meat coming from offshore. We will continue to work with Farm Action to make meat labels truthful.’

Misuse of the voluntary ‘Product of U.S.A.’ label began after Congress rolled back Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL) on beef and pork in 2015. MCOOL required all meat labels to disclose the country where the animals were born, raised, and slaughtered. Currently MCOOL covers lamb, chicken and other food commodities.

Today’s action by USDA to end the abuse of the voluntary ‘Product of U.S.A.’ label is a crucial step toward bringing fairness to the marketplace, but Congress still must act to restore MCOOL for beef and pork to ensure all meat product labels disclose the product’s origin.”

Learn more: Farm and Ranch Groups Applaud USDA’s “Product of U.S.A.” Label Announcement

REAL FARMS, NOT FAKE FOOD

Fake Meat: Another Attempt to Control the Global Food System

Dr. Mercola writes:

“The fake meat industry, predicted to be worth $3 trillion, is being touted as an environmentally friendly and sustainable way to feed the world. In reality, however, the rise of fake meat and other animal foods is nothing more than an attempt to create global control over yet another food sector.

Globalists already have a monopoly on the grain industry with their patented GMO seeds, and once animal husbandry is eliminated and replaced with patented lab-grown meats, private companies will effectively control the food supply in its entirety. And, as so famously stated by Henry Kissinger, those who control the food control the people.

On top of that, lab-created meats may also turn out to be one of the most health-harming ultra-processed foods ever created. Of course, the true impact on public health won’t be seen for years or decades, but the preliminary evidence raises serious questions.”

Learn more: Fake Meat: Another Attempt for Global Control of the Food Supply

MILLIONS AGAINST MONSANTO

US Plans to Bully Mexico to Buy GMO Corn

Jim Goodman writes for Common Dreams:

“Corporate money has always corrupted the political process in order to create laws and trade agreements that protect corporate profits at the expense of not just U.S. citizens, but citizens of the world.

We can find, perhaps, no better case in point than genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Developed over the decades by seed and chemical companies Monsanto, Calgene, Dow, DuPont, Bayer and others, genetically modified (GM) corn, soy, cotton and canola were touted as the solution to world hunger, the key to increased farm profitability, lower pesticide use and a better environment.

It all sounded good, but none of it was true.

The real truth was — and this was never mentioned — that these commodity crops were designed to produce vast corporate profit as they helped usher in a wave of corporate consolidation, loss of small farms, declining rural economies and a foisting of untested GM food on unknowing consumers.

While these GM crops dominate the fields of North America, the seed and chemical companies saw the world as their target for even more profit.”

Read more: To Protect Corporate Profits, U.S. Plans to Bully Mexico Into Buying GMO Corn

MERYL NASS

USAID is Financing Reckless Lab Research that Could Set off Another Pandemic

In October 2021, the USAID announced a new $125 million program to seek out potential pandemic pathogens and to make them more dangerous to humans. Dr. Meryl Nass Reports: “Hat tip to Emily Kopp at USRTK (US Right to Know). The oligarchs just don’t know when to stop, nor to stop bragging about how they can use our taxes to corral and control us, in this case by continuing to seek potential pandemic pathogens in the wild that can be used for another reign of terror.

I’m not kidding. Here is what USAID said about its grant:

‘Discovery & Exploration of Emerging Pathogens – Viral Zoonoses (DEEP VZN)… will strengthen global capacity to detect and understand the risks of viral spillover from wildlife to humans that could cause another pandemic.’

Here is the rest of the presser, with my comments:

‘The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how infectious diseases threaten all of society, up-ending people’s lives and attacking societies at their cores. It is also a strong reminder of the connection between animals, humans, and the environment, and the effect that an emerging pathogen spilling over into humans can have on people’s health and on global economies.’”

Learn more: USAID Sponsors Program To Go Find the Next Pandemic Virus and Fiddle With It

Join 68,000 Others and Sign OCA’s petition to Ban the Reckless Weaponization of Pathogens

PLANTING PEACE

U.S., Russia, China, and Beyond: Debunking A Century of War Lies

WanttoKnow.info reports:

As headlines rage on about the escalating geopolitical tensions between U.S., Russia, and China, it may not come as a surprise that the U.S. has spent billions on Ukraine war aid (with U.S. arms sales shooting up 50% last year) while the Pentagon finds itself unable to account for the money spent in Ukraine. Since 2019, more than $20 billion in sales of military aircraft and weapons have been approved to aid Taiwan. Predictably, the U.S. currently controls about 750 bases in at least 80 countries and continues to be the largest military spender in the world.

Given the sustained record of failures in this century — Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, of course, but don’t forget SomaliaSyriaYemen, and indeed the entire $8 trillion Global War on Terror in all its brutality — consider the [National Defense Strategy] a rare recent “mission accomplished” moment. The 2023 baseline “defense” budget now sits at $858 billion, $45 billion more than even the Biden administration requested. — retired lieutenant colonel William Astore, “US Imperial Dominance Disguised as Democratic Deterrence.”

With this information alone, enough people are questioning whether U.S. interference in the affairs of other countries will lead to the democracy, freedom, and human rights protection it promises. This is further exemplified by the counterproductive violence of war involving the U.S., from hundreds of thousands of innocent people killed by the tragic use of Signature Strikes authorized by the Obama administration to the CIA-backed Zero Units in Afghanistan, in which the U.S. made virtually no effort to distinguish noncombatants. Instead of diplomatic solutions to global conflict, U.S. arm sales and national security strategies have only fueled violence and war.

There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. — Howard Zinn

Going deeper into our current moment in time, some sense there are underlying special interests and covert agendas revealing a larger picture beyond the official narrative that China and Russia are the enemies. If this is the case, it would certainly align with the deceptive history of the major wars of the last century, in which enemies were manufactured in order to justify and sell the idea of war to the public.”

Learn more: U.S., Russia, China, and Beyond

Order your “Negotiate, Don’t Escalate” Bumper Stickers from the OCA

COVID-19

Former CDC Head Says Fauci and Trump Administration Bureaucrats Kept Him Out of the Loop on COVID Origins

Robert Malone writes:

“Yesterday, we witnessed the ex-director of the CDC, [Dr. Robert Redfield] under oath, directly blame Dr. Fauci and the US Government for the deaths of millions of people. However, if you went to the headlines of Google News – there was nary a news story. I guess Google felt it wasn’t important enough to warrant above-the-fold status. Seems like they had to make room for important news items… The actual testimony of Dr. Redfield was explosive. Yet, none of these headlines bely the gravity of Dr. Redfield’s testimony. Dr. Redfield directly linked gain-of-function research and the creation of SARS-CoV-WIV to Dr. Fauci, and to the US Gov – including the DoD. He absolutely believes and gives sworn testimony to the effect that Dr. Fauci and Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and soon be the chief scientist at the World Health Organization, covered up the lab leak information. How Dr. Redfield himself was excluded from the meetings when the processes, strategy and tactics for covering up the lab leak were developed. “

Learn more: Dr. Redfield’s Bombshell Testimony

STOP WEAPONIZING PATHOGENS

Neither Democrats nor Republicans Want to Release Documents About Fauci, Trump, & Biden Administration Complicity in the Wuhan Lab Leak

It certainly helps OCA’s campaign against weaponizing pathogens and banning gain-of-function research to have the U.S. Congress (Republicans and Democrats) unanimously pass a law requiring the Department of Defense and other intelligence agencies to release all files relating to the Wuhan lab’s role in the origins of COVID-19. But as Sam Husseini reports, this law does not require the release of information relating to U.S. funding (NIH and military) and U.S. scientists jointly working with the Chinese to create SARS-CoV-2, a virus that can be categorized as a dual-use (and illegal) bioweapon.

Husseini writes: BREAKING: State Dept. Continues to Fund Programs Which Might Have Caused Pandemic. VIDEO: Claims it Was Funding “Biosafety” and Claims Examination is “Conspiracy Theory”

In my questioning, I raised the issue of the Senate legislation by Sen. Josh Hawley re declassifying information implicating the Wuhan Institute of Virology — but not other institutions, as I have detailed.

I also noted earlier how Hawley flipped his rhetoric on Ukraine to position himself to get rightwing buy-in for his phony pandemic legislation, which he has falsely claimed will declassify ‘all of the information the federal government has on COVID origins’.

Hawley is now boasting that his bill just cleared the House, writing a grandstanding letter to the President of China.

NPR reports: ‘A bill to declassify COVID-19’s origins clears the House and heads to Biden.’

NPR quotes Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee: ‘The American public deserves answers to every aspect of COVID 19 pandemic including how this virus was created, and specifically whether it was a natural occurrence or was the result of a lab related event.’

But as I noted in my first piece on Hawley, that’s not what the legislation does. It only tells the Director of National Intelligence to release information indicting the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but not other US (or even Chinese) institutions or individuals. I.e., it let USAID, DTRA, DARPA, NIH et al. off the hook.”

Learn more: Hawley Gloats Over House Passage of His Legislation that Targets China on Covid Origins While Ignoring US Government Culpability

WATER SAFETY

Fluoride Litigation Against EPA by FAN, OCA, and Food and Water Watch Prompts Pending Release of Potentially Damaging Report

Fluoride Action Network reports:

“The Fluoride Action Network has won another significant victory involving our federal lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the neurotoxicity of fluoridation chemicals.

As a result of months of legal motions, subpoenas, and extensive negotiations with the U.S. Department Of Justice (DOJ)–which is representing the EPA in court–our legal council was successful in getting the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to agree to publicly release the National Toxicology Program’s (NTP) completed multi-year systematic review of fluoride’s impact on the developing brain. After being served a subpoena by our attorneys, the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)–a branch of NIH–agreed to publicly produce their final report that was intended to be published in May of 2022. They have until March 15th to upload the documents to the NTP’s website, including the monograph, the meta-analysis, and communications between various federal agencies and the NTP about the report.

This victory will allow the public to finally see the report and accompanying documents that were blocked from being published by the leadership at US Health and Human Services (HHS) in May of 2022. Internal CDC emails discovered through Freedom Of Information Act Requests by FAN indicated that the publication of the final NTP report was blocked at the last second due to interference from the Assistant Health Secretary, Rachel Levine. One email from the CDC’s Oral Health Director from June 3rd, 2022 stated, ‘ASH Levine has put the report on hold until further notice.'”

Click Here To Read The Court Order

Learn more: NTP Will Make Blocked Neurotoxicity Report Public After Fan Legal Action

SUPPORT THE OCA

OCA Needs Your Help

For 25 years, the OCA has worked to promote and expand the organic movement and fight against greenwashing and fraud, while connecting the dots between healthy food and farming and the other burning issues of our time: peace, sustainability (what we now prefer to call Regeneration), natural health, freedom, and justice.

The last three years have been the most difficult period in OCA’s 25-year history, organizationally, politically, and financially. We lost tens of thousands of subscribers and several major funders because of our stubborn (albeit justified) reporting and truth-telling on COVID-19, experimental genetically engineered vaccines, the Ukraine proxy war, censorship, and the so-called Great Reset. Although we gained new subscribers to replace those we lost, many of our small donors, hammered by the post-COVID economic recession, have been forced to cut back on their donations to us.

Google, YouTube, and Facebook have censored, slandered, and “shadow-banned” us, regularly threatening to cut us off from our two million social media followers. Paypal cut us off with no warning in the middle of our fundraising drive last year. The IRS audited our lobbying organization, the Citizen’s Regeneration Lobby. For the first time, Establishment media completely refused to interview us. Bookstores across the U.S. refused to sell the 2021 Amazon best-seller book by Ronnie Cummins and Dr. Mercola, The Truth About COVID-19.

Longstanding “progressives” and left-wing allies, adhering to the Establishment narrative on COVID and censorship, stabbed us and our allies such as  Dr. Mercola and Children’s Health Defense, in the back and destroyed their reputations by becoming, as RFK Jr. put it, “Lockdown Liberals.” Common Dreams, Counterpunch, Truthout, and Democracy Now, along with other so-called progressive media refused to run our articles, after more than a decade of cooperation. Democratic Party apologists in the organic community slandered us behind our backs and spread the rumor that we had become purveyors of “conspiracy theories,” and anti-Vaxx disinformation. Our answer to the backstabbers: we were right on COVID. We were right on the efficacy and dangers of genetically engineered experimental vaccines, on masks, on school and small business closures, on Deep State censorship, and the Ukraine proxy war. These formerly reputable organizations need to admit that they were wrong and make a public apology.

But right now, we really need your help. During our March/April spring fundraising drive, Dr. Mercola has agreed to triple match your donations.

Thank you for your support in 2022, and your donations in the first two months of this year.

But right now we really need your help. So please make a donation today.

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

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