TAKE ACTION
Ask Your State Legislators to Ban Lab-Grown Meat
In March of 2023, the Italian government supported a bill that bans lab-grown “foods”. Why? Because Italy cares about the impact lab-meats could have on their people, their farmers, and the environment. Will American state governments do the same?
Take Action Now: Ask Your State Legislators to Ban Lab-Grown Meat
Advocates of lab-grown meat claim that these synthetic products are safe, ethical and that they will help battle climate change. But consumers have questions and concerns about the ethics and safety of the processes and the ingredients used to produce this product.
Center for Food Safety has also raised health concerns about lab grown meats and the processes used to produce them. And the claim that this product is ethical virtually evaporates when we acknowledge the use of fetal bovine serum (FBS) in creating this product, as FBS is obtained by sucking the blood out of a living cow fetus, a process that the fetus does not survive.
And scientists at UC Davis have raised concerns about the environmental impact of lab-grown meat, stating that: “…lab-grown or ‘cultivated’ meat’s environmental impact is likely to be ‘orders of magnitude’ higher than retail…” pointing out that their study found that lab grown meat can have up to 25 times the global warming potential of conventional (Factory Farm) meat. And they go on to say that even with significant advances in the process of manufacturing synthetic meat, it would only be able to achieve a global warming impact potential that was closer to conventional meat. Which is a staggeringly ineffective potential that is still many years off, especially when you consider the fact that regenerative agriculture can already produce carbon-negative meat.
Despite all of this, the US government has been moving full speed ahead with the approval process. On March 21st, 2023 GOOD Meat announced that their lab-grown synthetic (GMO) “chicken” product had received safety approval from the FDA in the form of a “no questions” letter, stating that the lab-grown “chicken” is “as safe as comparable foods produced by other methods” And on June 21st, 2023, GOOD Meat announced that their lab-grown synthetic (GMO) “chicken” product had been approved for commercial sales by the USDA.
With all of these issues, we feel that the precautionary principle should be applied to all lab-grown meat. This means that all lab-grown products should undergo rigorous third-party pre-market safety testing, and environmental impact assesments. Until that is done, all lab-grown meat should be banned.
Take Action Now: Ask Your State Legislators to Ban Lab-Grown Meat
USDA WATCH
USDA Approves First Lab-Grown Meat in U.S., But Scientists, Food Safety Experts Aren’t Sold on It
Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. for Children’s Health Defense reports:
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Wednesday approved the sale of lab-grown meat for the first time, giving two California-based food technology startups the green light to sell chicken grown in a lab from animal cells, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
The meat is made from cells from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a “special bank of stored cells” and cultivated in steel tanks. Over a series of weeks, it grows into sheets or masses, depending on the company, of muscle and connective tissue that are then formed into the shape of chicken cutlets and sausages, and cooked as food.
Despite the mainstream media boosterism around lab-grown meat’s alleged environmental benefits, many consumers are skeptical or even squeamish — either out of concerns for safety or simply because “it just sounds weird,” according to a recent poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
It is also extremely expensive to produce and cannot yet be produced at scale. Experts also question its safety.”
REAL FARMS, NOT FAKE FOOD
Study: Lab-Grown Meat Potentially Worse for Environment than Retail Beef
The Food Institute’s Jordan Wiklund writes:
“No matter where you stand on cell-cultured food or how you decide what to put into your body, lab-grown and 3D-printed food is real, out there, and developing new and more scalable techniques to get to market with every passing day. `
The lab purification process to remove endotoxins is resource-heavy and intrinsic to boneless meat production, but current technologies are simply neither efficient enough nor environmentally scalable for a market that may not be quite ready to embrace the end product anyway.
‘Our results indicate that ACBM [animal cell-based meat] is likely to be more resource-intensive than most meat production systems,’ the authors wrote. By focusing on the most common aspects of cell-cultured production, the authors attempted to present the most balanced conclusion possible and help establish a new, more realistic metric by which to judge this brave new world of food science.”
“Lab Grown meat is a danger to both our food system and our economy. The energy required for production is outrageous – it can only survive on government subsidies. It’s full of additives and does not mimic the healthful qualities of meat at all. Scary stuff.”
—Chef and Food Network star Andrew Gruel on Twitter.
Read: Interest in Cultured Meat has Been Driven by Inaccurate Analyses of Carbon Emissions
Read: The Playbook for GMO 2.0 is Going Exactly to Plan, Brands Step in to Combat it
REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
Healthy Animals, Healthy Planet, Healthy Humans
Grown Right Here writes:
“Livestock raised on pasture and in a manner that mimics the natural environment produce pasture-raised meat and animal products. This farming method involves allowing animals to graze on natural grasses and forage. In contrary to the industrial farming methods used today. Raising livestock on pasture allows them to express their natural behaviors such as rooting, grazing, and foraging. This approach to farming has numerous benefits, both for the animals and the environment.
Regenerative agriculture and pasture-raised meat offer numerous health benefits when consumed. These benefits include increased nutrient density, improved gut health, reduced risk of chronic diseases, and improved environmental sustainability. By prioritizing soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare, regenerative agriculture and pasture-raised meat can heal the body and contribute to a healthier food system.
As people become more aware of the healing benefits of pasture-raised meat, it is important to support farmers who are adopting these practices. By choosing pasture-raised meat and animal products, consumers can support a more sustainable and healthy food system while also promoting their own health and well-being.”
The healing benefits of Pasture-Raised Meat:
1- Increased Nutrient Density
2- Improved Gut Health
3- Reduced Risk of Chronic Diseases
4- Improved Environmental Sustainability
Read more about how pasture-raised meat can contribute to a healthier food system
SUPPORT OCA
Keep Small Farmers, Herdswomen/Men and Animals on the Land
Over the past 30 years OCA and our allies across the world have fought hard against gene-spliced GMO foods and crops and the toxic pesticides and chemicals that always accompany them, exposing their dangers, limiting their market share, and in some countries bringing about mandatory bans (Mexico) and/or labeling and safety-testing. (USA and Europe) But now Bill Gates, the gene-engineers, the World Economic Forum, and the Davos “Great Reset” technocrats and authoritarians, the folks who anticipated and profited off of COVID and the lockdowns, have a bold new plan to shove down our throats: get rid of animal agriculture, ranching, and small farms entirely. Make lab-engineered fake meat, fake milk, and fake cheese the new normal. Pretend they’re not genetically engineered and therefore they don’t have to be properly safety-tested and labeled. Divide and conquer vegans and carnivores, urban consumers and rural communities. Drive into bankruptcy and off the land the billion ranchers, small farmers, and herdsmen/women around the world, who depend on raising animals and livestock for their survival.
If we unite and organize around the existential emergencies that threaten, not only our livelihoods and our personal health, but our very survival. Let us pledge now, before it is too late, to leave our secondary differences behind and continue to build an organic and regenerative movement!
Please help us keep this work moving forward. Your financial support is crucial, so if you can, please make a donation today.
Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
Support Citizens Regeneration Lobby, OCA’s 501(c)(4) lobbying arm (not tax-deductible)
Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization
Order your OCA “Planting Peace – Negotiate Don’t Escalate” bumper stickers from our Minnesota office
MILLIONS AGAINST MONSANTO
Degenerative Agriculture Bayer/Monsanto’s and Syngenta’s Toxic Greenwashing Deception
By Dr. André Leu, D.Sc., BA Com., Grad Dip Ed
International Director, Regeneration International
Bayer/ Monsanto, Syngenta, and other members of the poison cartel are trying to greenwash their toxic industrial farming systems by hijacking Regenerative Agriculture.
The Opposite of Regenerative is Degenerative
By definition, agricultural systems that use Degenerative practices and inputs that damage the environment, soil, and health and involve animal cruelty, such as synthetic toxic pesticides, synthetic water-soluble fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, confined animal feeding operations, and destructive tillage systems, are not Regenerative.
They must be called out as Degenerative Agriculture.
The poison cartels justify these degenerative systems by saying their ‘precision farming’ techniques are reducing the environmental impact of their pesticides. This is an outright lie. The evidence shows that the amounts, environmental contamination, and negative impacts on human health of toxic, synthetic pesticides have increased.
The introduction of genetically modified crops such as Corn, Cotton, and Soy has resulted in a rapid increase in the use of glyphosate and other toxic herbicides.
FOOD SCIENCE
“Ultra-Processed People” Investigates How the Products of Food Science Are Harming Consumers.
The book begins by explaining what he means by ultra-processed foods (UPFs). They are those side-of-food-packaging ingredients with incomprehensible names such as modified palm stearin or mono- and di-glycerides. He explains how food scientists discovered they could break down certain fats and starches and recombine their molecules to create inexpensive substances with desirable qualities such as creaminess or crunchiness. These ingredients explain many of the creepy aspects of processed food: milkshakes that never melt or margarine that requires no refrigeration. These, he says, aren’t foods but “industrially produced edible substances.”
Van Tulleken argues that we have entered an unprecedented era of eating, one in which most of our calories come from foods that the planet — and our bodies — have never seen before.
Learn more about Chris van Tulleken’s book, Ultra-Processed People
Read his book, Ultra-Processed People, and you’ll never read a food label quite the same way again
COMING CLEAN
EWG Skin Deep: Your Guide to Safer Personal Care Products
Learn what’s really in your personal care products!
From EWG:
“Personal care products are manufactured with 10,500 unique chemical ingredients, some of which are known or suspected carcinogens, toxic to the reproductive system or known to disrupt the endocrine system. Although some companies make products that are safe to use, others use dangerous ingredients, like coal tar and formaldehyde, both of which are human carcinogens, and lead acetate, a developmental toxin.
Most people believing the government oversees the safety of their cosmetics and other personal care items. Not so.
Our nation’s regulatory system for cosmetics and personal care products is woefully outdated. The U.S. government doesn’t require health studies or premarket tests of the chemicals in personal care products, even though almost everyone is exposed to them. This means that, without knowing it, you may be exposed to ingredients linked to serious human health concerns, such as endocrine disruption, development and reproductive toxicity and cancer.
EWG launched Skin Deep, in 2004, to fill the gap by educating the public about the ingredients in their cosmetics and personal care products. Skin Deep makes it easier for shoppers to understand potential hazards and health concerns related to ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products.”
DR. JOSEPH MERCOLA
The Importance of Omega-3
Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola:
“In this interview, Nils Hoem, Ph.D., — a research scientist with Aker Biomarine, the largest krill oil company in the world — takes a deep dive into omega-3s and the crucial role they play in the health and functionality of your cell membranes.
As explained by Hoem, there are two polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) that are considered to be essential in conventional medicine. One of them is the omega-6 linoleic acid (LA), which is an 18-carbon molecule. Although the level of LA needed is likely significantly lower than suggested, it is a moot point as virtually consuming 10 times the suggestion. The other is omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which also has 18 carbons.
Your body cannot make these fats, so you must get them from your diet. That said, since LA is found in nearly every food, and you need very small amounts, it’s virtually impossible to become deficient in LA.
Others, such as the omega-3 EPA and DHA, provided you have enough available delta-6-desaturase, an enzyme responsible for their conversion.”
Learn about the importance of membranes and how reduce your intake of omega-6
GO GREEN
What is Guerrilla Gardening?
Kyra from Country Living writes:
“Guerrilla gardening is the practice of gardening on public land without explicit permission. In recent years it has evolved from a fairly clandestine pursuit (sometimes carried out in the dead of night) to one mostly ignored and sometimes embraced by local councils.
As well as helping local communities feel connected to nature, a guerrilla garden can also improve access to fresh, healthy food. For the @anarcho_gardener, who lives on an estate in Ireland, guerrilla gardening is about living in a more harmonious way with nature and creating a path towards self-reliance. They define it as ‘an ecological sustainable gardening practice of growing for yourself while simultaneously helping the environment around you.
For me and the many who have no access to land, guerrilla gardening is a viable option to growing food. And when you add permacultural techniques there are many benefits for the self and the ecosystem.’”
Read more about how guerrilla gardening can bring beauty, wellbeing, community and more
LITTLE BYTES
Other Essential Reading and Videos for the Week
California Bill to Ban Food Chemicals Is a Win for Environmental Justice
Brain-Eating Bacteria Aren’t as Threatening as Toxic Algae Blooms
What Native Americans Knew About Medicine Long Before There Were Drugstores
Are Food Tokens in Your Future?
At Sea as on Land? Activists Oppose Industrial Farming in U.S. Waters
Most AI Research Shouldn’t Be Publicly Released
The Grassroots Project That’s Restoring an Endangered Hawaiian Ecosystem
Indigenous Farmers Hope Their Knowledge of Regenerative Practices Can Influence Others
Hallmarks of Alzheimer’s Are Stimulated by This Substance