Imagine holding a receipt for just 10 seconds and exposing yourself to toxic chemicals that can increase your risk of obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.

Unfortunately, this is a reality for many people who handle receipts daily. Bisphenols, including BPA and its replacements, are commonly used in receipts and can be absorbed through the skin, posing a significant health risk.

The Science is clear:  Bisphenols are toxic.

Research has shown that bisphenol exposure can have devastating health effects, including genetic changes, neurological problems, and increased risk of disease. Bisphenols have been linked to diabetes, obesity, and even cancer. In fact, a recent study found that bisphenol exposure predicted diabetes and obesity in children and adolescents.

The good news is that some states are taking action to protect their residents from these toxic chemicals. Washington State has become the first state to ban bisphenols in receipts, and we can follow its lead.

By passing a Safer Products Act, as Washington has done, we can phase out bisphenols, phthalates, pesticides, and PFAS, and reduce the health-related costs that these toxic chemicals impose on our communities. It’s time for every state to take action and protect its residents from the dangers of bisphenol exposure.

By working together, we can create a safer, healthier future for ourselves and our communities.

TAKE ACTION TODAY! Tell your state legislators to pass a Safer Products Act and ban toxic bisphenols!

Learn more

Organic farming is not just better for our health and the environment, but it also has the potential to revitalize rural economies and communities. By supporting organic agriculture, we can create jobs, raise incomes, and promote sustainable farming practices.

Organic practices also make farms more resilient to extreme weather patterns and climate change. In fact, a study found that organic hotspots, which are counties with a high number of organic farms and businesses, tend to have lower poverty rates and higher median household incomes.

There are two bills that aim to support organic farmers: the Opportunities in Organic Act and the Organic Dairy Assistance, Investment, and Reporting Yields Act (O DAIRY) Act.

These bills would provide assistance and incentives for organic farmers, including increased funding for organic certification and technical assistance to help create create a more healthy, human centered food system that will encourage biodiversity and benefits both our communities and the environment.

Considering how effective organic agriculture is as an economic development tool, it’s surprising how little Congress and the USDA do to support it.

In 2018, the last year a proper Farm Bill was passed, of the $209 billion in annual farm program spending, organic’s share wasn’t even visible in a pie chart.
At just about $180 million, the sliver is just too small.

We need to let Congress know organic agriculture is vital to out future!

TAKE ACTION to support the Opportunities in Organic Act and the Organic Dairy Assistance, Investment, and Reporting Yields (O DAIRY) Act!

Learn more

Hatty Willmoth, Science Focus:

“Eating oats – and not much else – for two days straight can have lasting benefits for your metabolic health, according to a recent study.

A group of 17 adults ate 300g (10.5oz) of oatmeal per day, made with water rather than milk and optionally topped with fruit or vegetables, and nothing else, for two days.

As a result, the participants lost around 2kg (4.4lbs) of weight each, and their LDL (‘bad’) cholesterol fell by 10 per cent on average. Gut health and blood pressure also improved, with these gains still evident six weeks later.

Researchers from the University of Bonn, Germany, compared this brief intervention with a longer, six-week diet in which another 17 participants added 80g (2.8oz) of oats per day to their usual meals.

That longer approach proved less effective, suggesting the metabolic benefits seen in the study were driven by the short, intensive oat-only phase rather than simply adding oats to an otherwise normal diet.”

Thanks to interactions between bacteria and oats in the gut – a short-term oat diet could be a cheap, sustainable and effective way to target metabolic syndrome

Michelle Perro, MD, GMO Science:

“For decades, Americans have been assured that two of the world’s most controversial chemicals are ‘safe in small amounts.’ One is fluoride, intentionally added to public water supplies to prevent tooth decay. The other is glyphosate, the main ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, used on everything from corn and soy to suburban lawns.

Yet almost no one has asked the most important question: what happens when these two chemicals meet?

It turns out they form a partnership that neither regulators nor the public fully understands. Once they come into contact with a common third player, aluminum, the trio can create a complex molecule that alters how the body performs some of its most fundamental biochemical tasks.



The Al–F–Glyphosate complex should be a wake‑up call. It proves that familiar chemicals can combine in unexpected ways inside the human body. The stakes are high because these molecules touch the most basic functions of life; how cells make energy, how nerves communicate, and how the brain develops.”

Learn about these two everyday chemicals with hidden, potentially dangerous, interactions

By now you know that everyday products can contain toxic chemicals like bisphenols, which have been linked to serious health problems and if you follow our work you know organic farming offers a promising solution for healthier communities and a pesticide free, organic and regenerative environment.

At the Organic Consumers Association, we are working to create a better food system for all, with the help of our supporters like you.

Can you help us advance our work to support a Safer Products Act that phases out toxic chemicals like bisphenols; advocate for policies and practices that strengthen organic farming and rural development; and empower people to urge their representatives to prioritize organic agriculture in Farm Bill programs?

Please consider making a donation to help transform our current degenerative food system into one that is healthier, organic, regenerative, and just. Together we can help restore biodiversity, strengthen communities, and sustain a secure food system for generations to come.

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

Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization

Have you considered making a gift from your IRA?

by Steve Paulson, Nautilus:

“Plants are intelligent beings with profound wisdom to impart—if only we know how to listen. And Monica Gagliano knows how to listen. The evolutionary ecologist has done groundbreaking experiments suggesting plants have the capacity to learn, remember, and make choices.

That’s not all. Gagliano, a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney in Australia, talks to plants. And they talk back. Plants summon her with instructions on how to live and work. Some of Gagliano’s conversations happened in prophetic dreams, which led her to study with a shaman in Peru while tripping on psychoactive plants.

Along with forest scientists like Suzanne Simard and Peter Wohlleben, Gagliano raises profound scientific and philosophical questions about the nature of intelligence and the possibility of ‘vegetal consciousness.’ But what’s unusual about Gagliano is her willingness to talk about her experiences with shamans and traditional healers, along with her use of psychedelics. For someone who’d already received fierce pushback from other scientists, it was hardly a safe career move to reveal her personal experiences in otherworldly realms.”



Read why Gagliano considers her explorations in non-Western ways of seeing the world to be part of her scientific work

by Priyanjana Pramanik, MSc., News Medical Life Sciences:

“In a recent study published in BMC Public Health, researchers investigated the joint and individual effects of air pollution exposure and dietary antioxidants on concentration and memory in young female Iranian students.

Higher levels of dietary antioxidants and lower exposure to air pollution were both significantly associated with better concentration performance, with air pollution showing the most consistent association across fully adjusted statistical models, while no significant interaction or direct association was observed for short-term memory outcomes.



Overall, while antioxidant-rich diets may support attentional function in polluted environments, exposure to environmental pollution appears to play a more dominant and consistent role in shaping concentration outcomes.”



This study provides novel insights into the independent roles of air pollution and dietary antioxidant capacity in children’s cognitive performance

READ: “Health Advocates Sound Alarm as EPA Works To Loosen Pollution Standard”

Brandon Marcus, AOL:

“Something strange is happening in gardens, farms, and backyard beds across the country, and seasoned growers are starting to sound the alarm. Plants look healthy one week and suddenly struggle the next, harvests shrink for no obvious reason, and once-reliable soil starts acting like it has a mind of its own. Gardening experts aren’t pointing to bugs or bad seeds this time—they’re pointing underground.

The issue isn’t flashy, dramatic, or easy to spot, which makes it even more dangerous for everyday gardeners. In 2026, soil health is becoming one of the biggest hidden threats to successful gardening, and ignoring it could cost you entire seasons of growth.

The Real Problem Isn’t Dirt — It’s Dead Soil

Healthy soil isn’t just dirt; it’s a living ecosystem full of microbes, fungi, bacteria, organic matter, air pockets, and nutrients working together. Experts warn that more soil is becoming biologically ‘dead,’ meaning it lacks the microorganisms plants rely on to absorb nutrients.” 



This happens when soil gets compacted, stripped of organic matter, or repeatedly treated with harsh chemicals that disrupt microbial life

Make Your State the First to Ban Monsanto’s Roundup Weedkiller!

Carey Gillam, Unspun:

“Daniele Mandrioli should have seen it coming. Maybe he did.

As the chief scientist overseeing a sweeping multi-pronged study of the safety of glyphosate, a widely used weed-killing agent used in Roundup, Mandrioli was daring to touch the third rail, metaphorically speaking.

Studying the health effects of glyphosate – a pesticide brought to farms, parks, playgrounds and backyards by Monsanto Co. more than 50 years ago – has long been a dangerous move for many scientists. 

Mandrioli learned that lesson recently when he lost his job leading the renowned Ramazzini Institute Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center, which operates out of a historic Italian castle near Bologna produces research on the health effects of more than 200 compounds.”



Mandrioli has prominently touted the results of the glyphosate studies done to date, which didn’t look good for Monsanto’s German owner Bayer AG

Urgent Action Alert: Tell the EPA to Ban Glyphosate Now!

IFOAM Organics International:

“More than 250 participants from around the world joined an essential webinar aimed at debunking widely circulated myths about organic agriculture.
The event featured speakers from FiBL, the Robin Food Coalition, and the Inter-Continental Network of Organic Farmers Organisations (INOFO), each bringing perspectives rooted in policy and market advocacy, scientific research, and community-based knowledge:

• Volkert Engelsman, Founder, Robin Food Coalition
• Harun Cicek, Deputy Leader of the Group Agroecosystem Innovation & Adoption, FiBL
• Julitza Nieves, Central America & Caribbean Convenor, INOFO

Moderated by Julia Lernoud, IFOAM – Organics International World Board member, the session addressed widespread misinformation about organic and underscored the true meaning of the term. Throughout the discussion, speakers highlighted how organic practices create tangible and positive impacts on the environment, health, and the well-being of those who grow our food.

The strong attendance and dynamic discussion highlighted how deeply this topic resonates across the organic community.”

It also reflected a shared desire to deepen understanding of the scientific, environmental, and cultural dimensions, and the full potential of organic agriculture

The Human Cost of Monopolies: Farmers, Workers, and Rural Communities

Exercise Can Actually Make Your Brain Look Younger, MRI Scans Reveal

Industry-Backed Study Led by Yale Expert Finds Most Olive Oil Is Pure

Costco Faces a Class-Action Lawsuit Over Its Rotisserie Chicken

What Does a Small Town Do When the Water Is Undrinkable?

Common Plastic Chemical BPA Found To Feminize Males and Masculinize Females

USDA Organic Board Rejects Compostable Polymers, Puts Paper on Watch

Neonicotinoid Insecticides Cause Deadly Overheating Behavior in Honey Bees, Study Finds

People Are Protesting AI Data Centers, and It’s Scrambling Political Lines

‘Pesticide Cocktails’ Polluting Apples Across Europe, Study Finds

Democrat or Republican, Americans Want Their National Forests Kept Intact

Ocean Heat Goes Ballistic

New Cottage Food Law in Michigan: In Addition to Sales by the Producer Direct to the Consumer, It Will Allow In-State Sales to Consumers by Internet, Mail Order, or Delivery Through a Third-Party Food Delivery Platform

Disappearing Insects Could Mean Far Worse Than Pricier Coffee and Chocolate

The EPA Wants To Eliminate One of the Few Ways That Tribes Can Protect Their Water