“Organic agriculture can feed the world, turn back climate change and make food production more resilient to droughts and floods. Organic agriculture can do it with biodiversity instead of biotech, greenhouse gas sequestration instead of emissions, natural pest management instead of toxic pesticides, humus-rich compost instead of fossil fuel fertilizers and sewage sludge, more family farmers and better conditions for farm workers.”

“The question of which agriculture model will dominate food production is a question we only have one opportunity to answer. Once a seed or animal variety is extinct or contaminated with foreign genes, we will never get it back. In an age when a billion people are stuffed while a billion people are starved, most people on the planet suffer from either poor nutrition, exposure to toxic ingredients, diet-related diseases, or all three. Agriculture is a life and death issue for all of us.”

“So, which side is the Obama Administration on?”

-Alexis Baden-Mayer, “Obama Supports Food Inc.’s World Domination and All We Get Is the White House Garden?” October 23, 2009

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From Karme Choling’€™s organic vegetable garden in Barnet, VT…

This photo was taken by Michelle at the Karme Choling organic farm in Barnett, Vermont!

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Post them in the OCA Forum!

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Last week, we reported on cutting-edge research by the Rodale Institute demonstrating that by transitioning all of the world’s farmland to organic, we could sequester 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As Rodale and more and more soil scientists are pointing out, if we could combine a mass transition to organic agriculture with restorative grazing and forestry, we could sequester 100% of global greenhouse gas emissions!

It’s great to know we have a time-tested, low-tech, grassroots organic solution for global warming and climate chaos, but the burning question is how do we launch and supercharge this food, farming, and forestry revolution in time to save the planet? The Swedes have come up with a simple but revolutionary idea to actively mobilize consumers to do the right thing and strike a blow against global warming and chemical/GMO/energy-intensive agriculture, processing, and distribution: new food labels on grocery store and restaurant items listing the specific carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions embedded in each product.

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Days after President Obama declared the swine flu a national emergency, his Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a joint consumer warning on products claiming swine flu prevention or cures. A joint warning letter was also sent to websites and companies demanding they stop selling or stop making false claims about their products or they will face criminal and civil charges.

The dragnet of swine flu scams was so broad that it caught up Dr. Andrew Weil, one of the best-known and most trusted alternative medicine doctors in America. He was forced to remove information from his site about his Immune Support Formula, which contains astragalus, “traditionally used to ward off colds and flu and has demonstrated both antiviral and immune-boosting effects in scientific investigation.”

The irony is that the declaration of a national swine flu emergency allows the FDA to authorize “the emergency use of certain unapproved and uncleared products.” The FDA has already authorized the emergency use of the “investigational antiviral drug” peramivir and will likely rush other untested drugs to market.

The FDA admits there is limited safety data on peramivir, and has mandated that healthcare providers report all adverse events and all medication errors associated with peramivir to FDA’s MedWatch program within seven days. In effect, all swine flu patients administered peramivir are participating in human trials of an experimental drug. So far, adverse events in patients given peramivir have included diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and neutropenia. (According to Wikipedia, neutropenia is a “disorder characterized by an abnormally low number of neutrophils, the most important type of white blood cell … [P]atients with neutropenia are more susceptible to bacterial infections and, without prompt medical attention, the condition may become life-threatening).

Astragalus bad, peramivir good? It’s hard to trust an FDA that “protects” the public from from time-tested natural herbal supplements while rushing untested pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines to market!

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In an ambitious power grab, corporate agribusiness is trying to write itself into the Ohio constitution. Small farmers and other concerned citizens across the state are trying to prevent that threat from becoming a reality on Election Day on November 3rd.

While masquerading as an attempt to improve food safety and animal welfare, Issue 2 would give a board of political appointees unchecked power to decide any and all regulations related to animal agriculture. The board could make decisions that radically shift policy in any direction on issues like the use of antibiotics and growth hormones, genetically engineered animals, cloned animals, animal ID and traceability, and factory farm zoning reguations.

Please volunteer to contact voters and hang door hangers: info[at]ohioact.org

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