In Mendocino County, California, organic consumers, companies, and farmers
have taken it upon themselves to gather enough signatures to place an
initiative on the coming March 2004 ballot to make GE crops illegal within
the county. Last Wednesday, the group turned in over 3,000 signatures,
which should enable them to qualify for the ballot. Although biotech companies
are preparing to blitz the county with pro-GE PR, Mendocino residents
are vowing to keep GE contamination out of the county’s strong organic
produce and beverage industry. /old_articles/ge/CAballot100303.cfm

Somerton Tanks Farm in Philadelphia is proving that organic farming can
be profitable in just about any setting — even in an urban area. Located
on a small half acre, the inner city farm is selling its organic produce
and salad mixes to local restaurants. It looks like Sommerton Tanks will
be grossing around $25,000 in its first year, and doubling that in its
second year. "We wanted to prove that a city person who didn’t have
a lot of resources could, in fact, practice urban agriculture and be successful
at it," said Roxanne Christensen, a volunteer accountant for the
operation. /old_articles/organic/philly100303.cfm

TAKING OVER THE WORLD (KRAFT/PHILIP MORRIS)
The OCA, along with the GE Food Alert (GEFA) network is coordinating a
nationwide Week of Action to pressure Kraft foods, the world’s largest
food distributor (and offshoot of the tobacco giant Phillip Morris), into
going GE-free. We’ve been watching Kraft closely for more than two years,
since we found illegal traces of Starlink corn in their Taco Bell products
(a genetically modified corn that the USDA has deemed unsafe for human
consumption), forcing them into a multimillion dollar recall of their
tainted products. Rallies and leafleting events will be held at Kraft
production facilities and grocery stores across the U.S. during the week
of October 25 through November 1. We’ve made it incredibly easy for you
to get involved locally. Take 30 seconds and sign up here: http://organicconsumers.org/Kraft/
,
Or contact the OCA office directly at 218-226-4164.

In the UK, the most expansive public opinion survey on GE foods has finally
been completed. The survey conclusions result from more than 650 public
meetings and 37,000 questionnaires. The survey summary is rocking the
UK government, which has recently begun discussing opening the UK’s borders
to GE foods. Only 8% of the public said they felt comfortable eating GE
foods and a landslide 54% said the UK should never permit the planting
of GE crops. /old_articles/ge/brits100303.cfm

The Bush Administration has initiated a new federal policy that eliminates
a farmer’s right to sue a pesticide company if the chemical doesn’t do
what it claims to do or destroys the farmer’s crops. This is a major setback
for U.S. farmers and a massive victory for pesticide companies who sell
two billion gallons of chemicals to U.S. farmers every year (a $33 billion
global industry). /old_articles/foodsafety/bushpesticides100703.cfm

Paris, France — Starbucks is boldly preparing to open its first outlet
in the coffee connoisseur and café capital of the world. French
Starbucks subsidiary president Franck Esquerre says, "We are not
trying to compete with the traditional Parisian cafe. We bring a different
concept." His words have not soothed the nerves of coffee café
owners in Paris, given the fact that the gargantuan coffee-shop chain
has swallowed up "mom and pop" coffee shops all around the world,
now boasting more than 7,000 stores in 30 countries. /old_articles/starbucks/paris100103.cfm

Organic hamburgers have now replaced conventional burgers in all University
of Wisconsin student cafeterias. Produced by local farmers and distributed
to the schools by Organic Valley, a nationwide farm coop, the organic
beef is only the first step towards meeting student demands for more organic
food in the cafeterias. "We’re a land-grant university that’s supposed
to be supporting local farmers and reducing environmental impact,"
said John Hendrickson, senior outreach specialist for the Center for Integrated
Agricultural Systems. Serving as another shining example of the explosive
growth in demand for organic foods, the University Housing Food Service
said it also plans to serve all-organic salads, but cannot, as of yet,
find enough local organic farmers to supply their demand. /old_articles/organic/uw100303.cfm

On a secret farm in northeastern Colorado, an experimental genetically
engineered pharmaceutical corn is being grown that can never be eaten
and is so dangerous, no other crops can be grown within a mile radius.
The plant is still in its development phase, but has such a high risk
of reeking havoc on the environment, human health and the agricultural
economy, it is being grown in an undisclosed location more than 3,000
miles away from the company who "invented" it. According to
toxicologist Suzanne Wuerthele, "Producing pharmaceutical compounds
in food crops is a really, really bad idea. The chance of it contaminating
the food supply is great, and once that happens, it will destroy our export
markets." /old_articles/ge/biopharm093003.cfm

Despite promises made during last year’s presidential campaign, President
Lula da Silva has opened, at least temporarily, Brazil’s borders to Monsanto’s
GE soybeans. Brazil is the second largest soybean producer in the world
and is expected to take over the U.S. #1 position by next year. Although
Brazilian consumers and farmers are overwhelmingly opposed to allowing
GE soybeans to be legally grown in the country, the producer of the GE
seeds, Monsanto, stands to make substantial profits on the deal and has
been "pressuring" the Brazilian President to ignore the demands
of his constituency. The Brazilian President was ultimately "convinced"
by a triad of pressure groups: the powerful soybean lobby in southern
Brazil (many of whom have already been growing GE soybean seeds smuggled
into the country from Argentina), the U.S. Embassy, and Monsanto (who
have been threatening to sue Brazil and its farmers) to permit the GE
soybeans. Lula arranged for the announcement to be made while he was out
of the country-forcing his Vice President Jose Alencar to make the controversial
announcement. Alencar at first resisted signing the decree, saying it
violated Brazil’s laws, but President da Silva pressured him from New
York, stating the Vice President "knows what he has to do, and he
will do it." Grudgingly, Brazil’s VP signed the decree papers, saying,
"The next time, I’m going to be the one who travels." In the
short time since the decree has been signed, its legality has been challenged
on several fronts, including Brazil’s Attorney General Claudio Fontelles,
arguing that the Executive Order to allow GE soybeans is unconstitutional.
/old_articles/ge/brazil100103.cfm