What’s
scarier: the costume or the chocolate?

PRODUCT
PLUNDER OF THE WEEK:
IT’S SCARY —

The scariest thing about Halloween this year won’t be the costumes…
it’s the chocolate. Almost half of the world’s cocoa is being
produced on West African plantations where, according to the
UN’s International Labor Organization, 284,000 child laborers
"are either involved in hazardous work, unprotected, or
have been trafficked." Say no to the chocolate industry’s
ghoulish links to child slavery by buying Fair Trade and organic
chocolate.

• Help
  educate people about this important issue by sending a letter
  to the editor of your local newspaper here: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/pickMedia.jsp?letter_KEY=576
• Host
  a slavery-free Halloween house party to distribute trick-or-treat
  sized Fair Trade chocolate minis to your friends and neighbors.
  Fair Trade trick-or-treat kits: http://store.gxonlinestore.org/trickortreatkit.html
• Order
  Fair Trade chocolate minis for your Halloween party or trick-or-treaters:
  http://equalexchange.stores.yahoo.net/organiccocoa.html
• Help
  us publicize the slavery-free Halloween campaign by letting
  us know about your house party. Contact: alexis@organicconsumers.org

We
rely on your donations to continue our work on these important issues!


/old_articles/donations.htm

DVD
OF THE WEEK:
CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE 2006 ELECTIONS
Global warming might be a grim subject, but we think that you
will find this 28-minute DVD uplifting. The theme that resonates
throughout the DVD is that climate change must be a prominent
part of the 2006 election agenda. The film features authors
Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Kolbert and Ross Gelbspan; students;
and a broad spectrum of people determined to fight for a clean
energy future. "There is absolutely no time to waste. The
midterm elections in 2006 are not a moment too soon to begin,"
says Kolbert. The film offers ideas for concerned voters to
help their candidates get active on this important issue. It’s
great for House Parties and Community Screenings. For a $10
donation, the OCA will send you this important film today. As
an extra bonus we’ll send you the DVD video on buying local
and organic called "The True Cost of Food."
Learn more: /old_articles/climateaction.cfm

TIP
OF THE WEEK:
AVOID FACTORY FARMED SALMON
A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences makes a convincing case that salmon farms
are killing off wild salmon."Before we knew there were potential
problems," said Martin Krkosek, a doctoral student at the
University of Alberta who was lead author of the study. "Now
it is very clear we have severe problems here." The study
found that salmon farms are massive breeding grounds for parasites
known as sea lice. The parasites then concentrate in rivers and
streams and kill the young salmon who do not have scales to protect
themselves. Most salmon farms are located in Canada, where 280
salmon farms produce about 96,000 tons of salmon each year. About
70 percent goes U.S. consumers. The study, which confirms previous
findings, is the most comprehensive to date. Responding to this
study and similar past study results, Andrew Thomson, Canada’s
government head of Pacific fisheries, said, "We need to do
more research on it." Farmed salmon is also known to have
higher levels of PCBs than wild salmon.
Learn more: /old_articles/2006/article_3015.cfm

Photo
parody

SCAM
OF THE WEEK:
INDENTURED SCIENTISTS CLAIM EXCESSIVE SALT IS OK
The prestigious Journal of the American College of Nutrition
(JACN) has published several studies claiming that excessive
salt consumption is not as bad for your health as was previously
determined. The published studies have since received press
attention all over the U.S. It has now been revealed that the
guest editor of that particular issue of the journal Dr. Alexander
G. Logan, was a paid consultant to the salt industry. The regular
editors of JACN also allowed the piece to be edited by a sodium
committee stacked with representatives from Frito-Lay, Heinz,
Kraft, and Proctor & Gamble. Several of the studies were
written by past and current consultants to the Salt Institute,
which is the industry’s lobbying arm. JACN has since apologized
for not disclosing this information and for publishing studies
that it now confesses were not even peer-reviewed, which is
supposed to be standard protocol for publishing any study.
Learn
more: /old_articles/2006/article_2993.cfm