2.You Can Thank Industrial Agriculture for E. Coli
GM WATCH COMMENT: The campaign of lies over the spinach-related E. coli outbreak in the States continues.
EXTRACTS: "I was visiting my sister in Wisconsin when news broke about the deadly E. coli outbreak linked to contaminated spinach from an organic farming operation in California. It killed a woman in Wisconsin and sickened hundreds...
...it occurred to me that the people who died and those who suffered have also been victimized by a shrewd propaganda campaign run by activist groups that oppose the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers." (ITEM 1)
"The nine bags of baby spinach now linked by DNA testing to the outbreak were 'conventionally grown spinach and not organic.'" (ITEM 2)
For more on the campaign of lies see AGBIOVIEW'S WORLD OF GAMMON AND SPINACH
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7066
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1.Let's Force-Feed Activists Some Social Responsibility
By Nick Nichols
Townhall, October 11, 2006
If you have read my columns about the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) movement or have heard me speak, then you already know that I think the corporate Neville Chamberlains who buy into this socialist claptrap should be held accountable at the next shareholders meeting and issued a one-way ticket to the unemployment office. That said, I must admit that I recently experienced an epiphany about social responsibility thanks to Spinacia oleracea - that dark green, leafy vegetable that Popeye made famous.
I was visiting my sister in Wisconsin when news broke about the deadly E. coli outbreak linked to contaminated spinach from an organic farming operation in California. It killed a woman in Wisconsin and sickened hundreds across the country. We now know that other deaths have been attributed to the infected spinach, as well.
The victims have already filed law suits against the organic farmer. They will have their day in court. But it occurred to me that the people who died and those who suffered have also been victimized by a shrewd propaganda campaign run by activist groups that oppose the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.
For decades, American consumers have been bombarded with messages from activist groups claiming that organic foods are safer, healthier and better for the environment. Today, organic products command shelf space in supermarkets across the country. But the activists never mentioned that using cow manure instead of synthetic fertilizers poses risks, including E. coli contamination. They also failed to tell consumers that drinking raw dairy products and un-pasteurized juice is like playing Russian roulette with some very nasty pathogens. Now, hundreds of people are paying a steep price for being misinformed.
Ironically, many of the same chemistry-bashing activist groups involved in promoting organic agriculture were also responsible for an even more deadly propaganda barrage which succeeded in pressuring weak-kneed government officials throughout the world to impose a nearly complete ban on the pesticide DDT the most effective mosquito killer known to man. Thanks, in part, to their handiwork, many millions of people mostly children have died of malaria in Africa and other mosquito-infested areas. After more than three decades of this human travesty, the World Health Organization (WHO) only recently lifted its ban on DDT.
But that is not the end of this deadly saga. Environmental activists, food purists and anti-technology Luddites have also launched a baseless, scare-them-to-death lobbying campaign aimed at crops produced through biotechnology. The results? Food crops that scientists developed to enhance nutrition and yields, and to reduce the need for pest control, have been denied to millions of people who face malnutrition and starvation as part of their daily lives.
Will Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club, and the Environmental Defense Fund, to name a few, accept social responsibility for their unique brand of population control? Don't hold your breath.
So, here is my spinach epiphany. I believe it is time to hold the activists to the same standards that they have imposed on corporations. As American taxpayers, let's demand that in order to receive tax-exempt privileges and government grants, activist groups must annually publish social responsibility reports that focus on the true impact of the policies and practices they have successfully promoted. The reports should also contain information about the concrete steps each group has taken to actually improve the environment and enhance the quality of life for human beings. I am not talking about the number of news releases issued, or protests organized or lobbyists sent to pressure government officials. I am referring to quantifiable actions to clean up the environment and help real people. It's time for facts, not hype.
I do not believe it is asking too much to hold activist groups socially responsible for their actions? Given their track record, more than a simple apology is long overdue.
*Nick currently develops and teaches graduate-level crisis management courses at the Johns Hopkins University and co-author of Rules for Corporate Warriors: How to Fight and Survive Attack Group Shakedown. [ADDITIONAL INFO FROM GM WATCH: Until September 2003, Nick Nichols was a partner in the PR firm Nichols-Dezenhall. In a leaked presentation to pork-producers Nichols quoted Al Capone, 'You can get more with a smile, a kind word and a gun than with a smile and a kind word', and George Carlin, 'If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten!' Nicholls advised the pork-producers they should, 'Fight like guerillas' and 'Take no prisoners'.]
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2.You Can Thank Industrial Agriculture for E. Coli
by Abrahan Paulos
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1012-32.htm
The recent E. coli bacteria scare has had grocery stores, both local and nationwide, pulling spinach off their shelves and throwing it away. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the State of California have determined that the spinach implicated in the outbreak grew in California counties. The first illness associated with this outbreak occurred on August 2, although most illnesses reported to date cluster from August 26 to September 12.
To date, 183 cases of illness due to E. coli have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) -including 29 of a form of kidney failure called Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) -as well as 95 hospitalizations and one death (FDA).
E. coli is usually a harmless bacterium that is abundant in the digestive systems of healthy cattle and humans, and if your spinach salad happened to be carrying the average E. coli, the acid in your gut is usually enough to kill it. Although most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, some people can develop HUS. HUS is most likely to occur in young children and the elderly, which was the case of the only death in the recent outbreak, of a 77-year-old woman in Wisconsin.*
E. coli O157-H7 is a by-product of grain-based feeding to dairy and beef cattle in an attempt to fatten them up quicker at a lower cost. The cow's digestive system and acid balance is designed to break down grass, not high-production, refined rations that is the practice of large-scale, industrial agriculture. Irrigation water can also carry E. coli contamination; fields can be contaminated with raw sewage from flooding. This recent outbreak, and past deadly problems with contaminated meat, are a direct by-product of producing cheap, unhealthy cattle.
The agricultural area of California where this latest contamination crisis originated, produces 74 percent of the fresh-market spinach grown in the United States, and many other fresh-market vegetables. It is contiguous to many Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, managing thousands of dairy cows.
The nine bags of baby spinach now linked by DNA testing to outbreak were "conventionally grown spinach and not organic." They came from one of the farms that supplies spinach to Natural Selection and were sold under the Dole label, according to Samantha Cabaluna, spokeswoman for Natural Selection.
This problem is suggestive of large-scale, industrial agriculture.
The concentration of much of the nation's food supply in a given region, and the accelerated increase in imports from developing countries, puts our nation's food security and health at risk. Also many of the pathogens now penetrating the food chain due to industrial agricultural practices are becoming resistant to many antibiotics due to their widespread use in livestock production. This industrial farming is the reason E. coli quickly spread to 20 states.
The safety that a locally based food system provides is clear. Not only could the spinach have been tracked and the outbreak contained quickly if it was locally grown, local farmers and their facilities could have been visited and assessed in a much more timely manner.
Regardless of scale, all organic food has a compulsory inspection required, so tracing back a product in the event of food contamination or questions of certification are achievable. This compulsory inspection trail does not exist for conventional food. When growing organic food, the application of raw manure is strictly regulated and sewage sludge is prohibited. Most organic manure is composted prior to application, a practice that greatly reduces risk and improves environmental protection.
Can E. coli-free spinach be grown locally, safely, and healthy much of the year? Yes indeed, it is now being done by small and medium-sized producers in the Midwest and throughout much of the Northeast. So, what's stopping the growth? Easy. Artificial economies, subsidies, and compromises in quality in a greedy and harmful effort to produce cheaper and cheaper food.
Abraham Paulos is the communications assistant at WHY (World Hunger Year). Founded in 1975, WHY is a leader in the fight against hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world. www.worldhungeryear.org