1.Tainted Spinach Update
2.Sinister Spinach [via AgBioView]
3.The E. Coli Spinach Contamination Issue: Media Talking Points
GM WATCH COMMENT: There's been a nasty e-coli outbreak in the States linked to fresh spinach, and the usual suspects have gone into immediate overdrive in an attempt to blame it onto organic farming.
From item 1 it seems they've jumped the gun.
The 'Sinister Spinach' piece - item 2 - topped the latest GM-promoting AgBioView bulletin from CS Prakash, while the GM-loving Hudson Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which enjoy Monsanto's backing, are said to be busy trying to exploit the situation (item 3).
For Craig Sams' demolition of the kind of false claims repeatedly put out by the Hudson Institute, see
http://www.ewg.org/reports/givemeafake/craigsams.html
For more of the background, see 'Dennis Avery's full of horsesh*t'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6986
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1.Tainted Spinach Update
NewsChannel 3, Sep 19, 2006
http://www.wtkr.com/Global/story.asp?S=5422761&nav=ZolHbyvj
Monday the investigation into the e-coli tainted spinach revealed only conventionally grown spinach is affected. None of the people who became sick ate organic spinach.
To understand the difference between organic and conventionally grown we went to New Earth Farm in Virginia Beach.
John Wilson has been following organic practices since the 1970's. First thing he wanted to show us was his compost pile. "That's what makes my spinach healthy. There are organisms in there, aerobic, oxygen breathing organisms. You give them the advantage they out compete the disease organisms."
Wilson believes the source of the e-coli will likely turn out to be cow manure. That's what a lot of conventional growers use. "Cow manure is the primary source of e-coli according to most research. Organic growers are not allowed to put raw manure on the field."
Wilson is waiting for his fall spinach to grow. He'll probably plant a few extra beds now that everyone needs spinach.
At Virginia Garden Organic Grocery in The Virginia Beach Farmer's Market they've cleared out all their spinach. "Just as a precaution." They do have some tasty alternatives including kale, collards, and Swiss chard. Once organic spinach is available they'll stock it again.
Wilson hopes to have it to them in a few weeks. I asked the important question. "Is your spinach safe? Yes my spinach is safe."
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2.Sinister Spinach [via AgBioView]
New York Sun Editorial, September 18, 2006
http://www.nysun.com/article/39839
This just in from the federal Food and Drug Administration - and, as Dave Barry would say, we're not making this up: "FDA advises consumers to not eat fresh spinach or fresh spinach-containing products until further notice."
That's right, spinach - that health food endorsed by everyone from your mother to Popeye the Sailor Man - is now a health threat. Why, next thing you know, tobacco will turn out to be good for you.
Spinach features prominently in "The Miracle Foods Cookbook: Easy, Low-Cost Recipes and Menus That Help You Lose Weight, Fight Disease, and Slow the Aging Process." The American Cancer Society Web site features a recipe for Saint Anthony Hotel's Famous Spinach Pudding. Of the American Heart Association's Web site's "Top Ten Food Tips," three of them identify spinach by name and advise consumers to eat it.
Yet suddenly, according to the FDA, spinach ”” or, more precisely, the E. Coli bacteria that it carries ”” causes diarrhea that can lead to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, "serious kidney damage and even death." The FDA says it hasn't yet determined whether the problem is confined to organic spinach, but the spinach producer that has recalled much of its product has several organic brands.
It wouldn't surprise us one bit were it to turn out that the E. Coli bacteria came from manure that is being used instead of chemical fertilizer.
In an effort to avoid the imagined health threats of chemical fertilizer, farmers and consumers are using bacteria-laden manure. In an effort to avoid the imagined health threats of radiation, the organic spinach isn't irradiated to kill the harmful bacteria, either.
So now hundreds of Americans are suffering, millions of dollars worth of spinach is being thrown away, and at least one person is reported to have died. The spinach scare comes the weekend that the World Health Organization recommended the use of DDT to fight malaria in Africa. In the 24 years since the chemical pesticide was banned in America because of health concerns, millions of African children have died of malaria.
The harm from organic spinach will likely be on a much smaller scale, but the principles may well be the same. Chemicals, radiation, and technology aren't always bad, but can actually lead to better health. What's "natural" - whether they are malarial mosquitoes or bacterialaden manure - isn't always best for your health. And the politically correct public health bureaucrats are usually a good decade or two behind the times.
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3.The E. Coli Spinach Contamination Issue: Media Talking Points
From Cornucopia Institute
9/17/2006 5:45:00 PM
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=72587
To: National Desk, Health Reporter
Contact: Mark Kastel of Cornucopia Institute, 608-625-2042
CORNUCOPIA, Wis., Sept. 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following information is a counter to the attempt by right-wing think tanks (the Hudson Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, etc.) who are already trying to exploit the spinach E. coli contamination crisis to discredit organic farming practices, according to The Cornucopia Institute. Think tank funding for much of this activity comes from Monsanto, DuPont and other agrichemical manufacturers.
Unless otherwise identified all discussion points can be attributed to The Cornucopia Institute's Senior Farm Policy Analyst, Mark A. Kastel.
1. Organic farming protects humans, livestock and environment from dangerous profit-motivated industrial agricultural practices
-- A University of Minnesota study, published in the May 2004 issue of Journal of Food Protection, concluded that there was no statistical difference between contamination in vegetables grown on conventional and organic Minnesota farms, with chemical fertilizer and composted manure, respectively.
2. Risks from industrial concentration/factory-farming
-- According to an FDA letter to growers (November 2005): "The FDA is aware of 18 outbreaks of foodborne illness since 1995 caused by Escherichia coli 0157:H7 for which fresh or fresh cut- lettuce was implicated as the outbreak vehicle."
-- This area of California, where this latest crisis originated, produces the majority of the country's spinach and many other fresh-market vegetables. It is contiguous to many CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) managing thousands of dairy cows each.
-- E. coli and other pathogens are known to migrate onto neighboring farms by contamination of surface water and groundwater and/or by becoming airborne through blowing dust from feedlots or farm fields where manure has been spread.
-- The FDA's November 2005 letter continued: "E. coli O157-H7 was isolated from sediment in an irrigation canal bordering a ranch that had been identified in three separate outbreaks."
-- "To get this many people sick, it's got to be the water," said William Marler, a Seattle attorney who is representing 25 victims of the outbreak. "Thirty years ago, if you bought contaminated lettuce or spinach, just your family would get sick. Now it's a nationwide outbreak."
-- E. coli O157-H7 is a by-product of grain-based feeding to ruminants (dairy and beef cattle) to fatten them quicker and at a lower cost. The cow's digestive system (and acid balance) evolved to break down grass, not high-production, refined rations. This health crisis, and past problems with contaminated meat, is a by- product of producing unhealthy cattle.
-- The majority of all animal manure, as well as municipal sewage sludge (human waste), in this country is spread on conventional crops.
3. Organic safeguards
-- Organic food has a mandatory, required audit trail, so trace-back in the event of food contamination or certification questions are possible. This audit trail does not exist for conventional food.
-- "The USDA has looked into our farmers' composting practices -- even on our smallest farm -- they do check if things are not documented. Details ARE looked at," said Cissy Bowman, a long- time organic certification expert based in Indiana.
To view the full talking points list, go to http://www.cornucopia.org