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January 19th, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
Last Wednesday, U.S. Food and Drug Administration veteran Michael R. Taylor (right) was named deputy commissioner for foods, a newly created position.
According to the FDA, Taylor will help develop and implement a prevention-based strategy for food safety, plan implementation of new food-safety legislation, and ensure food labels contain clear and accurate nutrition information.
Taylor began his career as an FDA staff attorney before moving to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he was involved in establishing rules to protect our meat and poultry supply, despite industry outcry. (That’s the good news.)
But the big blot on his resume is his long stint at King & Spaulding, the law firm that represented GMO giant Monsanto. Taylor then returned to the FDA as deputy commissioner for policy, where he was instrumental in approving Monsanto’s bovine growth hormone, as well as rules that stated milk from hormone-treated cows needn’t carry labels.
Christine Escobar has regularly taken Taylor to task on Huffington Post. But über-respected nutrition professor Marion Nestle, who seldom makes a bad call, thinks he’s the right man for the job.
Tags: FDA, food safety, Marion Nestle, Michael R. Taylor, Monsanto
Posted in Political Action | 2 Comments »
January 3rd, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
In July 2008, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (at podium, right) signed into law a bill that banned the use of trans fats in restaurants, effective Jan. 1, 2010.
Restaurants must now use oils, margarine and shortening that contains less than half a gram of trans fat per serving. Violators will be fined up to $1,000.
The second part of the law, a trans-fat ban for baked goods, takes effect next January. The lag time allows the industry to make the proper conversions.
As reported in the Sacramento Bee, the California Restaurant Association initially balked at the bill, but its spokesperson now says the industry is compliant.
Other opponents represented a wide spectrum of the food industry, from the California Grocers Association and California Retailers Association to the California Chamber of Commerce and California Retailers Association. Business interests resisting a public health-oriented change? Profits over patriotism? Not exactly shocking.
California is the first state to ban trans fats, following the lead of cities like New York, Philadelphia and Boston.
Tags: California, Health, legislation, restaurants, Schwarzenegger, trans fat
Posted in Health, Political Action | 5 Comments »
December 28th, 2009 - Barbara Feiner
When the United Nations Climate Change Conference ended Dec. 19 in Copenhagen, world leaders had reached an agreement to cap the global temperature rise by significantly reducing emissions and financing environmental efforts in developing countries.
The end result, however, is much weaker than many environmentalists would have liked, and the international blame game is heating up.
While most countries supported the Copenhagen Accord, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon admitted it “cannot be everything that everyone hoped for, but it is an essential beginning.”
The Accord recognizes the scientific view that an increase in global temperature below 2° is required to stave off global warming’s worst effects. Mitigation requires industrialized countries to commit to implementing, individually or jointly, quantified emissions targets by 2020.
The deadline for countries to sign the Accord is Jan. 31, and President Obama is trying to remain optimistic.
“After extremely difficult and complex negotiations, this important breakthrough lays the foundation for international action in the years to come,” he said. “This progress did not come easily, and we know that progress on this particular aspect of climate-change negotiations is not enough. Going forward, we’re going to have to build on the momentum that we established in Copenhagen to ensure that international action to significantly reduce emissions is sustained and sufficient over time.
“At home,” he continued, “that means continuing our efforts to build a clean energy economy that has the potential to create millions of new jobs and new industries. And it means passing legislation that will create the incentives necessary to spark this clean energy revolution.
“So, even though we have a long way to go, there’s no question that we’ve accomplished a great deal over the last few days. And I want America to continue to lead on this journey, because if America leads in developing clean energy, we will lead in growing our economy and putting our people back to work, and leaving a stronger and more secure country to our children.”
Photo courtesy of the White House
Tags: climate change, Copenhagen, environment, global warming, Obama
Posted in Political Action, The Environment | No Comments »
December 11th, 2009 - Barbara Feiner
Several groups are lauding Monday’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report, which officially concluded that human activity causes greenhouse gases that threaten our health and welfare.
Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), an international coalition of more than 430 organizations in 52 countries, has long maintained that the impacts of climate change would be devastating to the health of world populations through increased famine, heat waves, disruption of the ocean food supply, flooding, disease encroachment, drought, population displacement, war and chronic illness from air pollution.
“As an organization, our goal is to protect public health through reduction of pollution and environmental factors contributing to illness,” say Executive Director Anna Gilmore Hall, RN. “We welcome the EPA statement as a powerful commitment of support to our climate change reduction efforts.”
“With this announcement, the EPA is taking an important step forward,” adds Josh Karliner, the HCWH’s international coordinator. “It is now up to the President to follow through by negotiating a strong and fair agreement in Copenhagen that leads to a binding accord to protect public health from climate change.”
HCWH has placed an advertisement in the New York Times to draw attention to the public health aspects of climate change, and the group has also helped launch an online Prescription for a Healthy Planet initiative. For more information on HCWH’s climate change program, click here.
The National Wildlife Association also hails the EPA decision.
“This action clears the way for serious measures to reduce the pollution that is accelerating global warming, and the timing couldn’t be better,” says Joe Mendelson, the organization’s global warming policy director. “The Obama administration’s action enforces the Clean Air Act and strengthens the President’s hand for the upcoming talks to forge a global deal to fight climate change.
“The announcement follows the recent diplomatic breakthrough with China and India, who both announced their willingness to take action to control pollution if the world acts. For the first time ever, the leaders of the world will gather with offers to act from China and the United States, the world’s two biggest emitters. I am optimistic that the talks will yield a workable plan to protect our children’s future.”
Tags: climate change, Copenhagen, environment, EPA, global warming, greenhouse gases, Health, pollution
Posted in Health, Political Action, The Environment | 2 Comments »
December 9th, 2009 - Barbara Feiner
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed Monday what most of us have suspected for quite some time: “science overwhelmingly shows greenhouse gas concentrations at unprecedented levels due to human activity.”
The report, delivered by EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, proves that greenhouse gases (GHGs) threaten Americans’ health and welfare, and emissions from on-road vehicles contribute to this threat.
Greenhouse gases are the primary driver of climate change, which can lead to hotter, longer heat waves that:
- Threaten the health of the sick, poor and elderly
- Increase ground-level ozone pollution that’s linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses
- Pose other threats to Americans’ health and welfare
“These long-overdue findings cement 2009’s place in history as the year when the United States government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution and seizing the opportunity of clean-energy reform,” Jackson says. “Business leaders, security experts, government officials, concerned citizens and the United States Supreme Court have called for enduring, pragmatic solutions to reduce the greenhouse-gas pollution that is causing climate change. This continues our work toward clean-energy reform that will cut GHGs and reduce the dependence on foreign oil that threatens our national security and our economy.”
EPA’s final findings respond to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision that GHGs fit within the Clean Air Act definition of air pollutants. The findings do not, in and of themselves, impose any emission reduction requirements, but they allow the EPA to finalize the GHG standards proposed earlier this year for new light-duty vehicles, as part of a joint rulemaking with the Department of Transportation.
On-road vehicles contribute more than 23% of total U.S. GHG emissions. EPA’s proposed GHG standards for light-duty vehicles (a subset of on-road vehicles) would reduce GHG emissions by nearly 950 million metric tons and conserve 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of model year 2012–2016 vehicles.
EPA’s endangerment finding covers emissions of six key greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride—that have been the subject of scrutiny and intense analysis for decades by U.S. and international scientists.
Scientific consensus shows that as a result of human activities, GHG concentrations in the atmosphere are at record-high levels, and data show the Earth has been warming over the past 100 years, with the steepest increase in warming in recent decades. The evidence of human-induced climate change goes beyond observed increases in average surface temperatures; it includes melting ice in the Arctic, melting glaciers around the world, increasing ocean temperatures, rising sea levels, acidification of the oceans due to excess carbon dioxide, changing precipitation patterns and changing patterns of ecosystems and wildlife.
Jackson and President Obama have publicly stated that they support a legislative solution to the problem of climate change and Congress’ efforts to pass comprehensive climate legislation. However, climate change is threatening public health and welfare, and it is critical that EPA fulfill its obligation to respond to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
EPA issued the proposed findings in April and held a 60-day public comment period. The agency received more than 380,000 comments, which were carefully reviewed and considered during the development of its final findings.
Tags: climate change, environment, EPA, global warming, greenhouse gases, lisa jackson
Posted in Health, Political Action, The Environment | 2 Comments »
December 7th, 2009 - Barbara Feiner
As the United Nations Climate Change Conference begins today in Copenhagen, some experts believe world leaders will be sufficiently motivated to achieve consensus on ways to reduce greenhouse gases.
In the United States, retired military leaders like Gen. Anthony Zinni call climate change a “threat multiplier” that could have disastrous consequences for unstable countries like Somalia, Sudan, Kenya and Nigeria.
Chinese, Indian and Pakistani leaders are keenly aware of these risks, recognizing that their nations may endure water scarcity as global warming dries up mountain snowpack and disrupts the monsoon season.
The United States could still agree to “Kyoto Lite”—a set of targets and a timetable that look weaker than 1997’s Kyoto Protocol, according to Matthew R. Auer, PhD, a professor of public and environmental affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington. If so, U.S. leaders would still be agreeing to reduce more carbon dioxide than any other country.
“The U.S., China and India could turn out to be climate heroes if they put their minds to it,” says Dr. Auer, author of Restoring Cursed Earth: Appraising Environmental Policy Reforms in Eastern Europe and Russia. “China is getting smarter about how it produces and uses energy, with everything from high-tech furnaces at steel mills to newly insulated office buildings now saving energy in Chinese cities. China’s solar power and wind turbine industries compete fiercely with U.S. firms for global market share.
“In India, Tata Motors’ peppy Nano minicar gets 65 mpg, and new alternative fuel and electric battery models are in the works. With that kind of ingenuity and their newfound wealth, China and India in partnership with the U.S. could go a long way in fighting global warming, with or without a resounding diplomatic triumph at Copenhagen.”
Tags: China, climate change, Copenhagen, environment, global warming, india, Kyoto Protocol
Posted in Political Action, The Environment | 5 Comments »
November 17th, 2009 - Administrator
 Written by Lynn Hasselberger
Billions of people live in the kind of squalor that was eradicated long ago in the rich world. It is a global water and sanitation crisis that deserves our undivided The-issueattention NOW (well, yesterday, to be exact)… especially since there is a lack of political will to push through changes that could benefit the poorest and most vulnerable people. Here are just two shocking statistics:
- 884 million people don’t have clean water
- 40% of the world’s population suffer without a safe toilet, that’s 2.5 billion people!
Fortunately, there are organizations dedicated to providing sanitation and clean water to the world’s poorest people. End Water Poverty is one of them and I am committed to helping them raise awareness about the critical issues and motivating people around the globe to take action.
Here’s one easy way to take action and it will just take a minute or less! Sign the End Water Poverty Petition, urging global leaders to specifically address the lack of toilets. What happens when something as basic as a toilet is unavailable?
- Girls’ educations are ruined due to open, unsafe or no toilets at schools
- 4,000 young children die each day due to unsanitary conditions
- Communities become locked into circles of ill-health, poverty and despair
Want to do more to help? Put November 19th on your calendar: World Toilet Day. Celebrate the fact that you have a toilet — you probably even have two… or more! Organize a public big squat in your community–Here’s how: big squat movement for the toilet-less
 Spread the word about this day and the crisis any way you can. If you’re on twitter, follow @EndWaterPoverty @WorldToiletDay and @icount4myEARTH and join us every Wednesday to tweet about World Toilet Day and other world water crisis issues–be sure to use the hashmark #waterwednesday to help earn us Trending Topic status and to make @WorldToiletDay tweets virul. Simply re-tweet our tweets or come up with some of your own. Here are some sample tweets:
If you’re on facebook, join End Water Poverty’s group and invite your friends. OR copy and paste this entire blog entry into an email and forward it to friends, family and colleagues. For more ways to help, go to EndWaterPoverty.org
More facts about the world water crisis:
- More than half of hospital beds in Sub Saharan Africa are occupied by patients suffering from sanitation and water related diseases
- These diseases are the biggest killer of young children, killing over five times more than HIV/AIDS and twice as many as malaria.
- Young girls simply don’t attend as there aren’t toilets at school, or they aren’t safe or private.
- Other girls spend hours of their day walking to fetch water or caring for ill siblings and have no time for an education at all
- In Africa, an estimated 5% of GDP is lost to illnesses and deaths caused by dirty water and the absence of sanitation
- Climate change is making things worse, increasing pressure on water resources.
End Water Poverty is calling for:
- One global action plan for sanitation and water monitored by one global task force
- 70% of aid money for sanitation and water to be targeted at the poorest countries
- Water resources to be protected and shared equitably
 Success depends on rich governments protecting good water and sanitation plans from failure due to inadequate financing; and developing countries must commit to implementing these plans. Please sign the petition now and learn about other ways you can take action by visiting EndWaterPoverty.org. If you’re part of an organization, consider joining The End Water Poverty coalition.
4,000 children do not deserve to die each day because they are lacking clean water and sanitation. Together, we can help make a difference.
SIDE NOTE: To get a glimpse at our world water crisis, consider renting the award-winning documentary FLOW (for love of water) and sharing it with your family.
Tags: Lynn Hasselberger, sanitatiom crisis, toilet, water conservation, water poverty, world toilet day
Posted in Green Living, Health, Political Action, The Environment | No Comments »
November 10th, 2009 - Laura Klein
 A hot topic on my mind of late has been Monsanto’s advertising or sponsorship of NPR (National Public Radio). Maybe you’ve heard their messages running on NPR for several months now like I have, claiming that they support a sustainable future, and create a better world for farmers. In a separate print ad they state:
Producing more. Conserving more. Improving farmers’ lives. That’s sustainable agriculture. And that’s what Monsanto is all about. (You can see the full add here)
What!?! Are you joking?!!?! Which is what exactly went through my head when I first heard these ads airing on NPR. This I have to say is first rate “Green Washing”, and probably the best I have ever seen. And I was even more shocked to hear it run on NPR of all places! But I guess they have a bottom line to meet. I used to make yearly donations to NPR and then stopped. I have reconsidered several times about renewing my “membership” and donation, but my decision has now been made. I will divert my dollars to other projects that I believe in like the Center of Food Safety, a project I firmly believe in.
Just to give you a brief background on Monsanto, up until two decades ago it was a chemical company that produced chemical warfare, specifically agent orange. Today it is the biggest seed corporation in the world and controls the worlds seed supply through genetic engineering and patents. It is also the market leader in genetically modified US corn, soybean and cotton seeds. In a previous blog, I discuss why Monsanto could be a sitting target for an antitrust enforcement by the Obama administration because they have their farmers in an iron grip with their contracts (but I’m not holding my breath with Michael Taylor, former Monsanto executive, appointed by Obama as the FDA’s food czar or “senior advisor to the commissioner”).
As Marc David, Nutritionist and Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, stated in one of my Green Club interviews, GMO’d foods are a huge genetic experiment of which we don’t know the repercussions. I agree. And if you want to know how GMO’d foods are affecting our children’s health in the form of food allergies you can listen to my interview with, Robyn O’Brien, author of The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It
In a recent video put out by the Center of Food Safety, Vandana Shiva founder and director of Navdanya in India, leader in the Slow Foods Movement (which is at the top of my favorite food movements), and author of the recently released book, Soil not Oil, shares the heartbreaking story of farmers pressed into deep debt, and some driven to suicide, by the economy of biotech crops.
Over the next month, CFS will be bringing you videos from experts with whom they work closely in the trenches—Michael Pollan, Vandana Shiva, Anna Lappé, and CFS’s Executive Director Andrew Kimbrell—to help reveal the real truth about the bogus claims put forth by Monsanto and other biotech companies. I will be closely watching these videos to learn more about what’s going on with our food supply and hope you will too!
The Center for Food Safety is on the front lines fighting against the corporate take-over of our food, farms, and future; advocating REAL, sustainable, solutions to the problems of the biotech industrial agriculture model.
If you want to get involved and help keep our food supply green, organic and sustainable, become part of the solution and say no to industrial and GMO’d agriculture by taking action and make a donation to the Center For Food Safety. Join more than 85,000 members across the country saying no to industrial agriculture, and yes to True Food!
Tags: climate change, environment, factory farming, monsonto
Posted in Green Living, Organic, Organic Food, Political Action, The Environment | 4 Comments »
November 9th, 2009 - Barbara Feiner
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has introduced The Household Product Labeling Act (S. 1697), which would require household cleaning products to carry labels that list all of their ingredients.
“Moms and dads have a right to know whether harmful chemicals are present in their kitchen cupboards,” Franken says. “When my wife, Franni, and I were raising our own kids, we were constantly concerned with what we used to wash their cribs, their pacifiers, the floors and surfaces they played on. This is just a commonsense measure to help parents keep their kids safe and healthy.”
Current law requires product labels to list immediately hazardous ingredients, but there is no labeling requirement for ingredients that may cause harm over time.
Toxic chemicals in household products produce harmful health effects—the main reason we recommend natural and organic options.
The bill would make information readily available to consumers. HR 3057, the House companion bill, was introduced by Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY).
From the Mind of Al Franken
Tags: chemicals, green cleaning, Green Living, legislation
Posted in Green Living, Political Action, green cleaning | 2 Comments »
November 2nd, 2009 - Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese
 With help from the German technical agency GTZ, Saudi Arabia is seeking to develop and improve its organic sector.
The Saudi Organic Farming Association (SOFA) is working in connection to create a state-of-the-art organic sector, better market place for organic goods, and close adherence to worldwide food safety standards.
GTZ will also set up the SOFA’s organizational framework, and share expertise with the government.
While SOFA will monitor organic production, protect farmers, promote consumer awareness, and keep with food quality policies of many European countries.
Saudi Arabia is a major importer of agricultural goods, with figures expected to grow 25%. So successful organic farming would keep more food raised in house.
As an, at times, ethnocentric American, it surprises me to see non-Western nations taking interest into issues like this. I seem to think a country like Saudi Arabia has more pressing matters at hand than organic farming.
But it’s cool to see though!
Via Arab News.
Image credit: Pure Travel.
Tags: organic farming
Posted in Organic, Organic Food, Political Action | No Comments »
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