green gazette

Snippets of information on GM salmon, organic coffee, GM crops threatening organic crops; genetic drift from plant pollen; mad cow; farming windmills; most vegetables travel 2,000 miles from farm to market; Certified Humane Raised and Handled is a new meat designation; humans may have up to 97 industrial compounds in their bodies.

August/September 2003
 
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Sprouts & Snippets

The Load Less Traveled. To help promote locally grown foods, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, headquartered in Ames, Iowa, is studying transportation issues related to fresh produce. They found broccoli, cauliflower, table grapes, green peas, spinach and lettuce all traveled more than 2,000 miles from farm to market; only pumpkins and mushrooms traveled less than 500 miles. (SOURCE. WWW.LEOPOLD.IASTATE.EDU )

Handled with Care. "Certified Humane Raised & Handled" is the name of a new labeling and certification program announced in May by the independent, nonprofit organization Humane Farm Animal Care and its associated groups. The label aims to assure consumers that the meat, poultry, egg or dairy products to which it is affixed come from facilities that meet precise, objective, humane standards. To learn which products carry the label, visit the Web site at www.certifiedhumane.com .

Body Burden. Researchers found a average of 91 industrial compounds, pollutants and other chemicals in the blood and urine of nine volunteers sampled, and identified a total of 167 different chemicals overall. Seventy-six of the 167 chemicals identified cause cancer in humans or animals, 94 are toxic to the brain and nervous system and 79 cause birth defects or abnormal development. (SOURCE: STUDY LED BY MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE IN NEW YORK, WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP AND COMMONWEALTH: WWW.EWG.ORG/REPORTS
/BODYBURDEN )

Frankenfish Food Fight

Salmon genetically modified to grow faster are the newest battleground in the bioengineered food debate. The altered-fish controversy joins continuing concerns about the food safety, environmental risks and economic fallout of genetically modified (GM) corn, soy and rapeseed crops, and GM growth hormones used in dairy cattle.

Legislation to control the transport and labeling of GM salmon enjoys strong support from consumer, environmental and commercial fishing groups.

The transgenic salmon contain genes from the ocean pout fish and Chinook salmon and grow seven times faster than natural wild salmon. The GM males are more attractive to wild female salmon, leading to concerns that this modified species will outcompete and cause the extinction of smaller wild salmon species. (SOURCE: SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE)

Java, with GMOs on the Side

The coffee giant Starbucks is the target of a Fair Trade/No GMOs Campaign by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA). The effort is designed to get Starbucks to serve and promote Fair Trade coffee and to remove genetically engineered ingredients from their food and dairy products.

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