BioDemocracy News #36 Food in a Time of Crisis

[Guest guest]

BioDemocracy News #36 Food Fight in a Time of Crisis

Nov. 2001

By: Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association

www.organicconsumers.org

 

Quotes of the Month:

 

" There are 800 million hungry people in the world; 34,000 children

starve to death every day. There are those who consider this a

tragedy, and then there are the biotech companies and their countless

PR firms, who seem to consider it a flawless hook for product

branding. It is an insult of the highest and most grotesque order to

turn those who live from day to day into the centerpiece of an

elaborate lie [i.e. that biotech crops will feed the world]. The

companies who make [GE foods], and the flacks who hawk their

falsehoods, offer us a new definition of depravity, a new standard to

plunge for in our race to care least, want more, and divest ourselves

of all shame. " Michael Manville, " Welcome to the Spin Machine "

<www.freezerbox.com/archive/2001/04/biotech/>

 

" The outlook [for the Genetically Engineered food industry] is less

certain than it was three years ago. The euphoria has gone. Growth

has fallen significantly. The industry has overstated the rate of

progress and underestimated the resistance of consumers. " Sergey

Vasnetsov, a leading chemical industry analyst with Lehman Brothers,

quoted in The Guardian (UK) 9/26/01

 

Biotech Bullies: Business as Usual

 

Agbiotech and corporate special interests in reaction to stubborn

global resistance have stepped-up their propaganda and bullying. This

aggression is evident in the media, the marketplace, the trade and

diplomatic fronts, the legislatures, courts, patent offices, and the

streets of the cities where anti-globalization protests have taken

place. Recognizing that a critical mass of youth, consumers, farmers,

environmentalists, and public interest nongovernmental organizations

(NGOs) all over the world are rejecting, not only the biotech and

industrial agriculture model, but also the entire " Free Trade "

globalization agenda itself, the Gene Giants and their allies know

they are losing ground. Reacting to massive demonstrations in

Seattle, Washington, Quebec, Sweden, and Genoa--with anti-Frankenfoods

concerns often in the forefront-governing elites have clamped down and

repressed youthful protestors, and have begun shifting their meetings

to inaccessible locations such as the oil sheikdom of Qatar, where the

142 nation members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are scheduled

to hold a ministerial meeting November 9-13.

 

Since September 11, with public attention focused on terror attacks

and the war in Afghanistan, White House operatives have done their

best to: - sabotage stringent safety testing of genetically engineered

(GE) foods and crops in the WTO Codex Alimentarius negotiations in

Vancouver; - pressed Congress forward for " Fast Track " Presidential

negotiating authority to enable Bush to expand the power of the WTO

and spread Free Trade fundamentalism throughout the Americas; -

inserted language into the Fast Track bill that would ban mandatory

labeling of gene-altered foods and the use of the precautionary

principle; - increased pressure on the EU to lift its moratorium on

genetically modified organisms (GMOs); - and threatened Thailand and

other nations seeking to ban or label GE crops. (See OCA's website

www.organicconsumers.org for details on these stories and other news

items referred to in this issue).

 

Monsanto, meanwhile, has tightened its stranglehold over the agbiotech

and seed sector. The company in April was awarded a wide-ranging,

controversial patent from the US Patent office on all antibiotic

resistant marker genes (found in nearly all GMO crops), and continues

to move forward to gain a similar monopoly patent on Agrobacterium

tumefaciens, a vector (sort of a cellular taxi) used widely in

gene-splicing. Monsanto is also requiring strict licensing and

royalty agreements for scientists carrying out research on the genetic

structure or genome of rice-for which the company holds a patent.

(See www.rafi.org)

 

On the intimidation front, Monsanto continues to press legal charges

against several hundred North American farmers for the " crime " of

saving their seeds without paying a royalty payment to Monsanto.

After gaining a precedent setting court conviction against

Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser in March, unjustly accused of

growing Roundup Ready canola which had actually drifted onto his

fields from adjoining farms growing GE crops, Monsanto set up a

toll-free " snitch line " in Canada, advertised on radio stations, for

farmers to " turn in " their seed-saving neighbors. After protests the

snitch line was disconnected. A similar snitch line was set up in the

US several years ago.

 

GMO Sneak Attack Fizzles-USA and Europe

 

Stubborn opposition by labor, public interest, and environmental

groups over the past several years stopped Clinton, and now Bush, from

gaining " expedited " " Fast Track " negotiation powers. Fast Track

legislation, if approved by Congress, would enable the White House to

circumvent public opposition and expand legally binding trade treaties

such as the WTO (a treaty which up until now has not been yet been

fully applied to agriculture). Fast Track would also help Bush

implement new corporate-instigated trade regimes such as the so-called

Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Under Fast Track procedures,

Congress can only vote yes or no on new treaties proposed by the White

House, giving up for five years the power to modify or change trade

rules, even when these regulations supercede or nullify local, state,

or national laws in force in the US or other nations. WTO-imposed

rules can nullify laws: protecting sea dolphins or turtles; import

laws providing support for sustainable small farms in the developing

world; laws banning hormone-tainted beef; laws regulating GMOs; or

laws banning city or state purchases from sweatshops or making

investments in companies doing business with dictatorships such as

Burma.

 

Polls conducted several years ago by Ralph Nader's organization,

Public Citizen, revealed that 2/3 of Americans oppose global trade

agreements such as the WTO once they understand that these trade

agreements essentially establish new global economic laws which

benefit large corporations while reducing the sovereign power of

ordinary citizens and their elected representatives.

 

With Bush's Commander in Chief persona and popularity, at least

temporarily, at an all time high, the White House has decided that now

is the time to push through a GMO-friendly version of Fast Track and

to increase the pressure on the EU and other nations to lift their

restrictions on GE foods and crops. All this, while most of the

public and the media are preoccupied, and while those that oppose

unregulated globalization, Frankenfoods, and expanded rights for

transnational corporations can be branded as " unpatriotic. "

 

As Robert Zoellick, US Trade Representative, stated in a Sept. 24

speech: " This President and this Administration will fight for open

markets and free trade. We will not be intimidated by those who have

taken to the streets to blame trade--and America--for the world's

ills. " At the same time Bush's USDA has begun to make its first moves

to degrade organic standards, appoint advocates of industrial

agriculture to the National Organic Standards Board, and prepare the

groundwork for a gradual takeover of the organic industry by corporate

agribusiness. (More on this in the next issue of BioDemocracy News.)

 

On Oct. 3, the Chairman of the powerful House and Ways Committee

introduced a Fast Track bill in the Congress. This bill not only

gives Bush expanded powers to negotiate trade agreements, but is also

designed to " eliminate practices that unfairly decrease US market

access opportunities, including unjustified trade restrictions such as

labeling, that affect new technologies, including biotechnology. "

 

The Wall Street Journal reported on Oct. 8 that EU authorities, in a

significant concession to White House pressure, had agreed to push for

an end to the GE food and crop moratorium that has been in place in

Europe for the past three years.

 

Lifting the GE foods moratorium has drawn near-unanimous condemnation

from the European public. As Adrian Bebb of the UK Friends of the

Earth put it, " The EU is trying to rush ahead, under pressure from the

US and the GM industry, disregarding concerns about public health and

the environment. The gentlemen's agreements that it is proposing with

industry are likely to be worthless, and, in any case, the public will

resist having these products forced upon them. " (London Independent

10/7/01).

 

At an international meeting in Washington Oct. 23, EU officials

deflated the Bush administration's hopes, pointing out that public

pressure makes it extremely unlikely that the EU GMO moratorium will

be lifted before 2003-at the earliest, and perhaps not at all, if the

US continues to stubbornly embrace its no-labeling/no crop segregation

policy. Tony Van Der Haegen, EU minister for agriculture, stated

" Labeling is an issue for political judgment and is necessary to

ensure transparency so as to restore consumer confidence and allow for

consumer choice. Unless we restore EU consumer confidence in this new

technology, genetic modification is dead in Europe. " (InterPress

10/24/01)

 

Bush's push for Fast Track appears to have similarly fizzled, with

analysts in Washington predicting that the Fast Track debate will

continue in January.

 

Other Agbiotech Aggressions

 

Fast Track lobbying and diplomatic arm-twisting is just the tip of the

iceberg. Other recent moves by government and industry on the biotech

front include the following:

 

.. Don't worry about the monarchs. Based on incomplete and short-term

(industry-funded) studies, the global media dutifully reported in

September that GE corn doesn't kill a " significant " number of monarch

butterflies. The Gene Giants were shaken by studies published in 1999

showing that Bt corn pollen killed monarch butterflies. Never mind

that the same indentured scientists who reached the recent " don't

worry " conclusion admitted that one variety of GE corn-now to be taken

off the market-does indeed kill monarchs and their relatives. Never

mind that Bt corn kills beneficial soil microorganisms and beneficial

insects such as the lacewing or ladybug. And never mind that all GE

herbicide resistant crops, such as corn or soybeans sprayed with

Roundup or other broad spectrum herbicides, kill the monarch

caterpillar's sole food source, the milkweed plant. In addition, as

Dr. Rebecca Goldberg, a public interest biotech expert, told the New

York Times Sept. 9, the recent monarch studies are based upon

short-term observations, and thus are unlikely to detect " long-term

sub lethal " damage to the monarchs or their relatives.

 

.. Over the objections of public interest groups, the US Environmental

Protection Agency in October gave the green light to reregister or

continue to allow the massive cultivation of Bt cotton and corn crops.

EPA approval was made despite mounting evidence that Bt crops damage

the environment, harm public health, and threaten the use of non-GE Bt

sprays, which are essential biopesticide control agents in organic and

low-chemical input agriculture.

 

- Genetic pollution in Mexico. Nature magazine (10/11/01) reported

that Mexico's irreplaceable traditional and heirloom corn varieties

are becoming contaminated with GE Bt corn. Although the Mexican

government has repeatedly declared that growing GE corn in the country

is prohibited, given that the nation is the world center for corn

biodiversity with 25,000 varieties, scientists have recently

discovered gene-altered corn growing in 15 rural communities in the

southern state of Oaxaca. Mexican authorities, despite a supposed ban

on growing GE corn, have allowed US grain exporters like Cargill to

dump massive quantities of US corn (much of which since 1996 has been

GE) on the Mexican market, supposedly only for human food and animal

consumption, but which obviously now has been planted or cultivated

across the country. Dr. Doreen Stabinsky from Greenpeace USA

described this contamination of traditional varieties as " only the tip

of the iceberg " and warned that " the international community must

agree on immediate preventative measures to avoid further

contamination. "

 

- Reuters reported Sept. 19 that Monsanto and the US government,

despite widespread opposition from farmers and the Canadian Wheat

Board, are pushing ahead to secure approval for the commercialization

of GE wheat. Over 200 Canada farm groups sent a letter to Ottawa on

July 31 stating that " Overwhelming numbers of Canadian farmers and

consumers, as well as customers for Canadian wheat overseas, have said

they do not want GMO wheat. " US wheat farmers in North Dakota and

other states have expressed similar statements, warning that GMO

contamination of US crops will damage the nation's billion dollar

export market for wheat, much as US corn and soybean exports have

already been damaged.

 

- Greenpeace reported on Sept. 7 that open field trials of GE rice

containing human genes are now being conducted in California.

Kimberly Wilson, spokeswoman for Greenpeace, stated that " There is

just no excuse to allow drug producing crops to be grown out in the

fields where they can contaminate the environment and the food chain. "

Reuters reported Sept. 4 that the Asian nation of Sri Lanka had backed

off on its policy banning GE crops, under major pressure from the US

and the World Trade Organization. The Bangkok Post (9/27/01)

described a similar situation in Thailand, where heavy pressure has

been applied on the government to suspend its ban on field-testing GE

crops.

 

- Bt cotton, up until now illegal in India, has been found growing on

25,000 acres in the state of Gujarat. E. A. Siddiq, chairman of an

Indian Department of Biotechnology committee that monitors transgenic

crops, says: " This is a foretaste of a frightening situation where

transgenics will be out of control and all over the place. " (Nature

10/11/01)

 

- Ignoring the will of 90% of the population, Canadian Members of

Parliament voted Oct. 17, against mandatory labeling of GE foods.

(Ottawa Citizen 10/18/01)

 

- 800 organic soybean farmers rallied in Belem, Brazil to accuse

gunmen working for large ranchers of murdering eight of their members

who had spoken out strongly against GE soybeans. GE soybeans are

illegal in Brazil, despite massive pressure by Monsanto, the American

Embassy, and a number of large ranchers and landholders. (London

Independent (10/8/01).

 

- Monsanto warned US corn farmers in late-October that commercial

strip tests will not be able to detect at least one variety of the

company's new herbicide resistant (Roundup Ready) corn. Despite last

year's debacle over likely allergenic StarLink corn illegally getting

into the food supply, which resulted in a massive recall of over 300

brand name food products and precipitated a steep decline in US corn

export sales, Monsanto continues to push ahead for approval to plant

new GE crops, even when these crops are not approved for

commercialization in key overseas markets such as Europe and Japan.

(Associated Press 10/24/01)

 

- In a briefing for journalists Oct. 4, the American Medical

Association (AMA) put together a panel of industry-sponsored

researchers who claimed that GE foods could be produced which enhance

health, have better nutrition, alleviate world hunger, reduce

allergenicity, and carry vaccines to combat disease. (Biotechnology

Newswatch 10/15/01). The AMA in the past has been accused of being a

cheerleader for Monsanto and the biotech industry. The British

Medical Association, on the other hand, has called for a global

moratorium on GE foods and crops, maintaining that they have neither

been proven safe for human health nor the environment.

 

- The industry think tank, International Service for the Acquisition

of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), trumpeted on Oct. 18 that global

acreage of GE crops continues to grow-with a projected total of 125

million acres under cultivation by the end of 2001. What the ISAAA

fails to highlight however is that GE crop acreage has drastically

leveled off in the last 24 months after years of doubling and

redoubling. In 2000 there was only an 8% growth in GE crops. The

ISAAA also failed to mention that three, and only three, countries

(the US, Canada, and Argentina) continue to produce 98% of the world's

Frankencrops-which still include only four major industrial crops

(soybeans, corn, canola, and cotton), with one company, Monsanto,

holding patents on 80% of all cultivated GE crops.

 

- The US Department of Agriculture has announced that it will license

the notorious Terminator technology to its seed industry partner,

Delta & Pine Land Co. The USDA and D & PL are co-owners of three

patents on the controversial technology that genetically modifies

plants to produce sterile seeds, preventing farmers from re-using

harvested seed. (For details, see www.rafi.org)

 

GMO Resistance Continues

 

Despite aggressive moves by industry and the White House, global

resistance against Frankenfoods continues to mount. Among recent

blows to the biotech century are the following:

 

- Feedstuffs magazine reported on Oct. 23 that, due in large part to

the global controversy over GMOs, 50% of all US grain exporters plan

to segregate genetically engineered and non-genetically engineered

(sometimes called " identity preserved " ) grains next year. In the year

2000 only 10% of US grain exporters were segregating (Reuters

8/15/00). This year the figure will rise to 25%, and next year,

according to Jim Voight, vice president of operations for Archer

Daniels Midland Co, the figure will rise to 50%. ADM is currently

paying non-GMO corn growers a premium price (between 10-20 cents per

bushel) for corn and soybeans. Most GE corn and soybean exports end

up in animal feed. Currently 25% of all animal feed in the EU is

non-GMO. This percentage is expected to rise sharply over the next

12 months-making it more difficult for US, Canadian, and Argentine

grain exporters to sell GE grains to the EU. 80% of Britons in a

recent poll said they wanted meat from animals fed GE grain to be

labeled.

 

- A similar dynamic is unfolding in Asian markets. " We won't consider

buying U.S. corn for another year or so,' " said Kim Bong-Chan of South

Korean starch producer Samyang Genex Co. " Customers in Korea have a

bad feeling [about] all GM products... " (Reuters 9/7/01)

 

- According to Dan McGuire of the American Corn Growers Association

(press release 10/16/01) " While some in the U.S. grain industry have

apparently been operating under the naïve notion that the European

Union could be forced to cave in to U.S. pressure and be told that

they had to buy what some in the U.S. 'insist' they buy, it's time to

let go of that illusion and put grain buyer demands well above biotech

company, GMO seed and chemical sales agendas. "

 

- Canadian organic farmers announced in October that they plan to sue

genetic engineering companies who are marketing GE canola and

polluting their fields. (Saskatoon Star Phoenix 10/19/01) In a

related story Canada food industry officials admitted at an industry

food conference in Ontario Sept. 27 they are " losing ground on the GMO

issue " -due to widespread consumer opposition.

 

- Brazil announced in August it was backing off on legalizing the

planting of Monsanto's Roundup Ready soybeans, despite major pressure

from the US. (Reuters 8/9/01)

 

- According to a report published by John Vidal in the UK Guardian

(08/28/01), genetic engineering companies are investing less in

research than five years ago. Profits are static, countries are

tightening up labeling and import laws, the promised new generation of

crops, which are named to bring health benefits, are still three or

four years away, and no major new markets are expected to develop.

Monsanto, whose GE seeds were planted on 80 million acres last year,

has had to slash costs, cut back on research and fire almost 700

people. However Monsanto is still conducting field trials in many

developing countries and has reported an increase in acreage devoted

to GMO crops.

 

- Imports of US corn used in Japanese food products have declined

significantly over the past several months, due to the continuing

controversy over GE food. (Nikkei Weekly 10/25/01) Instead Japan's

food makers are turning to non-GMO corn, soy, and canola exports from

Brazil, China, Australia, South Africa, and Argentina. The recent

discovery of several Japanese cows infected with Mad Cow

Disease-attributed to contaminated animal feed imported into the

country-have further alarmed consumers and fueled the nation's already

volatile anti-Frankenfoods sentiments.

 

- Swiss biotech giant Novartis admitted (Reuters Oct. 4) that the

company's Gerber baby food sold in the Philippines contained

genetically modified soy. Novartis stressed the products were safe

but added that it was seeking a new supplier. Novartis had previously

pledged to Greenpeace and other pressure groups that its Gerber baby

food line in the EU and the US was guaranteed free of GE ingredients.

The company has come under criticism from Monsanto and grocery trade

associations for " caving in " to consumer pressure.

 

- Friends of the Earth, the Organic Consumers Association, and other

members of the Genetically Engineered Food Alert (GEFA) warned the

Environmental Protection Agency in a press release on Sept. 21

gefoodalert.org> that all Bt corn, potatoes, and cotton products, not

just StarLink corn, may be allergenic or harmful to humans. According

to Larry Bohlen of Friends of the Earth (UPI 9/21/01): " The EPA is

supposed to base its reassessment on 'the most current health and

ecological data,' incorporating 'all available scientific information

on Bt products,' in particular the recommendations of its scientific

advisory panels and the National Academy of Sciences report on

pest-protected plants, " Bohlen wrote. " As detailed in our submission

to the EPA, the agency has failed to do this. " Bohlen said the toxins

produced by Bt corn either have characteristics that make them

possible human allergens or have never been assessed for such

characteristics. He said the data collected on potatoes and cotton

also is lacking.

 

- GEFA and the OCA's statement on the potential human health hazards

of Bt crops comes in the wake of warnings by other scientists, as well

as field reports from farmers in the Mid-west US. Dr. Arpad Pusztai,

perhaps the most well-known and respected critic of GE food hazards in

Europe, warned in 1999 that the Bt toxin (gene-spliced into GMO corn,

potatoes, and cotton) comes from the same chemical family as the

snowdrop lectin, which turned out to be poisonous to lab animals in

his widely publicized experiments with GE potatoes. The GE snowdrop

lectin-spliced potatoes, among other things, damaged the digestive

system of rats, fueling concerns that perhaps all Bt foods might do

the same to humans. In a similar vein, farmers have reported (in

Acres USA magazine) for several years that cows and other animals,

including deer, have been seen walking through patches of Bt corn

(refusing to eat it) to graze on non-GE corn. Stay tuned to

BioDemocracy News for further developments on the toxicity of Bt corn.

 

- A class action suit has been filed in Tennessee, similar to suits

already filed in six other states, to recover millions of dollars in

damages from Aventis for the StarLink corn debacle of the past year.

(The Tennessean 9/9/01)

 

- On Sept. 13 the African nation of Zimbabwe warned GE exporters not

to send GE food or crop seeds into the country without the prior

approval of the nation's Biosafety Board. (Agence France 9/13/01)

 

- A national anti-GE coalition leafleted outside Loblaw's supermarkets

in Canada on Sept. 9. The coalition, spearheaded by the Council of

Canadians, Sierra Club, and Greenpeace has been pressuring Loblaw's,

the largest supermarket chain in Canada, to remove all GE-tainted

products from its brand name line. " Loblaw's sells foods that have

been genetically engineered, but without labels indicating they are

and we think that's wrong, " said Nadia Alexan, co-coordinator of the

Montreal Chapter of the Council of Canadians, a group that has been

lobbying the federal government to enforce labeling on GE foods. " But

polls consistently show over the last six years that 93 per cent of

Canadians want a mandatory labeling policy. "

 

- A similar supermarket campaign has been carried out recently in the

US, targeting Trader Joe's, an upscale chain operating in 13 states.

The Trader Joe's campaign in the US has been led by Greenpeace, with

participation by the Organic Consumers Association and other groups.

Campaigners want Trader Joe's to follow the lead of other chains, such

as Whole Foods and Wild Oats, and ban GMOs from their brand name

products.

 

- On Oct. 30 Greenpeace and the OCA, joined by regional RAGE

(Resistance Against Genetic Engineering) activists and the Genetic

Engineering Action Network (GEAN) carried out a " National Day of

Labeling " action against a variety of supermarket chains in 10 major

cities across the US. In these cities volunteer " labeling brigades "

slipped into supermarkets and placed GMO food labels on selected foods

and beverages, paying special attention to GE-tainted products

produced by Kraft, Kellogg's, and Starbucks. Supermarket officials,

caught off guard, didn't even notice what was happening in most

locations, giving protestors up to 30 minutes to label hundreds of

products. Stores called the police in several cities, but

demonstrators disappeared before police arrived.

 

- Braving a torrential downpour, 10,000 New Zealanders rallied against

GE food and crops in Auckland on Sept. 1. Annette Cotter of

Greenpeace summed up the spirit of the crowd: " The overwhelming

success of this rally has sent a very clear message to the Government.

People of this country want a GE free environment and food chain.

Keep GE in the lab. " www.organticts.org

 

- Direct action sabotage of GE crop test plots has continued over the

past 90 days, with widely publicized actions taking place in France

(led by Jose Bove's Confederation Paysanne), the Philippines, and the

UK. Court trials of " crop pullers, " especially in the UK continue to

generate bad publicity for the GMO industry and sympathy for the

protestors.

 

- Anti-GMO activists in Oregon are making progress in gathering 80,000

signatures to put an initiative on the state ballot for Nov. 2002 that

calls for mandatory labeling of all GE foods. Spokespersons for the

initiative, Donna Harris and Parker Bell, told BioDemocracy News that

they are confident the initiative will get on the ballot and be voted

into law, despite strong opposition by corporate agribusiness and the

biotech lobby. For more information on the Oregon GMO labeling

initiative see www.labelgefoods.org

 

- More bad news for biotech. A national poll carried out by the Pew

Charitable Trust in July found that churchgoing Americans are

increasingly opposed to the biotech industry " playing God " and

genetically engineering food and living organisms. The recent poll

contrasts sharply with polls conducted several years ago, which found

support for GE among religious-minded Americans. Pew found 62% of

" born again " Evangelicals said they were opposed to GE foods, 57% of

Protestants, and 55% of Catholics. Only among the Jewish community

did a slight majority (55%) say they supported the technology. In

every religious denomination, women were more likely than men to

oppose GE food. (Washington Times 7/29/01)

 

What's Next: Food & Anti-GE Activism in a Time of Crisis

 

Despite pro-active moves by the White House and agbiotech interests in

the wake of Sept. 11 and the war in Afghanistan, the embattled Biotech

Century remains stillborn. Fast Track has fizzled, at least for the

moment. European and Asian politicians still recognize that trying to

force untested and unlabeled American and Canadian Frankenfoods down

the throats of consumers' amounts to political suicide. And even Bush

and the global cheerleaders for unfettered Free Trade recognize that

using the WTO as a hammer to force GMOs on global Civil Society could

destroy the entire WTO agenda. In other words no one seems to be

buying the idea that it's your patriotic duty to be a human guinea

pig-that we must all shut up and eat our Frankenfoods, that we must

get over our queasiness about filthy meat, pesticides, hormones, toxic

sludge, agricultural sweatshops, world hunger, greenhouse gas

emissions from an evermore globalized and industrial food system, and

Mad Cow.

 

In fact, since Sept. 11, there are signs that consumers are more

concerned than ever about what they are feeding their children and

themselves. In Japan a Mad Cow crisis grips the country, while even

in the US government authorities seem spooked by a Mad Cow-like

disease (Chronic Wasting Disease) spreading rapidly among wild and

domesticated deer and elk. In the US people are eating out less and

cooking at home more. Organic foods worldwide are booming, while food

security and world hunger are moving from the back burner of public

consciousness to the forefront. In the next issue of BioDemocracy

News we will look more closely at the global crisis over food safety

and food security. In the meantime stay tuned to our website for

daily news and Action Alerts: www.organicconsumers.org

 

### End of BioDemocracy News #36 (Nov. 2001)