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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>FYI -- From
the Organic Consumers Association …<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h3>Rumor Update of the Week<o:p></o:p></h3>
<h2>HR 875<o:p></o:p></h2>
<p>The following note is typical of the calls and e-mails Organic Consumers
Association has been receiving this week:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><em>"Do you know anything about HR 875, a 'food safety' bill that was
written by Monsanto, Cargill and ADM? I've heard a few individual activists
scream about this as the death of farmers markets, CSAs and local organic food,
yet have seen no alerts from any of the reliable groups, including OCA. Any
idea what's up with this?"</em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p>For the record, Organic Consumers Association does have an <a
href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17194.cfm"
target="_blank">alert out on HR875</a>. As OCA points out in our Action Alert,
we cannot support a "food Safety" bill unless it provides protection
or exemptions for organic and farm-to-consumer producers and cracks down on the
real corporate criminals who are tampering with and polluting our nation's food
supply--- such as Monsanto.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Having said that, OCA supports aspects of HR875 that call for mandatory
recalls of tainted food, increased scrutiny of large slaughterhouses and food
manufacturers, and hefty fines against companies that send poisonous food to
market. The now discredited ultra-libertarian notion that companies or the
"market" will regulate themselves is not only ludicrous, but
dangerous, whether we are talking about the banking system or the food and
farming sector.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Of course, Monsanto and large corporate agribusiness are out to destroy
traditional farming. Unfortunately, while many people have been distracted by
HR 875, the biotech companies have been hard at work pushing their agenda:
Monsanto's gene-altered (so-called) drought-resistant corn, Epitopix's E. coli
vaccine, and the ban on rBGH-free labeling that Monsanto's successor Eli Lilly
is trying to push through the <a
href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17366.cfm"
target="_blank">Kansas legislature</a>. We need to keep working together to
work towards positive alternatives, such as organic agriculture and the green
economy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=top><a
href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17355.cfm"
target="_blank">Learn more</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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