J Kolenovsky expounded:

Here's the latest issue of Organic Bytes (Food and Consumer
News Tidbits With and
Edge), by the Organic Consumers Association. Enjoy!

This is a fantastic organization, and the newsletter, Organic Bytes,
is a great source of information on our organic foods. I've read it
since it started.

--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************

Here's the latest issue of Organic Bytes (Food and Consumer
News Tidbits With and
Edge), by the Organic Consumers Association. Enjoy!

IN THIS ISSUE (Organic Bytes #37):

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: MONSANTO ALARMED =

FOUR COUNTIES PLACE GMO-FREE REFERENDUMS ON BALLOT =

FBI HARASSING ART PROFESSOR FOR ANTI-GE ACTIVISM =

WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR KIDS? =

HOME DELIVERY OF ORGANIC FOODS =

USDA'S OWN AUDIT SLAMS MAD COW PLAN =

SUBWAY: THE NEW KING OF FAST FOOD =

ANIMAL RIGHTS VIDEO EXPOSES KFC ANIMAL CRUELTY

_____________________________


MONSANTO ALARMED
"Biotech industry leaders
are monitoring the rising
power of their opponents and
facing the possibility
that county-level bans in
California could spur a
statewide campaign... This
week, GMO-Free
Mendocino officially joined
arms with the Organic
Consumers Association, which
bills itself as the
nation's largest
public-interest group dedicated to
a healthy food system. The
goal of the newly
minted BioDemocracy Alliance
is to prepare for 'the
biotech bullies' who could
challenge California
county bans in court or the
state Capitol." ---
Sacramento Bee, July 15, 2004

_____________________________

FOUR COUNTIES PLACE GMO-FREE REFERENDUMS ON BALLOT
Last week GMO-Free Mendocino officially teamed up with the
Organic
Consumers Association to form the BioDemocracy Alliance, a
coalition of
grassroots groups focused on helping new regions across the
U.S. pass
legislation to ban genetically engineered crops. The
Alliance has already
helped four new counties in California gather enough
signatures to place
GMO-free initiatives on their November ballots: Butte,
Humboldt, Marin,
and San Luis Obispo. Informed sources have told the press
that biotech behemoths like
Monsanto will likely soon seek state legislation to
suppress these county bans. In an
interview with the Sacramento Bee, Monsanto spokesperson
George Gough expressed
the corporation's fears, saying, "While this still is
certainly a grass-roots,
county-by-county effort, it may be quickly becoming not so
grass roots."
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge-free.htm

The OCA urgently needs additional funds to fight Monsanto's
counter-attack in
California, and to help spread GE-Free Zones across the
country. Earlier this year, on
March 15, the OCA sent out an email Action Alert asking for
$50,000 to launch this
effort, and you, the readers of Organic Bytes, responded
generously by sending us
$53,000. Now we are asking for your help once again. This
is a turning point in the
struggle against Monsanto and genetically engineered foods,
so please take the time
now to send us a donation. Please make an online donation
(http://www.organicconsumers.org/donations.htm) or call or
mail in a donation to our
office: =


=


Organic Consumers Association
6101 Cliff Estate Road
Little Marais, Minnesota 55614
Telephone: 218-226-4164

We are also looking for volunteers to help pass GMO bans in
other areas. If you wish to
volunteer, please email

_____________________________

FBI HARASSING ART PROFESSOR FOR ANTI-GE ACTIVISM
Dr. Steven Kurtz, Associate Professor of Art at the
University of
Buffalo was recently taken into custody by the FBI for
having
bioengineered organisms. The organisms were harmless,
legal, and
commonly used throughout the U.S., but they were being used
to
create an art piece protesting the history of germ warfare
experiments
by the U.S., including the Bush Administration's plans to
use hundreds
of millions of taxpayer dollars to build more military
focused high security labs across
the nation. The FBI stacked the jury box with
representatives from the FBI and the
Department of Defense. Although Kurtz was found innocent of
any real terrorist crimes,
the FBI succeeded in charging the professor with four
counts of mail and wire fraud (up
to 80 years in prison). According to the CAE Defense Fund,
"Historically, these laws
have been used when the government could not prove other
criminal charges."
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/fbi-buffalo.cfm

_____________________________

WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR KIDS?
U.S. census bureau data shows that the gap
between rich and poor
families in the U.S. is greater than ever
before. At the same time, the
rate of childhood obesity is increasing
practically as quickly as the
national debt. A cross analysis of such data
is presented in the 2004
State of the Children report, recently
released by the Children's Defense
Fund, and unfortunately, the results are downright
depressing. For example, increased
economic disparity on racial lines means African American
infants are currently twice as
likely to die in their first year as White infants.
Cutbacks in education funding have led
to a full 70% fourth graders not being able to read or
write at grade level. Weaker gun
control laws have resulted in eight children dying from
gunfire every day. Interestingly
enough, many of these statistics are reminiscent of data
coming out of Texas during
GW's governorship.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/scho...bles071904.cfm

_____________________________

HOME DELIVERY OF ORGANIC FOODS
Across the U.S. a relatively new food delivery phenomenon
is occurring.
Increased working hours and busy schedules are requiring
that some
families find new ways of getting fresh locally grown
organic produce to
their homes. From San Francisco to Philadelphia to New York
City,
organic delivery services are successfully filling a new
market niche in
the food industry. Find one (or start one) near you:
=

http://www.organicconsumers.org/orga...door071904.cfm

_____________________________

USDA'S OWN AUDIT SLAMS MAD COW PLAN
The USDA's overly confident audit of its Mad
Cow (Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy or BSE) testing policies and
procedures has backfired.
Assessors announcing the results of this audit
have revealed gaping
holes in government policies, including poorly
trained field inspectors,
failure to test the riskiest animals, and "an
almost complete absence of
available documentation." The report's conclusion supports
the recommendations made
for years by the Organic Consumers Association and other
consumer groups, saying,
"The problems identified during our review, if not
corrected, may negatively impact the
effectiveness of USDA's overall BSE surveillance program,
impair its ability to perform
risk assessments and program evaluations, and reduce the
credibility of any assertion
regarding the prevalence of BSE in the United States."
http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm

_____________________________

SUBWAY: THE NEW KING OF FAST FOOD
The American Heart Association's (AHA) recommendations are
revered as
pure fact by doctors and patients alike. But as is the case
in most sects
of the U.S. government, a public institution's policies can
also be heavily
swayed by corporate dollars. As an example, AHA only
endorses Bayer
aspirin, and in return, Bayer "donates" $500,000 to AHA
every year.
Since 2002, Subway has also been riding the AHA bandwagon.
In
exchange for $10 million in "donations" over the course of
5 years to AHA, Subway can
proudly plaster the AHA's "fighting heart disease and
strokes" logo on its advertising
materials. Although the majority of the food sold at Subway
outlets includes junk food,
processed red meats and cheeses, chips, soda, and cookies,
thanks to creative
advertising and the AHA, the majority of Americans
mistakenly equate Subway with a
healthy fast food outlet. Subway now has more stores in the
U.S. than McDonalds (an
average of over 300 in every state) with 21,528 restaurants
in 75 countries.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/subway071504.cfm

_____________________________

ANIMAL RIGHTS VIDEO EXPOSES KFC ANIMAL CRUELTY
An investigator for People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals (PETA)
has captured video of workers abusing chickens
at a major supplier plant
for KFC. Employees were caught throwing live
chickens against walls and
kicking them. Eyewitness testimony also
revealed workers "ripping birds'
beaks off, spray painting their faces, twisting
their heads off, spitting
tobacco into their mouths and eyes, and breaking them in
half - all while the birds are
still alive." KFC awarded this same slaughterhouse with its
"Supplier of the Year"
award. PETA and OCA have called for a boycott on KFC until
the company requires its
suppliers to adhere to animal right laws.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/toxic/kfc.cfm

_____________________________

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-- =

Celestial Habitats by J. Kolenovsky
2003 Honorable Mention Award, Keep Houston Beautiful
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business. Quoted by the Ho=
uston
Chronicle Lazy Gardener as 1 of 7 best gardening websites in Houston.
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal