Let's Kill GE Alfalfa! Please!

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it will once again allow unlimited, nation-wide commercial planting of Monsanto’s genetically-engineered (GE) Roundup Ready alfalfa.  This is a profoundly disappointing and disturbing decision. It was hoped by many in the organic farming community that the Obama USDA would recognize the major threat that GMO alfalfa represents to the survival of the thriving organic dairy industry.  But instead the agency decided to appease Monsanto and a handful of other companies that will profit from the additional sales of herbicide that are used on these gene altered plants.
The good news is that we’ve stopped GMO alfalfa and beaten Monsanto and the USDA before. And we need your help to do it again.
In 2007 we won a reversal of the approval of GE alfalfa.  The court ordered a halt to all sales and planting until the agency could ensure that the environmental and economic impacts could be adequately addressed.  Now after four years of this ban, the USDA has finalized an environmental impact statement that utterly fails to take a hard look at the dangers these plants represent to conventional alfalfa farmers, the organic dairy industry and consumer choice.  These plants will also increase the crisis in “super weeds” resistant to herbicides that are now infesting millions of acres of American farmland.
So CFS is going back to court in the coming weeks with the hope of once again stopping GE alfalfa and prevailing against the government, Monsanto and other biotech companies. And it’s not just alfalfa -- we anticipate we’ll have to also litigate in the coming weeks to stop the planting of GE sugar beets and other GE crop approvals as well.
CFS is the first line of defense against the invasion of these crops.  However, we have a small legal team to fight these difficult and drawn out court battles, compared to the USDA and numerous corporate law firms at Monsanto’s disposal. While we are confident that we will continue to succeed in these legal battles, your support is needed now more than ever to help us continue our fight to defend the rights of farmers and consumers and protect the integrity of organic dairy products.
This is a crucial time in the fight to preserve the integrity of organic crops and foods, protect consumers’ right to know, stand up for organic and conventional farmers, and protect our environment from the hazards of GE crops. In the coming months, we will be seeing USDA proposals to allow unrestricted plantings of GE corn and soy crops designed to resist highly toxic pesticides such as 2-4D and Dicamba, pesticides that pose a serious threat to our health and the environment. CFS will also challenge all these approvals.

So join us as a united front against the USDA and Monsanto. Help stop GE alfalfa NOW.

Please support CFS today by making a donation to CFS’s Legal Fund!
Thank you for your support 
P.S. – Don’t forget to choose a thank you gift when you donate! Get a copy of CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories, the film about Rachel Carson “A Sense of Wonder,” and more! All donations over $35 will get you a NEW True Food Shoppers Guide!

Global Food Prices Hit New High

The Telegraph - Feb 3'11

Global food prices have hit a new record high, amid fears that the 
escalating cost of bread and meat is adding to the turmoil in the Middle East.

Cyclone Yasi in Australia...Climate Change?

Zachary Shahan - PlanetSave - Feb 3'11

The recent cyclone that nailed Australia, Cyclone Yasi (one of the worst in the country’s history) cannot be conclusively tied to climate change. However, it cannot not be tied to it either.

ctv.ca

Billions of Climate Voices - Video

Hide Your Kids, Hide Your Wife: Not Even Canadians are Safe from the Kochs Anymore!

The idiom “tilting at windmills” (or turbines) derives from the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. It means to attack imaginary enemies, or fight unwinnable or futile battles. Big Oil and Coal (and others) are in a futile battle against clean energy. Clean energy will inevitably emerge victorious. Unfortunately, when oil billionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries (apologies for putting their names on the horse and ass’s asses) fight unwinnable battles, you can be certain the pointless battles will last a lot longer than they should. Putting approximately 100 million dollars of their money into right-wing coffers 
to keep fellow polluters happy and federal regulations lax, Koch Industries is more than eager to fight a battle that compromises our future and greatly compromises the future of our children.

Courtesy of PlanetSave (click pic & story to enlarge)

  

Please also read: "As Tea Party Koch Brothers Earned An Extra $11 Billion In Recent Years, They Laid Off Thousands"

Time to Fight Back: How We Can Take on Those Who Are Sabotaging Our Response to the Climate Crisis

The Nation / By Mark Hertsgaard - Jan 27, 2011

Here's a plan to confront the climate cranks face to face, on camera, and call them to account for the dangers they have set in motion.

Approval of Total Oilsands Mine in Alberta "Deeply Flawed"

Jan 28, 2011 11:48 AM ecojustice 

CALGARY, AB — Environmental groups are condemning...

Why You Can Now Kiss Organic Beef, Dairy and Many Vegetables Goodbye

Alternet -  Jan 31 - 2010 - The USDA has ruled that farmers are now free to plant GE alfalfa, and USDA won't even keep track of who plants it where. The implications are huge. 
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Editor's Note: What can we Canadians do, you might ask? OUR LAST HOPE in defending against such Frankenfoods is to make sure OUR PARLIAMENT PASSES the bill, below. Please read, understand and SIGN THE PETITION! THANK YOU! JUST GO TO THIS PAGE & FOLLOW THE PROMPTS! l.p.

Stop GM Alfalfa! Please Sign the Petition!

The USDA Just Announced Final Approval of Monsanto's GE Alfalfa
Take Action NOW to Demand President Obama Reverse this Decision

Dear L,

Genetically Engineered Alfalfa Has Been Approved, But President Obama Can Have the Final Say Demand President Obama Stop GE Alfalfa!

We just found out that Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack approved Monsanto's genetically engineered alfalfa for widespread planting this spring. This is outrageous and wrong, and it will hurt organic farmers.

Demand that President Obama reverse this disastrous approval. 

The USDA decision to allow GE alfalfa to be planted unleashes another unnecessary genetically engineered crop into our environment and puts organic farmers at risk of widespread GE contamination. The agency did no real assessment of the harm that GE alfalfa could do, and caved to pressure from big agribusiness to approve this genetically engineered crop before the spring planting season.

President Obama is the last line of defense, and can stop the widespread planting of Monsanto's GE alfalfa. Take action now to demand President Obama stop this disastrous approval.

http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5667

Thanks for taking action,

Sarah Alexander
Outreach Director
Food & Water Watch
goodfood(at)fwwatch(dot)org

Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer organization that works to ensure clean water and safe food. We challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.

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US Approves GE Alfalfa Plantings

Jan 27, 2011: The US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack...... 

 Organic Consumers Asn: As Iowa Governor, Tom Vilsack was a leading advocate for Monsanto, genetic engineering, and factory farming. President Obama proudly lauded his new Agriculture Secretary for "promoting biotech."

Tom Vilsack, USDA Secretary

Vilsack has, in fact, promoted the most controversial and dangerous forms of agricultural biotechnology, including pharma crops, plants genetically engineered to produce pharmaceuticals. When grown outdoors on farmland, where most pharma crop trials have occurred, pharma crops can easily contaminate conventional and organic varieties.

A Must-See! David Suzuki's 2 Hr. Special - Tippinig Point - the Age of the Oil Sands

Please watch this special presentation of the Nature of Things. Perhaps it should be required viewing for our kids in school!