OCA: Will we win in Oregon?

http://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/ob448.html

Subscribe & Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate  TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK 6634 Votes from a Win in Oregon! Don’t believe everything you read in the papers. We have not yet lost Measure 92, Oregon’s initiative to label GMOs. According to the YES on 92 campaign, we are only 6634 votes (as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, November 12) from a win. If we get to within a margin of 49.80 percent (we're currently at 49.78!), we’ll trigger an automatic recount, paid for by the state. But here’s the thing. The only way we can win in Oregon is to contact every voter whose vote hasn’t been counted, because it was “challenged” due to a technical problem. There are enough of these “challenge” ballots—about 13,000—yet uncounted, to swing the election in our favor. We need hundreds of organizers on the ground beginning today, to reach out to voters to resolve problems with their ballots, and make sure their votes are counted. And the only way we can make that happen is to hire professional organizers, and pay travel expenses for volunteers. We are so close. There is no guarantee we will win, but a win is definitely still within reach. If we can get all of the votes counted by the deadline, 5 p.m. November 18. We know you’ve already dug deep into your pockets to help this movement. But today, we are asking again. Through our 501(c) 4 lobbying arm, we have promised to rush another $25,000 to the YES on 92 campaign to make sure we don’t lose this critical GMO labeling battle. If you can help, click here for details on how to donate online now, or by phone or mail. Thank you! ESSAY OF THE WEEK Giving Thanks, Organically In two weeks, families, friends and communities will gather around dinner tables to celebrate Thanksgiving. Leaving aside for now the nuanced political, historical and cultural complications that underlie the holiday, and taking into consideration the different meanings individuals assign to Thanksgiving, there will be one universal thread running through everyone’s celebration on Thursday, November 27: Food. For millions of Americans, unfortunately, the food on their tables will take the form of a turkey raised in filthy, crowded conditions on a diet of antibiotics and genetically engineered corn and soy, with side dishes made from potatoes and beans and other produce heavily contaminated with pesticides, accompanied by highly processed white-bread dinner rolls slathered with butter made from milk produced by cows pumped full of growth hormonesand raised in conditions no animal should be forced to endure. Thankfully, as the market for organic food grows, consumers have greater access to organic alternatives, whether they plan a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, or opt for something other than turkey, potatoes and pumpkin pie. They also have plenty of motivation: better health and nutrition; a cleaner environment; more humane treatment of animals; and a cooler planet. According to reports by the Rodale Institute, the United Nations and the Soil Association, modern, chemical-intensive industrial farming has stripped the soil’s natural ability to take carbon back out of the atmosphere, through photosynthesis, and store it where nature intended—in the soil. By returning to small-scale organic farming, say researchers at the Rodale Institute, more than 40 percent of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions could be captured in the soil. And if the world’s pasture and rangelands were managed using regenerative techniques, an additional 71 percent of GHG emissions could be sequestered. This Thanksgiving, we ask you to pledge to Cook Organic, not the Planet not just on Thanksgiving, but every day. Because as consumers, we have the power to shift the market—and save the planet. Read this week’s article on why organic is the only way to go for turkey, potatoes, green beans, pumpkin, bread, dairy and wine. Read the essay How to buy a turkey Where to buy organic ingredients TAKE ACTION: Take the Cook Organic, not the Planet Pledge! Post photos and recipes from your organic Thanksgiving ACTION ALERT Innately Wrong About 15 years ago, consumers successfullypressured McDonald’s Corp. to stop buying New Leaf potatoes, a potato varietygenetically engineered (by Monsanto) to produce its own insecticide. Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved a new GMO potato. The “Innate” brand is made by the J. R. Simplot Company—the largest supplier of potatoes to McDonald’s restaurants. (The USDA alsoapproved a new genetically engineered alfalfa last week). Simplot wants consumers to believe that its new GMO potato is not only harmless, it provides consumers with several benefits. Among those benefits are the fact that the potato is bruise-resistant (which is really a benefit to commercial buyers and growers, not consumers), and that when heated to a temperature required for frying, the potato produces less asparagine, a naturally occurring amino acid that at high temperatures reacts with some sugars to oxidize into acrylamide. Acrylamide is recognized as a potential carcinogen. In other words, the maker of the Innate GMO potato says it’s not only safe (the same claim Monsanto and Dow make about their GMO corn and soy products), it’s actually better for you than a non-GMO potato. What Simplot doesn’t tell you is that the technology used to create the Innate potato—RNA interference, or RNAi—is considered by some scientists to be even more dangerous than the DNA manipulation technology used to create Roundup Ready and Bt crops. TAKE ACTION: Please Ask McDonald’s CEO Donald Thompson to reject Simplot’s “Innately Wrong” GMO Potato! Photo Credit: arbyreed via Compfight cc