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Pesticide Action Network Updates Service (PANUPS)
A Weekly News Update on Pesticides, Health and Alternatives
See PANUPS archive for complete information.
March 19, 2010
- Monsanto on hot seat
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Baseball under fire to break deal with Scotts Miracle-Gro
- New Hampshire studying cosmetic pesticide ban
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Climate change and persistent chemicals
- Parkinson's, pesticides and 'cooperative toxicity'
Monsanto on hot seat
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Ankeny, Iowa — Last Friday marked the beginning of a year-long investigation into the ill-effects of corporate control over food and farming. In an unusual collaboration, the U.S. departments of justice (DOJ) and agriculture (USDA) have convened the investigations, promising what Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney termed an "unrelenting quest to find the correct balance" of power in agriculture, according to Reuters. The day was historic, if long overdue. In between two million farmers and 300 million consumers stand a handful of corporations controlling all the traffic. Friday's "workshop" focused on the seed industry in particular. Monsanto representatives were present in force, as the corporation is under scrutiny for near-monopoly control of corn and soybean seed markets, and genetically engineered seed markets more broadly.
On the ground in Iowa were Pesticide Action Network's Executive Director, Kathryn Gilje, and Senior Scientist, Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman. Gilje and Ishii-Eiteman joined hundreds of farmers, food workers, Iowans and PAN allies — including National Family Farm Coalition, Food & Water Watch, and Food Democracy Now! — in a town hall meeting organized on Thursday evening to bring together and give voice to farmers, advocates and allies from across the political spectrum, all of whom share an interest in breaking up monopoly control over food and agriculture. The message from farmers was clear: “Enough is enough. Corporations have no right to control our food and our lives. It's time to bust up Big Ag!”
Dr. Ishii Eiteman presented scientific evidence from the most comprehensive analysis of global agriculture (PDF) ever undertaken. The assessment found that: (1) Genetically modified seeds and industrial-scale farming will not feed our growing world; and (2) these technologies in fact have benefitted large, transnational corporations and wealthier groups, not the hungry. On seeds, in particular, PAN is concerned about a very small handful of multinational corporations controlling our shared seedstock — the very foundation of food and agriculture. Ever since a narrow 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 1980 to allow the patenting of living organisms, and a law adopted the same year that allows publicly funded research to be patented and sold for commercial use, seeds are increasingly owned by a small handful of corporations, with Monsanto, Dupont/Pioneer and Syngenta in the lead.
shareMORE 5 Things You Can do to BustTheTrust | Digg This
Baseball under fire to break deal with Scotts Miracle-Gro
"In this day and age, with environmental awareness at an all-time high and available resources at an all-time low, it is simply unacceptable to “re-ignite the competition for the best lawn in the neighborhood” — which is the stated goal of the MLB / Miracle-Gro partnership." said the SafeLawns Foundation. While homeowners across the country aim to protect the environment and their families' health by seeking alternatives to toxic practices of the past, MLB will promote these chemical solutions. PAN Managing Director Steve Scholl-Buckwald observes, "As players are lambasted for pumping up their bodies with steroids and other chemicals, it seems incongruous that MLB wouldn't apply these same standards to the fields they play on."
shareMORE Oppose MLB's lawn care deal |
New Hampshire studying cosmetic pesticide ban
shareMORE PANUPS: NH considers ban on cosmetic pesticide use |
Climate change and persistent chemicals
shareMORE "Weather, Pests & Pesticides" |
Parkinson's, pesticides and 'cooperative toxicity'
shareMORE BanLindane Now! |
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