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Food Inc.: Eat, drink and be wary
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Food, Inc. could easily have turned our stomachs upside down. There’s lots of raw material – cows mired in manure, pig carcasses whacked about on conveyor belts, immobilized chickens locked in dark crowded coops – to make the point about how mass food production can be an unhealthy affair.
The film does dish up selected gross-out shots of slabs of beef, downer cows, dead hens and grimy CAFOs. There are a few gasp-aloud moments, such as when chickens are beheaded (inexplicably, this hard-to-watch scene is on a small sustainable farm operation). But the beauty of this wonderful documentary lies in its restraint. Rather than beating up corporate culprits Smithfield, Cargill and others with the big stick of blood and guts, Food Inc. strolls confidently and methodically into our packaged food wonderland, armed with words, telling anecdotes and revelations of corruption and greed that make its case more compelling.
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Tags: · agricultural-industrial complex, Cargill, corporate agriculture, documentaries, environmental movies, Eric Schlosser, FOOD INC., GMOs, grocery stores, health food, Michael Pollan, Monsanto, Robert Kenner, Smithfield, sustainable agriculture, sustainable farming, Tyson
Toxicologists say media, activists overstate chemical threats
From Green Right Now Reports:
As toxicologists see it, our chemical world is neither as dangerous as portrayed by the mainstream media and environmental groups, nor as safe as the American Chemistry Council and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) would have us believe.
That’s according to a survey of 937 members of the Society of Toxicology in early 2009. The survey, released Thursday, was administered by Harris Interactive and conducted by the nonprofit Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) and Center for Health and Risk Communication at George Mason University.
“This survey suggests that the public doesn’t get a full and balanced picture of chemical risk,” said Dr. Robert Lichter, the survey director.
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Tags: · bisphenol-A, chemicals, genetically modified organisms, GMOs, high fructose corn syrup, hormone disruptors, Organic Food, organic products, pesticides, phthalates, Teflon
Grape news: researchers develop another pesticide-resistant food
By Barbara Kessler
Apparently conventional farming techniques aren’t too grape for vineyard keepers in the Midwest. Their tender fruit withers when it comes into contact with a commonly used herbicide, called 2, 4-D that is spread on corn and other field crops to control broadleaf weeds.
So researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new grape that can stand up to 2, 4-D (or R2D2 if you’re playing Star Wars).
This new improved grape – imperially named “Improved Chancellor” — does not die when confronted with 2, 4-D (the D stands for Dicholorophenoxyacetic) because it has been genetically altered with an added bacterium that breaks down the herbicide, according to an Environmental News Service release.
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Tags: · corn, Dichlorophenoxyacetic, GMOs, grapes, Improved Chancellor grape, Organic Food
Ten reasons to buy local food
October 14th, 2008 · 5 Comments
Brenton Johnson, who hosted a recent local-food gourmet dinner on his organic farm, Johnson’s Backyard Garden, just east of Austin, Texas, represents a new breed of young, organic farmer whose philosophy is to live in harmony with the land and bring back the sustainable ways. Naturally (no pun intended), he advocates buying local food.
 In between tending his turnips and perusing the potatoes, Brenton penned this wise, authoritative list, which he agreed to share with us. (We couldn’t write it any better.)
This isn’t just about helping the local farmer, it’s about preserving our planet (and eatin’ better, too!).
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Tags: · gardening, genetic diversity, GMOs, heirloom produce, Johnson's Backyard Garden, Local Food, Locavore, Organic Food
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