Bee Killers Sponsor National Pollinator Week
Ronnie Cummins- Organic Consumers Assoc.
ESSAY OF THE WEEK
Bee Killers Sponsor National Pollinator Week
Concerned about the bees and the butterflies? Interested in celebrating National Pollinator Week? It’s happening next week, June 16-22, 2014.
And it’s brought to you by the Pollinator Partnership, funded in part by none other than Monsanto and Bayer.
It’s all part of a well-documented, well-funded (and shameless) public relations campaign by the pesticide industry to give the appearance of “caring” about the die-off of bees and butterflies, while diverting attention from the cause of those die-offs—highly profitable products made by Monsanto and Bayer.
Let’s take back National Pollinators Week. By spreading the truth about the connections between Monsanto’s genetically engineered crops, Bayer’s neonicotinoid insecticides, and Colony Collapse Disorder.
In honor of Pollinator Week, share this article. And make plans to join a pollinators celebration that hasn’t been taken over by the agrichemical and biotech companies: Bee Against Monsanto’s Global Swarm to Save the Bees on August 16.
Photo Credit: Woody Thrower via Compfight cc
ACTION ALERT
No. More. Roundup.
A 2009 study found that Americans annually dump about 100 million pounds of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, on their lawns and gardens.
A lot has happened since 2009, so that number is probably much higher -- and about to get even higher yet, if Scott’s goes through with its plan to sell Roundup-Ready grass seed, for retail and commercial use.
Studies abound linking glyphosate to human diseases and the destruction of pollinators and their habitats.
Walmart, Lowe's and Home Depot are among the world’s most prolific peddlers of Monsanto’s Roundup. It’s time for the CEOs of those companies, Frank Blake (Home Depot), Robert Niblock (Lowe’s) and C. Douglas McMillon, the brand new CEO of Walmart, to step up and take the lead in ridding the world of Monsanto’s Roundup.
TAKE ACTION: Tell Home Depot, Lowe’s and Walmart: Stop selling Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide!
Call Home Depot 1-800-466-3337, press #2
Call Lowe’s 1 (800) 445-6937, press #5
Call Walmart (479) 273-4000, press #2 for customer service
ACTION ALERT
Deadly Duo
Enlist Duo, an herbicide made of both 2,4-D and Roundup.
The OCA has submitted more than 19,000 signatures to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking regulators to reject Dow’s request for approval of 2,4-D for use on the company’s new Enlist brand corn and soy, genetically engineered to tolerate massive amounts of 2.4-D.
But Dow is also asking for approval of a new, even deadlier herbicide. Enlist Duo uses a combination of 2,4-D, one of the toxic ingredients in Agent Orange, and Roundup, whose key active ingredient, glyphosate, is linked to a host of ills, including birth defects, infertility, allergies and cancer.
Photo credit: khantheripper cc
SUPPORT THE OCA & OCF
DARK Shadows
New York, Massachusetts and Arizona are inching closer to passing GMO labeling laws.
Citizens in Oregon and Colorado are gathering signatures for citizens’ initiatives that would require mandatory labeling of GMO foods, in the hope of getting those measures on the November ballot.
In Humboldt County, Calif. citizens have reached their signature goal to get a GMO crop ban on the ballot.
But even as we celebrate recent victories in Vermont, and Jackson and Josephine Counties in Oregon, we know our victories are tentative and our plans in other states are at risk.
Because the GMO labeling movement is operating under the shadow of the powerful Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and its DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act.
The GMA’s CEO Pamela Bailey was quoted this week as saying that HR 4432, the bill introduced in April by the GMA’s lackey Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), a bill that would preempt state GMO labeling laws, has a “good chance of passing.”
Bailey told Politico Pro: “We have been very encouraged by the conversations we’ve had on the hill and we feel very optimistic.”
That “optimism” springs perhaps from the lobbying group’s seemingly inexhaustible ability to buy lawmakers and voters alike. A report from New York this week notes that the GMA and its members—Monsanto, Coca-Cola, Dupont, Kraft and other—have already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the Empire State to kill labeling efforts there.
Make no mistake. We are making great strides. But we are not out of the dark yet.
Please make a generous contribution today, so we can continue to educate and influence. Thank you!
Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and public education)
Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our legislative efforts in Oregon, Vermont and other states)
Photo Credit: Luz Adriana Villa A. via Compfight cc
SAVE THE BEES
Bee Friendly
We know neonicotinoids play a role in Colony Collapse Disorder. And we know Big Ag is the Biggest User of the pesticides.
But consumers contribute to the problem, too, when they buy products like Monsanto’s Roundup, Dow’s Rodeo or Bayer 2-1 Systemic Rose and Flower Care.
Fortunately, those products are easy to avoid.
Unfortunately, consumers also unwittingly bring bee-killing pesticides into their gardens, when they buy seeds, potting soil and plants pre-treated with neonics.
Want to do your part for the upcoming National Pollinator Week? Sign our “save the bees” petitions below. Then read more about how to find alternatives to Roundup, neonic-free seeds and plants, and how to plant a bee-friendly garden.
TAKE ACTION: Tell Home Depot, Lowe’s and Walmart: Stop selling Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide!
TAKE ACTION: Tell Michelle Obama: Help Pass the Saving America’s Pollinators Act!
TAKE ACTION: Tell Home Depot and Lowe's to Stop Selling Bee-Killing Plants!
Photo Credit: linh.ngan via Compfight cc
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Flight of the Frankenbee
Monsanto would have you believe it’s on your side, when it comes to saving the honeybee. The bees tell another story.
ORGANIC RETAIL AND CONSUMER ALLIANCE
A Mind for Business, a Passion for Organics
With a “mind for business and a passion for organics,” Aaron and Erica Gottlieb, founded Jacksonville, Fla.-based Native Sun in 1996. Opening their own store was the logical next step after Aaron first became interested in the relationship between food choices and his own health, and later worked at a natural food store.
Today, Native Sun has two locations in Jacksonville. And a reputation for providing customers with carefully researched nutrition information, and high-quality organic products.
But it’s Native Sun’s strict non-GMO policy that earned it a place on the Organic Consumers Association’s Top right to Know Grocers List.
LITTLE BYTES
Essential Reading for the Week
Junk Food: Just as Bad and Dangerous as Cigarettes
Organic Agriculture Attracts a New Generation of Farmers
An Unexpected Reason Americans Are Overweight
Happy(?) Anniversary, Monsanto!
How EPA Faked the Entire Science of Sewage Sludge Safety: A Whistleblower’s Story