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Drugs Make Bugs, Made in the Shade, & Is It True?

Ronnie Cummins- Organic Consumers Assoc.

Oct. 5, 2014

Made in the Shade

If your day hasn’t really begun until that first sip of coffee, you’re not alone. According to the National Coffee Association, more than 80 percent of U.S. adults drink coffee on a regular basis.

But consumers are getting wiser—and choosier—about which coffee brands they buy. There’s a definite trend toward coffee-lovers voting with their dollars. And what they’re voting for are organic, shade-grown and fair trade beans.

What are conscientious consumers not buying? Coffee grown on corporate-owned sun plantations, produced with a heavy reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and with little regard for the health and welfare of plantation workers and small, sustainable farmers.

October is Fair Trade Month. But beware: Not all fair trade products are equal. And that warning applies to coffee brands, too.

Read the essay

Read the FWP coffee guide

Image Credit: izahorsky via Compfight cc

ACTION ALERT

Phone a Friend!

Last year this time, we were all pulling together for a GMO labeling law win in Washington State.

We lost. By the thinnest of margins. And one of the big reasons we lost the battle for GMO labeling in Washington State was this: low voter turnout.

Let’s not lose in Oregon in November because we didn’t’ do everything possible to get YES voters to the polls. Can you help?

Calling voters in Oregon won’t cost you a dime—and it could help win this key GMO labeling battle.

It’s easy. Sign up using our form. We’ll get back to you with all of the information you need to get you started. We’ll provide the tools, the script and everything else you need.

We can win in Oregon—with your help. Thank you!

TAKE ACTION: Sign up today to call Oregon voters and urge them to vote YES on 92!

Watch this video to see how easy it is to become a volunteer phone banker

Donate to support Yes on 92

Photo Credit: plenty.r. via Compfight cc

ACTION ALERT

Not Cool, Starbucks

More than 150,000 people have signed petitions to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz asking Starbucks to switch to organic milk.

How have Schultz and Starbucks responded? With dead silence.

So, it’s on to phase two of the “What the Starbucks?!” campaign.

Sunday, October 5, has been declared a National Day of Action to get the attention of Starbucks and Howard Schultz. Can you help stir up a social media storm by taking to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to tell Starbucks you want #OrganicMilkNext?

Full details on how to participate are here.

But the gist of it is this:

1. Print the #OrganicMilkNext flier

2. Take a photo of yourself with the flier

3. Write 1-2 sentences for the picture caption about why you want organic milk (sample text: “Starbucks, I want organic milk for a more sustainable food system! #organicmilknext”)

4. Post your photo to Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram, and tag OCA, GMO Inside and 5 friends asking them to participate

5. Share your photo on Starbucks' Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram accounts, using the hashtag #organicmilknext

Starbucks recently launched its first global marketing campaign in an effort to “refresh” its image. According to Business Insider, the King of Coffee is afraid its brand is no longer “cool.”

What’s not “cool” about Starbucks? The company uses milk from cows raised in industrial, inhumane, large-scale factory farms, and fed a diet of GMO corn, soy and cottonseed. Also not cool? Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz won't talk to us about switching to organic.

Help OCA, GMO Inside and other allies give Starbucks a run for its money on October 5, by creating a bigger, better grassroots “Go Organic” campaign than the Starbucks marketing machine’s own “Starbucks is cool” campaign.

TAKE ACTION: Join the Starbucks Day of Action—details here

TAKE ACTION: Tell Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz: Switch to Organic Milk!

More here

ACTION ALERT

Is It True?

Pepsi is at it again, throwing money at campaigns designed to keep you in the dark about GMOs.

So far the Soda Giant has pumped $900,000 into Oregon’s NO on 92 Campaign. And a whopping $1.2 million into the NO on Prop 105 Coalition in Colorado.

Pepsi also belongs to the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) which not only has contributed millions to defeat GMO labeling laws in California, Washington State, Oregon and Colorado, but which is behind a bill in Congress to preempt state GMO labeling laws, and has sued the state of Vermont to overturn a GMO labeling law passed there earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Pepsi is looking for more ways to sell its junk-drink products, by recently introducing a low-calorie drink, called Pepsi True.

Here’s what we know is true. Pepsi is willing to spend millions of dollars to defeat GMO labeling laws. How does the company fill up its anti-labeling war chest? With the profits it makes by selling allegedly consumer-friendly products like its new low-calorie Pepsi True, and its line of organic and natural brands, like Naked Juice, Tostitos, Tropicana, Tazo, Loóza, Izze, Sabra, Smartfood, Stacy's, Mother's and Near East.

Let’s keep the “Traitor” boycott alive and well!

TAKE ACTION: Boycott Pepsi’s Organic and Natural Brands!

TAKE ACTION: Pledge to Boycott the 300-Plus Members of the GMA, Including the Traitor Brands!

More about the boycott

GMA members

GMA boycott website

Download your wallet-sized boycott guide.

Download the Buycott app for your smartphone and join OCA's new campaign, "Buy Organic Brands that Support Your Right to Know" so you can scan products before you buy them.

SUPPORT OCA & OCF

Déjà Vu All over Again

It was only a matter of time.

The money has started raining down in Oregon and Colorado. Money from the usual suspects—Monsanto, Pepsi, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, General Mills. For the usual purpose—to keep you in the dark about the GMO frankeningredients in your food.

This week, Monsanto dumped a cool $6.2 million into Colorado and Oregon anti-labeling campaigns.

In all, the Junk Food and Gene Giants have spent—so far—$20 million to scare voters in Colorado and Oregon into voting against their own best interests.

We know these huge contributions buy the best advertising and public relations firms in the world, whose star professional liars stay up nights dreaming up creative ways to twist the truth and obscure the facts.

We know this money has an impact.

We know it was money, not the facts, and certainly not the truth, that defeated GMO labeling laws in California and Washington State.

Monsanto hopes that if the opposition throws enough money at the problem, it, meaning you and I and millions of like-minded consumers, will go away.

But we also know this. We have the truth, the facts and the momentum on our side. And we aren’t going anywhere. Are you with us? If so, please consider a generous donation this week so we can lend extra support to the Oregon and Colorado GMO labeling campaigns. 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, Colorado and other states)

SAVE ORGANIC STANDARDS

Worth Fighting For

It’s easy to take for granted that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are hopelessly bent toward the interests of agribusinesses like Monsanto, Tyson Foods and General Mills.

But there’s one place in our regulatory system that retains a shred of democracy. Where, if consumer demand is strong enough, the will of the people can actually trump corporate interests and influence government action.

It’s the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP), where the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), a citizens’ review board, has statutory authority to help write the rules on which substances are allowed or prohibited in organic food and farming. Not only does this citizens’ review board play an important role in writing the organic rules, but it does it in public, at open meetings that anyone can attend and participate in.

The result is the most comprehensive regulatory program the U.S. food system has ever known.

This is the reason USDA Organic is as good as it gets, and it’s all we’ve got. But recent rule changes, and increasing infiltration and pressure from corporations, is jeopardizing the program. All the more reason consumers, and consumer advocacy groups like the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), must step up the battle to protect the integrity of organic standards.

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