Where did that food come from?

While traveling, eating healthy, good-tasting food is harder than at home.  Even when you buy something that should just be reasonably safe and normal, it can be fraught with peril.

At one gas stop, we bought some apple juice.  The front label said "all juice".  But reading the fine print written sideways on the rear, it turned out that it was not all apple juice.  Filtered water, malic acid, ascorbic acid and of course, apple juice concentrate were the actual ingredients.  This erosion and perversion of names allowed by federal regulators has spread far and wide.  Standard names like "apple juice,"  "chocolate," "milk," and "meat" no longer mean what they once did, nor what the consumer often expects them to be.  When a container says "all juice" a reasonable person, perhaps even most people, would tend to imagine juice produced from the fruits in question ("juiced"!) was what was bottled.

Additionally in the above product, the apples from which the apple juice concentrate was made were potentially from Austria, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina and America.  Now, it's likely that there are growers in all of those countries who grow good quality, even organic, apples.  But those are not  likely the apples bought be some multi-national company looking for the cheapest apples it can find from a dozen different countries to make its juice.

This was really an industrial beverage, containing some small amounts of real apple juice from locations unknown.  I don't object to such products being available.  I do object to regulators allowing manufactures to cheapen, distort and abuse the language in order to trick consumers into buying something other than what they imagine.  Pink slime, anyone?

Some legal success for organic farmers

"Wafting poison makes fertile ground for suit in Stearns County" reads the Minneapolis - St. Paul newspaper's headline.  Despite the bad pun, the article reports some good news for organic farmers in Minnesota, as well as in other states around the country.  From the article:

Oluf Johnson's 1,500-acre farm in Stearns County is an organic island in a sea of chemically treated corn and soybeans.

Improperly applied pesticides repeatedly drift over from neighboring farms, often with dire consequences for Johnson. But now, thanks to a new court ruling, he and other farmers can sue to recover their losses.

Since the pesticides make Johnson's crop unsalable in the organic market, he is entitled to damages from the company responsible for the pesticide application.

Recently a similar damage award was made in California, where an organic farmer won $1 million in damages.  According to Alexadra Klass, a professor of environmental law at the University of Minnesota, this Minnesota ruling puts the state in line with the majority of jurisdictions around the USA in finding that pesticide drift is a trespass.

This is good news for organic farmers and consumers.  In the bigger scheme of things, it should mean the price of conventional, pesticide-sprayed produce will go up, and organic producers will have an easier time of maintaining their organic status and economic viability.  I say "hooray" for this ruling.

Goiter, Water, and Dew

Just the other day, one of my sisters was diagnosed with goiter. This seemed pretty strange, because she has always lived in Minnesota, not in a "developing" country. Her doctor advised her that goiter can run in families, so I started researching.

Goiter is a swollen thyroid gland. Generally, goiter is caused by too little iodine in the diet; the thyroid gland grows larger, trying to do its job, making sufficient thyroid hormones to keep the body running smoothly. But, you may say, "Our salt is iodized!" So it is. Digging further, I learned that in the periodic table of elements, iodine sits on the same column as fluorine, chlorine, and bromine. These are called the Halogen Family, and all have similar chemical characteristics. The human body gets fooled, and fluorine, chlorine and bromine can slip like skeleton keys into the locks made for iodine. Once the lock is filled up, the iodine can't get in, and passes out of the body.

So, how does a thyroid get locked up with weird chemicals we don't need?

The first question the doctor asked my sister was, "Do you drink a lot of Mountain Dew?" She thought the doctor was being silly, but answered truthfully that, yes, she had until a few weeks before. Mountain Dew is one of many citrus beverages with bromine (it stabilizes the color). Bromine is also used in flour ("bromated"), and can be found in many processed foods. Bromine is used in pesticides, flame retardants, gasoline additives, swimming pools and hot tubs.

Fluorine/fluoride is put into our drinking water and toothpaste, to prevent cavities. Almost all processed foods use fluoridated water in manufacturing - juices, soups, jam, pasta sauce, etc...

Chlorine is used in sanitizing food preparation surfaces, in drinking water, and in many cleaning supplies.

We are surrounded by chemicals ready to displace the iodine our bodies need. We eat them, drink them, bath in them, and breathe them, and we are not warned of their effects.

I've switched to drinking spring water, and have begun taking iodine drops.

Because almost all processed foods contain fluoridated water and some form of bromine as an additive, it is important to read labels. Just about any food with "water" on the ingredient list has fluoride. My family drinks raw, unprocessed milk from a tiny farm, so we are not getting milk tainted with fluoride.

My sister has begun to really work on her diet. She and her kids are really becoming thoughtful about what they eat and how their food is prepared. Where once she let her kids drink lots of soda pop, they now drink milk and water - spring water. She's hoping her symptoms will begin to resolve, and in a year at her follow-up appointment, she can show a smaller thyroid gland and a healthier body to her doctor. I hope she makes it.

I hope to make enough changes in my life that I won't need to meet her doctor!

Acrylamides in Food

A few years ago, the popular press began reporting on a new danger in some foods.  The danger was a chemical named acrylamide.  The initial theory was that it was caused to form in food by high temperature cooking of foods high in carbohydrates and containing certain amino acids.  A negative opinion formed against fried, roasted and baked foods, especially things like French fries.

This chemical was first observed in foods in April, 2002, although it's probably been present a lot longer.  "Acrylamide belongs to the group of chemicals thought to have no reliably identifiable ‘threshold’ of effects, meaning that very low concentrations will also result in very low risks, but not in zero risk: some risk is always present when the chemical is ingested. However, for these carcinogens, risk is thought to increase with increasing exposure," according to the World Health Organization.


While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not think there is any danger, the U.S. National Institutes of Health sees things a bit differently, stating "high levels of acrylamide in the workplace have been shown to cause neurological damage, e.g., among workers using acrylamide polymers to clarify water in coal preparation plants" and "consider acrylamide to be a 'probable human carcinogen.' "


In January, 2008, Science Daily reported the following breast cancer link to acrylamide in food:

“Animal tests have shown acrylamide to be a carcinogen, but until recently no studies have demonstrated a link between acrylamide in foods and cancer in humans. Ours is the first epidemiological study using biological markers for measuring acrylamide exposure, and the first to report a positive association between acrylamide and breast cancer,” says Henrik Frandsen, senior scientist at the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark. 

The Danish study found that "[t]he findings show a positive association between an increased acrylamide-haemoglobin level and the development of breast cancer after adjustment for smoking behaviour. The risk of breast cancer doubles with a tenfold increase in the acrylamide-haemoglobin level. A tenfold increase in the acrylamide-haemoglobin level corresponds more or less to the difference measured between the women with the lowest and highest exposure."

Nine years later, the FDA and Health Canada are still assessing the danger of acrylamide in foods, and whether they will then make the political decision to actually label it as a health hazard and take some regulatory action.  Meanwhile in 2010 the European Chemical Agency added acrylamide to the list of substances of very high concern.


The World Health Organization (WHO) is somewhat less optimistic.  The WHO notes in their extensive FAQ on acrylamide in food, that it's not known for sure how acrylamide is being formed in foods.  They are likewise cautious about the danger of cancer or other harm.


As is often the case, the picture becomes clearer with time and better research.  Unfortunately, the picture has gotten considerably worse.

As if the herbicide Roundup were not bad enough by itself, Roundup and other herbicides contain polyacrylamide, which breaks down into acrylamide when exposed to heat and light -- say, crops in field on a warm, sunny day.  Professor Joe Cummings points out this problem in a report at the Institute of Science in Society.


It looks suspiciously like Roundup and similar herbicides which use polyacrylamide may well be the primary source of cancer-causing and otherwise toxic acrylamides in food.

Creativity and "ADHD"

Scientists studied "ADHD" people, finding that "ADHD" and highly distractable people were better at creative problem solving, even when they were being distracted. Oh, and they were smarter, too.

"According to the scientists, the inability to focus helps ensure a richer mixture of thoughts in consciousness. Because these people struggled to filter the world, they ended up letting everything in. They couldn't help but be open-minded."

Meat-glue, get a clue!

No longer just the realm of chicken nuggets, glued together chunks of meat are being sold as prime steaks and roasts. The meat-glue used is made of elements of pork or beef blood, Thrombian, or Transglutaminase. Not only is this shoddy and misleading, but bacteria love to grow inside a moist, meaty package. Much like hamburger, which we all know can be contaminated when thousands of cattle's meat get mixed in giant vats, glued-together "steaks" are combinations of many animals, and harbor generous colonies of bacteria inside. In a rare-cooked steak, normally you don't need to worry that bacteria have infiltrated the middle of the meat, but in glued meat, you do.

Be wise, avoid spending your cash on glued-together meats that are just over-large hamburger chunks.

Food-Wise: pesticide alerts for shoppers

Food can be expensive. For many of us, budgets are stretched. When you want to eat a healthier diet, but can't afford to buy only organic foods, what can you do? Environmental Working Group has developed a list of conventionally grown foods highest in pesticides.

To help with your decisions, here is a list of foods most affected by pesticides, followed by a list of those least affected.

The Dirty Dozen (most contaminated with pesticides):

1. Grapes (Imported)
2. Potatoes
3. Kale/Collard Greens
4. Cherries
5. Spinach
6. Sweet Bell Peppers
7. Nectarines
8. Blueberries (Domestic)
9. Apples
10. Strawberries
11. Peaches
12. Celery

The Clean Fifteen (least contaminated by pesticides):

1. Onions
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn (Frozen)
4. Pineapples
5. Mango (Subtropical and Tropical)
6. Sweet Peas (Frozen)
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi Fruit (Subtropical and Tropical)
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe (Domestic)
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potatoes
15. Honeydew Melon

Here's the full list from the Environmental Working Group.

Minnesota Mothers for Milk fair access bill

Would you be willing to help with a critical step of contacting GOVERNOR DAYTON this week to voice support for the Minnesota raw milk bill?

You could take the crucial step of making our voices heard to our new governor. Governor Dayton has the power to sign or veto the bill if it makes it to his desk, so we need to let him know how important this is to us and ask for his support. Please help us put it on his radar! Take action today.

The corporate food industry has many lobbyists working hard to stop the passage of this bill, consequently each of our voices is very important. Some easy-to-follow steps are outlined below.

TAKE ACTION:

•CALL HIS OFFICE at 651-201-3400 or 800-657-3717. Tell them where you live and why his support of this bill is important to you (see talking points below).

•WRITE A BRIEF LETTER. Single page, hand-written letters get more notice, but typed letters or e-mails are fine as well. Send to:
Governor Mark Dayton
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
E-mail to: http://MNHLRP.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ba758759647fb4bd348f2dc85&id=efcb670188&e=cb8032bb57

In all cases, make it personal and positive for the greatest impact.

TALKING POINTS:

•State where you live, why you drink raw milk and any benefits you have noticed. Share your passionate story about how it has helped you and your loved ones.
•Ask him to support the bill and refer to the bill numbers: SF147 and HF255.
•This bill simply improves ACCESS to a food that is already legal in Minnesota by allowing farmers and consumers more freedom on delivery options. It removes the current restrictions saying you must obtain it “at the farm”, and only “occasionally”. The new bill as currently written includes milk from cows, goats and sheep, and encompasses raw dairy products including milk, cream, butter, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt and ice cream.
•This bill makes it SAFER to obtain farm-fresh dairy foods, eliminating the need for individuals, parents and families to drive long distances to obtain the food they choose for their families. This is essentially a transportation safety issue.
•This bill makes it EASIER and MORE EFFICIENT to get raw milk by allowing farmers to deliver to various sites and homes, thereby using less gas, and saving wear and tear on roads and vehicles.
•It supports rural Minnesota economies and the urban areas they support, putting more money in the farmers’ pockets and encouraging mutually beneficial farmer-consumer relationships as promoted in the national “Know Your Farmer” campaign.
•It is less disruptive to hardworking farmers who now have to handle numerous customers’ visits.
•It reinforces sustainable farming, and since raw milk for human consumption is produced on pasture, it supports the animals, land, water and surrounding environment.
•It promotes food freedom, food choice and food security in our state.
•Also, in this time of a budget crisis, this bill does not cost anything to implement.
•Things to keep in mind: AVOID bashing Big Ag (say only positive things about raw dairy); AVOID partisan remarks; DO NOT discuss the Hartmann case which is a separate issue; DO NOT discuss federal food safety legislation S510 – this is about Minnesota only.

Please let us know if you contacted Governor Dayton in writing or by phone. If you have questions or would like additional pointers, please contact:
Gregory Schmidt, Pres. MNHLRP gregoryvschmidt@gmail.com 612-386-4908 (c)


This initiative, Food Freedom Project, is a project of the Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform Project (MNHLRP). This effort is supported by others including volunteers and other local and national organizations. To learn more about the efforts of MNHLRP, or to donate, please go to www.mnhlrp.org.

To add yourself to our mailing list for important updates, please paste this link into your internet browser (NOTE: must be pasted with the hyphen at the end to work properly):
http://MNHLRP.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ba758759647fb4bd348f2dc85&id=6b61b2643a&e=cb8032bb57-

Thank you for your efforts to support access to farm-fresh milk and local, sustainable, wholesome foods of our choice.

Sincerely,
Food Freedom Project
A project of the Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform Project, www.mnhlrp.org

Why Roundup is Bad

Roundup is the brand name of an herbicide produced by the U.S. company Monsanto, and contains the active ingredient glyphosate. Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the USA, according to the EPA. "Today, Roundup WeatherMax, Roundup UltraMax, and other glyphosate agricultural herbicides produced by Monsanto are among the world's most widely used herbicides." -- From Monsanto's own history.

Monsanto has followed its introduction of Roundup (1974) with an increasing number of genetically modified (GM) crops that are resistant to Roundup, including: Roundup Ready Soybeans (1996), Roundup Ready Cotton (1997), Roundup Ready Canola (1997), Roundup Ready Corn (1998), Roundup Ready Corn 2 (2001), YieldGard Plus (2005), Roundup Ready Flex cotton (2006), Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans (2008), and Genuity Roundup Ready Alfala (January 27, 2011). [source: Monsanto website]

It's obvious Monsanto makes Roundup-resistant crop seeds to sell more Roundup and introduce a dependency on Monsanto for agricultural seeds, often called "vendor lock-in" in other industries. It helps guarantee their long-term profits and is good business sense.

Monsanto claims that these products provide "immense benefits to growers, the environment and consumers around the world." Do they?

Benefits to Growers?

Let's first examine the benefits glyphosate offers to growers. Farmers have always fought to control weeds in their crops, and looked for better ways to do it. Roundup promised to make that job easier. And the invention of crops that were resistant to Roundup was claimed to make it still easier, more profitable and result in greater crop yields (more food to sell -- which is a good thing in the opinion of many).

But is that all true? It seems logical that better ways of killing weeds would help. It's certainly the simple logic marketing uses to sell herbicides like Roundup.

Bad for soil

However, it's not so simple. If the herbicide used to kill weeds stays in the soil long after the harvest, or it causes damage to the fertility of the soil such that future crop yields suffer, has the grower really come out ahead? In fact, it would be pretty easy to say that repeated use, year after year, of a chemical which damages the soil this way would lead to ever increasing costs and reduced crop yields. The grower would enjoy less profit over 5 or 10 years than if he had not used the herbicide.

It turns out this is precisely the case for Roundup. Despite claims by Monsanto that Roundup breaks down rapidly, and is harmless to the soil, it is not so.

Research by Dr. Don Huber, professor emeritus of botany and plant pathology at Purdue University and Barney Gordon, agronomist at Kansas State University, have shown that plants are more vulnerable to disease and malnutrition when exposed to glyphosate (Roundup). Dr. Huber has also shown that Roundup damages the nutrient quality of the soil. Huber and Gordon also found that Roundup Ready Soybeans were more vulnerable to soil nutrient deficiencies than normal varieties of soybeans.

Planting Roundup Ready Soybeans in a field treated with Roundup is a triple whammy against healthy, high-yield plants: (1) the soil nutrient is damaged, (2) glyphosate causes plants of all kinds to be vulnerable to nutrient deficiencies, and (3) the particular genetically-modified Roundup Ready soybean is extra vulnerable to nutrient deficiencies.

Plant diseases and pathogens are also affected by Roundup. In a paper published in the European Journal of Agronomy in October 2009, Huber and co-author G.S. Johal, from Purdue’s department of botany and plant pathology, state that the widespread use of glyphosate can “significantly increase the severity of various plant diseases, impair plant defense to pathogens and diseases, and immobilize soil and plant nutrients rendering them unavailable for plant use.” Further, glyphosate stimulates the growth of fungi and enhances the virulence of pathogens such as Fusarium and “can have serious consequences for sustainable production of a wide range of susceptible crops.” Fusarium head blight is one of the most widely damaging of grain crops, such as wheat and barley.

Other research has shown that the half life of Roundup in the soil is up to 22 years, rather than the biodegradable claims Monsanto originally made before being stopped by court orders.

Bad for people

Glyphosate is the active ingredient of many of the most common herbicides used in gardening, as well. These products have been promoted as quickly biodegradable and non-toxic to humans.

It is sprayed on roadsides while people are driving by, on footpaths when people are walking and in schoolyards and sports fields, exposing children to drift and residues. People buy it from supermarkets or garden shops, and use it without any protective clothing because it is deemed safe. It is sprayed in national parks and other environmentally sensitive areas in the belief that it is not toxic and leaves no residue.

Unfortunately, the facts show this is not the case. While pure glyphosate has a low acute toxicity (the amount in one dose needed to cause death), when it is sold as a commercial herbicide it is combined with surfactants and other ingredients to make it more effective at killing plants. Studies show that the commercial products, such as Roundup, can be three times more toxic than pure glyphosate.

In California, where there is a mandatory system of reporting pesticide poisoning, glyphosate is the third most common cause of pesticide illness in farm workers. It is the most common form of reported pesticide poisoning in landscape gardeners.

A 1999 Swedish study found clear links between Roundup and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer. Another Swedish study linked glyphosate to hairy cell leukemia. Both forms of cancer are rare, but non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is the most rapidly increasing cancer in the western world. It has risen 73% in the USA since 1973.

Farmers exposed to glyphosate have an increased risk of miscarriages and premature birth, as well as lower fertility among men. Other studies have found increased incidence of Parkinson disease among farmers using herbicides.

Residues

A report from The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that Glyphosate is 'extremely persistent under typical application conditions'. It is one of the most residual herbicides, with studies in Sweden showing that one application can last up to 3 years.

In warmer climates, it can take less than a year per application for Glyphosate to degrade. However, when it breaks down it does not disappear into harmless basic elements. It degrades into an even more tenacious residual compound called aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA). While AMPA has a low acute toxicity, very few long-term health and environmental studies are conducted on the breakdown products of synthetic chemicals.

Residues of Glyphosate have been found in a variety of fruits and vegetables. This is because it readily moves into all parts of a plant. As it is inside the plant tissues, it cannot be washed off.

Residues can be detected long after glyphosate treatments have been made. One study showed that lettuces contained residues five months after the field was treated with glyphosate. The disturbing thing about this research is that the lettuce seedlings were planted four months after the field was sprayed for weeds. The seedlings absorbed the glyphosate from the soil residues. A World Health Organisation study revealed significant glyphosate residues in wheat after harvest. Milling did not remove it, as it moves into the plant and the wheat seed. The study showed that cooking does not break down glyphosate.

Environment

In addition to the above mentioned problems, there are additional environment effects to consider.

Glyphosate-based herbicides have been shown to cause a significant decline of beneficial insect species in farms. Studies by the International Organization for Biological Control and other researchers have found that between 50 to 80 percent of beneficial insects are killed from exposure to residues of a glyphosate herbicide.

Roundup is very toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms. Concentrations as low as 10 parts per million can kill fish. Daphnia, a very important part of the aquatic food chain, especially for fish, can be killed by as little as three parts per million. This is an important reason why it should not be used near waterways or in drains.

Roundup spray-drift from both ground and aerial applications has been measured from one quarter to half a mile from the target site. Studies have shown that Roundup drift will cause more severe and extensive damage than many other herbicides. This is because it is a broad spectrum, non-selective herbicide and it is transported throughout the plant causing damage to the unexposed parts. This damage, when it does not kill the plants, can last for many years.

Drift that is one thousand times less than the usual application rates has been shown to damage surrounding vegetation, including the killing of wild plants. This is an important reason why it should not be used in national parks and environmentally sensitive areas for weed control.

Glyphosate exposure damages or reduces the populations of earthworms. A New Zealand study showed that 5% of the usual application rate caused delayed development and increased death in earthworms.

Roundup reduces populations of small mammals and birds by damaging the vegetation that provides food and shelter for these animals. The populations of all of these living organisms can take years to recover due to glyphosate's persistence in the soil.

Conclusion

Roundup is widely used in the mistaken belief that it is harmless, safe and readily breaks down leaving no residues. Consequently, it is sprayed in public areas while people are present and by operators without protective clothing. These people are exposed to the drift of this herbicide. The facts show that Roundup causes a range of health problems to humans, plants and animals, it causes environmental problems and that it is highly persistent.

It is time that the widespread use of this toxic chemical on roadsides, footpaths, parks, gardens, schools, farms, forestry, national parks etc was stopped or highly restricted. It's also a very good reason for eating organic foods.

Gen-mod "organic" food

OOPS! I paid too much for something today!

Organic Valley Cream Cheese is $2.99 (discount of 45 cents), but the house-brand was only $1.69. Heck, If I am going to be poisoned, I might as well save money doing it, right?

Now that Organic Valley, Stoneyfield, and Whole Foods have agreed to stop fighting Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) crops, it is only a matter of time before the GM crops will be used to feed "organic" milk and meat animals. Or, are they already there?

"A troubling trend in organics today is the calculated shift on the part of certain large, formerly-organic brands from certified organic ingredients and products to so-called "natural" ingredients. With the exception of the "grass-fed and grass-finished" meat sector, most "natural" meat, dairy, and eggs are coming from animals reared on GMO grains and drugs, and confined, entirely, or for a good portion of their lives, in CAFOs." (Organic Consumers Organization, January 27, 2011)

Okay, in reading the label on my cream cheese, packet, I see that it was, "Produced without the use of antibiotics, synthetic hormones or pesticides." Nothing about GM feed. Nothing about what the animals get fed.

With a goal of feeding my family as close to non-contaminated food as possible, I've been reading labels and choosing organic foods whenever reasonable. The FDA permits some ingredients to go unlisted on food labels, including organic foods. You can't be sure you are getting what the label indicates. Rather than selecting foods labeled "Certified Organic" for better quality, I might as well choose to buy the cheap product. It is almost certainly GM, but unlike the "USDA Certified Organic," they don't spend a lot of money pretending they are not.

This leaves me feeling uncomfortable, though, as I've lived so many years believing that what I eat matters, both to my health and the health of others.

My other choice is to buy from farmers directly. I already buy milk, eggs, cream and butter from a farm directly. I can get grains and flours from another co-op, fresh and frozen veggies, too. Oh, and they'll deliver meat, cheese, kefir, chips, soap, candles, beans, rice, coffee, tea, oils, hm... Ah, lumber and cookies and more. This farm co-op delivers to a church in my neighborhood once each month. These farmers invite their customers to their homes every summer, where they show how they work, how animals are treated, offer the visitors to a tour and a meal. When was the last time an industrial food producer invited you to their home for dinner and a tour of their production facility?

Living in Minneapolis, it can seem tough to find unadulterated foods without driving hundreds of miles. By making contacts, I have put together a pretty good network of suppliers of food which I feel good about serving to my family. I feel good about the farmers who raise that food -- I know they and I are not contributing to cancer and other illnesses. [1][2][3][4]

The challenge is planning ahead for my family's food needs, and collecting my order when the drop-sites are open. So far, it has been worth it.

Food Manifesto for the Future

I suggest reading the New York Times article linked below. My major point of disagreement is on the FDA. It is my opinion that it has been corrupted and influenced to a point of uselessness for the consumers.


Click here for article

Plant a Little Information

Just in case you missed the memo, most of the seed in the USA, and a large amount of seeds in the world are produced by or for Monsanto. If you work for Monsanto, don't take this personally - people need jobs. However, variety is not only the spice of life, it is what keeps us all going strong.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The first list below is a list of Safe Seed Companies- the first few listed under each region sell only organic- then those below sell some conventional seed as well, but it is noted if they sell Monsanto seed. If they do, avoid their conventional seed or check the second list, which lists Monsanto's vegetable varieties.

The second list below is a list of popular Monsanto seed. It would be very lenghty if all were included, but there are links to Monsanto's products pages so that you might do further research. Many seed re-sellers buy seed from a broker who has purchased a huge block of seed, the broker breaks up the order, and then re-sells to numerous mail-order seed companies. So, many companies carry the same seed. And unfortunately many of these seed companies then re-name the seed, adding to the further confusion as to which is a Monsanto seed. :-

NorthEast _____________

High Mowing Organic Seed www.highmowingseeds.com 100% organic certified seed: vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. Over 450 organic heirloom, open-pollinated and organic hybrid. Vermont

Dirt Works www.dirtworks.net 100% organic vegetable seeds and hardy organic heirloom seeds. Some open pollinated. Grain, hay, forage, wildflowers, compost, organic fertilizers, pest control and accessories as well. Note there are some complaints about shipping times posted on-line. Dirt Works was hit hard during recession and we hope they can hire more help. Safe Seed Pledge. Vermont

Turtle Tree Seed www.turtletreeseed.com Vegetables, flowers, herbs, grain and cover crops. Mostly organic- clearly marked. Biodynamic, open pollinated, no hybrids. New York

Fedco www.fedcoseeds.com Untreated vegetable, tubers, herb, & flower seed. Many certified organic. Cover crops, soil amendments & supplies for organic growers. Safe Seed Pledge. No GMOs, etc. Good prices. Order early. Website a bit difficult to navigate. Maine

Heirloom Seeds www.heirloomseeds.com All seeds are open pollinated (non-hybrid) and untreated. No GMO. Many Organic. Good selection of organic. Many garden packages. Organic fertilizers. SW Pennsylvania

Harris Seeds www.harrisseeds.com 22 organic veg choices- large selection of untreated seed. Sells only large quantities. Sells Monsanto conventional seed. New York

Johnny's Seeds www.johnnyseeds.com Johnny's has 324 organic products, including 198 vegetable seed varieties. Many heirloom. Safe Seed Pledge.Still carries 40 Monsanto varieties, which is about 4% of their conventional vegetable varieties. Their intention is to replace them. See Monsanto vegetable seed list below, if you wish to avoid. Maine

Cook's Garden is owned by Burpee Seeds. www.cooksgarden.com 50 Organic Vegetables and Herbs. European and American heirlooms. Good recipes. Their conventional vegetables might be Monsanto seed. Check list below for list of Monsanto vegetable seed. Pennsylvania

Mid-Atlantic _________________

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange www.southernexposure.com Vegetables and herbs. Most certified organic, all untreated. 99% of seeds open-pollinated. No GMO. Safe Seed Pledge. Grows 40% of own seed. Also sells bulk. Nice catalog. Virginia

Sow True Seed www.sowtrue.com Vegetables, herbs and flowers. Only non-hybrid, untreated, open-pollinated, heirloom and organic seed. Safe Seed Pledge. Asheville, NC

Seeds for the South www.seedsforthesouth.com Untreated heirloom vegetable and herb seed. Very small selection of organic. Sells Monsanto seed. Georgia

Park Seed Company (bought Sow Organic Seed Co. in 2007) www.parkseed.com Flower, vegetable and herb seeds. Untreated, non-GMO, and some Certified Organic seed. Note- it is easy to go off their organic pages onto the conventional and they sell some conventional Monsanto seeds. See list of Monsanto products below. South Carolina

MidWest _____________

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds rareseeds.com Vegetables, flowers, herbs, bulk seed.

1400 heirloom varieties. Hugh selection. Good prices. Only open-pollinated seeds: pure, natural & non-GMO. Good reviews. Missouri

Botanical Interests www.botanicalinterests.com/store/index_index.php 400 untreated vegetable, flower, herb seeds. A large selection of Certified Organic. Signed Safe Seed Pledge. No-GMOs. Beautiful packets- good info. Nice website. Colorado.

Sand Hill Preservation www.sandhillpreservation.com 700 heirloom seeds- vegetable, herbs, flowers, grains. Root vegetables, poultry. Produce 90% of the seed they sell. Untreated, some certified organic. Signed Safe Seed Pledge. No GMOs. Ordering only by regular mail. Iowa

Seed Saver's Exchange www.seedsavers.org A non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of heirloom seeds. Largest non-governmental seed bank in the United States. Maintains more than 25,000 endangered vegetable varieties. Hugh selection of open pollinated vegetables, beans, potatoes, flowers and herbs. Many certified organic. Good prices. Iowa

Heirloom Acres Seeds www.heirloomacres.net 1000 varieties of open pollinated and heirloom seed. Good selection of Certified Organic. Very few seeds treated. Missouri

Nature's Crossroads www.naturescrossroads.com Seed varieties grown in Indiana for Midwestern gardeners. Vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers. Safe Seed Pledge. Most seed certified organic. Produce much of their own seed. Indiana

Grannys Heirloom Seeds www.grannysheirloomseeds.com Good selection of heirloom vegetables and gardening suplies. Strawberries, onions No organic but all open-pollinated. Signed Safe Seed Pledge. Inexpensive peat pots. Missouri

Northwest ________

Abundant Life Seeds www.abundantlifeseeds.com Certified Organic and Biodynamic vegetable, flower and herb seeds, garlic and potatoes. Garden accessories. Safe Seed Pledge, no GMOs. Oregon

Wild Garden Seed www.wildgardenseed.com Certified organic farm-original varieties of salad greens, vegetables, herbs and a few flowers. Certified Organic heirloom and other open-pollinated seed varieties adapted for the Pacific Northwest. Oregon

Victory Seed Company www.victoryseeds.com Rare and heirloom seeds. All seeds open-pollinated, non-hybrid and untreated. Signed Safe Seed Pledge. No GMOs. Good size selection. Oregon

Irish Eyes - Garden City Seeds www.irisheyesgardenseeds.com Potato, vegetable, flower and garden seeds. Most all seeds organic, many heirloom. All untreated. Washington

Territorial Seeds www.territorialseed.com Large selection of vegetable, herb, flower. Safe Seed Pledge. Sells a small amount of Monsanto's conventional seed. See list below.* Oregon

Southwest _____

Bountiful Gardens www.bountifulgardens.org A non-profit and a project of Ecology Action which does garden research and publishes books and research papers. Large selection untreated, open-pollinated, non-GMO, heirloom seed. Vegetables, herbs, flowers, grains, mushroom kits, green manures, compost and carbon crops. Good prices. Some Certified Organic and Biointensive. Willits California

Seeds of Change www.seedsofchange.com 100% organic certified seed: vegetables, flowers, and herbs. Over 1,200 varieties: many heirloom, open-pollinated, native and hard-to-find. New Mexico

Peaceful Valley www.groworganic.com Certified Organic Vegetable and Herb Seeds and much more. Packets or bulk. Sells own brand of Certified organic- plus sells Seeds of Change, Renee's Garden Seeds, Turtle Tree Organic Seeds, TomatoFest Organic Seeds, Horizon Herbs Organic Seeds. Grass Valley, California

Seeds Trust www.seedstrust.com Vegetable, wild flower, herb and grass seeds Sells only open-pollinated and untreated seed. Organic seeds are marked with an asterisk. Signed Safe Seed Pledge. Sells many of their own seeds. Website a bit challenging. Specializes in high-altitude and southwest seeds. Arizona

Sustainable Seed Company www.sustainableseedco.com Only heirloom open-pollinated seed. No hybrid, treated or gmos. 65% of all heirloom vegetable seed grown on organic farms in California. Over 100 varieties of heirloom seeds for less than $1. Petaluma, California

Native Seeds www.nativeseeds.org Non-profit. Sells 350 varieties of heirloom arid-land adapted seed.

Natural Gardening Company www.naturalgardening.com Vegetable, herb and flower seeds. Many organic and open-pollinated. Organic plants, but hybrids too. Sells some Monsanto seed. Check list below. Petaluma, California

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Popular Monsanto (Seminis) seeds- for full listing of Seminis seeds, see the references list at the bottom of this page. To see De Ruiter varieties, see the De Ruiter link at the bottom of the page. To make things even more confusing, each mail-order seed company might resell the same seed but use a different name for it. The only way you can be 100% positive you are not buying a Monsanto seed is to check with the re-seller or buy from a company selling their own seed or organic or open-pollinated.

Beans: Brio, Eureka, EZ Gold, Goldrush, Kentucky King, Lynx, Xera...
Broccoli: Captain, Heritage, Liberty, Packman, more...
Carrot: Nutri-Red, Sweet Sunshine, Karina, Chantenay hybrids, Chantilly, Lariat
Cauliflower: Cheddar, Fremont, Minuteman, more...
Cucumber : Babylon, Dasher II, Daytona, Homemade Pickles, Speedway, Sweet Slice, Yellow Submarine, Sweeter Yet...link to De Ruiter cucumber list...
Eggplant: Black Beauty, Dancer, Fairy Tale, Gretel, Hansel, Tango, Twilight...De Ruiter Eggplants...
Lettuce: Baby Star, Blackjack, Esmeralda, Lolla Rossa, Monet, Red Butterworth, Red Sails, Red Tide, Summer time...
Melons: Alaska, Bush Whopper, Casablanca, Dixie Jumbo, Early Crisp, Stars & Stripes, Sugarnut, ...
Okra: Cajun Delight
Onion: Arsenal, Candy, Hamlet, Mars, Red Zeppelin, Superstar, many more...
Peppers: Aristotle, Biscayne, Camelot, Caribbean Red, Cherry Bomb, Dulce, Early Sunsation, Fat and Sassy, King Arthur, Northstar, Red Knight, Serrano del Sol, Sahuaro, Super Chili, Valencia, many more...De Ruiter pepper varities...
Pumpkin: Buckskin Pumpkin, Orange Smoothie, Prizewinner, more...
Spinach: Bolero, Cypress, Melody, Unipack 151, many more...
Squash: Autumn Delight, Blackjack, Bush Delicata, Butterstick, Daisy, Early Butternut, Fancycrook, Gold Rush, Latino, Lolita, Patty Green Tint, Really Big Butternut, Seneca (all), Sungreen, Sunny Delight, Table Ace...
Tomato: Baby Girl, Big Beef, Beefmaster, Beaufort, Celebrity, Favorita, First Lady I and II, Early Girl, Geronimo, Golden Girl, Maxifort, Pink Girl, Sunguard, Sun Chief Sweet, Sweet Million, Trust...link to De Ruiter tomato varieties...
Watermelon: Bambino, Crimson Glory, Royal Flush, Royal Star, Stargazer, Starbright, Stars and Stripes, Tiger Baby, Yellow Doll
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As an alternative way to shop for seed, visit the non-profit Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) Organic Seeds Database- www.omri.org/seeds - lists certified "final handlers" for organic seed. List is by produce. Pick a vegetable and find a seller.
_______________________
Here are some of the brand names that Monsanto owns and 'packages' their seeds as:

American Seeds, Asgrow, Campbell, DeKalb, De Ruiter, Diener Seeds, Fielder's Choice, Fontanelle, Gold Country Seed, Hawkeye, Heartland, Heritage Seeds, Holdens, HPS Seed, Hubner Seed, icorn, Jung Seed, Kruger Seeds, Lewis Hybrids, Peotec, Poloni, Rea Hybrids, R.H. Shumway, Seeds of the World, Seminis, Seymour's Selected Seeds, Specialty, Stewart, Stone Seed,Totally Tomatoes, Trelay, Vermont Bean Seed Company, Western Seeds. ****

But remember seed companies buy Monsanto seed in bulk & then repackage it under their name as well. Always ask!

References:* www.seedalliance.org/Seed_News/SeminisMonsanto/
www.indyweek.com/indyweek/the-seeds-of-vegetable-diversity
**www.deruiterseeds.com/Corporate/Monsanto
***www.etcgroup.org/en/node/198
****www.msu.edu/~howardp/seedindustry.html
Taken from : http://inspirationgreen.com/organic-vegetables-start-out-as-seed.html

Monsanto slips us another Mickey...

After divesting itself of Nutrasweet/Aspartame, Monsanto has created a replacement, called Neotame. Believe what you want about artificial sweetners, but my warning system went on alert when I learned that Neotame is not required fy the FDA to be listed as an ingredient. It is allowed to be used in "organic" foods, and not listed. ANY food that is processed could have Neotame.

I see no benefit for consumers by having any ingredient unmentioned - only to the manufacturer. Monsanto and food industries know that consumers learned to distrust Aspartame, and would at least pause before purchasing foods containing Neotame. Their solution: not even mention it.

Read more about it here

Equal-Access Rights

There is a lot to say about food rights, but my focus today is access.

Here in Minnesota, it is legal to buy, sell and consume farm-fresh,
unpasteurized milk. The issue we currently face is access inequality.
Families living near farms where safe, clean milk is produced have relatively easy access, permitting them to easily visit neighboring farms and purchase fresh milk.

Not everyone lives close to a Fresh-Milk Dairy (a dairy which produces
milk intended for direct-sale to and consumption-by consumers). Some
families drive more than three hours in all seasons to reach the nearest
fresh-milk dairy.

Schools bus students miles to try to assure access equality for all students, regardless of their race, creed, color, income level, or sexual orientation. It is a no-brainer for farms to deliver directly to consumers, saving tremendous amounts of fuel and letting moms with little children pick up their food closer to home. Winters here offer treacherous driving. Is there a legislator who wants the to see the image of a car-crash, with a mother with little children, and her week's supply of milk?

Encourage your state legislators to support fair access to farm-direct foods, starting with Fresh Milk!

Video Press Conference