Yesterday the Senate defeated, by a narrow margin, an amendment by Senator John Kerry (D-Mass) which would have corrected what environmental, labor and progressive farm allies see as a serious flaw in the impending Fast Track Bill; the so-called "investor suit" provision. This would allow foreign investors to sue the United States whenever an environmental law reduces their profits.

Foreign companies have used similar measures under NAFTA to attack environmental standards in California and the civil jury system in Mississippi. This well disguised element of global trade was the focus of a recent scathing special by Bill Moyers called, "Trading Democracy." If Fast Track now passes the Senate, many predict fundamental democratic power of the people will further shift to the global arena where the rules are created by giant corporations with multi-national allegiance. As of press time, no final vote on Fast Track had begun in the Senate.

When Bt corn was first released several years ago environmentalists flagged concerns that the pollen, which contains Bacillus thuringiensi, would prove fatal to threatened species of butterflies, moths and other pollinators. During the ensuing debate, the Monarch Butterfly became a poster-child for organizations calling for more stringent federal analysis on the impacts of new biotech products. Now the Iowa Farm Bureau has just released anecdotal reports that Bt Corn may also harm the ability of pigs to reproduce and the news is spreading like wild fire. It seems the IFB ran an article that told the story of four hog producers in Iowa that all had precipitous declines in hog reproduction. After checking for all the usual causes including diseases, the only common demoninator was that each producer, all within a 15 mile radius, fed their animals Bt corn. The remarkable part of the story is that each producer experienced nearly identical "pseudopregnancies" in their pigs with reproductivity plummeting 80% in one case. One of the producers subsequently switched back to regular non-Bt corn, and pseudopregnancy is no longer a problem. The IFB has been flooded with calls on the subject reporting that the story had not even hit the streets when the phone began ringing off the hook.

3. FARMERS ORGANIZATION CALLS FOR JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATION

While many livestock producers have long been suspicious of price manipulation by the corporate meat packers, the situation may have gotten worse quickly. According to the National Farmers Organization (NFO), recent "unexplained forces" are driving down futures prices and they want the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate. 

In a petition being circulated to farm leaders, NFO says that markets are not reacting to the "normal rules of supply and demand" and that "the last 75 days have seen livestock prices fall precipitously despite declining inventories." They want the Attorney General to investigate the situation for possible market manipulation. This effort by NFO comes on the heels of a Republican led defeat in the House of a ban on packer ownership of livestock. The DOJ had no immediate response to the petition. 

According to a new study, trout and salmon could disappear from many U.S. waterways due to rising temperatures caused by global warming. The study by Defenders of Wildlife and NRDC (Natural Resource Defense Council) warns that habitats for some species could shrink as much as 17 percent by 2030, 34 percent by 2060, and 42 percent by 2090 if emissions of heat-trapping pollution such as carbon dioxide are not reduced. 

Using three internationally recognized climate models, researchers looked at air and water temperature data from more than 2,000 sites across the U.S. The report predicts widespread habitat losses that vary by region. 

For trout, the most severe losses appear in the South, Southwest and Northeast. For salmon, significant losses are seen throughout their current range, with the biggest impact likely in California. In addition to the loss of native species, the economic impacts of such changes to rural areas is significant, though not analyzed in this report. Read the complete report.

If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this list, visit our
Rural Updates Subscriber Center