2/28/05

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1. CALL TODAY - Monsanto Pressures Tillamook Cheese. 
2. Minnesota Farm Bureau Takes Aim at Activists
3. Judge Rejects Stall Tactics in Organic Certifier Case 
4. One in Five Farmworkers Suffer Pesticide Impacts 

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1. CALL TODAY - MONSANTO PRESSURES TILLAMOOK

Tillamook cheese, the nations' largest farmer-owned cheese cooperative recently voted unanimously to stop use of the bovine growth hormone – rBGH. 

The hormone, used to artificially induce milk in hefers, can cause significant health problems in cows and humans. 

The cows face increased incidence of utter infections (mastitis) and the artifical hormones are suspected to increase human risk of breast, colon and prostate cancer. 

Instead of applauding this improvement to ungulate and human health, corporate giant Monsanto, a main supplier of rBGH, has decided to try and change Tillamook's decision. 

They recently sent a lawyer to Oregon to organize Tillamook's farmers against the decision. Please make a call TODAY. The meeting will be held Monday, Feb. 28 at 10:00 am. 

If you are a parent, consumer or doctor concerned about the effects of rMGH, please contact Tillamook as soon as possible to express your support for the board's decision to go rBGH-free! E-mail: info@tillamookcheese.com Phone: 503-842-4481 Fax: 503-842-6039

 Please distribute widely. Learn more about the risks of rBGH. 

2. MINNESOTA FARM BUREAU TAKES AIM AT ACTIVISTS 

Activism is considered a good word in America, where citizens have "activated" things like tea parties and romps proclaiming, "The British are coming… " 

In Minnesota however, the state Farm Bureau wants to change that with the release of a new phamplet called "When An Activist Group Comes to Town." This 27 page piece takes square aim at those who oppose farm expansion, minizing them as "outsiders" dividing "vulnerable" communities and farmers. The stated goal of the publication is to "provide insight" in "addressing controversies caused by rural development" but it expends considerable ink in an "us vs. them" diatribe that muddies the linguistic waters between "farm expansion" and "factory farm" proliferation. 

It's too bad that the Minnesota Farm Bureau doesn't just admit that factory farming harms farmers and the environment and started spending money on publications to help us all live sustainably on the land. A must read for anyone protecting their community from factory farms, this publication is not immediately available on the web. To get a copy try calling the Minnesota Farm Bureau at 651-905-2100 

3. JUDGE REJECTS STALL TACTICS IN ORGANIC CERTIFIER CASE 

A federal judge recently ruled that the USDA has to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Center for Food Safety (CFS). The court told the agency that it could not charge CFS for the documents that were requested. 

The FOIA request aims to gather information about USDA's oversight and assessment of the qualifications of new organic certifiers seeking accreditation and the concern that "sham" certifiers being allowed into the program. Appropriate certification of organic farms is the fundamental enforcement mechanism of organic food standards. 

Fueling public concern over a reduction in the integrity of the new "organic" label is the appearance of numerous new, previously unknown certifying agents applying to the USDA for accreditation. Since 2000, the number of organic certifying agents has jumped from 49 to over 120.

4. ONE IN FIVE FARMWORKERS SUFFER PESTICIDE IMPACTS 

A joint report by the Farm Worker Pesticide Project, the farm worker Justice Fund and the United Farm Workers finds that one in five farm workers in Washington State who handled organophosphate and carbamate pesticides showed "significant nervous system impacts." 

Over the course of the spraying season, 20% of the farm workers tested showed significant blood-level drops in cholinesterase -- an essential nervous system enzyme inhibited by these pesticides. In most of the cases, there was no evidence of noncompliance with existing worker safety regulations. 

"Pesticides are causing major nervous system changes in one of five workers who regularly handle them. Farm workers' children have nerve poisons flowing through their bodies," said Carol Dansereau, Director of the Farm Worker Pesticide Project, a non-profit organization in Washington State. "If that's not a public 
health crisis demanding immediate action, I don't know what is." 

Sign a petition asking the Environmental Protection Agency to institute a national monitoring program for pesticides. 

Cultivating a vision where rural and urban communities join together
 to ensure abundant family farms, healthy critters, clean water and a wild Earth.  

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Rural Updates!
Scotty Johnson and Aimee Delach
National Rural Community Outreach Campaign
sjohnson@defenders.org