Food Politics | The Green Foodprint

Safe food is packaged without BPA

Posted on April 14, 2012
Author: Linda,
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Sustainable means safe for humans, too. BPA (bisphenol-A) is a chemical that goes into making hard plastic. 6 million pounds a year are produced in the U.S. and used to make CDs, DVDs, and eyeglasses. It wouldn’t be a direct consumer threat if those were its only uses. But BPA is also used to line food containers and to make water bottles. BPA is an endocrine disruptor, which interferes with our hormones and also contributes to diabetes and heart disease.

Late last month the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refused to ban BPA from food packaging, despite plenty of evidence that it’s harmful. The Natural Resources Defense Council, which supported the ban, was shocked. Dr. Sarah Janssen, one of NRDC’s senior scientists, stated, “BPA is a toxic chemical that has no place in our food supply. We believe FDA made the wrong call. The agency has failed to protect our health and safety — in the face of scientific studies that continue to raise disturbing questions about the long-term effects of BPA exposures, especially in fetuses, babies and young children.” The Breast Cancer Fund blog also deplored FDA’s ruling.

Another branch of government, though, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is carefully offering advice about how to avoid BPA and revving up to support regulations, if they’re ever passed. HHS advice is available here.

So once again consumers can take action when our regulators (FDA, in this case) won’t. Luckily, some companies are taking action voluntarily, removing BPA from their food packaging. Campbell’s Soup, for one. And makers of beverage bottles are touting their BPA-free wares — just google it. So help the earth – and your own health—by purchasing food and drink that comes without this dangerous chemical – especially for babies and young children, whose bodies are still developing.

GMO food — boon or bane?

In Food Politics, Food to Avoid, GMO's, Take Action,

Posted on March 23, 2012
Author: Linda,
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Sustainability means living so that future generations have enough to live on. As it happens, a billion people today don’t have enough to eat. Advocates of biotechnology say that we can’t feed the hungry of the world without using genetically modified foods that are engineered to withstand droughts and other unfavorable growing conditions. This is hotly disputed by other people. At any rate, the GMOs we hear most about in this country are engineered to withstand pesticides – so that more pesticides can be applied to the fields they grow in. did you know that a large percentage of pesticides end up in soil, waterways, and our bodies?

The GMO science is complex, but if the products are safe to eat, perhaps the manufacturers should just label them. They have so far refused. Until April 22, you can add your name to a California petition to require labeling of GMO foods. That’s it – just label it so we know what we’re choosing to eat.

We need citizen action because of the famous “revolving door” – government officials can get lucrative jobs after their public service, or even before. Monsanto is one of the biggest chemical companies and fights hard to push its products. Is it a coincidence that so many Monsanto executives have gone into government – or vice versa? See this astounding chart. A few examples: William Ruckelshaus was the first Chief Administrator of the EPA – and one of his other resume items is Member of the Monsanto Board of Directors. Carol Tucker-Foreman was a Monsanto lobbyist and became a consumer advocate in the Clinton White House. Hillary Clinton, now Secretary of State, worked at the Rose Law Firm, Monsanto’s counsel. Clarence Thomas, on the Supreme Court, worked for Monsanto as an attorney. The list of these people, representing both political parties, is very long.

In the meantime, you can choose organic food, which is not allowed to have GMO, and check out the Non GMO Shopping Guide for additional tips. It’s regrettable that an article about food has to deal with politics — but that’s where the future of sustainable food is taking place.

How to avoid GMO food—and why

In Food Politics, Food to Avoid, GMO's, Useful tools,

Posted on December 27, 2011
Author: Linda,
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Let’s start with why you might want to avoid food that contains genetically modified ingredients. Basically, it’s simple, sensible caution. We don’t yet know how GMO foods will affect the health of person and planet – but we do know that agri-corporations that push GMO foods are desperate to avoid having them labeled. They are banned in Europe.

Now let’s look at how to avoid GMO. The easiest way is to choose organic foods as often as you can find and afford them. A new guide to avoiding GMO (the Center for Food Safety’s True Food Shopper’s Guide, available as a pdf or for mobile devices) has three more easy-to-remember tips: 1. Look at labels and buy foods that come right out and say “Non-GMO.” 2. Avoid ingredients that come from the most heavily modified crops (corn, soybeans, and canola). 3. Use the True Food Shopper’s Guide to identify the companies that do not use GMO.

Finally, there’s something you can do about this. In California, an initiative to require GMO food to be labeled has been submitted, and early next year you’ll be hearing more about it. The Organic Consumers’ Association has more on this. When the time comes, you can sign the petition to get the initiative on November’s ballot, and tell your friends.

Are we exterminating our food supply?

In Author Event, Food Politics, Good News,

Posted on November 7, 2011
Author: Linda,
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First, the bad news. Human activities (and ok, maybe some bears) have reduced the numbers of salmon on the West Coast by 99%. The Nature Conservancy says that 300,000 coho salmon used to run upstream but that the number is below 5,000.

Now the good news: One of the threats to fish – pesticides used to grow crops that are destined to feed humans or farm animals – has been somewhat mitigated. Last week a federal judge upheld measures that the National Marine Fisheries Service set forth three years ago. These measures required some controls over pesticide use, but had been stonewalled, according to Judy Molland, by the pesticide industry.

credit: istockphoto

What you can do: Choose more organic foods – that will help reduce the amounts of pesticides poured into our environment. Support protection of natural streams and forests, so salmon have a healthy place to return to. Join creek restoration efforts. Oh, and eat less fish, or none!

Follow-up news on sharks

In Animal Cruelty, Food Politics, Food to Avoid, Good News,

Posted on October 8, 2011
Author: Linda,
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Last month I wrote about a California bill passed by both houses of the legislature that would outlaw the trade in shark fins. These are used in some Asian cuisines and are procured by cutting fins off living sharks and throwing them back into the ocean to die a slow death.

Today I’m pleased to help spread the news that indeed, yesterday Governor Brown did sign the bill. Sharks are not cuddly like cheetah kittens, or cute like pandas, or necessary to life like bees, but they play an important role in ocean life. And don’t you think that the killing of 73 million of them a year should stop?

In other good news, a sanctuary for sharks was announced this week in and around the Marshall Islands, which are located in the central Pacific. “Sanctuary” in this case means that commercial fishing of sharks is now prohibited in over 750,000 square miles of ocean.

The Pew Environment Group is helping with shark conservation. Its shark conservation director Matt Rand said, “The Marshall Islands have joined Palau, the Maldives, Honduras, the Bahamas and Tokelau in delivering the gold standard of protection for ensuring shark survival,” Rand said. “We look forward to helping other countries enlist in this cause.”

It’s Official

In Excerpt from Book, Food, Food Politics, In the News,

Posted on July 13, 2010
Author: Linda,
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Yup I’ve suspected it for years. Now the United Nations, through its International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management’s new report called Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production: Priority Products and Materials, says the agriculture is one of the two top sectors needing major renovation this century. The other is – all together now – energy. So if your budget isn’t quite ready to handle a solar array, you can do as much for the planet with earth-wise food choices.

Remember the 5 guidelines of The Earth-Friendly Food Chain: More organic, less meat, more diversity, and more local. Oh wait, that’s only four. Ok, add in “less processing, packaging, and waste,” as the fifth guideline. The most powerful food choice of them all? Number 2: eat less meat ( that means less fish, dairy, and eggs). It’s official – see the UN website’s write-up here.

There are other sources of protein besides food from animals, so your health won’t be harmed — and frankly would improve if you reduced your consumption of artery-clogging, waistline-expanding cholesterol.

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