Tag Archives: Antibiotic resistance

UPDATED INFORMATION

Become a shareholder in Eden Place Farms and receive 20 weekly boxes of organic produce grown by local farmers right in Fuller Park. Half and full shares available.
Learn more.

Latest News

$1.658 million National Science Foundation grant to bring STEM education to Fuller Park

A repost

Are you interested in creating a climate-friendly garden? These videos can help get you started. Follow UCS analyst Karen Perry Stillerman on her visit to Eden Place Nature Center in Chicago to see how the same practices used to create this urban oasis can transform the American agricultural landscape.

Composting

Use yard waste and table scraps to turn your garden into a global warming mitigation machine.

Urban Trees

They provide shade, lower air conditioning use, and store carbon.

Today the Backyard, Tomorrow the World

What we do in our gardens, farmers can do in their fields.

Last Revised: 02/04/11

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

It was just chicken salad…

12/18/2013 Nativegrl77

Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

It won’t be easy. But we can do this.Our antibiotics must work when your family needs them. And that means taking on some of the biggest power players in the marketplace. Your tax-deductible, year-end donation will help us take the fight to them.

At 15, Sam was on the top of the world. He pitched varsity baseball as a freshman, sprouted three inches in the off-season. Pro scouts even came calling.

Then he ate a chicken caesar salad that changed his life.

Within three days Sam was headed to the emergency room doubled over in a diaper. Sickened with antibiotic-resistant bacteria common to chicken, he was bleeding and wasting away. Drug after drug was tried. Each failed. His parents were frantic. A month later when his infection was finally under control, Sam lost 30 pounds and couldn’t jog without wheezing. His pitching career was over.

This is our reality – a strapping Midwestern teen taken down by a ‘superbug’ in his chicken salad. The rapid rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria is so serious, the CDC warns that unless we act soon, it may be too late. Which is why we need your help now to get the attention of those who can fix this.

Your $10 tax-deductible donation will go directly to getting politicians and industry to face up to our antibiotic crisis!

We’re up against some of the biggest power players in the marketplace – the giant industrial meat producers. They already use 80 percent of antibiotics sold, and want to keep feeding them to food animals so they’ll grow bigger and survive cramped, filthy conditions. Last week’s FDA move to voluntarily re-label animal antibiotics is expected to have only a small impact on overall use.

This overuse is spawning drug-resistant bacteria that make their way into our food and the environment. At least 23,000 Americans die each year. So we’re unleashing consumer power to stop this unnecessary use.

We’re pressuring Congress and health officials to take emergency action to stop antibiotic overuse in food production. We’re pushing a leading national grocery chain – Trader Joe’s – to lead the marketplace and stop selling antibiotic-raised meat. We’re testing supermarket meat at Consumer Reports labs to discover how widespread a problem it is.

We must do more to solve this. Can you help crank up the pressure in 2014 with your $10 year-end gift?

Drug-resistant bacteria robbed Sam of his baseball career, but through great effort he recovered and went on to play college football. Yet no child should have to go through this. You’ve stood with us throughout this important fight, and we need your help to see it through. For kids like Sam. For kids like yours and mine.

Sincerely, Chris Meyer, Consumers Union Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Contamination and no recalls … Urge recall and launch real reform!

12/13/2013 Nativegrl77

Foster Farms won’t budge. With nearly 300 sick so far, and antibiotic resistant salmonella strains linked back to particular Foster Farms processing plants, it’s time for a recall.

More than that, it’s long past time our nation’s food producers stop overusing antibiotics on food animals — a practice that makes our life-saving drugs less effective at fighting deadly bacteria.

Despite the government shutdown, we’ll get you heard on this important health issue! Send a message now, and we will get it into the right hands at USDA and FDA.

Demand an immediate recall and new rules for antibiotic use!

When antibiotic resistant strains make people sick, industry reminds us to cook the food more. Wipe everything with bleach. While these precautions certainly help, they don’t address the underlying problem.

Our nation’s meat and chicken industry relies heavily on the overuse of antibiotics to speed growth and help animals survive filthy, crowded conditions. Overuse spurs the emergence of antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’ on both the farm and in our communities.

That’s why we’re also asking that FDA finally take a strong stand for reduced antibiotic use in agriculture. The current outbreak should serve as a warning. Let’s make real progress before the antibiotics we need for human health no longer work.

Send your message now. We’ll get it to the right people, even with the shutdown.

And don’t forget — get rid of this chicken. Learn how to tell whether you have it in your house or if it’s for sale at your store.. Then forward this email to friends and family so they can check their fridge and join our movement to save our nation’s antibiotics for human health.

Sincerely,
Meg Bohne, NotInMyFood.org,
A project of Consumers Union, Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Top 3: Elizabeth Smart, “Lazy” Millennials,and Benghazi

05/14/2013 Nativegrl77

ELIZABETH SMART SPEAKS OUT AGAINST ABSTINENCE ED

THE BIG BENGHAZI DEBUNK

WHY TIME PUT A WOMAN ON THIS COVER

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

There’s a reason industry doesn’t love us

05/13/2013 Nativegrl77

Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports tests your food for serious risks like antibiotic-resistant superbugs on meat, and pushes industry to change. Your donation this week helps us do more of this work, and your tax-deductible gift is matched, increasing your impact!

We’re getting under their skin.

Consumer Reports latest investigation — supermarket ground turkey, and how birds that can be routinely fed antibiotics have more drug-resistant superbugs on their meat — made industry nervous, and made Congress pay attention.

We deluged Congress with more than a quarter-million messages demanding restrictions on antibiotics in food animals. We stood up to industry when they tried to debunk our findings. And we ran a full-page ad in Trader Joe’s hometown newspaper asking the grocer to lead the way and stop selling meat raised on drugs.

Now we need your help to do more! Every $10 you donate this week will be matched with another $5 to help us do more groundbreaking food testing.

Help us reach our goal with your tax-deductible donation. Whatever you can give this week will go further and get results!

As an independent nonprofit, we take no money from industry or government, and have no agenda other than your family’s health. With 80 percent of antibiotics sold in the U.S. used by beef, pork and poultry producers so animals can tolerate filthy, crowded conditions, we’re at real risk of losing the effectiveness of our antibiotics.

Your tax-deductible gift will help to research legitimate dangers like drug-resistant superbugs in your family’s food. It will help us push hard to stop these unnecessary risks to your health.

Now, a generous donor has agreed to help us raise more money for research if we can show consumers like you care!Your support today counts more than ever before.

Give your $10 tax-deductible donation, and we’ll get another $5 to do even more work.

If you can’t donate, we understand. But please forward this to friends and family so they can get involved with this important consumer movement. And thank you again for all your support!

Chris Meyer, Consumers Union
Policy and Action from Consumer Reports