Tag Archives: United States Department of Agriculture

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Congress … Bee a Champ!

08/09/2013 Nativegrl77

A new bill in Congress would ban pesticides responsible for poisoning millions of honeybees.

Tell your representative to support the Save America’s Pollinators Act today!

Bees are dying by the millions all across America.
According to leading scientists, they’re being poisoned by a group of pesticides called neonicotinoids (also known as “neonics”). If we don’t stop using these chemicals soon, the bee population could be done for – and so could all the fruits and vegetables that rely on bees for pollination.
But there’s hope. A bill was just introduced in Congress that would impose a ban on neonics until a scientific review and field studies prove no harm will come to bee populations from their use.
Passing this bill won’t be easy. Big Agriculture and chemical companies like Bayer are already lobbying hard to defeat it. Massive public support is the only chance the bees have. Over 100,000 Greenpeace supporters helped raise the profile of this issue last month. Together we now have a chance to save the bees before it is too late.
Write your congressperson today and urge them to support the Save America’s Pollinators Act and save the bees!
The stories are shocking. Some 50,000 bees dropped dead a few weeks ago in Oregon after being exposed to the deadly pesticides. And last winter alone, 31% of beehives in the United States collapsed. Sobering stuff.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been dragging their feet on this issue for too long. EPA is currently conducting a study on neonics that they don’t expect to finish until sometime in 2018! At this rate, there may not be any bees left by that time.
By allowing toxic chemicals like neonics to weaken and kill bees, we threaten our food and our environment. Every day these chemicals are allowed to be used is one day closer to disaster.
Now’s the time to act. Tell your congressperson to support the Save America’s Pollinators Act today.
The world is stepping up to take action and it’s time for the US to do the same.
Policymakers in Europe pulled three commonly used neonics off the market earlier this year, citing the growing body science showing their harms to pollinators. Just a few weeks ago, the EU added another bee-harming pesticide to their restricted list.
However, the Industrial Agriculture lobby has no intention of backing down and Congress is going to need all the support it can get.
Write your Representative now and tell them to support this critical bill and save the bees.
Without immediate action to save bees, many of our favorite fruits, vegetables, and nuts could vanish from our shelves. Avocados, almonds, apples…the list goes on. A world without bees.
A win for the bees here in the US is possible, but only if we keep the pressure up on Congress to do the right thing.
Thanks,
Mark Floegel Greenpeace Senior Investigator and Beekeeper
P.S. America’s bees are being poisoned. There’s a bill in Congress that would help save them. Write your representative today and tell them to support the Save America’s Pollinators Act today! Then forward this message to your friend and family.

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

The EWG 2013 Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen Shoppers Guide

08/06/2013 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

The 2013 Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen Shoppers Guide

Can’t download it? You need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the guide. Get a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

by Melissa Breyer

from Living / Green Food

June 20, 2012

Health and environment watchdog, Environmental Working Group (EWG), has released the eighth edition of its Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce with updated data on 45 commonly-consumed fruits and vegetables and their total pesticide loads. The results are based on analysis of pesticide residue testing data from the US Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration

Every year EWG takes to task the worst offenders with its Dirty Dozen list, while giving a shout-out to produce with the lowest pesticide levels with the list of the Clean Fifteen. It’s such a brilliant and helpful approach, giving shoppers the power to avoid the most contaminated food while still being able to purchase conventional produce when and if circumstances require it.

This year they also added a new category to the Dirty Dozen — the Plus category includes green beans and leafy greens (kale and collard greens) that haven’t met traditional Dirty Dozen criteria, but are found to be routinely tainted with highly toxic organophosphate insecticides. According to EWG, these insecticides are toxic to the nervous system and have been largely removed from agriculture over the past decade, but they are not banned and still show up on some food crops. Sigh.

Dirty Dozen: The 12 to buy organic (in order of pesticide load, apples being the worst offenders).

1. Apples

2. Celery

3. Sweet bell peppers

4. Peaches

5. Strawberries

6. Imported nectarines

7. Grapes

8. Spinach

9. Lettuce

10. Cucumbers

11. Domestic blueberries

12. Potatoes

Clean Fifteen: Buying organic is more sound environmentally, but if you can’t, these options are less contaminated and don’t pose as much of a health threat as do the dozen above.

1. Onions

2. Sweet corn

3. Pineapples

4. Avocado

5. Cabbage

6. Sweet peas

7. Asparagus

8. Mangoes

9. Eggplant

10. Kiwi

11. Domestic cantaloupe

12. Sweet potatoes

13. Grapefruit

14. Watermelon

15. Mushrooms

Other disheartening data from the report includes:

Some 98 percent of conventional apples have detectable levels of pesticides.Domestic blueberries tested positive for 42 different pesticide residues.Seventy-eight different pesticides were found on lettuce samples.Every single nectarine USDA tested had measurable pesticide residues.As a category, grapes have more types of pesticides than any other fruit, with 64 different chemicals.Thirteen different pesticides were measured on a single sample each of celery and strawberries.

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Greenpeace Monsanto & GE

06/05/2013 Nativegrl77 2 Comments

Monsanto’s unapproved genetically engineered (GE) wheat was found growing on an Oregon farm last week. No one knows how it got there. Stop GE crop field tests

Tell the USDA to prevent further contamination of the environment and the global food supply by immediately banning GE crop field tests.

Monsanto’s unapproved genetically engineered (GE) “Roundup Ready” wheat was found growing in a random Oregon field last week.

The farmer doesn’t know how it got there. Neither does anyone else since Monsanto ended field testing this type of wheat eight years ago. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is currently investigating the extent of the contamination.

But in some ways this story isn’t surprising.

www.greenpeaceusa.org

GE crops can’t be controlled. The fact is that environmental contamination is inevitable so long as companies like Monsanto are allowed to experiment with nature and our food supply. Putting an end to the production and use of these unnatural products is the only certain way to stop them from spreading.

Stand up today and tell the USDA that the only way to prevent contamination is to put an immediate ban on field testing GE crops.

Greenpeace and other groups have been warning about contamination of our food and the environment from GE crops for years now.

What’s happening in Oregon is a perfect example of why precautionary policies are necessary: Government and industry mechanisms to regulate and monitor open field tests to prevent contamination simply aren’t working. They never will.

There are so many questions surrounding what happened in Oregon. How did this wheat escape the field tests and end up growing on a farm – eight years later? Who is responsible? Who will pay for the decontamination and damages to farmers? How many other places is this wheat growing?

The one thing we do know is that the field testing of GE crops has to end. Please join me and send a message to the USDA today calling for an immediate ban on field testing GE crops.

Monsanto abandoned testing this GE wheat back in 2005 – due to massive opposition by consumers and farmers in the US and abroad. Now, news of the recently-discovered contamination in Oregon is spreading rapidly around the world, causing countries like Japan and Korea to immediately stop importing US wheat.

No matter what companies like Monsanto try to tell us, it will never be possible to control nature. And there’s too much at stake to continue to allow this type of experimentation to take place.

If we want to ensure our food is safe and that American farmers are not harmed by these kinds of events we need to demand an end to the field testing of GE crops.
For the planet,

Charlie Cray
Research Specialist
Greenpeace USA

P.S. There’s no way to prevent contamination from genetically engineered (GE) crops planted in test fields. Tell the USDA to put an immediate ban on all field testing of GE crops. And then share this with anyone you know who cares about the food they eat.

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– Debarment Rulemaking

03/04/2013 Nativegrl77

A public hearing on proposed rules for debarment of vendors is set for 8 a.m. March 18.

The hearing will be held in the presentation room of the 1500 Jefferson Street building in Olympia. Directions and parking information is available here.

To submit comments on the proposed rules, use the online form. The deadline for submitting comments is March 17, 2013.

A new state law (Chapter 39.26 RCW) that changes how the state conducts procurement and contracting took effect Jan. 1, 2013. All state procurements and contracts are governed by the new law. As part of this, Enterprise Services is required to establish a debarment process by rule.

More information about the debarment rule-making process is available here.

If you are interested in following or participating in this rule-making activity, please send an email to rules@des.wa.gov and include “debarment rules interested party” in the subject line. You will be added to the rulemaking mailng list and receive future notifications and updates.

What: Public hearing on proposed rules for debarment of vendors

When: 8 a.m., March 18

Where: Presentation room, 1500 Jefferson Street building in Olympia

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UCS …

08/02/2012 Nativegrl77

The 2012 Drought in America, Worst in Fifty Years

The United States is experiencing its worst drought in half a century, with serious and far-reaching implications for everything from food supplies to electricity production, biofuels to property values. To raise awareness of the drought’s impacts, the Union of Concerned Scientists is featuring a series of blog posts that explores the science and potential consequences of this historic event.