Hello W. L., ORGANIC BYTES #110 Health, Justice and Sustainability News Tidbits with an Edge      Written and edited by Craig Minowa and Ronnie Cummins Safe Unsubscribe: http://alerts.organicconsumershttp://alerts.organicconsumers.org/trk/chttp://alerts.organicconsumers.org/trk/click?ref=zqtbkk3um_1-b1x317x3238079&" >http://organicconsumers.org/unsuborganicbytes.cfm You are subscribed as: vabill@PEOPLEPC.COM   IN THIS ISSUE ALERT OF THE WEEK: MONSANTO & BIG FOOD ATTACK LOCAL RIGHTS TO REGULATE FOOD AND CROPS GOOD NEWS OF THE WEEK: VENEZUELA MOVES TO BAN FRANKENCROPS ALERT UPDATE: OCA'S BOYCOTT OF HORIZON CONTINUES AS COMPANY'S STOCK PLUMMETS QUOTE OF THE WEEK: PLANET'S POPULATION IS NOW MORE URBAN THEN RURAL PRODUCT PLUNDER OF THE WEEK: CANCER-CAUSING BENZENE IN SODA DRINKS WEB VIDEO & ACTION OF THE WEEK: WATCH MICHAEL MOORE'S INTERVIEW AND TAKE ACTION FOR HEALTH CARE FOR ALL QUICK FACTS OF THE WEEK: GREEN CONSUMERS CAN'T FIND GREEN GOODS WEB TIP OF THE WEEK: ONLINE SHOPPING FOR THE GREEN-MINDED HEALTH TIP OF THE WEEK: CANADIANS MAKE IT OFFICIAL: TEA IS GOOD FOR YOU ___________________________________ ALERT OF THE WEEK: MONSANTO & BIG FOOD ATTACK LOCAL RIGHTS TO REGULATE FOOD AND CROPS Since 1998, the biotech industry and industrial food corporations have unsuccessfully tried to take away local and states' rights to ban or regulate genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and other controversial foods and crops. For example, OCA and other public interest groups successfully generated a mass outcry in 2006 that blocked the passage of the National Uniformity for Food Act. This highly unpopular bill would have nullified 200 food safety and food labeling laws across the U.S. Failing to suppress grassroots control over food safety laws and labels in the last session of Congress, industry has now called on their friends in the House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry to slip a similar poison pill into an obscure section of the voluminous 2007-2012 Farm Bill. The provision would give the White House appointed Secretary of Agriculture the power to eliminate local or state food and farming laws, such as those in four California counties banning genetically engineered crops, and set an an ominous precedent undermining states' rights. Tell Congress to repeal this provision before it becomes law: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_5424.cfm ___________________________________ We rely on your donations to continue policing organic standards. Please donate now! http://www.organicconsumers.org/donations.htm ___________________________________ GOOD NEWS OF THE WEEK: VENEZUELA MOVES TO BAN FRANKENCROPS Monsanto's plans to grow 500,000 acres of genetically engineered crops in Venezuela have been thwarted by the nation's popular President, Hugo Chavez. According to Chavez, when he learned about Monsanto's Plans, "I ordered an end to the project. This project is terminated." Chavez is now encouraging Venezuela's national legislature to pass some of the most sweeping restrictions on genetically modified organisms in the entire Western Hemisphere. Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_5353.cfm ___________________________________ ALERT UPDATE: OCA'S BOYCOTT OF HORIZON CONTINUES AS COMPANY'S STOCK PLUMMETS April marked the one year anniversary of OCA's boycott of factory farmed dairy products produced by Horizon Organic and Aurora. Ninety-six percent of Organic Bytes readers, in an online survey in 2006, voted to launch a boycott of so-called "USDA Organic" brands sourcing dairy products from intensive confinement feedlots where the cows have little or no access to pasture, and where many of the calves have been purchased from conventional farms. A loophole in the USDA Organic Standards has allowed two companies, Horizon and Aurora, to buy their milk from "organic" factory farms where as many as 10,000 cows are packed into feedlots. Although Horizon claims the OCA boycott has not affected sales, Executive Gregg Engles recently admitted to investors that profits for the year have been much lower than projected. The company's stock market price has recently dropped 11 percent. In addition Wal-Mart, Wild Oats, Safeway, Costco, Woodstock Farms, Publix, and other private label vendors of Aurora's feedlot milk are coming under increasing criticism from consumers. Learn more about this campaign and take part in the boycott: http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm __________________________________ QUOTE OF THE WEEK: PLANET'S POPULATION IS NOW MORE URBAN THEN RURAL "So far, cities are getting whatever resource needs that can be had from rural areas. But given global rural impoverishment, the rural-urban question for the future is not just what rural people and places can do for the world's new urban majority. Rather, what can the urban majority do for poor rural people and the resources upon which cities depend for existence? The sustainable future of the new urban world may well depend upon the answer." Dr. Ron Wimberley, Professor of Sociology at NC, addressing the fact that as of May 23, 2007, the world's population for the first time is primarily urban. Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_5407.cfm   ___________________________________ PRODUCT PLUNDER OF THE WEEK: CANCER-CAUSING BENZENE IN SODA DRINKS The problem of cancer causing benzene turning up in sodas seems to pop up in the U.S. with alarming regularity. Last week, the FDA reported that it tested 100 sodas and found unacceptable levels of the known carcinogen in five of the drinks. Some of these drinks had benzene levels nearly 100 times that which is considered safe by the EPA for drinking water. The toxin is formed when a soda manufacturer uses two ingredients that can react to form benzene: ascorbic acid and sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate. Soda companies found to have dangerous levels of benzene have vowed to reformulate their drinks. In the meantime, boycott the following beverages and consider avoiding any soda with the "toxic two" ingredients, found in an astoundingly high number of popular drinks. (As a note, beverages labeled as