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20080123

John Edwards - Hillary Clinton - South Carolina - Economic - Family - Farmers - Jobs - Internet - 2008 Election - "Edwards jabs Clinton for leaving SC." ... "[2008 Election] Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said South Carolina voters should question [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Rodham Clinton's commitment to the state since she left in the run-up to the state's primary." ... ""After the debate, she flew out and she's been gone and she won't be back until I don't know - later in the week or until primary day," Edwards told a crowd of about 150 people in this small city on Wednesday. "What are the chances she's coming back when she's president of the United States?"" ... "A South Carolina native and son of a mill worker, he stresses themes focused on the middle class and an economic plan that would bring help to family farmers, and jobs and broadband Internet connections to rural areas." -By Susanne M. Schafer -AssociatedPress

20080116

Brazil - Farms - Illegal - Business - History - Land - Plants - Global - Weather - Science - "Amazon deforestation seen surging." ... "[Brazil's National Institute for Space Research scientist Carlos] Nobre, whose government agency monitors the Amazon and gathers data, said that 2,300 square miles of [Brazil's] forest had been lost in the past four months." ... "That compares with an estimated 3,700 square miles in the 12 months ended July 31, which Brazil officials hailed as the lowest deforestation rate since the 1970s." ... "Brazil's government has said that policies such as more controls on illegal logging and better certification of land ownership were reducing the deforestation that has destroyed about a fifth of the forest -- an area bigger than France -- since the 1970s." ... "But environmental groups have warned that rising global commodity prices are likely to fuel more clearing of land for farms, as occurred in 2004 when Brazil recorded the highest deforestation rate of more than 10,400 square miles (27,000 square km )." ... "Destruction of forests produces about 20 percent of man-made carbon dioxide emissions, making conservation of the Amazon crucial to limiting rises in global temperatures." (1, 2) -By Stuart Grudgings with contributions by Cynthia Osterman -Reuters

20080108

Agriculture - Plant - Energy - Economy - Food - Nebraska - N Dakota - S Dakota - "Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn Does: Midwestern farms prove switchgrass could be the right crop for producing ethanol to replace gasoline." ... "Farmers in Nebraska and the Dakotas [North and South] brought the U.S. [United States] closer to becoming a biofuel economy, planting huge tracts of land for the first time with switchgrass—a native North American perennial grass (Panicum virgatum) that often grows on the borders of cropland naturally—and proving that it can deliver more than five times more energy than it takes to grow it." ... "Working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the farmers tracked the seed used to establish the plant, fertilizer used to boost its growth, fuel used to farm it, overall rainfall and the amount of grass ultimately harvested for five years on fields ranging from seven to 23 acres in size (three to nine hectares)." ... "Once established, the fields yielded from 5.2 to 11.1 metric tons of grass bales per hectare, depending on rainfall, says USDA plant scientist Ken Vogel. "It fluctuates with the timing of the precipitation,'' he says. "Switchgrass needs most of its moisture in spring and midsummer. If you get fall rains, it's not going to do that year's crops much good."" ... "But yields from a grass that only needs to be planted once would deliver an average of 13.1 megajoules of energy as ethanol for every megajoule of petroleum consumed—in the form of nitrogen fertilizers or diesel for tractors—growing them. "It's a prediction because right now there are no biorefineries built that handle cellulosic material" like that which switchgrass provides, Vogel notes. "We're pretty confident the ethanol yield is pretty close." This means that switchgrass ethanol delivers 540 percent of the energy used to produce it, compared with just roughly 25 percent more energy returned by corn-based ethanol according to the most optimistic studies." -By David Biello -SciAm

20071231

John Edwards - Music - Des-Moines - Iowa - Farm - History - Working - Poverty - Race - 2008 Election - "Edwards Wins the Mellencamp Primary." ... "So it is that [singer John] Mellencamp will come to Iowa Wednesday to close the [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards campaign off with a "This Is Our Country" rally at the not-exactly-Hollywood Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines [Iowa]. (In case anyone is missing the point here, they will be distributing the tickets from the United Steelworkers Local 310 hall.)" ... "Where [Oprah] Winfrey brought a big name but little in the way of a track record on the issues that are fundamental to the rural and small-town Iowans who will play a disproportional role in Thursday's caucuses, Mellencamp is more than just another celebrity taking a lap around the policy arena." ... "For a quarter century, the singer has been in the thick of the fight on behalf of the rural families he immortalized in the video for "Rain on the Scarecrow," his epic song about the farm crisis that buffeted Iowa and neighboring states in the 1980s and never really ended." ... "Mellencamp has not merely sung about withering small towns and farm foreclosures. As a organizer of Farm Aid, he has brought some of the biggest stars in the world to benefit concerts in Iowa and surrounding states, and he has helped to distribute the money raised at those events to organizations across Iowa." ... "Farm Aid is nonpartisan. It's not endorsing in this race. But Mellencamp is. The singer, who this year will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but whose music remains vital enough to have earned a 2008 Grammy nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance, was lobbied for support by other campaigns, especially Clinton's. But he has a long relationship with Edwards. He has an even longer relationship with the issues that Edwards is talking about. Indeed, his credibility is grounded in the recognition that Mellencamp has repeatedly taken career-risking anti-war, anti-racist and anti-poverty stances that other celebrities of his stature tend to avoid." ... "What matters, of course, is the fact of that credibility -- and the fact that it is so closely tied to the farm and rural issues that have meaning even in the more urbanized regions of Iowa. That is why, if there is an endorsement that is going to have meaning with the people who drive down country roads to attend caucuses on what looks to be a very cold and unforgiving Thursday night, it is likely to be that of the guy who proudly sings that, "I was born in a small town..."" -By John Nichols -TheNation.com

20071222

Families - Poverty - Agriculture - Christmas-Holidays - Thanksgiving - Gasoline - Households - Money - People - "Food Bank Shelves Going Bare At Holidays: High Living Costs Hurting Donations, While Increasing Demand By Needy Families." ... "The reports from across the country are dismaying: Food pantries are running short and cannot meet the needs of all those seeking help." ... "In the Department of Agriculture's most recent study of hunger in America, released in November, more than 35.5 million Americans, including 12.6 million children, were found to have "low" or "very low food security" (defined as households where hunger was prevalent, where there was not enough money to buy adequate food supplies, where food purchased did not last, or where family members had to cut down or skip meals - sometimes not eating for a day or longer)." ... "That's roughly 1 in 9 households. And the numbers are rising from last year." ... "Everywhere, people are feeling the crunch of rising gasoline and grocery prices, as well as utility bills, rent and mortgage payments." ... "Those factors also are cutting into people's ability to donate to food banks for others in need." ... "At Thanksgiving, the [America's Second Harvest] organization estimated that food banks nationally were short a total of 15 million pounds of food, or roughly 11.7 million meals. " -AP via -CBSNews

20071216

John Edwards - Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - North Carolina - Illinois - New York - 2008 Election - Government - Oil - Drug - Companies - Health-Care - US - Iraq - Military - Iowa - Fields - "Edwards cuts sharper edge in Iowa trail speeches." ... ""The few, the powerful, the well-financed, they now control the government," [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards told a tight crowd of about 350 last week. "They've taken over your democracy. And it affects everything that happens in this country."" ... ""Everything," he emphasized." ... "During an 18-minute span, the former North Carolina senator took aim and fired freely at insurance, oil and drug companies and failed chief executives rewarded with golden parachutes. He described the Republican field as [Republican President] "George Bush on steroids" and said his Democratic competitors are talkers, not fighters." ... "In what has often been portrayed as a two-Democrat battle between [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York Senator] Hillary Clinton of New York the populist Edwards is making an eight-day blitz across the frozen fields of Iowa, a sort of red-meat express to convince the middle class that he is the one who will wrest the country from the clutches of "corporate power and greed."" ... ""I know some people suggest we'll be able to sit at the table with drug companies and oil companies and think they can get their power away. Right," Edwards said dismissively, indirectly referring to the approaches he says Obama and Clinton would take." ... ""I'll tell you when they'll [corporations] lose their power: when we take it away from them," he told a cheering crowd at the [Iowa] Grinnell Eagles Club." ... ""There's been a change in America. We have greater concentration of wealth and power in a few. We have an increasingly dysfunctional health-care system. We have this war in Iraq that has gotten much worse," he said. "I think we need a president who's willing to be tough and to go after these things."" -By Tim Jones -ChicagoTribune

20071211

John Edwards - US - Iraq - Military - Corporate - Government - Energy - Drug - Health - Family - Farmers - 2008 Election - "AP Interview: Edwards on Iraq and Dems." ... "While [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards continues to invoke ending the [Iraq] war as one of the major challenges facing the nation, the thrust of his message is that entrenched corporate power has prevented the government from tackling long-standing domestic problems." ... ""You hear a lot more questions about corporate power, health care, energy, family farmers," he said. "Those are the things people ask about."" ... ""My focus for these last few weeks is on a positive agenda," he said. "That's what America rising is all about."" ... "That's not to say Edwards' message doesn't have an edge." ... "His culprits are "powerful, well-entrenched, well-financed interests that are distorting the democracy in their favor and against the interests of most Americans."" ... ""The specific examples are oil companies, drug companies, insurance companies, power companies, there are lots more examples," he said. "They've used money and power to spread their influence and have kept the democracy from working for most people."" (1, 2) -By Jim Kuhnhenn -APvia -NOLA.com

20071204

Consumer - Health - Safety - Food - Agriculture - Country - Peoples - Labor - Law - Money - Politics - Language - West Virginia - "Democrats Use Fine Print to Stymie Bush's Deregulation Agenda." ... "It is a single sentence, on page 147 of the annual appropriations bill funding the [Republican President Bush] White House, listed under the title ``Additional General Provisions.''" ... "The 18-word clause eliminates the money to pay for political appointees in each federal agency whose jobs are to approve any new regulations. By cutting the money for the positions, Congress would effectively repeal President George W. Bush's 11-month old initiative." ... "Democrats, writing the budget for the first time since Bush took office, are using their power over the purse to thwart Bush's campaign to loosen federal regulations. Lawmakers have added fine print to must-pass appropriations bills that sets new policy goals and increases funding for regulators such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission." ... "``It is critically important when we are facing beef recalls, toy recalls, mine collapses and workplace infringements that Congress provide the necessary resources to the relevant agencies for them to do the jobs they are required to do,'' said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, 90, a West Virginia Democrat." ... "Lawmakers also want agencies to file periodic reports to Congress charting their progress toward a host of Democratic policy goals, such as developing workplace ergonomic guidelines for a dozen industries, requiring country-of-origin labels on meat products and regulating a flavoring chemical that has been linked to lung disease." -By Brian Faler -Bloomberg

20071130

Business - Government - Politics - 2008 Election - Family - Health - Safety - Environment - Air - Water- Soil - Labor - Animal - Farmers - Energy - Transportation - Automakers - Consumer - History - "Business Lobby Presses Agenda Before ’08 Vote." ... "Business lobbyists, nervously anticipating Democratic gains in next year’s elections, are racing to secure final approval for a wide range of health, safety, labor and economic rules, in the belief that they can get better deals from the [Republican President] Bush administration than from its successor." ... "Hoping to lock in policies backed by a pro-business administration, poultry farmers are seeking an exemption for the smelly fumes produced by tons of chicken manure. Businesses are lobbying the Bush administration to roll back rules that let employees take time off for family needs and medical problems. And electric power companies are pushing the government to relax pollution-control requirements." ... "The Federal Register typically grows fat with regulations churned out in the final weeks of any administration. But the push for such rules has become unusually intense because of the possibility that Democrats in 2009 may consolidate control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time in 14 years." ... "At the Transportation Department, trucking companies are trying to get final approval for a rule increasing the maximum number of hours commercial truck drivers can work. And automakers are trying to persuade officials to set new standards for the strength of car roofs — standards far less stringent than what consumer advocates say is needed to protect riders in a rollover." ... "At the Interior Department, coal companies are lobbying for a regulation that would allow them to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys." ... "Some of the biggest battles now involve rules affecting the quality of air, water and soil." (1, 2) -By Robert Pear -NYTimes

20071128

Julie MacDonald - Animals - Environmental - Science - Politics - Agricultural - Business - California - WVa - "7 federal wildlife decisions to be revised: A [Republican President Bush] political appointee had overruled recommendations by staff scientists on endangered species. She quit under a cloud." ... "Federal wildlife regulators will revise seven controversial decisions on endangered species and critical habitat made by an Interior Department political appointee who quit in the spring amid charges of improper meddling in scientific decisions." ... "California's arroyo toad and red-legged frog could regain protection that federal biologists determined was crucial to their survival, according to a letter the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent Friday to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman [West Virginia Democratic Representative] Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.). Rahall released the letter publicly Tuesday." ... "Former Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald, a civil engineer from California with no formal training in natural sciences, routinely questioned and sometimes overruled recommendations by biologists and other field staffers, according to documents, interviews and a review by the department's inspector general. The review outlined instances in which MacDonald advocated altering scientific conclusions in ways that led to reduced protection for imperiled species and that favored developers and agricultural businesses. And she was rebuked for providing internal documents to lobbyists." ... "Under her direction, proposed habitat protection for the endangered arroyo toad, a tiny amphibian that once inhabited many Southern California creek regions, was slashed by 93%. Similarly, the protected area proposed for the threatened California red-legged frog was reduced from 4.1 million acres to 450,000 acres." -By Janet Wilson -LAtimes

20071030

Australia - World - Agriculture - Business - Weather - Water - History - "Australia Cuts Wheat Crop Forecast for Third Time (Update1)." ... "Australia reduced its wheat harvest forecast for the third time this year as the nation's worst drought on record hurt production, adding pressure to shrinking world supplies that drove up prices to a record last month." -By Gemma Daley and Madelene Pearson -Bloomberg

20071019

Water - Emergency - Weather - Environment - History - Farm - Animals - Food - Georgia - Alabama - North Carolina - Tennessee - Kentucky - "Southeast drought hits crisis point." ... "Outdoor watering bans already cover the northern third of Georgia and dozens of cities, counties and towns in surrounding states. Farmers are selling cattle because pastures have dried up. Alabama's Elmore County had to bring in floating pumps and barges to extend its water intake pipe farther out into shrinking Lake Martin. Georgia might have to do the same at Lake Lanier, Atlanta's main water source." ... "Although rain is due today across parts of the region, it will barely dampen the 16-month drought. Through September, it is the region's driest year in 113 years of record-keeping. In five of the six worst-hit states, rain totals this year are close to a foot below normal." ... "It is the driest year on record for North Carolina and Tennessee, second-driest in Alabama and third-driest in Kentucky. A tree-ring study this summer of Tennessee's rainfall history shows this is the third-driest year for the state in at least 350 years, behind only 1839 and 1708." -By Patrick O'Driscoll and Larry Copeland with contributions by Jordan Schrader, Marty Roney, Leon Alligood, Ron Barnett, Jessie Halladay, Matt Reed, and Jennie Coughlin -USATODAY

20071014

Food - Safety - Health - History - Agriculture - Company - Employees - Florida - New Jersey - "Food inspectors overwhelmed: Workload, vacancies undermine safety, employees claim." ... "As alarm bells sounded for the second-largest hamburger recall in history, about 250 of the nation's top food safety officials were in Miami [Florida] setting the "course for the next 100 years of food safety."" ... "That so many U.S. Department of Agriculture field supervisors were in Florida while New Jersey-based Topps Meat Co. [company] was scrambling to recall 21.7 million pounds of hamburger has rankled some USDA inspectors and food safety advocates." ... "Several USDA inspectors said in interviews that their workloads are doubling or tripling as they take on the duties of inspectors who have left the department, not to be replaced." ... ""We've been short the whole time I've been in," said one veteran inspector who asked not to be named. "We don't have enough inspectors, but we have too much management. The inspectors are short all the time and getting spread thinner and thinner."" ... "The Topps crisis began last month, when three consumers in New York and Florida fell ill from E. coli poisoning. Soon after that, at least 32 people were sick. The Topps recall, though, began 18 days after the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service confirmed E. coli bacteria in a Topps hamburger." (1, 2) -By Stephen J. Hedges -ChicagoTribune

20070815

North Korea - Food - Farmland - Disaster - History - UN - Economy - "North Korea Suffers Worst Rains Ever: Floods Destroy 11 Percent Of Impoverished Country's Farmland At The Height Of Growing Season." ... "Floods caused by the largest rains ever recorded in parts of North Korea have destroyed more than one-tenth of the impoverished country's farmland at the height of the growing season, official media reported Wednesday." ... "The U.N. food agency estimated the damage claimed by the North so far was about a quarter of the crop losses the country said it suffered in 1995 floods. That previous disaster, along with mismanagement of the economy and the loss of [North Koreas's capital] Pyongyang's Soviet benefactor, led to famine that is believed to have killed as many as 2 million North Koreans." ... "Precipitation along some areas of the Taedong River were the "largest ever in the history" of measurements taken by the country's weather agency, the North's Korean Central News Agency reported." -AP via -CBSNews

20070811

Gordon Smith - Dick Cheney - Environmental - Science - Politics - Federal - Investigation - History - Portland - Ore - California - Fish - Food - Farmers - Business - "Smith backs Cheney on salmon kill controversy." ... "[Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. [Republican-Oregon], is siding with [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney over a massive fish kill on the Klamath River in 2002, saying there is no evidence it was caused by water diversions to farmers." [The Klamath River runs through Oregon and California] ... "Smith also defended Cheney's role in intervening with federal officials to help farmers in the Klamath Basin and cast doubt that the salmon die-off caused sharp commercial costal [coastal] fishing restrictions." ... "The House Natural Resources Committee is investigating whether Cheney exerted improper political influence to override scientifically based management of the water resources." ... "Environmentalists, often at odds with Smith, say his stance contradicts a study by the California Department of Fish and Game, which found that the water diversions played a key role in the deaths of some 77,000 salmon." ... "The California Fish and Game report cited several factors leading to the fish kill, the largest in recorded West Coast history." ... "There were larger-than-normal salmon returns, warm water and low river flows that combined to crowd the fish, hastening the spread of disease." ... "The report concluded that, "River flow and the volume of water in the fish-kill area were atypically low," and that the river flow was the only factor controlled by humans." ... ""It's stretching credibility to claim that the flow management decisions by the [Republican President] Bush administration in 2002 had nothing to do with the low flows in the Klamath River," said Steve Pedery of Oregon Wild, a Portland-based environmental group." -AP via -kgw.com
US Immigration - Workers - Industries - Construction - Health - Agriculture - Politics - "Farmers Call Crackdown on Illegal Workers Unfair." ... "Facing the prospect of major layoffs of farmworkers during harvest season, growers and lawmakers from agricultural states spoke in dire terms yesterday about new measures by the [Republican] Bush administration to crack down on employers of illegal immigrants." ... "The new effort was cautiously welcomed yesterday by conservative Republicans who defied President Bush in June and opposed a broad immigration bill he supported that failed in the Senate. That bill included provisions to give legal status to illegal immigrants and to create a guest worker program for agriculture." ... "Employers in low-wage industries were critical but guarded, reluctant to admit openly that they hire illegal immigrants. Randel K. Johnson, a vice president of the United States Chamber of Commerce, said the measures were “one more kick in the pants” for meat-packing, construction and health care companies that employ immigrant workers in unskilled jobs." ... "Farmers were less shy, saying at least 70 percent of farmworkers are illegal immigrants." -By Julia Preston -NYTimes

20070802

US - Colombia - International - Government - Military - Terrorism - Law - Enforcement - Money - Politics - Food - Agriculture - Workers - "In Terrorism-Law Case, Chiquita Points to U.S.: Firm Says It Awaited Justice Dept. Advice." ... "On April 24, 2003, a board member of Chiquita International Brands disclosed to a top official at the Justice Department that the king of the banana trade was evidently breaking the nation's anti-terrorism laws." ... "Roderick M. Hills, who had sought the meeting with former law firm colleague Michael Chertoff, explained that Chiquita was paying "protection money" to a Colombian paramilitary group on the U.S. government's list of terrorist organizations. Hills said he knew that such payments were illegal, according to sources and court records, but said that he needed Chertoff's advice." ... "Chiquita, Hills said, would have to pull out of the country if it could not continue to pay the violent right-wing group to secure its Colombian banana plantations. Chertoff, then assistant attorney general and now secretary of homeland security [under Republican President Bush], affirmed that the payments were illegal but said to wait for more feedback, according to five sources familiar with the meeting." ... "Sources close to Chiquita say that Chertoff never did get back to the company or its lawyers. Neither did Larry D. Thompson, the deputy attorney general, whom Chiquita officials sought out after Chertoff left his job for a federal judgeship in June 2003. And Chiquita kept making payments for nearly another year." ... "What transpired at the Justice Department meeting is now a central issue in a criminal probe. According to these sources' account, the Bush administration was pulled in competing directions, perhaps because its desire to avoid undermining a newly elected, friendly Colombian government conflicted with its frequent public assertions that supporting a terrorist group anywhere constitutes a criminal offense and a foreign policy mistake." ... "An Organization of American States report in 2003 said that Chiquita participated in smuggling thousands of arms for paramilitaries into the Northern Uraba region, using docks operated by the company to unload thousands of Central American assault rifles and ammunition." ... "[Colombia's attorney general, Mario] Iguaran, whose office has been investigating Chiquita's operations, said the company knew AUC was using payoffs and arms to fund operations against peasants, union workers and rivals." (1, 2, 3) -By Carol D. Leonnig with contributions by Spencer S. Hsu and Juan Forero -WashingtonPost

20070720

Global - Food - Safety - US - Canada - China - Colorado - Animal - Agriculture - Industry - Consumer - Government - Law - Enforcement - Money - Politics - "Some hunger for food labels: After recalls, shoppers want to know the origins of globalized groceries." ... "Take a look at the meal you put on the table tonight, and you'll likely be looking at an international effort. The steak may have come from a cow raised in Colorado, while the carrots were grown in Canada and the apple juice imported from China." ... "Many consumers consider the globalization of the food chain a good thing; you can get any food you want any time of the year. But several recent recalls of tainted food have some shoppers questioning exactly where their food comes from and how safe it is." ... "Figuring out where the food on grocery store shelves comes from isn't always easy." ... "Country-of-origin labels -- telling shoppers the country in which a product was grown, caught or raised -- would do that but right now they're required only on seafood. Labels for meat, produce and peanuts won't start until September 2008." ... "America's food safety problem is complicated but starts with this: We are importing more food and the government agencies charged with keeping food safe don't have enough funding or resources, said Chris Waldrop, director of the food policy institute for the Consumer Federation of America." ... "Country-of-origin labeling for meat and produce was supposed to take effect three years ago. But lobbyists, primarily for the beef industry, enlisted the help of congressional Republicans to delay the change. Trade associations are still fighting it." (1, 2) -By Sue Stock -NewsObserver.com

20070719

US - Country - Animal - Farm - Food - Industry - Politics - Consumer - Safety - "Labeling Fight Put Off As Farm Bill Markup Proceeds." ... "Advocates of labeling [food by country-of-origin], which was mandated by the 2002 farm law, were bracing for a Republican amendment to the new farm bill (HR 2419) that would have weakened the requirement." ... "Since the 2002 law was enacted, congressional Republicans, backed by the meatpacking industry, have delayed implementation of the labeling mandate." -CQ.com

20070529

Food - Safety - Animal - Agriculture - Companies - Government - Law - Politics - Kansas - "U.S. government fights to keep meatpackers from testing all slaughtered cattle for mad cow." ... "The [Republican President] Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease." ... "The Agriculture Department tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows." ... "Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well." -AP via -IHT.com

20070423

Consumer - Health - Safety - Enforcement - Money - Politics - Government - Legislation - Georgia - California - Mich - "FDA Was Aware of Dangers To Food: Outbreaks Were Not Preventable, Officials Say." ... "The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show." ... "Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents." ... "Congressional critics and consumer advocates said both episodes show that the agency is incapable of adequately protecting the safety of the food supply." ... ""This administration does not like regulation, this administration does not like spending money, and it has a hostility toward government. The poisonous result is that a program like the FDA is going to suffer at every turn of the road," said [Michigan Democratic Representative] Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the full House committee. Dingell is considering introducing legislation to boost the agency's accountability, regulatory authority and budget." (1, 2) -By Elizabeth Williamson -WashingtonPost

20070422

World - US - Brazil - Animals - Food - Environment - Business - "Vanishing honeybees mystify scientists." ... "Go to work -- and vanish without a trace." ... "Billions of bees have done just that, leaving the crop fields they are supposed to pollinate, and scientists are mystified about why." ... "The phenomenon was first noticed late last year in the United States, where honeybees are used to pollinate $15 billion worth of fruits, nuts and other crops annually. Disappearing bees have also been reported in Europe and Brazil." ... "Commercial beekeepers would set their bees near a crop field as usual and come back in two or three weeks to find the hives bereft of foraging worker bees, with only the queen and the immature insects remaining. Whatever worker bees survived were often too weak to perform their tasks." ... "Since about one-third of the U.S. diet depends on pollination and most of that is performed by honeybees, this constitutes a serious problem, according to Jeff Pettis of the U.S. Agricultural Research Service." -Reuters via -CNN

20070420

Fuel - Food - Poor - People - Auto - Environment - Economy - US - Venezuela - Mexico - "Ethanol policy divides Latin America: US efforts to promote ethanol have raised food prices in the region." ... "Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez calls the boom in ethanol the equivalent of starving the poor "to feed automobiles."" ... "Ethanol, which is derived from crops such as corn or sugar, is seen by some as a green alternative, a rising star on the path toward reducing independence on foreign petroleum. But it's not just Mr. Chávez who is questioning whether the benefits outweigh the unintended consequences." ... "Now poultry industry executives, who have seen the price of feedstock has gone up; Mexican consumers, facing a 60 percent jump in the cost of tortillas; and even environmentalists, who look at the amount of fertilizer that will be needed to grow extra crops, are wondering aloud whether ethanol will help or hurt Latin American economies." ... ""I think people worry that rich Americans are trying to fuel cars at the expense of hungry people in poorer countries," says Janet Larsen, director of research at the Earth Policy Institute in Washington. "This increased push for ethanol production could be an incredible foreign policy blunder."" (1, 2) -By Sara Miller Llana and Daniel Cancels -CSMonitor

20060517

Food- Health -Animals - Business - "As 'organic' goes mainstream, will standards suffer? Advocates are cheered by the growing appeal of organic foods. But shoppers, confused by labels, don't always get what they think they paid for." ... "In February, a Consumer Reports article examined which organic foods offered the most benefit. With certain fruits and vegetables - including apples, peppers, cherries, peaches, and potatoes - the likelihood of pesticide residue is much higher, it concluded, so buying organic makes a big difference. Produce which showed little difference between organic and conventional kinds included asparagus, bananas, broccoli, and onions." ... "The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued standards for organic products in 2000, although some critics question how strictly they're applied. But the market for organic food is anything but simple. Many organic producers never bother to go through the process of becoming certified, while other producers use labels such as "free-range" or "natural" that conjure up bucolic images but may mean very little." ... ""People use certain terms loosely, and consumers are fooled," says Joe DePippo, president of FreeBird, which produces antibiotic-free organic chicken raised on small family farms. "Consumers associate free-range with organic, and rightfully so, but there's some market for free-range that's not organic. And to just think that you can have chickens running free all over the field - it's just not practical."" -By Amanda Paulson -CSMonitor