GLOBAL FOOD DAY FEBRUARY 27, 2012

What Are You Eating This Monday??

The Food Movement Speaks With one Voice: Occupy our Food Supply – International Actions Monday February 27, 2012!

Willie Nelson, Anna Lappe, Vandana Shiva, Michael Pollan, Raj Patel, Marion Nestle and Many Others Join 60+ Occupy Groups and 30+ Environmental and Food Groups for Global Day of Action

“On this day, in New York City, community gardeners, activists, labor unions, farmers, food workers, and citizens of the NYC metro area, will gather at Zuccotti Park at noon, for a Seed Exchange, to raise awareness about the corporate control of our food system and celebrate the local food communities in the metro area.”

See list of supporting organizations and individuals below. For more information on the events planned for Occupy our Food Supply, visit www.occupyourfoodsupply.org.  Rainforest Action Network  http://events.ran.org/occupyourfoodsupply

Here are a few highlights on our food system today:

§  Over 30 nations mandate labeling of GMO (genetically modified organisms, a.k.a. GE, genetically engineered) ingredients in food products. The UNITED STATES is NOT one of them! WHY??? Just Label It Campain:  http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/action.cfm

§  Livestock antibiotics are now linked with “superbugs.” We now have a smoking gun! NPR reported on it first; here’s their take: A study in the journal mBio, published by the American Society for Microbiology, shows how an antibiotic-susceptible staph germ passed from humans into pigs, where it became resistant to the antibiotics tetracycline and methicillin. And then the antibiotic-resistant staph learned to jump back into humans. The FDA just announced that it will trust companies to voluntarily control agricultural antibiotics and this study is unlikely to change their minds.

§  Today, three companies process more than 70 percent of all U.S. beef, Tyson, Cargill and JBS.[1] More than ninety percent of soybean seeds and 80 percent of corn seeds used in the United States are sold by just one company: Monsanto. Four companies are responsible for up to 90 percent of the global trade in grain. And one in four food dollars is spent at Walmart.

§  On proposed Agent Orange FrankenCorn: http://www.organicconsumers.org/gelink.cfm
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_24592.cfm

§  Hundreds of millions of tons of deadly pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers are being dumped on our food, most of which runs off into the soil, air and waterways, due largely to industrial agriculture.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/14/gulf-dead-zone-predicted-largest-in-history_n_877188.html

CONTACT: Rainforest Action Network (RAN)

Sam Haswell
Communications Director
(415) 659-0519    Find Actions near you: http://events.ran.org/occupyourfoodsupply