Lobbying Expenditures Against GMO Labeling Soar This Year

According to a new report, the food industry spent 9 million dollars lobbying Congress to oppose laws requiring labeling of GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Big spenders include the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which spent $1.2 million & Coca-Cola Co., which spent $2.6 million, on anti-labeling lobbying in the first three months of the year. The increased spending is the result of the wide-spread demand for GMO labeling. Several states have proposed GMO labeling laws, including Vermont, which became the first state to require labeling of genetically engineered products, a rule that is being challenged by the food industry in court. Oregon and Colorado will vote on labeling later this year. Connecticut and Maine have passed labeling regulations that only take effect if other northeastern states do the same. Labeling initiatives were defeated in California and Washington. While numerous polls have shown that Americans are in favor of labels, the millions spent by the industrial food industry have prevented consumers from knowing what is in our food. Click here to take action on this important issue.

Banned Pesticide DDT Linked to Obesity and Diabetes

A new study finds that female mice exposed in utero to the pesticide DDT are at greater risk for obesity and type-2 diabetes, adding to mounting evidence that links metabolic diseases to pesticide exposure. The study, titled Perinatal Exposure of Mice to the Pesticide DDT Impairs Energy Expenditure and Metabolism in Adult Female Offspring, was published in the journal PLOS One. Researchers compared metabolic abnormalities in female mice that were exposed in utero to DDT, against a control group of those that were unexposed. After exposure, the two groups were then fed high-fat diets for 12 weeks in adulthood. Females exposed to DDT around the time of their birth, were more likely to develop insulin sensitivity, glucose intolerance, high cholesterol, and metabolic complications that could result in liver disease. These results suggest that DDT exposure in and around the time of gestation, cultivates conditions that increase an individual?s likelihood of accumulating excess fat over the course of one?s lifespan. Additionally, the results find that changes in the way fats and carbohydrates are metabolized can increase the risk of developing metabolic syndrome, which is a precursor to type-2 diabetes. DDT was widely used in the United States and Europe to control mosquitoes and other insects carrying malaria, polio, and typhus from the late 1940s until 1972, the year it was banned.? Although DDT is not hypothesized to be the sole contributor to the current obesity and diabetes epidemic in the US and other parts of the world, it is just one of many possible environmental factors, along with flame retardants and bisphenol A (BPA), that have been linked to growing incidence rates over the past few decades.

Environmental Group Earns Oil Income Despite Pledge Against Drilling

Despite pledging not to permit new oil and gas drilling on land set aside for conservation, the nation?s largest environmental group, the Nature Conservancy, is earning money from an oil well on land it controls in Texas. This information was revealed in writer and activist Naomi Klein?s book, about climate change and the essential facts of the case were confirmed last week by the Nature Conservancy, the environmental group in question. The Nature Conservancy ? which says it helps protect about 20 million acres in the United States ? argues that it has had no choice in the case of the well. Under the terms of a lease it signed years ago with an oil and gas company and later came to regret, the group says it had to permit the drilling of the well in 2007. But the lease contains termination clauses, and the Nature Conservancy could have stopped the 2007 drilling. The group has earned millions of dollars over the years from gas and oil production on the property. The property is supposed to be a refuge for the Attwater?s prairie chicken, one of the most critically endangered birds in North America. The birds have since disappeared from the site. For anyone who has donated or supported the Nature Conservancy over the years, this is especially disturbing information. If this is as upsetting to you, as it to me, please contact the Nature Conservancy by clicking here, and letting them know that until they remove all ties to the oil and gas industry, you will no longer be supporting their organization.