Frankenapple: Bad News No Matter How You Slice It

Thanks to the biotech industry?s relentless quest to control our food, McDonald?s, Burger King and even school cafeterias will soon be able to serve up apples that won?t turn brown when they?re sliced or bitten into. A new, almost entirely untested genetic modification technology, called RNA interference, or double strand RNA (dsRNA), is responsible for this new food miracle. Scientists warn that this genetic manipulation poses health risks, as the manipulated RNA gets into our digestive systems and bloodstreams. The biotech industry claims otherwise. Like any non-organic apple, the new GMO Arctic? Apple will be drenched in toxic pesticide residues, untested by the U.S. Food & Drug Association (FDA) and likely unlabeled. And of course these shiny new high-tech apples will cost less than a pesticide-free, nutrient-dense, old-fashioned organic apple that turns a little brown after you slice it up. Unless we stop them, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will approve ?Frankenapple? this year.

Urge President Obama to Use His Authority to Prevent Chemical Disasters

Last week a fertilizer mixing and storage facility exploded in rural Texas, killing at least five people, injuring hundreds more, destroying homes, and filling the air with noxious fumes. The bulk use and storage of poison gases like chlorine at chemical facilities and wastewater and drinking water plants puts millions of Americans at risk of a Bhopal magnitude chemical disaster. Just 300 of these plants put a third of Americans at risk. But some communities no longer face these risks because they switched to safer chemical processes. For example, Washington, DC converted their waste water treatment plant 90 days after the 9/11 attacks. Before 9/11 their use of chlorine gas put 1.7 million people at risk. President Obama’s Department of Homeland Security and Environmental Protection Agency have “consistently asked Congress for the authority to remove these risks by requiring the use of safer chemical processes where feasible. Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress have blocked these efforts. President Obama can implement authority under the Clean Air Act to require companies to design and operate their facilities in a way that prevents the catastrophic release of poison gasses. Sign this petition to urge the President to think of all of our safety and prevent deadly chemical disasters like the one in Texas.

Tell Makers of Similac That Our Babies Are Not Human Lab Rats

GMOs?foods that have been genetically engineered by Monsanto and other chemical manufacturers?have never been adequately tested for long-term human health or environmental safety.?Many ingredients used in infant formula, especially soy-based formula, are derived from GMO crops that have been genetically altered to internally produce pesticides or to be resistant to specific herbicides.?Nobody should be eating GMO foods, especially babies. But until infant formula makers stop using GMO ingredients, hundreds of thousands of newborns and infants will be unwitting participants in this huge, uncontrolled experiment with the health of the next generation.?It?s time to tell infant formula makers to stop experimenting with the health of babies who consume their infant formula.?GMOs are prohibited in organic infant formula, but widely used in conventional formula. Babies are not the human equivalent of lab rats. Given that some scientific studies point to serious harm from consuming GMOs, all formula should be free from GMOs until they can conclusively be proven safe.?Thanks to the work of As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy group, owners of Abbott Laboratories stock (makers of Similac infant formula, one of the leading US formula brands), will be voting on April 26 on a resolution to adopt a non-GMO policy.?Let?s make our voices heard!?Add your name to the petition?urging Abbott Laboratories to remove GMOs from its Similac infant formula.