Alex's Russian Bakery
1143 S Edgewood Ave.
Murray Hill
2/21/12
New Bread in Town!
Alex's Russian Bakery
1143 S Edgewood Ave.
Murray Hill
2/20/12
Monsanto held accountable for the first time
French court finds Monsanto guilty
Thu, 2012-02-16 16:07
On Monday, a French court ruled in favor of farmer Paul François, who suffered neurological symptoms including headaches, memory loss and stammering after inhaling Monsanto’s herbicide, Lasso.
The decision marks the first time the pesticide and biotech giant — the largest of the Big 6 — has been held liable for poisoning caused by its products. Monsanto is appealing the verdict.
Although scientific evidence on the health impacts of pesticides has been around for many years — and continues to accumulate — court decisions like this one are a rare victory for farmers and eaters.
Broken U.S. policies prevent such liability
In the United States, such an outcome is near-impossible. Current federal pesticide policies put the onus of responsibility on farmers, workers and communities to prove causation of harm, rather than on pesticide producers to prove that their products are safe.
As one farmer who recovered from prostate cancer told a Washington Post reporter, proving health effects of exposure to pesticides over time is the equivalent of “lying on a bed of thorns and trying to say which one cut you."
Pesticide corporations have played a powerful role in shaping industry-friendly U.S. policies over the years. From its inception in 1947, our federal pesticide law (the Federal Insecticide Fungicide Rodenticide Act - FIFRA) has been a labeling law with next-to-no exercisable enforcement authority. It specifically protects pesticide corporations from being held legally liable for damages caused by their products, once their products have been registered for use.
Building on 2011 People's Tribunal verdict
In the absence of common sense regulations and public protections, people are holding the pesticide industry accountable in other ways.
In December 2011, PAN International convened an international people’s tribunal to hold the Big 6 accountable for human rights abuses. After four days of hearing testimony, including countless stories of loss of health, life and livelihood due to violations of the pesticide industry, an independent jury of experts from around the world delivered a strong verdict that called for a rollback of corporate control on food and farming.
Although the battle is far from over, it is promising to see the tribunal followed so closely by a victory in the courts. As these seemingly small wins add up, they build a movement towards the fair, safe and green food system that PAN — and our supporters — have always stood for.
2/14/12
A long way to go...
Just remember that their ''burgers'' never go bad...
OMG: McDonald’s Does the Right Thing
By MARK BITTMAN
There are more than a few improvements McDonald’s could make to better the treatment of its customers and workers, of the animals that provide the meat it sells and of the environment. On Monday, after years of internal and external pressure, the company announced a laudable course of action regarding the sows (female pigs) in their supply chain: McDonald’s is requiring, by May, that its suppliers of pork provide plans for phasing out gestation crates. Once those plans are delivered, says Bob Langert, the company’s vice president of sustainability, McDonald’s will create a timetable to end the use of gestation crates in its supply chain. “Considering that 90 percent [of the pregnant sows] in the United States are in gestation stalls, this is a huge issue,” he says, and he’s right.
This is important for the animals and for the entire meat-selling industry. Let’s start with the sows: a gestation crate is an individual metal stall so small that the sow cannot turn around; most sows spend not only their pregnancies in crates, but most of their lives. For humans, this would qualify as “cruel and unusual punishment,” and even if you believe that pigs are somehow “inferior,” it’s hard to rationalize gestation crates once you see what they look like. (For the record, defenders of the system suggest that crates prevent sows from fighting in group pens. There’s no space to argue that here, but it’s nonsense.)
The effect on the industry will be huge, because in the world of big-time meat supply, there are two kinds of producers: those who sell to McDonald’s and those wish they could. When, in 1999, McDonald’s requested that its suppliers give caged hens 72 square inches of space instead of 48 (72 is still smaller than a piece of 8×10 paper), not a single factory-farmed hen in the country was being raised with 72 inches of space. Yet the entire supply chain was converted in just 18 months, and 72 square inches is now effectively the industry standard.
Switching from gestation crates to group sow housing is more labor- and capital-intensive, requiring changes that will take money and time, so an 18-month turnaround is unrealistic. But it’s likely that within a few years gestation crates will be history for most pork producers, and that’s a major victory.
Switching from gestation crates to group sow housing is more labor- and capital-intensive, requiring changes that will take money and time, so an 18-month turnaround is unrealistic. But it’s likely that within a few years gestation crates will be history for most pork producers, and that’s a major victory.
The struggle against gestation crates in this country is a recent one. In 2002 the Humane Society of the United States worked to enact a ban in Florida, and since then has achieved the same in seven additional states. (Legislation is pending in eight more.) In the meantime, Whole Foods and Chipotle have banned the use of gestation crates in their supply chains. But this move by McDonald’s — the fourth-largest employer in the world, and one of the biggest pork buyers in the country — is to date the most significant step in that direction.
Although there are no guarantees embedded in the McDonald’s announcement (“We’ll assess in May,” said Langert), it would be foolish of it to stall once its suppliers’ plans are made clear, just as it would be foolish of the suppliers to delay. Smithfield, a chief supplier of pork to McDonald’s and the biggest producer in the world, has promised on and off for years to phase out gestation crates by 2017. Its evident lack of commitment has cost it dearly in public relations. Still, it would seem that 2017 will be a logical target date for this change.
The McDonald’s move is supported by the Humane Society of the United States, which has done as much for animal welfare as any group. Paul Shapiro, a Humane Society spokesman, said, “We’ve been talking about this with McDonald’s for years, and to see them sending this type of a signal to the pork industry will really help move the issue forward. There is now no future in gestation crates in the United States.”
There is no real downside here: the McDonald’s move may not be bold, but it’s the right one; its timetable may not be swift but it’s probably the best that anyone could expect. Yes, sows will still be raised in what can only be called industrial conditions and no, the numbers of animals killed for meat will not decrease. But we can expect that this is not simply a P.R. ploy, and that the results will be positive.
Nevertheless, it should not let McDonald’s off the hook for more than a moment. Langert calls the company “a sustainability leader” and it’s in everyone’s interest to hold him to that phrase. When, in December, I visited some company executives — including Langert — at the McDonald’s headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., I questioned them not only about gestation crates but on the other issues I believe to be important: the treatment of egg-laying hens and chickens; the quality and variety of their food offerings in general; their relationship to the labor force. Most of their answers were less than straightforward, along the lines of “we’re studying that,” or “we give our customers what they want.”
McDonald’s is among the most important food companies in the world, and one could argue that it and Walmart are the true pace-setters: what they do, others will do. When McDonald’s bans gestation crates, gestation crates will go bye-bye. If McDonald’s were to have a hit with a spot-on non-meat offering, you’d see something similar, lickety-split, at Burger King. If McDonald’s announced it was using organic milk for its coffee (as it does in Britain) or cage-free eggs for McMuffins (also a British practice), you’d see that happening everywhere. If McDonald’s were to pay its workers a dollar more than minimum wage, minimum wage in the restaurant industry would effectively go up.
When McDonald’s does the right thing, it’s a game-changer. Let’s pat them on the back today for doing just that: the right thing. But let’s keep reminding them that there’s a long way to go.
2/7/12
Best coffee in town
2/5/12
Scones...
Ingredients
1 cup organic stone-goround whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup organic all-purpose, unbleached flour
1 cup organic rolled oats
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
7 tbsp cold organic salted butter
1 organic egg
1/2 cup organic milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup organic raisins, or blueberries, cranberries...
1/2 cup organic walnuts or nuts of choice (optional)
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Mix flours, baking powder and sugar in a mixer or by hand. Add butter cut into chunks... when well mixed, add milk, egg and vanilla. Lastly, mix in the oats, then dried fruit (or fresh berries) of choice, and nuts (optional).
Scoop out big tablespoonfuls of dough and place it on a baking stone (doesn't need to be preheated) or cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden (not brown!).
Don't forget to lick the bowl, spoon and mixer attachment- the batter is yummy! I use organic ingredients, fresh local eggs, and raw milk as much as possible. I also sometimes use heavy cream instead of milk. As for the flour mixture, I go anywhere from 100% whole-wheat to 100% all white, depending on whom I make the scones for. This is the ratio I use the most at home.
To find the best organic, locally freshly-roasted coffee in town, head to Bold Bean. Shop for all your ingredients at Grassroots Market.
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