| Friday, August 26, 2005 |  |
| India: Everything Gets Worse With Coca-Cola | 0 comments |
| 26 Aug 2005 @ 21:23 India: Everything Gets Worse With Coca-Cola From: India: Everything Gets Worse With Coca-Cola by D. Rajeev PLACHIMADA, India - In the end it was the 'generosity' of Coca-Cola in distributing cadmium-laden waste sludge as 'free fertilizer' to the tribal aborigines who live near the beverage giant's bottling plant in this remote Kerala village that proved to be its undoing. On Friday, the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) ordered the plant shut down to the jubilation of tribal leaders and green activists who had focused more on the 'water mining' activities of the plant rather than its production of toxic cadmium sludge. ''One way or another, this plant should be shut down and the management made to pay compensation for destroying our paddy fields, fooling us with fake fertilizer and drying out our wells,'' Paru Amma, an aboriginal woman who lives in this once lush, water-abundant area, told IPS. Chairman of the KSPCB, G. Rajmohan, said the closure was ordered because the plant ''does not have adequate waste treatment systems and toxic products from the plant were affecting drinking water in nearby villages'' and that the plant ''has also not provided drinking water in a satisfying manner to local residents''. Apparently, the generosity of the Coca-Cola plant was limited to distributing sludge and waste water free and did not extend to providing drinking water to people seriously affected by its operations. In a statement Saturday, Coca-Cola said it was ''reviewing the order passed by the chairman of the Pollution Control Board, Kerala state,'' and that ''going forward, we are in the process of evaluating future steps, including a judicial review''. The KSPCB closure order is only the latest episode in a see-saw battle between Coca-Cola and the impoverished but plucky local residents ever since the Atlanta-based company began operating its 25 million-dollar bottling plant in this village, located in the state's fertile Palakkad district, in 2001. The question of toxic materials in the sludge distributed to farmers by the Coca-Cola factory as fertilizer was also highlighted, among others, by Inger Schorling, a delegate from Sweden and a green member of the European Parliament. A 'Plachimada Declaration' adopted at the end of the conference asserted that people everywhere should ''resist all criminal attempts to market, privatize and corporatize water''. CLICK TO READ More > |
| Increasing Shortages of Water Across the Globe | 2 comments |
| 26 Aug 2005 @ 21:22 And this is why whoever controls water rights controls the people. The petroleum shortage is "real" however there arealternative enrgy resources, there is no alternative to water. ------------------------------------ Increasing Shortages of Water Across the Globe From: The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com Water supply bogs down in complexity By Patricia Brett SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2005 PARIS Sustainable water development is a contradiction in terms, says Bernard Rousseau, an expert on water issues at France Nature Environment, an umbrella organization representing nearly 3,000 French environmentalist associations with 300,000 members. Rousseau may be pessimistic, but he talks from experience. A member of the local water board for the French regions of Loire and Brittany, he says that most consumers neither know nor care how water gets to their tap. The unsolved paradox of water development is this, Rousseau says: Human activity depletes and pollutes water reserves; the more activity is developed, the more it depletes and pollutes; and the more progress is made in providing clean water at affordable prices, the more people waste it. An estimated 1.1 billion people worldwide lack clean drinking water and 2.4 billion lack access to basic sanitation. Targets adopted by the United Nations in September 2000 aim to halve these figures by 2015; but projections suggest those goals, which would require more than 100,000 people every day to be connected to clean water supplies, will not be met. Water management requires broad cooperation - between upstream and downstream users of a river; between regions and states sharing a water resource; governments, regulators, providers and consumers. The Jordan River basin, which includes Israel, Jordan, Syria and Palestine, is an extreme but not rare example of the political complexity of water management. Even without overt hostilities, the problems are never simple. In the past decade a consensus has emerged that improving, expanding and maintaining basic water services, whether in developed or developing economies, can be done only through partnerships between the public and private sectors. CLICK TO READ MORE More > |
| Health Benefits of Hemp Foods | 1 comment |
| 26 Aug 2005 @ 21:19 Health Benefits of Hemp Foods From: [link] NewsTarget.com printable article August 23, 2005 By Mike Adams Interview with Ruth Shamai of Ruth's Hemp Foods Mike: I'm here with Ruth Shamai of Ruth's Hemp Foods. The company's web address is ruthshempfoods.com. Ruth, you have a line of hemp-based products. Could you give people an overview of your product line, and then we'll get into more of the history of your company and your experience? Shamai: Absolutely. First, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to conduct the interview. I'm happy to speak with you. Mike: My pleasure. Shamai: Hemp has been eaten for thousands of years in different parts of the world. It's the seed that we eat, and it's beneficial in terms of protein and essential fatty acids. People in Persia used to eat it, and they still do, actually. I know Iranians who grew up eating toasted hemp seeds. There's evidence that goes back thousands of years that it was being eaten in China and in different places around the world for those health benefits. Hemp has kind of had a renaissance starting in the early 90s. I was part of the lobby that helped to legalize or re-legalize hemp in Canada, which we accomplished in '98 for commercial growth. Since then, I have been producing a line of hemp foods to spread the news and the nourishment of hemp. Mike: Can you talk about the basic macronutrient composition of hemp seeds? Shamai: In the broadest strokes, you can basically divide it roughly into three components. There are essential fatty acids in the oil -- omega-6, omega-3, omega-9 -- and also minor fatty acids like gamma linolenic acid and stearidonic acid. So that's one-third of its composition. Another one-third consists mostly of fiber, both soluble and insoluble. And it's also one-third protein. Mike: So it has a very balanced nutritional make-up, I would say. Would you agree? Shamai: Yes. Mike: For the carbs, you said it's mostly fiber and the rest are just going to be complex carbohydrates, correct? Shamai: Yes. There's virtually no starch, so there's only a little sugar. Mike: For what kinds of products are these hemp seeds now being used in the foods and supplements industries? Shamai: Well, there are some oils on the market -- hemp oil, crushed from the hemp seed. Again, that has the same ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 -- which it's most known for -- as well as the other omegas that I described, and we can talk more about that. So there are oils. People also take the entire seed and shell it -- that is, take the shell off the inside and you then just have the soft interior. So you're removing a lot of the carbs and leaving primarily protein and oil. Then you can make protein powders from them by removing the oil and milling the rest into something like a flour, then sifting it to remove more of the carbs so that you're left with a higher protein fraction. I make all of those products and I make them certified-organic. In addition to that, I incorporate hemp seeds into more commonly used foods, like energy bars and salad dressings. I used to make tortilla chips. Mike: Oh, really? Shamai: Yes, and I think I might start to make tortilla chips again due to popular demand. I actually discontinued them almost two years ago, but even today someone from a large chain in Canada came to me and asked, "Why can't we get your chips anymore?" And I hear this all the time! Mike: It's good to have demand for the product. Shamai: It is, it is. I can really honestly say, "By popular demand." I love that. Mike: Let's talk about your hemp protein powder product line. You have protein powder by itself, you have it with sprouted flax, and you also have it with sprouted flax and maca. Which of these is the most popular variety? CLICK TO READ More > |
| Venezuelan President Chavez Offers Cheap Gas to Poor Americans | 0 comments |
| 26 Aug 2005 @ 21:17 Venezuelan President Chavez Offers Cheap Gas to Poor Americans From Published on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 by Reuters Chavez Offers Cheap Gas to Poor in U.S. By David Pace HAVANA, Cuba - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, popular with the poor at home, offered on Tuesday to help needy Americans with cheap supplies of gasoline. Venezuela could supply gasoline to Americans at half the price they now pay if intermediaries who "speculated ... and exploited consumers" were cut out. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "We want to sell gasoline and heating fuel directly to poor communities in the United States," the populist leader told reporters at the end of a visit to Communist-run Cuba. Chavez did not say how Venezuela would go about providing gasoline to poor communities. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA owns Citgo, which has 14,000 gas stations in the United States. The offer may sound attractive to Americans feeling pinched by soaring prices at the pump but not to the U.S. government, which sees Chavez as a left-wing troublemaker in Latin America. Gasoline is cheaper than mineral water in oil-producing Venezuela, where consumers can fill their tanks for less than $2. Average gas prices have risen to $2.61 a gallon in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Chavez said Venezuela could supply gasoline to Americans at half the price they now pay if intermediaries who "speculated ... and exploited consumers" were cut out. Venezuela supplies Cuba with generously financed oil and plans to help Caribbean nations foot their oil bills. Chavez, in Cuba to attend the graduation of Cuban-trained doctors from 28 countries, was seen off at the airport by Cuban President Fidel Castro. Washington has accused the two leaders of being a destabilizing influence in South America. Chavez and Castro offered to give poor Americans free health care and train doctors free of charge. |
| Will the Cost of Organic Food Come Down Over Time? | 0 comments |
| 26 Aug 2005 @ 21:16 Will the Cost of Organic Food Come Down Over Time? From: Grist Magazine Cost in Translation Seriously, now -- why aren't organics getting affordable? By Christy Harrison 25 Aug 2005 So you like whole-grain bread, pesticide-free plums, and low-fat meat? Better ask for a raise. A recent study by researchers at the University of California-Davis reported that U.S. shoppers who consistently choose healthy foods spend nearly 20 percent more on groceries. The study also said the higher price of these healthier choices can consume 35 to 40 percent of a low-income family's grocery budget. That's bad news for public health. It's also bad news for the organic-food market, since organics usually carry the highest price tag of all the healthy stuff out there. Do organics make the list? Eventually, analysts keep telling us, demand for organics will set the wheels in motion that will drive prices down. But eventually never seems to come. Even though organics sales are growing by about 20 percent a year -- almost 10 times the rate of increase in total U.S. food sales, according to the Nutrition Business Journal -- these cleaner, greener products still carry a hefty premium. How many shoppers have to jump on the organic bandwagon before we actually see prices fall? How long will that take? And what's the government's role in all this? It depends who you ask. CLICK TO READ More > |
| Dr. Bronner's Victory Forcing USDA to Allow Organic Labels on Body Care | 0 comments |
| 26 Aug 2005 @ 21:13 L.A. Times on OCA/Dr. Bronner's Victory Forcing USDA to Allow Organic Labels on Body Care & Herbal Supplements Los Angeles Times [link],1,2869790.story?coll=la -headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true August 25, 2005 Organic Beauty Products Get a Lift With USDA About-Face By Roger Vincent, Times Staff Writer Turns out there is such a thing as organic lip balm after all. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has reversed its decision to yank the "USDA Organic" seal from lotions and lip balms and will allow cosmetics to carry the prestigious round, green label. Having the USDA imprimatur is essential for a product to stand out on store shelves crowded with allegedly organic merchandise, said David Bronner, president of Escondido, Calif.-based Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. "lt's really the only way to distinguish ourselves from the rampant, misleading claims" of others, said Bronner, whose company and the Organic Consumers Assn. sued the department in June over its decision to stop certifying cosmetics. The USDA created the label in 2002 to identify food that is free of pesticides, antibiotics and other chemicals. Meat and milk products certified as organic must come from animals raised on organic feed and given access to the outdoors. They may not be injected with growth hormones or antibiotics. Some makers of cosmetics and other products that use naturally raised ingredients sought the USDA's seal of approval, and the department said it would oblige them before deciding in April that it should stick solely with regulating food. On Tuesday night, a day away from a deadline to respond to the manufacturers' lawsuit, the USDA reversed its position. The challenge to adequately regulate cosmetics under the new laws has proved to be daunting, said Barbara Robinson, head of the department's National Organic Program. "We do food," Robinson said. "We don't do cosmetics here. We're not lipstick. We're not mouthwash. We're not lawn care products. It takes a while to sit down and look at this and say, 'All right, how do we make this work?' " USDA officials determined that it didn't matter what type of product was labeled as long as it followed the rules. "What difference does it make if you brush your teeth with it or eat it?" Robinson said. Dietary supplements and pet food also can be certified as organic under the decision. Organic standards for fish are being created by the department. Without the USDA requirements, there would be anarchy in product labeling, said Craig Minowa, an environmental scientist for the Minnesota-based Organic Consumers Assn. "There are a number of industries making millions annually by making misleading claims," Minowa said, often by adding trace amounts of organic materials to traditional chemical compounds. "Now, consumers can look for the USDA seal and know the product met tough standards." Bronner's privately held company, a longtime seller of natural body-care products, had invested $100,000 in getting some of its products USDA certified and hundreds of thousands of dollars more in lining up supplies from farmers who could produce organic coconut oil and other approved ingredients, he said. When the USDA said it was backing out of certification, "our whole business model was threatened," Bronner said. "They didn't quite understand what was at stake." He expects the manufacturers' lawsuit to be withdrawn within 30 days. |