Friday, May 03, 2002

Biotech Bias on the Editorial and Opinion Pages of Major United States Newspapers and News Magazines

Imagine that... Another corporate bankrolled marketing campaign put forward as "proof" of the safety of genetically engineered crops. Media outlets owned by corporate conglomerates flood the opinion market with pro-corporate brainwashing about the next wave in corporate grown food. And we all know what food grown by multi-national conglomerates has done for family farms, nutrition, soil tilth, and the environment so far: bankrupt family farms, nutritionally deficient food (compared to organically grown), massive topsoil erosion, and environmental disasters around the globe, not to mention cancer, Parkenson's disease, and many other human conditions which can be traced directly to greedy corporations who put profits ahead of lives. Imagine that....

Thursday, May 02, 2002

From the Sierra Club e-mail newsletter

Farm Bill Aids Polluters, Punishes Family Farmers and the Environment

The gap between large agribusinesses and small family farms is already wide enough.  Now the House is close to making it even wider, by approving a farm bill that hands out $73.5 billion in federal subsidies, much of it to massive agribusinesses with shameful environmental records.

The bill does little to help farmers safeguard wetlands, protect clean water, and set aside areas for wildlife habitat. It gives billions of taxpayer dollars to industrial livestock operations to deal with their animal manure.  For hog factories, that means dumping liquefied manure into a hole in the ground, causing water pollution, killing fish, and contaminating drinking water. "Industrial livestock production is an environmental disaster," said Sierra Club's Ed Hopkins, "and the federal government shouldn't be funding it."
Here's the Sierra Club's response to the Farm Bill. Click here to join Sierra Club.