Is this an American Beverage Association ad in disguise?

from theatlantic.com: If the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) is placing ads attacking Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to limit the size of soft drinks to 16 ounces, he must have done something right. CCF...is used as an attack dog by the National Restaurant Association and other food and beverage organizations to stave off criticism of their contributions to obesity, poor health, and environmental degradation. It gets paid to use tactics that food and beverage companies are afraid to do on their own because they might offend customers or stockholders. Its funders get to hide behind these tactics. CCF does not disclose its contributors. Could the American Beverage Association have paid CCF to do this ad? Coke and Pepsi are prominent members of the Beverage Association. If so, they are now on record in overt opposition to public health efforts.

Greenhouse gas levels pass symbolic 400ppm CO2 milestone

from guardian.co.uk: "The news today, that some stations have measured concentrations above 400ppm in the atmosphere, is further evidence that the world's political leaders – with a few honourable exceptions – are failing catastrophically to address the climate crisis," former vice president Al Gore, the highest-profile campaigner against global warming, said in an email. "History will not understand or forgive them."  Readings are coming in at 400 and higher all over the Arctic. They've been recorded in Alaska, Greenland, Norway, Iceland and even Mongolia. But levels change with the seasons and will drop a bit in the summer, when plants suck up carbon dioxide, NOAA scientists said. So the yearly average for those northern stations likely will be lower and so will the global number. "It's an important threshold," said the Carnegie Institution ecologist Chris Field, a scientist who helps lead the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "It is an indication that we're in a different world."

20 yrs later, the Biotech Brigade marches on….

from source: Twenty years ago this week Dan Quayle went against scientific consensus to publicly proclaim that genetically engineered foods were “substantially equivalent” to non-GE food, and that he would therefore work to ensure that GE food would not be “hampered by unnecessary regulation.” In the pivotal 1992 FDA ruling that Quayle then proudly claimed as part of his “regulatory relief” agenda, the flood gates for GE were opened. We’ve been living in that wake ever since because a small clutch of biotech “true believers,” ideologically anti-regulatory government officials and industry lobbyists have kept that flood gate open against great odds. Agricultural biotech has consistently failed to deliver on promises, inspired a global backlash and remained suspect to consumers for twenty years. Yet our regulatory agencies play a game of hot potato, each devising more creative ways than the last to avoid taking a hard look at the fact that GE corn, soy and now alfalfa are the backbone of the industrial food system, and cover hundreds of thousands of acres of countryside without having passed any meaningful scientific scrutiny as to their safety (in part because scientists can’t get their hands on GE crops to study them). USDA actually has as a declared tenet of their strategic plan, the global proliferation of GE crop technologies. “Regulatory relief.” Is that code for “we don’t want to do our jobs?” How is it that a famously stupid politician, citing an illegitimate principle, can have precipitated 20 years of effectively unregulated GE crops? Short answer: he had an army, and they’re still marching to the same “regulatory relief” tune. The Obama administration itself has kept lock-step by appointing no less than five high profile colonels from the “Biotech Brigade.”

#Audio: Episode022 - Potland, Oregon

On Thursday nights, Media Monarchy joins Corbett Report Radio live on Republic Broadcasting to go over all the latest stories from the world of food, environment and health. This week James Evan Pilato guest hosts the show one last time and goes out in a blaze of medical marijuana glory in Oregon + headlines, the 'Binge and Purge' and much, much more...


Episode022: MP3/Feed\Archive

Previous Audio:
Episode021 - Humanure and You

#BingeAndPurge: Rejection, Election, Oddities and more

Biotech:
U2, Bono? Celeb Partners With Monsanto to Biowreck Africa With GMOs*

Feds Knew Monsanto planted GM alfalfa before USDA approval*
Okanagan Fruits submits GMO apple for approval*
GMO labels continue to be pushed by concerned activists*
Label-It-Yourself Movement Raises Awareness About GMOs*
Dispute Over Labeling of Genetically Modified Food*
Richmond Passes Ban on Genetically Engineered Crops*
Illinois illegally seizes bees resistant to Roundup; kills remaining queens*
A Last (Chemical) Gasp for Bees?*
Once-extinct bees buzz again in Britain*
Activists in UK plan to trash crop experiment*

Pharma/Vaccines/FDA/Medical:
Another State Reports Uncontrolled Rise in Prescription Drug Abuse*
More than 110,000 U.S. soldiers remain on antidepressants and sedatives*
More details emerge in Obama's secret dealings with Big Pharma during health care overhaul*
Real Simple magazine and 47,500 paralyzed Indian children*
The Shrinking World of Available Dental Care*

Food Safety/Food Regulations/Big Ag/USDA/FTC:
FDA Rejects New Name for High Fructose Corn Syrup*
USDA to mask sodium benzoate preservative with new 'anti-microbial' label to trick consumers*
White House Blocking EPA Efforts to Issue Rules on Nanomaterials, Advocates Say*
Coca-Cola dodges federal false advertising claim on its so-called "pomegranate" juice*
The "POM" Pomegranate Scam: The Truth Behind the Company and Its Billionaire Owners*
FDA, Under Court Order, Nevertheless Refuses to Allow Truthful Claims Based on Good Science*
Shareholders, Top Doctors Demand McDonald’s Assess its Health Impacts*
Congress votes down Sen. Durbin's anti-supplement amendment,
as well as Sen. Paul's Freedom of Health Speech Amendment*
Sen. Rand Paul offers surprise amendment to rein in FDA abuses*
Rand Paul Wins One in Senate Passage of FDA Bill*
Wyoming group contests raw food rules change*
Food Safety - It's a Global Issue*

Marijuana/DrugWar:
Why Oregon's Attorney General Election May Be Referendum on Medical Marijuana With National Consequences*
"I'll Smoke a Joint on the Capitol Steps":
Pro-Legalization Congressional Candidate Says He'd Risk Arrest for the Pot Movement*
The Right-Wing Ideologue's Guide to Obama's Teenage Pot Smoking*
How Many Anti-Pot Politicians Will be Ousted Before They Realize the Will of the Majority? *
A Judge’s Plea for Pot*
After DEA's Drug Raid Horrors Erupt in Honduras, Human Rights Groups Demand Answers for Dead Innocents*

Urban Agriculture/Localvorism/Gardening:
Video: "Nine meals away from anarchy"*
Can gardening cure depression?*
VIDEO: How a Fashion Designer's Food Forest is Changing his L.A. Neighborhood*

Climate Change/Environment/Energy Production:
Global warming skeptics as knowledgeable about science as climate change believers, study says*
The promise and peril of a military shift to biofuels*
Congress Blocks Use of Alternative Fuels for the Military*
Canada dismantles its entire ocean contaminants program*
VIDEO: Louie Schwartzberg on the beauty of pollination*
The $4 Billion Lobbying Blitz That Bought Shell the Arctic *
VIDEO: 3,000' Tower Will Generate Clean Power from Hot Air and Cool Water*
Electricity Generated from Chicken Waste Encourages Factory Farming and Pollutes Air*
Ikea Cuts Down 400-Year-Old Trees to Make Furniture*
Federal Lawsuit Targets Bike Path as Anti-Environment*
National Weather Bureau Chief Resigns…Under a Cloud*

Food Oddities/Facts:
Asexual Chef Cooks, Serves Own Genitals at Tokyo Banquet*
Put Your Ethics Where Your Mouth Is*
Mexican Cartel Declares War on Cheetos*
Teaching Old Chips New Tricks: The Red One Means Stop*
'Bath salts': Officials say the synthetic drug in disguise was behind recent ‘cannibal’ attack*
'Deadliest Catch': Flesh-Eating Bacteria Attacks Former Deck Boss From Popular TV Show*
Video: Flesh-Eating Bacteria Scare Prompts Doctors to Respond*

Fukushima radiation now detected in the U.S. food supply

from naturalnews.com: Scores of experts and analysts have feared for months that it would happen, and now it has: Radiation from the heavily damaged nuclear power plants at Japan's Fukushima complex has made it into the seafood chain off the coast of America. Small amounts of cesium-137 and cesium-134, both radioactive elements released after a major earthquake-caused tsunami damaged at least three reactors at the site along Japan's northeastern coast in March 2011, have been found in at least 15 tuna that were recently caught off the coast of California... the fact that any radioactive contamination has showed up off the nation's coastline at all should be cause of concern because... it's hard to say what levels of contamination in our food are ultimately dangerous enough to cause harm.

Related Updates: Tepco Admits Fukushima Disaster Released 2.5 Times More Radiation Than Indicated by Initial Government Lies*
Naoto Kan, Japan’s Former Leader, Condemns Nuclear Power*
Bluefin Tuna With Elevated Radioactivity Still Safe*
Contaminated Soil May Prove Counterproductive, Study Reveals*

Food Safety Squad Preps for London Olympics

from foodsafetynews.com: At undisclosed locations across London, there are sites ready to store seized foods and even food trucks. Liaisons with the courts have distributed emergency applications for food seizures and establishment closures. All that is necessary is for local health authorities to fill out the forms. The Food Standards Agency in the United Kingdom wants to prevent anyone from getting food poisoning while attending the London 2012 Olympic games. FSA has been working for months to make everyone attending the games gets only safe food and beverages. Earlier, the FSA Olympic work focused on temporary food outlets that might pop up to take advantage of crowds attending the games. More recently, FSA's own "Olympic Team" has brought out a "Food Safety Squad" to fan out and visit existing restaurants and hotels located around Olympic venues. Purpose of the Food Safety Squad visits it to let establishments know that increased food safety scrutiny will be in place until both the Olympic games and Paralympic events are over.

DrugWar: Opium Wonderland Afghan Style

from brasschecktv.com: I've said in the past that governments are the biggest drug dealers in the world. More opium/heroin comes out of Afghanistan now than ever has before. Since the beginning of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan in 2001, heroin use has skyrocketed here at home and worldwide. Geraldo Rivera says we 'tolerate' their culture of opium cultivation, but Lieutenant Colonel Brian Christmas, speaking of the opium growers, says, "...we provide them security, we're providing them resources." Someone out there is going to say I'm taking this 'out of context', well, no, I'm putting it IN context. Opium Wonderland Afghan Style...

Covering Up The Cover-Up: The BP Oil Spill

from brasschecktv.com: Two years before the Deepwater Horizon blow-out in the Gulf of Mexico, another BP off-shore rig suffered a nearly identical blow-out, but BP concealed the first one from the U.S. regulators and Congress. This week, EcoWatch.org located an eyewitness with devastating new information about the Caspian Sea oil-rig blow-out which BP had concealed from government and the industry.
Flashback: Gulf Oil Poison Is Still Spilling