On June 24th, the baddest toxic chemicals and pollutants in the industry will be walking the red carpet of shame in Los Angeles for The Toxies.
This year will mark the 3rd Annual Toxies–a satirical red carpet awards ceremony showcasing toxic chemicals and pollutants! There will be many exciting 2012 Toxies nominees, with new categories to boot!
Curious about who’d win “Worst Performance in a Mystery”? “Worst Replacement in a Series?” Catch up with your old favorites, like lead and formaldehyde, plus check out the newcomers, from GMOs to Nitrates and more!
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau grew up in a world of mixed messages about animals. Dogs and cats were for loving; pigs and cows were for eating. This disparity, which she calls a “schizophrenic” attitude toward animals, began to gnaw at her more and more as she became an adult. Her philosophical turmoil turned to action when Patrick-Goudreau became a vegan at the age of 19. In the 12 years since then, she has taken her message public as a nationally renowned vegan chef, writer and educator.
Patrick-Goudreau, an Oakland native, is one of a handful of speakers at next week’s inaugural Oakland Veg Week—a weeklong celebration of vegetarianism and veganism throughout the city. A number of events geared toward community education about meatless lifestyle choices will be taking place from April 15-21. Local restaurants will also be participating by offering special vegetarian and vegan options and prix fixe tasting menus.
Kristie Middleton is one of five Oakland locals organizing Veg Week. A vegan for 14 years, Middleton says that while the city has plenty of plant-based diet options available at restaurants and grocery stores, she never felt like there was a strong movement behind it locally. “We felt like this would be a good way to rectify that,” she said. “We want to be a resource for the community.” more »
Going vegetarian for a week? It’s really not as hard as it may sound. This year, a whole slew of Oaklanders are taking the dive and going vegetarian for Oakland Veg Week—a city wide, week-long celebration that challenges Oaklanders to pledge to be vegetarian for one week to improve their health, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare. Oakland representatives from Council member Nancy Nadel, to Congresswoman Barbara Lee will also be joining in to take the weeklong pledge and show their support for this sustainable way of living.
In celebration of this local occasion, we decided to round up some of our favorite vegetarian and vegan recipes. A portion of the CEH staff is already vegetarian, and many like to eat vegetarian on a regular basis, so it wasn’t hard to gather up a list of amazing recipes. From vegetarian mole to eggplant sandwiches, these dishes are so delicious you won’t even miss the meat!
(Bonus: Most of the recipes can be made vegan by replacing dairy ingredients)
Have you ever tasted a strawberry whose DNA was altered to include fish genes? In the United States, genetically modified foods are not generally labeled as such. Last week, CEH’s own Communications and Food Program Director Charles Margulis was a guest on Sea Change Radio.
If you’ve seen any of our our advocacy campaigns or articles on GMOs, you know that we believe that American consumers have the right to know when they are eating genetically modified organisms, or, more aptly titled–unlabeled experimental foods. Listen to Charles’ guest segment as he speaks with host Alex Wise about the rise of the GMO, the movement pushing for more regulation of GMOs, and the substantial resistance that proponents of GMO labeling have encountered.
It’s National Public Health Week, an occasion that brings many CEH issues to the forefront of national attention. Safer products, food, air and water mean better national public health. You’ve seen public health issues in the news recently—from the ‘pinkslime’ in school lunches, to the battle over BPA in packaging. All of these seemingly disjointed issues are part of the landscape that contributes to the condition of our nation’s health.
This year we’re excited to contribute our own set of tips to reduce toxics exposure. Whether it’s avoiding lead in your children’s toys, or choosing the right non-toxic household cleaners, we’ve got you covered with healthier choices.
Below is a roundup of our some of our most popular and handy eco-tips, plus opportunities to take action to improve public health for people across the country!
By now much of America has learned that they have been unknowingly eating pink slime burgers for many years, and the vehement and widespread consumer revulsion means that the slime burger industry is fighting for its life. The controversy, first exposed by the New York Times in late 2009 (a piece we followed with our take in early 2010), has caused slime creator Beef Products International (BPI) to close three of its four plants, as fast food and supermarket chains have declared they will no longer use slimed beef.
While these are welcome developments, much of the recent reporting has failed to acknowledge why industry has been so fond of the slime for so long. As a 2004 peer-reviewed study on contamination of ground beef by deadly e. coli bacteria stated, a major problem in beef processing is that “Contamination of beef products primarily occurs during slaughter when meat is contaminated by fecal material.”
Following last week’s victory on the end of sales of a cancer-causing strawberry pesticide comes more good news for safe food: as a result of widespread consumer rejection of GMO food, Canadian researchers have been forced to shelve production of their experimental GMO hogs.
The so-called Enviropig promised factory farmers a way to cram even more animals into already overcrowded conditions. Hog farming is restricted because pig manure is high in phosphorous, which ends up polluting waterways near factory farms. So instead of stopping overcrowding, GMO developers intended to engineer pigs to produce less phosphorous in the manure – hence, the “enviropig.”
Now, after claiming for more than a decade that their GMO pigs would “soon” be marketed, the Canadian researchers acknowledged that they have been forced to end breeding of the enviropig. As reported by Ontario Farmer magazine, with public rejection of GMO food riding high, the pork industry pulled support of the project, and the GMO pig is now in “genetic hibernation.”
Preceding the news yesterday that more than 1 million Americans have signed the petition calling on the FDA to label genetically modified (GMO) foods came more unsettling news about the biotech industry’s assault on our children’s minds. A primer on “biotechnology basics” for school children is being distributed by the trade group made up of major GMO companies including Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta and others. Unsurprisingly, the kids’ activity book is chock full of fun “facts” (read: distortions and lies) about the positive role biotechnology plays in our lives.
We think kids should know about GMO foods, since our children will be the first generation who will be eating these risky, untested foods for their entire lives. So we created The ABCs of GMOs to set the record straight, with fun activities for the whole family! Check it out!
This Wednesday we’re calling on Walmart to reject selling Monsanto’s GE sweet corn before farmers start planting it this summer.
Walmart cares most about their bottom-line and public image. That’s why we’re collaborating with our allies at Food & Water Watch to generate thousands of calls from consumers this Wednesday, March 28th. If there’s enough consumer pressure on Walmart, the corporation will be forced to change its ways.
Volunteers across the country are hosting call-in events to help spread the word and generate phone calls in their community.
In the past couple months, hundreds of thousands of supporters have shown strong support of opposing untested, unlabeled and potentially unsafe GE food. On February 8, more than 3,300 phone calls were made to Walmart’s customer service line, and Food & Water Watch delivered the more than 75,000 collective petition signatures to more than 100 Walmart stores across the country from CEH supporters and other ally groups.
Help keep the momentum going—take a minute on Wednesday to call your local Walmart and urge them: Just Say NO to GMO Corn!
Make Your Call to Walmart Today:
Call the Walmart customer service line (877) 796-1950 and ask that Walmart protect its customers by committing to not sell Monsanto’s genetically engineered sweet corn.
Once your done, you can use Food & Water Watch’s handy tool to report back on what happened on your call (it only takes 1 minute!)
Those nauseating food police are at it again. They say that GMO food may be harmful to our health, and they complain that without labels it is almost impossible to determine what harmful effects these untested foods may have. Sure, our children are the first generation who have been eating these foods for their entire lives, and without labels, there is no way for parents to choose to avoid this force-fed experiment. Yes, people may have a right to know what’s in their food, and a right to choose safe food for their children and families – that may be why 93% of Americans support labeling of GMO foods.
BUT, there are also a lot of reasons NOT to label GMOs – with labels we would all miss out on the biggest uncontrolled food experiment in history! After all, when you don’t know what’s going in your mouth it can’t hurt you, right? more »
The Story of Electronics
From makers of the "Story of Stuff" and the Electronics Takeback Coalition.
Get CEH newsletter, action alerts, and updates!
Take Action
Stand Up to Support the Safe Chemicals Act!
The mounting evidence can't be denied: toxic chemicals we're exposed to everyday can significantly increase the risk of developing a myriad of health problems including infertility, learning and developmental disabilities, and even cancer. Congress has an obligation to pass a law that will protect our families from harmful chemicals.
Monsanto's new experimental GMO corn contains a toxic pesticide in every bite, intended for the frozen and/or canned corn market. This experimental corn will not be labeled, so consumers cannot know when they may be eating a GMO food. As the nation’s largest retailer and a major provider of frozen and canned corn, Walmart has the responsibility to take action to protect consumers from this risky new corn.
Urge Congress that GMO food must be labeled. These could be the most important clicks your mouse makes today!
Hey Hallmark: Valentine's cards should bring love and joy, not toxic hazards!
Electronic cards that play songs and/or light up cannot be recycled or even thrown in the trash in California. Instead, they create massive amounts of completely unnecessary toxic e-waste.
Hallmark has been a leader in the greeting card industry for more than a century—shouldn’t they be a leader in the sustainable future too? Tell Hallmark: No More Toxic E-Waste Cards!
Keep Frankenfish Off Our Dinner Plates!
This week, a California State Assembly committee will vote on a bill (AB 88) to require labeling of genetically modified (GMO) fish. In response to the potential FDA approval of GMO salmon, California must take this opportunity to protect state consumers' right to know what is in our food.
