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Keep food industry influence out of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines
Keep food industry influence out of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines

Earlier this year, the Obama administration released the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are widely promoted to the public and help guide nutrition education programs and menu planning for government institutions, including schools, prisons, military facilities and federal cafeterias.

Despite strong scientific evidence presented by its own Advisory Committee on the need for Americans to eat less meat for health and environmental reasons, the guidelines failed to provide clear guidance to the public…

Concerned Americans urge White House to overhaul GMO regulations by the thousands

Over 130,000 people call for more rigorous oversight and labeling

WASHINGTON, DC — Late Friday, over 130,000 individuals, along with leading environmental, food safety, and farmer groups, submitted comments calling for an overhaul of the U.S. government system regulating genetically engineered plants and animals. Known as the Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology, the existing guidelines were put together in 1986, prior to commercialization of GE crops, by combining an array of preexisting, non-binding regulatory…

Truth or deception? New report exposes how industry front groups are spending millions to shape the story of food
Truth or deception? New report exposes how industry front groups are spending millions to shape the story of food

Organic and non-GMO food sales are skyrocketing as more and more people are choosing healthier, more sustainable food produced without synthetic pesticides, GMOs or the routine use of antibiotics and added hormones. Rather than respond to changing market demands by shifting the way they do business, many large food and agrochemical companies are using tobacco-style PR tactics to mislead the public and attack the organic food industry to try to win back skeptical consumers.

Our…

Will Costco be the GMO salmon store?
Will Costco be the GMO salmon store?

On the heels of the introduction of Sen. Murkowski's (R-Alaska) bill last week to crack down on the potential introduction of GMO salmon, Costco is at a crossroads. Will it join its grocery competitors and reject AquaBounty’s GMO salmon, currently pending FDA approval, or will it welcome the first commercialized genetically engineered animal onto its shelves and become “the GMO salmon store?” A coalition of consumer, environmental and labor activists recently held a protest in front…

Great-granddaughter of General Mills founder urges company to stop using GMOs
Great-granddaughter of General Mills founder urges company to stop using GMOs

This blog post has been adapted from a statement made by Harriett Crosby, Friends of the Earth board member and General Mills shareholder, at the company’s shareholder meeting on Tuesday, September 23, 2014.

Thank you, Ken. It’s so good to be here with you today.

My great grandfather, John Crosby the third, Honest John, cofounded General Mills with Cadwallader Washburn in 1877. It was then known as the Washburn Crosby Company. Honest John…

U.S. agencies consider a diet for a healthy planet
U.S. agencies consider a diet for a healthy planet

For the first time, U.S. agencies consider a diet for a healthy planet
If the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Committee has its way, America’s dinner plates are about to include a healthy portion of much needed environmental awareness. For the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is charged with integrating ecological concerns into its recommendations on what Americans should be eating. The Committee…

Biotech industry cooks up PR plans to get us to swallow synthetic biology food
Biotech industry cooks up PR plans to get us to swallow synthetic biology food

Like traditional GMOs, the products of synthetic biology are unlabeled, virtually unregulated and the novel risks to human health and the environment posed by synthetic organisms have not been adequately assessed.

More spin than science: The latest efforts to take down organics
More spin than science: The latest efforts to take down organics

A recent Oxford University study found that “organic farms support 34 percent more plant, insect, and animal species than conventional farms,” including important pollinators.

Follow the honey: 7 ways pesticide companies are spinning the bee crisis to protect profits
Follow the honey: 7 ways pesticide companies are spinning the bee crisis to protect profits

Follow the Honey: 7 ways pesticide companies are spinning the bee crisis to protect profits

Meat industry demands in the EU-US trade deal
Meat industry demands in the EU-US trade deal

As trade negotiators from the United States and the European Union gather in Brussels for the latest round in negotiations for the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment partnership (TTIP), twenty-nine environmental, farm, and consumer groups sent a letter yesterday to United States Trade Representative Michael Froman. The groups sounded the alarm about the demands that the meat industry is lobbying for in the deal. The "meat and feed industries on both sides of the Atlantic…