News – Summer 2010

News & Events – Summer 2010

The Good News
Genetic Engineering News
Food Issues

The Good News

Maine Farmland Trust (MFT) has launched a Farm Viability Program, designed to help farms become more successful and to help new farms get established. MFT will draw on a network of agricultural experts and resources to help participating farmers initiate new operations, reach new markets, and take other steps to enhance success. A Quality of Place grant from the Environmental Funders Network and a USDA Community Food Projects grant will support these efforts. Mike Gold coordinates the program from a new MFT office in Unity, in the heart of the region where many of the initial projects will be focused. This program seeks not just to preserve farmland but to revitalize village centers, boost local farming and use community-based strategies to improve food security. The project will take advantage of increasing interest in local farm products, while responding to a surging local demand for emergency food assistance. For more information, visit www.mainefarmlandtrust.org or call 207-948-6575.

Several Maine landscapers have joined more than 500 professionals accredited by the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) Organic Land Care (OLC) Program after taking NOFA’s five-day course in January. They are:

• Paul Lorrain and Alice Dunworth, Sunset Farm Organics, Lyman
• Jaime Critchley, Alyssa Lynch and Mike Veazey, Piscataqua Landscaping, Eliot
• Pamela Durack, JNL Inc., Eliot
• Marjorie Peronto and Diana Hibbard, UMaine Cooperative Extension, Ellsworth and Portland
• Carol Laboissonniere, Kennebunk
• Justin Nichols, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay
• Robert Carr, Keystone Horticulturist, Buxton

All will be listed at www.organiclandcare.net and in NOFA’s Guide to Organic Land Care, with a free circulation of 15,000 in the Northeast.

Accreditation offers networking with others who follow NOFA’s Standards for Organic Land Care: Practices for Design and Maintenance of Ecological Landscapes; discounts on OLC educational events and workshops; publicity and marketing support; use of the NOFA Accredited Professionals logo on marketing materials; and access to NOFA staff for referrals, teaching/speaking opportunities and transitional assistance.

Course faculty include respected scientists and experienced organic land care practitioners who teach principles and procedures; site analysis, design and maintenance; rain gardens/storm water infiltration; soil health; the soil food web; fertilizer and soil amendments; composting; lawns; lawn alternatives; planting and plant care; wetlands; water conservation and management; pest and wildlife management; disease control; mulches; invasive plants; client relations and running a business. Four hands-on case studies are included in the course.

For information on the January 2011 course, contact Kathy Litchfield, NOFA/Mass OLC course coordinator, (413) 773-3830, kathy@nofamass.org, or visit www.organiclandcare.net.

University of Michigan researchers Ivette Perfecto and John Vandermeer say that small, family farms may produce as much or more food and preserve more diversity in remaining tropical forests than industrial agriculture. Small farms using sustainable practices favor migration of species among fragmented areas of forests better than large monocultures of industrial crops, helping to maintain that biodiversity of species. (“Small Family Farms in Tropics Can Feed the Hungry and Preserve Biodiversity,” ScienceDaily, Feb. 24, 2010; www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100222161858.htm; Feb. 22 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

The USDA announced on February 5, 2010, that it is suspending its controversial National Animal Identification System (NAIS) for tracking animal disease and food contamination and is refocusing its efforts on "a new, flexible framework" with lower cost and only for animals moved in interstate commerce. (“USDA Drops ‘Big Brother’ National Animal ID Program,” Feb. 5, 2010; http://organicconsumers.org/nais_faq.cfm)
Pesticides in the News

Children in Ecuador who were exposed to pesticides prenatally when their mothers worked in the greenhouse floral industry had a 1.5- to 2-year developmental delay in motor speed, motor coordination, and visual memory (Stanford-Binet Copying Recall Test) compared with those whose mothers did not work in floriculture. They also had higher systolic blood pressure and a slight decrease in body mass index. (Harari R, Julvez J, Murata K, Barr D, Bellinger DC, Debes F, et al. 2010. Neurobehavioral Deficits and Increased Blood Pressure in School-Age Children Prenatally Exposed to Pesticides. Environ Health Perspect, Feb. 25, 2010, doi:10.1289/ehp.0901582; http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.0901582)

Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency is phasing out approval of all pesticide and fertilizer combination products by December 2012 because "fertilizer-pesticide combination products for lawn and turf uses do not support the goals of best practices for pest management in turf." More than half of Canada has already banned weed-n-feed type products. The most common herbicide in U.S. pesticide-fertilizer combination products is dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, or 2,4-D. Paul Tukey of the SafeLawns Foundation writes, "What a great step in the right direction. The vast majority of lawn and garden pesticides are applied in combination with fertilizers; this action will significantly reduce the amount of contamination to the environment." (PANNA Feb. 19, 2010; www.panna.org)

Female spouses of pesticide applicators were 12.5 percent more likely than the general population to suffer thyroid disease, according to self reports on questionnaires. Thyroid disease was associated with use of benomyl, maneb/mancozeb, paraquat and organochlorines, including aldrin, DDT, heptachlor, lindane and chlordane. (“Pesticide Use and Thyroid Disease Among Women in the Agricultural Health Study,” by Whitney Goldner et al., Amer. J. of Epidemiology, Jan. 8, 2010; www.panna.org/files/pesticideusethyroid.pdf)

A University of California, Berkeley, study exposed 40 male frogs to the common weed killer atrazine at concentrations like those found where the herbicide is used. Forty other male frogs served as controls. Ninety percent of the treated frogs had lower testosterone levels, smaller breeding glands, feminized laryngea, suppressed mating behavior, reduced sperm production and decreased fertility, compared with controls. The other 10 percent of the treatment group frogs became females, mated with males and produced eggs – which produced male larvae only. Some 80 million pounds of atrazine are applied annually to U.S. cropland, and half a million pounds fall in rain in the United States, even hundreds of miles from application sites. Meanwhile, communities in six Midwestern states have filed a federal lawsuit hoping to force atrazine manufacturer Syngenta to pay to filter the herbicide from their drinking water. (“Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis),” by Tyrone Hayes et al., Proc. National Academy of Sciences, March 9, 2010; www.pnas.org/content/107/10/4612; “Cities Sue Manufacturer of Weed-Killer Found in Tap Water,” by Danielle Ivory, Huffington Post, March 8, 2010; http://huffpostfund.org/print/1414#ixzz0hm9Vgn6i)

A two-year study by Pennsylvania State University researcher Christopher Mullin and coworkers found “unprecedented levels” of multiple mite-killing chemicals and crop pesticides in honeybee hives. Beeswax contained 87 pesticides and metabolites, with up to 30 and a mean of eight in single samples. Pollen contained a mean of seven, but up to three pesticides or metabolites. Bees themselves (primarily queens, brood nurses and adolescents rather than foraging bees) contained a mean of two, although one had 25. Some of the detected chemicals can disorient bees. From hundreds of samples, only one wax, three pollen and 12 bee samples had no detectable pesticides. The most common chemicals in wax and bees were fluvalinate and coumaphos (miticides), chlorpyrifos, chlorothalonil, amitraz (a miticide), pendamethalin, endosulfan, fenpropathrin, esfenvalerate and atrazine. The most common in pollen were fungicides. (“Bees face 'unprecedented' pesticide exposures at home and afield,” by Janet Raloff, Science News, Marcy 21, 2010; www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/57474/title/Bees_face_unprecedented_pesticide_exposures_at_home_and_afield; “High Levels of Miticides and Agrochemicals in North American Apiaries: Implications for Honey Bee Health,” by Christopher Mullin et al., PLoS ONE 5(3): e9754. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0009754; www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0009754)

Epidemiologists say that North Carolina and Iowa farmers who applied six pesticides – maneb, mancozeb, methyl-parathion, carbaryl, benomyl and ethyl-parathion – most heavily had an increased incidence of melanoma. Manufacturers cancelled the last two in 2008. Carbaryl (Sevin) is widely used by homeowners – often without protective clothing or equipment – to kill lawn and garden pests. Exposure to sun, having red hair and having fair skin also increase melanoma risk, as did obesity in this study. Previous studies have also linked long-term pesticide exposure to increased melanoma risks. (“Farm pesticides linked to deadly skin cancer,” by Gordon Shetler, Environmental Health News, March 31, 2010; www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/farm-pesticides-linked-to-deadly-skin-cancer)

Top

Genetic Engineering News

USDA Agricultural Research Service microbiologist Robert Kremer, working at the University of Missouri, has found ravaged root systems in GE Roundup Ready plants. "We have glyphosate [Roundup] released into the soil, which appears to be affecting root growth and root-associated microbes.” Kremer told Reuters. The news outlet adds that some scientists are seeing indications of increased root fungal disease in Roundup Ready crops, and manganese deficiency in RR soybeans. (“Special Report: Are regulators dropping the ball on biocrops?,” by Carey Gillam, Reuters, April 13, 2010; www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63C2AJ20100413)

In September 2009, federal Judge Jeffery White ordered USDA to produce an environmental impact statement (EIS) to support its deregulation of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready beet seeds. Since the July 9 hearing date for the case is after the planting date for beets, activists asked that the court bar production or use of the seeds until a permanent injunction is in place, fearing that pollen from GE beets will contaminate organic beet and chard seed crops in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Some 95 percent of the 2009 U.S. sugar beet crop was Roundup Ready. On March 16, 2010, White ruled against the immediate ban, saying it would be too disruptive at that time of the planting season – but warned that he may block planting later, pending the EIS; and that he was “inclined to order” that growers “take all efforts, going forward, to use conventional seed.” (“Plaintiffs to Demand Immediate Seed Ban,” by Wes Sander, Capital Press, Dec. 12, 2009; www.capitalpress.com/oregon/ws-Sugar-Beets-121109; “Beet Growers Eager to Plant Before Hearing,” by Dave Wilkins, Capital Press, Dec. 12, 2009; www.capitalpress.com/idaho/dw-beet-hearing-side-w-art-p-8-121109; “Judge Won’t Bar Modified-Beet Planting Immediately,” by Karen Gullo, Businessweek, March 16, 2010; www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-16/judge-won-t-bar-modified-beet-planting-immediately-update2-.html)

The Indian government put a six-month moratorium on GE Bt brinjal (eggplant) in February. Activists spurred the action, citing problems with India's regulatory process, lack of labeling and potential toxic effects of foreign genes in the crop. Half a dozen Indian state governments have banned the variety. Many people are concerned about Bt crops since 2,000 sheep died in 2006 after grazing on Bt cotton in India, but Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar supports planting Bt brinjal, promoted by Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech. The crop contains the Cry1Ac gene from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) to combat the shoot and fruit borer. Activist Vandana Shiva says, "The traditional brinjal crop – of which we have over 2,000 varieties today – will vanish if the genetically modified variety is allowed.” India uses brinjal extensively in ayurvedic medicine. Also, brinjal is a traditional crop in India, and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which India signed, discourages using GE crops in their land of origin. (“Brinjal a political hot potato in India,” by Neeta Lal, Asia Times Online, Feb. 4, 2010; www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LB04Df03.html; Pesticide Action Network North America News Update, Feb. 12, 2010; www.panna.org; “India halts release of GM aubergine,” AP, Feb. 9, 2010; www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/09/india-halts-genetically-modified-aubergine/print

On March 2, 2010, the European Commission approved cultivation of GE Amflora potatoes – the first GE food approved in Europe in 12 years; and it allowed three GE corn products to be sold but not grown in Europe. Amflora, owned by the German company BASF, would be grown only for such “industrial uses" as animal feed, papermaking and textiles. Through gene silencing, it contains only amylopectin starch, while non-GE potatoes contain amylose and amylopectin. Amflora also contains an antibiotic resistance marker gene, which, some worry, could enter the food chain. Previously, the only GE crop approved for cultivation in Europe was Monsanto’s MON 810 GE corn. (“EU Authorizes GMO Potatoes,” March 2, 2010, Agence France Presse; posted at www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/02-4)

Monsanto reports that the pink bollworm, a major cotton pest, has developed resistance to its GE Bt cotton. Between 2007 and 2009, cotton yield in India fell 9 percent while pesticide expenses for the crop increased 32 percent, and new pest problems arose. Monsanto says its Bollgard II cotton has an additional engineered gene to counter bollworm resistance, but Louisiana farmers experience “no help for insect resistance management for bollworms that are ‘slipping’ through Bollgard II cotton and must be treated with pyrethroids that are becoming less effective with each application,” according to Agricultural Management Services, Inc., adding, “We were supposed to have enough control of bollworms with BGII to not have to treat for bollworms.” (Pesticide Action Network News Update, March 12, 2010; www.panna.org; “East-Central Louisiana: Conversations with Monsanto About Fees, Resistance; Cotton Stalk Destruction; Gearing Up For Planting,” Agricultural Management Services, Inc., Feb. 28, 2010; http://agfax.com/news/2010/02/ams-louisiana-0228.htm)

Peasant, family farm, and indigenous peoples' organizations protested the March 2010 UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries in Guadalajara, Mexico, hosted by the Mexican government and co-sponsored by the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Filipino farmer Isidoro Ancog noted that risks and additional costs of GE crops are often obscured by jargon-laden packaging; that poor people were not represented at the conference; and that he is a target [of] technologies designed without his knowledge that he does not need. Social and environmental groups held their own conference in Guadalajara, calling the FAO conference an "act of aggression" for its pro-GE agenda and because it was held where, "for indigenous people, maize is first, maize is ours, and we are part of her." Mexico is trialing GE corn, despite potential contamination of the biodiversity in the plant's place of origin. (Pesticide Action Network News Update, March 12, 2010; www.panna.org)

In March 2010, the U.S. departments of justice (DOJ) and agriculture (USDA) began investigating corporate control over food and farming, focusing first on the seed industry. Many public interest groups held their own town hall meeting then, to give voice to those interested in breaking monopoly control over food and agriculture. Dr. Ishii Eiteman presented evidence that GE seeds and industrial-scale farming will not feed the world but do benefit large, transnational corporations and wealthier groups. Since a 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 1980 allowing patenting of living organisms, and a law adopted in 1980 allowing publicly funded research to be patented and sold for commercial use, seeds are increasingly owned by a small handful of corporations, led by Monsanto, Dupont/Pioneer and Syngenta. (Pesticide Action Network News Update, March 19, 2010; www.panna.org)

Matthew Dillon of the Organic Seed Alliance warns organic vegetable farmers who use Seminis seeds (owned by Monsanto) that they may inadvertently be engaging in contract agreements with Monsanto. Monsanto holds patents on many traits in these seeds (some vague and naturally occurring, such as heat tolerance). These utility patents prohibit farmers from saving seed for any purpose. Monsanto puts a technology agreement – a legal contract – on bags of seed, stating that the farmer is agreeing to not save seed for any purpose, including breeding. “Unless you want Monsanto agents taking samples from your farm, suing you in court for thousands of dollars in patent infringement, and causing you to go into debt for legal counsel (regardless if you were guilty or not) you might want to think twice about ordering Seminis varieties,” says Dillon. (“Organic Vegetable Farmers - WARNING - you may be engaging in contract agreements with Monsanto,” by Matthew Dillon, Organic Seed Alliance, March 15, 2010; http://blog.seedalliance.org/2010/03/16/organic-vegetable-farmers--warning--you-may-be-engaging-in-contract-agreements-with-monsanto.aspx)

Contamination of organic corn in the Midwest with GE genes is occurring increasingly, reports The Organic & Non-GMO Report, citing a source who wanted to remain anonymous. Despite organic farmers’ precautions (planting later than neighbors who plant GE corn; growing in isolated fields; cleaning equipment), contamination is threatening organic markets. The GE genes do not seem to be coming from contaminated seed. Soybeans, too, although self-pollinating, are showing low levels of contamination. (The Organic & Non-GMO Report, April 2010; www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/apr10/organicfarmers_gmocontamination.php)

United States District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet has struck down patents on the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, linked to breast and ovarian cancer, a decision possibly affecting intellectual property law and patents on thousands of human genes. Sweet said the patents involved a “law of nature” and that simply isolating a gene does not make it patentable. Some 20 percent of human genes have been patented. The decision is likely to be appealed. (“Judge Invalidates Human Gene Patent,” by John Schwartz and Andrew Pollack, The New York Times, March 29, 2010; www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/business/30gene.html?adxnnl=1&hpw=&adxnnlx=1269950726-45/mZ9FOcmIGLEh9UbPkCA; “After Patent on Genes Is Invalidated, Taking Stock,” by Andrew Pollack, The New York Times, March 30, 2010; www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/business/31gene.html)

Environment Canada says the GE Yorkshire “Enviropig” developed at the University of Guelph is not toxic to the environment under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act – the first regulatory step in approving the transgenic pig for market in Canada. The pig contain mouse DNA that reduces the phosphorus concentration in its manure by 30 to 65 percent. If approved, it would be the first GE animal allowed for food or feed in the world. (“Genetically modified pork one step closer to dinner table,” by Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service, Feb. 19, 2010; www.leaderpost.com/technology/Genetically+modified+pork+step+closer+dinner+table/2583723/story.html)

Bill Gates and Bill Clinton are pressing for passage of the Global Food Security Bill (the Lugar-Casey Act), which aims to fight global hunger while producing a giant taxpayer subsidy to pesticide and ag biotech companies. The bill would refocus aid programs on agricultural development to use public funding of GE seeds – despite two decades of failure of GE to help farmers in the developing world. The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (www.panna.org/mag/summer2008/agriculture/business-as-usual-is-not-an-option) shows the need to strengthen agroecological research to support small-scale farmers, while decreasing corporate control of seeds and of the food system. (Pesticide Action Network News Update, April 2, 2010; www.panna.org)

Top

Food Issues

The Office of Inspector General reported on March 9 that under the Bush administration, USDA inadequately enforced federal organic law. The audit of the National Organic Program (NOP) found that improvements in the program had been made under the new administration but identified 14 major concerns regarding management, enforcement, and oversight of organic certification agents – especially the state of California and foreign certifiers that import into the United States – such as not following through or delaying action on enforcement after federal investigators confirmed violations. "Spotty enforcement of organic rules, since 2002, has enabled a number of giant factory farms, engaged in suspect practices, to place ethical family farmers at a competitive disadvantage, particularly in organic dairy, beef and egg production," says the Cornucopia Institute. Current USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) administrator Rayne Pegg says she "reviewed the report and agree[d] in principle with its findings and recommendations”; and the AMS and NOP had already taken remedial action on some or was to do so soon – indicating that the Obama/Vilsack administration is serious about national organic standards. The USDA will begin enforcing rules requiring spot testing of organically grown foods for traces of pesticides – required under the 1990 law that established national organic standards. It will also require unannounced inspections of organic producers and processors and will check labeling of organic products in stores. (“USDA Inspector General Finds Bush Administration Ignored Organic Laws,” Cornucopia Institute, March 19, 2010; “U.S. Plans Spot Tests of Organic Products,” by William Neuman, The New York Times, March 19, 2010; www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/business/20organic.html; review posted at www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/01601-03-HY.pdf)

Aspartame producer Ajinomoto is renaming its sweetener AminoSweet, which it believes is an appealing and memorable name and reflects the amino acid content of the product. (“Ajinomoto brands aspartame ‘AminoSweet,’” by Shaun Weston, FoodBev.com, Nov. 17, 2009)

A Princeton University research team says rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same. Also, rats’ long-term consumption of HFCS led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. Psychology professor Bart Hoebel said, "When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they're becoming obese – every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don't see this; they don't all gain extra weight."

HFCS and sucrose both contain the simple sugars fructose and glucose, but sucrose has equal amounts of the two, while the HFCS in this study had 55 percent fructose, 42 percent glucose and 3 percent of higher saccharides. Also, the HFCS fructose molecules in the sweetener are unbound, ready for absorption and utilization, while the fructose in sucrose that comes from cane or beet sugar is bound to glucose, requiring an extra metabolic step before being utilized.

In the 40 years since HFCS was introduced to the U.S. diet, obesity rates have gone from about 15 percent in 1970 to about one-third of the population now.

The Corn Refiners Association says amounts of HFCS consumed by rats in this study were far greater than those that humans consume; and that the study had inadequate control groups. Ars Technica calls the study results suggestive, somewhat confusing, sometimes contradictory and in need of replication with a larger study population and improved experimental design. (“A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain,” by Hilary Parker, News at Princeton, March 22, 2010; www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/index.xml?section=topstories; “Gross Errors in Princeton Animal Study on Obesity and High Fructose Corn Syrup,” by Audrae Erickson, Corn Refiners Assoc., March 22, 2010; www.corn.org/princeton-hfcs-study-errors.html; “Does High Fructose Corn Syrup Make You Fatter?” by John Timmer, Ars Technica, March 29, 2010; http://arstechnica.com/site/about-ars-technica.ars)

According to writer Martha Rosenberg, ractopamine (Paylean and Optaflexx), a drug that increases protein synthesis and made mice more muscular, is used in [conventional] U.S. livestock production (including cattle, pigs and turkeys), even when animals are close to slaughter. Banned in 160 nations, the drug, farmers report, caused pigs to be hyperactive, vomit, suffer muscle breakdown and stress, and to die. Temple Grandin, professor of animal science at Colorado State University, has noted similar problems. Changes in heart rate, behavior and catecolamine profile in pigs were described in a 2003 Journal of Animal Science article. (“Why Has the FDA Allowed a Drug Marked ‘Not Safe for Use in Humans’ to Be Fed to Livestock Right Before Slaughter?’ by Martha Rosenberg, CounterPunch, Feb. 2, 2010; www.alternet.org/story/145503/)

Despite protests from more than 90,000 people representing 100 farm, environmental and social groups, President Obama appointed Islam Siddiqui as Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the U.S. Trade Office in April. Siddiqui is a former pesticide lobbyist and vice president of regulatory affairs for CropLife America, the pesticide and ag biotech industry's trade association. Siddiqui and CropLife have aggressively promoted interests of the pesticide/GE crop industry over that of farmers, consumers and children's health. (Pesticide Action Network News Update, April 2, 2010; www.panna.org)

Basilio Coronado, 45, an owner of Sel-Cor Bean and Pea, Inc., in Brownfield, Texas, was sentenced in February by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to two years in federal prison, three years of supervised release and given a $523,692.08 fine for selling conventional grain, beans and peas as organic. Coronado is also barred from participating in any USDA or other agricultural programs for five years. (U.S. Dept. of Justice press release, Feb. 26, 2010; www.justice.gov/usao/txn/PressRel10/coronado_crop_sen_pr.html)

Sheila Pell reports in Emagazine that some 70 percent of U.S. broiler chickens, as well as turkeys and swine, are given the arsenic-based growth promoting feed additive roxarsone. While some of that organic arsenic remains in chicken meat, most is excreted and breaks down into inorganic arsenic, a strong promoter of many cancers. In Prairie Grove, Arkansas, which is surrounded by large poultry factory farms, and where manure from those farms is used extensively as fertilizer on area fields, incidences of rare cancers are high. A decade ago, the town’s 2,500 residents learned that 17 children there suffered from cancers including brain and testicular cancer and leukemia. Likewise, the Delmarva Peninsula, another area with factory poultry farms, has one of the highest cancer rates in the United States. Manure that isn’t used as fertilizer is added to cattle feed. The National Chicken Council claims that roxarsone, an antibiotic, contributes to “animal health and welfare, food safety and environmental sustainability.” (“Arsenic and Old Studies – Pressure Is On to Ban a Hazardous but Profitable Feed Additive,” by Sheila Pell, Emagazine, March-April 2010; www.emagazine.com/view/?5064)

Top