TIP TALKS
The e-Newsletter of the
Toxics Information Project (TIP)
October, 2013
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IN THIS ISSUE
**TIP NEWS & VIEWS: Thoughts on Halloween,
New Strategies & Actions. More on "Quizzies",
Student Helpers & Surveys - Online & Off
**RESOURCES: New Dirty Dozen List
(Appropriate for Halloween! )
**FOOD CONCERNS NEWS: The Bad & the Good
Scary Fish Facts -& Tips on Avoidance
GMO Activist Wins Mission Award
**OCA REPORT and ACTION:
"No Consensus on GMOs"
Protect Small Farmers from Bad FSMA Rules
**OPPORTUNITIES - Benefit TIP While Shopping,
at No Cost to You
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TIP NEWS & VIEWS:
**HALLOWEEN THOUGHTS
If you were Monsanto what would be your Halloween costume?
A Corporate Crone? Maybe a Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire?
What about a Frankenfish?
I confess - I hate Halloween. It is my least favorite
"holiday". It seems to have an aura of glorifying evil
& scariness, & making heroes and heroines of bad
guys and gals. "Trick or Treat" strikes me as akin to
a sanitized version of the age-old gangster shakedowns.
And, to sour the pot, there are the gezillions of totally
health destroying sweet "treats" consumed by the
nation's children. (Not only sugary, but laden with a bunch
of nasty chemicals as well). Call me an old grump,
but that's my feeling.
The strange thing is that here I am, director of an
organization that regularly scares people - about the
awful chemical onslaught we face everyday, in food
and other products. However, please note that I
ALWAYS provide some kind of helpful TIP or action
to deal with the problem stuff. And this is true today,
as I prepare our Halloween TIP TALKs.
**WHAT'S HAPPENING AT TIP: New Partners & Plans.
Things are humming as we look toward the year ahead,
and make decisions about goals and strategies.
Happily, I now have two enthusiastic young Brown
student interns working with me - Michelle and Malana.
They will be helping with our forthcoming research
and educational efforts, especially surveys on food
concerns and GMO labeling. Other students from
the Environmental Sciences department may come
on board during Spring term.
Also, I'm exploring a possible shift in educational
tools for TIP - following up on the "Labeling Game"
format by creating new flash card type pieces to
use in a variety of ways as "Quizzies" (Q & As)
or "Tippies" (Just TIPs/Info). Distributing these,
the surveys, talks and films, and more use of
our website & the internet will replace some of
our booklet and printed materials focus.
IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS TO SHARE, OR KNOW
OF A GROUP THAT MIGHT LIKE A SPEAKER OR
FILM SHOWING, PLEASE CONTACT ME:
Liberty Goodwin, 401-351-9193, liberty@toxicsinfo.org.
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RESOURCES
**DIRTY DOZEN LIST OF ENDOCRINE DISRUPTERS:
12 Hormone-Altering Chemicals and How to Avoid Them
From the Environmental Working Group (EWG) & the
Keep A Breast Foundation.
October 28, 2013 There is no end to the tricks that
endocrine disruptors can play on our bodies: increasing
production of certain hormones; decreasing production of
others; imitating hormones; turning one hormone into another;
interfering with hormone signaling; telling cells to die prematurely;
competing with essential nutrients; binding to essential hormones;
accumulating in organs that produce hormones.
Click here to see 12 of the worst hormone disruptors, how they
do their dirty deeds, and some tips on how to avoid them.
www.ewg.org/research/dirty-dozen-list-endocrine-disruptors
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FOOD CONCERNS
SCARY FISH FACTS - AND TIPS!
An article by Dr. Mercola, provided by Ocean Robbins'
Food Revolution Network. CAPOs of the sea? Eek!
Don't be too afraid - just continue down the page to the
info on how to choose the healthier kinds of salmon.
www.foodrevolution.org/blog/farmed-fish
GOOD NEWS ON THE GMO FRONT
**Diana Reeves is the Healthy Child Healthy World 2013
Mom on a Mission Award winner! Diana, a Connecticut
mom-turned-activist, founded GMO Free USA in response
to a failed initiative to label genetically engineered foods in
her home state. This year, Connecticut actually passed a
labeling bill (goes into effect when 4 others join it - and
Maine already has done so.). For more information on
Diana and her mission, read her first-person story here:
http://healthychild.org/diana-reeves-is-a-mom-on-a-mission
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FROM ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION (OCA)
NEW RESEARCH AND ACTION
NEW REPORT: 93 EXPERTS" ‘GMOs ARE NOT SAFE'
www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_28589.cfm
To hear Monsanto and its hired guns and faux scientists
tell it, everyone’s on the same page. Their page. Which is
to say that genetically modified organisms (GMOs), along
with all their pesticides and herbicides, are perfectly safe.
Case closed.
But this week, a group of international scientists (the real
kind, not the ones paid by the biotech industry), physicians
and academics signed a statement to set the record straight.
No, they wrote. Despite the many claims to the contrary,
there is no consensus that GMOs are safe.
Said Dr. Angelika Hilbeck, chairwoman of the European
Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental
Responsibility (ENSSER) and one of the signers:
“The statement draws attention to the diversity of opinion
over GMOs in the scientific community and the often
contradictory or inconclusive findings of studies on
GMO safety. These include toxic effects on laboratory
animals fed GM foods, increased pesticide use from
GM crop cultivation and the unexpected impacts of Bt
insecticidal crops on beneficial and non-target organisms.”
See: www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_28589.cfm
OCA ACTION ALERT
BIG RULES SPELL BAD NEWS FOR SMALL FARMS
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12303
Love your local farms, farmers markets, and CSAs
(Community Supported Agriculture)? They could be in
trouble thanks to heavy-handed new rules proposed
under the Food Safety & Modernization Act (FSMA).
Unless the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) agrees
to some key changes in the FSMA, your local farmer could
be forced to shell out up to $20,000 for a fancy “Hazard
Analysis and Risk-based Preventive Control plan.” For a
farmer on a small budget, all that extra cost and paperwork
means raising prices. Higher prices could force even the
most loyal consumer to reluctantly settle for inferior,
industrial food, trucked in from out-of-state corporations.
And that could force your farmer out of business, while
perpetuating the chemical-intensive, environmentally
unfriendly corporate agribusiness model. Under the guise
of “food safety,” the FSMA would create new barriers for
small and mid-scale farmers and processors who have
for years been working to create local markets – restaurants,
co-ops, groceries, schools – for their locally grown produce.
Who wins? The big guys, as usual. Who loses? Consumers.
Farmers. Local markets. And Mother Earth.
TAKE ACTION BY NOVEMBER 15: Tell the FDA:
The FSMA puts small and mid-scale farmers and processors
at a competitive disadvantage against corporate farmers and
producers who can more easily absorb costs, fees and fines.
Please revise the FSMA to level the playing field for small growers:
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12303
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TIME-SENSITIVE OPPORTUNITY TO HELP TIP
WHILE SHOPPING ON THE WEB! $5 New Member
Bonus for Toxics Information Project (TIP).
Each and every person who joins and makes at least
one purchase by November 12, 2013 earns Toxics
Information Project (TIP) an extra $5. That's in addition
to the normal donation amount. It's a great time to
help TIP simply by shopping. Join ASAP - bonus
ends November 12! (Regular donations for your
shopping will continue).
Three important details -
**Over 1,350 stores participating. Purchases at Amazon
count for a donation, but not towards the new member bonus.
** New iGive members only (never joined before).
**Must use the special link provided below to join.
and must use iGive to visit the store (the Button, the
iPhone / iPad apps, or links on our site). Returns don't count.
Just choose Toxics Information Project as your charity, at:
www.iGive.com/welcome/warmwelcome.cfm?c=38382&m=479064
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CONTACT US WITH YOUR THOUGHTS, COMMENTS, QUESTIONS!
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Liberty Goodwin, Director
Toxics Information Project
P.O. Box 40572,
Providence, RI 02940
Tel. 401-351-9193
Website: www.toxicsinfo.org
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