November '16 Tip Talks Newsletter
IN THIS ISSUE
**LIB TALKS: Reason for Thanks, Not Just the Holidays, Proof of Local & Consumer Power, More Reasons to Love the “T” Spice, Actions to Protect Organic (re: a bunch of stuff) & Dump Omnipresent Glyphosate, Website Resource LIstings; Seek & You Shall Find
**GOOD NEWS: States & Cities Demonstrate Grassroots Power
**MORE RESEARCH SUPPORTING A FOOD HERO
**ACTIONS: DEADLINE DECEMBER FIRST: TELL THE FTC TO STOP ORGANIC FRAUD.
**MONSANTO/GMO UPDATES & ACTION: Successful Monsanto Tribunal – What Next?; Alarming Levels of Glyphosate in Popular Foods – Urge the EPA to Take Action.
**RESOURCES: EWG-Verified – A New Standard for Your Health
CLEVER CONSUMER CAMPAIGN?
That’s the person reading this newsletter! Like all TIP TALKS,
it will increase your consumer IQ and abilities.
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LIB TALKS
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REASON FOR THANKS: Many, especially in RI, are depressed by the recent presidential election results, even despairing. But, we are now seeing a huge rise in people coming together to take action on issues that they fear may be threatened by the new administration in DC. I myself have attended several meetings this week, one of 1,000 people, planning positive steps forward. TIP is not a political organization, but we welcome and are thankful for the energy rising toward addressing environmental protection and other concerns related to our own.
PROOF OF LOCAL & CONSUMER POWER: We have been saying for years that much can be done at the local and state level – even by individual consumers- and we now see that happening! So Take Heart! This point is consistently true, & happy for the holidays. There are some encouraging examples of that actually working in the Good News section of this TIP TALKS. That’s more reason to emphasize stopping Federal preemption of regulation, especially in the current political climate. Most progress is made stateside, these days.
NOT JUST THE HOLIDAYS: Traditionally, I’ve been emphasizing Holiday food and giving at this time of year. However, the choices at this special time are not that different from those we make every day. You can see some ideas about specifically holiday stuff at our website, on the Less Toxic Living page, including our Healthy Holidays booklets from a few years back. See them at: http://toxicsinfo.org/thoughts.htm But mostly, the same principles apply – less toxic products and produce, and gifts of self and constructive, healthy activities rather than just stuff. And, good sources such as those mentioned on our site and in our flyers are a great help to clever consumerdom.
TERRIFIC TURMERIC: More research on the way this great “spice” keeps on giving – more reasons to use it. See below.
ACTIONS TO PROTECT ORGANIC & AVOID OMNIPRESENT GLYPHOSATE: This is an ongoing struggle – and a critical one. By continuing to speak out, we are educating & winning many battles, on a variety of front!
RESOURCE LISTINGS: Only two bi-yearly TIP flyers include listings & resources that are consumer/health friendly and support TIP. We really want folks in our area & elsewhere to be aware of these good people & what they provide, but space is tight & there is much other important info to include in paper handouts. So, I want to emphasize more viewing of our web pages, where these resources are available all the time for everyone. NOTE: The “ads” on our site & flyers are carefully chosen allies in our mission to create a less toxic planet and healthier people. If they may have anything you can use, please patronize them – and tell them you learned about them via TIP!
SEEK & YE SHALL FIND – ANSWERS!: So much info, so little time! Guess what? We have a great browser on our Home Page called Duck, Duck Go, with which you can cut through scads of good articles on our site to find exactly the topic you want. Use it! We’re trying to update the page with previous newsletters, though we’re currently a bit behind. And, all our flyers eventually go web-ward.
Blessings, Liberty G
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GOOD NEWS
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GLIMMERS OF HOPE
(From the latest OCA Newsletter)
Little recognized, much less publicized in the 2016 election post-mortem discussion is this piece of good news: Grassroots power, including consumer power, trumped the agendas of corporations and the One Percent in a surprising number of ballot initiatives and election contests. That’s great news. Because given what happened in the presidential and congressional races, our best hope for protecting our communities clearly lies in our ability to mobilize and organize at the local level. Here’s a rundown of 2016 election news we can celebrate while we try to regain our focus.
Sonoma County, Calif. Passes GMO Crop Ban, Creating the Largest GMO-Free Zone in the U.S. www.organicconsumers.org/news/sonoma-county-vote-success-leads-largest-gmo-free-zone-us
Four Cities Stick It To the Junk Beverage Industry by Voting to Tax Big Soda Products
www.organicconsumers.org/news/devastating-blow-beverage-industry-4-cities-passed-soda-taxes
Oil Producing But Organic Powerhouse Monterey County, Calif. Votes to
Ban Fracking
AND IN OTHER GOOD NEWS
More Governments Acknowledge That Organic Agriculture
Can Address Climate Change And Feed the World
www.organicconsumers.org/news/organic-agriculture-can-help-address-climate-change-feed-world
The TPP Trade Deal Is Dead
https://popularresistance.org/white-house-gives-up-on-passing-the-tpp/
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MORE RESEARCH SUPPORTING A FOOD HERO
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WHY TURMERIC MAY BE THE VEGETARIAN’S BEST FRIEND
The world’s most extensively researched spice continues to prove itself capable of remarkable therapeutic propertie. The latest study shows it may compensate for one of the plant-based diet’s most heavily debated shortcomings: DHA omega-3 fatty acid deficiency.
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ACTIONS
DEADLINE DEC. 1: TELL THE FTC TO STOP ORGANIC FRAUD!
https://action.organicconsumers.org/o/50865/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=19628 For food, it’s easy. Just look for the “USDA Organic” seal, allowed on products made from at least 95 percent organic ingredients. Under USDA regulations, products made from at least 70 percent organic ingredients can claim “made with organic ingredients.” But when it comes to personal care & household cleaning products, it’s not so cut and dried.
You can find USDA Certified Organic personal care and household cleaning products. The trouble is, only a handful of companies — Dr. Bronner’s, Terressentials and GreenShield lead the (very small) pack — sell products in these categories that meet USDA organic standards. For the most part, makers of personal care and household cleaning products don’t include agricultural ingredients. So they don’t fall under the NOP’s jurisdiction. This leaves them free to claim whatever they want, on labels and in advertising.
It gets worse for textile products, such as clothing and mattresses. The NOP has no organic certification program covering textile products—so how does a consumer know if that “organic” mattress is really organic? Your best bet is to look for the GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) label. The NOP defers to this standard, which governs not only the organic agricultural ingredients, but also how they are processed into a finished product. Unfortunately, few companies are certified to the GOTS standard. The GOTS website lists 48 in the U.S., among them NaturePedic, MetaWear and Under the Nile.
Are there products you like that contain organic ingredients but aren’t certified to the USDA or GOTS standard? Contact the company, applaud them for using organic ingredients and ask them to go to the next level by developing products that can get certified organic. The FTC is a lot more likely to continue its work on organic fraud, if consumer demand starts moving companies in the right direction. Stop organic fraud! Sign the petition before the FTC’s December 1 public comment deadline.
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MONSANTO & GMO UPDATE & ACTION
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SUCCESSFUL INTERNATIONAL MONSANTO TRIBUNAL
& PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY IN THE HAGUE– WHAT’S NEXT?
Both the hearings of the Monsanto Tribunal and the parallel People’s Assembly were a great success. The victims are very happy that their voices have been heard, media coverage was positive especially in France and Germany, over 10,000 people in all continents watched parts of the livestream, many more were involved on social media and some 750 people from over 30 nationalities participated in these historic events in The Hague. The legal opinion of the five independent judges is expected beginning of 2017 Stay updated on the Monsanto files, new publications and developments and the date chosen by the Judges to share their conclusions on the Monsanto Tribunal website and Twitter..
ALARMING LEVELS OF MONSANTO'S GLYPHOSATE FOUND IN POPULAR U.S FOODS – URGE THE EPA TO TAKE ACTION!
A new report by Food Democracy Now! and the Detox Project exposes shocking levels of glyphosate contamination in popular American foods, including Cheerios, Doritos, Oreos, Goldfish and Stacy’s Pita Chips. Levels found in these product are well above the levels found by independent peer-reviewed studies which show that ultra-low levels of glyphosate can cause organ damage starting at 0.1 parts per billion (ppb). This is 1,750 times lower than what the EPA currently claims is safe.
The highest levels detected were found in General Mills' Original Cheerios , which were simply off the charts, at 1,125.3 ppb or nearly twice the level considered potentially harmful according to the latest scientific research in a single serving. As a result, we’re calling on the EPA Inspector General to investigate the agency’s failure to properly test and regulate glyphosate, end the practice of pre-harvest spraying of Roundup as a drying agent & release ALL of the industry data submitted to federal agencies, but kept hidden from the American public as "trade secrets."
Demand that regulatory agencies, like the EPA, FDA and USDA protect the American people from toxic chemicals in our food, water and air!
It’s time to get Monsanto’s Roundup off your plate, ban glyphosate & label GMOs! We need your help today. Every voice counts! See the report at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.fooddemocracynow.org/images/FDN_Glyphosate_FoodTesting_Report_p2016.pdf
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RESOURCES\
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EWG VERIFIED™: A NEW STANDARD FOR YOUR HEALTH.
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/search.php?ewg_verified=products.
EWG VERIFIED™ is taking EWG's Skin Deep® ratings one step further — to help move the market and help you make easy and informed purchasing decisions. EWG's new mark tells you which products meet our strictest criteria.
What does EWG VERIFIED™ mean?
Among other things, products must:
Be free of EWG's ingredients of concern
• Fully disclose all ingredients
• Follow good manufacturing practices
For the full criteria and to learn more about the program, please visit www.ewg.org/EWGVERIFIED.
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BENEFIT TIP WHILE SURFING THE WEB at: www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=818190
(Uses the Yahoo search engine)
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** SUPPORT TIP WHILE SHOPPING AMAZONJust go to: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/14-1862385 and the
link will take you to the site with TIP already selected as your charity. You then shop on smile.amazon.com the same way you would have shopped on www.amazon.com., but the donation will go to us (at no cost to you).**********************************
**OR MOST OF ALL, MAKE A DONATION:
Mail a check to TIP at the address above.
(We are a tax deductible organization)
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CONTACT: Liberty Goodwin, Director, Toxics Information Project (TIP)
P.O. Box 40572, Providence, RI 02940 Tel. 401-351-9193,
E-Mail: liberty@toxicsinfo.org Website: www.toxicsinfo.org *************************************