After casting her ballot for Barack Obama, Amanda Jones said simply, "I feel good about voting for him." Ms. Jones, of Cedar Creek, Texas (a town just south of Austin), is African-American, and what gives her vote some historic punch is that she's 109 years old. Her father was a slave. Her mother was born right after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. She's been through it all--Jim Crow segregation, women's suffrage, the Great Depression, the poll tax, FDR, the civil-rights movement, desegregation, 13 years of George W (five as guv, eight as prez), and now: Barack Obama. This last change fills her with joy, she says.
Sign up for email alerts, from breaking news to weekly commentary:
Find more content in these topics: Common good, Corporate greed, Food safety, Frankenfood
Visit Hightower's General Store, to buy high-power Hightower books and other goodies like that.
It is my understanding that my state's Eli Lilly took this chemical product off Monsanto's hands. They are in process of shoving it through our state's legislature that the dairys cannot advertise RBGH free milk. Get out the willow switch and give it to them. It is the almighty dollar as usual.
Home | Contact | RSS | Privacy policy | Copyright Public Intelligence, Inc., all rights reserved 2003-2007
MIGHTY MONSANTO GIVES UP
Every now and then, citizen activism defeats the forces of avarice and arrogance. Here's a story of how children, organic farmers, and cows have just triumphed over mighty Monsanto and its political handmaidens.
For years, this biotech behemoth has thrown its weight around in Washington, in courthouses, in the media, trying to force Americans to swallow Posilac (known as rBGH or rBST). You wouldn't know the name of this artificial growth hormone, because Monsanto spent millions trying to hide it from consumers.
But Posilac is not a product that people wanted. It's a bioengineered sex hormone that's injected into cows to force their bodies to produce more milk. It's not healthy for cows, and it provides no health benefits (and possibly causes serious harm) for humans. Mothers never warmed up to the idea of pouring a daily dose of sex-hormone milk for their children.
Monsanto got the feds to rule that Posilac milk did not have to be labeled as such, but some farmers, dairy processors, and retailers labeled their products as rBGH free. So, Monsanto tried to get the feds and state officials to outlaw the hormone-free labels.
But people fought back, and even such giants as Wal-Mart responded to consumer rejection of Posilac by selling undoctored milk in its stores. Now, Monsanto has thrown in the towel, quitting its Posilac business. This is a major victory for ordinary folks who refused to be bullied or hornswoggled by the flexing of corporate muscle. For more information, call the Center for Food Safety at 202-547-9359.