AR-News: FW: WEEKLY GRIST, 13 Apr 2004

[jim robertson]

>In U.S., "Organic" Label on Fish Means Very Little
>
>The "organic" label on some salmon in supermarkets these days doesn't mean 
>much.  The National Organics Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 
>which administers the official organic seal on produce and other foods, has 
>not developed standards for fish.  "We may someday address aquatic species. 
>  It just hasn't happened," says a USDA spokesperson.  This means fish 
>producers and supermarkets label fish based on their own standards -- and 
>the "organic" salmon they're selling is, in fact, farm-raised.  While it 
>differs from standard farmed salmon in some ways, there's no evidence that 
>it contains lower levels of contaminants.  Some stores refuse to use the 
>label at all, pending official standards.  The Whole Foods natural foods 
>chain, for example, declared in a press release, "we believe that to 
>represent such product as organic to our customers would undermine the 
>integrity of the organic label."  In Europe, official standards for organic 
>fish have been in place for five years; some stateside stores have begun 
>importing it to offer customers a genuine organic alternative.
>
>straight to the source:  The Washington Post, Renee Schettler, 07 Apr 2004
><http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2303>
>
>see also, in Grist:  Good label manners -- not all "eco-labels" are created 
>equal -- by Matthew L. Miller, in Soapbox
><http://www.gristmagazine.com/soapbox/miller031604.asp?source=weekly>
>
>
>
>4.
>WHITE HEAT
>InterActivist Fights Back Against Ranching Myths
>
>Courtney White, head of the Quivira Coalition and last week's 
>InterActivist, tackled reader questions with brio.  Read along as he 
>describes what a sustainable ranch looks like, takes on the "native vs. 
>non-native species" question, posits that ranches are preferable to 
>subdivisions, and argues that we should all unite to bash the feedlot 
>system.  Find out if White slaughters any of your sacred cows -- in 
>InterActivist, on the Grist Magazine website.
>
>last week in Grist:  Courtney White answers readers' questions -- in 
>InterActivist
><http://www.gristmagazine.com/interactivist/white040904.asp?source=weekly>
>
>
>>MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH ...
>Bush Shows Off Ranch to Conservation Groups
>
>President Bush gave a tour of his Texas ranch last week to what the White 
>House calls "wildlife conservation organizations," including Ducks 
>Unlimited, the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, and, uh, the National Rifle 
>Association.  Bush's policies of promoting oil and gas exploration and 
>other development in the West have sapped some of his political support 
>among traditionally Republican hunters and anglers; the tour was an 
>opportunity for him to talk up his clean-air and healthy-forest 
>initiatives, said a White House spokesperson.  Bush spends several weeks a 
>year at his ranch -- between his inauguration and September 2001, he spent 
>part or all of 54 days there -- often hacking away at the cedar brush he 
>says saps water from his hardwoods.  A spokesperson for Democratic 
>presidential candidate John Kerry -- who himself hunts and would like to 
>win over the hunter demographic -- used the ranch tour as an opportunity to 
>attack Bush's record on conservation, saying that the president is 
>"systematically dismantling, neutralizing, or defunding virtually every 
>meaningful law, regulation, and program that protects or restores fish and 
>wildlife."
>
>straight to the source:  Houston Chronicle, Associated Press, 08 Apr 2004
><http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2281>
>
>straight to the source:  Reuters, Jeremy Pelofsky, 08 Apr 2004
><http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2280>

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