Category Archives: Abuse of public trust

Environmental abuse by major corporations

Abuse of public trust, Food, Health, Justice, Policy, Protection

Wow. Sen Menendez IS NOT opposed to GMO food!

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EWG GE labeling won't cost moreI’m normally a Bob Menendez fan but WOW, today I’m so disappointed. The Senator wrote to tell me that he doesn’t believe that states should have the right to label GMOs. And he doesn’t believe in GMO labeling at the federal level either. In fact, Sen Menendez made it clear that he does not oppose the genetically engineered modifications of our foods.

The single reason states have started trying to pass their own GMO labeling laws is that the federal government won’t pass laws to allow United States citizens and residents to know what’s in our food. Vermont is the first state to require GMO labeling of all foods.

Here’s the letter Sen. Menendez sent me:

Dear Ms. Wei:

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for the Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act. Your opinion is very important to me, and I appreciate the opportunity to respond to you on this critical issue.

As you may know, the Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act would amend the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to deem any food destined for human consumption as misbranded if it has been genetically engineered or contains genetically engineered ingredients, unless such information is clearly disclosed. The bill labels food as genetically engineered if it is an organism that is the product of intentional genetic engineering or contains any ingredients that are intentionally genetically engineered. This legislation has been introduced before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which I am not a member of. However, should the bill be presented for a vote before the full United States Senate, I will be sure to keep your views in mind.

As the Garden State, New Jersey has a proud reputation as a leader in many agricultural fields, and I am committed to preserving this legacy. While farmers have naturally modified crops to improve growth and yields for centuries, recent advances in genetic engineering have raised questions about the safety of some of these food products. I believe we must be prudent when approving genetically modified food but I also recognize that unnecessarily labeling inherently safe products, could actually risk confusing and misleading consumers. It is vitally important that we fully understand the impact of these practices on our food supply and our health while harnessing the advantages of modern science and innovation.

Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the implementation of food labeling set forth by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Foods that must be labeled include most prepared foods, such as breads, cereals, canned and frozen foods, snacks, desserts, and drinks. Foods that do not have to be labeled are called “conventional foods,” which include raw produce such as fruits, vegetables and fish. I continue to believe these standards should be regulated on the national level by objective scientific experts in the FDA rather than through a patchwork of state regulations that could have the unintended consequence of confusing consumers. Please know that I will continue to look for ways to ensure that Americans have access to appropriate and accurate nutritional information, without misleading consumers or imposing overly onerous requirements on food producers.

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I may be of further assistance. You may also visit my website (http://menendez.senate.gov) to learn more about how I am standing up for New Jersey families in the United States Senate.

Learn more about why you should care and find out how the Non-GMO Project can help you get there.

Abuse of public trust, All, Environment, Protection, Sustainable communities, Water

Did Christie & mystery legislator team up to destroy Liberty State Park?

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Liberty State Park at dusk
Christie has been caught red-handed trying to set Liberty State Park up for privatization by giving it to the Meadowlands Regional Commission he created, of which 9 out of 13 seats are occupied by people the governor handpicked. The commission now oversees the NJ Sports and Exposition Authority.

After Gov. Christie made a similar move to take control of the Highlands Commission, the appointees he placed on that commission began systematically and intentionally sabotaging the guidelines that previous commissioners had put in place to protect the region and its pristine water sources, which provide water to half of New Jersey. Christie’s newly appointed commissioners have allowed development throughout the Highlands, endangering our water source as well as the health of residents who depend on it for drinking water.

It is feared that a similar travesty of justice will be inflicted on Liberty State Park and the residents who rely on it for recreational space and relief from the urban concrete jungles surrounding it. The Record in a Jan 15 article warns,

Three sentences, buried in the 80-page legislation that combines two Meadowlands agencies, allow a new commission to “evaluate, approve and implement any plan or plans for the further preservation, development, enhancement or improvement of Liberty State Park” in Jersey City.

It is unclear who added the paragraph. A spokes­man for Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, the bill’s primary sponsor, would not say.

“It came out of nowhere, because no one knew this was happening until after it passed,” said Sam Pesin, president of the 800-member Friends of Liberty State Park, a volunteer group. “There’s no reason to put the park under a new commission unless you want to build on it.”

Since opening in 1976, LSP has hosted a free, green, open park space behind Lady Liberty and is considered by millions to be an important and vital public asset – one which New Jerseyans aren’t ready to give it up without a fight. The Ironbound Super Neighborhood Council, urges you to act on the following calls to action to save Liberty State Park:

  1. Please read the news coverage about this issue:
  2. Please call the Gov at 609-292-6000 and urge him to veto the “Hackensack Meadowlands Consolidation Act” immediately.
  3. Organization Admins, please consider signing onto this letter protesting removal of Liberty State Park from public purview. Here’s the Sign-on form.
  4. Please ask your friends and family to visit the Friends of Liberty State Park (FOLSP) website. A high visitor count will help make the case that the public cares about this issue.

Ironbound Super Neighborhood Council will hold its regular meeting on Wednesday, February 4th at 7pm. Meetings are held at St James Church School at the corner of Madison and Elm Streets, Newark NJ

Abuse of public trust, All, Energy, Environment, Protection, Urban

Say no to Hess’ deadly bait-&-switch at Newark power plant

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NEC Hearing flyer
The granting of Hess’s permit to create a new power plant in Newark depended on agreements to limit local air pollution. In return for a tall smoke stack and a decrease in the amount of toxins that make up the cocktail of fuel the plant will burn, the city granted tax abatements to Hess while New Jersey State guaranteed a locked-in a low price for all the gas required to fuel the plant – pledging that NJ taxpayers would foot the bill whenever gas prices were higher than Hess’ guaranteed low rate. But the entire agreement has unravelled thanks to corporate skullduggery. Without serious legal intervention, it looks like plant owners will re-neg on protections they pledged to put in place – and intend to instead rake in huge profits at the expense of local air quality. In effect, Newark’s innocent children and vulnerable adult residents will be made to pay with their lives for financial gain that others will enjoy.

Hess sold the Newark Energy Center (aka NEC, previously named the HESS Plant) to an energy investment company, which immediately petitioned the DEP to make changes in the building plan that was originally approved in May 2012. NEC developers have applied for two new secret, “emergency” building permits. But the actual emergency is that these changes may result in a SIGNIFICANT increase to local air pollution. With one in four Newark residents already suffering from asthma, how much more pollution can be added to city air without dire consequences?

NEC owners plan to change their smoke stacks’ heights and diameters, causing more concentrated emissions to be released; and to increase by 400% the quantity of toxic chemicals over what was originally agreed upon. They also want to use city drinking water as its main water source instead of gray water, which the original plans call for.

And by the way, no emergency protocols have yet been developed for this site, although accidents are common at sites using the type of chemicals NEC is threatening to use. In fact, the very same chemicals have caused explosions before in Newark, itself.

Speak out for Clean Air!

Together, Newark and allies can make sure the New Jersey DEP protects residents’ health, community, and environment. Here’s how:

  1. Attend the Public Hearing on HESS/NEC “emergency” application
    Tuesday February 3 2015 @ 7pm
    Newark City Hall
    920 Broad Street, Newark, NJ
  2. Submit a public comment to the DEP. Learn how at the DEP website, where you can also see the permit requests for the changes NEC wants to make.
  3. For more information and coaching on how to submit a public comment, contact Molly Greenberg ICC Environmental Programs Coordinator 973-817-7013 x215 mgreenberg@ironboundcc.org or ejactions@ironboundcc.org
  4. Please share these flyers with your neighbors!
Abuse of public trust, Help, Justice, Nature, Protection, Water

Assembly Dems act to protect NJ from pipeline tragedy like Montana’s

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McKeon & Jasey
Assemblywoman Mila Jasey and Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex/Morris) reiterated their opposition to the proposal for the Pilgrim Pipeline, a 178-mile oil pipeline that would cross 30 New Jersey municipalities, after a Montana pipeline breached on Saturday January 17 2015, spilling up to 50,000 gallons of crude oil, some of which seeped into the Yellowstone River and has contaminated the local water supply. They fear that the Albany, NY to Linden, NJ Pilgrim Oil Pipelines could cause a similar disaster in New Jersey.

No Pilgrim Pipeline

“Presumably, Bridger Pipeline told the people of Montana that this catastrophe was utterly impossible – just like Pilgrim Pipeline has tried to placate us with claims that advanced technology makes pipelines safe – but the Montana residents whose tap water smells and tastes like oil unfortunately now know all too well the very real threat an oil pipeline is to land, water and the public’s health and safety,” said Jasey. “Safe drinking water is a fundamental human need, and particularly in light of this – the most recent of far too many examples – we will continue to do everything possible to ensure that New Jersey never faces a similar disaster.”

Jasey noted that constituents have expressed their disapproval of the Pilgrim Pipeline proposal at numerous community meetings. The legislators plan to hold more public forums to hear the concerns of local residents.

“The Pilgrim Pipeline project simply is not right for New Jersey, and our residents have made their stance against it absolutely clear. In addition to denouncing the potential for the Pilgrim Pipeline to contaminate the Highlands, which supply drinking water for two-thirds of New Jersey’s residents, they reject exposing the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, home to numerous plants and animals, to one of the most flammable fuels in the world,” said McKeon. “The oil spill in Montana is a tragic manifestation of every fear New Jersey families and environmental advocates have about the Pilgrim Pipeline proposal. Our first priority is always protecting the people and natural beauty of New Jersey, and as such, we will remain steadfast in fighting against this plan.”

Jasey and McKeon are sponsors of a bipartisan resolution to oppose the Pilgrim Pipeline project (AR-191). The measure in December gained Assembly approval.

Abuse of public trust, Environment, Food

“Food Chains” film: tomato laborers can escape slavery for 1¢/pound

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food chains film
Food Justice documentary “Food Chains” directed by Sanjay Rawal and narrated by Forest Whitaker arrives in theatres today Nov 21 2014. The New York Times review says:

“Food Chains” .. presents the plight of our farm laborers as modern-day slavery .. Required to pick a minimum of 480 pounds of fruit per hour (hands moving so quickly that you would swear the film has been sped up), the workers average around $42 for a nine-hour shift.

“We live like animals in cramped housing,” one man says, as Mr. Rawal shows us jam-packed trailers and ragtag encampments. The ability to improve these conditions lies not with the farmers, we are told, but with the fast-food industry, restaurants and supermarkets whose contracts with buyers set the economics of the supply chain. But when a coalition of tomato pickers in Immokalee, Fla., began agitating for companies to pay a penny more per pound for their tomatoes, the state’s largest supermarket chain, Publix, refused to blink.

The Fair Food Program behind the film, asks that Big Box retailers pay 1¢ more per pound for tomatoes and not buy from farms with human rights violations. An example of human rights abuse? Big Ag raining toxic pesticides down on workers while they work in open fields, completely exposed.

Or some of the horrors happening to half a million child ag laborers .. under the age of 18 whom are United States citizens being made to work full length days and also attend school. According to testimonials, some of these kids are treated worse than their undocumented parents (if that’s possible).

What’s all this ag labor abuse in aid of? So Big Box retailers can serve up tasteless, over-refrigerated and over-transported monoculture tomatoes and America can eat strawberries for $1 a pint.

Abuse of public trust, Food, Health

100K person study links milk drinking to early death

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A Swedish study of 100,000 pasteurized milk drinkers shows a strong correlation between 1-2 glasses per day milk consumption and early death, plus osteoporosis leading to bone breaks. The results from eating cheese and fermented milk products like yogurt are different, and do not produce these unfortunate results.
Pouring milk in the glass on the background of nature.
Natasha Longo in a RiseEarth article reviews the study and breaks down the science of how pasteurization transforms healthy, raw (unheated) milk into a compound that leeches calcium out of bones and injects our bodies with toxins we can’t handle. More damningly, Natasha talks about why Big Dairy uses pasteurization.

(People) think (milk’s) safe due to pasteurization. However, heat destroys a great number of bacteria in milk and thus conceals the evidence of dirt, pus and dirty dairy practices. It’s cheaper to produce dirty milk and kill the bacteria by heat, that to maintain a clean dairy and keep cows healthy. To combat the increase in pathogens milk goes through ‘clarification’, ‘filtering’, ‘bactofugation’ and two ‘deariation’ treatments. Each of these treatments uses heat ranging from 100-175 degrees Fahrenheit. Dairies count on many heat treatments to mask their inferior sanitary conditions: milk filled with pus, manure and debris. Consumer Reports found 44% of 125 pasteurized milk samples contained as many as 2200 organisms per cubic centimeter (fecal bacteria, coliforms)

Pasteurization also destroys vitamin C, and damages water soluble B vitamins diminishing the nutrient value of milk. Calcium and other minerals are made unavailable by pasteurization.

Abuse of public trust, All, Energy, Environment, Justice, Protection, Water

ALEC and its legislators want to eliminate home solar and environmental protections

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ALEC-coal-members-300x225After this, no one could ever say that ALEC and the politicians guided by it, care more for people than for profits. They boldly assert that betraying the public trust is necessary in order to insure that (their) economic profits remain intact. In a phenomenally informative article, The Guardian tells us about ALEC legislators’ all-out efforts to block clean energy development and the enforcement of clean water protections. They don’t dispute that this will be done at the expense of the environment and climate change reversal, but they care only for the profits they will continue to reap.

Firedog Lake puts it this way

Among the more interesting discoveries by The Guardian: ALEC has plans to attack clean energy from the household-level to the White House-level, working in service to its utility industry members’ unfettered profits.

If you’re interested in a solar roof, you should know that ALEC and its legislators want to eliminate, or severely limit, home solar installations, as they take away profits from the traditional energy companies they own.

Here are some juicy excerpts from The Guardian’s article:

Over the coming year, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) will promote legislation with goals ranging from penalizing individual homeowners and weakening state clean energy regulations, to blocking the Environmental Protection Agency, which is Barack Obama’s main channel for climate action.

Details of Alec’s strategy to block clean energy development at every stage – from the individual rooftop to the White House – are revealed as the group gathers for its policy summit in Washington this week. (The ALEC strategy documents obtained by the Guardian are shown in entirety in the full article.)

…Gabe Elsner, director of the Energy and Policy Institute, said the attack on small-scale solar was part of the larger ALEC project to block clean energy. “They are trying to eliminate pro-solar policies in the states to protect utility industry profits,” he said.

The group sponsored at least 77 energy bills in 34 states last year. According to an analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy, the measures were aimed at opposing renewable energy standards, pushing through the Keystone XL pipeline project, and barring oversight on fracking…

In the confidential materials, prepared for the August board meeting, ALEC claimed to have made significant inroads against such clean energy policies in 2013.

“Approximately 15 states across the country introduced legislation to reform, freeze, or repeal their state’s renewable mandate,” the taskforce reported…

It just shows that ALEC uses lawmakers as lobbyists to block climate legislation at every turn,” said Connor Gibson, a researcher for Greenpeace. “They try to undermine the authority of agencies that have the power potentially to control carbon pollution, so whenever there is a new EPA rule that pops up, they re-tool their arsenal of model bills to make sure they are blocking the new rule.”

…Environmental lawyers said the resolution amounted to a “new manifesto” against the EPA regulating carbon pollution. “They don’t want the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions,” said Ann Weeks, legal director for the Clean Air Task Force…

“They will probably tell you they don’t want the EPA to regulate anything so it is in their interest to turn what the EPA has proposed into something that is grotesque and unreasonable, which I don’t think is true,” Weeks said.

New Jersey’s most infamous ALEC allied politicos are Gov. Chris Christie and Scott Garrett, who bears the distinction of being our state’s Climate Change Denier Congressman.

Abuse of public trust, Food, Health, Justice, Nature

GMO apples will begin the end of real food. Tell Feds NO.

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wicked witch says trust me GMO apple is safeSubmit your comment to the US federal government saying why you stand against the approval of GMO apples. The time to act is now! Here’s some scientific background on GMO apples are so bad, even McDonalds and Gerber doesn’t want them. After you post your comment, please share it with us. Here’s mine:

Private companies cannot be allowed to put in claims to own nature or our food supply. It’s time to radically head off manufacturers of GMOs from attempts to take over society by stopping them from selling their products, ever. The US government must act immediately to make the GMO process and the sale of GMO seeds, illegal.

GMO products and patented seeds, are responsible for the killing of bees, natural ecosystems, and ring the death knoll for small farms around the world.

Our food system relies on bees for pollination. Ecosystems rely on a diversity of plant and animal life to thrive, much in the same way that human bodies do. Small farms are being seized and eradicated by GMO distributors through a variety of nefarious and underhanded moves.

GMO producers are dishonest and extremely dangerous.

You cannot allow them to continue harming the earth, our food supply and the people of the United States. GMO incursion is bad for people and the natural world that God created, which it is the fundamental and inalienable right of US citizens and all people, to enjoy.

The myth is being sold by self-serving producers of mono-culture crops that our societies will be better, or safer, if we allow them to take over the growing process, beginning with seed alteration and patenting, but this is the reverse of true. Mono-cultures are exactly the opposite of good, and the results GMO companies bring into the world are disastrous over both the long and short terms.

The approval of GMO apple seeds will open the door to other varieties of patented seeds being brought into the food supply chain. In the short run, family farmers and small farms will be ruined. In the long term, GMO producers want to make sure that only their eco-system destroying apples can be planted and sold. They want to make natural seeds illegal and own the growing process from start to finish.

GMO crops which contain pesticides also produce pesticides resistant super-insects that cannot be controlled by normal strength pesticides. The GMO crops are directly responsible for the super-insects wiping out natural crops (grown by family/small farmers) in regions where the GMO crops that create them are grown. We can only imagine how bad the pesticide-based crops will reveal themselves to be for human health.

GMO companies seek to replace good, healthy food grown by loving hands which shares a beneficial, symbiotic exchange with nature … with chemically altered food that destroys nature, ecosystems, the natural pollination process (and bees), health, family farms and world society as we know it.

They cannot be allowed to continue to operate in society. There must be NO place for them at all. Please, cast a vote for the wellbeing of United States residents and the world at large, by banning GMO seeds from entering the world.

Abuse of public trust, All, Environment, Justice, Nature, Protection

Your food is destroying my home.

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A girl tells Strawberry the orangutan that she eats peanut butter. Its ingredients are peanuts, sugar, salt, palm oil. Strawberry looks sad, signs to girl, “Your food is destroying my home.” Palm oil is used in cookies and crackers (including Girl Scout Cookies), peanut butter and many other foods. Irreplaceable rainforests and orangutan habitat are being destroyed to produce it. Vote with your dollars – stop buying any products made with palm oil.

Girl Scouts Madi & Rhiannon have been fighting to rid Girl Scout Cookies of Palm Oil since 2007 when they were 11 years old.

Madi and Rhiannon’s inspiring story began catching on with articles appearing in online versions of AnnArbor.com, TIME and CNN. But it was the front-page coverage in the Wall Street Journal that launched the issue into primetime. This amazing piece was quickly followed by a whirlwind media tour that included live national television appearances on ABC, CBS and Fox News as well as a powerful blog post on Huffington Post by Josie Carothers, granddaughter of the inventor of Girl Scout cookies, titled “Why the Inventor of Girl Scout Cookies Would Be Ashamed Today.”

Girl Scouts against palm oil Madi & Rhiannon
Here are actions you can take to stop orangutan habitat and rainforest destruction:
1  Vote with your dollars – stop buying any products made with palm oil.
2  Post this message on Pepsi’s Facebook wall: Hey Pepsi, I’m standing with orangutans, and I can’t stand by brands that use Conflict Palm Oil. Demand responsible palm oil from your suppliers and eliminate Conflict Palm Oil from your products. The power is #InYourPalm.
3  Tweet at Pepsi: Hey @PepsiCo, I can’t stand by brands that use Conflict #PalmOil. The power is #InYourPalm.

Abuse of public trust, All, Health, Protection

“Fragrance” hides dangerous ingredients – are your beauty products safe?

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Screen shot 2013-06-10 at 7.27.58 AMHow messed up in this? Companies can hide the cancer causing ingredients they use in cosmetics and beauty products by calling them “fragrance”. The ingredients in fragrance are protected by Trade Secret laws and can be just about anything. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) cautions us to be careful with “fragrance free” products too: fragrance free doesn’t mean chemical free. Often, “fragrance free” products are created by adding a smell masking chemical to the other chemicals present. This 2:22 minute EWG video gives the scoop:

Are your skin, beauty care and cosmetic products safe? Plug them into the Skin Deep searchable database and find out.