Savvy Vegetarian Blog

news and opinion on vegetarian diet and nutrition, vegetarian lifestyle, green living, and environment

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Tue, 02 May 2006

Big Threat To Freedom of the Net

The following piece appeared in the most recent OCA newsletter, on April 28th. I thought it would be all over the net, but that's the only place I've seen it. Of course, I've been a little out of touch. But I wonder if others were as alarmed by this as I am.

I've had the feeling for a while now that the glory days of free speech on the internet are numbered. If the telecom giants have their way, the internet will be soon be just as censored as print media in this country, which means there'll be no access to alternative news and opinion on the web. I doubt the internet will prove all that easy to subdue, but I could be wrong - it's happened once or twice! Enjoy your freedom while it lasts!

From OCA 4.28.06: Telecommunications Giants Move To Control How You Surf The Web

A nationwide network of nonprofit organizations, including the Organic Consumers Association, are mobilizing to stop Congress from passing a law that would enable telecommunications giants to control the flow of traffic on the internet. Companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are pressuring Congress to pass the "Telecom Reform Bill" that would allow them to restrict or slow down your access to certain websites on the internet.

As an example, last year, Canada's version of AT&T -- Telus -- blocked their internet customers from visiting a web site sympathetic to workers with whom Telus was negotiating. This controversial bill would create a similar situation in the U.S. whereby telephone and cable companies would have increased power to control how well (or poorly) specific websites, including those operated by nonprofit organizations, would function on your computer.

The current construction of the internet allows everyone to compete on a level playing field. This is the reason that the internet is a force for economic innovation, civic participation and free speech. If the public doesn't speak up now, Congress will hand over control of the internet to these telecommunications monopolies.
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One More Time: The GMO Trilogy by Jeffrey Smith

Jeffrey Smith hopes to influence GMO market with informed consumers

This is the third time I've blogged about the GMO Trilogy by Jeffrey Smith, author of Seeds of Deception). That's because I can't say it enough: I urge all of you who haven't done so to get it and watch it and listen to it, and stop being an involuntary subject in a global, illegal, dangerous scientific experiment which is endangering our health and our food supply. The GMO Trilogy is available in most natural food stores, or you can order online.

Thanks to our local Fairfield paper, the Heartland Spirit, for the text of this article - I've borrowed from their recent offering on the subject.

Jeffrey Smith is banking on the food industry responding to a small percentage of trend-setting shoppers who start looking for non-GMO brands. 'GMO's were kicked out of Europe when manufacturers responded to consumer concern,' he says. 'Without adequate news coverage in the US, however, we have to package and distribute the information ourselves.'

Smith chose the film 'Unnatural Selection' as the headliner for his set. It is an award-winning European documentary in which Vandana Shiva, Andrew Kimbrell, Percy Schmeiser and other reveal several harsh consequences of genetic engineering on three continents. These include uncontrollable, self-replicating GM canola contamination in Canada, a failed FM cotton crop and farmer suicides in India, GM salmon that might wipe out natural fish populations in the ocean, and deformed GM livestock created by the US government.

The second DVD is Smith's 'Hidden Dangers in Kid's Meals.' More than 15 scientists and experts describe how GM-fed animals had damaged immune systems, stunted growth, organ lesions, sterility, high death rates and increased mortality among offstpring. They discuss serious humanproblems that have been reported and how children are most at risk from the potential dangers.

The Trilogy also contains the audio CD: 'You're Eating WHAT?', a compelling talk by Smith about how biotech companies rigged research, hid health dangers and pressured government regulators to approve GM food long before the science was ready.

According to the Chicago Tribune, 'If you make it through all three discs, you'll probably feel enraged at Monsanto, alarmed over the state of the food supply, and worried that the $80 billion biotech industry has already left the station.' (and laid waste to the countryside!)

Jeffrey Smith's next book, 'Genetic Roulette', documents all known health risks of GM foods in easy-to-read two-page spreads and is due out at the end of summer, 2006.

For more information about the contents, a 5 minute preview and audio download, and to order a copy (highly recommend!) go to GMO Trilogy

Review of GMO Trilogy: Brian Tokar directs the Biotechnology Project at the Institute for Social Ecology and is the editor of two books on the science and politics of biotechnology: "Redesigning Life?" and "Gene Traders." Read his review of the GMO Trilogy