October
2000
Getting
Political: Why Americans Are Voting with Their Forks and Wallets
By Ronnie Cummins
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Cutting through the rhetoric and slick PR of
yet another electoral season, it’s obvious that most politicians are
still in denial about America’s food and farm crises. When was
the last time we heard a politician in Washington or in our state capital
talk about the fact that we have 76 million cases of food poisoning
a year; that 16 percent of all men and 13 percent of all women can look
forward to getting a food-related case of cancer; that eight percent
of our children have food allergies; that 16 percent of our children
are diagnosed with behavioral or learning disabilities; that food-related
antibiotic-resistant diseases are a growing public health problem; that
the majority of the population are overweight or obese; and that we
have a literal epidemic of diet-related heart disease? Not to mention
that 30 percent of our topsoil is gone; that conventional farmers spray
a billion pounds of toxic pesticides and apply 12 billion pounds of
chemical fertilizers every year; that industrial agriculture is our
greatest source of water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions; that
toxic sewage sludge is routinely spread on non-organic farms; that thousands
of species are going extinct every year; family farmers are going bankrupt;
dead and diseased animal parts are being fed back to animals on a massive
scale; and that the nation’s slaughterhouses are filthy, disease-ridden,
and inhumane.
It’s clear that most politicians are more interested in listening
to agribusiness and biotech special interests than what consumers and
small farmers have to say. The title of Texas populist Jim Hightower’s
latest book says it all: If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote, They Would
Have Given Us Candidates.
America’s organic consumers, animal protectionists and environmentalists
have a long way to go in terms of getting organized and making our presence
felt in Washington, in state capitals, and on Main Street. But in the
meantime, even though we’re short on political candidates, millions
of us have started voting every day, with our forks and knives, with
our pocketbooks and food dollars, and our grassroots public education
and mobilization efforts. And with this new type of food politics, we’re
having a major impact, if not yet in Washington, at least in the marketplace
and in the court of public opinion.
Americans Vote Organic
Organic foods are the fastest growing and most profitable segment
of American agriculture, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture
statistics. A February 1997 poll by the biotech giant Novartis found
that 54 percent of U.S. consumers would prefer to see organic agriculture
become the predominant form of food and fiber production—as opposed
to conventional, chemical-intensive farming or agricultural biotechnology.
A June 2000 survey carried out by the National Center for Public Policy,
a conservative think tank, indicated that 69 percent of the American
public believes that the organic label on food products means that
they
are safer and better for the environment. This is the main reason why
10 million organic consumers will buy eight billion dollars worth of
organic food this year in the U.S. By 2010, at the current rate of
growth,
organic will constitute 10 percent of U.S. agriculture. But of course
this is not enough. In Europe trends indicate that 30-50 percent of
all farming may be organic by the year 2010.
More and more health- and environmentally-conscious Americans are turning
to organic food. And for good reason.
Concern over toxic pesticide, sewage sludge and antibiotic drug residues
A March 1999 study by Consumer Reports found that organic foods
had little or no pesticide residue compared to conventional produce.
A 1999 study by the Environmental Working Group found that millions
of American children eating non-organic fruits and vegetables were ingesting
dangerous amounts of a variety of pesticide neurotoxins and carcinogens.
The use of toxic sewage in organic farming is also prohibited.
Organic farming prohibits the use of antibiotics in animal feed. Recent
scientific research has confirmed the fact that antibiotics, routinely
fed to factory farm animals to make them grow faster, are creating dangerous
antibiotic-resistant pathogens which are infecting Americans who eat
these animal products.
Concern over food poisoning and food-borne diseases
The Centers for Disease Control admit that there are at least 76
million cases of food poisoning every year in the U.S. While there are
no documented cases of organic meat or poultry setting off food poisoning
epidemics, filthy slaughterhouses, contaminated feed, and diseased animals
are commonplace in industrial agriculture. According to government statistics,
most non-organic beef cattle are contaminated with e-Coli 0157:H7; over
90 percent of chickens are tainted with campylobacter, and 30 percent
of poultry are infected with salmonella.
Concern over food irradiation and genetic engineering
Organic certification prohibits irradiation, sewage sludge, and
genetic engineering. A 1997 poll by CBS found 77 percent of Americans
opposed to food irradiation, while a recent survey by the Angus Reid
polling group found the majority of U.S. consumers opposed to genetically
engineered foods. Consumers are especially incensed that industry and
the Food and Drug Administration refuse to require labeling of genetically
engineered food. Numerous polls over the past 15 years have found that
80-95 percent of Americans want labels on gene-altered foods, mainly
so that they can avoid buying them.
Concern over the environment
Studies indicate that the industrialization and globalization of
agriculture are a leading contributor to greenhouse gases and climate
destabilization. Other research shows an increasing percentage of municipal
water supplies are contaminated by pesticide residues, chemical fertilizers,
and sewage runoff from factory farms and feedlots.
Concern for animals and biodiversity
Factory farms and genetic engineering are nothing less than institutionalized
forms of cruelty for farm animals. Industrial agriculture poses a mortal
threat to wildlife and the entire web of biodiversity. Only sustainable,
decentralized, humane, and organic forms of agriculture are defensible
in moral and ethical terms; whereas the ethics of the patenting of living
organisms by multinational corporations are highly questionable.
So, keep in mind this election season that those of us who care about
food, animals, and sustainability have to start getting more political.
We’ve got to organize ourselves into a powerful nationwide consumers
network (which is what my organization, the Organic Consumers Association,
is doing) so that we can make our voices heard, and turn this country
in the right direction. But in the meantime we need to keep on voting
every day—with our forks and our pocketbooks.
Finally, there is at least one politician running for national office
this fall who has spoken out against genetic engineering, factory farming,
and corporate control, and who advocates for an organic system of family
farm based agriculture. Of course we’re not talking about Bush
or Gore, but rather Ralph Nader, the first presidential candidate in
modern history to make the politics of food a cornerstone of his platform.
Nader may not win this year, but his candidacy heralds a promise of
things to come.
Ronnie Cummins is National Director of the Organic Consumers
Association and author of the new book, Genetically Engineered Food:
A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers (Marlowe & Company). To learn
more, visit the OCA website at www.purefood.org
or call (218) 226-4164.
