COMING IN MARCH: THE MEATRIX 2

OOOPPS… LOST THE GMO CROP

In a report released quietly just before Christmas, the U.S.Department of Agriculture's investigative arm disclosed that the department failed to properly monitor thousands of acres of experimental biotechnology crops. According to a report in the Kansas City Star, the findings showed the USDA did not adequately monitor applications or dispose of GM crops properly after experiments. In some cases they did not even know the location of the experimental crop. This poses serious threats to organic farmers whose crops could inadvertently cross-pollinated with GM crops rendering them invaluable. 

INSECTICIDES MIGHT RAISE CHILD LUKEMIA RISK 

A study by France's national institute for medical research has found a possible connection between household insecticides and increased rates of acute leukemia in children. The researchers interviewed the mothers of 280 children who had acute leukemia, and 288 healthy children in the same age range. The interview included questions about the use of insecticides in the home and garden and the use of insecticidal shampoos against head lice.

They found that the risk of developing acute leukemia was almost twice as likely in children whose mothers said that they had used household insecticides or shampoo for head lice, during their pregnancies or while the children were small. While the results still leave open many questions, they do in particular suggest that increased leukemia risk is associated with a group of pesticides known as carbamates, including carbofuran. One unanswered question is whether there is a synergistic effect when several chemicals are used together.

Last weekend, the Quivira Coalition hosted their annual conference in Albuquerque with the theme of Bridging the Urban-Rural

Divide: Reconnecting People to Land and Each Other. The event featured Dan Imhoff of the Wild Farm Alliance, Patricia Nelson Limerick, of the University of Colorado, and Ivan and Martha Aguirre, innovative ranchers from Mexico. The conference investigated implementation of the Clean Water Act, climate change, sustainable, locally led agriculture, grass-banking and the Farm Bill. Powerful presentations from Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, and Peter Forbes, former Trust for Public Land conservationist, turned farmer, author, and photographer, set the tone for the conference. The conference stressed that successful conservation and local, sustainable agriculture depended on rebuilding the public's connection to nature and agriculture.