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March, 2004 Vol.5. NO.3...........................................................Pages 8 and 9
Is Monstanto’s Controversial Cow Hormone Causing Cancer? Since its release onto the market in 1994, Monsanto’s recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) has been banned in most industrialized nations, other than the U.S., Brazil, and Mexico. While the genetically engineered hormone is regularly being injected into 22% of the dairy herd in the U.S. to force cows to give more milk, scientists warn that it may increase your risks of getting cancer. Knowing consumers want to avoid rBGH, Monsanto has successfully sued a number of dairies over the years for labeling their products “rBGH-Free.” After a decade of forcing rBGH-tainted milk and dairy products on consumers, Monsanto has recently admitted to having mysterious production problems in the Austrian factory supplying them with rBGH. Last week, the company announced it is being forced to cut back production of rBGH (trade name Posilac) by 50%, due, in part, to failing FDA inspections at its manufacturing plant. Rumors are circulating in the dairy industry that rBGH, the first genetically engineered animal drug put into the U.S. food supply, may be pulled off the mark (http://www.organicconsumers.org/rbgh/cowhormone012804.cfm)
Mendocino Leads The Way Northern
California farmers and consumers are challenging Monsanto and the
biotech industry directly. In Mendocino County CA, voters will soon be
deciding whether or not to ban genetically modified crops, once and for
all. The vote will be held March 2, 2004 and would make the county the
first in the U.S. to ban genetically engineered crops. The ballot
initiative has been organized and supported by local farmers and
citizens, but they are being outspent 50 to 1 by biotech and
agribusiness front groups. OCA encourages people everywhere to
followMendocino’s example and go on the offensive. Your help is needed: Take Time to Laugh! • There are two kinds of pedestrians:
the quick and the dead.
Advertising Deadline for the April, 2004 issue is March 23, 2004 For More Information call (505) 471-5177
Wind
Energy Development Threatened U.S. Representative Tom Udall, D-N.M., recently said Congress must pass his cosponsored legislation that would extend tax credits to wind energy producers for another five years. The credit expired Dec. 31, 2003, causing great uncertainly for the burgeoning renewable energy sector. Predicting that a controversial energy bill would not be passed by Congress, Udall cosponsored H.R. 570 last February to amend the tax code to provide a five-year extension of the credit for electricity produced from wind. The failed energy bill provided a three-year extension of the credit, but most congressional observers agree that the energy bill is dead for the year.” States like New Mexico have tremendous potential in the area of wind energy. The wind energy tax credit helps defray the costs of building the necessary infrastructure for wind energy development,” Udall said. “The leadership in the House and Senate should have passed my cosponsored bill last year once it was clear that the controversial energy bill was doomed. I am again renewing my call for this bill to be passed at once.” Last October, the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) and Florida Power and Light opened the third largest wind farm in the world in eastern New Mexico. New Mexico was among the top states last year for the addition of wind power, according to a report released in January by the American Wind Energy Association. The state added 205 megawatts of wind energy power. Wind energy is the world’s fastest growing form of electricity generation, meeting the growing demand for clean renewable energy. Wind turbines generate electricity with no emissions, and no fuel, at prices competitive with current generation costs. In addition to the environmental benefits, wind generation can offer stable 20-year prices because it is not subject to fuel price risks. Wind turbines commonly begin to produce power at a wind speed of 10-12 miles per hour. Wind plants produce electricity only when the wind blows and convert kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power.
A generator can
convert the mechanical power into electricity to power homes,
businesses, schools, and the like. Electricity from turbines is fed
into local utility grids and is distributed to customers just as it is
with conventional power plants. “Wind energy is one of the cleanest, most cost-effective, and safest ways to generate power. It offers immense benefits to consumers, property owners and utility providers. And as important, renewable energy creates jobs and economic opportunity in rural New Mexico - $40 million over 20 years in Quay and DeBaca counties from the New Mexico Wind Energy Center alone,” Udall concluded. Congressman Udall has served on the House Committee on Resources since 1999.
SNOW BUNNIES In the middle of winter snow season, Susan, nineteen, and Wendy, twenty-one, got lost driving along snowy highways in a rural part of Canada. One wrong turn led to another, and the girls eventually found themselves wandering aimlessly along “seasonal trails’ marked KEEP OUT and NO TRESPASSING. After becoming hopelessly lost, they inadvertently set fire to their car while trying to dislodge it from a rock. The girls abandoned the vehicle and its survival kit, containing a blanket, flashlight, candle, and flares. The two snow bunnies struck out on their own and stumbled blindly through the trees for two hours, until they broke through an ice cover and fell into a stream. They were discovered trapped there by a rabbit hunter twelve hours later. Between them, the women lost two feet, seven additional toes, and four fingers to frostbite.
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Inside This Issue Book Review .................. 15 Canadian Organic "Check This Out" .........14 Cow Hosomone Death Notice ...................14 EcoVersity.................... 10 Kenny Boy...................... 5 Lara's Theme ................ 7 Made Cow USA............... 1 Mendocino Leads The Message From Robert Millions Against No Child Left Behind: North Central NM Parrot Language.............10 Rebait The Trap ........... 14 Screenwriting Snow Business ............... 9 Staw-Bale Low Income Take Time to Laugh ....... 8 The Computer Ate Unclassifieds..................15 Watch That Wall!........ 14 Western Jurisprudence .. 11 Where Is My Hearing Wind Energy Zen Thoughts .............. 13
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