Contents

1. Summary
2. Food and Farm Bill
3. Grass-Fed Label
4. Pharma/Industrial Crops
5. Second Installment of Green Cuisine
6. Antibiotic Resistance

Summary

UCS and our supporters worked vigorously in 2007 on the Food and Farm Bill, asking the House and Senate for programs that protect the foundations of our food supply—like our air, water, and soil. These efforts succeeded in securing new programs and funding for UCS priorities, including organic agriculture and other conservation measures. Your letters helped bring about a welcome new label for grass-fed meat from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and you joined us in urging the government to strengthen regulations for risky pharma/industrial crops.

Food and Farm Bill

The House and Senate have each passed versions of the Food and Farm Bill, the giant package of legislation that authorizes programs and funding for agricultural research, crop subsidies, food stamps, farmers markets, organic farming, conservation, and much more. Significant reform proposals supported by UCS included cuts to commodity crop subsides in order to free up funds for conservation and other programs. While these sweeping measures were not adopted, versions of the bill in the House and Senate featured various provisions that would increase spending for organic agriculture, farmers' markets, beginning farmers and ranchers, and other improvements over the 2002 Food and Farm Bill. Designated members of the House and Senate are due to meet early this year to negotiate the differences between the two bills, and UCS will be weighing in to make sure that the best elements from each version are maintained.

Grass-Fed Label

In October, the USDA announced the launch of a new “process verified” label for meat from grass-fed livestock. UCS and our supporters have long advocated for this label, which will help consumers choose meat from “smart pasture operations” that are better for the environment and human health. Unlike massive CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations), these farms use sophisticated land management practices to maximize productivity without despoiling our air, water, and soil. A 2006 UCS report found that meat from grass-fed cattle contains higher levels of beneficial fats that may prevent heart disease and strengthen the immune system than meat from cattle raised in CAFOs. The study also found that grass-fed meat is often leaner than CAFO meat.

Pharma/Industrial Crops

Second Installment of Green Cuisine

In the second installment of our new online Green Cuisine series, we talked with chefs David Crooker and Daran Poulin at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Their delicious, healthy, earth-friendly food has earned rave reviews on campus and nationally. We also visited Arnold Luce, the farmer and meat processor who supplies Crooker and Poulin with local beef that is raised without antibiotics. Raising animals without antibiotics avoids contributing to a rise in drug-resistant bacteria that can make illnesses in humans more difficult to treat. Check out our interactive slideshow and get a free fall recipe from the Bowdoin kitchens.

Antibiotic Resistance

A dangerous strain of bacteria resistant to the antibiotic methicillin now kills more people in the United States than AIDS, emphysema, or homicide, according to a government study. The bacteria, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), has long been known to thrive in hospitals, but has now spread into the general community, where it is spread by contact with clothing or skin. New studies from Europe and Canada suggest that some MRSA may originate in swine operations and spread via pig farmers and their families into the general community. The U.S. government does not know whether use of antibiotics in livestock in the United States is contributing to community-associated MRSA, because it is not testing U.S. livestock for the presence of the bacteria.

UCS research has estimated that 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States are regularly added to the feed of livestock and poultry that are not sick—a practice with serious consequences for our health. Bacteria that are constantly exposed to antibiotics develop antibiotic resistance. This means that when humans get sick from resistant bacteria, the antibiotics prescribed by doctors don’t work. It is time to put an end to this practice. Write to your members of Congress now and call for immediate passage of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act.