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ORGANIC
Org a nic Consum er s A sso ci at ion
Org a nic Consum er s A sso ci at ion
An Urgent Message from Ronnie Cummins
I’m writing you today because this is the first time in 12 years
that the Organic Consumers Association has faced such a seri-
ous financial crisis. The situation in the US and the world today
obviously requires us to step up our efforts to spread the organic
revolution, to fight Monsanto, and to reverse global warming
before it’s too late, but unfortunately we don’t have the finan-
cial means to do so. Strategic staff and campaign efforts are in
jeopardy.
We’re getting more new network members, petition signers, and
online donors everyday. Our web traffic, newsletter subscribers,
media exposure, Twitter activity, Facebook friends, and mar-
ketplace pressure are expanding, but the average donation from
our network members has fallen from $40 to $20 over the past
two years. This means we need twice as many donors as we’ve
ever had before. The unfortunate bottom line is that many of
the nation’s most conscious and committed organic consumers,
those who support the OCA, are struggling financially.
The good news is that our organic food and farming revolu-
tion is growing every day. OCA and our allies have managed to
beat back most of corporate agribusiness’s attempts to degrade
organic standards. Over 100,000 people have joined our Mil-
lions Against Monsanto Campaign. Consciousness is rising,
but meanwhile our public health, political, and climate crisis is
metastasizing into a full-blown disaster. While the oil compa-
nies, Wall Street, corporate agribusiness, and the military indus-
trial complex still call the shots in Washington, Monsanto and
Food Inc. are increasing their stranglehold over the future of
food and farming, apparently hell-bent on dragging us, along
with the planet’s life support systems, over the cliff with them.
We need to raise $50,000 or more in the next few weeks. Last
week, in response to our emergency appeal for funds, Organic
Bytes readers stood up in support of OCA’s mission as never
before, but we’re not out of the woods yet. This week, a long-
time supporter in Maryland has agreed to match or double up
to $10,000 in donations. So please stand up for the OCA. You can
make a donation online at:
organicconsumers.org/donations.cfm.
Regards and Solidarity, Ronnie Cummins, Cofounder and
National Director, Organic Consumers Association
P.S. Donating isn’t the only way you can help.
If you’ve already given as much as you can, please try using
Facebook’s Causes application to invite your friends to join and
donate to OCA’s Facebook Cause, Stop Monsanto: www.causes.
com/causes/62120
There are lots of ways to raise money on Causes:
Make a Birthday Wish: birthdays.causes.com
Add the Causes Bar: apps.facebook.com/causes/toolbar
You can build OCA’s network of activists and supporters by mak-
ing a commitment to use e-mail, blogs and social networking
sites to spread OCA’s life-affirming message that organic farm-
ing can solve the global food, health, and climate crisis!
Read on to learn more about how you can strengthen OCA’s Mil-
lions Against Monsanto campaign.
Written and edited by Alexis Baden-Mayer & Ronnie Cummins
Please post, distribute, & subscribe: organicconsumers.org/organicbytes.cfm
We are Making Positive Change · Our Work Depends on You! Please Donate: www.organicconsumers.org/donations.cfm
BY TES F o o d & C o n su m e r N e w s W e e k ly
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Millions Against Monsanto
Challenging the Biotech Bullying of the Infamous Chemical Company
Only 26% percent of US consumers are aware that most of the non-
organic processed food in the nation is contaminated with gene-spliced
DNA, bacteria, and viruses—ingredients derived from Monsanto’s genet-
ically engineered crops or from animals given genetically engineered
growth hormones, vaccines or feed.
The aim of the Organic Consumers Association’s Millions Against
Monsanto campaign is to make consumers aware that Genetically Mod-
ified Organisms (GMOs) are hazardous, untested, and unlabeled, and that
the chemical fertilizers and pesticides applied to GMO crops are damag-
ing the environment, polluting our water and food, and releasing dan-
gerous greenhouse gases. The US government has never tested genetically
engineered foods to find out whether they are safe for human consump-
tion. Consumers need to know that many scientists are now warning
that these foods are damaging the vital organs and fertility of animals,
and therefore obviously poisoning humans as well. Monsanto and the
food industry have up until now blocked all US legislation to label GMO-
tainted foods, because they know that most consumers, if given the
choice (as in the EU, where labels are required), would not consume them.
Stand up for the OCA. Stand up against Monsanto.
Millions Against Monsanto Headquarters
What you’ll find at: organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm
g A list of current Millions Against Monsanto alerts
g Hundreds of articles about Monsanto, updated daily
g Millions Against Monsanto leaflets to distribute
g The Top 10 Reasons to Label Genetically Engineered Foods
g Summaries of scientific articles
g A list of Monsanto’s government ties
g A catalogue of Monsanto’s crimes
How to Spread the Word
While you’re at Millions Against Monsanto Headquarters:
g Join the 39,000 people who like the Millions Against Monsanto
Facebook page.
g Click the Share button to tell your friends about Millions Against
Monsanto via Twitter, Email, Delicious and Digg.
g Take Action on Current Alerts & Tell a Friend
g If you haven’t already, take action on the Millions Against Monsanto
campaign’s current alerts. Then, ask your friends to do the same.
Each of our alerts has a button at the top that allows you to share them
through Facebook, Twitter and 300 other AddThis devices. There’s also
a Tell-a-Friend button at the bottom that allows you to send the alert via
e-mail.
g Look at the Millions Against Monsanto page’s current alerts.
organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm