Taking Action

Yesterday we announced that we are pressing our food suppliers to prohibit foods that come from genetic engineering or animal clones. The decision was made in recognition of the serious health and environmental concerns these technologies raise and the threat they pose to healthier and more sustainable food production options. Among the concerns we're raising about genetically engineered and cloned foods are genetic contamination, increased pesticide use, animal cruelty, and the deep ethical and moral issues associated with these untested new technologies. 

We recently asked eight of our largest food suppliers for their policies on genetically engineered sugar beets, which are being planted for commercial use for the first time this year. Only Diamond Crystal indicated their intent to avoid buying genetically engineered sugar and that they will seek out suppliers that do not use genetically engineered foods through a validation process. We're now in the process of surveying our meat and dairy suppliers on their potential use of animal cloning since the U.S. FDA recently decided to allow marketing of food from animal clones.

If these same food companies can provide foods that are natural and non-genetically engineered for their European customers (where such products are banned), we believe they should provide us with the same level of service.

Genetic engineering and animal cloning are controversial in food production, since the technologies have not been subject to long-term safety testing and could create irreversible environmental damage. Genetically engineered crops can contaminate natural foods and have promoted the use of herbicides that may be harmful to human health and natural systems. Scientists say that animal clones are often abnormal and suffer from a host of often painful defects. A New England Journal of Medicine article stated that, “[It] may be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to generate healthy cloned animals.”

In addition to acting locally, we are thinking globally and have begun advocating for public policies that meet the following safeguards:

• Before marketing, genetically engineered food or food from animal cloning must be fully evaluated through independent, peer-review for any effects on animal welfare, human health, and the environment.
• Foods with genetically engineered ingredients and foods from animal cloning (including foods from the offspring of clones) must be labeled as such.
• Genetically engineered seeds and plants are rigidly separated from other seeds and plants so that natural foods (those produced by non-genetically modified techniques) are protected from contamination; cloned animals and their offspring must be rigorously tracked throughout the food chain.
• Genetic engineering patent holders are held legally liable for contamination of non-genetically engineered crops and growers are protected when their crops are contaminated by genetically engineered crops.

The Plastic in Our Bottles

A new FDA report finds that bisphenol, the chemical used to harden plastics, is safe. Even the European Union Commission agrees.

At least 10 states, including California, are currently considering bills to restrict the use of this chemical, especially in products for babies. The chemical is similar to estrogen and does leech from the containers into food and beverages. But it seems there's some official consensus that it's safe, which means that the amount of this chemical we are ingesting is less than what would be needed to do harm.

Find out more about the chemical, and other facts about plastic here. Most manufacturers offer products free of bisphenol, including Toys R Us and most baby bottle manufacturers. Check the packaging on the products if you're unsure.

We support the level of public debate and research debate that's going on about this chemical. We believe that far too little is known about the amount and levels of chemicals in the products we all use everyday. In fact, we were staunch advocates for the Safe Cosmetics bill in California, which strengthens consumer protections regarding chemicals in cosmetics. We're also advocating for the restrictions on the chemicals in baby products. And because there are such large gaps in understanding the effects of environmental contaminants on human health, we supported the passage of the Biomonitoring bill, which has established a formal mechanism for measuring toxic chemicals in people.

The Pope and The Environment

The Times of India reports on the Pope Benedict's message of environmental stewardship:

Pope Benedict XVI has told a meeting of priests that protection of the environment had been undervalued by the Catholic Church in the past, but said materialism was the biggest threat to the planet.

There have been times when man has ignored "God's teaching on creation," Pope Benedict said in response to a question on the environment yesterday.

But he rejected criticism that Christianity had encouraged the squandering of resources under the pretext of following the commandment to rule over the Earth. The wastefulness was due to a "materialistic world" where "God is denied," Pope Benedict said. "God entrusted man with the responsibility of creation" and "creation and redemption are closely bound together," he said.

Pope Benedict's comments came at a closed meeting of 400 priests from the north of Italy where he is spending his holiday. Reporters were briefed by the Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi. Lombardi said Pope Benedict cited St Francis of Assisi as an example in urging Catholics to adopt "a way of life that is respectful of the environment."

We agree that we must work together to adopt a way of life that is respectful of our environment. We do not own this planet; we are members of the community of life and must bring ourselves back into balance with the rest of creation. Learn more about what we're doing here.

The Earth: Rocks

 

OneGeology, a new, multi-national organization, is bringing together the research data from more than 100 countries to provide state-of-the-art maps of Earth. This image is our planet stripped down to rocks.

(via: Andrew Sullivan)

You Are What You Eat

According to the PB&J Campaign, you can reduce your carbon footprint by eating more plant-based foods. Certainly vegetarianism isn't for everybody, but, like reducing your water and gas usage, every bit helps. And your body may thank you for it, too.

For more healthy eating tips, visit our online Health and Wellness Center.

Greenhouse, Explained

Looking for answers on how greenhouse gases are effecting our environment? Look no further than the BBC.

Earth, From Space

Environmental Graffiti offers you NASA images of the Earth as wallpaper. This image is of Guinea-Bissau. Stunning.

Health Care Without Harm

As the Green Movement continues there are a plethora of articles, blogs, newcasts, webcasts, podcasts, and the like that discuss ways for the healthcare industry to partake in this effort.  One group, Health Care Without Harm, provides more than just suggestions - it provides resources.

The group, whose goals are outlined below, collects information from a variety of sources and posts it in one central area.  These resources include a Sustainable Design Guide from the University of Minnesota, a Green Healthcare Construction Guidance Statement developed by the American Society for Healthcare Engineering, and a listing of Green Building Priorities for Healthcare as developed internally to this group, as well as additional information.

The group is charged with seven key goals:

1. Create markets and policies for safer products, materials and chemicals in health care. Promote safer substitutes, including products that avoid mercury, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic and brominated flame retardants.

2. Eliminate incineration of medical waste, minimize the amount and toxicity of all waste generated and promote safer waste treatment practices.

3. Transform the design, construction and operations of health care facilities to minimize environmental impacts and foster healthy, healing environments. 

4. Encourage food purchasing systems that support sustainable food production and distribution, and provide healthy food on-site at health care facilities.

5. Secure a safe and healthy workplace for all health care workers.

6. Ensure patients, workers and communities have full access to information about chemicals used in health care and can participate in decisions about exposures to chemicals.

7. Promote human rights and environmental justice for communities impacted by the health care sector, while assuring that problems are not displaced from one community or country to another.

As more and more information is available on the topic of 'Green Healthcare' it will be interesting to see the extent to which resources and support tools are provided, and the manner in which they are collected and communicated in an effective manner.  In the meantime, Health Care Without Harm provides a starting point and a good reference on this topic.

Green Medicine

As the Green Movement continues to gain popularity (it seems to be everywhere you go these days) the healthcare industry faces the challenge of incorporating some of this movement’s basic principles into the delivery of care.  In the Madison Magazine Sarah Nance discusses how the community of Madison, Wisconsin continues to promote the idea of ‘Green Medicine’.

"Essentially [the green medicine movement] says, 'Here are the basic ways we can stop messing up as a community,'" [Michael] Hernke [a research fellow at the Wisconsin School of Business] says. "It provides for preventative thinking, a precautionary approach for living one's life, to doing business, to healthcare."

"We're trying to bring awareness of how global health relates to human health," [David Rakel, Director of Integrative Medicine at UW Health] says, such as how global warming might lead to the spread of infectious disease, or how we can reduce our toxic impact on the environment.”

"How do we align our health with the health of the larger systems we depend upon?" Hernke asks. "Why do people have the chronic diseases they do?"

"I keep thinking … about health in a very broad way," says Hernke, "and how we take care of ourselves in a way that takes care of … the environment."

Using initial avenues of communications such as the “Green Medicine: Healthy People, Healthy Planet” conference and key speakers (such as renowned Swedish physician Karl-Henrik Robèrt), one of the major focuses is raising awareness of the amount of chemicals that are developed, used and discarded in the environment.

Building on the successes of this effort (major corporations continue to jump on board) it will be interesting to see what additional areas become the focus for Green Medicine.  Although there is consensus around the positive benefits of limiting chemical waste in the environment,  to what extent will this movement work its way into more controversial items such as limiting the types of medicines or services available to patients, or providing alternative methods of care in a more green friendly environment.

Changing Minds Will Change the World

In keeping with the dialogue of a previous post, we found this:

"Like me, you'd like to see a renaissance occur in which 'we will stop destroying the planet.' But this renaissance is not going to occur among people who imagine that humans belong to a species that is separate from the rest of the living community (and who therefore think, for example, that the mass extinctions we are bringing about are sad but not really life-threatening). Until they know--with the same certainty that they know the earth is round--that humans are intimately bound up with (and completely dependent on) the rest of the living community, why would they stop destroying the planet? You can't force them to stop; you can't make them stop by passing laws or by shooting them. Once their minds are changed they WILL stop, just as back in the fifteenth century mariners stopped worrying about sailing off the edge of the earth."

--Daniel Quinn, author of Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit