OntheWilderSide

VOTING ORGANIC IN NOVEMBER
The long-awaited Nov. 7 elections are quickly approaching. Can we elect a new crop of politicians to deal with our nation’s current crisis and move us in a positive direction? How well do you know the candidates running for office from your area? OCA’s allied lobbying organization, the Organic Consumers Fund (OCF), has put together a detailed nonpartisan Organic Consumers Political Candidate Survey to identify candidates who support organic agriculture, and are willing to get behind legislation that promotes health, justice, peace, and sustainability. Learn more about your local and Congressional candidates and spread the word about the Organic Consumers Political Candidate Survey by visiting the OCF website: http://organicconsumersfund.org

Governor

Party	Candidate	Campaign Phone	Campaign Address	survey status	Score
Democrat	Eliot Spitzer	212.529.2006	220 Madison Avenue 19th Floor New York 10017	send survey	—
Republican	John Faso	518-465-2006	P.O. Box 10278 Albany 12201	send survey	—
Green Party	Malachy McCourt	631-587-2911	None Listed New York 11703	survey response	100%

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QUICK FACTS OF THE WEEK:
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT E.COLI AND ORGANICS

• Despite a number of inaccurate media reports, the recent spinach E.Coli outbreak has not been linked to any organic products. As expected,the outbreak has now been directly linked to a factory farm feedlot located adjacent to conventional spinach fields in California.
• This was the 25th E.coli outbreak in the California Salinas Valley in 11 years, demonstrating, once again, that industrial farms and feedlots and their toxic runoff are inherently dangerous.
• Studies show that factory-farmed cattle have 300 times more pathogenic bacteria in their digestive tracts than cattle that are allowed to openly graze in pastures.
• If you are concerned about E.coli, organic food is the way to go. The USDA national organic standards require organic farmers to carefully compost their fertilizer–made up of animal manure and plant matter–up to 160 degrees, so as to kill any harmful bacteria.
• Organic farmers can only apply this composted manure four months prior to planting.
• Conventional farms have no regulations specifying when they can and can’t apply manure and are not required to destroy the harmful bacteria in the manure prior to spreading. In addition, it is perfectly legal to spread highly toxic sewage sludge on conventional farms, while this practice in banned on organic farms.
  
  Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_3140.cfm

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TIP OF THE WEEK:
SAVE MONEY ON ORGANIC FOOD – JOIN OR START A BUYING CLUB
Organic consumers across North America are saving money by organizing local buying clubs. Buying clubs are groups of people who get together and purchase a wide variety of organic foods, grains, and herbs in bulk from a wholesale distributor. According to Kathy MacDonald, a member of a buying club in Cheyenne, Wyoming, she is able to buy organic foods she normally wouldn’t have access to in her area, while saving an average of 20% on what those same items would cost in stores. Members of buying clubs also say it’s a great way to build community. For more information, and to find a buying club near you, go to: http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/buyingclub.cfm

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