John H. Boyles, M.D. James J. Howard, M.D. William E. Rogers, M.D.
From Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director
Dear Mr. Boyles,
What a year this has been -- sometimes nerve wracking and sometimes exhilarating. Thank you so very much for standing with us at Food & Water Watch as we took on the giant corporations and lax government agencies that have compromised the safety of your food and water.
Your part in our work has never been more urgent. With the pinch we all are feeling at the grocery store, we consumers have to make tough choices. Since every decision deserves to be an informed one, dangerous milk, tainted chicken, fish laden with mercury, and other harmful food should not be among the options.
That's why your support of Food & Water Watch makes such a difference to you, your neighbors, and all Americans. Your generosity has helped us achieve many important results this year -- including exposing contaminated bottled water, finally seeing the implementation of some country-of-origin labeling, and carrying out a state-by-state campaign to curtail outrageous industry efforts to prevent dairies from labeling milk "artificial-hormone free."
We've accomplished a lot, but we have a long road ahead -- and with the Obama Administration and a new Congress starting this January, we have an unprecedented opportunity to push forward our true "kitchen table" issues so we can bring real change into homes nationwide.
I am so certain of the importance of 2009 to the future of your food and water, that I
am encouraging dedicated supporters like you to help Food & Water Watch now with a
year-end gift of $30, $45, or more, so we can fully prepare for the months ahead.
Mr. Boyles, any amount you send will be appreciated and used to make headway on critical
goals for 2009. We have a challenging and exciting year ahead, and your support will make
a difference in each of our priority areas.
When the new Congress begin in 2009, one of the first agenda items must include reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act, the program that provides free and reduced-price meals in schools, child-care centers, and after-school programs. This is a vital program to stop hunger, but depending on Congress' ability to withstand pressure from the agri-business lobbyists, kids could end up with food that you and I would be unwilling to serve at our own table.
The heart of our fight this year will be over milk produced with Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), a genetically engineered hormone injected into cows to make them produce more milk -- and thus increase profits. Besides the documented increase of infectiosn in cows injected with rBGH, which necessitates greater use of antibiotics, there are ongoing questions about links to cancer in humans. As a result, most of the industrialized countries in the world have banned this hormone, including Canada, Japan, Austrailia, New Zealand, and all 25 countries in the European Union.
And many dairies and retailers in the United States are following suit. Due to growing consumer demand for healthier milk -- spearheaded by Food & Water Watch with the help of your support -- retailers across the country are moving to artificial-growth-hormone-free milk. I'm sure you remember our campaign to convince Starbucks to make the switch to milk that is free of artificial-growth hormones. It was a resounding success and started the ball rolling for other major dairy purchasers to follow suit, including Chipotle, Kroger, and Wal-Mart.
In fact, so many retailers have committed to rBGH-free products that our kids' schools are among the last profitable markets for milk produced with artificial-growth hormones. And since profits rule the day for industrial food interests, we can expect those who manufacture and use rBGH will fight tooth and nail to keep their questionable products in school cafeterias despite the potential risk to America's children.
So please send your year-end support right away. The 2009 Child Nutrition Act will be rBGH's last stand and we need to be ready for a fight. Together, we can ensure that our children's health wins over corporate greed.
You deserve to know that our food and water are free of unhealthy chemicals, bacteria, and added hormones. You have the right to know where your food comes from with accurate labeling. And you should be able to count on your government to oversee and protect the quality and safety of your food and water.
But right now, the government only inspects about one percent of imported fish, produce, and processed foods. Meat bearing a USDA stamp could have been produced abroad, in foreign factories not visited by USDA. Bottled water is regulated by the industry itself. And consumers have no way of finding out where recalled products were sold or distributed.
Your plate could be filled with pesticides, hormones, and bacteria-laden food without you even knowing it.
With your year-end support, Food & Water Watch will put critical resources toward fighting for more thorough food inspection by the FDA. Every year FDA does fewer inspections and hires fewer inspectors. Is it any wonder that 2008 was marred with recalls of lettuce, ground beef, candy, canned vegetables, and a deadly nationwide outbreak of salmonella that the FDA has yet to pinpoint the source of?
The FDA needs to do better. That's why Food & Water Watch is preparing to sue the FDA over some of these critical issues. Someone needs to speak out for your healthy and safety -- and with your help, Food & Water Watch can be there for you.
Consumers also need better labeling of their food. You deserve to know if the tomatoes, peppers, and other fruits and vegetables you buy have been imported from Mexico or Chile . . . if your meat has come from Brazil or Argentina . . . or if the garlic apple juice, or even poultry on your grocer's shelves were shipped from China.
Thankfully, with the help of your support and activism, country-of-origin labeling finally became required this September for red meat, chicken, goat, fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, peanuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, and ginseng.
This is an enormous victory, and you shoold feel good about your involvement in the fight. However, the USDA's new labeling standards include broad exemptions for "processed" foods -- including minimally processed foods such as roasted nuts, mixed vegetables, and smoked bacon. Even with the new standards, these foods will be able to skirt the labeling requirement.
With your year-end support, Food & Water Watch will work to close this enormous loophole -- so you can make the informed choices you deserve.
The failures of the FDA and USDA when it comes to protecting you from unhealthy food and water go back to decades and there is no quick fix. But Food & Water Watch is committed to being your watchdog and your advocate for change.
Every year, one out of four Americans experiences a foodborne illness, with seafood responsible for 18 to 20 percent of all incidents. Americans are consuming more seafood than ever, and 81 percent of it is imported. Almost half of the seafood produced around the world today comes from industrial fish farms, where poor conditions encourage disease and parasites to spread. To combat these problems, industrial fish farmers may use antibiotics and chemicals that can leave residues in seafood.
Food & Water Watch has done independent fish testing to help expose the scope of the potential health hazards of eating today's fish, but much more work needs to be done to keep consumers informed and to push government action. Your year-end gift will help support the critical independent research you can trust Food & Water Watch to conduct on your behalf.
Your support will also help arm consumers with information so they can purchase fish that is good for their health and their conscious. For instance, Food & Water Watch's partner chef, Joseph "Rocky" Barnette, will be embarking on a seafood-savvy tour to pr9omot the use of our seafood recommendations to restaurants around the world.
You can help too! I've enclosed Food & Water Watch's latest "Smart Seafood Guide," your trusted resource for purchasing fish. This simple card lets you know the questions you should ask so you can choose the seafood that is best for your health, the environment, and the communities that bring fish to your table. Carry your card with you and even consider leaving this information at restaurants, grocers, and seafood markets.
In 2009, you should expect to see a lot happening on the issue of the water you drink. This past October, Food & Water Watch exposed the alarming results of its bottled water tesing -- revealing that some of the bottled water sold in major grocery stores is actually dangerous to drink.
With your help, Food & Water Watch will keep the problems of bottled water in the media spotlight until meaningful action is taken -- inclouding properly labeling bottled water to tell consumers where the water comes from and adding government oversight so the botttled-water industry will no longer be self-regulated (talk about the fox guarding the henhouse!).
Of course, we will also be encouraging consumers to kick the bottled-water habit entirely, and speaking out to improve aging water systems so we can ensure that future generations have access to safe, affordable, public water.
If we don't inveset in our nation's water infrastructure now, water pipes and treatment systems will continue to deteriorate, more sewage will spill into our streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, and water quality will suffer.
That is why the pimary goal of all our work on water issues involves pressuring our leaders to create a Clean Water Trust Fund, a dedicated funding source to sustain clean and safe public water. The Trust Fund is long overdue, and msut be created now to ensure water safety in the future.
As you can see, we have our work cut out for us in 2009. But with the Obama Administration, a new Congress, and consumers deeply concerned about making safe, affordable food choices, this is our chance to advance these critical issues. None of them can take a backseat -- not when your health is on the line.
Mr. Boyles, as we prepare for our most pivotal year to date, I am asking you to remain steadfast as well. Making your food, fish, and water safer in 2009 depends on the support we receive from you today -- so please be as generous as you can afford.
As alwatys, I will keep you informed of our progress throughout 2009 so you can now see how your support is making a difference. You'll be amazed at what we can do.
Sincerely,
Wenonah Hauter
Executive Director