A Bad Week to Defend Arsenic-Laced Chicken Feed in Maryland

Some state senators in Maryland are trying to defend the use of arsenic in chicken feed.

Just yesterday, Nicholas Kristof wrote in the New York Times about "a pair of new scientific studies suggesting that poultry on factory farms are routinely fed caffeine, active ingredients of Tylenol and Benadryl, banned antibiotics and even arsenic." Isn't asking poultry farms to stop using arsenic the least we can do?

Learn more from Food and Water Watch about how you can help the arsenic ban get across the finish line. And as the scientists Kristof talked to suggest, next time you're at the grocery store, maybe spend a few cents more to buy organic.

Agribusiness Attacks Obama Organic Garden

Busy day here at Miles Grant for Delegate Campaign HQ -- just taught The Green Mom to play Wii Tennis, now we're hoping the rain ends in time for this afternoon's canvass.

But I had to take a minute to pass along this article (via TPM):

Michelle Obama planted an organic garden to promote fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy diet, but some chemical companies are worried it may plant a seed of doubt in consumers’ minds about conventionally grown crops. [...]

MACA, which represents agribusinesses like Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Crop Protection, is rather less thrilled about the fact that no chemicals will be used to grow the crops. The group is worried that the decision may give consumers the wrong impression about conventionally grown food.

“We live in a very different world than that of our grandparents. Americans are juggling jobs with the needs of children and aging parents,” the letter states. “The time needed to tend a garden is not there for the majority of our citizens, certainly not a garden of sufficient productivity to supply much of a family’s year-round food needs.”

Talk about setting up a straw-man argument. Who says a garden is supposed to be your family's only source of food? Don't have time to garden? Who says you have to -- shop at a farmers market or buy organic at the grocery store.

Once victory gardens were a sign of patriotism. Now agribusiness wants you to think they're a sign of weakness. Really makes you wonder whose best interests they're looking out for.