How to raise Backyard Chickens: Re: [CHICKENS-101] Fw: What were they thinking?

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Re: [CHICKENS-101] Fw: What were they thinking?

Thanks for posting this, Cathryn. I signed the petition. We've been really looking in to all this stuff lately, and I can see where this situation leads right in to this lecture here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yZhh2leRJA&feature=player_embedded This all has me very concerned. Here in California, we're in a very serious drought. We have 5 trees on our property that are over 20 years old, so I'm pretty sure they've been through droughts before. But this time they are sick and dying. All our grass is dried up, and we have actually been buying pieces of SOD for the chickens to pick at. We have some extremely fertile chickens and every year, they hatch out more chicks then we can deal with. They also lay enough eggs to keep us and our neighbors in plenty of eggs. But not this year. So far, only 3 hens have hatched out only 2 chicks each, off of a clutch of 8 to 10 eggs each. The rest of the hens, for the most part, have stopped laying for the past 5 months.

The weather here has been crazy. Warm and a silver white sky. Sometimes it looks like it's going to cloud up and rain, but all that happens is a VERY light, warm fog-like mist. Then it's back to warm. That might sound delightful to those who are buried in snow for months at a time. But it is a "guilty" pleasure. Yes, it's wonderful to be warm all the time. But everything is drying up and water is too expensive and in short supply to water anything that isn't a living creature.

Worrisome times we live in.....

Deb

----- Original Message -----

From: CathrynTherese

To: undisclosed recipients:

Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2014 3:09 PM

Subject: [CHICKENS-101] Fw: What were they thinking?

On Thursday, February 13, 2014 4:19 PM, Center for Food Safety <office@centerforfoodsafety.org> wrote:

These "Mad Men" aren't real, but their products are

What on Earth were they thinking?
We wondered what the conversation must have been like when Dow Chemical decided how to sell genetically engineered "Agent Orange" crops.

It may have gone something like this…

Have you heard of super weeds? Big industrial farms have been using so much of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide on Roundup Ready genetically engineered crops, the weeds have evolved resistance, and these industrial farms are turning to older, more toxic chemicals like Dow Chemical's 2,4-D to kill them.

While "superweeds" are a real problem for America's farmers, they apparently aren't a problem for Dow Chemical. In fact, Dow welcomed it as "a very significant opportunity" for chemical companies like Dow Chemical.

A significant opportunity? Dow Chemical wants to put even more toxic, 2,4-D on our food crops and we're just supposed to eat it? What on Earth were they thinking? We started to wonder what that conversation must have been like for Dow Chemical to determine how to market a toxic product, and we think it may have gone something like this…

The "Mad Men" in this video aren't real, but their products are. Dow Chemical's next generation, genetically engineered corn and soybeans will increase the amount of 2,4-D sprayed on fields by an estimated 100 million pounds every year.

What is 2,4-D? It is half of the highly toxic chemical mixture called Agent Orange that the military used as a defoliant during the Vietnam War. 2,4-D has been linked to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, lowered sperm counts, liver disease, and Parkinson's disease. Studies have also demonstrated the chemical's adverse effects on hormonal, reproductive, neurological, and immune systems. To make matters worse, 2,4-D is the 7th largest source of dioxins in the U.S.

And now Dow Chemical is asking the USDA for permission to sell these "Agent Orange" Crops.

It's a mystery why anyone would think 2,4-D, or "Agent Orange" crops would be a good idea, but we put our heads together and tried to figure it out. Maybe it went something like this.

After you watch the video, tell the USDA No "Agent Orange" crops!

Center for Food Safety
660 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, #302
Washington DC 20003
phone (202) 547-9359 | fax (202) 547-9429
Contact Us: office@centerforfoodsafety.org

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