No, this has nothing to do with terroists, although, I think trying to sneak toxic crap into organically grown food is a pretty serious offense. People buy items labeled organics because they want to eat food that is free (as much as possible) from being tampered with. They don’t believe the paternalistic approach of the FDA that “you can trust us.” I’d sooner trust a vampire guarding a blood bank, thank you.

Anyway, some good news and bad news on the new attack on organics that I posted about last week. So if you value food quality, and don’t want your food supply controlled by monolithic industries, then please contact your representative.

UPDATE: STOP THE SNEAK ATTACK ON ORGANIC STANDARDS

Last week, the Organic Consumers Association alerted you and all of our supporters about a “Sneak Attack” on organic standards in the U.S. Congress. As a result, network members deluged the U.S. congress with over 60,000 emails and 10,000 telephone calls. Thank you for your support. This nearly unprecedented grassroots upsurge has temporarily rattled Congress and the industry, delaying the initial Sneak Attack in the Senate on organic standards, resulting in a temporary compromise amendment (H.R. 2744), which calls for “further study of the issue.”

Unfortunately we are on the threshold of another, possibly even more serious, follow-up attack on organic standards in the House/Senate Conference Committee over the next week as Congress members put the final wording together for the 2006 Congressional Agriculture Appropriations Bill. The OCA is calling on consumers and the organic community to apply pressure to their House of Representatives members as well as their Senators to stop the Conference Committee from degrading the standards. If you haven’t already done so, please send a letter to congress here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd-ofpa.htm

If you’re pregnant, or thinking about it, best to exchange your Paxil for something else. While the results aren’t conclusive (and they never are in any scientific studies), there’s a good possibility that Paxil is going to mess with your baby’s normal development. And since this study was sponsored by the manufacturer, and they actually released the negative results–that’s all the more reason to pay attention.

U.S. health officials have issued a warning about possible birth defects in infants born to women who take the antidepressant Paxil during the first trimester of pregnancy.

A study sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, the drug’s maker, suggested that infants born to women taking Paxil were at about double the risk of birth defects compared with women taking other antidepressants. The most common defects were cardiovascular. The risks were about 50 percent higher than they were in the general population.

Forbes.com