PLOWING THE FIELDS OF CHANGE

Food Safety Gone Astray: The Misguided War on Wildlife
A Teach-In for the Media, Decision Makers, and Stakeholders

Plowing the fields of change: Since the 2006 E.coli outbreak in spinach, agri-business practices conducted in the name of "food safety" have caused serious environmental harm and may actually be counterproductive to keeping our food safe. Even before the spinach incident, related systemic problems were brewing. This event brought together national and regional experts who demonstrated how over-reactions and superficial fixes are threatening the sustainability of our food systems as well as human health and wildlife - while also identifying paths to a future of safe food. Speakers presented fresh perspectives and the latest research on critical US food safety challenges.

Click on a title (or name) to see notes from that presentation.

Food Safety and the Fate of the Commons
Dan Imhoff, Director, Watershed Media

Why Marketing Food Safety Doesn’t Work: The Leafy Green History of Habitat Destruction
Jo Ann Baumgartner, Director Wild Farm Alliance

Native Habitat and Wildlife Pose Little Risk: Working From the Science We Know
Diana Stuart, Doctoral Candidate, UCSC

Defending Family Farmers: Industrial Food Safety Fallout
Dave Runsten, Director, Community Alliance with Family Farmers

CAFOs: Incubators for Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Our Food?
Robert S. Lawrence, MD; Director, Center for a Livable Future; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Perspectives From a Panel of Conservationists
• Jill Wilson, Environmental Scientist, Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board
• Terry Palmisano, Senior Wildlife Biologist, California Department of Fish and Game
• Bill Stevens, Natural Resource Management Specialist, National Marine Fisheries Service
• Danny Marquis, Resource Conservationist, Natural Resource Conservation Service

Brucellosis, Bison, and Food Safety: Animal Health Rules Run Astray and How They're Changing
Becky Weed, Farmer, 13 Mile Lamb and Wool Company

 

Major Sponsor:

Gaia Fund

Co-Sponsors:

Center for a Livable Future, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Center for Food Safety

Common Ground Garden Supply and Education Center

Ecological Farming Association

Full Belly Farm

Organic Farming Research Foundation

Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation

Sustainable Agriculture Education