By Jaydee Hanson, Policy Director & Julia Ranney, Research and Policy Associate

Vilsack’s past two terms as President Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture between 2008–2016 permanently damaged our food system and the environment. Below, in no particular order, is a comprehensive overview of the myriad of ways in which Vilsack’s two terms as U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)’s Secretary of Agriculture were destructive to our food system. During his tenure at USDA, Vilsack:

1. Undermined Food Safety

In 2011, the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned Vilsack, asking USDA to publicly declare the most dangerous strains of Salmonella “adulterants,”…

Celebrating Democracy!

I’m sure many of you are relieved about what the election results mean for the future of our health, the environment, and our country. Thankfully, democracy won the day — but our work continues.

As a first step, we’re already working to pressure the new administration to undo all the dangerous government actions from the past four years. From overturning the approval of toxic pesticides to restoring environmental laws that protect our air, water, pollinators, and wildlife, it’s going to be a busy few months!

Here are our top five policies approved under the Trump administration that we…

By Jaydee Hanson, Policy Director, Center for Food Safety & Julia Ranney, Research and Policy Associate, Center for Food Safety

Capitalizing on the novel COVID-19 virus and the need for face coverings, several companies are now selling masks embedded with nano-silver. They claim these products are “especially” antimicrobial due to the addition of nano-silver and therefore ensure enhanced protection from the virus. Nano-silver’s antimicrobial properties come from silver ions interacting with the DNA of pathogens to prevent reproduction and limiting key enzymes. Nano-silver has been found to kill a broad range of microbes that affect food. Its efficacy with regard…

By Jaydee Hanson, Policy Director, Center for Food Safety & Julia Ranney, Research and Policy Associate, Center for Food Safety

It goes by many names: cultured, , cell-based, cultivated, lab-grown meat, etc. As the names imply, it is a meat alternative made in a lab via animal cells and a cultured medium, like fetal bovine serum or a proprietary mix of sugars and salts. Several companies around the world are promoting this new technique as a way to cultivate a meat alternative that is supposedly “cleaner” and safer than traditional meat.

(We are only looking at those products that culture…

By George Kimbrell, Sylvia Wu, and Amy van Saun, Center for Food Safety attorneys

This month we are celebrating a landmark legal victory for our oceans and fishing communities! The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with Center for Food Safety (CFS) and allies, deeming illegal the Department of Commerce’s decision that would have permitted, for the very first time, large-scale, polluting aquaculture offshore in U.S. federal waters and deep-sixing the program. …

By Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director, Center for Food Safety

For more than 20 years, corporations behind the creation and promotion of genetically engineered foods have tried to keep secret that their products would fail, and fail badly, in an informed marketplace. Their problem is that over 90% of GMOs are designed to withstand massive amounts of pesticides. GMOs do not provide any advantages to the public — no better taste, or lower costs, or more nutrition. …

by Lauryn Rego, Hawai’i Program Director

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, my view of food security in Hawai’i focused on our reliance on the 6 million pounds of food that are imported to the islands daily and what would happen if the barges stopped.

Although the barges haven’t stopped, for many, food insecurity in the islands has been the highest ever experienced. The Hawai’i Center for Food Safety has had the opportunity and privilege to check-in with many stakeholders across the food system during these challenging times. …

by Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director, Center for Food Safety

We just made history! Center for Food Safety (CFS) just had one of the most important legal victories ever against pesticides and GMO crops.

After years of litigation, a Federal Court just banned Monsanto’s toxic pesticide dicamba. This also effectively halts the use of GMO crops designed to tolerate that pesticide. This massive win protects farmers, our health, and hundreds of endangered species.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that EPA’s approval of the pesticide be immediately revoked and its use stopped. …