WASHINGTON - November 22 -

It’s been one year since Food & Water Watch began its work to protect consumers from unsafe products and promote sustainable practices. During our maiden year, we’ve been fortunate enough to participate in many advances toward these goals. For these, we are truly grateful. We’ve also witnessed many actions and decisions that tell us much work is left to be done.

Here are the highlights and lowlights:

U.S. Department of Agriculture meat and poultry inspectors – those dedicated men and women who protect consumers from unsafe food by keeping an eye on slaughterhouses, meat processing plants and other facilities – all the while facing hostility from meat companies and a lack of support from their own agency. Their commitment is especially vital at a time when the USDA is proposing to scale back inspections.

U.S. consumers – for choosing to buy milk that is artificial hormone free and sparking a wave of change in large dairies and food companies. Surging consumer demand for rBGH-free milk has led Garelick Farms of New England, H.P. Hood of Massachusetts, Tillamook of Oregon (for cheese products) and other producers to join Ben & Jerry’s in pledging to buy milk only from cows not treated with these risky synthetic substances.

Senator Barbara Boxer – who worked to block legislation that would have legalized industrial-scale fish farming off the U.S. coastline. The National Offshore Aquaculture Act would have permitted pollution-spewing fish cages to be built up to 200 miles offshore. In addition to fouling oceans with excrement, antibiotics, PCBs and other toxins, these operations can deplete populations of wild fish, which are ground up to manufacture feed.

Boris Worm of Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University – who led a team of marine ecologists that alerted the public about the perilous condition of our oceans. Issuing an urgent wake-up call to decision-makers, the scientists announced that unless policies affecting the marine environment drastically change, all commercial fisheries will collapse by 2048. We applaud this groundbreaking research and join their call for immediate solutions to this food supply and environmental crisis.

Local Water Activists – many citizens are throughout the U.S. working to restore local, democratic control of their water systems. In dozens of communities – such as Lexington, Kentucky; Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; and the California cities of Felton and Monterey– citizens and elected officials are organizing to purchase local utilities from American Water, the nation’s largest water company. As local activist, Scott Boyd, who helped organize Montara California’s successful campaign, says “If we were the first domino, then good.”

The United Nations Development Programme – which announced this month that “pro-poor public investments” are the key to improving access to clean, affordable water in the developing world. In unusually strong language, UNDP said that “the violation of the human right to clean water and sanitation is destroying human potential on an epic scale.” The agency’s call for a greater public – and not private – role in solving the global water crisis is further evidence that for-profit corporations have no place in this effort.

The US Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture – which are unwilling to regulate the meat industry and protect consumers from the dangers of mad cow disease. The FDA has failed to close loopholes that allow poultry waste, cattle blood and other risky materials to be used in cattle feed. And the USDA has dramatically reduced mad cow testing and has even blocked meat companies from performing their own tests.

Starbucks – which has refused to join the growing trend of dairies and food companies switching to milk that is free of artificial growth hormones. By continuing to "consider" whether it should buy safer milk – which Starbucks has been pondering since 2001 – the world’s largest coffee retailer is demonstrating that while "social responsibility" rings nicely in its advertisements and cash registers, it doesn't have a ring of truth.

Chevron, ExxonMobil and Murphy Oil – which are among the many companies promoting the construction of fish farms near spent oil rigs off the coasts of Alabama, California, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Instead of disassembling the rigs and returning the areas to their natural state, they want to convert these facilities into aquaculture operations. What they don’t tell you is that fish living near these rigs have been found to contain high levels of mercury.

Trident Seafoods Corporation – which dominates the crab fisheries in the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea. When the crab fishery was privatized in 2005 and the government handed out free passes, Seattle-based Trident scooped up one-fourth of the snow crab and red king crab market. This ill-advised program has left more than 1,000 fishermen and crew without a livelihood.

Suez – which pulled off a rare double-whammy in South America. The Paris-based utility conglomerate left about 200,000 people without water in El Alto, Bolivia, where customers were expected to pay a $445 connection fee – nearly 8 times the monthly minimum wage. Meanwhile, after denying many residents access to water while dramatically increasing rates, Suez is suing the impoverished Argentine government for $2 billion in a contract dispute.

South Africa, Brazil, Botswana and Namibia – which instead of providing clean, affordable water to all of their citizens, are installing pre-paid water meters. Many low-income residents making less than US$1 per day have their water automatically shut off when they are unable to pay in advance. As if there is a lock on their water tap, people are forced to return to carrying buckets and cans from unsafe water sources.

Many thanks to our supporters, funders, and board of directors and to the committed activists who make our work possible.

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