May, 22 2014, 09:47am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Organic Consumers Association
Katherine Paul
207.653.3090
Via Organica, Mexico City
Mercedes Lopez
Mercedes@viaorganica.org
OCA's Mexico-Based Via Organica Project Approved for Membership in Consumers International
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) today announced that its Mexico-based sister organization, Via Organica, has been approved for membership in Consumers International, the largest network of consumer organizations in the world.
WASHINGTON
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) today announced that its Mexico-based sister organization, Via Organica, has been approved for membership in Consumers International, the largest network of consumer organizations in the world.
"Membership in Consumers International positions our Mexico-based network, Via Organica, for greater participation in global consumer campaigns," said Ronnie Cummins, international director of the Organic Consumers Association. "Via Organica is expanding its grassroots public education and mobilization activities in Mexico. By joining this international group of more than 250 consumer advocacy organizations, we will collectively be able to promote organic food and farming and exert greater marketplace pressure, on a global scale, in order to hold corporations accountable for their products and activities."
Via Organica, based in San Miguel de Allende [and Mexico City] was established in 2009 as a sister organization of the OCA to educate and mobilize Mexico's growing organic farm and consumer movement. Originally funded by the OCA, Via Organica's organic market, restaurant, farm school and campaign staff are now largely self-sustaining.
Current campaigns of Via Organica and its Mexico allies include successful litigation to stop the commercial planting of Monsanto's genetically engineered corn, education around the hazards of GMOs and seeds, and the launch of an international boycott against Coke, Monsanto, Bimbo and other food brands who are members of the U.S.-based, pro-GMO Grocery Manufacturers Association.
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots 501(c)3 nonprofit public interest organization, and the only organization in the U.S. focused exclusively on promoting the views and interests of the nation's estimated 50 million consumers of organically and socially responsibly produced food and other products. OCA educates and advocates on behalf of organic consumers, engages consumers in marketplace pressure campaigns, and works to advance sound food and farming policy through grassroots lobbying. We address crucial issues around food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children's health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability, including pesticide use, and other food- and agriculture-related topics.
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