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About Us |
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Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director
Andrew Kimbrell is a public interest attorney, activist and author. He has been involved in public interest legal activity in numerous areas of technology, human health and the environment. After working for eight years as the Policy Director at the Foundation for Economic Trends, Kimbrell established the International Center for Technology Assessment (CTA) in 1994 and the Center for Food Safety(CFS) in 1997. Kimbrell has written several books and given numerous public lectures on a variety of issues. He has been featured on radio and television programs across the country, including The Today Show, the CBS Morning Show, Crossfire, Headlines on Trial, and Good Morning America. He has lectured at dozens of universities throughout the country and has testified before congressional and regulatory hearings. In 1994, the Utne Reader named Kimbrell as one of the world's leading 100 visionaries.
Joseph Mendelson, III, Legal Director
Mr. Mendelson is co-founder and legal director of the Center for Food Safety (CFS), a 501(c)(3), a non-profit membership organization, that addresses the impacts of industrial agricultural and food production systems on human health, the environment and animal welfare. He also serves as legal director for the International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA), a non-profit, bi-partisan organization committed to providing the public with full assessments and impact analyses of emerging technologies.
Currently, Mr. Mendelson's legal advocacy focuses in three primary areas: food safety, sustainable agriculture, and environmental protection. He leads a team of CFS attorneys in numerous litigation and policy initiatives against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its failure to require the pre-market safety testing, full environmental review and labeling of genetically engineered foods. And he provides continuing legal support for several non-profit coalitions promoting strict national organic agricultural standards and practices including the National Organic Coalition. Through his work with ICTA, Mr. Mendelson developed and initiated the first legal case in the U.S. seeking the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. He served as co-counsel throughout the case as it was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and resulted in the landmark global warming ruling of Massachusetts v. EPA
Prior to his work with both CFS and ICTA, Mr. Mendelson directed Friends of the Earth's stratospheric ozone protection project and worked as a staff attorney for the Foundation on Economic Trends and its companion organization the Greenhouse Crisis Foundation. He holds a B.A. from Colgate University and a J.D. from the George Washington University School of Law.
Lorin Kleinman, Office Manager
Lorin ensures the efficient operation of the organization. She acts as HR Director, oversees bookkeeping, is in charge of payroll, drafts revisions to the policy manual, selects new equipment, keeps our outside IT consultant on his toes, and makes sure a copy of all data is kept off-site in case the building burns down. Before she came to CFS, she worked for seven years at the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Co-op, where she managed a team, directed HR, oversaw a staff of seventy as interim manager, and sat on the Board; and where she gained a deep appreciation for proper management, good food, and sustainable agriculture.
George Kimbrell, Staff Attorney
George Kimbrell joined CFS in 2005, following a clerkship with the Honorable Ronald M. Gould, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. At CFS Mr. Kimbrell works on legal and policy issues related to genetically engineered foods and crops, organic standards, and aquaculture. In addition, he is a staff attorney at CFS's sister organization, The International Center for Technology Assessment, where he covers legal and policy issues related to biotechnology, nanotechnology, and climate change. Mr. Kimbrell has also written law review articles on a variety of environmental issues, including nanotechnology, endangered species protection, and water law. Mr. Kimbrell received his law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School, graduating magna cum laude with a Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resource Law. While there, he was an Editor of the Environmental Law Review, a member of the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Clinic, and spent time in Alaska working for The Nature Conservancy. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, in History and Government from the College of William and Mary.
Bill Freese, Science Policy Analyst
Bill joined CFS in 2006 as science policy analyst. In his six years with the Safer Food - Safer Farms campaign at Friends of the Earth, he authored numerous reports and comments to government agencies concerning the science and regulation of genetically engineered crops. Bill played a key role in the discovery of unapproved StarLink corn in the food supply in 2000/01. His comprehensive report on genetically engineered (GE) pharmaceutical crops in 2002 helped initiate public debate on "biopharming." In 2004, he teamed up with Salk Institute cell biologist David Schubert to write a comprehensive, peer-reviewed scientific critique of the regulation and safety testing of GE foods. Bill has given numerous public presentations on agricultural biotechnology to State Department officers, international regulatory officials, farm groups and the general public. More recent work involves assessments of the failed promise of GE crops, industrial biotechnology, and cost-effective alternatives to genetic engineering. Bill holds a B.A. in chemistry from Grinnell College.
Jaydee Hanson, Policy Analyst on Cloning and Genetics
Jaydee Hanson works as a Policy Analyst for the Center for Food Safety on issues related to animal cloning and animal genetic engineering. He also works for the Center's sister agency, the International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) where he directs their work on human genetics, including work on stem cell research, cloning, and gene/embryo patenting. Prior to coming to the Center for Food Safety and ICTA in 2004, he served as The United Methodist Church's staff director of genetics and bioethics issues from 1981 to 2004. He is a fellow of the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future.
Meredith Niles, Cool Foods Campaign Coordinator
Meredith joined CFS in 2007 after spending significant time traveling abroad in Southeast Asia and Australia and living in New Zealand. During her time abroad she worked and volunteered in a variety of positions and gained valuable insight in international sustainable agriculture. Prior to joining CFS she worked as an outdoor education instructor in Maine and New Hampshire leading backcountry backpacking trips and teaching school groups. She has also worked for the State Department coordinating public affairs for international HIV/AIDS assistance. Meredith is a summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Catholic University with a B.A. in politics, honors in environmental studies and a minor in Italian. At CFS she is co-coordinating a national campaign to educate the public about how food choice can affect global warming, and promoting sustainable alternatives like organic, local and whole foods. She is passionate about the outdoors, food, cooking and traveling.
Rebecca Spector, West Coast Director
Rebecca Spector joined CFS in 2000 and has been instrumental in growing the organization and creating its West Coast Regional Office in San Francisco. As CFS's West Coast Director, she champions California policy initiatives at the state level and coordinates public outreach campaigns to promote healthy, safe and sustainable food systems. Previously, she served as director of development at Green Seal, the first U.S. product eco-labeling organization, and at Mothers & Others she spearheaded its organic cotton marketing campaign. Rebecca is associate editor of Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture and Your Right to Know: Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food. She has authored numerous articles and reports including the California Food and Agriculture Report Card on Genetic Engineering. Rebecca founded and co-owned Purisima Greens organic farm in Half Moon Bay, California, and created its community supported agriculture (CSA) and farmers' market programs that regularly served hundreds of families in the Bay Area. She received her M.S. in Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Lisa J. Bunin, Ph.D., Campaigns Coordinator
Lisa Bunin joined CFS as a Switzer Environmental Leadership Fellow, with a long history of environmental activism, having led successful international, national, and local campaigns on toxic pollution, clean production, and genetic engineering. At Greenpeace International in Europe, she launched a winning campaign that culminated in a global ban on the burning of toxic waste at sea through the United Nations. In the US, she worked with Greenpeace to bring the first certified organic cotton clothing to market. Lisa was instrumental in securing a Santa Cruz County-wide moratorium on the planting of genetically engineered crops, as a member of the Public Health Commission's Genetic Engineering Advisory Board and co-editor of its investigative report. Lisa received her Ph.D. in Environmental Sociology from UC Santa Cruz where she studied organic cotton production systems and markets, conducting field research at sites in India, Switzerland, and California. She has taught college courses on environmental policy, nature and society, and social movements. Prior to joining CFS, Lisa worked as an independent policy consultant on sustainable agriculture issues with government agencies and NGOs such as the Ecological Farming Association, Environmental Commons and Sustainable Cotton Project.
Heather Whitehead, True Food Network Director
Heather has worked with the True Food Network since its inception in 2000 and has been its director since 2003. Heather worked at Greenpeace USA for nearly 10 years, most recently as the National Markets Campaigner with the Genetic Engineering Campaign, where she led the True Food Network's successful campaign urging Trader Joe's to transition to GE-free products. In addition to directing the True Food Network, Heather is the editor and lead writer of CFS's quarterly newsletter Food Safety Now!, CFS's blog Food for Thought, and was a contributing writer to CFS's new book Your Right to Know: Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food. Heather has worked across the U.S. on several environmental, social justice and corporate campaigns, and has worked with several groups including Rainforest Action Network, the Ruckus Society, and the Genetic Engineering Action Network. She recently served as Associate Director at CorpWatch and is a current Steering Committee member of Californians for GE Free Agriculture.
Kevin Zelig Golden, CA Staff Attorney
Kevin Zelig Golden joined CFS in 2006 following a season farming and teaching at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center's sustainable agriculture project. At CFS, Kevin works on legal and policy issues related to genetically engineered crops and food safety laws. Kevin began his legal career as a fellow with the law firm Adams, Broadwell, Joseph & Cardozo, where he worked on environmental health and safety issues and litigated environmental cases on behalf of California labor unions. Prior to law school, he worked as a backcountry biologist for Kenai Fjords National Park, farmed organically in Idaho, taught middle school environmental science, and worked with Costa Rican farmers to develop local, organic alternatives to chemical pesticides. Kevin graduated magna cum laude from the University of Washington with a B.S. in ecology, focused on sustainable agriculture. He received his J.D. with a certificate in environmental law in 2004 from the University of California, Boalt Hall School of Law. At Boalt Hall, Kevin worked on the Ecology Law Quarterly as Executive and Articles editor.
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URGENT ACTIONS |
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