RawForBeauty.com
“Never-Before-Seen-Evidence points to genetically engineered foods as a major contributor to rising disease rates in the US population, especially among children. Gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, inflammatory diseases, and infertility are just some of the problems implicated in humans, pets, livestock, and lab animals that eat genetically modified soybeans and corn.”
”QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? is a profound, alternative look at the global bee crisis from Taggart Siegel, director of THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN. Taking us on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive, this engaging and ultimately uplifting film weaves an unusual and dramatic story of the heartfelt struggles of beekeepers, scientists and philosophers from around the world including Michael Pollan, Gunther Hauk and Vandana Shiva. Together they reveal both the problems and the solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature.”
~~~
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Official Film Website: Queen Of The Sun
“Our experience filming honeybees, pollinators and the incredible beings who care for them has led us on a new odyssey to investigate where it all begins: the seed. SEED will be the final film in a trilogy that began with the Queen of the Sun: What are the Bees Telling Us? and Real Dirt on Farmer John. SEED will investigate the dramatic story of seeds, the basis of life on earth. The film will unveil a David and Goliath battle for the future of our seeds. As many irreplaceable seeds are nearing extinction, SEED follows heroic biodynamic farmers, scientists and seed collectors, who are working tirelessly to preserve agricultural security and seed diversity in an uphill battle against high-tech industrial seed companies and an impending global food crisis.”
“SEED will reveal the awe, wonder and hidden beauty of seeds. We will unearth the resilience and power that all seeds have to sustain, enliven and enrich our humanity. We hope SEED will ignite the imagination of audiences, inspiring them to be part of a new movement to help sustain seed diversity.”
I am not able to find a trailer for SEED that I can embed here so if you’d like to check it out, you can do so Here.
Excerpt, Wanderlust Festival – (Emphasis mine) “What do you mean, “what can I do?” You can participate. You can connect. You can get actively involved in the process of turning that beet into Harvard beets. Yum. You can turn off the TV. You can cancel the Disney vacation and buy bushels of tomatoes to can or turn into salsa. You can get some pots and grow a pot garden . . . of vegetables. You can put a beehive on the roof of your house, two chickens in the foyer instead of that aquarium or parakeet cage.
Just like today–whatever today looks like–is the manifestation of billions of individual decisions accumulated over time, tomorrow will be too. And if you, I, we don’t start making different decisions we will end up where we’re headed, only it may be worse because we’ll be farther down the wrong road.
We must stop this incessant victimhood mentality. Somebody else will not fix things. Somebody else will not make me healthy; somebody else will not make me happy. These things are my responsibility. Not the neighbor’s, not the government’s, not the church or civic club. If I don’t know what to do with a beet, I need to find out. Knowing what to do with a beet begins a long chain of events that ends up creating a soil in which earthworms happily procreate. And that is a good thing…” Full Article Here On Wanderlust Festival
Joel Speaking at Wanderlust Festival 2012 -
Final Project: Joel Salatin, A Local Hero (grantklover.wordpress.com)
Joel Salatin On “Illegal Everything” (familysurvivalprotocol.com)
Joel Salatin Workshops In Kiama! (green-change.com)
Monsanto has successfully made themselves invincible in each different branch of government.
*As always, foul language warning with Lee Camp’s Moment of Clarity*
After you’ve watched the video, learn more about Monsanto at these links:
http://bit.ly/YOlEHr
http://huff.to/LJGQ0
http://huff.to/ThGOfB
http://bit.ly/ZJLZWO
If you haven’t already watched it, here’s ”The World According To Monsanto” – it is WELL worth the watch time for anyone wanting to know more about Monsanto and their dangerous influence on our world…
Related Content:
GMO Food – Biggest Lie & Scary – What Monsanto Doesn’t Want People to See (secretsofthefed.com)
Monsanto More Powerful Than The U.S. Government (dprogram.net)
US government signs “Monsanto Protection Act” written by Monsanto-sponsored senator (seeker401.wordpress.com)
Surprised? Monsanto Openly Wrote Own Monsanto Protection Act (princevega.com)
New Legislation Would Push Genetically Modified Foods Onto Our Plates (aworldchaos.wordpress.com)
Yegads…is there ANYTHING left in our world that is safe to consume, I wonder? Most of our veggies are now genetically altered and filled with pesticides….milk is full of steroids and soon, aspertame…and almost all of our meat is either contaminated in one form or another…or on its way to being as genetically modified as our crops. What in the HELL are we doing to ourselves…to our children…to the entire planet???
Activist Post - “The horse meat fiasco in Europe has prodded scientists to look a bit deeper into what else we might be consuming. A team of South African scientists have just found traces of human tissue in meat meant for public consumption from 9 provinces.
The issue was revealed to parliament, almost as a side note, during meat inspection briefings on Tuesday.
A University of Stellenbosch scientist and his team conducted a microbial analysis that revealed traces of human elements, but said that slaughterhouse workers sometimes cut themselves . . . or other things . . . which could lead to the findings.
If I walked into a factory and the sample I randomly selected to test was a meat sample of which the person de-boning the meat had just picked his nose and then touched the meat, I would get a totally different microbial reading,” he said.
Delicious. Beyond the findings themselves, it brings up the global hot-button topic of the moment: food labeling. How much should we know about what we are consuming?
In addition to the troubling statements above, scientist Louw Hoffman noted that only 15% of the meat being sold in South Africa is correctly labeled, revealing other potentially harmful attributes of which consumers are currently unaware:
“In the labelling regulations it clearly states that allergens have to be mentioned and noted,” said Hoffman.
Allergens like . . . other people’s genetic signature?
Yet, Hoffman and his team of scientists concluded that the incorrect labeling poses “no threat” to the consumers who eat it, despite some more gems uncovered:
Meat Musical Chairs
Briefing parliament’s portfolio committee on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, University of Western Cape forensic scientist Dr Eugenia D’Amato said nearly 43% of samples she had tested which were labelled as game, were, in fact, beef.
D’Amato said horse meat had also been used as a substitute for springbok in biltong, and pork was found in ostrich sausages.
There was also a smaller proportion of kangaroo in samples.
Despite the overall findings that consumers have absolutely no idea what they are eating – including human remnants – in 85% of the products, SA’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries deputy director-general downplayed it by asserting that we are not becoming unwitting cannibals:
It is possible that (if tested) we could find traces of human DNA in meat. However, even if we do find human DNA, it does not mean we are eating human flesh.
Great. Unfortunately, we are evidently eliminating healthy microorganisms in the processing of foods, but since there is an acceptable standard of nasty foreign entities, thanks to our regulatory agencies – we have introduced a variety of contaminants into now weakened guts and immune systems.
We’d like to think that these food scandals are safe from us – overseas, it’s their problem. But, big problems are usually systemic and many of the developed nations are on the same platform. As with most food scandals, they go on for years unnoticed before the beans are spilled.
It doesn’t sound like anyone’s literally being run through the meat grinder just yet, but it’s a startling fact that we don’t know much about what our food comes into contact with. And we have scientists and regulatory agencies continually asserting how safe our food supply is.
Are you unsettled at the prospect of ingesting someone else’s particles and blood? Do you wonder what else will be found when the next scientific investigation is conducted in your country?
Perhaps we should be asking ourselves before each meal, “Hey, who’s in there? How’d they get in there? Anyone missing?”
Sources:
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2013/03/27/human-tissue-in-my-beef-stew
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/387383/Could-HUMAN-DNA-be-in-our-food-Quite-likely-claim-experts
http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/525/91240.html
With our schools all on spring break here, I’ve had a revolving door of bored children passing through the house all week so I am a bit behind in posts that I’d planned to get done. Maybe it has all worked out for the best as articles have piled up, I now have three slightly conflicting and very interesting news stories about pesticides and the potential harm they cause (or don’t?) our bee colonies…
Bees exposed to widely-used pesticides were slow to make or forgot completely the link between floral scents and food. Photograph: C.N.Connolly/PA
The Guardian – “Widely used pesticides have been found in new research to block a part of the brain that bees use for learning, rendering some of them unable to perform the essential task of associating scents with food. Bees exposed to two kinds of pesticide were slower to learn or completely forgot links between floral scents and nectar.
The findings add to existing research that neonicotinoid pesticides are contributing to the decline in bee populations.
It has also been revealed that a separate government field study on the impact of the pesticides on bees was seriously compromised by contamination because the chemicals are so widespread in the environment.
The government put the field study at the heart of the UK’s resistance to a Europe-wide ban on the controversial pesticides earlier this month. The UK was one of nine out of 27 member states that opposed suspending some uses of the insecticides across the EU, after environment secretary Owen Paterson said, “I have asked the EC to wait for the results of our field trials, rather than rushing to a decision”. On Wednesday, his department said more field research was needed.
The new findings on the effect of pesticides on bee brains showed that within 20 minutes of exposure to neonicotinoids the neurons in the major learning centre of the brain stopped firing. Christopher Connolly at the University of Dundee, who led the peer-reviewed work published in the online journal Nature Communications, said it was the first to show the pesticides had a direct impact on pollinator brain physiology.
A parallel peer-reviewed study on the behaviour of bees subjected to the same insecticides found the bees were slower to learn or completely forgot important associations between floral scent and food rewards. “Disruption in this important function has profound implications for honeybee colony survival, because bees that cannot learn will not be able to find food,” said Dr Geraldine Wright, at Newcastle University, who led the work.
The scientists who carried out the separate field study for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs admitted it was “not a statistically robust study” because of the contamination issues. The trial results (pdf), which have not been peer-reviewed, showed that 20 hives of bumblebees meant to act as pesticide-free controls in the experiments were significantly contaminated owing to the widespread presence of the chemicals in the environment. Neonicotinoids are near ubiquitous in modern agriculture and earn billions a year for their manufacturers. But a series of high-profile scientific studies in the last year has increasingly linked them to harmful effects in bees. Declines in bees and other pollinators, which fertilise three-quarters of the world’s food crops, have been linked to habitat loss and disease as well as pesticides.
Julian Little of Bayer, which makes one of the neonicotinoids tested in the government study, said: “We welcome field studies and once again, when such studies are carried out, there does not appear to be a link between neonicotinoid seed treatment use and poor bee health.” Full Article
DEFRA has published two pieces of research suggesting the risk of neonicotinoids seed treatments to bee populations in the field is low.
The Farmer’s Guardian – “The European Commission is planning to suspend the use of three neonicotinoid products - imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin – for two years from as soon as this July.
The proposal is based on the findings of a risk assessment by the European Food Safety Agency (Efsa), which found the chemicals, which are used to treat seeds prior to sowing to protect against insects like aphids, pose a ‘high risk’ to honey bees from crops producing nectar and pollen.
So, folks still think we have two major political parties who are quite different from one another, eh? People think the world would be a much different or better place “If Only…” their candidate and party of choice had won the election of 2012…or 2008…or well, you get the point. Hell, even thought I had found a “purist” party this time around when I jumped on the Libertarian train. Figures that I’d find out only a few short weeks after the election that my beloved Savior Party has been working with the corpo-legislative whores known as The American Legislative Exchange Council…ALEC. There is no place, no party and no politician that the huge agra-giants like Monsanto cannot sink their poisonous roots into…
CLN “The roots of the relationship between Monsanto and the White House go back for decades. Bush senior’s administration was responsible for deeming GMO crops substantially equivalent to non-GMO crops, opening the flood gates for the industry to take over the food supply with little room for the opposition.
Mitt Romney was intimately involved with Monsanto’s transition into biotechnology. During the presidential primaries, Romney named an 11-member agricultural advisory committee that was full of Monsanto connections.”
After promising to label GMO’s during his 2008 campaign, President Obama has opened the doors for the following GM crops during his administration:
Monsanto GMO alfalfa
Monsanto GMO sugar beets
Monsanto GMO BT soybean
Syngenta GMO corn for ethanol
Pioneer GMO soybean
Syngenta GMO BT cotton
Bayer GMO cotton
GMO papaya strain
This is not surprising given the fact that Obama has appointed the following people to regulatory bodies that are supposed to be responsible for the safety of our food (click on the links to see the announcements of Obama’s appointments):
International Business Times – “The “Monsanto Protection Act” is the name opponents of the Farmer Assurance Provision have given to this terrifying piece of policy, and it’s a fitting moniker given its shocking content.
President Barack Obama signed a spending bill, HR 933, into law on Tuesday that includes language that has food and consumer advocates and organic farmers up in arms over their contention that the so-called “Monsanto Protection Act” is a giveaway to corporations that was passed under the cover of darkness.
There’s a lot being said about it, but here are five terrifying facts about the Farmer Assurance Provision — Section 735 of the spending bill — to get you acquainted with the reasons behind the ongoing uproar:
1.) The “Monsanto Protection Act” effectively bars federal courts from being able to halt the sale or planting of controversial genetically modified (aka GMO) or genetically engineered (GE) seeds, no matter what health issues may arise concerning GMOs in the future. The advent of genetically modified seeds — which has been driven by the massive Monsanto Company – and their exploding use in farms across America came on fast and has proved a huge boon for Monsanto’s profits.
But many anti-GMO folks argue there have not been enough studies into the potential health risks of this new class of crop. Well, now it appears that even if those studies are completed and they end up revealing severe adverse health effects related to the consumption of genetically modified foods, the courts will have no ability to stop the spread of the seeds and the crops they bear.
2.) The provision’s language was apparently written in collusion with Monsanto. Lawmakers and companies working together to craft legislation is by no means a rare occurrence in this day and age. But the fact that Sen. Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, actually worked with Monsanto on a provision that in effect allows them to keep selling seeds, which can then go on to be planted, even if it is found to be harmful to consumers, is stunning. It’s just another example of corporations bending Congress to their will, and it’s one that could have dire risks for public health in America.
3.) Many members of Congress were apparently unaware that the “Monsanto Protection Act” even existed within the bill they were voting on. HR 933 was a spending bill aimed at averting a government shutdown and ensuring that the federal government would continue to be able to pay its bills. But the Center for Food Safety maintains that many Democrats in Congress were not even aware that the provision was in the legislation:
“In this hidden backroom deal, Sen. [Barbara] Mikulski turned her back on consumer, environmental and farmer protection in favor of corporate welfare for biotech companies such as Monsanto,” Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, said in a statement. “This abuse of power is not the kind of leadership the public has come to expect from Sen. Mikulski or the Democrat Majority in the Senate.”
4.) The President did nothing to stop it, either. On Tuesday, Obama signed HR 933 while the rest of the nation was fixated on gay marriage, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument concerning California’s Proposition 8. But just because most of the nation and the media were paying attention to gay marriage doesn’t mean that others were not doing their best to express their opposition to the “Monsanto Protection Act.” In fact, more than 250,000 voters signed a petition opposing the provision. And Food Democracy Now protesters even took their fight straight to Obama, protesting in front of the White House against Section 735 of the bill. He signed it anyway.
5.) It sets a terrible precedent. Though it will only remain in effect for six months until the government finds another way to fund its operations, the message it sends is that corporations can get around consumer safety protections if they get Congress on their side. Furthermore, it sets a precedent that suggests that court challenges are a privilege, not a right.” Full Article Here on IBT
Top 10 excuses for Obama signing the Monsanto Protection Act (thesurvivalplaceblog.com)
Obama Signs Monsanto Protection Act Into Law After Promising GMO Labeling in 2007 (naturalsociety.com)
Top 10 excuses for Obama signing the Monsanto Protection Act (jonrappoport.wordpress.com)
FOCUS | Monsanto and the Seeds of Suicide (readersupportednews.org)
Farmers and food safety advocates lead Monsanto backlash (salon.com)
‘Monsanto Protection Act’ slips silently through US Congress (rt.com)
Monsanto Required (Nutrition Optional) (factgammon.wordpress.com)
Obama Betrays Americans Again…with the “Monsanto Protection Act” (thedailysheeple.com)
Monsanto, DuPont bury the lawsuit hatchet, set to make more GMO (EndtheLie.com)
Monsanto is up to no good… AGAIN! (thebubbaeffect.wordpress.com)
(NASDAQ) – Chemicals giant EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. ( DD ), commonly called DuPont, has reached technology
licensing deals with Monsanto Co. ( MON ) on genetically modified seed traits, the two companies said Tuesday. Both the companies also agreed to dismiss their antitrust and patent infringement lawsuits pending against each other in U.S. federal court.
Under the deals reached between the two companies, DuPont will make a total of $1.75 billion in royalty payments to Monsanto for the technology licensing deals, while a $1 billion jury verdict awarded to Monsanto in August 2012 in its patent infringement lawsuit against DuPont will be dismissed. Monsanto is the world’s largest seed company.
The agreements between DuPont and Monsanto include a multi-year, royalty-bearing license for Monsanto’s next-generation soybean technologies in the U.S. and Canada. Through these deals, DuPont’s subsidiary, DuPont Pioneer will be able to offer Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans as early as 2014, and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Xtend glyphosate and dicamba tolerant soybeans as early as 2015, pending regulatory approvals.
DuPont Pioneer also will receive regulatory data rights for the soybean and corn traits previously licensed from Monsanto, enabling it to create a wide array of stacked trait combinations using traits or genetics from DuPont Pioneer or others. Meanwhile, Monsanto will receive access to certain DuPont Pioneer disease resistance and corn defoliation patents.
As part of the deal, DuPont Pioneer will make four annual fixed royalty payments from 2014 to 2017 totaling $802 million for trait technology, associated data, and soybean lines to support commercial introduction.
Additionally, beginning in 2018, DuPont Pioneer will pay royalties on a per-unit basis of Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Xtend for the life of the agreement for continued technology access. Annual minimum payments through 2023 will total $950 million…” Full Story Here
Monsanto Up, DuPont Down After Settlement & Deal (blogs.barrons.com)
Deal Sprouts For Monsanto, DuPont (cen.acs.org)
Monsanto, DuPont bury the lawsuit hatchet, set to make more GMO (rt.com)
World Truth TV – “The world of genetic engineering has fallen even further into the surreal with the announcement that New Zealand “scientists” have unveiled a genetically modified mutant cloned cow which they say produces a reduced-allergen milk for consumption by human babies. This is being reported by the BBC and elsewhere.
Horrifyingly, these Frankenscientists cloned a cow and then altered the embryo using RNA interference. After gestation, the mutant GMO cow was born without a tail! But these scientists say that’s no problem, and that the mutation of having no tail couldn’t possibly be related to anything they did with the cow’s DNA.
I’m not making this up. This is the insanity of the quack science world in which we now live.”
—
“To make Daisy [the cow], scientists took a cow skin cell and genetically modified it to produce molecules that block the manufacture of BLG protein. The nucleus of this cell was then transferred into a cow egg that had its own nucleus removed.
The reconstituted egg was grown in the lab until it formed what is called a blastocyst, a ball of around 100 cells, and then transplanted into the womb of a foster cow.
The cloning technique is not efficient. Of around 100 blastocysts the scientists implanted into cows, more than half of the pregnancies failed early on, and only one live calf, Daisy, was born.
And even that calf was a mutant calf, born without a tail, rendering the whole thing a horrifying example of genetic mutilation…”
—
Humanity is risking a genetic apocalypse
This has got to stop, friends. The mad GMO scientists are operating in gross violation of natural law. They are playing genetic roulette with Mother Nature. They’re fumbling in the dark with dangerous tools, like children with suitcase nukes and a happy red button that seems inviting to just push and see what happens.
Our modern-day human civilization has neither the ethical foundation nor the wisdom to pursue such technologies. Altering the digital code for the expression of life is not something to be pursued under the crude selfishness of corporate greed, nor the wild fantasies of naive scientists who relish in playing “what if” experiments with all remaining life on our planet.
These experiments on animals — and crops — are worse than foolish. They are inherently evil… even demented. Just because we know how to alter DNA doesn’t mean we have the wisdom to understand the consequences of doing so. Yet in the race for the next biological profit machine — a cow, a crop, or even a pharmaceutical — caution is thrown out the window and replaced by pure mindless greed.
With the GM crops, the GM wheat that alters human liver function, the GM corn that causes cancer tumors, the GM cows and the GM seeds being carelessly strewn about, we are risking a genetic apocalypse that could destroy humanity in a cosmic blink of an eye.
No one knows what happens when the genetic engineering of mutant chimera animals get unleashed across the land. Nobody really knows the long-term effects of genetic pollution. Nobody even knows the long-term effects of humans eating GM crops!
So it’s all a grand, malicious, conceited genetic experiment being carried out on us all: our bodies, our children, our lands, our animals, our crops and our planet.
The GM “scientists” are risking EVERYTHING. And they do so blindly, while mutilating animals and calling it “progress.”
It is disgusting. It is an abomination. I pray for the sake of humanity that all genetic engineering activity in our planet is halted by any means necessary.
We are floating through space, my friends, on a blue ball of water inhabited by fools who call themselves “scientists.”
They risk everything. And there is no backup plan.
Spread the word. SHARE this story. STOP the genetic mutilation of animals. HALT GMO crops and save our planet from the risk of total disaster.”
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And hey, if you don’t care for the idea of this ‘reduced allergin’ milk, you could always hop on over to Japan and get a big glass of human breast milk…straight from a cow’s teet…
“The FDA has stated it will likely not label genetically engineered salmon, providing consumers no way of knowing if the fish they are feeding their families is genetically engineered. At least 35 other species of genetically engineered fish are currently under development, and the FDA’s decision on this genetically engineered salmon application will set a precedent for other genetically engineered fish and animals (including cows, chickens and pigs) to enter the global food market.”
Common Dreams – March 20 – “A coalition of consumer, health, food safety and fishing groups today launched the “Campaign for Genetically Engineered (GE)-Free Seafood” by announcing that several major grocery retailers representing more than 2,000 stores across the United States have already committed not to sell genetically engineered seafood if it is allowed onto the market.
The growing market rejection of GE fish comes as the FDA conducts its final review of a genetically engineered salmon. If approved, the salmon would be the first-ever genetically engineered animal allowed to enter the human food supply.
Stores that have committed to not offer the salmon or other genetically engineered seafood include the national retailers Trader Joe’s (367 stores), Aldi (1,230 stores), Whole Foods (325 stores in US); regional chains such as Marsh Supermarkets (93 stores in Indiana and Ohio), PCC Natural Markets (9 stores in Washington State); and co-ops in Minnesota, New York, California and Kansas.
“We applaud these retailers for listening to the vast majority of their customers who want sustainable, natural seafood for their families. Now it’s time for other food retailers, including Walmart, Costco and Safeway, to follow suit and let their customers know they will not be selling unlabeled, poorly studied genetically engineered seafood,” said Eric Hoffman, food & technology policy campaigner with Friends of the Earth…”
“What’s Beef?
Beef is when you’re 12 years old and obese
clogged arteries, can’t see your own feet
until you’re up in ICU, guaranteed to be an ‘I see you”
From that processed food.
Suicide. It’s a suicide.
Don’t want no microwaves, no pesticides.
Fast food’s a slow death in disguise.
It’s the wild wild westernized world of deception and lies.
What’s Beef?
Beef is when you starve in a famine.
Nothing won’t grow and the land stays barren.
Pollution in the river, mercury in the salmon.
What sense do it make, being at war with the planet?
We’re at war for the mind so impressionable.
Instead of vegetables,
we reach for Red Bulls.
Poor diets kill more brothers than pistols.
We’re fighting for our lives like Michael Vic’s pit bulls.
Dog eat dog, America eats the young,
We die from beef, but more from meat than the gun.
Bullets for breakfast and mass murder meals.
Enemy of the state, and your plate is the battlefield
in this FOOD FIGHT!”
“A boy must escape a world where the processed food is killing his neighborhood — literally.
SHARE to teach kids who is behind it, and how to escape.”
Song Produced & Mixed by J.Bless & Golden HornsVisit http://SOSjuice.com/foodfight For More Information & Song Download
Three cheers for Alaska…if this makes it through the Senate, that is..!
From KTOO “The Alaska House of Representatives has come out against genetically engineered salmon, or as critics call it, “Frankenfish.”
Representatives unanimously approved House Joint Resolution 5 on Wednesday. It urges the US Food and Drug Administration to reconsider a preliminary finding that genetically modified fish would not significantly impact the environment. The resolution also urges the agency to require labeling for GM salmon, if the product is ultimately approved.
The legislation was sponsored by Anchorage Democrat Geran Tarr. She says genetically engineered fish has not been proven safe.
“The resolution opposes this move for three reasons,” Tarr said on the House floor. “Threats to wild salmon stocks; threats to human health and consumer confidence in wild Alaska salmon; and potential negative economic impact on our wild seafood industry.”
The House joins the Parnell administration, the state’s Congressional delegation, and thousands of Alaskans represented by seafood industry groups in opposing genetically modified fish.
The resolution now goes to the state Senate.
Massachusetts-based biotech company AquaBounty petitioned the FDA to approve the genetically engineered fish — an Atlantic salmon with genes from a Chinook salmon and an eel-like fish to make it grow faster. The company has spent nearly $70 million dollars since forming in 1991.
The FDA recently extended the public comment period on AquaBounty’s petition through April 26th.
Vernon Hugh Bowman, an Indiana farmer, is challenging Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, over genetically modified crops.
—
NYTimes Excerpt - ”With his mere 300 acres of soybeans, corn and wheat, Vernon Hugh Bowman said, “I’m not even big enough to be called a farmer.”
Yet the 75-year-old farmer from southwestern Indiana will face off Tuesday against the world’s largest seed company, Monsanto, in a Supreme Court case that could have a huge impact on the future of genetically modified crops, and also affect other fields from medical research to software.
At stake in Mr. Bowman’s case is whether patents on seeds — or other things that can self-replicate — extend beyond the first generation of the products.
It is one of two cases before the Supreme Court related to the patenting of living organisms, a practice that has helped give rise to the biotechnology industry but which critics have long considered immoral. The other case, involving a breast cancer risk test from Myriad Genetics, will determine whether human genes can be patented. It is scheduled to be heard April 15.
Monsanto says that a victory for Mr. Bowman would allow farmers to essentially save seeds from one year’s crop to plant the next year, eviscerating patent protection. In Mr. Bowman’s part of Indiana, it says, a single acre of soybeans can produce enough seeds to plant 26 acres the next year.
Such a ruling would “devastate innovation in biotechnology,” the company wrote in its brief. “Investors are unlikely to make such investments if they cannot prevent purchasers of living organisms containing their invention from using them to produce unlimited copies.” NYTimes
1,500 colonies of honeybees, from a community in Hopelchen, Campeche, died this February 6 from the fumigation of Monsanto’s GMO’s in a nearby area.
Genetically Modified Food (Photo credit: Peter Blanchard)
Yucatan Times – “This has directly impacted more than 50 impoverished families, who recently suffered a poor corn crop due to drought. The community was relying on their sale of organic honey to compensate for the lack of maize. The current honey left by the bees is also lost due to the contamination of pesticides and transgenic pollen.
Alvaro Mena, a mayan farmer from Hopelchen and member of the Network in Defense of Maize, estimated losses at nearly 10 million pesos and is the equivalent of one year’s worth of corn and honey production for the community.
Fumigation has intensified where GM crops have been planted in Mexico. GMO’s are known to be resistant to pesticides and are planted in large monocultures, applying huge amounts of Roundup. It is no accident says Mena: it is the toxic onslaught that comes with GM crops and the threat of allowing millions of acres of GM Maize to be planted.
Mena attended the debate at which officials failed to attend and began with his witness of GMO’s. Thousands showed up to participate in the debate on GM maize on Thursday, February 7, in a packed auditorium of the Faculty of Science, organized by several networks, including #YoSoy132 Environmental Via Campesina Popular Urban Movement, and the Network in Defense of Maize…
…At the debate, the convening organizations, including urban, rural and students expressed their critical views on GMOs from their perspectives. They manifested their intent to stop the planting of GM maize and will continue through all struggles and will do all that they can to not allow the government to impose, against the interests of the vast majority of the population, GM Maize for the benefit of Government and a few multinationals. They agreed to promote further discussions, forums and activities, and strengthen the links between the organizations to avoid GM foods and crops. Also they will promote the widest possible participation in the pre-hearings on Corn and Food Sovereignty of the Permanent Peoples Tribunal, which among other topics will hold a pre-hearing of scientific evidence on GM and failures and corruption of the biosecurity system in the country…” Full Story on Yucatan Times
Related articles
- Philip Angell, Monsanto’s director of corporate communications. “Playing God in the Garden” New York Times Magazine, October 25, 1998.
Excerpts, Common Dreams – “The fight to label genetically modified (gmo) foods is now on in Hawaii and Connecticut signaling that, despite big agriculture’s defeat of California’s Proposition 37 in November, proponents of seed and food sovereignty refuse to back down.
On Thursday, the group GMO Free CT held a press conference at the state’s legislative office to launch a new anti-GMO initiative calling on the Connecticut Legislature to support and pass a bill to label genetically engineered food in the state, the New Haven Register reports.
Calling the use of GMOs in food “a very large, uncontrolled experiment with human health,” William Duesing, Executive Director of the Connecticut branch of the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), spoke before the group. “The vast amount of GMO crops are designed as sales tools for specific herbicides. The majority of those sales tools are for Roundup (which) kills most green plants that haven’t been engineered to resist it,” he said.
Food activists in Hawaii won a partial victory this week when the House Committee on Agriculture passed a measure to require labeling on genetically modified food.
Originally, House Bill 174 required any food product that is produced or sold in Hawaii to have a label saying it contains or was made using genetically engineered materials, but Thursday’s committee hearing amended the requirements so it only applies to produce imported from outside Hawaii, Associated Press reports.
Despite this provision, Hawaii is a ripe battleground for new legislation. According to the anti-GMO organization Hawai’i Seed, “Hawai‘i is the genetic engineering experimental capital of the world,” with thousands of acres of arable farmland being used to test seed crops for agriculture giants, including Monsanto.” Full Article on Common Dreams
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via SourceWatch- Monsanto gave $658,207 to federal candidates in the 2010 election cycle through its political action committee (PAC) – 48% to Democrats, 52% to Republicans.
In 2012, Monsanto spent $4.2 million financing “No On 37″, a group supported by other GMO food manufacturers like DuPont, Dow, and Bayer. “No On 37″ opposed California proposition 37, which would require labels on most genetically modified food products.
2012 Monsanto Lobbying Data:
(NaturalNews) A new vaccine for influenza has hit the market, and it is the first ever to contain genetically-modified (GM) proteins derived from insect cells. According to reports, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the vaccine, known as Flublok, which contains recombinant DNA technology and an insect virus known as baculovirus that is purported to help facilitate the more rapid production of vaccines.
According to Flublok’s package insert, the vaccine is trivalent, which means it contains GM proteins from three different flu strains. The vaccine’s manufacturer, Protein Sciences Corporation (PSC), explains that Flublok is produced by extracting cells from the fall armyworm, a type of caterpillar, and genetically altering them to produce large amounts of hemagglutinin, a flu virus protein that enables the flu virus itself to enter the body quickly.
So rather than have to produce vaccines the “traditional” way using egg cultures, vaccine manufacturers will now have the ability to rapidly produce large batches of flu virus protein using GMOs, which is sure to increase profits for the vaccine industry. But it is also sure to lead to all sorts of serious side effects, including the deadly nerve disease Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GSB), which is listed on the shot as a potential side effect.
“If Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) has occurred within six weeks of receipt of a prior influenza vaccine, the decision to give Flublock should be based on careful consideration of the potential benefits and risks,” explains a section of the vaccine’s literature entitled “Warnings and Precautions.” Other potential side effects include allergic reactions, respiratory infections, headaches, fatigue, altered immunocompetence, rhinorrhea, and myalgia.
“The case for greater bee protections has been building in Europe. Several recent reports, including one from the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), indicate that three neonicotinoid insecticides — imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam, produced by Switzerland’s Syngenta and Germany’s Bayer—pose an unacceptable hazard to honey bees…”
Excerpt from Civil Eats- “Last week, the European Commission announced its position against the use of bee-harming neonicotinoid insecticides, urging nations within the European Union (EU) to impose a two-year suspension on their use. Great news for bees across the pond.
But here in the U.S., policymakers aren’t stepping up. EPA officials are continuing to ignore the emerging body of science that point to pesticides, and especially neonicotinoid insecticides, as a critical factor in bee declines. What’s worse, the agency is poised to approve yet another bee-harming pesticide.
Beekeepers are especially frustrated. As commercial beekeeper Steve Ellis told me last week:
Europe’s decision should be a wake up call for EPA. The agency has a responsibility to protect bees and the livelihood of beekeepers. Unless the agency takes steps to protect pollinators, they are putting agricultural economies and the food system at risk…
…As if bees and beekeepers didn’t face enough challenges, EPA is now poised to add another systemic pesticide into the mix. Dow’s sulfoxaflor is a cousin of neonicotinoids, and impacts the same bee brain synapses (nicotinic acetylcholine receptors). It’s yet another systemic pesticide that would be used on a wide variety of crops like canola, cotton, citrus and vegetables.
Beekeepers are warning that this may be the worst year yet for bee losses. This is saying something, since they’ve reported losses of about 30% since 2006. Bad news for beekeepers, and bad news for crops like almonds that are reliant on bees for pollination…”
According to the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, the average per-acre cost of soybean and corn seed increased 325% and 259%, respectively, between 1995 and 2011. This is roughly the time period when acreage of GM corn and soy grew from less than 20% to more than 80-90%
Excerpt, The Organic & Non-GMO Report -”The introduction of genetically modified crops has corresponded with increasing monopolization of seed by biotechnology companies and higher seed costs that have led to tragedies in some countries, while pushing out conventional, non-GMO seeds, and reducing farmer seed choices. These impacts are being seen in the United States, Brazil, India, the Philippines, and South Africa, and even Europe.
According to Philip Howard, a researcher at Michigan State University, economists say that when four firms control 40% of a market, it is no longer competitive. According to AgWeb, the “big four” biotech seed companies—Monsanto, DuPont/Pioneer Hi-Bred, Syngenta, and Dow AgroSciences—own 80% of the US corn market and 70% of the soybean business.
Monsanto has become the world’s largest seed company in less than 10 years by capturing markets for corn, soybean, cotton, and vegetable seeds, according to a report by the Farmer to Farmer Campaign. In addition to selling seeds, Monsanto licenses its genetically modified traits to other seed companies. As a result, more than 80% of US corn and more than 90% of soybeans planted each year contain Monsanto’s patented GM traits.
Other factors that have led to industry domination by a few players include purchase of smaller seed companies by larger companies, weak antitrust law enforcement, and Supreme Court decisions that allowed GM crops and other plant materials to be patented, while prohibiting seed saving by farmers…” Full Article Here
Apparently, no species on earth is safe from those who genetically modify and *improve* everything…
Chicksanto Peas coming soon? DuChick Peas, maybe?
(GenomeWeb News) – “Members of an international consortium have sequenced a draft version of the chickpea genome, making chickpea, or Cicer arietinum, the third crop legume plant to have its genome unraveled and published so far.
The India, China, and US-led team used whole-genome shotgun sequencing to tackle the nearly 740 million base pair genome of a kabulichickpea variety. The group also re-sequenced and/or genotyped dozens more cultivated and wild chickpea accessions for the study, which appeared online this week in Nature Biotechnology — data that’s helping researchers understand the genetic diversity present within chickpea and its relationship to chickpea traits of interest.
“Combined with knowledge of germplasm diversity and candidate gene regions, the analyses … should accelerate future breeding of elite cultivars,” first author Rajeev Varshney, with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, and co-authors wrote.
“This will eventually move us closer to the goal of improving the livelihood and productivity of chickpea farmers worldwide,” they added, with particular emphasis on the resource-poor, marginal environments of sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia…The sequencing of the chickpea provides genetic information that will help plant breeders develop highly productive chickpea varieties that can better tolerate drought and resist disease — traits that are particularly important in light of the threat of global climate change,” University of California at Davis plant pathology researcher Douglas Cook, a co-corresponding author on the study, said in a statement…”
For those not already familiar with J. Craig Venter, I added links in bold to the article excerpt below that highlight more of his history. I’ll give you a spoiler…he was a huge part of that wonderfully successful BP Oil Spill ‘clean-up’…he created an e-coli based bacteria that eats iron and it was dumped…or was it sprayed?…all across the Gulf of Mexico….*shudders* It eats iron…how much iron is in the human body..?
Monsanto + Craig Venter…the Ultimate Match Made in Heaven…er, HELL…
UT San Diego - “Monsanto Corp. has acquired part of a La Jolla agricultural biotech in a deal that gives the St. Louis food giant a presence in San Diego for the first time.
Monsanto purchased crop-boosting microbial technology from Agradis, a spinoff of Synthetic Genomics, the companies said Wednesday. Monsanto also made an equity investment in Synthetic Genomics and signed a research agreement with the company. Terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition gives Monsanto access to some of the newest and most sophisticated technologies for improving crop yields and preventing loss from disease. And while genetic technology is fundamental, it’s mostly being used to find naturally occurring beneficial microbes.
Synthetic Genomics was founded in 2005 by gene pioneer J. Craig Venter to solve energy and environmental challenges. As part of the acquisition, seven Agradis employees researching helpful microbes were hired by Monsanto, said Joe Mahler, Synthetic Genomics’ chief financial officer…
…Synthetic Genomics and Plenus are forming a new company with the parts of Agradis not purchased by Monsanto, Mahler said.
The company, AgraCast, controls breeding and genetic improvement technologies for castor and sweet sorghum, along with an antifungal product for fruits and vegetables. Employees with the new company will move out of the Agradis office to a new one nearby, Mahler said.
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