Recently in GMO Category

HFNN

Dec 30, 2011

One of the most vulnerable segments of the population -- infants -- are being affected as chemical giant Martek Biosciences uses cronyism to have its patented GMO products classified as organic. The National Organic Program is trying to correct this, but in the meantime the "organic" infant formula or baby food parents feed their children could contain industrial Frankenfood.

History of Irresponsibility

The story of how this state of affairs came about reveals much on how politics and profit can undermine food safety. Here's a timeline on how the word "organic" is being undermined, creating a health threat for babies who are fed with formula.

2002: Food manufacturers begin supplementing infant formula and baby food with synthetic forms of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA). These polyunsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, naturally present in breast milk, are important components of the human brain and eyes. Although the form of DHA/ARA used in infant formulas is structurally incompatible with the form found in human milk, food manufacturers market their products with the claim that their formulas will make babies more intelligent.

AlterNet
October 26, 2011

Here's the tricks that big breakfast barons use to fool you into believing their products are pesticide and GMO-free.

Photo Credit: D. Sharon Pruitt

A trip to the supermarket is an adventure into a tempting and treacherous jungle. The insatiable hunger for a ready-made breakfast that nourishes our bodies and our social conscience has made our morning bowls of cereal a hiding place for corporate charlatans. A new report, Cereal Crimes, by the Cornucopia Institute discloses the toxic truth about “natural” products and unmasks corporate faces like Kellogg’s hiding behind supposedly “family-run” businesses such as Kashi.

When these breakfast barons forage for profit, we eaters are the prey. But what are the laws of this jungle? And how do we avoid being ripped off by products that are hazardous for our health and our environment? Let’s have a look at some of these corporations’ sneaky strategies.

Infowars Ireland
September 9, 2011
By Rady Ananda
Food Freedom



France cannot ban food and feed with genetically modified organisms based on the emergency safeguard clause it cited for its 4-year ban, ruled the Court of Justice of the European Union on September 8, without proof of a “clear and serious risk to human or animal health or the environment.” [1]

This comes on the heels of Tuesday’s high court ruling that all food products containing GMOs – whether intentional or not – must undergo an approval process. GMO opponents applauded that tightening of restrictions, since it paves the way for damage claims by those whose crops or honey become genetically contaminated by neighboring GM fields.

Today’s ruling, however, counts as a win for Monsanto and the EU Commission in their ongoing power struggle to defeat independent sovereign rejection of GMOs on the precautionary principle – a far less stringent, but more scientifically sound standard that acknowledges the dangers of genetic manipulation.

Like France, other nations including Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Luxembourg also banned GMOs under the EU emergency clause of Directive 2001/18/EC.

The high court instead ruled that nations seeking to ban GMOs may only use the more stringent emergency measures permitted under Regulations 1829/2003 and 178/2002.

MotherJones
Corporations, Food and Ag, Top Stories
By Tom Philpott
Tue Aug. 30, 2011

Coastlander/Flickr

Over the past decade and a half, as Monsanto built up its globe-spanning, multi-billion-dollar genetically modified seed empire, it made two major pitches to farmers.

The first involved weeds. Leave the weed management to us, Monsanto insisted. We've engineered plants that can survive our very own herbicide. Just pay up for our patented, premium-priced seeds, spray your fields with our Roundup herbicide whenever the fancy strikes, and—voilà!—no more weeds.

The second involved crop-eating insects. We've isolated the toxic gene of a commonly used bacterial pesticide called Bt, Monsanto announced, and spliced it directly into crops. Along with corn and soy, you will literally be growing the pesticide that protects them. Plant our seeds, and watch your crops thrive while their pests shrivel and die.

by Infowars Ireland
July 28, 2011
by Ronnie Cummins
NaturalNews.com
July 27, 2011

(NaturalNews) “If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it.” – Norman Braksick, president of Asgrow Seed Co., a subsidiary of Monsanto, quoted in the Kansas City Star, March 7, 1994

After two decades of biotech bullying and force-feeding unlabeled and hazardous genetically engineered (GE) foods to animals and humans — aided and abetted by the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations — it’s time to move beyond defensive measures and go on the offensive. With organic farming, climate stability, and public health under the gun of the gene engineers and their partners in crime, it’s time to do more than complain. With over 1/3 of U.S. cropland already contaminated with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), with mounting scientific evidence that GMOs cause cancer, birth defects, and serious food allergies http://www.responsibletechnology.org/ and with new biotech mutants like alfalfa, lawn grass, ethanol-ready corn, 2,4 D-resistant crops, and genetically engineered trees and animals in the pipeline http://www.organicconsumers.org/mon… time is running out.

Planetsave
July 21, 2011

In an effort to rid the country of Monsanto’s GMO products, Hungary has stepped up the pace. This looks like its going to be another slap in the face for Monsanto. A new regulation was introduced this March which stipulates that seeds are supposed to be checked for GMO before they are introduced to the market. Unfortunately, some GMO seeds made it to the farmers without them knowing it.

Almost 1000 acres of maize found to have been grown with genetically modified seeds have been destroyed throughout Hungary deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development Lajos Bognar said. The GMO maize has been ploughed under, said Lajos Bognar, but pollen has not spread from the maize, he added.

Unlike several EU members, GMO seeds are banned in Hungary. The checks will continue despite the fact that seed traders are obliged to make sure that their products are GMO free, Bognar said.

OEN
OpEdNews.com
July 17, 2011
By Anne Mendenhall

Monsanto began to take over our food supply in the 1990s. First came soybeans with genes manipulated to withstand Monsanto's chief money maker, Roundup. Shortly thereafter came Bt corn. Bacillus thuriengensis is a natural organism which was being used by organic farmers for pest control. Monsanto blasted it into corn seed and had its second patented crop. GM canola and papaya followed soon after, and then along came Roundup Ready corn and rice. Other biotech seed companies entered the game and applied for patents on vegetable crops and trees. My understanding is that rice was manipulated to contain vaccines and to my knowledge has not been grown commercially.   

Recently, in spite of many protests and comments to the contrary, the US Department of Agriculture approved Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beets and alfalfa for unlimited planting. GM Kentucky bluegrass is also just approved without restrictions.   

GM alfalfa will cross with regular alfalfa in the area and will destroy organic farms on a wide scale, especially dairies which depend on alfalfa. A requirement of organic certification is that no genetically modified crops can be grown.

Almost immediately upon introducing patented seeds, Monsanto began suing farmers whose land had been accidentally contaminated by those patented seeds, and/or farmers who dared to save their own seed from a Monsanto crop to replant. Hundreds of farmers are said to have been sued. Monsanto is believed to employ 75 people who work full time on investigating and prosecuting farmers who do not cooperate with Monsanto's plans.

Salem News

July 17, 2011

By William Newton Special to Salem-News.com

"... the evidence of sleazy and scandalous behavior of the Murdoch papers has expanded geometrically." Michael Collins

Murdoch photo: usdailynewsblog.blogspot.com

(LONDON) - Rupert Murdoch's news empire faces intense media and legal scrutiny.

Current revelations focus on Murdoch's News of the World hacking into the Dowler family's voice messages during the kidnapping case their 12 year old daughter Milly, and Murdoch's London Times' allegedly having illegally obtained the financial, property and medical information of former UK Labour Party Leader Gordon Brown during the time he was chancellor. BBC - "Gordon Brown 'targeted' by Sunday Times" Murdoch's Last Pillar of Legitimacy Crumbles. A 2010 exposure of Murdoch's Times of London revealed that it had published forged documents purporting to show that Iran planned to do nuclear experiments for an atomic weapon, and as Michael Collins at Oped News points out, it was Murdoch's "drumbeat of misinformation" that helped mislead people into believing that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attack, supporting Bush's invasion of Iraq, though intelligence was "unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent." Senate Intelligence Committee Unveils Final Phase II Reports on Prewar Iraq Intelligence June 5, 2008

But what has not yet been covered is the media circus Murdoch's London Times created internationally as it fabricated lies against a respected British doctor, with consequences that could impact the lives of billions of children in the world.

June 17, 2011 by Infowars Ireland

Ethan A. Huff

naturalnews.com

(NaturalNews) A battle is raging over whether or not it should be legal to plant genetically-modified (GM) crops in US wildlife refuges. A little over a month after various conservation and food safety groups achieved a unified legal victory that banned all future plantings of GMOs in refuges, the Obama administration announced its full-fledged support for GMOs in refuges. And the administration is now working towards ramrodding through a new plan that would exempt the issue of GMO plantings in refuges from having to face any further legal challenges that oppose them.

Daily Mail

By Sean Poulter

May 20, 2011

GM firms claimed toxins were destroyed in the gut

Study: Mothers to be were tested

Toxins implanted into GM food crops to kill pests are reaching the bloodstreams of women and unborn babies, alarming research has revealed.

A landmark study found 93 per cent of blood samples taken from pregnant women and 80 per cent from umbilical cords tested positive for traces of the chemicals.

Millions of acres in North and South America are planted with GM corn containing the toxins, which is fed in vast quantities to farm livestock around the world – including Britain.

However, it is now clear the toxins designed to kill crop pests are reaching humans and babies in the womb – apparently through food.

It is not known what, if any, harm this causes but there is speculation it could lead to allergies, miscarriage, abnormalities or even cancer.