Genetically modified crops

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China manufacturers lace children's toys with liquid ecstasy Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Why isn't the EPA going after Monsanto for the environmental impact of all its genetically modified crops and destructive chemicals? Why isn't the entire cancer industry going after chemical companies and actively trying to prevent cancer rather than simply claiming to be searching for a cure that will never be found anyway? The answer to all these questions is the same: Because the U.S. government acts in collusion with Big Business to exploit U.S. consumers, stripping them of their health, their money and their future.

Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power Mark Schapiro See book keywords and concepts

Three years earlier, in meetings across the French countryside, a grassroots farmers' movement had taken form, expressing alarm at what farmers felt was the potential for genetically modified crops, to alter the landscape that they and their predecessors had nurtured over centuries. Their manifesto expressed a willingness to take extreme measures to remove genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from the land. All participants agreed to the principles of nonviolence, and to the risks that could ensue.

Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods Jeffrey M. Smith See book keywords and concepts

In October 2005, Wayne Parrot compiled 60 abstracts entitled, "General Safety and Safety Assessment of Specific genetically modified crops from Scientific Journal Articles."8 The list was presented to the minister for agriculture and food in the government of western Australia as evidence that sufficient research had been conducted to conclude that GM food was safe. According to an analysis by epidemiologist Judy Carman, "A review of these abstracts found that most were animal production studies.... In fact, only nine abstracts could be considered to contain measures applicable to human health.

The policy is that genetically modified crops will receive the same consideration for potential health risks as any other new crop plant. This stance is taken despite good reasons to believe that specific risks may exist____Governments should never have allowed these products into the food chain without insisting on rigorous testing for effects on health.

The story was called, "An Ordinary Miracle: Bigger harvests, without pesticides or genetically modified crops? Farmers can make it happen by letting weeds do the work," The research looked at more than 200 projects in 52 countries,18 involving more than four million farms "covering an area the size of Italy—3% of fields in the Third World. And, most remarkably, average increases in crop yields were 73%."The study's author concluded that the sustainable agriculture methods are "cheap, use locally available technology and often improve the environment.

Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power Mark Schapiro See book keywords and concepts

Contamination may seem like an abstract issue to most Americans, who are not farmers and who have generally exhibited far less wariness toward genetically modified crops than their European counterparts. One third of America's corn is neither organic nor genetically engineered, but traditionally hybridized corn. Laura Krause, like other American farmers who choose not to grow genetically modified corn, are now paying the price for the unwanted consequences of a technology they did not ask for.

Honeybee colony collapse disorder: Alternative causes still being explored Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Other reported potential causes for CCD are extremely diverse and include the introduction of genetically modified crops, changing weather patterns, an increase in global warming, a proliferation in the use of pesticides and airborne chemicals, immune suppression triggered by stress, high-voltage transmission lines, environmental pollution, cheap sugar substitutes, burning fossil fuels, foreign fungi, parasites, and tracheal or varroa mites. "There are a lot less bees than we used to have and we don't know why," said Brent Halsall, president of the Ontario Beekeepers' Association.

Movie Review: I am Legend, Will Smith and the Dangers of Playing God with Food and Medicine Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Right now, we have food companies growing genetically modified crops that, if subjected to unlucky gene mutations, could potentially wipe out significant portions of the global food supply, leading to devastating famine and a sharp decline in the global population. That's not fiction: It's the status quo in modern agriculture today. No special effects required. The FDA and various food processing companies are also pushing for new regulations that would mandate the mass irradiation of all foods.

Honeybee colony collapse disorder: Alternative causes still being explored Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

He claims there is "no link between our tiny little study and the CCD phenomenon…If the Americans are looking for an explanation for colony collapse disorder, perhaps they should look at herbicides, pesticides and they should especially think about genetically modified crops. "Ever since The Independent wrote their article, for which they never called or wrote to us, none of us have been able to do any of our work because all our time has been spent in phone calls and e-mails trying to set things straight. This is a horror story for every researcher to have your study reduced to this.

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century Alex Steffen See book keywords and concepts

Countries are combining research programs on AIDS, malaria, and other diseases whose impact is most heavily felt in the developing world, creating joint protocols for independently assessing the safety of genetically modified crops; dramatically ramping up basic science education; setting up scientific educational exchanges; signing agreements to increase research funding; and hosting conferences on the scientific priorities of developing nations versus those of the developed world. They have made tremendous strides in bioscience alone.

What's In Your Milk?: An Exposé of Industry and Government Cover-Up on the Dangers of the Genetically Engineered (rBGH) Milk You're Drinking Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. See book keywords and concepts

It is interesting to note that after their introduction of rBGH, Monsanto brought genetically modified crops to market using the same type of industry manipulation and political collusion that accompanied rBGH. With the crops, however, they convinced the FDA to not require any safety assessments. The risks, therefore, have to be surmised from the adverse reactions in just a few, largely superficial studies. With rBGH, on the other hand, the health implications are well documented. IGF-1, in particular, has been the subject of numerous peer-reviewed papers.

The future of food fabrication, intellectual property and seeds Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Because these are genetically modified crops that were created by Monsanto. When these farmers save seeds from one generation to the next, which of course is a practice that has taken place throughout the history of civilization, Monsanto sues these farmers and prevents them from saving those seeds. The idea, from Monsanto's point of view, is that it wants to force farmers to buy these genetically modified seeds with each successive generation.

Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism Marion Nestle See book keywords and concepts

Worldwide sales of genetically modified crops rose from $1.6 billion in 1998 to about $2.2 billion in 1999, and are now expected to rise to $25 billion by ioio.6 Regardless of the accuracy of such estimates, the rapid expansion of the food biotechnology industry is impressive. By 1998, about 1,400 companies had invested more than $110 billion in agricultural biotechnology, and the FDA had approved about 50 food products for marketing. By 2001, genetically engineered crops were growing on at least 109 million acres throughout the world, a 25-fold expansion just since 1996.

Our Toxic World: A Wake Up Call Doris J. Rapp, M.D. See book keywords and concepts

Organic crops can be contaminated by pollen from genetically modified crops grown near by. For example, Canada is fearful of the effects of genetically modified wheat grown on United States soil. Pollen from our GE wheat can easily blow across the border or the Great Lakes and contaminate Canadian regular non-modified wheat. As mentioned before, air and water do not have borders so if organic products intermingle with genetically engineered produce, Canada might not be able to sell their wheat to Europe. This could cause a potential economic crisis among the wheat farmers in Canada.

Food, Inc. Mendel to Monsanto - The Promises and Perils of the Biotech Harvest Peter Pringle See book keywords and concepts

As one of the group's leaders put it, "People are talking about the potential benefits of the second generation of genetically modified crops when almost no questions raised by the first have been answered. You don't have to be paranoid to think the tactics are deliberate." 6 To the green activists, golden rice was another technical fix being promoted as the solution to the problem of malnutrition when the world was already awash in food and vitamin pills and pharmaceuticals.

The Mexican government's environment ministry declared the contamination to be "the world's worst case of contamination" of traditional farmer varieties by genetically modified crops.1 Environmental groups labeled the new research evidence of the nightmare of genetic engineering—the loss of ancient gene pools that provide breeders with genetic insurance against plagues and pests. Greenpeace declared that the alien genes in the criollos had not only ruined a potential source of irreplaceable genetic material, but had brought on an invasion that went beyond just agriculture.

Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet Jeremy P. Tarcher See book keywords and concepts

Launched with our government's help but after virtually no public debate, genetically modified crops covered less than four million acres of U.S. cropland six years ago. Today, they're planted on 75 million acres, with more than half our soybeans and almost three-fourths of our cotton crops now GMO.9 Walking down our grocery aisles, we can assume that more than half the products we see contain at least a trace of them. Id been increasingly concerned with this stunningly rapid agricultural revolution—one that has been largely invisible, especially for us Americans.

Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism Marion Nestle See book keywords and concepts

On the basis of such precautions, the European Union banned American and Canadian beef from cattle treated with growth hormones and delayed introduction of genetically modified crops. Thus, the precautionary principle has implications for international trade as well as domestic food policy and has become a major rallying point for advocates who favor environmental protection or oppose food biotechnology.

Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating Jeffrey M. Smith See book keywords and concepts

However, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had made it clear that in their view, genetically modified crops were assumed to be safe and to offer similar nutritional value as their natural counterparts. This assumption is the cornerstone in U.S. policy, allowing millions of acres of GM food to be planted, sold, and eaten without prior safety testing. Pusztai's team engineered a potato plant to create a different pesticide—a lectin, a natural insecticidal poison that some plants produce to ward off insects.

The panel of scientists also called for a moratorium on the sale of genetically modified crops. The controversy was re-ignited in full force. A report published two days later exposed the fact that Monsanto had given the Rowett Institute £140,000 before the blow-up, adding even more fuel to the media's fire. Under the intense pressure of a highly publicized scandal, Parliament invited Pusztai to present evidence before the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons. Parliament's request overrode the Rowett contract—James was forced to release the gag order.

We can better understand the conclusions of a team of scientists who set out to document all that was not yet understood in the science of genetically modified crops. They said: "Controversies and knowledge gaps appear to be present at all levels."31 These gaps in knowledge are not merely academic. "Given our current lack of understanding of the consequences of [GM] technology," Schubert says, "GM food is not a safe option.

Food, Inc. Mendel to Monsanto - The Promises and Perils of the Biotech Harvest Peter Pringle See book keywords and concepts

This means that farmers with land close to genetically modified crops will have to pay royalties to the companies for products they never purchased and got no benefits from," commented Margaret Mellon of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Schmeiser was ordered to pay Monsanto $19,000 in damages and more than $150,000 for the company's legal fees. Instead Schmeiser appealed. The Canadian federal appeals court upheld the lower court's three key rulings. First, the mere presence of the patented plants on Schmeiser's land was a patent infringement.

Food Revolution: How your diet can help save your life and our world John Robbins See book keywords and concepts

Bush's new Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, had, while Governor of Wisconsin, used state funds to set up a $300,000,000 biotech zone, and was one of a handful of governors to launch a campaign, partially funded by Monsanto, to persuade Americans of the benefits of genetically modified crops.40 And most significantly, Bush's new Secretary of Agriculture, Ann Veneman, was a former board member of the biotech company Calgene, owned by Monsanto. Shortly after Veneman took over, her predecessor, now-former Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, made a startling revelation.

In the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands, genetically modified crops have been destroyed by angry citizens. Genetically engineered fields have been torched in New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, and Greece. (These actions have been condemned as violent, but it's important to note that no person has ever been harmed.

Trying to overcome mounting problems with public acceptance, the industry' began developing a second generation of genetically modified crops that would, they said, have health benefits, including oils that would make healthier margarines and shortenings, and vegetables with longer shelf lives. But some critics were pointing out that these same benefits can be achieved through conventional breeding methods.'4 And others, noting that no technological fix can substitute for a healthy diet, were saying that these new foods were more marketing gimmicks than genuine steps toward increased health.

There have been 25,000 trials of genetically modified crops in the world, now, and not a single incident, or anything dangerous in these releases," said a spokesman for Adventa Holdings, a U.K. biotech firm. "You would have thought that if it was a dangerous technology, there would have been a slip up by now." Similarly, during the 2000 presidential campaign, then-candidate George W. Bush said that "study after study has shown no evidence of danger.

The company expects sales for the weedkiller to increase by more than half a billion dollars in the next few years, because it is developing genetically modified crops that will be resistant to glufosinate. The company says glufosinate is "environmentally friendly." The EPA, on the other hand, says it is toxic to many aquatic and marine invertebrates, even at very low concentrations.29 Glufosinate is water soluble and readily leaches into groundwater.

Four years later, nearly 100 million acres of genetically modified crops were planted worldwide, more than 70 million of them in the United States. By 2000, more than half of the American soybean and cotton crops and one-third of the corn crop were genetically engineered. By then, too, much of the Canadian canola (rapeseed) crop was also transgenic.4' For this rapid change to have occurred with a minimum of resistance from consumers, the FDA had to insist that genetically engineered foods not be labeled. It could not have happened if there had been labeling.

Food Politics Marion Nestle See book keywords and concepts

Although the company approved the program in advance, it is "innocent" of buying influence; Monsanto's funds go to the association, not directly to the speakers. If I refuse such invitations, I lose an opportunity to explain my views to an influential audience. If I decline the funding, I am out the considerable costs of travel and hotel accommodations. But if I accept the invitation, will my views be compromised by the sponsorship? Will I feel that I am being impolite if I criticize Monsanto for its opposition to labeling of genetically modified foods?

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ABOUT THE CREATOR OF NATURALPEDIA: Mike Adams, the creator of this NaturalNews Naturalpedia, is the editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's top natural health news site, creator of the Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org), a free downloadable consumer food guide based on natural health principles, author of Grocery Warning, The 7 Laws of Nutrition, Natural Health Solutions, and many other books available at www.TruthPublishing.com, creator of the earth-friendly EcoLEDs company (www.EcoLEDs.com) that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting products, founder of Arial Software (www.ArialSoftware.com), a permission e-mail technology company, creator of the CounterThink Cartoon series (www.NaturalNews.com/index-cartoons.html) and author of over 1,500 articles, interviews, special reports and reference guides available at www.NaturalNews.com. Adams' personal philosophy and health statistics are available at www.HealthRanger.org.