Huber was unavailable to respond to media inquiries in the weeks following
the leak, and thus unable to defend himself when several colleagues
from Purdue publicly claiming to refute his accusations about Monsanto’s
widely used herbicide Roundup (glyphosate) and Roundup Ready crops. When
his letter was finally acknowledged by the mainstream media, it was
with titles like “Scientists Question Claims in Biotech Letter,” noting
that the letter’s popularity on the internet “has raised concern among
scientists that the public will believe his unsupported claim is true.”
Now, Huber has finally spoken out, both in a second letter, sent to “a
wide number of individuals worldwide” to explain and back up his claims
from his first letter, and in interviews. While his first letter described
research that was not yet complete or published, his second letter cited
much more evidence about glyphosate and genetically engineered crops based
on studies that have already been published in peer-reviewed journals.
They also said that consumers should thoroughly wash fruits
and vegetables; go beyond a quick rinse and use a soft brush, if
practical. Consumers could also consider buying organic produce when
possible as a way to reduce pesticide exposure from food, they said.
“I’m concerned about people not eating right based on the results of
this study,” said Eskenazi. “Most people already are not getting enough
fruits and vegetables in their diet, which is linked to serious health
problems in the United States. People, especially those who are pregnant,
need to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.”
Fortunately, you can buy local and organic food around here,
at
Fiveash Grocery in Hahira and at
Whisk in Valdosta.
Some people didn’t like the source of a recent post about
the toxic effects of agrochemicals and GM plants on the environment,
plants, animals, and people.
There are plenty of other sources, including:
Especially
vote at the checkout counter.
If you don’t know it’s local and non-GMO, don’t buy it.
There may be no labelling laws, but local supermarkets know what’s local.
If 1 PPM glysophate can kill a human fetus within 12 hours,
where are the right-to-lifers on this?
In
this radio interview,
a farmer gives his view of Monsanto’s strategy and tactics
for infesting farmland and the food supply even more with
their poisons, after they already feed poisoned hay to cows
which concentrate it in their milk which is in children’s
milk and ice cream.
There are only two applications that have been commercialized
in these twenty years of genetic engineering.
One is to make seeds more resilient to herbicides,
which means you get to spread more Roundup,
you get to spread more Glysophate,
and you get to spread more poison.
Not a very desirable trait in farming systems.
Especially since what Monsanto will call weeds
are ultimately sources of food.
It gets even better from there.
These are illusions that are being marketed
in order for people to hand over the power to decide what we eat
to a handful of corporations.
Multibillion-dollar agricultural corporations, including Monsanto and
Syngenta, have restricted independent research on their genetically
engineered crops. They have often refused to provide independent
scientists with seeds, or they’ve set restrictive conditions that severely
limit research options.
In case you wondered why all the research seems to come from other countries,
such as Argentina and France, as shown in this
documentary from Germany?
Well, now you know.
Jill Richardson
publishes a letter
from Col. (Ret.) Don M. Huber,
Emeritus Professor, Purdue University,
who is
APS Coordinator, USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System (NPDRS).
It begins:
Dear Secretary Vilsack:
A team of senior plant and animal scientists have recently brought to
my attention the discovery of an electron microscopic pathogen that
appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals, and
probably human beings. Based on a review of the data, it is widespread,
very serious, and is in much higher concentrations in Roundup Ready (RR)
soybeans and corn-suggesting a link with the RR gene or more likely the
presence of Roundup. This organism appears NEW to science!
Camano Island is NW of Everett, Washington, and this article is from 2002,
responding to an article in the local paper there. -jsq
Commentary
A Call for Skepticism
by Steven K. Roberts
Camano Island
If ever we needed a demonstration that the fundamental flaw in many
arguments is a lack of discrimination regarding information sources,
we have it in the Nels Konnerup article, “Toxicology 101 Defended,”
in the March 26 issue of the S/C News.
The author makes a “plea for cogent thought, rather than a visceral
reaction to the use of pesticides and herbicides,” and cites a number of
references “authored by highly qualified and respected scientists.” So
far, so good.
But just for fun, I spent a few minutes researching some of these sources
to see if I could determine the affiliations and biases of their authors.
Dr. Stanley Culpepper of UGA Tifton says 52 counties have the mutant pigweed.
He says they’re looking at cover crops and deep turning.
(You may know that as plowing.)
He hastily adds that they’re looking at other herbicides.
But he wraps up by saying we have to look at other methods
than herbicides: tillage and cover crops.
He frames it as diversity and integration.
What it really means is spraying poisons eventually
breeds weeds that refuse to be poisoned.
People, of course,
are not so lucky.
The documentary points out many products in German stores that
include GM soy.
In Argentina, it’s even worse, with increasing numbers of birth defects.
They interview
Prof. Andrés Carrasco about his research on amphibians:
“The hemispheres do not separate, like you can see here.
If you look closely you can see one brain.
Glyphosate can cause this kind of mechanisms, for it is an enzymatic toxin.”
“To human cells glyphosate is already toxic in a very low dose.
A farmer uses a much higher dose on the field.
Roundup is even more toxic than glysophate,
for that is only one of the ingredients in Roundup.”
Roundup says none of this applies to humans and Roundup is safe.
Seralini
says:
Who should you believe?
A corporation repeatedly convicted of deception,
or scientists who say that GM crops
cause liver and kidney damage in animals,
according to research using Monsanto’s own data.
Huber was unavailable to respond to media inquiries in the weeks following the leak, and thus unable to defend himself when several colleagues from Purdue publicly claiming to refute his accusations about Monsanto’s widely used herbicide Roundup (glyphosate) and Roundup Ready crops. When his letter was finally acknowledged by the mainstream media, it was with titles like “Scientists Question Claims in Biotech Letter,” noting that the letter’s popularity on the internet “has raised concern among scientists that the public will believe his unsupported claim is true.”
Could this silence of the press be because
only five companies own more than half of all the media in the U.S.?
Let’s not forget the legal system is also complicit,
given the
Fox-can-lie case.
Some people didn’t like the source of a recent post about
the toxic effects of agrochemicals and GM plants on the environment,
plants, animals, and people.
There are plenty of other sources, including:
