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.
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.
In honor of Donald Rumsfeld’s memoir, here’s another part of his legacy:
as president of G.D. Searle,
Rumsfeld got the FDA to approve aspartame
(aka Nutra-sweet, Equal, or Canderel),
shortly after Reagan was elected, despite massive evidence that it
caused cancer.
Don’t believe me,
listen to Mike Wallace:
“If Donald Rumsfeld had never been born think of how many millions of
people the world over would not suffer headaches and dizziness. Thousands
blind from the free methyl alcohol in aspartame would have sight,
and there would be much fewer cases of optic neuritis and macular
degeneration. Millions suffering seizures would live normal lives and
wouldn`t be taking anti-seizure medication that won’t work because
aspartame interacts with drugs and vaccines. Think of the runner, Flo
Jo, who drank Diet Coke and died of a grand mal seizure. She, no doubt,
would still be alive. Brain fog and memory loss, skyrocketing symptoms
of aspartame disease, would not be epidemic.”
What’s not opinion is that aspartame includes methyl acohol and other
toxic and carinogenic chemicals.
An insecticide used in genetically modified (GM) crops grown extensively
in the United States and other parts of the world has leached into the
water of the surrounding environment.
The insecticide is the product of a bacterial gene inserted into GM
maize and other cereal crops to protect them against insects such as
the European corn borer beetle. Scientists have detected the insecticide
in a significant number of streams draining the great corn belt of the
American mid-West.
The researchers detected the bacterial protein in the plant detritus that
was washed off the corn fields into streams up to 500 metres away. They
are not yet able to determine how significant this is in terms of the
risk to either human health or the wider environment.
Industrial ag is admitting that it needs to trash its neighbors and the
surrounding landscape to thrive. And it wants us to believe that there
are no alternatives.
His first example is Farm Bureau’s reaction to new EPA restraints
on chicken farm factories around Chesapeake Bay, then he gets to Monsanto:
Continue reading →
Monsanto’s Roundup, the agro-toxic companion herbicide for millions of
acres of GM soybeans, corn, cotton, alfalfa, canola, and sugar beets,
is losing market share. Its overuse has spawned a new generation of
superweeds that can only be killed with super-toxic herbicides such as
2,4, D and paraquat. Moreover, patented “Roundup Ready” crops require
massive amounts of climate destabilizing nitrate fertilizer. Compounding
Monsanto’s damage to the environment and climate, rampant Roundup use
is literally killing the soil, destroying essential soil microorganisms,
degrading the living soil’s ability to capture and sequester CO2,
and spreading deadly plant diseases.
In just one year, Monsanto has moved from being Forbes’ “Company
of the Year” to the
Worst Stock of the Year. The Biotech Bully of
St. Louis has become one of the most hated corporations on Earth.
The article mentions scientific studies about bad health effects
of genetically modified foods,
and goes on to warn of Monsanto maneuverings through the EPA
and the Gates Foundation.
Then he points to the European Union as leading the way:
Continue reading →
…Monsanto has been forced into the unenviable position of having to
pay farmers to spray the herbicides of rival companies.
If you tend large plantings of Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” soy or cotton,
genetically engineered to withstand application of the company’s Roundup
herbicide (which will kill the weeds — supposedly — but not the crops),
Monsanto will cut you a $6 check for every acre on which you apply at
least two other herbicides. One imagines farmers counting their cash as
literally millions of acres across the South and Midwest get doused with
Monsanto-subsidized poison cocktails.
The move is the latest step in the abject reversal of Monsanto’s longtime
claim: that Roundup Ready technology solved the age-old problem of weeds
in an ecologically benign way.
Roundup, trade name for glysophate, doesn’t work anymore because
the weeds mutated:
Continue reading →
Forbes made Monsanto the company of the year last year in The Planet
Versus Monsanto. I know because I wrote the article. Since then
everything that could have gone wrong for the genetically engineered
seed company….has gone wrong. Super-weeds that are resistant to its
RoundUp weed killer are emerging, even as weed killer sales are being
hit by cheap Chinese generics. An expensive new bioengineered corn seed
with eight new genes does not look impressive in its first harvest. And
the Justice Department is invesigating over antitrust issues. All this
has led to massive share declines. Other publications are making fun of
our cover story.
Maybe Forbes should improve its “invesigating” [sic] skills.
Doug Gurian-Sherman writes
No seeds, no independent research:
