News regarding the dangers of GMOs and biotech, and the advantages of organic sustainable agriculture.
Are USDA Scientists Warning Public on Dangers of Glyphosate and GMOs Being Censored?
U.S. Right to Know sent letters today to the chairs and ranking members of the U.S. Senate and House Agriculture Committees, and to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, requesting an investigation of a possible cover up for Monsanto, and whether USDA scientists are being harassed when their work runs counter to the interests of the agrichemical industry.
Filipino Farmers Oppose GMO Rice: Challenge Foreign Lobbyists to Debate
Our opposition to Golden Rice and other GM crops are founded on solid arguments and actual experiences of Filipino farmers on GM crops. Filipino farmers who have been planting GM crops suffered negative income, health problems and poisoned environment.
Bad GMO Labeling Federal Law Expected Soon
A new bill to let food producers decide whether to label GMOs could prevent states from passing mandatory labeling laws. It’s expected to be introduced in the next few weeks—so we need to dissuade potential co-sponsors now! At the behest of the Monsantos and Cargills of the world, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) is expected to reintroduce his Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act in the next week or two. If passed, it would nullify the efforts of ten states that are currently considering bills to require the labeling of genetically engineered foods.
More Evidence that Herbicide Glyphosate Causes Cancer
Recently the U.S. mainstream media widely reported on a new study published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which evaluated 5 different insecticides and herbicides. The herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, was included in the report and was linked to cancer. Glyphosate is the most common and most heavily used herbicide or pesticide in the world. According to the IARC, cancer rates world-wide are expected to increase from 14 million in 2012 to 22 million within the next 2 decades.
Government Attacks Small Family Farm in Schenectady County New York
Why are police seizing perfectly healthy farm animals from a small family farm in Schenectady County New York?
93 Percent of the World’s Seeds Have Been Lost in the Last 80 Years
Seeds represent the foundation of life. We depend on them for food, for medicine and for our very survival. In many ways, you can trace the underpinnings of any given culture through the heritage of their crops and seeds. It wasn’t long ago when seeds were mostly the concern of farmers who, as the Worldwatch Institute put it, “were the seed producers and the guardians of societies’ crop heritage." But this is no longer the case. Once considered to be the property of all, like water or even air, seeds have become largely privatized, such that only a handful of companies now control the global food supply. Ninety-three percent of seeds were lost from 1903 to 1993. Just four agrichemical companies own 43 percent of the world’s commercial seed supply. The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership estimates that 60,000 to 100,000 plant species are in danger of extinction.
Wyoming Makes it Legal to Buy Food Directly from your Neighbors and Local Farm
In a win for farmers, deliciousness, and just plain common sense, Wyoming’s governor signed a bill this past week which will “stop overregulation of locally produced foods” by making it illegal for the state government to require “licensure, permitting, certification, inspection, packaging, or labeling” when farmers sell food directly to consumers. In practice, this means that farmers markets and small food stands will be able to proceed without the interference of government busybodies. As the bill explains, its purpose “is to allow for the sale and consumption of homemade foods, and to encourage the expansion of agricultural sales by farmers markets, ranches, farms and home based producers.” The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Tyler Lindholm, says it will “take local foods off the black market. It will no longer be illegal to buy a lemon meringue pie from your neighbor or a jar of milk from your local farm.”
Altered Genes, Twisted Truth—How GMOs Took Over the Food Supply
Although the US has the strictest food safety laws in the world governing new additives, the FDA has allowed GMOs to evade those laws. The sole purported legal basis for the marketing of GE foods in the United States is the FDA’s claim that they are Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) – a claim that is clearly fraudulent. Documents released as a result of a lawsuit against the FDA reveal that the agency’s scientists warned superiors that GE foods pose greater risks than conventional ones – but that their warnings were spurned and covered up. Monsanto could never have implemented their global food takeover strategy had the groundwork not been laid by the deceptions of a number of prominent molecular biologists that began during the 1970’s.
EPA Seeks Limits on GMO Corn as Pest Resistance Grows
U.S. regulators for the first time are proposing limits on the planting of some genetically engineered corn to combat a voracious pest that has evolved to resist the bug-killing crops, a potential blow to makers of biotech seeds. The measures proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency represent a bold step to thwart the corn rootworm, a bug that ranks among the most expensive crop threats to U.S. corn farmers.
Minnesota Aims to Fine Family $500 Per Day for Feeding Their Community
If the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) gets its way, Lake View Natural Dairy Farm, owned and operated by David and Heidi Berglund and their daughter Lyndsay, will be fined $500 per day until they submit to an unconstitutional inspection of their farm. When the farm briefly explored the possibility of selling milk for processing, this triggered a call to the MDA by the processor, and the MDA realized they had no record or control over this farm. On October 14, 2014 the MDA demanded to do an inspection of the farm, which the family refused on the grounds that the Minnesota Constitution acknowledges their right to peddle the products of their farm. Now, the MDA hopes to fine the small operation a crippling $500 per day after the March 9, 2015 hearing if they are found to be in contempt.
Tropical Traditions Announces First GMO-Tested and Glyphosate-Tested Corn Now Available
For the first time in over a year, Tropical Traditions is selling corn again. For the past few years, Tropical Traditions offered an open-pollinated organic heirloom corn and corn meal to its customers, grown by small-scale family farmers in Wisconsin. However, in the Fall of 2013, they found out that this corn had become contaminated with GMO DNA, and they were no longer able to offer it to their customers. Tropical Traditions has a ZERO tolerance level for the presence of GMOs and the herbicide glyphosate in their products. After much searching, the farmers in Wisconsin were able to purchase some seed corn for the 2014 crop that was open pollinated, and had tested to be free from GMO contamination. Knowing how far the wind can blow pollen from corn field to corn field, the farmers determined that simply shielding their corn from neighboring farms was not sufficient protection. Therefore, they calculated the time frame where they knew their neighbors' corn would be pollinating, based on when it was planted, and then planted their open pollinated GMO-tested corn at a later date, so that it would pollinate after the surrounding farms' cornfields were finished pollinating. In the Fall of 2014, this corn tested to be free of both GMOs and the herbicide glyphosate. It is now offered to the public, shipped direct from the farm as either whole kernel, or stone ground fresh into a corn meal.
Tropical Traditions Announces New Glyphosate-tested Program
Brian Shilhavy, CEO of Tropical Traditions, sent a letter recently to Tropical Traditions customers explaining why the company has had so many of its products out of stock or back ordered at the beginning of 2015. Tropical Traditions found out in late 2014 that much of the USDA certified organic wheat supply in North America was contaminated with residues of the herbicide glyphosate. Tropical Traditions has been in the process of testing all of its products for the presence of glyphosate since that discovery. Besides organic wheat and other organic grains that were tested positive for glyphosate and removed from the Tropical Traditions product line, they also tested and found glyphosate present in organic flax seeds, organic hemp, and organic freeze-dried strawberries. Products containing those ingredients are no longer available on the Tropical Traditions websites. Tropical Traditions also announced that they will be phasing out the USDA organic certification on its products, and replacing it with their new Healthy Traditions logos.
Small Raisin Farmers Stand Up to the USDA: Case to be Heard by U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has decided to hear an important property rights case involving raisin farmers who aren't allowed to keep and sell their own crop. Every year, their raisins are seized by a Depression-era bureaucratic organization called the Raisin Administrative Committee. "They want us to pay for our own raisins that we grew," says Raisin Valley Farms owner Marvin Horne. "We have to buy them back!" This is but one absurdity that Marvin and his wife Laura have faced during their decade-long legal battle with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Every year, the Hornes plant seeds, tie vines, harvest fruit, and place grapes in paper trays to create sun-dried raisins. And every year, the federal government prevents them from bringing their full harvest to market. Watch the video for the full background on the case and to see what it's like for farmers who have up to 47 percent of their crop seized every year.
A Roundup of Roundup® Reveals Converging Pattern of Toxicity from Farm to Clinic to Laboratory Studies
"We need to ban glyphosate from our own communities as most governments fail to protect citizens" - Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji, The Institute of Science in Society
Federal Government Annual Report on Pesticide Residues Excludes Glyphosate
The results of government testing of our foods for pesticide residues may not be quite what we expected. Every year the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) targets certain food materials which they consider high risks, collects samples from warehouses and storage facilities, and tests them for a wide array of pesticides they deem likely to be present. These Pesticide Data Program (PDP) reports are one of many taxpayer funded activities designed to fulfill the agency's congressional goals and mandates. The latest published report from December 2014 reveals that the world's most widely-used herbicide, glyphosate, was not even tested. Neither were wheat products grown in the U.S. With all the glyphosate studies showing microbiome impacts and chelation of toxic minerals (aluminum), why no sampling of glyphosate? Is cost really so prohibitive with our federal budget, while we see escalating chronic health problems? Or, are the chemical companies behind the most popular herbicide in the world putting pressure on the federal government not to do anything that would put a dent in the sale of their products?
Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Coming to Florida
Genetically engineered mosquitoes may be released in the Florida Keys in the next month or two. Oxitec, a British biotech company, plans to release an experimental mosquito population genetically engineered to combat dengue fever. This is especially unnecessary since there have been no cases of dengue fever reported in the Florida Keys since 2010. The company has been preparing for FDA approval to use Key West as a test population, which is expected to happen within the first two months of 2015.
MIT Researcher: Glyphosate Herbicide will Cause Half of All Children to Have Autism by 2025
For over three decades, Stephanie Seneff, PhD, has researched biology and technology, over the years publishing over 170 scholarly peer-reviewed articles. In recent years she has concentrated on the relationship between nutrition and health, tackling such topics as Alzheimer’s, autism, and cardiovascular diseases, as well as the impact of nutritional deficiencies and environmental toxins on human health. At a recent conference, in a special panel discussion about GMOs, she took the audience by surprise when she declared, “At today’s rate, by 2025, one in two children will be autistic.” She noted that the side effects of autism closely mimic those of glyphosate toxicity, and presented data showing a remarkably consistent correlation between the use of Roundup on crops (and the creation of Roundup-ready GMO crop seeds) with rising rates of autism. Children with autism have biomarkers indicative of excessive glyphosate, including zinc and iron deficiency, low serum sulfate, seizures, and mitochondrial disorder.
World War III in Hawaii Update: Maui GMO Ban Wins a Skirmish
As we reported in November, Maui residents successfully passed a ballot initiative banning new GMO crops in Maui County. The resolution passed by a slim margin, but Biotech giants Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences spent $8 million in a campaign to prevent the measure from passing. So while the margin of victory was small, the victory was HUGE! As soon it was obvious that the measure had been passed, Monsanto Hawaii filed a lawsuit in federal court to block the ban; and a preliminary injunction was granted by the court. Here in the second week of December, the grassroots organization in Hawaii called "SHAKA" has successfully filed a motion to become a party to the lawsuit Monsanto filed, and successfully moved the case to a different judge. The memorandum filed with the federal court appears to have been so compelling, that the existing judge, Judge Barry Kurren, really had no choice but to allow SHAKA to become a party to the lawsuit. Then they promptly booted Judge Kurren off the case. Kurren ruled earlier this year that county ordinances regulating GMO and pesticides on Kauai and the Big Island improperly preempted state law, which is probably why Monsanto and Biotech wanted him on this case as well. Read more about how getting SHAKA into this case is a victory for the people of Hawaii, for all of the U.S., and potentially for the rest of the world as well!
China Continues to Reject U.S. GMO Crops, Hurting U.S. Exports
Earlier in 2014 we reported how China had rejected over 1.45 million tons of U.S. corn because it was found to contain a variety of genetically modified corn that is not approved in China. Much of that corn export product went to Brazil instead, as the U.S. continues to lose exports abroad due to its biotech policies of not labeling GMOs. Now, the U.S. is losing another huge export crop from America: hay. China is taking a tough stance on GMO alfalfa, which means the United States loses yet another major export agricultural product to China in hay, a livestock feed.
Investigation: Largest Factory Farms Producing USDA Certified “Organic” Milk and Eggs
In what has been called one of the largest fraud investigations in the history of the organic industry, The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group, announced filing formal legal complaints against 14 industrial livestock operations producing milk, meat and eggs being marketed, allegedly illegally, as organic. After years of inaction by the USDA, Cornucopia contracted for aerial photography in nine states, from West Texas to New York and Maryland, over the past eight months. What they found confirmed earlier site visits: a systemic pattern of corporate agribusiness interests operating industrial-scale confinement livestock facilities providing no legitimate grazing, or even access to the outdoors, as required by federal organic regulations.