News regarding the dangers of GMOs and biotech, and the advantages of organic sustainable agriculture.
Methyl Iodide Pesticide Regulation to Have Negative Health Impact says DPR’s Own Scientist
Fuming: Bill Monning, center, with (from left) Paul Towers of Pesticide Watch, California State Grange President Bob McFarland and Dolores Huerta Foundation Vice President Sal Alvarez. Sara Rubin
By Sara Rubin
Monterey County Weekly
Science was “subverted” in the state Department of Pesticide Regulation’s approval of the strawberry fumigant methyl iodide, and its use is likely going […]
Researcher: Roundup or Roundup-Ready Crops May Be Causing Animal Miscarriages and Infertility
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
One of the nation’s senior scientists alerted the federal government to a newly discovered organism that may have the potential to cause infertility and spontaneous abortion in farm animals, raising significant concerns about human health. Dr. Don Huber, professor emeritus at Purdue University, believes the appearance […]
GM Crops Still a Tiny Part of World Agriculture – Declining in Europe and China
by GMWatch
*GM crops occupy just 3% of global agricultural land according to industry data released today.
The Annual ISAAA report on the status of GM crops around the world show a total area of 148 million hectares which represents just 3% of all the world’s agricultural land. Seventy percent of the increase in 2010 is […]
EPA Rejects Immediate Action On Pesticide Toxic To Bees
by Beyond Pesticides
(Beyond Pesticides, February 23, 2011) In response to a request by beekeepers and environmentalists to remove a pesticide linked to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a letter, defended the pesticide clothianidin and the scientific study in question which was identified by beekeepers as a critically flawed study. […]
Pesticides on fruits and vegetables damage men’s fertility
by FIONA MACRAE
Daily Mail
Pesticides found on fruit and vegetables could be doing untold damage to male fertility, research suggests.
Thirty of 37 crop chemicals tested interfered with the action of testosterone, the sex hormone critical to a healthy male reproductive system.
Worryingly, 16 of the 30 had not previously been linked with hormone disruption.
Read the Full […]
Control over your Food: Why Monsanto GMO Seeds are Undemocratic
by Christopher D. Cook
The Christian Science Monitor
Question: Would you want a small handful of government officials controlling America’s entire food supply, all its seeds and harvests?
I suspect most would scream, “No way!”
Yet, while America seems allergic to public servants – with no profit motive in mind – controlling anything these days, a knee-jerk faith […]
Paraguay’s GM Soy Crop Destroying Farmer’s Lives Due to Poisoning by Agrochemicals
by Friends of the Earth
Paraguay’s soy harvests a new set of victims
22 February 2011
Paraguay’s soy harvest is in full swing, and with it comes disturbing news of poisoning by agrochemicals.
On Friday 7 January, 17 inhabitants of ‘Colonia Yeruti’ a small community near Canindeyu in Eastern Paraguay were taken to hospital.
They were suffering […]
Michael Pollan sheds light on approval of GMO foods and lack of labeling
Dish on GMOs
Michael Pollan, food activist and author, sheds light on the Dept. of Agriculture’s approval of GMO foods and lack of labeling on food themselves on the The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC.
Source: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2011/feb/21/dish-gmos/
GM in your cornflakes? Food fears as U.S. approve new genetically engineered maize
By Sean Poulter
MailOnline
Breakfast cereals, including corn flakes, bread and snacks are under threat after the US authorities approved the growing of a new GM maize.
The warning is significant because it comes from the North American Millers’ Association, a food industry trade body, rather than green campaigners.
Read the Full Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1359109/GM-cornflakes-Fears-U-S-approve-new-engineered-maize.html#ixzz1EcAakXw8
Monsanto, Dow to begin pushing dangerous 2,4-D herbicide as ‘solution’ to superweeds
by Jonathan Benson
NaturalNews
(NaturalNews) It is something that many farmers of genetically-modified (GM) crops are already trying to do and failing to succeed in, but that the chemical companies responsible for the problem may soon be pushing as an alleged “solution.” The Dow Chemical Company has sponsored a study that aims to position the […]
Alfalfa Farmer Sues Monsanto
by Cassandra Anderson
Phil Geertson is a conventional alfalfa seed grower who has been involved in efforts to stop GE (genetically engineered) alfalfa since 2003 resulting in a Supreme Court decision in 2010 on Forage Genetics/Monsanto’s GE alfalfa.
Mr. Geertson began his career as a Registered Civil Engineer but later changed his life’s work to farming […]
Why Aren’t G.M.O. Foods Labeled?
Health Impact News Comment:
Mark Bittman of the New York Times has written a good commentary on the labeling of GMO foods. While pointing out that foods in Europe containing more than 0.9 percent G.M.O.’s must be labeled, he concludes:
“A majority of our food (here in the US) already contains G.M.O.’s, and there’s little reason […]
Oregon Department of Agriculture demands eradication of escaped GMO bentgrass
By MITCH LIES
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba has asked The Scotts Co. and USDA to reveal their plans for eradicating genetically modified bentgrass that escaped several years ago from Idaho trials sites into Eastern Oregon.
Read the Full Article Here: http://www.capitalpress.com/oregon/ml-coba-letter-021111
GMO Crops: Biotech Companies Block Independent Research
Health Impact News Editor Comments:
The Los Angeles Times has printed a very good op-ed article today by Doug Gurian-Sherman, a plant pathologist and senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington. He correctly points out how biotech companies can legally block independent research on the safety and efficacy of genetically modified seeds, […]
Vilsack clears industrial biotech corn for ethanol – Angers food companies
by Philip Brasher
DesMoinesRegister.com
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today approved a biotech corn variety that was engineered solely for producing fuel ethanol. Companies that mill corn for breakfast cereals and other foods have been fighting the move for fear the grain will contaminate their supplies.
Read the Full Article here: http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/02/11/vilsack-clears-industrial-biotech-corn/
Raging Debate in Australia as Monsanto’s GE Crops Contaminate Organic Farms
Illustration: Harry Afentoglou
by Elizabeth Farrelly
The Sydney Morning Herald
The West Australian Minister for Agriculture, Terry Redman, wants to redefine “organic” to accommodate genetic engineering. Well he might wish it, since the legal battle brewing there over contamination of organic crops by genetically modified ones could easily blow right back onto his turf. Far scarier, […]
STOP GMO Campaign – BILL C-474 in Canada
by CitizensForRealFood
About 30 people, comprised of a few families and friends from an elementary school in Toronto, gave their time and skills to this project with the goal of informing Canadians of the growing prevalence of GMO’s in Canada. Bill C-474 proposes to create a regulatory obstacle to any futher approval of GMO seeds […]
Seventeen Agrifood Giants and Bill Gates Want to End Poverty: What’s Their Motive?
Onward Corporate Food Crusaders!
by Eric Holt Gimenez
Huffington Post
Excerpt from this article:
Seventeen agrifood monopolies (ADM, BASF, Bunge, Cargill, The Coca-Cola Company, DuPont, General Mills, Kraft Foods, Metro, Monsanto Company, Nestlé, PepsiCo, SABMiller, Syngenta, Unilever, Wal-Mart Stores and Yara International) rolled out a new report financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation […]
Monsanto Linked Seed Companies to Avoid
by FarmerCathy
Mothering.com Forums
I was thinking we should make a list and have it as a sticky so we could make it easier to avoid these seed companies if you so desire.
To give a little background about Monsanto if you don’t already know. They develop and sell GMO (genetically modified organisms) seeds. Seeds that […]
Friends of Family Farmers Introduce Food Bill in Oregon
by Taylor Leake
As anyone who frequents this site knows, our food system is becoming increasingly industrialized, with factory farms quickly replacing family and small-scale farms at a frighteningly fast pace. Using cheap and environmentally harmful farming practices and friendly government policies, massive corporate farming operations are wiping thousands of small farmers off the map (just like Walmart […]