Big Processed Food Companies and GMO Seed Companies Spend Millions to Stop GMO Labeling

Voters in Oregon and Colorado will soon decide if genetically modified foods should be required to carry a label informing consumers that they are buying GMOs. If you live in either Oregon or Colorado, click on the appropriate Right to Know logo above to get more information. GMO seed companies and processed food companies have spent millions of dollars on negative campaigning in each of these two states to try and prevent these ballet measures from passing.

Organics Board to Review Rules for BPA, GMOs, and GMO Vaccines for Animals

The National Organic Standards Board will be meeting later this month to discuss and vote on fundamental issues that will determine the future of organic foods. They plan to research whether BPA in the packaging of organic food should be banned. They also will tackle cross-contamination of organic crops from GMO crops, and other thorny GMO issues. The deadline for comments is this week.

USDA Dietary Guidelines Nutritionist Condemns Coconut Oil

A PhD Nutritionist from Tufts University who is the Vice Chairman of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee for the USDA has come out and condemned coconut oil. Does being involved in research for GMOs, the soybean industry, and developing cholesterol guidelines used to sell statin drugs create any conflict of interest in her advice? Do you trust USDA dietary advice regarding edible oils?

USDA Approves Toxic Herbicide Amidst Great Public Outcry

Dr. Oz caused a lot of controversy last week when he aired a show titled: New GMO Pesticide Doctors Are Warning Against. The show was highlighting the recent USDA approval of Dow Chemical's herbicide "Enlist," which is expected to gain the approval of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This EPA approval would clear the path for the herbicide to begin being used on America's farmlands and crops. Dr. Oz apparently feels so strongly about this topic, and how toxic and dangerous this new herbicide is, that he reportedly did something he has never done before on his show: he encouraged his viewers and followers to take political action to try to stop the approval of this product from being used on food. He started a petition to President Obama on Whitehouse.gov, and by the end of the week it was well on its way to the required 100,000 signatures. The controversial herbicide by Dow contains 2,4-D, a highly powerful and toxic component that supporters of GMO crops now say is necessary due to the fact that super weeds have become resistant to Monsanto's Roundup containing glyphosate. If approved, it will enter the food supply and bring in potentially billions of dollars to Dow Chemical. So I asked Health Impact News investigative reporter John P. Thomas to research 2,4-D and write a report, as well as to educate us a bit about the approval process with the EPA to get new chemicals approved for use in the marketplace. What you will learn about 2,4-D, which is about to be approved to be sprayed on crops all throughout the U.S., will indeed shock you.

Changing to non-GMO Soy Transformed the Health of my Pigs

From the day that Danish pig farmer Ib Borup Pederson switched away from GM soy, his animals became healthier and more productive. Birth deformities reduced, sows became more fertile, medicine costs fell, and profits went up. The changes were linked to the reduction in the levels of the herbicide glyphosate in their feed.

GMO Golden Rice not so “Golden” After All: Farmers Call to Stop GMO Rice Trials

GM Golden Rice was developed at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines with the hope that it could provide more vitamin A through beta carotene. The project was a huge disaster, however, and basically shelved for years. But then Bill Gates came along, the college-drop-out-turned-billionaire who started Microsoft Corp., looking for something to spend his billions of dollars to promote. All of a sudden, with big money providing jobs to pursue a failed project, GM Golden Rice had new life. There's just one problem: the Asian farmers don't want it. Philippine farmers have called for a halt to field trials after very poor results, large debts, and a concern for their native rice seeds.

Are GMO Foods, Vaccines, and Big Pharma Producing an Infertile Generation?

The U.S. fertility rates are at all-time record lows. Are we watching the leading edge of a slowly moving tidal wave of infertility? I wasn’t sure what is really happening with human fertility until I took a hard look at the data and the science. I now believe that there is strong reason to be concerned about the emerging trend of infertility. What is causing the current generation of child-bearing aged adults to become infertile?

Russian Officials Approve Fines for Individuals and Businesses Failing to Label GMOs

While the heavily funded Biotech industry along with major processed food companies in the U.S. continue to oppose any form of labeling requirements to allow consumers information on whether or not a product contains genetically modified ingredients, Russia is moving in the opposite direction, and now approving fines for failing to warn consumers that their products contain genetically modified ingredients.

Genetically “Tweaked” Chickens Suffer from Lack of Fertility: Is the End of Commercial Poultry Near?

A Reuter's story recently reported that the world's largest chicken breeder is suffering from rooster infertility due to genetic manipulation. The popular Ross male breed of roosters is used to produce as much as 25 percent of the nation's chickens raised for meat (broilers). As a result, chicken production is down, and prices will continue to rise. So what are these "genetic manipulations" causing these problems? There is supposedly no GMO chicken in the market, but chicken genome has been mapped since 2004. Has the public actually been eating GMO chicken for some time now? What is the future of the commercial poultry industry and their factory birds?

U.S. Congress: Americans Are Too Stupid For GMO Labeling

The U.S. continues to be isolated around the world regarding their lax GMO labeling policy. We are losing millions of dollars in exports because countries such as China, Russian, Japan, Korea, and most of Europe will not buy our products if they are contaminated with GMOs. A recent Congressional meeting, however, concluded that the push to label GMO products in the U.S. was due to the ignorance of the American consumer. One has to wonder where the ignorance actually resides?

Oregon wants to Map GMO Farms, but Biotech Companies Refuse to Reveal Locations of GMO Fields

Kristina Bravo of Takepart.com is reporting that the State of Oregon is trying to take action to map GMO fields to protect their non-GMO and organic industry. Oregon has been hit especially hard in this area, as an Oregon farmer last year found an unapproved GMO variety of wheat growing in his field. This immediately resulted in several countries around the world that import U.S. wheat putting a halt on U.S. shipments due to their total ban on GMO wheat, hurting the export market for non-GMO wheat, such as the varieties grown in Oregon and Washington. Most of the world market has restrictions or out right bans on GMO products. Gov. John Kitzhaber is directing the State’s agriculture department to chart where genetically modified crops are grown, so non-GMO farmers can plan accordingly and seek to minimize the damage from cross contamination. However, producers of GMO seeds such as Monsanto and Syngenta do not publicly disclose their field locations. These companies repeat the USDA assertion that GMO farmers and non-GMO farmers can "co-exist" and that mapping is not necessary. Polls show that an overwhelming majority of American consumers want GMO products labeled, and producers of GMO products fully understand that if their products are labeled as GMO in the market place, consumers will not buy them. In addition, most of the rest of the world will not import them. Apparently the U.S. Government and the Biotech industry have taken it upon themselves to decide what is best for America and the rest of the world, and have no qualms with polluting the entire U.S. agricultural system with their genetically modified products.

Oregon Citizens Overwhelming Vote to Enforce Ban on Cultivation of GMO Crops

I think the citizens of Jackson County in Oregon have taken the right approach towards GMOs: forget about trying to force companies to label them, just ban them outright! Despite the flood of corporate money poured into two small Oregon counties, local residents voted to ban genetically engineered crops from being planted within their borders. Although Jackson County itself is home to less than 120,000 registered voters, the measure to ban genetically modified crops (GMOs) made headlines around the nation when it was revealed that large biotech companies like Monsanto were pouring about 1 million dollars into the area in order to affect the vote’s outcome.

Registered Dietitians Being Told that GMOs Are Safe and Gluten Intolerance Is a Fad

Picture yourself at a continuing education conference for professionals. In the morning, you grab a Hershey’s chocolate milk and head to a panel—sponsored by the Wheat Council—on how gluten intolerance is just a “fad.” After a lunch provided by McDonalds, you listen in on a discussion (hosted by the Big Food front group International Food Information Council) about how GMOs are perfectly safe and environmentally friendly. Was this a continuing ed conference for Big Food propagandists? Nope—Registered Dieticians at the annual conference of the California Dietetic Association.

Vermont Passes No-Strings-Attached GMO Labeling Law

Alliance for Natural Health reports that Vermont became the first state in the U.S. to pass a bill mandating that all GMO foods be labeled, with no other conditions (such as requiring other states to pass similar legislation.) The law will not go into effect until 2016, however, and you can be sure the anti-GMO labeling forces with large processed food companies will challenge this. National legislation on GMO labeling is already being proposed to pre-empt states rights to require GMO labeling, so we will keep our eye on this issue. Although Connecticut and Maine have already passed GMO labeling laws, Vermont’s bill is unique: unlike its New England neighbors, Vermont decided not to include a “trigger” provision in its bill. So while Connecticut’s and Maine’s bills won’t activate unless enough nearby states also pass GMO labeling laws, Vermont will immediately move forward with the labeling of GMO products.

Russia Bans Import of GMO Products – Promotes Organic Food

Russia will not import GMO products, the country’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said, adding that the nation has enough space and resources to produce organic food. Moscow has no reason to encourage the production of genetically modified products or import them into the country, Medvedev told a congress of deputies from rural settlements on Saturday. “If the Americans like to eat GMO products, let them eat it then. We don’t need to do that; we have enough space and opportunities to produce organic food,” he said.

EPA Approves Bt Residues in Soy Foods from GM Crops as Legal

In what could easily be classified as one of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) worst decisions yet, a final rule released by the EPA earlier this month creates an exemption for residue tolerance levels of genetically modified (GM) Bt toxin in GM soy foods and feed. Essentially, the Agency has approved unlimited residues of GM Bt toxin in your food!

Monarch Butterfly Numbers Drop to Lowest Level Since Records Started – GMO Crops Blamed

The monarch butterfly — an orange and black icon that is Minnesota’s state insect — is facing dire population declines that have resulted in the smallest wintertime habitat since surveys began in 1993, an international team of conservation scientists warned Wednesday. This year, conservationists say the area where the butterflies winter in Mexico was reduced by 44 percent, to just 1.7 acres. Karen Oberhauser, a University of Minnesota entomologist who’s spent 30 years studying the butterflies, says the expansion of genetically modified crops in the Corn Belt is the primary culprit behind precipitous monarch declines over the past three years. These crops allow farmers to use herbicides later in the growth cycle, which has led to vast reductions in native milkweed and nectar plants that the butterflies rely on during the breeding cycle. The monarch’s decline may be an indicator of larger ecological problems, she said. “What is happening to monarchs is also happening to many other uncounted organisms — organisms whose loss would be equally tragic,” Oberhauser said.

Stop the GMO Apple

If you haven’t heard, apples are the single most popular fruit served in school lunchrooms across the U.S. and a fruit so iconic it was the fruit that inspired Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity and the heartbeat of the phrase, "as American as apple pie"! Tragically, a Canadian firm has created a new GMO apple, using a new “gene silencing” technique that could interfere with the expression of genes in humans, even silencing vital human genes, potentially causing serious health problems. Right now, the Obama administration is considering the approval of the world’s first genetically engineered apple, known as the ArcticApple®, which has been engineered to silence the natural browning enzyme that may help apples fight disease and pests.

Dow Chemical Readies for a New Era of Superweeds – By Getting USDA to Approve Older Toxic Pesticide for GMO Seeds

One of the empty promises originally made when genetically modified technology was developed was that crops would need fewer pesticides. More than ten years later, however, we are seeing that not only have the genetically modified seeds developed resistance to pesticides, but so have many weeds, as we are seeing a new breed of superweeds that are resistant to Monsanto's glyphosate (Round-up Ready). Now, Dow Chemical has petitioned U.S. regulators to allow them to use an older pesticide on their genetically modified corn and soybean seeds, 2,4-D, which was part of the infamous "Agent Orange". Agent Orange was the Vietnam War defoliant that was blamed for numerous health problems suffered during and after the war. Although the main health effects of Agent Orange were blamed on the other component of the mixture (2,4,5-T) and dioxin contamination, critics say 2,4-D has significant health risks of its own. Earlier this month (January 2014), the USDA gave Dow Chemical the green-light to proceed after issuing an Environmental Impact Statement.

GMO Golden Rice: Myth, not Miracle

Wheat is a main staple in the diet of many cultures, and hence getting approval to grow GM wheat is one that has eluded Monsanto and others until now. Once released into the environment, there is no turning back. Last year it was reported that some GM wheat had turned up in a farmer's field in Oregon, the result of a field trial years earlier. But so far, there is no evidence that there has been widespread "drift" from GM wheat trials. One grain that is a staple in more people's diets than even wheat, is rice. Like wheat, the trend towards developing new breeds of GM rice have been rather cautious, knowing how many people in the world's population can be affected once the crop is out in the wild. GM Golden Rice was developed with the hope that it could provide vitamin A through beta carotene, but the project was a huge disaster and basically shelved for years. But then Bill Gates came along, the college drop out billionaire that started Microsoft Corp., looking for something to spend his billions of dollars to promote. All of a sudden, with big money providing jobs to pursue a failed project, GM Golden Rice has new life. Thanks to GM Watch, we have some real information about Golden Rice, and its danger to Asia and the rest of the world.