A new study reveals that Roundup herbicide enhances the growth of aflatoxin-producing fungi, lending an explanation for the alarming increase in fungal toxins recently discovered in U.S corn, and revealing another way in which GM farming is seriously undermining food quality and our health.
If beer companies actually told us what was in their products, would some of their labels say, “Brewed with pure Rocky Mountain spring water, GMO corn syrup, and fish bladder”? If you like to kick back now and then with a cold one, you may not have given much thought to what’s in the bottle or can. Rather than containing the pristine mountain spring water and healthy barley swaying in the breeze that we are shown in advertisements, the list of real beer ingredients is far less appetizing. But you’re unlikely to see any of these industrial-sounding ingredients on a label, because listing ingredients in beer is voluntary.
StarLink™ maize, the first genetically modified organism to be pulled off the market over a decade ago due to safety concerns, was recently found to be contaminating food products in Saudi Arabia. Does this mean that an illegal form of GM corn is still being produced in the US? And if so, renewed testing of US corn-containing products intended for human consumption both domestically and abroad should be initiated immediately.
Monsanto is the world leader in GM crops, and their website would have you believe that they are the answer to world hunger. Thanks to their heavy PR campaign, if you’ve been primarily a reader of the mainstream press, you’ve probably been misled into thinking GM crops are, in fact, the greatest thing since sliced bread, that they provide better yields of equal or better quality food, pest and weed resistance, reduced reliance on pesticides, and more… But thankfully, the truth is unfolding and the tide is finally beginning to turn. The Organic Prepper recently highlighted 10 GM myths that Monsanto wants you to believe … but which are actually far from the truth.
The research department of the General Commission for Sustainable Development (CGDD) Department of Ecology issued a call for the establishment of a consortium under the research program Risk'OGM, a national research program on the environmental and health risks of GMOs. "The purpose of this call for the creation of a consortium is to investigate the health effects of long-term consumption of GMOs," announced the ministry, which added that the grant to the consortium will be "in the order of 2.5 million euros." Meanwhile, France's last-remaining experimental open field trial of GMOs in France has been stopped. The National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA) ended the trial by destroying 1000 GM poplars that have grown since 1995 in Saint-Cyr-en-Val, near Orléans (Loiret), a research site of 1300 square meters.
Government ministers are demanding that ordinary families should abandon their reluctance to eat genetically modified food, however they are banned from restaurants in the Houses of Parliament.
Genetically modified salmon are more dangerous than anyone had realized. It’s now proven beyond doubt that they can interbreed with not only wild salmon, but also trout. Worse, the result is offspring that grow even faster than their parents and can outcompete them by a huge amount.
Papaya also known as papaw or tree melon, is cultivated worldwide in the tropics and subtropics with well over 7 million tons produced globally. Due to their high levels of vitamins and certain enzymes (papain) papayas have been considered a ''wonder fruit'', especially for the digestive tract. However, genetically modified (GM) papayas are approved for cultivation in the US and for consumption in the US and Canada, but not Europe. South American countries are a fairly safe haven for organically grown papayas, so consumers may wish to read the labels to confirm the source (while you still can).
The J.R. Simplot Company, giant potato supplier for McDonald’s, has spent years working on the perfect potato. Its new genetically engineered trait (which will be offered in five different varieties of potatoes) is up for USDA approval. These potatoes will be used as frozen fries, potato chips and shoestrings, which make up approximately 50 percent of the potato market in the United States. The USDA will be seeking comments until July 2nd.
The United Nations established the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1962. Over the years, Codex has been embroiled in controversy for a number of reasons, but now our investigations show that Monsanto―one of the world’s largest producers of genetically-modified seeds―is behind a significant number of front groups that control Codex policy. Most recently, more than 50 industry trade groups formed a new alliance called Alliance to Feed the Future. These groups represent multi-national food, biotech, and chemical companies that generate hundreds of billions of dollars-worth of revenue each year. They aim to become the go-to source for “real” information about the junk being sold as “food”.
African farmers’ movements and civil society groups have rejected the G8’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition as part of a “new wave of colonialism” targeting their food systems for corporate profit. The African statement accuses the G8 of supporting multinational corporations like Yara, Monsanto, Syngenta, Cargill in their quest to privatise African agriculture: “Private ownership of knowledge and material resources (for example, seed and genetic materials) means the flow of royalties out of Africa into the hands of multinational corporations.” The statement calls for alternative strategies to protect sustainable agricultural techniques already in development across Africa which put household food security before corporate profits.
It’s good news/bad news in Connecticut for GMO labeling advocates this week, where the state Senate voted 35-1 in favor of SB 802, a GE labeling bill that ANH-USA helped draft. After the Senate passed the bill, the Connecticut House accepted an amendment from Governor Dan Malloy and Speaker Brendan Sharkey, despite strong protest from advocates, that weakened the bill. On the federal level, the Sanders amendment to the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013, which would have permitted states to require the labeling of GMOs, failed with a vote of 71-27.
Pesticides? Yes. GMOs? Maybe. Hormones? Maybe not. ANH-USA’s executive and legal director, Gretchen DuBeau, was a member of the US delegation to the Codex Committee of Food Labeling (CCFL), which met in Canada last week. We were honored to bring the voice of the consumer to the table at Codex, especially since it is otherwise heavily influenced by big corporate interests. At this meeting, four areas of concern were discussed: GMO labeling; Whether the pesticide ethylene may be used on organic produce; Organic standards for aquaculture and seaweed; and Biofortification of grains.
The Monsanto Protection Act is set to expire at the end of September, with the temporary spending measure, but might be rolled in to the next one if we don’t act now. Senator Jeff Merkley is planning to introduce an amendment to the upcoming Senate Farm Bill which would repeal the provision. If we can we get rid of it now, it would be a signal from the American people that nothing like this sneak provision, stuck without warning into must-pass, unrelated legislation, should never again be attempted.
Shareholders of Abbott Laboratories voted April 26 on whether the company should adopt a non-GMO policy for its products, which include one of the nation’s leading infant formula brands, Similac. In the week prior to the vote, The Cornucopia Institute initiated a petition drive, in support of As You Sow, the shareholder activism group that filed the resolution, to collect signatures urging Abbott to remove GMOs from its infant formula. In just a week’s time, we collected nearly 15,000 signatures. What was the outcome of the vote? A paltry 3.21% of Abbott Laboratories shareholders voted in favor of the non-GMO policy. “While this might appear to be a low vote, historically resolutions on GMOs take time to build momentum,” said Andrew Behar.
This report provides yet another distressing example of how Monsanto and its ilk have a stranglehold over the global food supply and how it does everything it can — including influence U.S. diplomacy — to silence people who only want to make informed choices about the food they feed their families. An overwhelming number of farmers in the developing world reject biotech crops as a path to sustainable agricultural development or food sovereignty. The biotech agriculture model using costly seeds and agrichemicals forces farmers onto a debt treadmill that is neither economically nor environmentally viable. Biotech Ambassadors: How the U.S. State Department Promotes the Seed Industry’s Global Agenda examines more than 900 State Department diplomatic cables from 2005 to 2009 and details how the U.S. State Department lobbies foreign governments to adopt pro-agricultural biotechnology policies and laws, operates a rigorous public relations campaign to improve the image of biotechnology and challenges commonsense biotechnology safeguards and rules — including opposing genetically engineered (GE) food labeling laws.
I retired 10 years ago after a long career as a research scientist for Agriculture Canada. When I was on the payroll, I was the designated scientist of my institute to address public groups and reassure them that genetically engineered crops and foods were safe. There is, however, a growing body of scientific research - done mostly in Europe, Russia, and other countries - showing that diets containing engineered corn or soya cause serious health problems in laboratory mice and rats.
U.S. GMO food labeling drive has biotech industry biting back - New efforts to force labeling of foods made with genetically modified crops, including a bill introduced by U.S. lawmakers Wednesday, have struck a nerve with biotech crop developers who say they are rushing to roll out a broad strategy to combat consumer concerns about their products.
The bill has some teeth. The question is whether it has legs. The Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act was introduced last Wednesday in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The US is the world’s largest sugar producer. The US Department of Agriculture makes loans every year to processors of domestically grown sugarcane and sugar beets. Over 50% of the sugar is from GMO sugar beets. Last October, sugar processors borrowed $862 million from the USDA. The loans did little to keep sugar prices high, however: they have fallen 18% since October. Sugar processors are afraid they’ll have to default on their loans, which could result in $80 million in losses to the USDA’s price support program. USDA is considering helping them out once again—this time by buying 400,000 tons of sugar, just so they can pay back their loan!
