By Clean Food Earth Woman May 18, 2012
What we don’t know is poisoning us. A few
weeks ago, I saw Jeffrey Smith, Founder of The Institute For Responsible
Technology (http://www.responsibletechnology.org/ ), featured speaker at last month’s April 21,
2012 Green Festival Conference at the Javits Center in Manhattan. Jeffrey began
by polling the crowd, asking with a show of hands, how high they would rate
themselves of their knowledge of GMO’s (genetically modified organisms). Most
people were in the category of Zero-20%, zero being on the lowest end of
knowledge, when he started his talk. A few hands went up for 80-100% right away, but most of the hands were in the lower 50th percentile.
He went on to explain findings as early as 1998 by U.K.’s Dr. Arpad Pusztai, on rats, yielding organ failure, farmer’s suicides,
cancers, and an explosion of allergic reactions, developmental and reproductive disorders, linked to GMO’s. He clearly defined how
livestock animals provided a choice between GMO and Non-GMO feed consistently
chose Non-GMO feed, and how the exposure of livestock animals grazing in GMO
fields has yielded 100% death rate after grazing, along with skin lesions and
other bodily skin and eye rashes. He identified 9 GMO food crops, the top two
of which are corn and soy, followed by sugar beets, and explained how they are
linked to dozens of human health and livestock disorders. When we eat the
livestock fed with these crops, we are eating all the chemicals and drugs these
animals were exposed to.
By the end of the talk, Jeffrey polled
the audience once more and asked how they rated themselves on their new
knowledge on GMO’s after the information he provided to them. The show of hands
was drastically skewed up into the 80-100% category for those who believed that
they were much better prepared to talk about GMO’s. This showed that over 50%
of the audience had gained vastly better knowledge in just these few minutes.
He also asked for a show of hands of those who would now avoid GMO’s, based on
his talk. The response was nearly at 100%. He asked how many would feel
comfortable telling their friends, co-workers and families about GMO’s, based
on this information. Again, this yielded a strong majority of those in the
80-100% category of those who are planning on telling others about GMO’s.
A
recent study conducted
by a German University found very high concentrations of Glyphosate, a carcinogenic
chemical found in herbicides like Monsanto’s Roundup ( http://naturalsociety.com/roundup/ ), in all urine
samples tested ( http://www.ithaka-journal.net/herbizide-im-urin ). This
news comes only one month after it was found that glyphosate,
contained in Monsanto’s Roundup, is contaminating the groundwater http://naturalsociety.com/monsantos-carcinogenic-roundup-herbicide-contaminating-water-supply/ ) in the
areas in which it is used. What does this mean? It means that toxic glyphosate
is now polluting the world’s drinking water through the
widespread contamination of aquifers, wells and springs.
Roundup Ready genes, the ONES SPICED INTO the cells of and SPRAYED ON GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) crops, no longer work. Resistant, stronger super weeds are taking over because their non-target natural predators have also been killed by these deadly chemicals. The remedy for super weeds? AGENT ORANGE 2,4D, and even deadlier chemical (YES....that's Vietnam War defoliant Agent Orange) This blanket poisoning is FDA and USDA approved as farmland and public health is being attacked. Why? The weeds that Roundup was supposed to kill have come back stronger than ever.
Glyphosate, a deadly
chemical component of Roundup, is also leaving behind its residue on
Roundup Ready crops, causing the now catastrophic Colony Collapse Disorder
(CCD) of bees (http://www.panna.org/sites/default/files/Bees&Pesticides_SOS_FINAL_May2012.pdf )and massive bat die-offs; both of which are
needed to pollinate food crops all around our planet. Glyphosate is now known to contributing to escalating rates of mental illness and obesity through
the depletion of beneficial gut flora that directly regulates these functions.
But it certainly doesn’t stop there.
These GMO crops, first introduced in 1996, have never been long term tested for environmental impact or human health damage. They all require deadly pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, by non-disclosure contracts the farmer keeps with sellers, such as Monsanto and Syngenta. And, by contracts, the farmer cannot use seed from last year to sow this year’s crop; the farmer is required by contract to buy new seeds or be sued.
These GMO crops, first introduced in 1996, have never been long term tested for environmental impact or human health damage. They all require deadly pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, by non-disclosure contracts the farmer keeps with sellers, such as Monsanto and Syngenta. And, by contracts, the farmer cannot use seed from last year to sow this year’s crop; the farmer is required by contract to buy new seeds or be sued.
Consider this: If you or I took a spin out on the local water body and were caught dumping a boatload of deadly chemicals into the water, what would happen to us? Would we be arrested and sent to the big house? What if that boatload of poison was the FDA, USDA approved Roundup used in GMO’s? Whether directly dumped into the bay or spliced into and sprayed over crops, it is all just plain deadly chemicals.
This
is 84% of what we find in grocery stores is made of un-labled GMO ingredients,
(along with many other chemicals and drugs, used in the production of GMO’s)
all over the nation. This is the state of our American food supply, and none of
it is required to be labeled by law. Is the message: If you’re gonna poison, poison BIG?
Sixteen years
into this genetic experiment, peoples all over the globe have banned GMO’s (http://naturalsociety.com/banned-in-27-countries-monsanto-rbgh-dairy-milk-products/ ). Why not the USA? Is it because Monsanto
spent $6.3 Million lobbying Congress in 2011, while enjoying over $11 Billion (yes,
that’s BILLION) profit that year?
Connecticut Governor
Molloy just caved on a Right to Know If It’s GMO law that 92% of the citizens
of his state demanded, claiming Monsanto would sue the state. Twenty States have
initiated Right To Know If It’s GMO Laws, and Monsanto is threatening to
sue them. Why? Because they have $6.3 M to lobby Congress and $11B (yes, that’s
still BILLION) to sue anyone they like. Like us. Polls all over the US show again
and again that 98% of Americans want these food ingredients labeled. Who do
Molloy and the rest of Congress work for, Monsanto or the 98% of us whose lives
they are voted in by us to protect?
There is a Right To Know if It’s GMO Ballot Initiative in California, The Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act that Californians will vote on in the November national elections. It took a million signatures to get it on the ballot. If voted for approval, California (8th largest economy in the world) will be the first state to demand by law that GMO ingredients in any food sold in that state – be labeled. If you know anyone in California, you can check and be sure they know about this law that will start the labeling ball rolling ( http://www.labelgmos.org/ ). We can call and write our elected representatives (one letter is considered to be the equivalent to the voices of 50,000 voters).
Biologist Dr.
Barry Commoner calls GMO’s, now writing a book on genetics, well into his 90’s,
thinks that GMO’s are the largest uncontrolled genetic experiment in the
history of mankind. Isn’t it time we demand the right to know and label these
ingredients so we have the choice whether or not to buy and eat GMO’s?
Source: http://southampton.patch.com/users/kathleen-furey/blog_posts
Hey, We've All Gotta Eat!
Source: http://southampton.patch.com/users/kathleen-furey/blog_posts
Hey, We've All Gotta Eat!
