The Big GMO Cover-Up
GMOs, Health & Disease — by Jeffrey M. Smith February 22, 2010
Something doesn’t quite add up about genetically modified (GM) foods.
It looks the same—the bread, pies, sodas, even corn on the cob. So much of what we eat every day looks just like it did 20 years ago. But something profoundly different has happened without our knowledge or consent. And according to leading doctors, what we don’t know may already be hurting us big time.
In May, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) publicly condemned genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our food supply, saying they posed “a serious health risk.” They called on the US government to implement an immediate moratorium on all genetically modified (GM) foods, and urged physicians to prescribe non-GMO diets for all patients.
Comments (14)Rude Awakening
GMOs, Health & Disease — by Jeffrey M. Smith February 17, 2010
Editor’s Note: After reading the post below, also check out Jeffrey’s new NonGMOShoppingGuide website, which will help you boycott GMO products in stores, so you can: 1) protect your health, and 2) bring down the industry that is threatening it.
A wise customer wanted to find out if the corn nuts she was eating were from genetically modified (GM) corn. She emailed the company and got a shocking reply. It began:
“Thank you for your contact. We are not aware of any GMO free corn in the U.S. We feel it is a ridiculous concern based on very poor science.”
The email, reproduced at the blog of Kelly the Kitchen Kop, even recommended:
“. . . if these concerns are truly important to you, you may be better served at a health food store.
We appreciate your patronage.
The Customer Support Team,
American Importing Co., Inc.”
Talk about being opinionated and misinformed.
Comments (2)Monsanto Pulls GM Corn Amid Serious Food Safety Concerns
GMOs, Health & Disease — by Dr. Brian John February 10, 2010
Applicant’s dossiers contained wide-ranging fraudulent research
For the first time, a GM multinational has pulled two GM corn varieties from the regulatory and assessment process at the eleventh hour (1), after planning for a future income of several billion dollars per year from global sales (2). Monsanto has abandoned its ambitious plans for a so-called “second generation GM crop” rather than accede to a request from European regulators for additional research and safety data (3).
Under conditions of great secrecy, Monsanto has informed EFSA that it no longer wishes to pursue its application for approval of GM maize LY038 and the stacked variety LY038 x MON810. Both of these varieties were designed to accelerate the growth rate of animals. Two letters were sent to EFSA from the Monsanto subsidiary company Renessen at the end of April this year confirming the withdrawal of its applications originally submitted in 2005 and 2006. The letters cite “decreased commercial value worldwide” and state that the high-lysene varieties “will no longer be a part of the Renessen business strategy in the near future.” (4) There has been no announcement of these decisions on the Monsanto web site, and there are no mentions on EFSA or European Commission web sites either. In other words, there is a conspiracy of silence involving both the applicants and the regulators.
Comments (2)Farmer Suicides and Bt Cotton Nightmare Unfolding in India
Economics, Food Shortages, GMOs, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton — by Dr. Mae-Wan Ho January 26, 2010
The largest wave of farmer suicides and an ecological nightmare are unfolding around Bt cotton. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho exposes the “fudged” data and false claims of ‘successes’ that have perpetrated the humanitarian disaster.
A fully referenced version of this report has been submitted to Shri Jairam Ramesh, Environment Minister of India, urging him to stop growing Bt cotton and other GM crops in India; it is posted on ISIS members’ website (details here) and can be downloaded here.
The Bt cotton killing fields
As the cotton growing season drew to a close in the state of Andhra Pradesh, farmer suicides once again became almost daily occurrences. Officially, the total number of suicides within a six-week period between July and August 2009 stood at 15, but opposition parties and farmers’ groups said the true total was more than 150 [1]. Opposition leader N. Chandrababu claimed in a speech that he had the names and addresses of 165 farmers who ended their lives because of the distress caused by the drought.
Comments (3)Monsanto’s GMOs Linked to Organ Failure, Study Shows
Consumerism, GMOs, Health & Disease — by Craig Mackintosh January 20, 2010
A recent study took data from ‘independent research’ conducted on behalf of Monsanto, and came to quite different conclusions than those of the Agri-giant.
French and European health authorities read Monsanto’s conclusions and gave the green light for the commercialisation of three new GMO strains. But, after some legal wrangling, French scientists secured the data from the aforementioned research and did their own statistical analysis – coming to quite different conclusions to Monsanto.
Comments (0)Everything You HAVE TO KNOW about Dangerous Genetically Modified Foods
GMOs, Health & Disease — by Craig Mackintosh January 10, 2010
Monsanto will be rubbing their hands together in tentative glee as the powers that be in the UK – who preside over a citizenry that traditionally reject GM crop ‘technology’ – try to scare everyone into surrendering to the mega-corp via their latest Food 2030 report.
Whilst a food crisis certainly threatens, adding to the crisis by planting GMOs all over ‘Ol Blighty would less than help.
For those not aware of the importance of battling GMOs every step of the way, I embed the clip below. Jeffrey Smith is the tireless foe of all things GM. He has accumulated considerable knowledge of the topic and works hard to spread this knowledge in every way possible. I would certainly recommend his books for a more detailed examination, but the video presentation here is an excellent intro to the topic to get you up to speed.
If you prefer to watch on YouTube, you can do so via these links:
Comments (8)The Looming Food Crisis and the ‘Food 2030′ Report
Consumerism, Deforestation, Economics, Food Shortages, GMOs, Global Warming/Climate Change, Health & Disease, Population, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh January 7, 2010
It can’t go on like this….
Not long ago I was standing in a bookshop, minding my own business, when a book title leapt out in front of me. The book was "History’s Worst Decisions and the People Who Made Them". It documents the sorry tales of dozens of people throughout history who, with the best of intentions, made some fascinatingly terrible choices.
Comments (6)Bayer Admits it is Unable to Control Spread of GMOs
GMOs, Health & Disease — by Craig Mackintosh December 15, 2009
Court case shows that all outdoors field trials or commercial growing of GE crops must be stopped before our crops are irreversibly contaminated.
GM Rice protest in India
We all know about Big Biotech suing over their ‘rights’ to intellectual copyright. Being little more than a decade since Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) started commercial-scale release, these companies have become powerful and arrogant in double-quick time as they’ve sought to make us all captive customers to their unnecessary and unwanted ‘products’. But, increasingly, farmers are deciding not to put up with their bullying and negligence any longer.
Today’s good news:
Comments (3)The Case of Syngenta: Human Rights Violations in Brazil – 2008
Consumerism, Deforestation, Economics, GMOs, Health & Disease, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton — by Craig Mackintosh December 7, 2009
 The Case of Syngenta: Human Rights Violations in Brazil – 2008 2mb PDF |
Switzerland is often portrayed as a clean, green, intelligent, peace-loving nation. Dramatic landscapes apparently have beautiful, golden, braided-haired women prancing about innocently picking flowers from hillsides dripping in milk, honey and chocolate.
But, the beauty of globalisation and the international food swap model is that the darker side of modern industry can be hidden away on the other side of the world. Embarrassing, incriminating activities can be kept separate from oompa loompaville, away from prying eyes and swept into the remotest places – where there are virgin soils still to be found and gorged upon, where environmental regulations are weak or nonexistent and where legal protection for indigenous people are disincentivised in the quest for profit and ‘development’.
The Swiss company Syngenta – one of the world’s largest transnational agribusiness corporations, one well-known for its production of agrochemicals and GM seeds – however, has still managed to attract attention to itself even in far away Brazil. Like with other agribusiness companies we could mention, competitiveness is key to success, and externalising costs – at any cost – is one of the best ways to achieve this.
I won’t give you a long treatise on the document embedded here, but leave you to peruse yourself. In it you will find details about illegal GMO and chemical polluting and the persecution and murder of the local people who were inconveniently protesting against the same. Syngenta stands accused of violating Brazil’s Federal Constitution, their environmental laws, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other national and international laws.
Further Reading:
Comments (1)Australians – Take Action on GMO Labelling
GMOs — by Craig Mackintosh October 30, 2009
Groups welcome food labelling review: call for better labelling
27 October 2009
from truefood.org.au
A coalition of groups including Greenpeace, the Food Intolerance Network and Friends of the Earth has welcomed the announcement of an independent review into food labelling.
The review was announced at the Food Regulation Ministerial Council meeting in Brisbane last Friday. The groups say Australian food labelling is much weaker than in European countries and that consumers have a right to meaningful information about the foods they are eating.
Take Action: make a submission to the review
Alarmingly, the Government is only allowing four weeks for public submissions. If you want better food labelling, you can email a personal submission by November 20th 2009 to FoodLabellingReview@health.gov.au
Comments (4)GM Crops – Failure to Yield Report
Economics, Food Shortages, GMOs — by Craig Mackintosh July 20, 2009
Seeking a technological food fix for world hunger may be… the most commercially malevolent wild goose chase of the new century. – Dr Richard Horton, editor of the British medical journal, The Lancet
 Failure to Yield (PDF) |
Some companies know how to make money out of any situation of great demand. Monsanto, and other biotech industries, are certainly among these. As of 2009, more than one billion people – almost a sixth of the world’s population – are going hungry every day. As we’re heading towards a head count of around 9.2 billion people by 2050, Monsanto is boldly standing forward, claiming that it has the answers to a growing food crisis that will otherwise get worse by the year. Monsanto has an advertising campaign running – promising more food, health and prosperity. They’re promising miracles through modern biotechnology. But, does it stand up to scientific scrutiny?
Comments (1)Monsanto Runs Into Wall. Yes!!
Consumerism, Food Shortages, GMOs, Health & Disease, News — by Craig Mackintosh June 27, 2009
 Say NO to Monsanto, GMOs, and the patenting of life |
The frustration about this company – Monsanto – and others like it has been running higher and higher over the last few years. (The free flow of information on the internet is a wonderful thing in this regard – corporate-bought media is no longer our only news option….) I think it may well be the most hated corporation on the web and on popular user-driven sites like Digg and Reddit. I would personally take great pleasure in seeing their buildings worldwide bulldozed and their fields razed – leaving behind only stone statue memorials that celebrate the greed and stupidity of man.
Today, however, I can share a beacon of hope. Read on!
Comments (18)Europe’s Uprising Against GMOs and Patents on Life
GMOs, Health & Disease — by Dr. Mae-Wan Ho June 22, 2009
The unstoppable groundswell of opposition to GMOs in Europe, by Dr. Mae-Wan Ho
The recent call for a moratorium on GMOs in Europe [1] (see Europe Holds the Key to a GM-Free World, 5th Conference of GM-Free Regions, Food & Democracy, SiS 43) reflects an unstoppable groundswell of opposition to GMOs from both European citizens and governments.
An online poll [2] on the question: “Should GMOs be banned in Europe?” conducted in April 2009 returned a 79 percent yes, 18 percent no and 3 percent don’t know. Days earlier, Germany outlawed the cultivation of Monsanto’s GM maize MON810, a surprising move that delighted campaigners. Germany became the sixth EU country to introduce a provisional ban on the GM maize, after France, Austria, Hungary, Luxembourg and Greece [3]. A source close to the EC said the German ban might bring a revision of the European legislation on GM crops. Germany also voted with the majority in March when the European Commission (EC) attempted to force Austria and Hungary to reverse their bans, and its ruling was overturned by a big majority [1].
Comments (5)Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Food
GMOs, Health & Disease — by Jeffrey M. Smith May 20, 2009
Immediate Moratorium on All Genetically Modified Foods Recommended
By Jeffrey M. Smith, executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, and author of the highly acclaimed Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette.
On May 19th, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on “Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks.” (1) They called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling. AAEM’s position paper stated, “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food,” including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. They conclude, “There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation,” as defined by recognized scientific criteria. “The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies.”
More and more doctors are already prescribing GM-free diets. Dr. Amy Dean, a Michigan internal medicine specialist, and board member of AAEM says, “I strongly recommend patients eat strictly non-genetically modified foods.” Ohio allergist Dr. John Boyles says “I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered, it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it.”
Comments (5)Monsanto Invents the Pig
GMOs — by Craig Mackintosh May 13, 2009
It’s amazing what humankind can do with a little effort and ingenuity. Who’d a thought we could create an intelligent, four legged creature with a curly tail, that actually walks and makes cute grunting noises?
Stand by to be horrified at the lengths Big Biotech will go to take over the world’s food supplies. You’ll also be shocked to learn that pig and cattle farmers are seeing their livestock go sterile due to giving them genetically modified feed.
Without further ado, I introduce Monsanto – the inventors of the pig….
Duration: 43 minutes
Comments (9)
