India Parliament Recommends a Ban on GMO Crops

[konchog uma]

...and appears likely to label GMO products in stores.

 

interesting article for those of you following food safety

 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_26204.cfm

[thelerner]

I have mixed feelings about it. We've been hugely modifying food for a millenia, just not in a lab. It's a tool, used well it can increase vitamin levels in food, preventing many diseases and blindness, increase protein, provide better yields. It is a Frankenstein technique, but the rewards of doing it well for humanity are great. We should be careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water due to fear.

 

If that means only allowing non profits who'll carefully regulate and distribute gains to society, I'm okay with that approach. It'd nice to see cuts in military going towards intelligent Genetic Modification, cause I get the feeling food and water may be at the heart of next couple conflicts.

[konchog uma]

GM is basically being used not to solve world hunger and starvation but to make crops sterile (creating dependancy on the corporations each year for new seeds) and to make them resistant to pesticides, like monsanto's roundup

 

Earth Open Source published a range of reports earlier this year showing that glyphosate, the active ingredient in round-up, has caused birth defects in lab animals in very small doses, and these fruits and vegetables are being made to withstand very large doses.

 

glyphosate has also been associated with many other serious illnesses, and GM foods haven't lowered food prices or made food available to regions which need it in the least. Soybeans are now 16usd/lb, before GM they never rose above 8

 

if these corporations were using their technology to save people from hunger and starvation, i would be inclined to support their work. But instead its poison for profits, corporate greed at its worst. That is what india (and everyone concerned with GM ethics) is against, not the rights of scientists to tinker with genomes.

 

So the hyperbole is that GMO will save the world.. lol well why do you suppose that all their seeds are sterile?

[konchog uma]

fyi when pesticides are sprayed on crops, 80% of that chemical bath ends up in the soil and massive doses end up in the tissue of the crops themselves. So its not something you can wash off in your kitchen sink. Its basically the choice between organic food and food saturated with neuro-toxins (almost all the active ingredients in pesticides fall into this category)

 

no thanks

[JustARandomPanda]

Thanks Anamtava.

 

I've been part of the "Just Label It" campaign that's being circulated on the web this year. I'm not hopeful that we'll get any action simply because it's an election year.

 

Another problem with GMO crops: Thanks to the heavy spraying of a certain pesticide on GMO crops the U.S.'s bee population has plummeted.

[Seth Ananda]

I am amazed that with all the crap Monsanto is getting away with.

And do the 'crazies' out there only seem to shoot people like John Lennon...?

[konchog uma]

sure thing sereneblue

 

when i see honeybees nowadays, i am soooo happy!! it makes my day

 

does "just label it" center around california prop. 37? i guess i could search.. i think i will

 

edit: http://justlabelit.org/ , thanks SB

Edited September 7, 2012 by anamatva

[thelerner]

GM is basically being used not to solve world hunger and starvation but to make crops sterile (creating dependancy on the corporations each year for new seeds) and to make them resistant to pesticides, like monsanto's roundup

 

if these corporations were using their technology to save people from hunger and starvation, i would be inclined to support their work. But instead its poison for profits, corporate greed at its worst. That is what india (and everyone concerned with GM ethics) is against, not the rights of scientists to tinker with genomes.

 

So the hyperbole is that GMO will save the world.. lol well why do you suppose that all their seeds are sterile?

Good point, screw Monsanto. There is some serious government/university work being done on unlocking the true benefits of GM. And that research has to kept funded, legal and above ground.

Edited September 8, 2012 by thelerner

[eye_of_the_storm]

I am amazed that with all the crap Monsanto is getting away with.

And do the 'crazies' out there only seem to shoot people like John Lennon...?

 

[eye_of_the_storm]

No one does it better than Nature - so leave her the fk alone.

 

IMO

[konchog uma]

http://www.carighttoknow.org/tumors?utm_campaign=tumors&recruiter_id=3483&utm_medium=email&utm_source=prop37

 

An alarming new study released today shows that a variety of corn engineered by Monsanto has been linked to mammary tumors, kidney and liver damage and other serious illnesses in the first ever peer-reviewed, long-term animal study of GMO foods.

As a result of the massive breast tumors, liver and kidney damage, it was concluded that around 50% of the males and 70% of the female test subjects died prematurely, compared with only 30% and 20% in the control group. By two years of age, at the end of their lives, the scientists also found that 50 to 80% of female rats had tumors, compared to only 30% of those eating non-GM food.

[JustARandomPanda]

More interesting info

 

Who Owns Organic?

 

Chart of Organic Brand Owners

 

Chart of Businesses Fighting Prop 37 vs Businesses Supporting it

 

Peer-Reviewed Study in Food and Chemical Toxicology

 

a b s t r a c t

The health effects of a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize (from 11% in the diet), cultivated

with or without Roundup, and Roundup alone (from 0.1 ppb in water), were studied 2 years in rats. In

females, all treated groups died 2–3 times more than controls, and more rapidly. This difference was visible

in 3 male groups fed GMOs. All results were hormone and sex dependent, and the pathological profiles

were comparable. Females developed large mammary tumors almost always more often than and

before controls, the pituitary was the second most disabled organ; the sex hormonal balance was modified

by GMO and Roundup treatments. In treated males, liver congestions and necrosis were 2.5–5.5

times higher. This pathology was confirmed by optic and transmission electron microscopy. Marked

and severe kidney nephropathies were also generally 1.3–2.3 greater. Males presented 4 times more large

palpable tumors than controls which occurred up to 600 days earlier. Biochemistry data confirmed very

significant kidney chronic deficiencies; for all treatments and both sexes, 76% of the altered parameters

were kidney related. These results can be explained by the non linear endocrine-disrupting effects of

Roundup, but also by the overexpression of the transgene in the GMO and its metabolic consequences.

 

Latest news:

 

Corporations owning some of the nation's most popular organic brands (Horizon, Silk, Kashi, Cascadian Farms, R.W. Knudsen's, etc.) have joined Monsanto and the biotechnology industry in fighting California citizen initiative, Proposition 37, that will mandate GMO labeling . And if we win in California, companies will then likely be forced to label GMOs nationwide.

 

And

 

Monsanto just gave an additional $2.89 million to defeat Proposition 37, which would require labeling of genetically engineered foods in California. Monsanto’s total contribution against Proposition 37 now stands at $7.1 million, according to campaign finance disclosure records filed with the California Secretary of State.

 

Other major pesticide companies also just made major additional contributions to defeat Proposition 37, including DuPont ($874,800), Dow AgroSciences ($815,200), Bayer CropScience ($381,600), BASF Plant Science ($357,700) and Syngenta ($178,700).

 

“Monsanto wants to buy this election so they can keep hiding what’s really in our food,” said Gary Ruskin, campaign manager of the Yes on Proposition 37 campaign. “They are on the losing side of history. Californians want the right to know what’s in our food, and we will win it.”

 

The “Big 6″ pesticide firms (Monsanto, DuPont, Bayer, Dow, BASF and Syngenta) have contributed $19 million of the $32 million that the No on 37 campaign has raised.

[RiverSnake]

I did a a research paper on the loss of genetic diversity in agriculture for a class a few semesters back....it really is a mind boggling topic.

 

-My 2 cents, Peace

Edited September 20, 2012 by OldGreen

[gendao]

As a result of the massive breast tumors, liver and kidney damage, it was concluded that around 50% of the males and 70% of the female test subjects died prematurely, compared with only 30% and 20% in the control group. By two years of age, at the end of their lives, the scientists also found that 50 to 80% of female rats had tumors, compared to only 30% of those eating non-GM food.

The pictures from these rats fed Monsanto's GM maize say it all!

Thanks Obama!!! I'm sure your healthcare government takeover will be just as beneficial to us all, too!

[JustARandomPanda]

Also wanted to point out that Monsanto has been genetically engineering crops since 1985 - when President Reagan was still in office. It's been trucking along with it's GMO programs ever since under both Democratic and Republican administrations *and* Congresses. Monsanto knows how to survive and thrive no matter who controls the White House and Congress.

[Aetherous]

when i see honeybees nowadays, i am soooo happy!! it makes my day

 

A bit off topic, but in case you didn't know yet, they (the smart people) pretty much figured out the problem...

 

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/04/09/mystery-of-the-disappearing-bees-solved/

 

Nice to know, hopefully they (the powerful smart people) are doing something about it.

 

...

 

About the rat study, this article provides a balancing point of view. They basically say that the study wasn't good enough scientifically. I don't personally have an opinion except, "why can't we just grow and eat normal food?"

[zerostao]

http://www.surthrival.com/portfolios/surthrival-seed-can/

[konchog uma]

interesting site zerostao

[konchog uma]

scotty i don't have much to offer to that counter-article about the rat study except to ask why these critics aren't involved in their own studies of GMO food? This is the first study in 15 years that hasn't been junk science cooked up by Monsanto, Dow, or any of the offending biotech corporations. Why isn't there grant money for this work? Makes one wonder what they're hiding

 

...whats he building in there...

 

anyway

 

that article could have been funded by a biotech fund for all we know. I guess there will just have to be more studies, and that they will have to be impeccable!

 

Til the results are in to the satisfaction of the science police, i am (as i have for years) buying only organic food, drinking only spring and purified water, and severely limiting how often i eat at restaurants. Support your local food co-op!

[GrandmasterP]

Everything we veggies eat is GM via selective breeding. What's done for Indian farmers is biogenetic F1 hybridised seed especially rice. By the third season they have no money for seed.

The old varieties ensured a food crop plus next year's viable seeds. Bio-GM hybrids are sterile on the crop plant hence once they go with those they become locked into Big-Agri as a dependant customer. It has taken years and the suicides of countless impoverished farmers for the Indian govrnment to wake up to this.

[gendao]

Also wanted to point out that Monsanto has been genetically engineering crops since 1985 - when President Reagan was still in office. It's been trucking along with it's GMO programs ever since under both Democratic and Republican administrations *and* Congresses. Monsanto knows how to survive and thrive no matter who controls the White House and Congress.

True, but my point is that Obama is no more "progressive" here than any other mainstream puppet...AND in fact, has actively ENABLED Monsanto under his reign!

In the first three years of the Obama Administration, 10 different genetically engineered crops, and even a genetically modified animal, have been approved by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), according to Food & Water Watch. All without a single shred of proof that these foods are actually safe for long-term consumption (or in the case of today's children – lifetime consumption). Could this have anything to do with the fact that highly influential people within the USDA were previous employees of, or have other personal ties to, Monsanto?

 

The Secretary of Agriculture is Tom Vilsack, a strong Monsanto supporter selected by President-elect Obama in 2008.11 As governor of Iowa, Vilsack frequently traveled in Monsanto's private jets, and was named Governor of the Year by the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

 

The director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture is Roger Beachy, a former director of the Monsanto Danforth Center.

 

The General Counsel for the USDA is Ramona Romero, who came straight from DuPont, another major biotech company with GE crop patents, where she held a number of key positions, including Corporate Counsel for complex commercial and antitrust litigation, and Corporate Counsel and Manager of Operations and Partnering.

 

Even the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has old ties to Monsanto via the Rose Law firm.