EFSA Discovers Hidden Virus Gene VI in GMO Crops - Sparks Global Health Scare! A hidden viral gene, from cauliflower mosaic virus, has been discovered by EFSA (the European Food Safety Authority) in GMO crops, which has caused shockwaves across the World.
How should a regulatory agency announce they have discovered something potentially very important about the safety of products they have been approving for over twenty years? In the course of analysis to identify potential allergens in GMO crops, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has belatedly discovered that the most common genetic regulatory sequence in commercial GMOs also encodes a significant fragment of a viral gene (Full Scientific Paper Here: Podevin and du Jardin 2012). This finding has serious ramifications for crop biotechnology and its regulation, but possibly even greater ones for consumers and farmers. This is because there are clear indications that this viral gene (called Gene VI) might not be safe for human consumption. Ken Cook: Another Environmentalist Apologizes Over GMOs.
I need to start by publicly apologizing for not engaging in the debate over genetically engineered crops, technically, genetically modified organisms or GMOs, until two years ago.
When I co-founded the Environmental Working Group in 1993, Mark Lynas was ripping up farmers' crops. Back then I dismissed people like Lynas, then affiliated with those who criticized GMOs. Their attacks did not seem grounded in science and did not approach our very real food and farming challenges with the same research-based intellectual rigor that we practice at EWG. Nor did I fight beside smart organizations like the Environmental Defense Fund, Consumers Union and the Center for Food Safety to make the scientific case to the federal Food and Drug Administration in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
We should have persevered even when FDA decisions left advocates with no way to raise scientific objections, as we do with pesticides. At the time, it seemed quixotic to campaign against GMOs. Monsanto i EBRD srpski.pdf. European public development money for Monsanto? Whatever next?! The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development considers supporting one of the most criticised and controversial corporations on the planet, Monsanto.
Reasons for deciding against it are plenty. Original image by Adrian Kenyon (Creative Commons BY-NC) Amidst the media frenzy around the US Presidential election last week, the news that Californians would at the same time be voting whether to introduce labelling of genetically modified food in their state – so-called Proposition 37 - hardly reached this side of the Atlantic. In the event, even though polls show no less than 91 percent of American voters (pdf) back labelling of GMO food, Proposition 37 narrowly failed to gain a sufficient number of votes to pass into law. Why? Monsanto lead the charge against GMO food labelling in California (Source: Food Democracy Now) According to the EBRD, there will be no GMOs involved, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Monsanto to receive huge government bailout from European Union. (NaturalNews) After unloading tens of millions of dollars to defeat the historic California Proposition 37 to label genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), biotechnology abomination Monsanto is now set to receive a multi-million dollar bailout from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a London-based financial group connected to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to cover a slew of financial losses incurred by the evil corporation throughout Europe.
This shocking news comes to us via Next News Network in Boston and our own featured talk show host and health advocate Robert Scott Bell, who was recently interviewed on the network's WHDT World News Program. The whole charade is a nauseating replay of the so-called "too big to fail" financial bailouts of 2008, which were initiated following the subprime mortgage collapse that helped trigger the largest economic fallout in the U.S. in nearly 100 years. Sources for this article include: Monsanto Cucumbers Cause Genital Baldness. A six-month study by AgriSearch, an on-campus research arm of Dalhousie University, has shown that genetically modified (GM) cucumbers grown under license to Monsanto Inc. result in serious side effects including total groin hair loss and chafing in “sensitive areas”, leading to the immediate and total ban of sales of all that company’s crop and subsequent dill pickles.
The tracking study of 643 men and women in Nova Scotia came about after reports began to surface about bald field mice and the bald feral cats that ate them being discovered by farmers on acreages growing the new crop. “The bald wild animals raised a huge flag and we immediately obtained subpoenas for the medical records of all 600 plus adults who took part in focus groups and taste tests of the cucumbers by Monsanto in Canada,” said Dr. Nancy Walker, Director of Public Health Research at Dalhousie. “Fully 3/4 of the people who ate these cukes had their crotch area hair fall out. Mr. GMO Myths and Truths. Genetically modified (GM) crops are promoted on the basis of a range of far-reaching claims from the GM crop industry and its supporters. They say that GM crops: Are an extension of natural breeding and do not pose different risks from naturally bred crops Are safe to eat and can be more nutritious than naturally bred crops Are strictly regulated for safety Increase crop yields Reduce pesticide use Benefit farmers and make their lives easier Bring economic benefits Benefit the environment Can help solve problems caused by climate change Reduce energy use Will help feed the world.
However, a large and growing body of scientific and other authoritative evidence shows that these claims are not true.