New Bill for Monsanto is a U.S. & Canadian Food Nightmare? In the House Agriculture Committee’s 2012 Farm Bill, a dangerous set of policy riders favoring Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) crops could create serious risks to farmers, the environment, and public health. On July 10, 2012 a report by Alliance for Natural Health alerted the public to these two riders that would eliminate all meaningful review of the effect that GMO crops may have on our environment or our health. If passed, these riders would outlaw any review of GMO crop impacts based on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), or any other environmental law. Read more... Alliance for Natural Health has urged citizens around the country to contact their Senators and Representatives to voice their concerns.
Monsanto’s Dirty Dozen | GMO Awareness When you take a moment to reflect on the history of product development at Monsanto, what do you find? Here are twelve products that Monsanto has brought to market. See if you can spot the pattern… #1 – Saccharin Did you know Monsanto got started because of an artificial sweetener? After mounting pressure from consumers, the Calorie Control Council, and manufacturers of artificial sweeteners and diet sodas, along with additional studies (several conducted by the sugar and sweetener industry) that reported flaws in the 1970s studies, saccharin was delisted from the NIH’s Carcinogen List. #2 – PCBs During the early 1920s, Monsanto began expanding their chemical production into polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to produce coolant fluids for electrical transformers, capacitors, and electric motors. After another decade of studies, the truth could no longer be contained: the U.S. #3 – Polystyrene #4 – Atom bomb and nuclear weapons #6 – Dioxin #7 – Agent Orange (Think that can’t happen here? P.S.
Former Monsanto Employee Exposes Fraud Damian writes: "Azevedo has since left the chemical industry and now calls for the enforcement of GE labeling laws." By Sarah Damian, Food Integrity Campaign 14 July 12 his week the Food Nation Radio Network interviewed former Monsanto employee Kirk Azevedo about his concerns with the leading biotech company's practices, a timely interview as the battle over genetically engineered (GE) food regulation continues on a state, national, and international scale. Azevedo graduated with a biochemistry degree from California Polytechnic State University and started working for the chemical industry doing research on Bt (or Bacillus thuringiensis) pesticides. Azevedo recalls his disillusionment: I saw what was really the fraud associated with genetic engineering: My impression, and I think most people's impression with genetically engineered foods and crops and other things is that it's just like putting one gene in there and that one gene is expressed.
Occupy Monsanto | Monsanto’s Roundup Shown to be Ravaging Butterfly Population By Mike Barrett for NaturalSociety Monsanto’s Roundup, containing the active ingredient glyphosate, has been tied to more health and environmental problems than you could imagine. Similar to how pesticides have been contributing to the bee decline, Monsanto’s Roundup has been tied to the decrease in the population of monarch butterflies by killing the very plants that the butterflies rely on for habitat and food. What’s been shown to be an even greater threat to the population, though, is Monsanto’s Roundup Ready corn and soybeans. Roundup Ready Crops and Glyphosate Leading to Downfall of Insect Populations A 2011 study published in the journal Insect Conservation and Diversity found that increasing acreage of genetically modified Roundup Ready corn and soybeans is heavily contributing to the decline in monarch butterfly populations within North America . “This milkweed has disappeared from at least 100 million acres of these row crops ,” said Dr.
Monsanto's Roundup: Good or Bad? By Dr. Mercola An Illinois beekeeper whose bee hives were stolen and allegedly destroyed by the Illinois Department of Agriculture has stirred up a hornet's nest with his questions on why the state did this, and most importantly, what they did with his bees.The state claims the bees were destroyed because they were infected with a disease called foulbrood. But when the 58-year apiary keeper had his hearing—three weeks after the removal of his bees without his knowledge—the state's "evidence" had disappeared, leaving more questions than answers about the raid on the beekeeper's hives. Some people, including the beekeeper, Terrence Ingram, suspect the raid has more to do with Ingram's 15 years of research on Monsanto's Roundup and his documented evidence that Roundup kills bees, than it does about any concerns about his hives. Interestingly, the state's theft targeted the queen bee and hive he'd been using to conduct the research. The Ingram Case "I own four businesses. ...
Occupy Monsanto | Why genetically engineered food is dangerous: New report by genetic engineers Aren’t critics of genetically engineered food anti-science? Isn’t the debate over GMOs (genetically modified organisms) a spat between emotional but ignorant activists on one hand and rational GM-supporting scientists on the other? A new report released today, “GMO Myths and Truths”,[1] challenges these claims. The report presents a large body of peer-reviewed scientific and other authoritative evidence of the hazards to health and the environment posed by genetically engineered crops and organisms (GMOs). Unusually, the initiative for the report came not from campaigners but from two genetic engineers who believe there are good scientific reasons to be wary of GM foods and crops. One of the report’s authors, Dr Michael Antoniou of King’s College London School of Medicine in the UK, uses genetic engineering for medical applications but warns against its use in developing crops for human food and animal feed. Notes A shorter summary version will be released in the coming weeks.
Roundup Is More Toxic than Declared - Prof. Gilles-Eric Seralini | GMO EVIDENCE In a new research paper published in the high ranked scientific journal Toxicology, Robin Mesnage, Benoît Bernay and Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini, from the University of Caen, France, have proven (from a study of nine Roundup-like herbicides) that the most toxic compound is not glyphosate, which is the substance the most assessed by regulatory authorities, but a compound that is not always listed on the label, called POE-15. Find It Here: sciencedirect.com Ethoxylated adjuvants of glyphosate-based herbicides are active principles of human cell toxicity Abstract: Pesticides are always used in formulations as mixtures of an active principle with adjuvants. Authors R.
Monsanto Loses $2 Billion Judgment to Brazilian Farmers Varma reports: "Five million Brazilian farmers have taken on US-based biotech company Monsanto through a lawsuit demanding return of about 6.2 billion euros taken as royalties from them." By Subodh Varma, The Times of India 12 June 12 ive million Brazilian farmers have taken on US based biotech company Monsanto through a lawsuit demanding return of about 6.2 billion euros taken as royalties from them. In April this year, a judge in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, ruled in favor of the farmers and ordered Monsanto to return royalties paid since 2004 or a minimum of $2 billion. Monsanto has appealed against the order and a federal court ruling on the case is now expected by 2014. About 85% of Brazil’s massive soyabean crop output is produced from genetically engineered seeds. Farmers say that they are using seeds produced many generations after the initial crops from the genetically modified Monsanto seeds were grown. “Monsanto gets paid when it sell the seeds.
How Corporations Like Monsanto Have Hijacked Higher Education | Food Photo Credit: Shutterstock/mostafa fawzy May 11, 2012 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. Here’s what happens when corporations begin to control education. "When I approached professors to discuss research projects addressing organic agriculture in farmer's markets, the first one told me that 'no one cares about people selling food in parking lots on the other side of the train tracks,’” said a PhD student at a large land-grant university who did not wish to be identified. Unfortunately, she's not alone. A report just released by Food and Water Watch examines the role of corporate funding of agricultural research at land grant universities, of which there are more than 100. The report found that nearly one quarter of research funding at land grant universities now comes from corporations, compared to less than 15 percent from the USDA. Influence does not end with research funding, however.