Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Former Pro-GMO Scientist Speaks Out About GMO Dangers


Former Pro-GMO Scientist Speaks Out About GMO Dangers

Elizabeth Renter
by 
November 10th, 2013
Updated 11/11/2013 at 11:13 am
gmo quote 217x220 Former Pro GMO Scientist Speaks Out About GMO Dangers
Image from gmosummit.org.
As mounting evidence shows genetically modified foods have dangerous health and environmental repercussions, the number of scientists willing to step forward and speak out against them is similarly growing. Dr. Thierry Vrain is just the latest of many scientists to buck Monsanto and their hired goons, changing his stance on GMOs and shouting their dangers to anyone that will listen.
Dr. Vrain is a former research scientist for Agriculture Canada. It was his job as scientist of his institute to address the public and others, assuring them of the safety of genetically engineered crops and foods. Now, 10 years after his retirement, he’s changed his tune.
“In the last 10 years I have changed my position. I started paying attention to the flow of published studies coming from Europe, some from prestigious labs and published in prestigious scientific journals, that questioned the impact and safety of engineered food."

"I refute the claims of the biotechnology companies that their engineered crops yield more, that they require less pesticide applications, that they have no impact on the environment and of course that they are safe to eat.”

The studies commissioned by Monsanto understandably come to the conclusion that genetically modified foods and crops are both safe for the environment and safe for people. They are commissioned by the people who want that outcome. Studies from objective researchers, however, often come to very different conclusions. Read: 800 Scientists Demand Global ‘GMO Experiment” to End Vrain says we should take these studies seriously and demand that our governments replicate the studies rather than take the word of biotech giants like Monsanto. 

“The Bt corn and soya plants that are now everywhere in our environment are registered as insecticides. But are these insecticidal plants regulated and have their proteins been tested for safety? Not by the federal departments in charge of food safety, not in Canada and not in the U.S.” Long-term feeding studies on these foods simply don’t exist. 

We do, however, have studies that indicate disastrous outcomes in rats, where animals fed genetically engineered foods die prematurely. Vrain argues that the entire paradigm of genetic engineering being used in GMO technology is flawed. “Genetic engineering is 40 years old. It is based on the naive understanding of the genome based on the One Gene – one protein hypothesis of 70 years ago, that each gene codes for a single protein. The Human Genome project completed in 2002 showed that this hypothesis is wrong.”

Researchers like Dr. Vrain come forward to voice their opposition to genetically modified foods, we can hope governments and consumers alike will pay attention and demand accountability from corporations like Monsanto.


Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/former-gmo-advocate-speaks-dangers/#ixzz2kRjMtVc4
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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Walk the Walk Talk the Talk - Halloween Goodies...

We who have taken a responsive role in assuring the well being of our children are indeed to walk the walk, talk the talk,  and provide healthy treats to our children. And so this posted at my door this very day... Organic goodies the mantra of the day...


Ghosts and Goblins and Spooky hoots
Halloween does bring
But a sweet goodness treat
Awaits when this door bell you ring.
Happy Happy Halloween. 


Thursday, September 26, 2013

Friday, July 19, 2013

UPDATE ~ JUST LABEL IT!

GMO In the Know - July 19th, 2013

The Natural Products Association, which represents more than 2,000 health food, supplement and beauty companies, has officially endorsed bipartisan legislation to label genetically engineered foods, introduced by Senator Boxer and Rep. DeFazio earlier this year.  The NPA is the first of its kind to endorse GE labeling legislation, citing the bill as "an important first step to address this issue that is very important to the everyday consumer." Read More >>

I-522, a ballot inititiative in Washington State to require labeling of genetically engineered foods, has already garnered strong public support and funding from organic and liberal groups. However, the same agribusiness and food industry giants that defeated Prop 37 in California last year are beginning to pour money into an opposition campaign, creating what looks to be another David vs. Goliath battle. Read More >>


Both Connecticut and Maine recently passed labeling legislation; however, in order to enact the laws, surrounding states, such as New York, will have to follow suit. A public hearing has been scheduled for the end of the month by New York's Assembly Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection to debate a bill that would require manufacturers to label genetically engineered products. Read More >>



Facing tight restrictions on genetically engineered foods in the European Union, Monsanto will be withdrawing its requests for approval of seven GE maize, soybean and sugar beet crops in the coming months. Only three GE varieties have ever been given the green light for cultivation in the E.U. According to a Monsanto spokesperson, the company plans to instead focus on securing approval for GE imports to Europe from the U.S. Read More >>  



Information source: http://justlabelit.org/

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

As Reported by, The Top Information Post: "Russia Warns Obama: Monsanto".


Russia Warns Obama: Monsanto


"The shocking minutes relating to President Putin’s meeting this past week with US Secretary of State John Kerry reveal the Russian leaders “extreme outrage” over the Obama regimes continued protection of global seed and plant bio-genetic giants Syngenta and Monsanto in the face of a growing “bee apocalypse” that the Kremlin warns “will most certainly” lead to world war.

According to these minutes, released in the Kremlin today by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation (MNRE), Putin was so incensed over the Obama regimes refusal to discuss this grave matter that he refused for three hours to even meet with Kerry, who had traveled to Moscow on a scheduled diplomatic mission, but then relented so as to not cause an even greater rift between these two nations.

At the center of this dispute between Russia and the US, this MNRE report says, is the “undisputed evidence” that a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically related to nicotine, known as neonicotinoids, are destroying our planets bee population, and which if left unchecked could destroy our world’s ability to grow enough food to feed its population.

So grave has this situation become, the MNRE reports, the full European Commission (EC) this past week instituted a two-year precautionary ban (set to begin on 1 December 2013) on these“bee killing” pesticides following the lead of Switzerland, France, Italy, Russia, Slovenia and Ukraine, all of whom had previously banned these most dangerous of genetically altered organisms from being used on the continent.

Two of the most feared neonicotinoids being banned are Actara and Cruiser made by the Swiss global bio-tech seed and pesticide giant Syngenta AG which employs over 26,000 people in over 90 countries and ranks third in total global sales in the commercial agricultural seeds market.
Important to note, this report says, is that Syngenta, along with bio-tech giants Monsanto, Bayer, Dow and DuPont, nowcontrol nearly 100% of the global market for genetically modified pesticides, plants and seeds.

Also to note about Syngenta, this report continues, is that in 2012 it was criminally charged in Germany for concealing the fact that its genetically modified corn killed cattle, and settled a class-action lawsuit in the US for $105 million after it was discovered they had contaminated the drinking supply of some 52 million Americans in more than 2,000 water districts with its “gender-bending” herbicide Atrazine.
To how staggeringly frightful this situation is, the MNRE says, can be seen in the report issued this past March by the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) wherein they warned our whole planet is in danger, and as we can, in part, read:

“As part of a study on impacts from the world’s most widely used class of insecticides, nicotine-like chemicals called neonicotinoids, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has called for a ban on their use as seed treatments and for the suspension of all applications pending an independent review of the products’ effects on birds, terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, and other wildlife.

“It is clear that these chemicals have the potential to affect entire food chains. The environmental persistence of the neonicotinoids, their propensity for runoff and for groundwater infiltration, and their cumulative and largely irreversible mode of action in invertebrates raise significant environmental concerns,” said Cynthia Palmer, co-author of the report and Pesticides Program Manager for ABC, one of the nation’s leading bird conservation organizations.

ABC commissioned world renowned environmental toxicologist Dr. Pierre Mineau to conduct the research. The 100-page report, “The Impact of the Nation’s Most Widely Used Insecticides on Birds,” reviews 200 studies on neonicotinoids including industry research obtained through the US Freedom of Information Act. The report evaluates the toxicological risk to birds and aquatic systems and includes extensive comparisons with the older pesticides that the neonicotinoids have replaced. The assessment concludes that the neonicotinoids are lethal to birds and to the aquatic systems on which they depend.
“A single corn kernel coated with a neonicotinoid can kill a songbird,” Palmer said. “Even a tiny grain of wheat or canola treated with the oldest neonicotinoid — called imidacloprid — can fatally poison a bird. And as little as 1/10th of a neonicotinoid-coated corn seed per day during egg-laying season is all that is needed to affect reproduction.”

The new report concludes that neonicotinoid contamination levels in both surface- and ground water in the United States and around the world are already beyond the threshold found to kill many aquatic invertebrates.”


Quickly following this damning report, the MRNE says, a large group of group of American beekeepers and environmentalists sued the Obama regime over the continued use of these neonicotinoids stating: “We are taking the EPA to court for its failure to protect bees from pesticides. Despite our best efforts to warn the agency about the problems posed by neonicotinoids, the EPA continued to ignore the clear warning signs of an agricultural system in trouble.”

And to how bad the world’s agricultural system has really become due to these genetically modified plants, pesticides and seeds, this report continues, can be seen by the EC’s proposal this past week, following their ban on neonicotinoids, in which they plan to criminalize nearly all seeds and plants not registered with the European Union, and as we can, in part, read:

“Europe is rushing towards the good ol days circa 1939, 40… A new law proposed by the European Commission would make it illegal to “grow, reproduce or trade” any vegetable seeds that have not been “tested, approved and accepted” by a new EU bureaucracy named the “EU Plant Variety Agency.”

It’s called the Plant Reproductive Material Law, and it attempts to put the government in charge of virtually all plants and seeds. Home gardeners who grow their own plants from non-regulated seeds would be considered criminals under this law.”

This MRNE report points out that even though this EC action may appear draconian, it is nevertheless necessary in order to purge the continent from continued contamination of these genetically bred “seed monstrosities.”

Most perplexing in all of this, the MRNE says, and which led to Putin’s anger at the US, has been the Obama regimes efforts to protect pesticide-producer profits over the catastrophic damaging being done to the environment, and as the Guardian News Service detailed in their 2 May article titled “US rejects EU claim of insecticide as prime reason for bee colony collapse” and which, in part, says:

To the “truer” reason for the Obama regimes protection of these bio-tech giants destroying our world, the MRNE says, can be viewed in the report titled “How did Barack Obama become Monsanto’s man in Washington?” and which, in part, says:

“After his victory in the 2008 election, Obama filled key posts with Monsanto people, in federal agencies that wield tremendous force in food issues, the USDA and the FDA: At the USDA, as the director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Roger Beachy, former director of the Monsanto Danforth Center. As deputy commissioner of the FDA, the new food-safety-issues czar, the infamous Michael Taylor, former vice-president for public policy for Monsanto. Taylor had been instrumental in getting approval for Monsanto’s genetically engineered bovine growth hormone.”

Even worse, after Russia suspended the import and use of an Monsanto genetically modified cornfollowing a study suggesting a link to breast cancer and organ damage this past September, theRussia Today News Service reported on the Obama regimes response:

“The US House of Representatives quietly passed a last-minute addition to the Agricultural Appropriations Bill for 2013 last week – including a provision protecting genetically modified seeds from litigation in the face of health risks.

The rider, which is officially known as the Farmer Assurance Provision, has been derided by opponents of biotech lobbying as the “Monsanto Protection Act,” as it would strip federal courts of the authority to immediately halt the planting and sale of genetically modified (GMO) seed crop regardless of any consumer health concerns.

The provision, also decried as a “biotech rider,” should have gone through the Agricultural or Judiciary Committees for review. Instead, no hearings were held, and the piece was evidently unknown to most Democrats (who hold the majority in the Senate) prior to its approval as part of HR 993, the short-term funding bill that was approved to avoid a federal government shutdown.”

On 26 March, Obama quietly signed this “Monsanto Protection Act” into law thus ensuring the American people have no recourse against this bio-tech giant as they fall ill by the tens of millions, and many millions will surely end up dying in what this MRNE report calls the greatest agricultural apocalypse in human history as over 90% of feral (wild) bee population in the US has already died out, and up to 80% of domestic bees have died out too."