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Title: Genetically Manipulated Crops: The GMO Catastrophe in the USA. A Lesson for the World
Source:
Global Research
URL Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20675
Published: Aug 18, 2010
Author: F. William Engdahl
Post Date: 2010-08-19 01:30:07 by Original_Intent
Keywords: GMO, poison, super weeds, glyphosate
Views: 241
Comments: 21
Recently the unelected potentates of the EU Commission in Brussels have sought to override what has repeatedly been shown to be the overwhelming opposition of the European Union population to the spread of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in EU agriculture. EU Commission President now has a Maltese accountant as health and enviromnent Commissioner to rubber stamp the adoption of GMO. The former EU Environment Commissioner from Greece was a ferocious GMO opponent. As well, the Chinese government has indicated it may approve a variety of GMO rice. Before things get too far along, they would do well to take a closer look at the world GMO test lab, the USA. There GMO crops are anything but beneficial. Just the opposite. What is carefully kept out of the Monsanto and other agribusiness propaganda in promoting genetically manipulated crops as an alternative to conventional is the fact that in the entire world until the present, all GMO crops have been manipulated and patented for only two things—to be resistant or “tolerant” to the patented highly toxic herbicide glyphosate chemicals that Monsanto and the others force farmers to buy as condition for buying their patented GMO seeds. The second trait is GMO seeds that have been engineered genetically to resist specific insects. Contrary to public relations myths promoted by the agribusiness giants in their own self-interest, there exists not oné single GMO seed that provides a greater harvest yield than conventional, nor one that requires less toxic chemical herbicides. That is for the simple reason there is no profit to be made in such. Giant super-weeds plague As prominent GMO opponent and biologist, Dr Mae-Wan Ho of the Institute of Science in London has noted, companies such as Monsanto build into their seeds herbicide-tolerance (HT) due to glyphosate-insensitive form of the gene coding for the enzyme targeted by the herbicide. The enzyme is derived from soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Insect-resistance is due to one or more toxin genes derived from the soil bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis). The United States began large scale commercial planting of GMO plants, mainly soybeans and corn and cotton around 1997. By now, GM crops have taken over between 85 percent to 91 percent of the areas planted with the three major crops, soybean, corn and cotton in the US, on nearly 171 million acres. The ecological time-bomb that came with the GMO according to Ho, is about to explode. Over several years of constant application of patented glyphosate herbicides such as Monsanto’s famous and highly profitable Roundup, new herbicide-resistant “super-weeds” have evolved, nature’s response to man-made attempts to violate it. The super-weeds require significantly more not less herbicide to control. ABC Television, a major US national network, made a recent documentary about the super-weeds under the rubric, “super weeds that can’t be killed.”[1] They interviewed farmers and scientists across Arkansas who described fields overrun with giant pigweed plants that can withstand as much glyphosate as farmers are able to spray. They interviewed one farmer who spent almost €400000 in only three months in a failed attempt to kill the new super-weeds. The new super-weeds are so robust that harvester combines are unable to harvest the fields and hand tools break trying to cut them down. At least 400000 hectares of soybean and cotton in Arkansas alone have become invested with this new mutant biological plague. Detailed data on other agricultural regions is not available but believed similar. The pro-GMO and pro-agribusiness US Department of Agriculture has been reported lying about the true state of US crop harvest partly to hide the grim reality and to prevent an explosive revolt against GMO in the world’s largest GMO market. Superweed One variety of super-weed, palmer pigweed can grow up to 2.4 meters high, withstands severe heat and prolonged droughts, and produces thousands of seeds with a root system that drains nutrients away from crops. If left unchecked, it takes over an entire field in a year. Some farmers have been forced to abandon their land. To date palmer pigweed infestation in GMO crop regions has been identified in addition to Arkansas, also in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, New Mexico, Mississippi and most recently, Alabama and Missouri. Weed scientists at the University of Georgia estimate that just two palmer pigweed plants in every 6 meter length of cotton row can reduce yield by at least 23 percent. A single weed plant can produce 450 000 seeds. [2] Roundup toxic danger being covered-up Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the US and the world at large. Patented and sold by Monsanto since the 1970s under the trade name Roundup, it is a mandatory component of buying GMO seeds from Monsanto. Just go to your local garden store and ask for it and read the label carefully. As I detail in my book, Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation, GMO crops and patented seeds were developed in the 1970’s with significant financial support from the pro-eugenics Rockefeller Foundation, by what were essentially chemical companies—Monsanto Chemicals, DuPont and Dow Chemicals. All three were involved in the scandal of the highly toxic Agent Orange used in Vietnam, as well as Dioxin in the 1970’s, and lied to cover up the true damage to its own employees as well as to civilian and military populations exposed. Their patented GMO seeds were seen as a clever way to force increased purchase of their agricultural chemicals such as Roundup. Farmers must sign a legal contract with Monsanto in which it stipulates that only Monsanto Roundup pesticide may be used. Farmers are thus trapped both in buying new seeds from Monsanto each harvest and buying the toxic glyphosate. France’s University of Caen, in a team led by molecular biologist, Gilles-Eric Seralini, did a study that showed Roundup contained one specific inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA. Seralini’s team demonstrated that POEA in Roundup was more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than even the glyphosate itself. Monsanto refuses to release details of the contents of its Roundup other than glyphosate, calling it “proprietary.” [3] The Seralini study found that Roundup’s inert ingredients amplified the toxic effect on human cells—even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns! The French team studied multiple concentrations of Roundup, from the typical agricultural or lawn dose down to concentrations 100,000 times more dilute than the products sold on shelves. The researchers saw cell damage at all concentrations. Glyphosate and Roundup are advertised as “less toxic to us than table salt” in a pamphlet from the Biotechnology Institute promoting GMO crops as ‘Weed Warrior.’ Thirteen years of GMO crops in the USA has increased overall pesticide use by 318 million pounds, not decreased as promised by the Four Horsemen of the GMO Apocalypse. The extra disease burden on the nation from that alone is considerable. Nonetheless after introduction of Monsanto GMO seeds commercially in the USA, use of glyphosate has risen more than 1500% between 1994 and 2005. In the USA some 100 million pounds of glyphosate are used on lawns and farms every year, and over the last 13 years, it has been applied to more than a billion acres. When questioned, Monsanto’s technical development manager, Rick Cole, reportedly said the problems were “manageable.” He advised farmers to alternate crops and use different makes of herbicides produced by Monsanto. Monsanto is encouraging farmers to mix glyphosate with its older herbicides such as 2,4-D, banned in Sweden, Denmark and Norway for links to cancer and reproductive and neurological damage. 2,4-D is a component of Agent Orange, produced by Monsanto for use in Vietnam in the 1960s. US Farmers turn to organics Farmers across the United States are reported to be going back to conventional non-GMO crops instead. According to a new report from the US Department of Agriculture, retail sales of organic food went up to $21.1 billion in 2008 from $3.6 billion in 1997.[4] The market is so active that organic farms have struggled at times to produce sufficient supply to keep up with the rapid growth in consumer demand, leading to periodic shortages of organic products. The new UK Conservative-Liberal coalition government is strongly backing lifting a de facto ban on GMO in that country. UK Chief Scientific Adviser, Prof. John Beddington, recently wrote an article in which he misleadingly claimed “The next decade will see the development of combinations of desirable traits and the introduction of new traits such as drought tolerance. By mid-century much more radical options involving highly polygenic traits may be feasible.” He went on to promise “cloned animals with engineered innate immunity to diseases” and more. I think we can pass that one up, thank you. A recent study by Iowa State University and the US Department of Agriculture assessing the performance of farms during the three-year transition it takes to switch from conventional to certified organic production showed notable advantages of organic farming over GMO or even conventional non-GMO crops. In an experiment lasting four years—three years transition and first year organic—the study showed that although yields dropped initially, they equalized in the third year, and by the fourth year, the organic yields were ahead of the conventional for both soybean and corn. As well, the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) has recently been published, the result of three-year deliberation by 400 participating scientists and non-government representatives from 110 countries around the world. It came to the conclusion that small scale organic agriculture is the way ahead for coping with hunger, social inequities and environmental disasters. [5] As Dr Ho argues, a fundamental shift in farming practice is needed urgently, before the agricultural catastrophe spreads further across Germany and the EU to the rest of the world.[6] Endnotes: [1] Super weed can’t be killed, abc news, 6 October 2009. See also,Jeff Hampton, N.C. farmers battle herbicide-resistant weeds, The Virginian-Pilot, 19 July 2009, hamptonroads.com/2009/07/...-herbicideresistant-weeds [2] Clea Caulcutt, ‘Superweed’ explosion threatens Monsanto heartlands, Clea Caulcutt, 19 April 2009, www.france24.com/en/20090...tically-modified-US-crops [3] N. Benachour and G-E. Seralini, Glyphosate Formulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and Placental Cells, Chem. Res. Toxicol., Article DOI: 10.1021/tx800218n Publication Date (Web): December 23, 2008. [4] Carolyn Dimitri and Lydia Oberholtzer, Marketing U.S. organic foods: recent trends from farms to consumers, USDA Economic Research Service, September 2009, www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB58/ [5] International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development, IAASTD, 2008, www.agassessment.org/inde...Press_Materials&ItemID=11 [6] Ho MW.UK Food Standards Agency study proves organic food is better. Science in Society 44, 32-33, 2009. F. William Engdahl is the author of Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation
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#1. To: christine, farmfriend, CadetD, wudidiz, HighLairEon, TwentyTwelve, James Deffenbach, Jethro Tull, Horse, Lod, Kamala, Eric Stratton, HAPPY2BEME4UM, randge, X-15, scrapper2, AllTheKingsHorses, FormerLurker, Itistoolate, Esso, ratcat, Cynicom, abraxas, all (#0)
Vote with your dollars ping.
"One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order." K.M. Heaton, The National Educator
U.S. Constitution - Article IV, Section 4: NO BORDERS + NO LAWS = NO COUNTRY
Thanks for the supplementary data.
"One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order." K.M. Heaton, The National Educator
it seems like the only place in the world where there is no resistance to GMO food is here in America (its not true I know, but it seems that way). I guess we're the home of the free and the land of the brave, so if we want to grow food that is bad for us we're going to do it!!! ain't no big corporation or government going to stop us from destroying our future!
Revelation 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and [see] thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Don't forget also that by altering natural biochemical and genetic progression in our food chain, man is entering into an era of the unknown as to the long-term side effects. Not only are the grains that make our cereals, breads, and other grain products being unnaturally altered, but now the arena of altering the livestock we eat is being grossly mutated as well. Cloning cattle is an unnatural process, and as we ingest those unnatural meats we won't know for several decades what side effects there will be. We are ALL literally HUMAN GUINEA PIGS.
U.S. Constitution - Article IV, Section 4: NO BORDERS + NO LAWS = NO COUNTRY
Therein lies the crux of the matter. I am not opposed to genetic recombination in theory, but in practice the players are driven not by safety, or by ethical considerations, but by profit and profit alone. Short term profit at that. There has been insufficient research into what all is being affected by the current gropings at recombination, and, as you rightly point out, there has been precious little done in the way of researching the long term side effects. The problem is not that the idea is bad, in theory, but the practice, and the level of knowledge, is demonstrating that there are unintended consequences and that the traits being modified or introduced are not the only changes occurring in the organism. However, the ethically depraved, such as Monsatan, do not care about the affects as long as they can get a patented product on the market and basically force people to use their product. The laboratory gropings that we are seeing now are the basis of a science but that science is far from being refined and the health affects of the "Frankenfoods" introduced so far are not looking good. Already products have been recalled, such as the Bt pesticide producing potato, and the "Fish Tomato", because of extremely adverse side effects. The studies I have been reading suggest that low level changes are being made in the proteins of GMO product and that it IS NOT benign.
"One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order." K.M. Heaton, The National Educator
============================================= Meaning non-carcinogenic?
U.S. Constitution - Article IV, Section 4: NO BORDERS + NO LAWS = NO COUNTRY
Radioactive boars on the rise in Germany http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100819/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_radioactive_boars BERLIN – It was a big shot. A big hog. And a big disappointment. When Georg van Bebber hauled back his wild boar from Ebersberg forest near Munich after a day of hunting, he was exhilarated about his impressive prey. But before he could take it home, a Geiger counter showed a problem: The boar's meat was radioactive to an extent considered potentially dangerous for consumption. It needed to be thrown out and burnt. "I really would have liked to have this boar," van Bebber said when he recounted the incident in a telephone interview from Bavaria. Almost a quarter century after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in Ukraine, its fallout is still a hot topic in some German regions, where thousands of boars shot by hunters still turn up with excessive levels of radioactivity. In fact, the numbers are higher than ever before. The total compensation the German government paid last year for the discarded contaminated meat shot up to a record sum of euro425,000 (about $558,000), from only about euro25,000 ten years ago, according to the Federal Environment Ministry in Berlin. "The reason is that there are more and more boars in Germany, and more are being shot and hunted, that is why more contaminated meat turns up," spokesman Thomas Hagbeck told The Associated Press. "But this also shows how long radioactive fallout remains a problem in the environment," he said. Boars are among the species most susceptible to long-term consequences of the nuclear catastrophe 24 years ago. Unlike other wild game, boars often feed on mushrooms and truffles which tend to store radioactivity and they plow through the contaminated soil with their snouts, experts say.
U.S. Constitution - Article IV, Section 4: NO BORDERS + NO LAWS = NO COUNTRY
Not necessarily. The jury is still out. The changes are unpredictable, despite reassurances, by the interested parties, to the contrary. The problem arises from the reality of genetic manipulation given our current state of knowledge. When it began the manipulators said that it would be precise and that only the undesired characteristics would be removed and the desired ones inserted. The reality is different. When they, the gene biologists doing the manipulations, go in and make a change then the "Murphy Factor" gets inserted as well and other characteristics DO get changed and protein chains are altered in multiple places in an organism and in unpredictable ways. This changes the very nature of the organism and can, and has, resulted in undesirable changes making the product an allergen, in the case of some of the GMO Corn, or toxic as in the case of GMO Cotton and (never generally introduced) GMO tomatoes. A study was conducted in Russia on GMO Soy, and the results observed by Russian Academy of Science member Alexey V. Surov were troubling to say the least. In his study, just to give the short version, his test animals began experiencing high rates of infant mortality and increased levels of sterility. Excerpt from the link in the text: ..."After feeding hamsters for two years over three generations, those on the GM diet, and especially the group on the maximum GM soy diet, showed devastating results. By the third generation, most GM soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to have babies. They also suffered slower growth, and a high mortality rate among the pups." ... A couple of strains of Monsanto's GMO corn are human allergens and technically are raised only for livestock feed. Veterinarians treating farm animals have noted health problems among livestock that ceased after discontinuing feeding them GMO fodder such as GMO Corn. Also that raises the question: How does feeding the animals, such as Cattle, Hogs, and Chickens, GMO grains affect their protein structure i.e., the meat? Are changes taking place that are being transmitted to humans? We don't know. However, Monsanto certainly does not want to know that they are. As well is the question of the spread of pollen from GMO crops to non-GMO plants - already, again despite reassurances that it would not happen, wild plants have been collected and found to have picked up genetic material from nearby GMO crops. The list of troubling and unanswered questions about the safety of GMOs continues to grow, and the producers, primarily Monsatan, wish to suppress any data suggesting their safety and nutritional qualities are a question mark. Monsatan will not release any of their own testing saying it is "proprietary" information.
"One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order." K.M. Heaton, The National Educator
Thus Kosher prohibitions on eating pigs after the last nuclear war. My late Uncle who did his own reading reached the conclusion that many of the dietary restrictions, arising primarily in the Middle East and India, were the result of the inability to keep certain types of food safe in a hot climate e.g., shellfish which degrades very rapidly in heat becoming toxic within hours after it dies. There is a body of archaeologic data suggesting that we are not the first technologically advanced culture to arise on planet Earth and that there may well have been one or more prior nuclear wars. There is an area in the "Dead Quarter" of the desert in Saudi Arabia where you can collect chunks of fused green glass, known as "Trinitite", much like what was found to have been created at the White Sands Proving Ground following the first atomic detonations. We live in a strange world and our history becomes more complex the more we learn.
"One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order." K.M. Heaton, The National Educator
Can I apply for a government grant to buy more hamsters and feed them Hamster Chow imported from China? 'Cause that sounds like a lot of fun right now, right? There ought to be tax write-offs for this sort of research.
"Chicago politicians are NOT officially dead until they have failed to vote in TWO presidential elections.” - Cynicom
There is, but only if you are large multi-national that owns their own stable of Congresscritters.
"One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order." K.M. Heaton, The National Educator
But none of the large multinationals are researching hamster cannons, the weapon of the future.
"Chicago politicians are NOT officially dead until they have failed to vote in TWO presidential elections.” - Cynicom
Well maybe you'll have to open a Fast Food Franchise instead? You could give it a catchy name like "Hamster Hut" or "Hamster King" - home of the foot long Hamster Sandwich, or "Dakmar's Mongolian Hamster Grill". See, lots of potential.
"One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order." K.M. Heaton, The National Educator
I'll combine the technologies and offer meals of questionable quality delivered at unheard of speeds. Can I borrow your car for a couple days? And an oven?
"Chicago politicians are NOT officially dead until they have failed to vote in TWO presidential elections.” - Cynicom
Inner Mongolia or Outer? Anyhoooo, don't give him any ideas, he'll be hitting me up for a mortgage on a newer, bigger McYurt.
Can I borrow your car for a couple days? And an oven? You don't burn charcoal in an oven, and besides it's unsafe in a car - carbon monoxide.
"One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order." K.M. Heaton, The National Educator
Inner Mongolia or Outer? Since it is for the "inner Dakmar" ... You don't want to stand in the way of progress do you?
"One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order." K.M. Heaton, The National Educator
I just need $60,000 to buy the petrified sabre-tooth stool sample from the Russians. And like a fiver for a bag of carrots and some potting soil. And some plutonium, so that's probably like another couple hundred. This is no time to cheap out, Esso.
"Chicago politicians are NOT officially dead until they have failed to vote in TWO presidential elections.” - Cynicom
Do you know how much it costs to build a house out of Alpaca-lips Now ? The horror. The horror.
Do you know how much it costs to build a house out of Alpaca-lips Now ? The horror. The horror. At least he wouldn't be digging holes in your back yard - again.
"One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order." K.M. Heaton, The National Educator
Farmers across the United States are reported to be going back to conventional non-GMO crops instead. According to a new report from the US Department of Agriculture, retail sales of organic food went up to $21.1 billion in 2008 from $3.6 billion in 1997.[4] The market is so active that organic farms have struggled at times to produce sufficient supply to keep up with the rapid growth in consumer demand, leading to periodic shortages of organic products.
#2. To: Original_Intent (#0)
#3. To: HAPPY2BME-4UM (#2)
#4. To: Original_Intent (#0)
#5. To: Original_Intent (#3)
#6. To: HAPPY2BME-4UM (#5)
Don't forget also that by altering natural biochemical and genetic progression in our food chain, man is entering into an era of the unknown as to the long-term side effects.
#7. To: Original_Intent (#6)
The studies I have been reading suggest that low level changes are being made in the proteins of GMO product and that it IS NOT benign.
#8. To: Original_Intent (#6)
#9. To: HAPPY2BME-4UM, wudidiz, christine, Dakmar, all (#7)
Meaning non-carcinogenic?
#10. To: HAPPY2BME-4UM (#8)
(Edited)
Boars are among the species most susceptible to long-term consequences of the nuclear catastrophe 24 years ago.
#11. To: Original_Intent (#9)
Excerpt from the link in the text: ..."After feeding hamsters for two years over three generations, those on the GM diet, and especially the group on the maximum GM soy diet, showed devastating results. By the third generation, most GM soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to have babies. They also suffered slower growth, and a high mortality rate among the pups." ...
#12. To: Dakmar (#11)
There ought to be tax write-offs for this sort of research.
#13. To: Original_Intent (#12)
#14. To: Dakmar (#13)
But none of the large multinationals are researching hamster cannons, the weapon of the future.
#15. To: Original_Intent (#14)
#16. To: Original_Intent, Dakmar (#14)
"Dakmar's Mongolian Hamster Grill"
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#17. To: Dakmar (#15)
I'll combine the technologies and offer meals of questionable quality delivered at unheard of speeds.
#18. To: Esso, Dakmar (#16)
"Dakmar's Mongolian Hamster Grill"
Anyhoooo, don't give him any ideas, he'll be hitting me up for a mortgage on a newer, bigger McYurt.
#19. To: Esso (#16)
#20. To: Original_Intent (#18)
You don't want to stand in the way of progress do you?
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#21. To: Esso, Dakmar (#20)
You don't want to stand in the way of progress do you?
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