Haitian Farmers Commit to Burning Monsanto Hybrid Seeds
Beverly Bell, Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, writing for Huffington Post:
“A new earthquake” is what peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that Monsanto will be donating 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds, some of them treated with highly toxic pesticides. The MPP has committed to burning Monsanto’s seeds, and has called for a march to protest the corporation’s presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day.
In an open letter sent of May 14, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, the Executive Director of MPP and the spokesperson for the National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay (MPNKP), called the entry of Monsanto seeds into Haiti “a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds…, and on what is left our environment in Haiti.”[1] Haitian social movements have been…
Mark Of The Beast: Obama’s Latest Monsanto Pick, Elena Kagan
Photo: Doc Searls (CC)
Rady Ananda writes for Thepeoplesvoices.org:
First, we spit out our coffee over President Obama’s appointments of former Monsanto goon Michael Taylor as Food Safety [sic] Czar and ‘biotech governor of the year’ Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture. Then we choked on our grits when he made Monsanto lobbyist, Islam Siddiqui, the US Ag Trade Representative. Now, the real food movement has completely lost its appetite with Obama’s nomination of Monsanto defender, Elena Kagan, to the US Supreme Court.
In December 2009, in her capacity as Solicitor General, Kagan intervened in the first case on which SCOTUS will rule involving genetically modified crops, Monsanto v Geertson Seed. She defended Monsanto’s fight to contaminate the environment with its GM alfalfa, not the American people’s right to safe feed and a protected environment.
The lower court ruled that “contamination of organic and conventional alfalfa crops with the genetically engineered gene has occurred and defendants…
A New Earthquake Hits Haiti: Monsanto’s Deadly Gift Of 475 Tons Of Genetically-Modified Seeds
By Fr. Jean-Yves Urfie for the Center for Research on Globalisation:
Haiti’s earthquake on 12 January this year has been a lucky business break for some. The transnational firm Monsanto is offering the country’s farmers a deadly gift of 475 tonnes of genetically-modified (GM) seeds, along with associated fertiliser and pesticides, which will be handed out free by the WINNER project, with the backing of the US embassy in Haiti. Do Haitians know Monsanto made the “Agent Orange” defoliant sprayed over Vietnam by US planes during the war there, poisoning both US soldiers and Vietnamese civilians?
Do Haitians know that these GM seeds have been declared dangerous by many countries? They often come in kits along with a Monsanto herbicide called “Roundup,” which contains glyphosate. In my native Brittany, it has already polluted the water table. But Monsanto insists its product is biodegradable. It is being sued for this by anti-frauid officials…
Russia Says Genetically Modified Foods Are Harmful
From The Voice of Russia:
Russia has started the annual Days of Defence against Environmental Hazards from the 15th of April to the 5th of June with the announcement of sensational results of an independent work of research. Scientists have proved that Genetically Modified Organisms are harmful for mammals. The researchers discovered that animals that eat GM foodstuffs lose their ability to reproduce. Campbell hamsters that have a fast reproduction rate were fed for two years with ordinary soya beans, which are widely used in agriculture and those contain different percentages of GM organisms. Another group of hamsters, the control group, was fed with pure soya, which was found with great difficulty in Serbia because 95 percent of soya in the world is transgenic.
Concerning the experiment carried out jointly by the National Association for Gene Security and the Institute of Ecological and Evolutional Problems, Dr. Alexei Surov has this to say.…
Pseudo-Scientific Defense of GMO Safety is Smoke and Mirrors
By Jeffrey Smith, author and founder of the Institute for Responsible Technology at Huffington Post:
Three years after I wrote Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, pro-GM scientists have finally taken me up on my challenge to supply evidence that counters any of the 65 risks highlighted in the book. So, it will be a great pleasure for me to respond to the 65 arguments recently posted on a new attack-Jeffrey website. Their effort offers a priceless opportunity to not only revisit each health risk, but also to show more precisely where and how the biotech industry comes up short in its defense. Be sure to subscribe to my Huffington Post blog to catch the fun.
In my initial challenge to the GMO industry, I sought rigorous, independent scientific data that would enrich the global discussion and better characterize GMO risks. But the posts written by biotech apologists Bruce Chassy and David Tribe demonstrate without doubt how flimsy and unsupported the industry’s claim is that GMOs are safe…
GMOs Alter the Genetic Make Up of Our Healthy Bacteria
Kim Evans writes on Natural News:
Although GMOs have infiltrated our food supply, the results of human feeding trials have only been published on one single occasion. Unfortunately, that occasion offered some pretty disturbing findings. It found that the genetic code of GM soy can infiltrate the genetic code of the healthy bacteria in our guts — and change the genetic makeup of the healthy bacteria inside us. Nobody knows how these mutant bacteria will function inside us — yet given the proliferation of GM soy, most of the population probably already has them inside of them.
Mutating the genetic code of our healthy bacteria is incredibly dangerous because these healthy bacteria live inside us for a reason. They are our first line of immune defense and they keep us well by crowding out many harmful bacteria, fungus, and pathogens that cause innumerable diseases. But when their genetic structure is changed, who…
National Research Council Reports Genetically Engineered Crops Yield ‘Economic and Environmental Benefits’
Kara Laney, Study Director
The National Research Council has released a report essentially crowing about the benefits of genetically modified seeds (the “Roundup Ready” variety), albeit with a caveat warning against overuse. Personally, I’m extremely skeptical and it makes me question the integrity of the report and the institution publishing it. Your thoughts in the comments section please. Here’s the press release, in full:
Genetically Engineered Crops Benefit Many Farmers,
But The Technology Needs Proper Management to Remain Effective
WASHINGTON — Many U.S. farmers who grow genetically engineered (GE) crops are realizing substantial economic and environmental benefits — such as lower production costs, fewer pest problems, reduced use of pesticides, and better yields — compared with conventional crops, says a new report from the National Research Council. However, GE crops resistant to the herbicide glyphosate — a main component in Roundup and other commercial weed killers — could develop more weed problems as weeds…
Criticising GM Crops May Land You In Jail
Imran Khan for express buzz:
BANGALORE [India]: Criticising Genetically Modified (GM) products could land you in jail — if the draconian draft Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill (BRAB) of 2009, which will be tabled in the current session of the parliament by the UPA government, is passed.
In an unprecedented muzzle on the right to freedom of speech of the citizen, Chapter 13 section 63 of the draft bill says, “Whoever, without any evidence or scientific record misleads the public about the safety of the organisms and products…shall be punished with imprisonment for a term that shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year and with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees or with both.” The BRAI Bill drafted by the department of bio-technology under the Ministry of Science and Technology comes on the heels of a moratorium on Bt Brinjal announced by the Environment…
Genetically Modified Seeds ‘Are Everywhere’
by Andy Coghlan for New Scientist:
Genetically modified crops are everywhere, it seems – even in Europe. Strict laws designed to keep the European Union free of unauthorised GM crops and products are not working, and are posing problems for the EU’s €150 billion livestock industry, according to farmers’ representatives. They say that supplies of animal feed for poultry and pigs are being refused entry at European ports when found to contain even trace amounts of unauthorised GM material.
Under Europe’s “zero-tolerance” laws on GM contamination, introduced in 2007, the presence of even a few seeds of unauthorised GM material will rule out an entire shipment. The animal feed industry says that the laws are unworkable because GM material is almost ubiquitous, given today’s global supply chain.
“Though we understand the consumer concern in Europe, we don’t understand zero tolerance because it closes down trade,” says Pekka Pesonen, secretary general of Copa-Cogeca, a…
Genetically Modified Corn Linked With Organ Damage
A new study has linked the genetically modified corn made by global agriculture giant Monsanto to liver and kidney failure. The Huffington Post reports that the results were announced by the International Journal of Biological Sciences. In addition to damaging the kidneys and liver, effects on “heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted.”
Three varieties of the corn are approved by food authorities for consumption in the United States (as well as other countries). Monsanto “gathered its own crude statistical data after conducting a 90-day study,” even though 90 days is too short a time for chronic health issues to emerge, “and concluded that the corn was safe for consumption.” Now that’s just good science.
More Herbicide Use Reported On Genetically Modified Crops
By Julie Masis for the Christian Science Monitor:
A report has found that farmers are using more herbicides on genetically engineered soybeans, corn, and cotton because of resistant weeds.
A report has found that farmers are using more herbicides on genetically engineered soybeans, corn, and cotton because of resistant weeds.
A report released by the Organic Center found that the amount of herbicides used on genetically engineered crops has increased in the past 10 years, not decreased as might be expected. Since many genetically engineered crops were modified so that farmers could spray Roundup, or Glyphosate, to kill the weeds in their fields but not the crops themselves, the expectation was that less herbicide would be required. But the new report found that this is not what happened.
The authors of the report, entitled “Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use,” used US Department of Agriculture data to look at America’s three largest…
