The GMO Bandwagon is in Town!

It's been a while since I blogged about GMO's.... (Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are the result of laboratory processes which artificially insert foreign genes into the DNA of food crops or animals. Those genes may come from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans. GMOs are not safe, but have been in the food supply since 1996. Most Americans say they would not eat GMOs if labeled, but the U.S. does not require labeling.)

I got my copy of Spilling the Beans newsletter today. In it was a fantastic article on GMO's. Spilling The Beans is put out by the Institute for Responsible Technology. You can get your copy by signing up here.

You can join the 30 day challenge by clicking on the image above! We need to put our foot down. We need to shout from the roof tops. We need to pass this on to everyone we know!

GMO's ARE BAD FOR YOU!

This month's article is

Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Food

By Jeffrey M. Smith

Excerpt:

GM corn and cotton are engineered to produce their own built-in pesticide in every cell. When bugs bite the plant, the poison splits open their stomach and kills them. Biotech companies claim that the pesticide, called Bt—produced from soil bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis—has a history of safe use, since organic farmers and others use Bt bacteria spray for natural insect control. Genetic engineers insert Bt genes into corn and cotton, so the plants do the killing.

The Bt-toxin produced in GM plants, however, is thousands of times more concentrated than natural Bt spray, is designed to be more toxic,[10] has properties of an allergen, and unlike the spray, cannot be washed off the plant.

Moreover, studies confirm that even the less toxic natural bacterial spray is harmful. When dispersed by plane to kill gypsy moths in the Pacific Northwest, about 500 people reported allergy or flu-like symptoms. Some had to go to the emergency room.[11]^,[12]

[10] See for example, A. Dutton, H. Klein, J. Romeis, and F. Bigler, “Uptake of Bt-toxin by herbivores feeding on transgenic maize and consequences for the predator Chrysoperia carnea,” Ecological Entomology 27 (2002): 441–7; and J. Romeis, A. Dutton, and F. Bigler, “Bacillus thuringiensis toxin (Cry1Ab) has no direct effect on larvae of the green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae),” Journal of Insect Physiology 50, no. 2–3 (2004): 175–183.

[11] Washington State Department of Health, “Report of health surveillance activities: Asian gypsy moth control program,” (Olympia, WA: Washington State Dept. of Health, 1993).

[12] M. Green, et al., “Public health implications of the microbial pesticide Bacillus thuringiensis: An epidemiological study, Oregon, 1985-86,” Amer. J. Public Health 80, no. 7(1990): 848–852.

Another excerpt:

On May 19^th, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on “Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks.”[1] They called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling. AAEM’s position paper stated, “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food,” including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. They conclude, “There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation,” as defined by recognized scientific criteria. “The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies.”

More and more doctors are already prescribing GM-free diets. Dr. Amy Dean, a Michigan internal medicine specialist, and board member of AAEM says, “I strongly recommend patients eat strictly non-genetically modified foods.” Ohio allergist Dr. John Boyles says “I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered, it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it.”

Dr. Jennifer Armstrong, President of AAEM, says, “Physicians are probably seeing the effects in their patients, but need to know how to ask the right questions.” World renowned biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava goes one step further. After reviewing more than 600 scientific journals, he concludes that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans.

[1] http://www.aaemonline.org/ gmopost.html

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http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/AbouttheInstitute/NewsletterSignup/index.cfm

Also visit the Institute for Responsible Technology here for more information.

Our future depends on the people speaking out! If we don't speak out, we may not have a future!

Join the 30 day challenge!

Stumble It!

EMERGENCY!!!!!

Urgent: Sign USDA Petition Demanding Stronger Regulations for Genetically Engineered Crops!

The petition is below. Click link above to sign petition! Monday, Nov 24, 2008 is the last day!

Why is this important???? Once again big brother is telling us what to do. You should have the right to choose NOT to feed your family and animals genetically modified foods. These crops that have been genetically modified could cause serious health problems. Do you want to do that to YOUR family? There needs to be full disclosure of products containing these genetically modified crops. I will not grow or eat or feed these crops to my family and animals. Without legislation, the big corporations will sneak this into our lives. WE MUST NOT LET THEM! Stand up and be heard now! Read the petition below and click the link above to sign the petition.

Docket No. APHIS-2008-0023
Regulatory Analysis and Development
PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8
4700 River Road Unit 118
Riverdale, MD 20737-1238.

Re: Docket No. APHIS-2008-0023, Importation, Interstate Movement, and Release into the Environment of Certain
Genetically Engineered Organisms.

I am very concerned about the risks genetically engineered crops--especially those engineered to produce drugs and industrial chemicals--pose to human health, family farmers, wildlife, and the environment. I urge USDA to close the gaping loopholes in its proposed rules, and put stronger--not weaker--regulations in place. In particular:

1)Please follow the advice of the National Academy of Sciences and make genetic engineering the trigger for USDA oversight so that ALL experimental GE crops are properly regulated. This approach is scientifically sound, administratively efficient, and more protective of public health, the environment, and the interests of farmers. Eliminate loopholes that exempt any GE crop that has not undergone a determination of non-regulated status from USDA regulatory oversight.

2)Please do NOT incorporate the "Low Level Presence"
policy in the final rule. Instead, make zero presence of
experimental GE crops in food and feed your management goal, and gear your implementing regulations to achieve it as fully as possible. In particular, make all field trials of experimental GE crops subject to strict gene containment standards at least as stringent as those now applied to pharmaceutical-producing GE crops.

3)Please reconsider your "business as usual" pharma crop policy, and instead adopt one of two alternatives you proposed in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement - a simple ban on outdoor cultivation of all pharmaceutical-producing crops, or at least pharmaceutical-producing food crops - to best protect public health and the environment.

4)Please regulate as necessary pesticide-promoting,
herbicide-tolerant GE crops in order to address the rise in pesticide use these crops have fostered, and to mitigate the growing threat posed by herbicide-resistant weeds to farmers and the interests of American agriculture.

5)Remove any preemption clause that bars state and local authorities from enacting laws or regulations to control GE crops as they best see fit.

Stumble It!

"Spill the Beans"

Okay.... everyone knows~ I hate GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS!!!! Monsanto is worse than a murderer. Ely Lilly has taken over rBGH.


Why can't we as consumers be assured that we are getting our foods the way we want them. It is vertually impossible to buy raw milk anywhere. Who knows if the corn we buy at the grocery is GM or not. What about soy? Soy is in everything these days.


I grow as much of my own food as I can. I buy as local as I can. I would love to have my own cows and pigs, but that is in the future.










I want to know that my grandkids are getting healthy non GMO foods at school.






The government does not require labeling for using GMO products. There are not enough voluntary labeling for non GMO. I promise you. If there are 2 products side by side, and one says non GMO, I WILL BUY IT!



But anyway, the new Organic Consumers Association newsletter is out....


This Article is a must read. This is the source of the article.

There are tons of great articles there! Sign up for your own copy of the newsletter here!

Stumble It!

OH NO!!!!!

Eli Lilly.... Not you too!!!! Click on the link below to read the entire article at the Organic Consumers Association!

Corporados at Drug Giant Eli Lilly Will Now Push Monsanto's Controversial Bovine Growth Hormone

• Elanco - A Division of Eli Lilly and Company, Aug 20, 2008
  Straight to the Source
  
  

Web Note: This is corporate PR. rBGH is one of the most hated products in the world. That's why Monsanto is dumping it. Why would Eli Lilly want to pick up rBGH? Because they are partners in crime with Monsanto and the biotech industry--pushing largely untested and unlabeled genetically engineered products on an unwilling, but often gullible public.


If it not one giagantic corporate monster ~ it is another! We Want Drug Free MILK!

Monsanto dumps rBGH!!!

Monsanto announced on August 6 it will "divest" or sell off its controversial genetically engineered animal drug, recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH).

READ IT HERE.... Sign up for the Organic Bytes Newsletter

Consumer and Farmer Victory!

Consumer Victory: Monsanto to Dump rBGH!

Monsanto on the loose in Ohio

DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS IN YOUR MILK?

This article is by Samual Fromartz from ChewsWise

Got (rBGH) Milk? You May Not Know in Ohio

The Organic Trade Association last month filed suit against a new milk labeling rule in Ohio that bans statements about production methods, such as "no artificial hormones."

This suit was the latest bid to block the lobbying by Monsanto Corp. advocates, who are seeking to limit milk labels state-by-state. The International Dairy Foods Association filed suit too.

(Update) On Friday, the OTA filed a motion for summary judgment in the case. The Ohio Department of Agriculture has until August 15 to file its opposition and the OTA could then file a reply by August 29. The IDFA filed a similar motion.

If Ohio is successful, the label limitations would prevent consumers from choosing milk that is produced without synthetic growth hormones. Monsanto argues that there is no difference between milk produced with the added growth hormones and milk without it. But consumers advocates — and consumers themselves — take a different view. They want choice.

A similar attempt by Pennsylvania to limit the wording of milk labels was overturned by the governor in January, after a letter writing campaign by consumers and advocacy groups.

Indiana also considered similar legislation, but it failed to get traction in the state legislature. A bill in Missouri failed to pass. Kansas considered a law but it didn’t make it through the legislature, nor did an attempt in Vermont. A similar campaign in New Jersey has stalled.

Now, Kansas is revisiting the issue and Utah is considering rules similar to Ohio's.

It's all part of a concerted lobbying effort to save synthetic bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST), the milk-boosting genetically engineered drug Monsanto sells under the brand name Posilac. Although the hormone was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration in 1993, it has been on a downward spiral as consumers, retailers, milk processors and dairy farmers avoid it.

In March, Walmart said all of its store-branded milk would come from cows not treated with rBGH. Kraft is introducing an rBGH-free line of cheese. Dean Foods, the largest milk processor in the nation, is moving away from the synthetic hormone. Kroger has banned the hormone from its store brand milk, as has Safeway.

The hormone has been outlawed in the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Like all genetically modified food, it is banned in organic agriculture.

Aside from the impact on animal health, such as mastitis (an udder infection) consumer advocates are concerned that the synthetic hormone increases levels of IGF-1, a hormone that in some studies has been linked to increased breast and prostate cancer risk. Monsanto and the FDA say the hormone is safe.

In the US, the American Nurses Association recently voted to help "eliminate the use or rBGH in the US by appealing to those who make purchasing decisions within the institutions where we work."

So if nurses are so concerned, why are states trying to ban a label that would give consumers a way to avoid milk produced with the hormones?

"This is something the Monsanto lobby must do because the market is starting to work against the product," Michael Hansen, a staff scientist at Consumers Union, said.

Last year, Monsanto appealed to the FDA to review the approved label wording for rBGH that allows for claims, such as "produced without synthetic hormones." Monsanto also sought action from the Federal Trade Commission to block advertising of milk produced without rBGH.

The FDA declined to act, noting that it would only intervene in cases where fraudulent claims — as opposed to product descriptions — were made on the milk label. The FTC, in dismissing Monsanto's complaint, also found no instance where a national company made false claims.

The Monsanto lobby also has a research wing. A recent study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the drug can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, since the drug boosts milk production in cows. The study argued that if fewer cows produced the same amount of milk, then emissions would be reduced. Dairy cows produce about 20 percent of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

But an article in Scientific American poured cold water on those environmentally-friendly claims, pointing out an apparent conflict of interest because the study was conducted with Monsanto scientist.

More pointedly, the study hinged on the assumption that cows receiving the drug produced more milk for a given level of feed. But Hansen points out that the FDA specifically disallowed that claim when it studied the drug.

And if reducing methane were really the issue, scientists instead might advocate taking cows out of confined feedlots, where they are fed a methane-producing diet of corn and soybeans and injected with synthetic hormones. As the article pointed out, researchers in Australia found that grazing cows on grass could cut methane emissions by 50 percent. But that finding does nothing for drug sales -- or lobbying campaigns.

- Samuel Fromartz

Here are sites to learn more:

• Center for Food Safety
  
• Consumers Union
• NGOs Letter to Ohio on Labeling Issue
• Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
• American Nurses Association
• Monsanto's Posilac site

Image source: Discovery Education's Clip Art

Do we REALLY understand?

.... about the effects of genetically modified foods affect US, not the world in general, but you and me! How does it affect your life? Any clue? Well, there are no studies out there that I have been able to find that says that GM foods are good for you. Studies talk around it and say it is not bad for you. Well, the foods that I eat I want to be good for me. Here are some more articles that m~ from The Suburban Farmer led me to which let me to some others. As always I want to thank my blog friends for sending out the word.

• Bees In The Corn from Twice Bloomed Wisteria
• Monarch Butterfly deaths from GM pollen ~ Genetically modified crops may kill Monarch Butterfly
• GENETICALLY MODIFIED CORN STUDY REVEALS HEALTH DAMAGE & COVER-UP
• Genetically Modified Foods: Are They a Risk to Human/Animal Health?
• The Real Problem with Genetically Modified Foods
• On the Edge -- Genetically Altered Foods
• World Hunger by Brian Kenneth Swain

I read some of the excerpts from World Hunger so I bought it. It is on its way. I look forward to sharing insights from this book in future posts. As always, I am very interested in reading more. So my friends.... send me any links that come your way. I truly appreciate it.

Now I am late for work... must run. I hope everyone has GMO free day!

Stop Genetically Engineerd Sugar!

Show your support! Sign the letter at Organic Consumers Association. Read the article Stop Monsanto's Genetically Engineered Sugar Beets follow the link at the end to show your support. Read more about Kellogg's and their role in the use of GE sugars in their products here.

Organic Bytes, OCA's twice-per-month email newsletter, offers
useful news tibdbits, tips and information for the green-minded
consumer. Organic Bytes has a readership of over a 250,000
people, making it one of the most popular email newsletters focused on
issues involving health, justice and sustainability. Sign up here.

Do you want to know where your state stands? Just look here!

Want to take a stand? Sign this petition.

Petition to Support U.S. Food Agenda 2015

By signing this petition , I call on U.S. elected officials, political candidates, and regulatory agencies to pursue the following three public policies:

(1) Moratorium on all genetically engineered foods & crops unless adequate safety-testing proves they are safe for human health & the environment. The FDA should require all GE foods to be labeled and safety-tested.

(2) Begin the phase-out of industrial agriculture's damaging practices by banning the most dangerous pesticides as well as hormone implants, antibiotics and rendered animal protein in animal feed. Ban corporate feedlots and intensive confinement of farm animals.

(3) Implement a long-term "transition to organic" program to shift agricultural production in the US from chemical-intensive, industrial farming to at least 30% organic by the year 2015.



Sign it.... Be proactive.... Find out what the government is allowing to happen to our foods!

Thanks again to Robbyn at The Back Forty, she is always keeping me on my toes!

Millions Against Monsanto

I know this really great Lady, her name is Robbyn of The Back Forty, she has a blog that has so opened my eyes. A few months ago I first hear about a company called Monsanto, the most recognizable product they put out is a herbicide called RoundUp. How many of us have grabbed a bottle of that to kill a weed or two around the house? Guilty. I was not always so enlightened. But if that was all this multi national corporation had done to the peoples of this world, it would still be bad.

Unfortunately, these are really, really, really BAD people.

They take our food seed and chop up the dna and rearrange it. Tell us we can only use certain things to produce it with. Sue us, when we are not using their GMO seed, if we accidentally get a seed from one their strains in our fields. Contaminate crops world wide so that native species can no longer be grown while the inhabitants of that area starve. And it goes on......

Anyway here is the link to Robbyn's article ~ it is a must read for anyone interested in having a say in our future food production. Yes~this can does affect us NOW in our lives. Food costs and availability are directly related to Monsanto's immoral and unethical and criminal behavior!

"Debunking The Propaganda: Genetically Modified Plants No Answer to the World Food Crisis"

I get really mad and upset when I think of the travesties that are allowed to happen.

Links to some past posts on this subject. Once again.... and Bio Engineered.....

Thank you Robbyn!

Once Again!!! NO Genetically Modified Foods!!!!!!

Robynn.... thanks again for the information!


Robynn led me to an article at ZNet on what our government is forcing into the foods ~ not only in the US ~ but internationally as well. This article is about an agreement with Korea and importing food stuffs. *sniff sniff* I think I smell Monsanto!

Here is the link .... you must read this article!
Food Safety - rigging the game
July 03, 2008 By GRAIN Source: Grain.org

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18076

If you missed the VIDEO.. here it is!

The Arte documentarty aired March 11th in France. Made it's way to YouTube and GoogleVideo. Then it suddenly disappeared.... well thanks to Monica at the Small Meadow Farm, via my friend Robbyn at the Back Forty.... here is the link The World According To Monsanto! Thank you my friends... I am burning a copy so I don't lose it again!

Green Growin Food--a poem

Green Growin Food

I have a seed

I have a treat

I save a seed

I have many treats

In a Monsanto world

I have to ask for seeds

The seeds to treats

We may not see tomorrow!

Bio Engineered food... Terrorism at Home!

Monsanto Song

Thank you to my friend, Jaydee, at life in the lost world....

I was appalled when I watched the Video Documentary about Monsanto.
I wish that everyone had been able to see it. It was eye opening. It is no longer available at Google video. These multi national corporations think they can make decisions for us! The have the governments in there back pocket! We must stant up against them. We grow many of our own vegies. We now have our own chickens. Soon I hope to be able to raise my cows and pigs. And the food to feed them. But Monsanto will still be out there poinsoning our water ways. I want a Monsanto free world!

The Back Forty (a new blog to keep up with--thanks again to Jaydee!) wrote about the Terminator seed being produced by companies like Monsanto. Read her post here!

Thanks a bunch!