More GMOs on the way

[posey]

The USDA Says Americans Need More Sugar...and More GMOs | Anti-Aging News | Anti-Aging Resources | Live in the Now by StopAgingNow.com


The USDA Says Americans Need More Sugar…and More GMOs
February 14, 2011
By Josh Corn

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is worried about an impending nationwide sugar shortage. This is the reason, officials said last week, that they gave farmers the green light to plant Monsanto’s previously outlawed genetically engineered Roundup Ready sugar beets. Currently, 30% of the world’s sugar is produced from beets.

Ironically enough, the USDA just weeks ago released its latest set of dietary guidelines for Americans, which place stronger emphasis on the importance of reducing calorie consumption and avoiding things like trans fats, refined flours — and added sugars.

“The 2010 Dietary Guidelines are being released at a time when the majority of adults and 1 in 3 children is overweight or obese and this is a crisis that we can no longer ignore,” said USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack in an official press release.

So in light of this crisis and these new recommendations, why is the USDA resorting to the hasty approval of a genetically engineered crop to ensure that the U.S. sugar supply remains abundant?

Recent surveys have indicated that the majority of Americans don’t want GMOs entering their food supply, and that over 90% of Americans believe that GMO foods should be labeled as such. So perhaps even more importantly, why does the USDA continue to ignore public opinion by not only allowing the planting of GMO crops, but also by allowing GMO foods to be sold without any labeling whatsoever? (Just to remind you, last month the USDA decided to allow unrestricted planting of genetically engineered Roundup Ready alfalfa, this month it’s sugar beets — who knows what’s up next.)

The answers to these puzzling questions may unfortunately lie in the untold level of influence that Big Agra giant Monsanto has on the USDA.


Voted “Most Evil Corporation” of 2010 in a survey conducted by NaturalNews.com, Monsanto is basically synonymous with the GMO industry and all of the societal and environmental ills that go along with it. I won’t go into all of Monsanto’s crimes here, but I encourage you to read about the Organic Consumer Association’s Millions Against Monsanto campaign to learn more.

Strictly from a health perspective, there is more than enough reason to be concerned about GMOs. No long-term human safety studies have ever been conducted on the effects of their consumption, yet the USDA seems to assume that GMO foods are safe (enough). But studies pointing towards potentially harmful effects of GMO consumption continue to pile up. (There are also a few industry-funded studies that supposedly prove GMO foods are completely safe.)

Aside from the potential health threats of GMOs themselves, there is also the issue of heavy chemical use on genetically engineered crops. Don’t forget, these crops aren’t engineered to be more nutritious, which would be one thing. They are specifically designed to withstand heavy, repeated application of pesticides and herbicides such as Roundup — at levels so extreme that they would kill normal crops.

“If you thought your sugary treat was bad before, it’s just become a nightmare,” began a statement on the USDA’s decision to deregulate GMO sugar beets from Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch.

“Soon, many candy bars in America could be produced with sugar grown with Monsanto’s dangerous Roundup herbicide. While Americans enjoy their dessert, Monsanto will reap ever-larger profits and enjoy ever-greater power over what you and I eat.”

Currently, the only way to be assured that your food is non-GMO is to buy organic foods (or to grow your own). But even organic foods are under threat. In a disturbing turn of events last week, some of the nation’s “organic giants,” including Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm, expressed support for “coexistence” between organic foods and GMOs.

While peaceful coexistence may seem like a good idea in theory, the fact of the matter is that it’s impossible. Cross-contamination of GMO with non-GMO crops — which is already occurring in GMO corn and soy — poses a major threat to entire organic farming industry. Scientists say that this cross-contamination, which occurs when genes are transferred from crop to crop via wind-pollination, is unavoidable. Depending on wind levels, they say, pollen can spread up to six miles or more.

If you oppose the USDA’s decision to allow the planting of GMO alfalfa and sugar beets, I urge you to visit the Alliance for Natural Health’s Action Alert page where you can write to President Obama, Congress, and the USDA, and ask them to reverse this decision.

[fritolay66]

An interesting read, but the emotionalism of it was kinda nauseating.

Roundup, GMOs linked to emergence of deadly new pathogen causing spontaneous abortions among animals

Frito

(NaturalNews) In a shocking warning letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, a highly experienced, ex-military pathogen researcher warns that the use of Roundup via GMO crops is resulting in the emergence of a deadly new pathogen -- previously unknown to science -- that's causing widespread spontaneous abortions among cattle. The pathogen appears in high concentrations among even non-GMO crops that are "managed" through the use of glyphosate (Roundup) for weed control.

The letter is authored by COL (Retired) Don M. Huber, a former Emeritus Professor at Purdue University. Huber was also the coordinator at the American Phytopathological Society, an organization that studies plant diseases and pathogens. Huber also sat on the committee for Emerging Diseases and Pathogens, chaired by an Agriculture Research Service (USDA) employee from Fort Detrick, Maryland.

Fort Detrick, you may remember, is also where the U.S. military conducts much of its biological warfare research through its United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._A...). A few years ago, deadly pathogens "went missing" from this lab (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...).

Huber, in other words, is not just some ranting civilian. He's someone who has worked around pathogens for many decades and whose warnings about pathogenic threats must be taken seriously. In his letter, Huber warns about a new pathogen, unknown to science, "...that appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals, and probably human beings. Based on a review of the data, it is widespread, very serious, and is in much higher concentrations in Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans and corn -- suggesting a link with the RR gene or more likely the presence of Roundup."....

Huber's letter was made available to Tom Vilsack well before the USDA's recent decision to deregulate GE alfalfa (http://www.naturalnews.com/031139_G...), meaning that the USDA deregulated GE alfalfa even after being made aware of this severe threat to human and animal health.

The threat to human health

....

"[The pathogen] is found in high concentrations in Roundup Ready soybean meal and corn, distillers meal, fermentation feed products, pig stomach contents, and pig and cattle placentas," says Huber.

Guess where soybean meal is used? Throughout the processed food supply. Both soybean meal and GMO corn are widely used in thousands of foods found in grocery stores and even health food stores like Whole Foods. This means human consumers are almost certainly being exposed to this pathogen through the food supply right now, as there are often mistakes in food processing that don't always kill the pathogens through cooking or pasteurization.

Is this part of the explanation behind human spontaneous abortions and rising rates of infertility?

Pathogen also threatens plant life

It's not just animals and humans that are threatened by this mysterious and deadly pathogen, by the way. Crops are also threatened by it.

"The organism is prolific in plants infected with two pervasive diseases that are driving down yields and farmer income -- sudden death syndrome (SDS) in soy, and Goss’ wilt in corn. The pathogen is also found in the fungal causative agent of SDS (Fusarium solani fsp glycines)."

Did you read that carefully? The pathogen caused by the use of Roundup and GMO crops drives down crop yields through plant disease! And yet, the whole selling point behind GMOs was supposed to be "increased yields!" That's why farmers have been strong-armed into using GMOs in the first place. And yet, in reality, what we see are GMO crop failures, not increased yields. See this article by Jeffrey Smith for more: http://www.naturalnews.com/031138_M...

Huber isn't the only one warning about the toxic effects of Roundup on life, by the way. A paper published in Chemical Research in Toxicology also concluded that Roundup causes birth defects in frogs and chickens: Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Produce Teratogenic Effects on Vertebrates by Impairing Retinoic Acid Signaling (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021...)

An emergency halt to all GMOs

Huber's letter drives home the most important point in all this: We need to STOP GMOs right now, at least until more research can be conducted. As Huber states:

"[We request] an immediate moratorium on the deregulation of RR crops until the causal / predisposing relationship with glyphosate and / or RR plants can be ruled out as a threat to crop and animal production and human health. It is urgent to examine whether the side-effects of glyphosate use may have facilitated the growth of this pathogen, or allowed it to cause greater harm to weakened plant and animal hosts. It is well-documented that glyphosate promotes soil pathogens and is already implicated with the increase of more than 40 plant diseases; it dismantles plant defenses by chelating vital nutrients; and it reduces the bioavailability of nutrients in feed, which in turn can cause animal disorders."

But rather than stopping GMOs, the USDA has approved three new GE crops in just the last several weeks! The USDA, it seems, has decided to risk the sustainability of life on our planet -- plant life, animal life and even human life. The USDA is now becoming as dangerous as the FDA!

The coming ecological catastrophe

Once these deadly pathogens are out in the wild, there's no recapturing them. I predict that, in the years ahead, GMOs will cause an ecological catastrophe that results in widespread suffering and death. Everybody is threatened by GMOs - cattle ranchers, dairy owners, pets, children, adults and even the crops themselves. Nothing is safe from the scourge of death and destruction now being unleashed upon our world by these evil corporations (http://www.naturalnews.com/030967_M...) working in conspiracy with corrupt, criminal-minded government all across the world -- governments that are actively conspiring against their own people to unleash spontaneous abortions, infertility and eventual starvation.

They are claiming that GMOs will prevent starvation and "feed the world!" But the evidence reveals the far darker truth behind the scheme: It's really about poisoning the world, reducing the population, and seizing control over the production and distribution of food.

Below, I've reprinted the full letter from Huber:

[fritolay66]

The letter to the USDA from Professor Huber

Dear Secretary Vilsack:

A team of senior plant and animal scientists have recently brought to my attention the discovery of an electron microscopic pathogen that appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals, and probably human beings. Based on a review of the data, it is widespread, very serious, and is in much higher concentrations in Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans and corn -- suggesting a link with the RR gene or more likely the presence of Roundup. This organism appears NEW to science!

This is highly sensitive information that could result in a collapse of US soy and corn export markets and significant disruption of domestic food and feed supplies. On the other hand, this new organism may already be responsible for significant harm (see below). My colleagues and I are therefore moving our investigation forward with speed and discretion, and seek assistance from the USDA and other entities to identify the pathogen’s source, prevalence, implications, and remedies.

We are informing the USDA of our findings at this early stage, specifically due to your pending decision regarding approval of RR alfalfa. Naturally, if either the RR gene or Roundup itself is a promoter or co-factor of this pathogen, then such approval could be a calamity. Based on the current evidence, the only reasonable action at this time would be to delay deregulation at least until sufficient data has exonerated the RR system, if it does.

For the past 40 years, I have been a scientist in the professional and military agencies that evaluate and prepare for natural and manmade biological threats, including germ warfare and disease outbreaks. Based on this experience, I believe the threat we are facing from this pathogen is unique and of a high risk status. In layman’s terms, it should be treated as an emergency.

A diverse set of researchers working on this problem have contributed various pieces of the puzzle, which together presents the following disturbing scenario:

Unique Physical Properties

This previously unknown organism is only visible under an electron microscope (36,000X), with an approximate size range equal to a medium size virus. It is able to reproduce and appears to be a micro-fungal-like organism. If so, it would be the first such micro-fungus ever identified. There is strong evidence that this infectious agent promotes diseases of both plants and mammals, which is very rare.

Pathogen Location and Concentration

It is found in high concentrations in Roundup Ready soybean meal and corn, distillers meal, fermentation feed products, pig stomach contents, and pig and cattle placentas.

Linked with Outbreaks of Plant Disease

The organism is prolific in plants infected with two pervasive diseases that are driving down yields and farmer income -- sudden death syndrome (SDS) in soy, and Goss’ wilt in corn. The pathogen is also found in the fungal causative agent of SDS (Fusarium solani fsp glycines).

Implicated in Animal Reproductive Failure

Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of this organism in a wide variety of livestock that have experienced spontaneous abortions and infertility. Preliminary results from ongoing research have also been able to reproduce abortions in a clinical setting.

The pathogen may explain the escalating frequency of infertility and spontaneous abortions over the past few years in US cattle, dairy, swine, and horse operations. These include recent reports of infertility rates in dairy heifers of over 20%, and spontaneous abortions in cattle as high as 45%.

For example, 450 of 1,000 pregnant heifers fed wheatlege experienced spontaneous abortions. Over the same period, another 1,000 heifers from the same herd that were raised on hay had no abortions. High concentrations of the pathogen were confirmed on the wheatlege, which likely had been under weed management using glyphosate.

Recommendations

In summary, because of the high titer of this new animal pathogen in Roundup Ready crops, and its association with plant and animal diseases that are reaching epidemic proportions, we request USDA’s participation in a multi-agency investigation, and an immediate moratorium on the deregulation of RR crops until the causal/predisposing relationship with glyphosate and/or RR plants can be ruled out as a threat to crop and animal production and human health.

It is urgent to examine whether the side-effects of glyphosate use may have facilitated the growth of this pathogen, or allowed it to cause greater harm to weakened plant and animal hosts. It is well-documented that glyphosate promotes soil pathogens and is already implicated with the increase of more than 40 plant diseases; it dismantles plant defenses by chelating vital nutrients; and it reduces the bioavailability of nutrients in feed, which in turn can cause animal disorders. To properly evaluate these factors, we request access to the relevant USDA data.

I have studied plant pathogens for more than 50 years. We are now seeing an unprecedented trend of increasing plant and animal diseases and disorders. This pathogen may be instrumental to understanding and solving this problem. It deserves immediate attention with significant resources to avoid a general collapse of our critical agricultural infrastructure.

Sincerely,

COL (Ret.) Don M. Huber
Emeritus Professor, Purdue University
APS Coordinator, USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System (NPDRS)

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/031473_GMOs_pathogens.html#ixzz1EteDnXuH

[tcmgpt13]

As if the horror of GMO foods is not enough we now hear about an unknown pathogen which can only be seen with the aid of a very powerful electron microscope. I guess all we can do is eat as it must be pervasive throughout the whole food supply as indicated in the article. There's not a lot that would prevent this from passing to organic foods either. Sooner or later it will spread...and probably already has. Hmm, any countries left that Monsanto hasn't been to and corrupted with its insidious and deadly additions into food stuffs? Soon the only thing grains will be good for is using as fuel. Maybe that is the plan (if it doesn't tear up the engines first--a little known fact is that these organic fuels add moisture to engines which will make them wear out more quickly). Oh great. Just great. Is there any good news today? I would love to hear some right about now.

[jeanlong]

Hi All and TCM

I haven't been here for a while. Not fully recovered after my trip but better than when I first returned. Along with skin eruptions I am having problems feeling easily chilled again which I had not experienced in a long time. well I hope other M people are doing okay.

When I read this thread, and this last post, it actually makes me wonder about cheese. If this M illness is connected, related or somehow correlated to a fungal or mold component, then uit makes sense to me that consuming mold in the diet is a bad idea.

It is my understanding that cheese used to be made using veal rennet to solidify it. Now I read the ingredients on cheese I just bought (usually don't buy it) - and the ingredient list includes "microbial rennet" which I did not understand, but the internet says this means the cheese is made with a mold-based-rennet that is a GM product. I don't eat that much cheese and generally avoid it, but my mind went to the idea of cheese after thinking about GM food....am wondering if consuming cheese made with "microbial rennet" instead of traditional veal rennet will worsen M illness since, if "microbial rennet" really equates to eating a glob of mold when eating that type of cheese, I imagine it would be unhealthy for someone with M. any input or comments welcome. Too bad there are no studies to see if M sufferers who consume microbial rennet type cheese have a worse time of things.

best regards,
Jean

Originally Posted by tcmgpt13

As if the horror of GMO foods is not enough we now hear about an unknown pathogen which can only be seen with the aid of a very powerful electron microscope. I guess all we can do is eat as it must be pervasive throughout the whole food supply as indicated in the article. There's not a lot that would prevent this from passing to organic foods either. Sooner or later it will spread...and probably already has. Hmm, any countries left that Monsanto hasn't been to and corrupted with its insidious and deadly additions into food stuffs? Soon the only thing grains will be good for is using as fuel. Maybe that is the plan (if it doesn't tear up the engines first--a little known fact is that these organic fuels add moisture to engines which will make them wear out more quickly). Oh great. Just great. Is there any good news today? I would love to hear some right about now.

[hellalone]

Hi jeanlong,

I am not really going with the thread, but... I am freezing eventho I am dressed well. Especially my hands and arms, and my feet and legs. It is upper 60s outside and the heater is on, but I cannot seem to get warm. Hope we both get warmer.

We live in the country were there are lots of farmers, cows, sheep and hay. I am sure some of the farmers use gmo to grow or to feed their animals. I do not go outside except to get in the car! What a shame.

I do not get much organic food out here, but when I go into Houston I can find most everything. I think I will go next week and stock up.

I do not know about cheese. I did not know it was made using mold!

Take care, hella

[hellalone]

For several weeks, I could not get on here to talk or listen! I tried to - almost every day. Said something was wrong with MDR - Forums site (?).

On March 11, I got thru coming from a diff way. And today, strait to here. Franky must have fixed the problem.

Sorry if this is in the wrong spot - I thought it would be read more here.

Come on guys, come on back, so I can ask yall lots of ?s.

Take care, hella