These two pieces were sent to me today and leaves many unanswered questions but the trend looks like clear:
By David Gutierrez, staff writer
Natural News
(NaturalNews) Drug and chemical giant Bayer AG has admitted that there is no way to stop the uncontrolled spread of its genetically modified crops.
“Even the best practices can’t guarantee perfection,” said Mark Ferguson, the company’s defense lawyer in a recent trial.
Two Missouri farmers sued Bayer for contaminating their crop with modified genes from an experimental strain of rice engineered to be resistant to the company’s Liberty-brand herbicide. The contamination occurred in 2006, during an open field test of the new rice, which was not approved for human consumption. According to the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Don Downing, genetic material from the unapproved rice contaminated more than 30 percent of all rice cropland in the United States.
“Bayer was supposed to be careful,” Downing said. “Bayer was not careful and that rice did escape into our commercial rice supplies.”
The plaintiffs alleged that in addition to contaminating their fields, Bayer further harmed them financially by undermining their export market. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the widespread rice contamination, important export markets were closed to U.S. producers. A report from Greenpeace International estimates the financial damage of the contamination at between $741 million and $1.3 billion.
Bayer claimed that there was no possible way it could have prevented the contamination, insisting that it followed not only the law but also the best industry practices. The jury disagreed, finding Bayer guilty of carelessness in handling the genetically modified crops. The company was ordered to pay farmers Kenneth Bell and Johnny Hunter $2 million.
“This is a huge victory, not only for Kenny and me, but for every farmer in America who was harmed by Bayer’s LibertyLink rice contamination,” Hunter said.
According to Hunter, the company got “the wake-up call they deserved.”
Bayer is still being sued by more than 1,000 other farmers from Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Sources for this story include:
www.organicconsumers.org
www.bloomberg.com.
Barb’s note: Now let’s get Monsanto!
A much bigger cat is "out of the bag" with Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops. Many farmers and scientists are finding nutrient tie up in soils where glyphosate was sprayed. This is beyond what consuming GM foods does to some people:
SPECIAL REPORT-Are US regulators dropping the ball on biocrops?
To read this story in PDF format, click here:
http://static.reuters.com/resources/media/editorial/20100413/BiocropRegulation.p
* Growing calls for independent scientific crop testing
* EPA may reassess key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup
* U.S. Supreme Court to hear GMO regulation case April 27
By Carey Gillam
COLUMBIA, Mo., April 13 (Reuters) - Robert Kremer, a U.S.
government microbiologist who studies Midwestern farm soil, has
spent two decades analyzing the rich dirt that yields billions
of bushels of food each year and helps the United States retain
its title as breadbasket of the world.
Kremer's lab is housed at the University of Missouri and is
literally in the shadow of Monsanto Auditorium, named after the
$11.8 billion-a-year agricultural giant Monsanto Co..
Based in Creve Coeur, Missouri, the company has accumulated
vast wealth and power creating chemicals and genetically
altered seeds for farmers worldwide.
But recent findings by Kremer and other agricultural
scientists are raising fresh concerns about Monsanto's products
and the Washington agencies that oversee them. The same seeds
and chemicals spread across millions of acres of U.S. farmland
could be creating unforeseen problems in the plants and soil,
this body of research shows.
Kremer, who works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Agricultural Research Service (ARS), is among a group of
scientists who are turning up potential problems with
glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup and the
most widely used weed-killer in the world.
"This could be something quite big. We might be setting up
a huge problem," said Kremer, who expressed alarm that
regulators were not paying enough attention to the potential
risks from biotechnology on the farm, including his own
research.
Concerns range from worries about how nontraditional
genetic traits in crops could affect human and animal health to
the spread of herbicide-resistant weeds.
Biotech crop supporters say there is a wealth of evidence
that the crops on the market are safe, but critics argue that
after only 14 years of commercialized GMOs, it is still unclear
whether or not the technology has long-term adverse effects.
Whatever the point of view on the crops themselves, there
are many people on both sides of the debate who say that the
current U.S. regulatory apparatus is ill-equipped to adequately
address the concerns. Indeed, many experts say the U.S.
government does more to promote global acceptance of biotech
crops than to protect the public from possible harmful
consequences.
"We don't have a robust enough regulatory system to be able
to give us a definitive answer about whether these crops are
safe or not. We simply aren't doing the kinds of tests we need
to do to have confidence in the safety of these crops," said
Doug Gurian-Sherman, a scientist who served on a FDA biotech
advisory subcommittee from 2002 to 2005.
"The U.S. response (to questions about biotech crop safety)
has been an extremely patronizing one. They say 'We know best,
trust us,'" added Gurian-Sherman, now a senior scientist at the
Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit environmental
group.
CALL FOR CHANGE
The World Health Organization has not taken a stand on
biotech crops generally, simply stating "individual GM foods
and their safety should be assessed on a case-by-case basis."
And while many scientists around the world cite research
they say shows health and environmental risks tied to GMOs,
many other scientists say research proves the crops are no
different than conventional types.
With a growing world population and a need to increase food
production in poor nations, confidence in the regulatory system
in the leading biotech crop country is considered critical.
"One of the things that we think is important to do is to
have regular reviews and updates of our strategies for
regulating products of biotechnology," said Roger Beachy, a
biotech crop supporter who was appointed last year as director
of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
"We want to look carefully to see that they are logical and
science-based but still maintain the confidence of the consumer
to ensure that the projects that are developed and released
have the highest level of oversight," added Beachy.
So far, that confidence has been lacking. Courts have cited
regulators for failing to do their jobs properly and advisers
and auditors have sought sweeping changes.
Even Wall Street has taken note. In January, shares in
Monsanto fell more than 3 percent amid a rush of hedging
activity during a morning trading session after a report by
European scientists in the International Journal of Biological
Sciences found signs of toxicity in the livers and kidneys of
rats fed the company's biotech corn.
Monsanto has said the European study had "unsubstantiated
conclusions," and says it is confident its products are well
tested and safe.
Indeed, farmers around the world seem to be embracing
biotech crops that have been altered to resist bugs and
tolerate weed-killing treatments while yielding more. According
to an industry report issued in February, 14 million farmers in
25 countries planted biotech crops on 330 million acres in
2009, with the United States alone accounting for 158 million
acres.
Confusing? You bet, especially for the farmer who knows something about this. But the trend seems clear, GM foods do affect the soil they grow in and the humans and animals who consume them. How harmful are they?
Is it too late to straighten this out?
Ed
By David Gutierrez, staff writer
Natural News
(NaturalNews) Drug and chemical giant Bayer AG has admitted that there is no way to stop the uncontrolled spread of its genetically modified crops.
“Even the best practices can’t guarantee perfection,” said Mark Ferguson, the company’s defense lawyer in a recent trial.
Two Missouri farmers sued Bayer for contaminating their crop with modified genes from an experimental strain of rice engineered to be resistant to the company’s Liberty-brand herbicide. The contamination occurred in 2006, during an open field test of the new rice, which was not approved for human consumption. According to the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Don Downing, genetic material from the unapproved rice contaminated more than 30 percent of all rice cropland in the United States.
“Bayer was supposed to be careful,” Downing said. “Bayer was not careful and that rice did escape into our commercial rice supplies.”
The plaintiffs alleged that in addition to contaminating their fields, Bayer further harmed them financially by undermining their export market. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the widespread rice contamination, important export markets were closed to U.S. producers. A report from Greenpeace International estimates the financial damage of the contamination at between $741 million and $1.3 billion.
Bayer claimed that there was no possible way it could have prevented the contamination, insisting that it followed not only the law but also the best industry practices. The jury disagreed, finding Bayer guilty of carelessness in handling the genetically modified crops. The company was ordered to pay farmers Kenneth Bell and Johnny Hunter $2 million.
“This is a huge victory, not only for Kenny and me, but for every farmer in America who was harmed by Bayer’s LibertyLink rice contamination,” Hunter said.
According to Hunter, the company got “the wake-up call they deserved.”
Bayer is still being sued by more than 1,000 other farmers from Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Sources for this story include:
www.organicconsumers.org
www.bloomberg.com.
Barb’s note: Now let’s get Monsanto!
A much bigger cat is "out of the bag" with Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops. Many farmers and scientists are finding nutrient tie up in soils where glyphosate was sprayed. This is beyond what consuming GM foods does to some people:
SPECIAL REPORT-Are US regulators dropping the ball on biocrops?
To read this story in PDF format, click here:
http://static.reuters.com/resources/media/editorial/20100413/BiocropRegulation.p
* Growing calls for independent scientific crop testing
* EPA may reassess key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup
* U.S. Supreme Court to hear GMO regulation case April 27
By Carey Gillam
COLUMBIA, Mo., April 13 (Reuters) - Robert Kremer, a U.S.
government microbiologist who studies Midwestern farm soil, has
spent two decades analyzing the rich dirt that yields billions
of bushels of food each year and helps the United States retain
its title as breadbasket of the world.
Kremer's lab is housed at the University of Missouri and is
literally in the shadow of Monsanto Auditorium, named after the
$11.8 billion-a-year agricultural giant Monsanto Co.
Based in Creve Coeur, Missouri, the company has accumulated
vast wealth and power creating chemicals and genetically
altered seeds for farmers worldwide.
But recent findings by Kremer and other agricultural
scientists are raising fresh concerns about Monsanto's products
and the Washington agencies that oversee them. The same seeds
and chemicals spread across millions of acres of U.S. farmland
could be creating unforeseen problems in the plants and soil,
this body of research shows.
Kremer, who works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Agricultural Research Service (ARS), is among a group of
scientists who are turning up potential problems with
glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup and the
most widely used weed-killer in the world.
"This could be something quite big. We might be setting up
a huge problem," said Kremer, who expressed alarm that
regulators were not paying enough attention to the potential
risks from biotechnology on the farm, including his own
research.
Concerns range from worries about how nontraditional
genetic traits in crops could affect human and animal health to
the spread of herbicide-resistant weeds.
Biotech crop supporters say there is a wealth of evidence
that the crops on the market are safe, but critics argue that
after only 14 years of commercialized GMOs, it is still unclear
whether or not the technology has long-term adverse effects.
Whatever the point of view on the crops themselves, there
are many people on both sides of the debate who say that the
current U.S. regulatory apparatus is ill-equipped to adequately
address the concerns. Indeed, many experts say the U.S.
government does more to promote global acceptance of biotech
crops than to protect the public from possible harmful
consequences.
"We don't have a robust enough regulatory system to be able
to give us a definitive answer about whether these crops are
safe or not. We simply aren't doing the kinds of tests we need
to do to have confidence in the safety of these crops," said
Doug Gurian-Sherman, a scientist who served on a FDA biotech
advisory subcommittee from 2002 to 2005.
"The U.S. response (to questions about biotech crop safety)
has been an extremely patronizing one. They say 'We know best,
trust us,'" added Gurian-Sherman, now a senior scientist at the
Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit environmental
group.
CALL FOR CHANGE
The World Health Organization has not taken a stand on
biotech crops generally, simply stating "individual GM foods
and their safety should be assessed on a case-by-case basis."
And while many scientists around the world cite research
they say shows health and environmental risks tied to GMOs,
many other scientists say research proves the crops are no
different than conventional types.
With a growing world population and a need to increase food
production in poor nations, confidence in the regulatory system
in the leading biotech crop country is considered critical.
"One of the things that we think is important to do is to
have regular reviews and updates of our strategies for
regulating products of biotechnology," said Roger Beachy, a
biotech crop supporter who was appointed last year as director
of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
"We want to look carefully to see that they are logical and
science-based but still maintain the confidence of the consumer
to ensure that the projects that are developed and released
have the highest level of oversight," added Beachy.
So far, that confidence has been lacking. Courts have cited
regulators for failing to do their jobs properly and advisers
and auditors have sought sweeping changes.
Even Wall Street has taken note. In January, shares in
Monsanto fell more than 3 percent amid a rush of hedging
activity during a morning trading session after a report by
European scientists in the International Journal of Biological
Sciences found signs of toxicity in the livers and kidneys of
rats fed the company's biotech corn.
Monsanto has said the European study had "unsubstantiated
conclusions," and says it is confident its products are well
tested and safe.
Indeed, farmers around the world seem to be embracing
biotech crops that have been altered to resist bugs and
tolerate weed-killing treatments while yielding more. According
to an industry report issued in February, 14 million farmers in
25 countries planted biotech crops on 330 million acres in
2009, with the United States alone accounting for 158 million
acres.
Confusing? You bet, especially for the farmer who knows something about this. But the trend seems clear, GM foods do affect the soil they grow in and the humans and animals who consume them. How harmful are they?
Is it too late to straighten this out?
Ed
Good Man, Ed, by His Grace. I'm hoping the lowly earthworm and a host of other beneficial decomposers and reorganizers may denature the renegade enzymes in GM contaminated soils and plant materials. The work at Guelph says the rhizosphere's critters contain the junk but I haven't been able to find out if they are excreting it or not. If they are then we are toast. The Green Revolution has given way to the Great Famines of the end times with our plates full of nothing fit to eat. It's increasingly apparent why Jesus said we would eat any deadly thing and it would not harm us. We're going have to have that life in us that raised Jesus from the dead and be feasting on that manna that comes down from Heaven.
ReplyDeleteConfusing indeed. I grow roundup ready canola and I agree that once that seed is "out there" it is impossible to remove it from the system. Anyone thats ever tried to clean out a combine or grain bin will know this.
ReplyDeleteAnd just google "Percy Schmeiser" to see some interesting reading re: unauthorized growing of monsanto's crops.
Lets hope before anymore of these gm crops are released that we think about the consequences. Triffid flax is a huge example of how gm crops can hurt us, the growers. Its out there now and has cost us our European market and lowered the price. Sure, theres probably no harm in Triffid (GM) flax but if the public believes it is dangerous than we have a big problem. Who will buy our grain?
I guess there's always a price to pay for playing God, whether it's in the farmer's field or at the abortion clinic.
ReplyDeleteI just got a soil test back from a RR farm and the Mn is HIGH and the farm is his best farm. That soil can handle it? Others Mn is always lacking. All so confusing. Yes Ralph, the cat is out of the bag! How do we deal with it? Gorges man has played God too long and now we all have to pay? So keep your faith and keep doing what He wants us to do!
ReplyDelete