Genetically modified food watch's topics - tribe.net

U.S. Caves Into Lobbyists Over Massive Bee Deaths

2008-07-16T07:47:02Z

U.S. Caves Into Lobbyists Over Massive Bee Deaths

* U.S.D.A. caves into lobbyists over massive bee deaths while Germany takes a major step to keep their pollinators pollinating crops
Sierra Club, via CASFS-Blog and Forum, June 11, 2008
Straight to the Source

from The Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS), UC Santa Cruz

In light of the mounting evidence that new seed chemical coatings are deadly to bees and the action of Germany to call for an immediate suspension of these seed treatments, the Sierra Club today reaffirmed its call for a U.S. moratorium on specific chemical treatments to protect our bees and crops, until more study can be done.

Recently Germany's federal agricultural research institute noted, "It can unequivocally be concluded that poisoning of the bees is due to the rub-off of the pesticide ingredient clothianidin from corn seeds."

At issue are the neonicotinoids, including clothianidin, being used in a new way - as seed coatings.

For years, farmers have been spraying neonicotinoids onto their crops to stop insect infestation. Now Bayer and Monsanto have acquired patents to coat their proprietary corn seeds with these neonicotinoids.

"Part of the equation in the U.S. is genetically engineered corn, as more and more corn seeds are being gene spliced with a completely different species - a bacteria," said Walter Haefeker, of the German Beekeepers Association Board of Directors. "Bayer and Monsanto recently entered into agreements to manufacture neonicotinic-coated genetically engineered corn. It's likely that this will worsen the bee die-off problem."

David Hackenburg, former president of the American Beekeeping Federation, has been urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to do more study. "Look at what's time based. The massive bee decimation started when regulatory agencies rubber stamped the use of neonicotinoid spraying and coating," he said.

"Sierra Club joins the concern of beekeepers," said Laurel Hopwood, Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Committee Chair. "It's unfortunate that regulatory agencies are using double speak. They claim to protect our food supply - yet they aren't doing the proper studies. The loss of honeybees will leave a huge void in the kitchens of the American people and an estimated loss of 14 billion dollars to farmers. We expect the U.S.D.A. to do their job. We call for a precautionary moratorium on these powerful crop treatments to protect our bees and our food."

www.sierraclub.org/biotech/

Contact: Laurel Hopwood, Sierra Club 216-371-9779

lhopwood@roadrunner.com

~~~

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In Lean Times, Biotech Grains Are Less Taboo

2008-06-25T00:34:38Z

Interesting article in today's NY Times re: Genetically modified grain

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/business/21crop.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=all

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 3 replies

Switzerland Bans GMOs till 2012

2008-06-16T02:07:58Z

SWITZERLAND BANS GMOs: The Swiss government has voted to extend its ban on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) until 2012. The extension will provide time to assess health implications, biological safety, and coexistence ramifications with organic crops. http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_12591.cfm

Switzerland Bans GMOs till 2012

* GM crops banned in Switzerland until 2012 - Agra Europe, 5/29/08
Straight to the Source: http://www.allaboutfeed.net/news/id102-5090 1/gm_crops_banned_in_switzerland_until_2012.html

The Swiss Federal Council (government) has voted to extend the country's moratorium on genetically modified (GM) plants for a further three years beyond the current expiry date of November 2010, Dow Jones reports.

The extension is to allow time for a national research programme into the benefits and risks of GM crops to be completed and the results assessed. Questions over the biological safety of GM plants and the coexistence of GM, conventional and organic crops are being addressed.

The Council imposed a moratorium on the commercial cultivation of GM crops in 2005, on the basis that there was no demand for them in Switzerland at the time and that big gaps remained in scientific knowledge about the risks of this technology.

Shortly after that, the research programme was launched, and this is expected to reach a conclusion around the middle of 2012. However, the Council said last week that it must be allowed to take its course without political pressure.

According to the Council, the moratorium has not caused any obvious problems, either for the farming industry, researchers, or international relations. In fact, it claimed, Swiss farmers have benefited from being able to market their produce on international markets as GM-free.

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Pollution in People

2008-06-03T01:37:12Z

Interesting article on the polluting of people!

http://www.nrdc.org/thisgreenlife/0803.asp

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Important petition TV Drug Ads

2008-06-01T08:17:04Z

TV Drug Ads Must Not Gloss Over Side Effects

Target: FDA

Sponsored by: Consumers Union

The FDA is currently debating whether to require a toll-free number and web address on all TV drug ads so we can easily report serious side effects to the agency.
But the FDA commissioner wants to study the idea for two more years. That’s too long! Prescription drug ads in magazines and newspapers already have this reporting information. Why not TV?

The benefits of making it easy to report serious drug side effects are clear:

• Better reporting of side effects will help the FDA do a better job of detecting dangerous drugs on the market sooner. Dangers often emerge only after millions of people start taking a drug.
• A recent poll found that only 7 percent knew how to report serious side effects to the FDA.
• The toll-free number and web address is already required in print drug ads; this would only put it on TV ads, so more consumers would see it.
An FDA panel convened recently to hear testimony on this, but now they need to hear from you.

Please take a minute to tell the FDA panel why it’s important they require a toll-free number and web address on all TV drug ads now!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/898887837?z00m=15342139

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HOW TO MAKE SAFER BUYING CHOICES: GMO Defensive Shopping List

2008-05-10T02:54:48Z

HOW TO MAKE SAFER BUYING CHOICES
GMO Defensive Shopping List

What crops are most often GMOs? Examples of products commonly containing GMOs

SOY (89%)* Chocolates use soy lecithin; Breads use soy flour; Shakes use soy protein concentrate; Baby formulas use soy milk.

CORN (61%)* High fructose corn syrup is found in sodas, cereals, cookies, candy, salad dressings, spaghetti sauces, and 1,000 other products. Baked goods use cornstarch; Vegetable oils use corn oil; Breads use corn flour.

CANOLA (80%)* Fried products use canola oil; Baked goods use canola oil; Many health products use canola oil.

COTTON (83%)* Chips use cottonseed oil; Fried snacks use cottonseed oil.

* Percentage of GM cotton, corn, and soy in the US and GM canola grown in Canada.

TIP #1: BUY ORGANIC
There are three types of organic labels:

* “100% ORGANIC” means all ingredients are organic.
* “ORGANIC” means that at least 95% of the ingredients are organic. The other 5%, however, still have to be non-GMO.
* “MADE WITH ORGANIC _________ (ingredient name, e.g. SOY).” This label means that at least 70% of the ingredients are organic, but the remaining 30% still have to be non-GMO.

If the term organic is ONLY in the list of ingredients and not found anywhere else on the package, then there is no required percentage for organic ingredients in the product, and any non-organic ingredient may be GMO.

TIP #2: LOOK FOR“NON-GMO” LABELS
Companies may voluntarily label products as “non-GMO”. Some labels state “non-GMO” while others spell out “MADE WITHOUT GENETICALLY MODIFIED INGREDIENTS”. Some products limit their claim to only one particular “AT-RISK” ingredient such as soy lecithin, listing it as “non-GMO”.

TIP #3: AVOID AT-RISK INGREDIENTS
The four major GM crops are soy, corn, cottonseed, and canola. Three minor crops are Hawaiian papaya, and a small amount of zucchini and yellow crook neck squash. These 7 crops look just like their non-GMO counterparts. Novel products such as seedless watermelons, pear/apple combos, and tangelos are products of natural breeding and are NOT genetically engineered.

Most GM ingredients are products made from corn and soybeans, used in processed foods. (See chart on page 4.) There is no GM popcorn on the market, nor is there blue or white GM corn.

Help stop the introduction of GM sugar in late 2008. Send a letter to top companies on our website.

TIP #4: USE SHOPPING GUIDES
There are a few non-GMO shoppers’ guides available based on information directly from food producers. The True Food Guide, available online at www.truefoodnow.org, has also been reproduced as an insert in the back of the informative book on GMOs, Your Right To Know by Andrew Kimbrell. Go to www.seedsofdeception.com.

OTHER WAYS TO AVOID GMOs

ANIMAL PRODUCTS
Meats, dairy products, farmed fish, and eggs are usually from animals fed GM feed. To avoid, buy “ORGANIC”, “WILD CAUGHT”, or meat or dairy from “100% GRASS-FED” animals. Avoid dairy products from cows injected with GM bovine growth hormone (called rbGH or rbST). See www.responsibletechnology.org for brands. Honey and bee pollen may have been gathered from GM plants.

PRODUCTS FROM GM MICROORGANISMS
There are many additives, enzymes, flavorings, and processing agents used in foods which are produced by GM bacteria, yeast, or fungi. To avoid them, either buy organic or stick to non-processed foods.

GMO SWEETENER ASPARTAME
Avoid the GMO derivative labeled as the sweetener aspartame. It is also referred to as NutraSweet® and Equal® and is found in over 6,000 products, including soft drinks, gum, candy, desserts, mixes, yogurt, tabletop sweeteners, and some pharmaceuticals such as vitamins and sugar-free cough drops.

AVOID GMOs IN RESTAURANTS
Try to go to restaurants that cook meals from scratch and do not use packaged, processed mixes and sauces which will likely have GM ingredients. At-risk ingredients include corn chips and tortillas, tofu, soy sauce, and sweet corn. Vegetable oil is usually made from GM soy, corn, cottonseed, or canola and is used by most restaurants. Find out if your restaurant uses vegetable oil, and if so, ask if they can cook YOUR meal without oil or with a non-GMO oil, such as olive, sunflower, or safflower.

Buy non-GMO. Help us stop the genetic engineering of our food supply.
Membership in the Institute For Responsible Technology is $25 and includes a free educational gift.

Donations to IRT are tax-deductible. Become a member or make a donation through the website, or mail a check to:

Institute For Responsible Technology
P.O. Box 469 Fairfield, IA 52556
www.responsibletechnology.org
or call (641) 209-1765

INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE TECHNOLOGY
The Institute is a fully tax deductible project of The Coordinating Council, a 501c(3).

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US Bullies Africa on GM Labeling, Africa's Had Enough

2008-05-10T02:47:01Z

U.S. Pressure on South Africa at Codex
Quashes Hopes For Mandatory GM Food Labeling in 2008
According to the Natural Solutions Foundation

http://www.prweb.com/releases/GM_Labeling/Codex/prweb909004.htm

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Engineered seeds can survive in soil for 10 years

2008-05-10T02:25:17Z

Engineered seeds can survive in soil for 10 years

Scientists in Sweden found genetically engineered canola plants springing up in a test field 10 years after engineered seeds were originally planted—despite efforts over time to clear the field of transgenic plants. The canola plants were engineered to tolerate the herbicide glufosinate. In the years following the canola planting, the field was plowed and used to grow wheat, barley, and sugar beets, and farm staff routinely searched for and removed canola plants. Yet after a decade canola plants were still sprouting in the field. The persistence and dispersal of genetically engineered plants into the environment is one of the serious problems with this technology, and may contribute to contamination of conventional crops.

Read more about engineered crops,
http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/genetic_engineering/

or read the study abstract in Biology Letters.
http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/g62358l733561560/?p=55b079c4e99b4c65a399e04bbb81c13b&pi=0

http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/feed/feed-may-2008.html

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PLEASE WATCH = "IN LIES WE TRUST" = IT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE

2008-05-05T09:34:28Z

PLEASE WATCH = "IN LIES WE TRUST" = IT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE
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Growing Meat in Vats?

2008-04-18T15:36:08Z

Here's an interesting article from today's NT Y Times about growing our meat. EEEEEWWW~

What do you think about this prospect? Time to become a vegetarian I'd say~grow your own. Makes a good argument for permaculture and food not lawnd!

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/can-people-have-meat-and-a-planet-too/

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 1 reply

New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods

2008-04-18T02:34:13Z

Organic veggies have more nutrients
from the Union of Concerned Scientists Food & Environment newsletter
http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/feed/feed-april-2008.html#4
A review of nearly 100 scientific studies has concluded that, on average, organic fruits and vegetables have more vitamins, minerals, and beneficial antioxidants than their conventionally grown counterparts. In the new report, scientists from The Organic Center (a nonprofit that promotes organic farming), examined carefully matched measurements of selected nutrients in specific organic and conventionally grown foods. The scientists found that the organic produce had higher levels of tested nutrients in 61 percent of the cases. Furthermore, the organic foods tended to have higher levels of antioxidants and polyphenols, nutrients that are often in short supply in U.S. diets. By contrast, conventional produce had higher levels of potassium, phosphorus, and total protein, which most people already have in their diets in sufficient amounts. The Organic Center will update its findings online as new studies comparing organic and conventional foods are published.
Read the report:
"New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods,"
State of Science Review, March 2008
http://www.organic-center.org/science.nutri.php?action=view&report_id=126

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Labels should tell the truth about hormones

2008-04-14T14:55:19Z

FOOD SLEUTH: Labels should tell the truth about hormones

By MELINDA HEMMELGARN
COLUMBIA TRIBUNE, March 26 2008
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Mar/20080326Food011.asp

Pennsylvania said no. Indiana followed. Now it's Missouri's turn to reject legislation that would place restrictions on dairy labels and limit a consumer’s right to know whether our milk was produced without artificial hormones.

Several months ago I reported on the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s attempts to make it illegal for dairy farmers to label their milk as produced without the synthetic [ie genetically engineered] hormones rbST or rbGH. Both the governor and agriculture secretary said such "absence claims" confused consumers.

Hogwash. We consumers consistently say we want more transparency in the food system, not less. And we’re not confused by dairy labels that say "from cows not treated with artificial growth hormones." In fact, according to a poll conducted by Consumer Reports National Research Center last June, 88 percent of consumers surveyed "thought that milk from cows not treated with rbGH should be allowed to be labeled as such."

Thanks to public outcry from consumers, farmers and processors, Pennsylvania’s Department of Agriculture decided against labeling restrictions. The Midwest and International Dairy Foods Associations also submitted letters opposing legislation in Indiana, the second state to reject label constraints.

Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Union, calls these decisions "a victory for free speech, free markets, sustainable farming and the consumer’s right to know."

St. Louis-based Monsanto produces the injectable synthetic hormone sold under the brand name Posilac. The corporate giant uses political strategies and public relations campaigns to restrict "absence" labels and protect profits.

But Jerry Slominski, senior vice president of IDFA, says he’s concerned about milk producers’ rights to market and sell a product consumers clearly want.

The FDA and Monsanto both say milk from treated cows is not significantly different from untreated cows. But that statement’s validity depends on what you’re measuring.

For example, according to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, there is evidence that milk from treated cows contains higher levels of insulin-like growth factor, or IGF-1. Samuel Epstein, professor emeritus of environmental and occupational medicine at the University of Illinois-Chicago School of Public Health, believes IGF-1 increases the risk of certain cancers.

Hansen and the IATP's David Wallinga say "it's simply common sense to avoid a higher risk of getting cancer when the source of that risk is completely unnecessary."

Before rbGH received FDA approval, the U.S. General Accounting Office expressed concerns about the drug causing increased infection of cows’ teats. The condition requires treatment with antibiotics, which contributes to the growing crisis of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that threaten human health.

The Posilac package insert says the drug's use is associated with "increases in cystic ovaries," "increased risk for clinical mastitis (visibly abnormal milk)," "digestive disorders," "lesions of the knee" and "disorders of the foot region."

Mark Winne, a Santa Fe-based food systems analyst, followed the horrific story of the "downer cattle" beef recall in California. He noticed the crippled cows appeared to be Holsteins, dairy cows. Winne researched factory dairy farms in New Mexico and says when cows are "pumped up on growth hormones" their productive years are shortened, after which they’re sent off "to the industrial-scale hamburger grinder."

Japan, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand and Canada ban the use of the synthetic hormone because of concerns about the health and welfare of cows and humans.

If you want the freedom to purchase milk from cows not treated with synthetic hormones, speak up. Contact your legislators in Jefferson City and let them know how you feel about House Bill 2283, which would restrict consumers’ rights to make informed decisions in the marketplace. Better yet, attend Family Farm Lobby Day at the Capitol, from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. March 31 and learn about a variety of issues affecting Missouri’s family farmers, our landscape, economy and food. Call the Missouri Rural Crisis Center for more information at 449-1336.

************

thanks to tw

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 1 reply

Monsanto Round up Ready

2008-04-12T15:35:30Z

video.google.de/videoplay

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

KAUAI News: Organic corn 'outbreak' reported

2008-04-12T15:33:44Z

KAUAI News: 'It's a rebellion of sorts'

Organic corn 'outbreak' reported

by Rachel Gehrlein
THE GARDEN ISLAND
http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/03/28/news/news02.txt

In an attempt to make a statement about genetically modified corn on Kaua‘i, a loose conglomeration of community members has started to distribute organic corn seeds and corn seedlings island-wide.

According to Lauren Shaw-Meek, a manager at Vim & Vigor in Lihu‘e, the idea of the organic corn “outbreak” is to bring attention to what the group sees as the perils of GMO corn. By poking fun at the possibility of an organic corn “outbreak” the message is a little lighter and may reach a wider audience.

“It’s a rebellion of sorts,” Shaw-Meek said.

The idea that the organic corn can cross-pollinate with GMO corn puts those at risk who do not want to eat the GMO corn, Shaw-Meek added.

“The GMO companies do open-air testing with pesticides and herbicides,” Westside resident Diana LaBedz said. “The ground becomes sterile, destroying the land for future generations.”

LaBedz, a member of the Kaua‘i chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, said she is participating in the corn outbreak to help educate people on what is going on around the world on the GMO front.

“World citizens have lost the right to know if corn bought to feed families has been chemically modified (contains the pesticide in the corn),” LaBedz said in a e-mail. “There is a concern that our corn will be contaminated by the GMO crops that pepper Kaua‘i island, next to schools, rivers and in our neighborhoods. Kaua‘i’s citizens reject the philosophy that we must poison our environment and use the radical genetic engineering of plants and animals to produce enough food for everyone.”

Because of this belief, organic seeds, plants and even organic popcorn have been given out around the island.

During Monday night’s movie night at Small Town Coffee in Kapa‘a, organic popcorn was handed out to moviegoers. The Storybook Theatre in Hanapepe plans to distribute the organic popcorn during their family movie night on April 4.

Free organic corn seeds were given out at the Lotus Root in Kapa‘a, Farsyde Tattoo in Hanapepe, Koloa Natural Foods, Papaya’s in Kapa‘a and Vim & Vigor in Lihu‘e.

Shaw-Meek said the free organic corn seeds “went like hotcakes” at Vim & Vigor.

“They went over amazingly well,” Shaw-Meek said. “I’m not surprised the seeds flew out of here because people are excited about the planting season.”

According to LaBedz, most locations are already “sold out” of seeds.

“We have more seeds, we just need to distribute them,” she said.

Agreeing that the group is within its rights to express its message, one research scientist would like to work with them. According to Sarah Styan, a research scientist with Pioneer Seeds and president of the Hawai‘i Crop Improvement Association, farmers around the world are demanding biotec agriculture.

“The whole basis of our business is selling seeds of genetic purity and maintaining the genetic integrity of agriculture,” Styan said. “And just like any business, we are getting product out as fast as possible.”

Styan added that all types of agriculture, including organic, biotec and conventional, are needed to maintain sustainability.

“We need everybody working together,” Styan said. “If we work together, we can make agriculture stronger and improve sustainability.”

LaBedz said Kaua‘i can’t be sustainable with GMO crops.

"If you can't protect your air, water and land we can't be sustainable," LaBedz said. "What they (GMO companies) are doing is permanent. We can’t roll back and undo it."

• Rachel Gehrlein, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or rgehrlein@kauaipubco.com

***********

thanks to tw

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 1 reply

American Songbirds Are Being Wiped Out by Banned Pesticides

2008-04-08T02:37:37Z

Globalization: American Songbirds Are Being Wiped Out by Banned Pesticides

By Leonard Doyle

Global Research, April 6, 2008
The Independent

Editor's note

In March, Global Research published an article by Brit Amos on the Decline of Bee Colonies in North America. The author attributes the death of the bees to the extensive use of GMO Crops.

The article posted below considers a related process: The death of the songbirds resulting from the extensive use of toxic pesticides and chemicals in export agriculture (fruits and vegetables) in Latin America.

It should be noted that the toxic chemicals and pesticides are distributed by the same biotech conglomerates which produce the GMO seeds.

Moreover, many of the pesticides and chemicals used in commercial agriculture are applied to sustain the production of specific GMO varieties including the fruits and vegetables exported out of Latin America.

What we are dealing with is the extinction of various forms of animal life, which is directly related to the Worldwide control exerted by the biotech companies over farming.

Michel Chossudovsky, April 6, 2008

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The number of migratory songbirds returning to North America has gone into sharp decline due to the unregulated use of highly toxic pesticides and other chemicals across Latin America .

Ornithologists blame the demand for out-of-season fruit and vegetables and other crops in North America and Europe for the destruction of tens of millions of passerine birds. By some counts, half of the songbirds that warbled across America ’s skies only 40 years ago have gone, wiped out by pesticides or loss of habitat.

Forty-six years ago, the naturalist Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring, a study of the ravages caused to wildlife, especially birds, by DDT. The chemical’s use on American farms almost eradicated entire species, including the peregrine falcon and bald eagle.

The pesticide was banned and bird numbers recovered, but new and highly toxic pesticides banned by the US and European Union are being widely used in Latin America .

Because of changed consumer habits in Europe and the US , export-led agriculture has transformed the wintering grounds of birds into intensive farming operations producing grapes, melons and bananas as well as rice for export.

Ornithologists say another silent spring is dawning across the US as birds are being poisoned by toxic chemicals or killed as pests in their winter refuges across South and Central America as well as the Caribbean . They say that many species of songbird will never recover, and others may even become endangered or extinct if controls are not put in place or consumer habits changed.

More problems await those birds which make it home. Millions of acres of wilderness the birds use as nesting grounds have been ploughed under in the drive to grow corn for ethanol, for bio-fuel.

Some 150 species of songbirds undertake extraordinary migrations up to 12,000 miles every year as they move from the south to nesting grounds in the US and Canada every spring. Ornithologists say that almost all these species are at risk of poisoning.

The migratory songbirds in most trouble include the wood thrush, the Kentucky warbler, the eastern kingbird and the bobolink, celebrated by the 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson as “the rowdy of the meadows”.

Bridget Stutchbury, an ornithologist and professor at York University in Toronto , said: “With spring we take it for granted that the sound of the songbirds will fill the air with their cheerful sounds. But each year, as we continue to demand out-of-season fruits and vegetables, fewer and fewer songbirds will return.”

The bobolink songbird has experienced such a steep decline, it has almost fallen off the charts. The birds migrate in flocks from Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay to the east coast of the US, feeding on grain and rice, prompting farmers to regard them as a pest. Bobolink numbers have plummeted almost 50 per cent in the past four decades, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey.

Rosalind Renfrew, a biologist who studied bobolinks as they were feeding in rice paddies in Bolivia , found about half of the birds had been exposed to toxic chemicals banned in Europe and the US . Some 40 to 50 species, which include the barn swallow, the wood thrush the dickcissel as well as migratory birds of prey, are starting to disappear.

It is only recently that the decline has been definitively linked to the use of toxic pesticides in the Caribbean and across Latin America . “Everyone who has looked for pesticide poisoning in birds has found it,” Professor Stutchbury said. “When we count birds during our summers we are finding significant population declines in about three dozen species of songbirds.”

She wrote in the comment pages of The New York Times: “They are the modern-day canaries in the coal mine.” She said: “The imported fruits and vegetables found in our shopping carts in winter and early spring are grown with types and amounts of pesticides that would often be illegal in the United States .”

Growers are using high doses of pesticides, which the World Health Organisation calls class I toxins. These are also toxic to humans and are either restricted or banned in the US and EU. But controls in Latin American countries are easily flouted.

“I believe that if we don’t make drastic changes quite literally many birds which are common now are going to become rare,” said Professor Stutchbury.

Testing by individual EU countries and the US Food and Drug Administration reveals that fruits and vegetables imported from Latin America are three and sometimes four times as likely to violate basic standards for pesticide residues.

****************************************
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thanks to tw

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KAUAI News: Taro at heart of hearing

2008-03-28T22:26:53Z

KAUAI News: Taro at heart of hearing

Most residents back county resolutions for cultural reasons

By Nathan Eagle
THE GARDEN ISLAND

More than a dozen residents opposed to genetically modified taro hoisted the culturally important plant and flaunted "protect your roots" shirts behind farmers who testified before the Kaua'i County Council, yesterday, at the Historic County Building.

The council has proposed resolutions supporting three bills pending at the state Legislature that would impose a 10-year moratorium on developing or growing genetically engineered taro, create a taro security and purity task force and fund statewide research on the apple snail, an invasive pest threatening the crop.

Supporters, representing the vast majority of speakers who addressed the council during the hours-long hearing, said messing with the genetic make-up of taro disrespects Native Hawaiians who consider the edible plant sacred. They also argued that a lack of information on the effects of genetically altered food, specifically taro, presents real risks to consumers.

Opponents claim genetic engineering research could produce disease-resistant taro, securing its future. They also said there is little chance of cross-contamination between varieties because of the nature of the species.

The council did not take action by press time. Testimony for the hearing, which started at 2:15 p.m., was still flowing hours later.

"Don't fool around with the taro," said John A'ana, a Westside farmer for the past 30 years, who held up a taro plant as he addressed council. "The bottom line is you need to show respect for the Hawaiian culture."

Wendell Rich, the site manager for Monsanto in Hanapepe, opposed the council resolutions but said that the multi-national biotechnology company and leading producer of genetically engineered seeds and herbicides has no plans to do anything with taro.

“The disease argument to me is a fear factor,” Anahola resident Hale Mawae said. “GMO represents control and manipulation of our food crops. Do we give that to these corporate companies?”

A Maui County Council committee and the Big Island County Council have passed similar resolutions supporting the state’s effort to temporarily ban work related to genetically modified taro.

Roy Oyama, representing the Kauai Farm Bureau, voiced opposition to a moratorium on testing genetically engineered taro.

“I don’t care what you tell me, research is needed,” he said, noting concerns over viral threats.

He acknowledged that the bureau did not poll its 360-plus members, saying the decision was based on a policy statement adopted at the group's annual state convention.

“Many of them don’t know what’s going on,” he said, referring to local members. “Agriculture is burning in my heart. I want to see it progress and feed every one of you.”

Senate Bill 958, which would impose the 10-year moratorium, was deferred after a seven-hour hearing March 19 before the House Agriculture Committee. An overwhelming majority of testimony delivered at the Capitol reportedly supported the resolution.

The House referred Senate Bill 2518, which would provide $500,000 in grant funding for taro research, to the Ways and Means Committee.

The House Finance Committee held a hearing yesterday at the Capitol on Senate Bill 2915, which would create the taro task force.

Taro and taro markets are in a state of decline, according to the state legislation. The threats that taro farming families and communities face in cultivating taro are numerous and growing.

Taro lands in Hawai'i represent less than 1 percent of all agricultural lands in cultivation in the state, yet it remains the most important traditional cultural crop in Hawai'i, the state legislation says.

"The way the issue has been handled is ripping the community apart," Kapa'a resident Adam Asquith said, supporting council's proposed resolutions.

County Council members Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and Mel Rapozo authored the resolutions.

"This bill does not prohibit continued dialogue," Iseri-Carvalho said. "Why not be safe before we proceed?"

See a future edition of The Garden Island for follow-up on yesterday's meeting.

• Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com.

************************************************
thanks to tw

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

Creamery pushes for tougher GMO rules

2008-03-28T22:24:12Z

Creamery pushes for tougher GMO rules

By Terry McSweeney
ABC, March 27 2008

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6045363

WEST MARIN, CA (KGO) -- A Bay Area creamery is about to become the first in the United States to certify its products to be free of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. It may give organic consumers peace of mind, but there's no chance it will end the fierce battle over the safety of food containing GMOs.

The Straus family creamery in West Marin went organic in 1995 and wants to keep that certification. That's why it was so disturbing to find genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, contaminating its organic ingredients.

"GMOs are not natural, they are not allowed by organic law and it's a huge issue for us," said Albert Straus, Straus Creamery owner.

Pollen from genetically modified plants has been contaminating organic crops. It had been turning up in milk and eggs used at the Straus Creamery and feed used at the Straus Dairy. About 75 percent of America's corn and soy are genetically modified. That means scientists have transferred genetic information from one plant to another. Making the recipient plant more like the donor plant; more drought resistant for example, or more tolerant to herbicide. But Straus doesn't think anyone knows what GMOs do to humans.

"I feel that not only am I a guinea pig for their research but all consumers are that we're supplying food for," said Albert Straus.

Which is why, in the next month, you will begin to see a 'No-GMO' certification on Straus yogurt and by September, on the side of all Straus products.

"All organic ingredients and products have a paper trail and a certification that goes along with them. We get a copy of all that, we get a copy of their tests as well as we do verification on our end," said Albert Straus.

Although it's a case of Straus certifying its own products and suppliers, it is still approved by the West Coast Director of the Center for Food Safety, Rebecca Spector.

"At least Straus is taking the effort through the rigorous process to actually go to levels to make sure feed has been tested for GMOs. And what they are saying is that they won't accept shipments that are above a certain threshold," said Rebecca Spector, Center for Food Safety.

Peggy Lemaux is with the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at U.C. Berkeley. She says, yes, GMOs have only been in the human food chain for 13 years, but they were tested on animals for years before that.

"I've looked at all the safety tests that have been done on the products, that are in the commercial marketplace now, and there is nothing that has been confirmed as being an adverse effect in any of these animal tests that have been done," said Peggy Lemaux, U.C. Berkeley biologist. [Lemaux is a well-known GM proponent and a GM scientist. Her expertise is not in nutritional science.]

Back at the Straus Creamery and Dairy, they're not convinced.

"We're encouraging the rest of the industry to step up and move forward as quickly as possible to get a verification program in place," said Albert Straus.

The GMO controversy in the United States pales in comparison with what's going on in Europe. Thousands of municipalities and tens of thousands of farmers and food producers in Europe have declared themselves GMO free and refuse to allow the use of genetically modified organisms in the agriculture and food in their territories.

********

thanks to tw

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

Hawaii won't ban genetic coffee

2008-03-28T22:22:46Z

March 27, 2008

Hawaii won't ban genetic coffee

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii won't ban genetically altered coffee, a decision that worries growers of the prized Kona coffee brand who want to keep it pure.

State lawmakers shelved a bill Wednesday that would have prohibited growing genetically modified coffee in Hawaii until 2012. Instead, they want to order a study into the science, benefits and dangers of genetically enhanced crops.

Coffee farmers worried that genetically modified coffee could contaminate expensive Kona blends, which are only grown on Hawaii's Big Island and exported worldwide.

"The fact that you're creating a 'frankenfood' is very scary. What will it do to my morning cup of coffee?" asked John Langenstein, sales manager for Koa Coffee Plantation.

Coffee drinkers in Japan and parts of Europe wouldn't buy Kona coffee if it becomes mixed up with genetically changed coffee, causing it to lose its value and uniqueness, Langenstein.

Others argue that genetically modified coffee poses little danger to Kona coffee because it would be grown on a different island and could benefit the economy.

One company plans to begin planting a special kind of modified coffee on Oahu, likely early next year, that grows decaffeinated naturally.

"Our field trials would have absolutely no effect on Kona coffee, so it doesn't really make sense to ban field trials of transgenic coffee across the whole state," said John Stiles, chief executive officer for Integrated Coffee Technologies Inc. "We don't want to be known as the anti-technology state."

Hawaii lawmakers won't even hear the proposal to impose a moratorium on genetically modified coffee.

Instead, they'll form a task force to consider the merits of genetically modified coffee, labeling effectiveness and consumer education, said Sen. Jill Tokuda, chairwoman for the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs.

"We need more time to really examine these issues and understand all of the facts," said Tokuda, D-Kaneohe-Kailua. "When you have a moratorium on research, that sends a negative message out."

A decaffeinated coffee bean could double Hawaii's overall coffee production, invigorate the agriculture industry and create new jobs, Tokuda said.

Even though the genetically altered decaffeinated coffee would be grown on Oahu, far from the Big Island's Kona coffee fields, its seed could spread through human dispersal, said Una Greenaway, whose Kuaiwi Farm Kona Old Style coffee won the top prize at last year's annual Kona Coffee Cultural Festival's cupping contest.

"We really need to protect our industry. If those plants come to Kona, we'd be in serious economic trouble," she said at the state Capitol, where she was joined by a few other coffee growers.

Lisa Gibson, president of the Hawaii Science and Technology Council, said legislators should avoid passing laws limiting scientific study.

"It's a very slippery slope to begin legislating research," Gibson said. "If we're going to diversify out state, it needs to be based on knowledge."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

**********

thanks to tw

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

Wal-Mart Brand Milk Will Be rBST-Free

2008-03-25T03:50:47Z

Wal-Mart Brand Milk Will Be rBST-Free
As Monsanto Fights Hormone-Free Labeling, Big Retailer Listens to Its Customers

By Dan Shapley
Daily Green, 21 March 2008

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/milk-hormones-rbst-47032108

At a time when hormone-free milk labeling is under assault by Monsanto and its allies, Wal-Mart has taken a stand in favor of its consumers.

All Great Value-brand milk sold at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club will be free of rBST (recombinant [ie genetically engineered] bovine somatotropin, a growth hormone), the company said this week.

"As many of you know, there is a fair amount of controversy on this topic, but ... Wal-Mart’s customers are telling us that they are very concerned so we listened, and we’ve made a pretty big change," Rand Waddoups wrote in Check Out, a blog by Wal-Mart buyers.

While there are no known health effects from drinking milk produced from cows treated with rBST, and normal milk will contain cow hormones that are nearly indistinguishable, many consumers see the hormone-free label as a window into the operations at farms. Hormones keep cows producing milk at volumes and for durations that are unnatural, and their use often goes hand-in-hand with other "industrial" farming techniques, like keeping large herds in close proximity and whole-herd treatment with antibiotics and pesticides.

Monsanto, which manufactures the artificial growth hormone, has been going state-to-state, urging local agriculture departments to outlaw the use of labels like "rBST-free" on milk. Wal-Mart, which has proved that it knows well what American consumers want, has voted. Wal-Mart made no statement about the Monsanto initiative in its announcement about going hormone-free.

********************
thanks to tw

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 1 reply

Transgenic Potato Not to be Released

2008-03-24T15:39:22Z

ISIS Press Release 19/03/08
Transgenic Potato Not to be Released
Prof. Joe Cummins

A version of this article was submitted to Advisory Committee on
Releases to the Environment (ACRE) 4 March 2008 on behalf of ISIS.

The University of Leeds Centre for Plant Sciences submitted an
application to release genetically modified (GM) potatoes to the open
environment for a field trial [1]. The transgenic potato plants have
been produced using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. All constructs have the
selectable marker gene for neomycin required only for selection of
transgenic lines for evaluation and according to the application, “known
to be biosafe as used.” The potato will express a cysteine proteinase
inhibitor (cystatin) from rice and/or a repellent of synthetic origin.
Both confer resistance to potato cyst-nematodes. Cystatins limit growth
of the nematode while the repellent prevents the nematodes from entering
the roots of the potato. Their expression will be under the control of
CaMV35S promoter from Cauliflower mosaic virus for constitutive
expression, or promoters that restrict expression to roots. The root
specific promoters used are from a serine threonine kinase (ARSK1) and
the MDK420 gene of Arabidopsis thaliana; they provide expression in
roots and at root tips respectively. A signal sequence from the
Calreticulin gene of Nicotiana plumbaginifoli are used in lines
expressing the repellent to favour its release from root. The nos
terminator sequence from Agrobacterium tumefaciens terminates
transcription of gene sequences. Six strains of GM potatoes are to be
tested: constitutive cysatin, root specific cystatin, root tip
repellent, constitutive repellent, root tip repellent plus root tip
specific cystatin. and constitutive repellent plus root specific cystatin.

Cystatin
The cystatin modified potatoes have been studied extensively according
to the application for consent [1]. The safety of the protease inhibitor
in transgenic potato in the human diet was evaluated in a small rat
feeding study [2]. The inhibitor caused a small but significant decrease
in the weight of the animals’ liver, but there were few other detectable
impacts at the levels of inhibitor studied.

The application for consent failed to mention that that there have been
numerous studies published in the medical literature showing that risk
of heart failure, atherosclerosis and nephropathy were marked by
elevated cystatin blood levels [3-5]. It is presently unclear whether or
not elevated cystatin causes kidney damage, or whether it results from
kidney pathology of another origin. At any rate, it is unwise to ignore
evidence showing that greatly elevating the plant source of cystatin
could be harmful to humans.

Cystatin has been found damaged and reduced in activity upon exposure to
a common fungicide sodium diethyl dithiocarbamate (Mancozeb) [6].
Carbamate pesticides are used extensively, which may negate the
effectiveness of the modified potato’s defence against nematodes.

Synthetic Repellent
The gene and the peptide that it produces are not fully or well
described in the consent application [1]. Additional information was
provided [7], which clarified some of the properties of the repellent.
However, neither document gave a clear description of the repellent
synthetic peptide and its synthetic gene. Little actual information was
provided on the organization of the gene and the messenger RNA and the
processing of the peptide in the potato cell. Such information is
necessary. The mode of action of the synthetic peptide was also not
clearly stated in the original application and a brief description was
given in additional information [7].

A publication from the Leeds group described producing a peptide in
potato to disrupt cyst nematodes, and compared the mode of action of the
peptide to an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor aldicarb [8]. Aldicarb is a
toxic pesticide slated for withdrawal from EU. However, the additional
information document [7] compared the synthetic peptide in the
application to the anthelminic levamisole, an inhibitor of the nicotinic
acetylcholinesterase receptor [9]. The synthetic peptide excreted from
the potato root paralyses the nematode preventing it from invading the
potato. Both of the documents of the application for consent [1,7]
measure the peptide in plant and soil by its ability to inhibit an
enzyme. However, the loss in ability to inhibit an enzyme does not
necessarily mean that the remains of the peptide are not toxic to
mammals. Some study of the toxicity of the breakdown products of the
synthetic peptide should have been done because such products may
pollute ground water. The synthetic peptide and its breakdown products
should have should have been studied fuller to determine whether or not
they are toxic to mammals.

General considerations
The application for consent included a discussion justifying the use of
the antibiotic neomycin resistance marker in the proposed open field
releases even though the antibiotic is still used in medicine [1]. It
stated that as the marker was used in food crops released commercially
in the North and South America it must be safe. Such reasoning is unsound.

The application for consent seems to have overlooked the important
question regarding the potential impact of the modified potatoes on
beneficial nematodes that control many insect pests described in two
major reviews [10, 11]. The elimination of a natural population of such
nematodes from the test site would increase the need for extensive
insecticide spraying. It would be wise to carry out an inventory of
these nematodes on the test site prior to commencing the actual
experiments, and to determine from the experiment whether the loss of
beneficial nematodes and the added cost of controlling insect pests
exceed the benefits of decreasing the nematode pests.

In conclusion, Consent should not be considered until the potential
toxicity (including immunogenicity) of the repellent and repellent
breakdown products are fully investigated and reported, and taken into
account.

References
1. APPLICATION FOR CONSENT TO RELEASE GMOs (FOR PURPOSES OTHER THAN
MARKETING) UNDER THE GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS (DELIBERATE RELEASE)
REGULATIONS 2002 – HIGHER PLANTSCentre for Plant Sciences University of
Leeds Control of potato cyst-nematodes with minimised environmental
impact 2008

2. Atkinson HJ, Johnston KA, Robbins M. Prima facie evidence that a
phytocystatin for transgenic plant resistance to nematodes is not a
toxic risk in the human diet. J Nutr. 2004, 134(2), :431-4.

3. Niccoli G, Conte M, Bona RD, Altamura L, Siviglia M, Dato I, Ferrante
G, Leone AM, Porto I, Burzotta F, Brugaletta S, Biasucci LM, Crea F.
Cystatin C is associated with an increased coronary atherosclerotic
burden and a stable plaque phenotype in patients with ischemic heart
disease and normal glomerular filtration rate. Atherosclerosis. 2007 Nov
3 [Epub ]

4. Lee BW, Ihm SH, Choi MG, Yoo HJ. The comparison of cystatin C and
creatinine as an accurate serum marker in the prediction of type 2
diabetic nephropathy. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2007, 78(3), :428-34.

5. Djoussé L, Kurth T, Gaziano JM. Cystatin C and risk of heart failure
in the Physicians' Health Study (PHS). Am Heart J. 2008, 155(1), 82-6.

6. Sharma S, Rashid F, Bano B. Biochemical and biophysical changes
induced by fungicide sodium diethyl dithiocarbamate (SDD), in
phytocystatin purified from Phaseolus mungo (Urd): a commonly used
Indian legume. J Agric Food Chem. 2005, 53(15), 6027-34

7. APPLICATION FOR CONSENT TO RELEASE GMOs (FOR PURPOSES OTHER THAN
MARKETING) UNDER THE GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS (DELIBERATE RELEASE)
REGULATIONS 2002 – HIGHER PLANTS Defra Reference number 07/R31/1 Control
of potato cyst-nematodes with minimised environmental impact Additional
information requested by DEFRA GM team 2008 regarding potato
cyst-nematodes with minimised environmental impact

8. Liu B, Hibbard JK, Urwin PE, Atkinson HJ. The production of synthetic
chemodisruptive peptides in planta disrupts the establishment of cyst
nematodes. Plant Biotechnol J. 2005, 3(5) 487-96.

9. Martin RJ, Robertson AP Mode of action of levamisole and pyrantel,
anthelmintic resistance, E153 and Q57. Parasitology 2007, Pt 8, 1093-104.

10. Shapiro-Ilan1.D Entomopathogenic nematodes and insect management
Encyclopedia of Entomology 2004, 781-784 DOI 10.1007/0-306-48380-7_1430

11. Klingen I, Haukeland S The soil as a reservoir for natural enemies
of pest insects and mites with emphasis on fungi and nematodes. Progress
in Biological Control An Ecological and Societal Approach to Biological
Control Volume 2 2006 145-211 DOI 10.1007/1-4020-4401-1

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 1 reply

GMO's linked to HIV

2008-03-24T15:26:45Z

Google CaMV and HIV... they have exchangable parts...
CaMV is the virus used to inject the genes into our food...
Frightening at best...
J

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 2 replies

Good News on the Codex Front / GMO issues

2008-03-03T21:39:32Z

Good News on the Codex Front
(This post is an excerpt from the Natural Solutions Foundation newsletter 3.3.08 To learn about the dangerous threat of Codex, see "Codex Alimentarius Summarized in 7 Points" www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php

One of the most successful battle fronts in Codex is the adamant determination of much of the rest of the world NOT to allow either any GM food (like Benin, for example) or unlabeld GM food (like Norway, Switzerland, the EU, Japan, Russia and many other countries. The US has been fighting to impose its anti-consumer policies of forbidding any labeling of GM foods because consumers reject it if they know they are eating genetically modified "Franken Foods". So when the African nations laid the ground work for inactivating the mine field the US was setting for them in the wording of a document it was proposing, things were looking quite hopeful, at least on that front.

After the meeting was over we went to Benin, a country with a moratorium on GM foods. We brought advanced technology to see if it would increase the crop yield, increase the nutrient density and decrease the water use in that dry and hungry country as part of the Natural Solutions Foundation's effort to reclaim healthy, sustainable food production. This is part of our International Decade of Nutrition. Of course, we were working with government people as well as private ones to make this happen.

The head of the Beninese food safety and security program is a remarkable veterinarian trained in human nutrition in the US. He has a limited staff but a huge commitment to protecting his country's food. He asked if we could provide information in French giving him reasons that his position opposing GM foods makes scientific sense (which Benin will need to follow the Codex Two Step Process on GM issues) and I said, "Yes!" That's why we started the Natural Solutions Foundation GM Files.
Here are the links to the GM Files I have compiled so far, starting with Dr. Mae Wan Ho's excellent summary:

Making the World GM Free and Sustainable
www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php

Fundamental Weaknesses in the GM Concept
www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php

GM, Fish Oil, Protein and Brain Power for Kids
www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php

Russian Studies Show Rats Fed GM Feed Fail to Thrive, are Infertile
www.healthfreedomusa.org/wp-ad...st.php

GM Contamination Set to Worsen: London Guardian
www.healthfreedomusa.org/wp-ad...st.php

Another Extinction: Public Land Grant Colleges
www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php

New Zealand Scientists Urge PM to Show Sanity re: GMOs
www.healthfreedomusa.org/wp-ad...st.php

Seeds of Destruction
www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php

This is a big (and very important) project with huge potential impact and your help is both needed and most welcome! If you can do the research to supply documents that we can add to the GM files in electronic format (or if you can translate these documents into French), please write to Kathy Greene, my assistant, akathy.greene@usa.net to volunteer your help. Just put "GM Files" in the subject line and let her know if you are interested in research or translation (or perhaps both!)

If you already know about the dangers of eating (and growing) GM foods, please pass these data on to others. In case you think that GM foods are tested for safety by the FDA (they are not) or are not part of your food supply (they are found in 60-80% if all US prepared foods unless you eat an all organic diet), please take some time to read these GM Files. The good news is that more and more people at home and abroad are "getting it" about GM foods and don't want to be part of the largest experiment in human history - without benefit of informed consent or insurance.

Good News In Action

The Natural Solutions Foundation is about solutions. Our solutions are natural so they work! And part of our solutions are the action steps that we provide for you to let legislators know what you want (health freedom to make your own health choices) and what you do not want (including compulsory screening, drugging and vaccination.

Here are some good news statistics: 129,101 people support our right to know how nutrients and supplements can benefit us and support Ron Paul's bill HR 2117, the Health Freedom Protection Act which not only guarantees free speech but forces the FDA to allow scientifically based information instead of prohibiting that information as they do now. Click here (salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/56...n.jsp ) to join nearly 139,000 people in urging their Congresspeople to become co-sponsors of this important law.

Another bit of good news: we've finally got the amazing Songhai video posted on the Natural Solutions YouTube Channel. You must see this demonstration of Fr. Godfrey's completely sustainable, beyond organic, natural solutions to integrated farming communities! Go to: youtube.com/naturalsolutions and scroll down to "Videos" to see what can be done to produce food properly, Fr. Godfrey is going to work with us to set us the sustainable zero emissions system in the Santa Clara Project (see below for more on that project).

588,832 people used our website to tell the FDA its CAM Guidance, allowing the FDA to declare nutrients "untested drugs" if they were used for health benefits was unacceptable. Recently the FDA forced two companies to stop making and marketing products for diabetics made from cherry juice because the products turned cherry juice into an untested drug by stating the health benefit derived from using it. More action is clearly needed: half a million voices were not enough to counter Big Pharma. Five million would be more like it. That means you need to get your circle of influence activated. Ask them to go to www.HealthFreedomUSA.org and subscribe to the free Health Freedom eAlerts (www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php ) and get involved in protecting their health and their freedom before there is nothing left to protect.

HEALTH FREEDOM INFORMATION YOU NEED

Make Sure You Receive
Health Freedom eAlerts
www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

SHARE!
Tell Your Friends About www.HealthFreedomUSA.org

ORGANIZE!
Join us in the fight to protect health freedom
www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php

SIGN CITIZEN'S PETITION
Ask the U.S. government to change its policy on Codex Alimentarius
www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php

CONTRIBUTE!
Make a contribution and help raise funds for the health freedom fight
www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php

VOTE!
Register to vote in the US
www.credomobile.com/registertovote/

More than just talk...Our Solutions are Natural So They Work!

Yours in health and freedom,

Dr. Rima
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

CA State Assembly Approves GMO Bill Protecting Farmers

2008-02-22T00:59:19Z

State Assembly Approves GMO Bill

February 8, 2008

AB 541, which could become California's first state law protecting farmers from the hazards of genetically engineered crops, passed out of the full Assembly on January 29 with a vote of 49-12. It has the support of the California Farm Bureau as well as California Certified Organic Farmers, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, the National Farmers Union and many food safety and environmental organizations.

Introduced by Assembly Member Jared Huffman (6th AD) early in 2007, the bill was held over in the Agriculture Committee in April. Since then, AB 541 has been scaled back to address two provisions related to farmer protections.

AB 541 will enact protections for California farmers against frivolous lawsuits that intimidate and harass those who have not been able to prevent the inevitable – the drift of genetically engineered pollen or seed. It will level the playing field for farmers accused by agricultural biotechnology companies and other patent holders of contract violations, and discourage the practice of biotech companies sampling crops without explicit permission from farmers and prosecuting based on unverifiable testing results.

Specifically, the newly amended bill would provide for:

* Protection from patent infringement lawsuits for farmers unknowingly contaminated by GE crops. Currently, farmers with crops that become contaminated by patented seeds or pollen have been the target of such lawsuits without clear recourse or defense.

* The establishment of a mandatory crop sampling protocol to be used by patent holders when investigating farmers they believe may have violated patents or seed contracts. This protocol would require the farmer's written permission for sampling, and provide for a state agriculture official to accompany the patent holder during the sampling and collect duplicate samples for independent verification if requested by either party.

"I am very pleased that the stakeholders on this issue have found a way to address one of the issues related to genetic contamination of crops," says Assembly Member Huffman. "While there is still work to do on other issues concerning genetically engineered food, AB 541 would be an important step in establishing basic protections for California's farmers."

The original bill included several other elements, including the establishment of the country's first system of notification for the locations of GE crops; the confinement of experimental pharmaceutical-producing crops to greenhouses to protect the food system from contamination; and, legislative clarity that the GE crop manufacturer is liable in the event of contamination, and not farmers.

"While AB 541 as currently amended represents only a small piece of what our stakeholders identify as issues to be addressed, we think this represents a move in the right direction," says Renata Brillinger, director of the Genetic Engineering Policy Project, the 13-member coalition of organic and conventional farmers, food industry, environmental, and faith organizations sponsoring AB 541.

The bill will now move to the Senate for consideration.

http://californiafarmer.com/index.aspx?ascxid=fpStory&fpsid=32121&fpstid=2

******
Thanks to TW

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 2 replies

Little Oranges/tangerines - are they GMO's or clean

2008-02-12T01:56:39Z

could someone let me know if those little oranges/tangerines that have come on the market in the last couple of years are GMO's or are they natural ... i sure hope they are clean because they taste delicious and i love eating them :(

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 3 replies

An interesting video...

2008-02-06T07:10:42Z

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jNezTsrCY0Q

I first saw this video on Dr. Mercola's website...I think both are very good sources of info.
http://articles.mercola.com/
Check out his health blog and newsletter archive...

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

GMO - TEA ??

2008-01-20T20:15:47Z

This has probably been discussed here ad nauseam but there are so many posts here. I was wondering if there were any "TEA" tribes. I'm curious about research studies on organic vs. non-organic teas. Plus, GMO Teas...

Here's my post from the Naturopathic Medicine tribe:
http://tribes.tribe.net/naturopathicmedicine/thread/ffbe5bfa-8c42-4b74-bab3-f8ef54db9e82

I would be careful buying tea (or anything) from China. Also be careful getting tea from Japan.

;

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

cloned food? no thank you

2008-01-18T03:40:07Z

NO I DO NOT TRUST CLONING.

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-CA&brand=sympatico&vid=5d5a6e7c-d559-4372-a257-0c72458db25d

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 2 replies

can this be true?

2008-01-18T03:38:03Z

This is really horrible news. Hope you read it.

As our World continues its entrance to this new century, and as our Global food supply continues to plummet, and as new diseases continue their rampage, it remains to be seen if the Western World will ever awaken to threat they have created, not just to themselves, but to the entire human race.
[Ed. Note: The United States government actively seeks to find, and silence, any and all opinions about the United States except those coming from authorized government and/or affiliated sources, of which we are not one. No interviews are granted and very little personal information is given about our contributors, or their sources, to protect their safety.]

January 6, 2008

Media Blackout Ordered As UK Begins Mass Burials

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers

Disturbing reports from Britain today are showing that their government has invoked their dreaded Official Secrets Act as a mysterious pandemic sweeps their Nation leaving an, estimated, 3,000 people dead and leaving ‘no choice’ for British Health Officials but to begin mass burials.

British media sources are reporting on this pandemic as being due to a virus, and as we can read as reported by Guardian News Service in their report titled "Vomiting bug to get worse", and which says:

"Infections from the debilitating Norovirus stomach bug will peak this week as millions return to work after the holidays and spread the germs, the government has warned. The virus, which was responsible for closing more than 100 hospital wards last week and Doctors estimate that more than 100,000 people a week are catching the infection - and the rate may peak this week as the virus takes the opportunity to spread in the workplace and classrooms.

Reported cases of the illness from early December are at a five-year-high, but the real figure is likely to be much greater as most sufferers do not seek medical attention. People struck down have been urged by GPs not to go back to work until the symptoms have fully disappeared."

Russian scientists, however, though noting that the Norovirus is indeed a highly contagious disease, are in disagreement with their British counterparts and are stating that the symptoms being reported by the British victims being attacked by this disease are more consistent with a variant of the H5N1 Avian Influenza virus which the United Kingdom has been reporting numerous outbreaks of this past year.

Russian Health Authorities were, also, highly critical of the British Governments decision in mid-December to lift their remaining restrictions following an outbreak of the deadly Avian Flu in southeastern England, but even more strongly condemned Britain’s decision to allow the continued sale to their citizens of poultry for their Christmas season.

To the fullest truth of this mysterious disease affecting millions of British citizens, and which has now been reported in Ireland, it is not in our knowing, but what is a matter of record is Britain’s Health Authorities engaging in cover-ups to hide from their people the true and catastrophic deaths attributed to disease, and as we can read as reported by London’s Daily Mail News Service:

"Edwin died on April 12 last year aged 82. He had been in hospital for just a fortnight after complaining of feeling frail while on holiday. Although Edwin had suffered from rectal cancer in the past, the disease was in remission and Joan says that he was expected to make a full recovery at the hospital - until he caught C. diff.

His death, and thousands of others, lie at the heart of a growing scandal over NHS superbugs. Yesterday Tory leader David Cameron said hospitals should be fined for every patient who catches an infection on their wards. But would such a crackdown just lead to more secrecy about superbugs?

In 2006 almost 56,000 elderly hospital patients caught C. diff, which is spread by poor hygiene, dirty hands and soiled bedding. Amazingly, we still don't know how many of these people died because the figures have not yet been released by the NHS. In 2005, the latest year that death statistics for C. diff were available, 3,807 hospital patients died, a rise of almost 70 per cent over the previous 12 months.

But the truth is that this figure may be utterly meaningless because many people, including Joan, believe there is a cover-up over the figures.

As this investigation has discovered, when a person dies from a hospital superbug the details are often left off the death certificate. The practice has become so widespread that last autumn the Government's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, wrote to hospitals and doctors warning them that any dishonesty has to stop."

Of the greatest concern, however, of these events are the British peoples following the dangerous path of their American counterparts by consuming vast quantities of genetically modified (GM) foods, and which scientific reports have proven allow new viruses to enter the human body leading to weakened immune systems.

It is interesting to note, too, that while the death toll mounts in Britain from this mysterious pandemic, the French government, and seeing the disaster unfolding in their European neighbor, is contemplating the total ban of all genetically modified crops in their country.

As our World continues its entrance to this new century, and as our Global food supply continues to plummet, and as new diseases continue their rampage, it remains to be seen if the Western World will ever awaken to threat they have created, not just to themselves, but to the entire human race.

© January 6, 2008 EU and US all rights reserved.

[Ed. Note: The United States government actively seeks to find, and silence, any and all opinions about the United States except those coming from authorized government and/or affiliated sources, of which we are not one. No interviews are granted and very little personal information is given about our contributors, or their sources, to protect their safety.]

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 4 replies

France suspending the Monsanto 810 maize!

2008-01-15T06:17:58Z

Yes!
One victory, for now...
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/France_bars_strain_of_genetically_m_01112008.html

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 1 reply

Hi please come join dansconspiraciesclub

2008-01-10T13:01:39Z

http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/dansconspiraciesclub/
Here you will find huge resources of articles on the hidden truths of the situation on all topics pertaining to health, the environment, and enery. There is a huge collection of resources stored in the files. thousands of articles, links, videos and more. I have been collecting this information for years..

Have you ever heard of the drug "Laeterile"?......It is a hundred percent successful in completely curing cancer within 30 days of first use.. This cure and many others have been known since the sixties and earlier.The FDA and the cancer industry has blocked it because it would hurt the huge cancer industries profits..anyway there is so much information on this site..you could study it all for years...

Join "The Truth Revolution" now. It's easy you just have to be very brave to go where few will go. And learn the hidden truths,then you can become a soldier of truth by going out and spreading the truth...

We can not be free without truth...

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

France suspends commercial GMO seed use, studies safety

2007-12-09T08:05:45Z

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL0688753120071206?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews

France suspends commercial GMO seed use, studies safety
Thu Dec 6, 2007 1:35pm EST

By Tamora Vidaillet and Valerie Parent

PARIS (Reuters) - France formally suspended on Thursday the commercial use of genetically modified (GMO) seeds in the country until early February and ordered a biotech safety study.

The future of GMOs has long been the subject of heated debate in France -- Europe's top grain producer -- and the country's reluctance to use GMO crops compares starkly with the United States, which is far more tolerant of the technology.

The French agriculture ministry said it had charged a newly set-up committee with assessing the environmental and health implications of using GMO seeds reliant on the MON 810 technology developed by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto.

"As a result, there is a need to suspend the end-use of MON 810 maize seeds and related sales while awaiting the results of this mission," it said in a circular.

Thursday's formal suspension until February 9 at the latest, when parliament is slated to vote on a new biotech law, only concerns MON 810 maize, as it is the sole GMO technology permitted for cultivation in France and the European Union.

Stressing that the suspension was temporary, Monsanto slammed France's action.

"While remembering its desire to respect French law, Monsanto thinks that such a decision is a scandal bereft of scientific foundation and incoherent with the environmental benefits of this technology," the company said.

Seed makers also decried the move in a statement, echoing Monsanto's complaint that there was no scientific justification.

NO IMMEDIATE IMPACT

France's move came as Germany announced it had lifted a temporary sales ban on MON 810 technology after Monsanto agreed to additional monitoring of its cultivation in Germany.

France's suspension will have no immediate impact on farmers using the pest resistant GMO seeds given that the country's maize harvest is in its final stages and new sowings will not take place until April, 2008.

Pro-GMO farmers have urged Paris to speed up plans to create a higher GMO authority and pass a biotech law well before April in the hope that the dispute can be settled and MON 810 seeds can be bought well in time for the next sowings.

Those harboring fears over the potential impact of GMO crops on peoples' health and the country's bio-diversity hope a new authority will find ways to counter European Union decisions on GMO and permanently ban their use in France.

(Additional reporting by Mathilde Cru; Editing by Sybille de La Hamaide and Peter Blackburn)

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Reuters journalists are subject to the Reuters Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

The Implications of Monsanto’s Patent Losses

2007-11-21T19:24:31Z

i just made the following post on my blog http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/858 ... someone please tell me that i'm over reacting :(

chycho

I’ve been considering the implications of the recent lose of four key patents by Monsanto, and I have only been able to come up with one unequivocal conclusion: This is a disaster.

What if Monsanto was protecting us from their creation? What if they know something that we don’t?

Farmers will now be able to save seeds in surplus and sell them to their neighbors or anyone else in the world thanks to the Internet. They will be able to do this at a fraction of the cost of Monsanto, creating a huge demand for these Genetically Modified Organisms. This means that Genetically Engineered Crops will now be grown around the world decades earlier then what was predicted by its creators.

The damage done to the environment from these organisms can no longer be contained, on the contrary it will be accelerated beyond our worst scientific predictions. If the disappearance of the bees, dubbed "Colony Collapse Disorder", is any indication, we are about to change the whole ecosystem.

There is no way to prevent farmers from selling contaminated seeds, and it is very unlikely that Monsanto will open their data basis and release any results from their own scientific experiments that refute the safety of Genetically Modified Foods.

Unfortunately, it appears that we just jumped from the frying pan into a blazing inferno.

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 3 replies

Chinese Organics

2007-11-21T19:18:12Z

The place I usually buy my bulk organics from has started selling almost all Chinese imported bulk foods. Given all the dangerous foods that have come from there I am not very comfortable with eating it or giving it to my children. Have any of you found yourselves in this situation recently? What do you all think of organics from China?

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 6 replies

Corn

2007-11-21T19:16:38Z

The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollen

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

The Food Bully

2007-11-20T17:39:53Z

GM WATCH daily list
http://www.gmwatch.org
---
---
GM Watch comment: With Paul Wolfowitz on the way out at the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, the former U.S. trade representative, has emerged as the frontrunner to succeed him as the Bank's president.

Zoellick was, of course, the man who drove the U.S.'s WTO case against the E.U. on GM food - a policy brilliantly picked apart in the article below by political analyst Conn Hallinan, provost at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Hallinan's analysis should ring alarm bells given that it makes clear that the policy Zoellick was ruthlessly pursuing was ultimately about strong-arming developing countries to toe the Bush line.
---
---
Food Bully
By Conn Hallinan
July 29 2003
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1225

The decision by the Bush administration to sue the European Union (EU) over its five-year moratorium on genetically modified (GM) foods has all the earmarks of a "shock and awe" campaign targeted at prying open a major potential market. But the suit before the World Trade Organization (WTO) may be aimed less at the EU than at developing nations, which are far more vulnerable to strong-arm tactics.

Take the case of the reluctant Egyptians.

Egypt had originally joined the suit, along with Argentina and Canada, but, in the face of a domestic backlash over the safety of
GM food crops, withdrew. However, it filed a separate complaint on an EU ban against its GM drought-resistant cotton, joining, at least in spirit, the U.S. action.

Besides responding to popular sentiment, the Egyptians were also nervous over the confrontational tone of the U.S. suit. "The way (the complaint) was announced was like a war with the EU," one Egyptian trade official told the Financial Times, "We can't go to war with the EU. It is 40% of our trade."

Avoiding war with the EU, however, landed them in a shootout with the Americans. Reacting with fury, the U.S. accused the Egyptians of breaking their word and cancelled free trade talks.

According to the Financial Times, Egyptian officials were "stunned" by the U.S. reaction, particularly after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick recently described their country as a "linchpin" for a Middle East free trade agreement and "the heart of the Arab world."

The White House was banking on Egypt to represent the need for GM crops in "developing countries," in particular, Africa. GM crops as a solution to the African famine is one of the major arguments the Bush administration has used against the EU ban.

The Bush administration seems to be applying its "for us or against us" anti-terrorism formula to trade policy, particularly if the country is a developing one like Egypt. Similarly, when Croatia and Thailand raised health objections to GM crops, the U.S. threatened trade sanctions and both countries backed down

The White House has been more circuitous with big countries, like India and Brazil. In the case of Brazil, U.S. corporations--underwritten by taxpayers--bring politicians and scientists to the U.S. and South Africa to study GM crops. And reaction to India's ban on U.S. GM crops has been muted.

There is much at stake in this fight over biotechnology, and it has nothing to do with alleviating hunger or overcoming famine. The"Big Five" biotech companies--Monsanto, Dupont, Syngenta, Dow Chemical, and Aventis--have invested billions of dollars in research and development. Out of 1085 biotech patents, the Big Five control 937.

The U.S. argues that GM crops represent the new "green revolution" that will allow countries to feed the growing world population. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture's own Economic Research Service found that crop yields were no higher for GM crops than they are for regular crops, and GM crops can be tricky to grow. They were created for huge, American super-farms, not the small-scale agriculture that characterizes most of the developing world. Plus GM seeds cost more, and few poor farmers have access to cash.

The Bush administration presents its GM-friendly policies as a solution to hunger. During his recent tour of Africa, Bush said, "For the sake of a continent threatened by famine, I urge the European governments to end their opposition to biotechnology."

But many Africans are suspicious and see the spread of GM crops as creating a kind of "bioserfdom" with farmers in thrall to huge biotech companies. Amadou Kanoute, research director of African Office of Consumers International, says the spread of GM crops, "will plunge Africa into greater food dependency."

American agricultural policy has always had a strong self-interest streak in it. According to a policy statement by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the main vehicle for foreign food aid, "The principal beneficiary of America's foreign assistance programs has always been the United States."

Hunger is a product of access and distribution, not production, as the cases of India and Uganda make clear.

India produces more than 48 million tons of surplus food, yet most is never distributed to the more than 320 million Indians who go to bed hungry each night. In Orissa's Kalahandi Province there is actual starvation, even though the area is rich and fertile and produces 50,000 tons of surplus rice annually.

In Uganda, the problem is transport, not food production. The wet and fertile west of the country produces plenty of surplus, but poor roads and inadequate rail systems make shipping the food to the dry east expensive. Yet few international organizations or lenders will pony up money for improving things like infrastructure.

The administration's charge that EU policies are encouraging famine in Africa has deeply angered Europeans. As EU officials point out, Europe gives Africa seven times as much aid as the U.S. does, and further, that most of that aid is delivered in cash, which bolsters local economies. The U.S., on the other hand, delivers its aid in the form of agricultural surplus, which allows the U.S. to dump its overproduction.

The European Parliament has already decided to phase out the moratorium against GM crops, although it will demand strict labeling. Any product containing more than 0.9% GM products will be flagged, and GM food will have to be segregated from non-GM food in production and harvesting.

The U.S., however, refuses to accept labeling. Zoellick says, while he supports consumer choice, "this information should be non-prejudicial in presentation and feasible for producers to provide," adding that the labeling plan "does not meet this standard."

The "feasible" in Zoellick's statement refers to the expense involved in segregating GM products from non-GM products. But the administration is also nervous that that if Europeans get labeling, Americans might demand the same. Three-fourths of the food on U.S. shelves contain GM products, and a recent study by the biotech firm Novartis found that 92% of Americans approve of labeling.

The EU is unlikely to be intimidated by fines imposed by the WTO, and if the Americans manage to block labeling, European consumers will probably just boycott all American food imports. The only real casualties in that trade war will be American farmers.

The prize in this fight is not the EU, which in any case only absorbs some 10% of American agricultural exports. The prize is the developing world, where regulations are lax, profits higher, and resistance may carry a very high price.

Conn Hallinan is a provost at the University of California at Santa Cruz and a political analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus

********

Thanks to TW

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 1 reply

Save Wild Rice from Genetic Engineering

2007-11-19T03:56:22Z

www.savewildrice.org/

There is a big push on to save wild rice from genetic engineering~please read!

Also check out White Earth Land Recovery Project.

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

TRUTH IS FREE; so is my RETREAT --Vermont

2007-11-05T17:48:31Z

I'm looking to network with folks, to extend an invitation to visit Bald Mountain Retreat (www.baldmountainretreat.com) as my guest. Like-minded people who appreciate rustic accommodations are welcome to come up at no charge. (Those who require a private room can inquire about those accommodations as well.)
Basically, I'm offering people the opportunity to come stay with a retired naturopathic doctor in a truly amazing natural setting, secluded, idyllic, peaceful...
Also, if you might like to lead a retreat, please contact me.
Thank you and you are welcome,
Dr David

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

USDA seeks public feedback on pharma/industrial crop regulations (Union of Concerned Scientists )

2007-09-06T01:02:40Z

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is revising the regulations governing the release of genetically engineered (GE) crops into the environment, including GE crops that produce pharmaceutical (pharma) and industrial substances. The USDA is proposing to maintain essentially the same oversight system currently used, despite the department's demonstrated inability to adequately protect the food supply from pharma/industrial crop contamination. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) believes that the combination of past oversight failures, recent steep increases in the acreage of pharma/industrial food crops, and virtual impossibility of keeping these crops separate from crops destined for the food supply calls for a new, stronger approach. Help UCS persuade the USDA to protect our food by banning outdoor use of food and feed crops to produce drugs and industrial chemicals.

Union of Concerned Scientists
http://ucsaction.org/campaign/8_24_07_pharma_crops?rk=C1s87OK1vWd0E

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

Monsanto Loses patents

2007-08-07T01:11:35Z

MONSANTO PATENTS ASSERTED AGAINST AMERICAN FARMERS REJECTED BY PATENT OFFICE: PUBPAT Initiated Review Leads PTO to Find All Claims of All Four Patents Invalid
http://www.pubpat.org/monsantorejections.htm

MONSANTO PATENTS ASSERTED AGAINST AMERICAN FARMERS REJECTED BY PATENT OFFICE: PUBPAT Initiated Review Leads PTO to Find All Claims of All Four Patents Invalid

NEW YORK – July 24, 2007 -- The Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has rejected four key Monsanto patents related to genetically modified crops that PUBPAT challenged last year because the agricultural giant is using them to harass, intimidate, sue - and in some cases literally bankrupt - American farmers. In its Office Actions rejecting each of the patents, the USPTO held that evidence submitted by PUBPAT, in addition to other prior art located by the Patent Office's Examiners, showed that Monsanto was not entitled to any of the patents.

Monsanto has filed dozens of patent infringement lawsuits asserting the four challenged patents against American farmers, many of whom are unable to hire adequate representation to defend themselves in court. The crime these farmers are accused of is nothing more than saving seed from one year's crop to replant the following year, something farmers have done since the beginning of time.

One study of the matter found that, "Monsanto has used heavy-handed investigations and ruthless prosecutions that have fundamentally changed the way many American farmers farm. The result has been nothing less than an assault on the foundations of farming practices and traditions that have endured for centuries in this country and millennia around the world, including one of the oldest, the right to save and replant crop seed." The lawsuits filed by Monsanto against American farmers include Monsanto Company v. Mitchell Scruggs, et al, 459 F.3d 1328 (Fed. Cir. 2006), Monsanto Company v. Kem Ralph individually, et al, 382 F.3d 1374 (Fed. Cir. 2004) and Monsanto Company v. Homan McFarling, 363 F.3d 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2004).

Although Monsanto has the opportunity to respond to the Patent Office's rejections of the patents (U.S. Patents Nos. 5,164,316, 5,196,525, 5,322,938 and 5,352,605), third party requests for re-examination, like the ones filed by PUBPAT against the four Monsanto patents, are successful in having the reviewed patents either changed or completely revoked more than two-thirds of the time.

"We are extremely pleased that the Patent Office has agreed with us that Monsanto does not deserve these patents that it has used to unfairly bully American farmers," said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT's Executive Director. "Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end of the harm being caused to the public by Monsanto's aggressive assertion of these patents, which threatens family farms and a diverse American food supply."

More information, including copies of the Office Actions issued by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office rejecting the four Monsanto patents, can be found at PUBPAT > Monsanto Anti-Farmers Patents.

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

The GMO Trilogy DVD and CD set

2007-08-06T03:43:42Z

The GMO Trilogy DVD and CD set

"A new DVD and CD set produced by bestselling author Jeffrey Smith, which shows how genetically modified organisms (GMOs) put our health and environment at risk, may impact consumer perceptions and buying habits.

The GMO Trilogy's was released in April 2006 in conjunction with Earth Day (April 22) and International GMOpposition Day (April 8)-a coordinated 30-nation campaign to raise awareness about genetically modified (GM) food.

US organizations will ask hundreds of thousands of their members to buy the Trilogy to show at house parties, and several manufacturers have sponsored the 3-disc set to keep it affordable. See below for information about the GMO Trilogy and its sponsors."

http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/TheGMOTrilogy/index.cfm

" Alex talks to Jeffery M. Smith about his book, Seeds of Deception. The book documents significant health dangers of genetically modified ... Alle » (GM) foods and the intense industry influence and political corruption that allow them on the market. Hailed as the best book on the topic, many believe that the revelations in this book can topple an industry. "

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2017114126248697214&q=Seeds+of+Deception&total=54&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=6

;

posted in **Genetically modified food watch** - 0 replies

**Genetically modified food watch**'s topics - tribe.net

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PLEASE WATCH = "IN LIES WE TRUST" = IT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE

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New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods

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KAUAI News: Taro at heart of hearing

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Wal-Mart Brand Milk Will Be rBST-Free

Transgenic Potato Not to be Released

GMO's linked to HIV

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CA State Assembly Approves GMO Bill Protecting Farmers

Little Oranges/tangerines - are they GMO's or clean

An interesting video...

GMO - TEA ??

cloned food? no thank you

can this be true?

France suspending the Monsanto 810 maize!

Hi please come join dansconspiraciesclub

France suspends commercial GMO seed use, studies safety

The Implications of Monsanto’s Patent Losses

Chinese Organics

Corn

The Food Bully

Save Wild Rice from Genetic Engineering

TRUTH IS FREE; so is my RETREAT --Vermont

USDA seeks public feedback on pharma/industrial crop regulations (Union of Concerned Scientists )

Monsanto Loses patents

The GMO Trilogy DVD and CD set

Genetically modified food watch's topics - tribe.net