By Rob Pell
April 28, 2014
NewsWithViews.com
Corporate Profits Over Public Health Is Monsanto's Farming Model
Josephine County, Oregon -- Corporate giants Monsanto, Dow Chemical and Syngenta have bankrolled deceitful ads and scare-tactic, fake telephone “surveys” in the Rogue Valley. They falsely say this proposed law would be too expensive. However, the facts do not support their propaganda. In other states and counties where similar laws have been passed, they have cost local taxpayers virtually nothing. The law will help protect GMO-free farmers (the good guys) from having their crops polluted by nearby GMO plantings. Further, in the event that GMO drift from a nearby GMO crop does pollute a GMO-free field, it will put the GMO-free farmer on the right side of the legal system.
Something else to consider – the giant bio-tech bullies have a terrible track record. Monsanto was one of the largest producers of DDT. Dow chemical was largely responsible for Agent Orange. Decades after they were widely used, unforeseen toxic side-effects from these chemicals surfaced and are still proving to be devastating to human health and the environment worldwide.
GMO seed producer Syngenta grows sugar beets in the Rogue Valley. They can’t grow the same GMO beets in their home country of Switzerland, because open cultivation of GMOs was banned there by a vote of the Swiss people!
Cancerous tumors
in rats caused by GMO exposures
Now is the time to protect OUR FOOD, OUR FARMS and OUR FAMILIES right here in Josephine County.
VOTE YES ON 17-58 to Restrict GMOs
Fact: Studies from all over the world (outside the US) have raised serious doubts about GMO safety. That's why GMOs are banned or restricted in 65 countries.
Fact: There have been no long-term safety tests on GMOs in the United States. The FDA effectively lets patent holders, like Monsanto, Dow Chemical, and Syngenta, decide if they're safe enough.
Fact: Monsanto told us DDT was safe. Decades later it was banned after the truth came out about its devastating effects to the environment. Monsanto's track record for health is terrible.
Fact: Wind often causes GMO crops to drift into neighboring fields, trespassing on, and contaminating GMO-free farms. It's not possible for GMO farms and GMO-free farms to co-exist side-by-side. Not even Monsanto can control the wind.
Fact: Swiss bio-tech giant, Syngenta, has been conducting GMO sugar beet experiments in the Rogue Valley. They can't do the same experiments in Switzerland because GMOs were banned there by a vote of the people.
Fact: GMOs usually require more pesticides that end up polluting groundwater and damaging soil.
Fact: International bio-tech bullies: Monsanto, Dow Chemical, and Syngenta, have pumped nearly a million dollars into the Rogue Valley attempting to buy this election using deceitful ads. The facts don't support their propaganda.
Fact: This law will cost local taxpayers virtually nothing. Primarily it will put GMO-free farmers (the good guys) on the right side of the law in the event that GMO drift form a nearby GMO crop pollutes GMO-free fields. It would also make it much tougher for Monsanto to successfully sue a GMO-free farmer who has been victimized by GMO pollution.
VOTE YES ON 17-58 to Restrict GMOs
When a company spends billions of dollars developing GMOs, why would they spend millions to prevent the labeling and advertizing of their new products? Obviously it's because they have something to hide. Spearheaded by the Bio-tech food giant Monsanto, in November 2013, opponents of a law that would have mandated the labeling of genetically modified foods in Washington State, raised over 22 million dollars to fight its passage. Only 6 million dollars was raised to support the bill, which was narrowly defeated. Passage would have had no impact on the legality of GMOs, just people's right to know what they're eating. Similar scenarios play out, state by state, all over the US. GMO creating bio-tech companies thrive by keeping consumers in the dark.
Right now, Americans are essentially swimming, blindfolded in a giant test tube at the center of a massive, Monsanto-led, GMO food experiment. I can think of no other class of food products or additives that have managed to completely escape government oversight.
GMO science is relatively new. It allows DNA from one species to be injected into another species in a laboratory, creating combinations of plant, animal, bacteria, and viral genes that cannot be created by the forces of nature alone. GMOs are only created through the gene-splicing techniques of bio-technology (also called genetic engineering, or GE). They began infiltrating our food supply in the mid 1990s.
Most people still don't understand the basic differences between hybridization and genetic modification. Natural hybridization is nothing more than a cross between two closely related species – usually two plants. Hybrids have happened naturally throughout history via cross-pollination. Wind, water and animals are common facilitators in this process. Even when gardeners or farmers help the process along, hybridization has always occurred between two closely related species. In the animal kingdom, an example of a hybrid is a mule, which is a cross between a male donkey and a female horse. Generally, mules are more patient, sure-footed and more willing workers than either parent.
In contrast, GMOs are created in labs by scientists combining organisms from two totally different biological kingdoms that could never be blended by nature alone. For example, Monsanto has crossed genetic material from a bacterial pesticide, Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), with corn. The goal was to create a pest-resistant plant. This means that any pests attempting to eat the corn plant will die since the pesticide is part of every cell of the plant. The resultant GMO plant, known as Bt Corn, is itself registered as a pesticide with the EPA so, if you feed this corn to your cattle, your chickens, or yourself, you’ll be feeding them an actual pesticide in every bite. Bt could never naturally become part of the corn seed.
There
Has Been Virtually No Long-Term Testing Done
In the U.S. To Prove GMO Safety Claims.
Our Only Defense Is To Vote Yes on 17-58 to Restrict GMOs
Even though GMOs have been created for ingestion as a long-term food source for humans, there have been no long or medium-term safety tests done by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), thanks to a 20-year-old policy that says it’s up to the bio-tech companies to determine the safety of genetically engineered foods. So while all other developed countries require safety testing for GE plants, a government agency in charge of protecting U.S. citizens lets bio-tech companies, who stand to make billions in profits from GE foods, conduct their own “voluntary safety consultations.” Rather than allowing humans to be the long-term guinea pigs in this experiment, the FDA needs to step up and do the science now.
On the one hand, bio-tech giants like Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow Chemical and Bayer, argue that the GMO seeds they create are so unique, they deserve to be patented. On the other hand, the same firms argue that the GMO seeds are “substantially equivalent” to other seeds, so there's no need for labeling, testing, or regulation. Looks like Monsanto wants a monopoly on the seeds themselves and both sides of the discussion – having their GMO cake and eating it too!
Monsanto and the US Environmental Protection Agency were adamant the pesticide in GMO corn, Bt, would only affect insects munching on the crop. They claimed Bt toxin, would be completely destroyed in the human digestive system and would have no possible impact on animals and humans.
They were both proven dead wrong. Last year doctors at Sherbrooke University Hospital in Quebec, found Bt toxin produced by GMO corn in the blood of 93 percent of pregnant women tested and in the umbilical blood from 80% of their babies.
VOTE YES ON 17-58 to RESTRICT GMOs
In addition, the GMO industry claim that their crops can coexist with non-GMOs and remain segregated, is flat out wrong. They completely ignore the natural impacts of wind, insects, floods, and animals. Corn pollen can easily drift miles in windy conditions. Peter Thomison of Ohio State University wrote, “even if only a small percentage of the total pollen shed by a field of corn drifts into a neighboring field, there is considerable potential for contamination through cross pollination.” The unintended spread of GMO crops cannot be controlled any more than Man can control which way the wind blows. Contamination permanently alters a species' gene pool, undermines the ability of organic and other non-GMO farmers to receive fair pay for their efforts and prevents exports to countries that want nothing to do with GMOs. This happened recently when GMO wheat was discovered in Oregon farmland that was supposed to be GMO free. When news broke that GMO seeds had contaminated these crops, Japan and other countries refused to buy wheat grown in Oregon.
It's obvious that when Monsanto talks on their website about GMOs creating “maximum profit, efficiency and convenience” they are speaking for themselves, not for the long-term benefit of the environment or the farmers that they've hoodwinked into using their GMO Frankenseeds.
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Our Only Defense... Vote Yes on 17-58
Common Sense Around The World On GMOs Bypasses The U.S. FDA
In Europe, Norway, Austria, Germany, the U.K., Spain, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, and Portugal have GMO restrictions. France has laws that clearly define what GMO-free means on food labels. Ireland has banned all growing of GMOs and the European Union has considered a continent-wide outright ban of GMOs. Numerous Asian and African countries have banned the growing and\or distribution of GMOs as well So far, a total of 64 countries have laws requiring some type of GMO labeling according to the Center For Food Safety.
Passage of this law will help protect Josephine County food, families and farms. It will be a blow to Monsanto and be a win for mankind, now and for future generations.
Right Now Our Best Defense Is To VOTE YES ON 17-58 to RESTRICT GMOs IN JoCo.
© 2014 Robert Pell - All Rights Reserve
Share This ArticleRob Pell
owns and operates Sunshine Natural Foods in Grants Pass, Oregon and
has 35 years experience helping people with natural foods, products,
exercise
and healing.
Website: Sunshine Natural Foods
E-Mail: RobertPell9@gmail.com
