Monsanto Roundup weedkiller and GM maize implicated in ‘shocking’ new cancer study
19 Sep 2012 | By Elinor Zuke
The world’s best-selling weedkiller, and a genetically modified maize resistant to it, can cause tumours, multiple organ damage and lead to premature death, new research published today reveals.
In the first ever study to examine the long-term effects of Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller, or the NK603 Roundup-resistant GM maize also developed by Monsanto, scientists found that rats exposed to even the smallest amounts, developed mammary tumours and severe liver and kidney damage as early as four months in males, and seven months for females, compared with 23 and 14 months respectively for a control group.
“This research shows an extraordinary number of tumours developing earlier and more aggressively – particularly in female animals. I am shocked by the extreme negative health impacts,” said Dr Michael Antoniou, molecular biologist at King’s College London, and a member of CRIIGEN, the independent scientific council which supported the research.
GM crops have been approved for human consumption on the basis of 90-day animal feeding trials. But three months is the equivalent of late adolescence in rats, who can live for almost two years (700 days), and there have long been calls to study the effects over the course of a lifetime.
The peer-reviewed study, conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Caen, found that rats fed on a diet containing NK603 Roundup resistant GM maize, or given water containing Roundup at levels permitted in drinking water, over a two-year period, died significantly earlier than rats fed on a standard diet.
Up to half the male rats and 70% of females died prematurely, compared with only 30% and 20% in the control group. Across both sexes the researchers found that rats fed Roundup in their water or NK603 developed two to three times more large tumours than the control group. By the beginning of the 24th month, 50-80% of females in all treated groups had developed large tumours, with up to three per animal.
By contrast, only 30% of the control group were affected. Scientists reported the tumours “were deleterious to health due to [their] very large size,” making it difficult for the rats to breathe, [and] causing problems with their digestion which resulted in haemorrhaging.
The paper, published in the scientific journal Food and Chemical Toxicology today, concluded that NK603 and Roundup caused similar damage to the rats’ health, whether they were consumed together or on their own. The team also found that even the lowest doses of Roundup, which fall well within authorised limits in drinking tap water, were associated with severe health problems.
“The rat has long been used as a surrogate for human toxicity. All new pharmaceutical, agricultural and household substances are, prior to their approval, tested on rats. This is as good an indicator as we can expect that the consumption of GM maize and the herbicide Roundup, impacts seriously on human health,” Antoniou added.
Roundup is widely available in the UK, and is recommended on Gardeners Question Time. But this also represents a potential blow for the growth of GM Foods.
With the global population expected to increase to nine billion by 2050, the UN has said that global food production must increase by 50%. And a consultation led by DEFRA entitled Green Food Project recommended as recently as 10 July 2012 that GM must be reassessed as a possible solution.
Some 85% of maize grown in the US is GM, while 70% of processed foods contain GM ingredients without GM labelling. In the UK and Europe GM maize is not consumed directly by humans but is widely used in animal feed without the requirement for GM labelling.
Antoniou said there could be no doubting the credibility of this peer-reviewed study. “This is the most thorough research ever published into the health effects of GM food crops and the herbicide Roundup on rats.”
Led by Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini, the researchers studied 10 groups, each containing 10 male and 10 female rats, over their normal lifetime. Three groups were given Roundup – developed by Monstanto – in their drinking water at three different levels consistent with exposure through the food chain from crops sprayed with the herbicide.
Three groups were fed diets containing different proportions of Roundup resistant maize at 11%, 22% and 33%. Three groups were given both Roundup and the GM maize at the same three dosages. The control group was fed an equivalent diet with no Roundup or NK603 containing 33% of non-GM maize.
A spokesman for Monsanto said: “We will review it thoroughly, as we do all studies that relate to our products and technologies.”
Watch the video: experts discuss the significance of the findings
Monsanto is the Darth Vader of the corporate world.
They want to jam their GMO food down our throats, and deny us the right to know if we’re eating GMO or not.
If you’ve got a small patch of soil, grow your own GMO free food.
http://rareseeds.com/
@ Tonto, this is how this boomer rolls.
Science on controversial topics is a political football, so one really needs to dig into the details to have a sound conclusion.
Still, I have no interest in being a guinea pig in a Monsanto experiment. Until I find the time to read up, I just avoid GMO.
A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health
Int J Biol Sci 2009; 5(7):706-726. doi:10.7150/ijbs.5.706
from abstract:
“Our analysis clearly reveals for the 3 GMOs new side effects linked with GM maize consumption, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, although different between the 3 GMOs. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system. We conclude that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn. In addition, unintended direct or indirect metabolic consequences of the genetic modification cannot be excluded.”
A good lead for getting into the science of the topic, though from an obviously anti-gmo source:
http://www.nongmoproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/GM-Crops-just-the-science.pdf
Non-GMO Shopping Guide:
http://mercola.fileburst.com/PDF/GMObrochure.pdf
I’m trying to grow a garden of my own, but learned this year that we would slowly starve if we had to rely solely on my backyard efforts. I do love the freshness of what I have had success growing, and I’m going to expand next year.
Avoid GMO at all costs. I’m sorry to say that I was ignorant until recently and fed it to my family!
News,
I’m going to move this post over here. One other comment, is it really that it is GMO or the fact that we consume too many corn products??
News,
I assume you meant this to be in the Monsanto thread.
Yes, ALL of our crops are what would be considered to be GMO. We can spray Roundup on them all without harming the crop. They naturally fight off insects that eat the stalk and roots.
I had a couple of thoughts while reading that, really wasn’t going to comment, but what the heck.
The use of Roundup has slashed use of pesticides in the US. Farmers used to use huge amounts of insecticides and herbicides and now BT and rootworm resistant GMO corn has slashed the use of these insecticides while increasing yields. These chemicals were particularly nasty, made farmers sick, caused cancer and I consider the fact that they are a much smaller component in the food chain a very good thing and completely outweighs the fact that a corn is GMO.
The other thing is that we have we have been selecting crops for thousands of years trying to bypass blights, increase yields, naturally resist pests. I would love someone to explain to me why that genetic altering, through the use of cross breeding plants, is somehow different from something done in a lab.
I will most likely get some thumbs down for this, but I find nothing alarming about GMO crops and eat them every day. As far as the study in France, well, they are French……
EF
GJH: the problem is, as we’ve already seen with pink slime in ground beef, you can’t “simply avoid GMO” because it is ubiquitous and unlabeled.
Monsanto, controls the patents on genetically engineered seeds for corn, cotton, soybeans and sugar beets that are planted on more than 90% of the acres farmed in the U.S.
And, as many farmers well know, Monsanto is inclined to sue farmers indiscriminately for patent infringement when they choose to not plant Monsanto seed. When Monsanto’s GMO alfalfa from one farm gets blown by the wind, it contaminates the non-GMO crops at neighboring farms. Then Monsanto sues those farmers.
Monsanto is the Blackwater of agriculture. The company has a chilling agenda, creeping presence and formidable power.
I’m with you, eFarmer. But then I have a degree in Ag Biotech from Purdue. The lack of basic knowledge of how genetic engineering works is astounding.
Monsanto is no saint, but they’re not as bad as many think, too. But on the other side, the founder of Whole Foods spent tens of millions to convince people that “Frankenstein food” and GMOs would kill them. And some people bought it lock, stock and barrel.
@efarmer, you crack me up.
Roundup (a herbicide) has reduced the use of pesticides and herbicides. Yet, you are still spraying a deadly chemical on “food” that has been altered to keep deadly chemicals from killing them.
What could possibly go wrong?
This year I have seen an absolute explosion of people I know that have cancer. From young children, teens, people in their 20s, 30s, 40s.
You go right ahead and “trust” these companies and things. I’m going to try and err on the side of caution.
And to compare altering a plant to withstand a deadly chemical to ancient farmers changing plants to better fit their environment really stretches the point to me.
Kinda like comparing an aspirin to arsenic. Yes, both can kill you, but one will do a much better and faster job of it.
GMOs may “feed” your belly, but all testing points to the reality that they have sacrificed nutrition for shelf life and chemical avoidance. The unintended consequences (autism? nut allergies? cancer? obesity?) always seem to come from nowhere and bite us in the ass.
I’m done signing up for it.
eFarmer, please read this; it might change your mind.
This letter was sent to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack nearly two years ago and proves that the recent study doesn’t provide new knowledge as much as it corroborates that which has been asserted for years.
January 16, 2011
Dear Secretary Vilsack:
A team of senior plant and animal scientists have recently brought to my attention the discovery of an electron microscopic pathogen that appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals, and probably human beings. Based on a review of the data, it is widespread, very serious, and is in much higher concentrations in Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans and corn — suggesting a link with the RR gene or more likely the presence of Roundup. This organism appears NEW to science.
This is highly sensitive information that could result in a collapse of US soy and corn export markets and significant disruption of domestic food and feed supplies. On the other hand, this new organism may already be responsible for significant harm (see below). My colleagues and I are therefore moving our investigation forward with speed and discretion, and seek assistance from the USDA and other entities to identify the pathogen’s source, prevalence, implications, and remedies.
We are informing the USDA of our findings at this early stage, specifically due to your pending decision regarding approval of RR alfalfa. Naturally, if either the RR gene or Roundup itself is a promoter or co-factor of this pathogen, then such approval could be a calamity. Based on the current evidence, the only reasonable action at this time would be to delay deregulation at least until sufficient data has exonerated the RR system, if it does.
For the past 40 years, I have been a scientist in the professional and military agencies that evaluate and prepare for natural and manmade biological threats, including germ warfare and disease outbreaks. Based on this experience, I believe the threat we are facing from this pathogen is unique and of a high risk status. In layman’s terms, it should be treated as an emergency.
A diverse set of researchers working on this problem have contributed various pieces of the puzzle, which together presents the following disturbing scenario:
Unique Physical Properties
This previously unknown organism is only visible under an electron microscope (36,000X), with an approximate size range equal to a medium size virus. It is able to reproduce and appears to be a micro-fungal-like organism. If so, it would be the first such micro-fungus ever identified. There is strong evidence that this infectious agent promotes diseases of both plants and mammals, which is very rare.
Pathogen Location & Concentration
It is found in high concentrations in Roundup Ready soybean meal and corn, distillers meal, fermentation feed products, pig stomach contents, and pig and cattle placentas.
Linked with Outbreaks of Plant Disease
The organism is prolific in plants infected with two pervasive diseases that are driving down yields and farmer income — sudden death syndrome (SDS) in soy, and Goss’ wilt in corn. The pathogen is also found in the fungal causative agent of SDS (Fusarium solani fsp glycines).
Implicated in Animal Reproductive Failure
Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of this organism in a wide variety of livestock that have experienced spontaneous abortions and infertility. Preliminary results from ongoing research have also been able to reproduce abortions in a clinical setting.
The pathogen may explain the escalating frequency of infertility and spontaneous abortions over the past few years in US cattle, dairy, swine, and horse operations. These include recent reports of infertility rates in dairy heifers of over 20%, and spontaneous abortions in cattle as high as 45%.
For example, 450 of 1,000 pregnant heifers fed wheatlage experienced spontaneous abortions. Over the same period, another 1,000 heifers from the same herd that were raised on hay had no abortions. High concentrations of the pathogen were confirmed on the wheatlage, which likely had been under weed management using glyphosate.
Recommendations
In summary, because of the high titer [concentration] of this new animal pathogen in Roundup Ready crops, and its association with plant and animal diseases that are reaching epidemic proportions, we request USDA’s participation in a multi-agency investigation, and an immediate moratorium on the deregulation of RR crops until the causal/predisposing relationship with glyphosate and/or RR plants can be ruled out as a threat to crop and animal production and human health.
It is urgent to examine whether the side-effects of glyphosate use may have facilitated the growth of this pathogen, or allowed it to cause greater harm to weakened plant and animal hosts. It is well-documented that glyphosate promotes soil pathogens and is already implicated with the increase of more than 40 plant diseases; it dismantles plant defenses by chelating vital nutrients; and it reduces the bioavailability of nutrients in feed, which in turn can cause animal disorders. To properly evaluate these factors, we request access to the relevant USDA data.
I have studied plant pathogens for more than 50 years. We are now seeing an unprecedented trend of increasing plant and animal diseases and disorders. This pathogen may be instrumental to understanding and solving this problem. It deserves immediate attention with significant resources to avoid a general collapse of our critical agricultural infrastructure.
Sincerely,
COL (Ret.) Don M. Huber
Emeritus Professor, Purdue University
APS Coordinator, USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System (NPDRS)
Thinker,
Amazing how the press can skew the facts and people fall for it, isn’t it? Why are people so easy to distrust news stories on 911 or economics but fall so easily for food related articles?
My dislike for Monsanto goes to the strong arm tactics that indiejen mentioned.
EF
Thinker, I’m sure you’ll appreciate that Huber is from Purdue.
efarmer; the science isn’t even sound. When you change a gene it doesn’t just effect ONE thing, like color. It effects three or four. So if you don’t know what the other two or three things are you really don’t know wtf you’re doing. They modified soybeans with a brazil nut gene and people who are allergic to nuts had allergic reactions to it, which they said could never happen. A lady I go to for acupuncture knows THE attorney who quit working for Monsatan after he saw their results: in their own studies rats fed genetically modified tomatoes were dead in 21 days from liver and kidney damage. Why do you think they won’t allow independent testing of their frankenfood? This has nothing to do with making better food. In studies GMO crops are less nutritious than conventional crops because their uptake of nutrients is different. And the Bt corn is so toxic it kills the microorganisms in the soil it’s grown in. This is about controlling the worlds food supply for profit. http://www.naturalnews.com/037261_GM_wheat_liver_failure_fatalities.html
And in Hungary they threw out Monsanto and the IMF and the US threatened them with a trade war. Who are we to tell them what to eat or what companies they support? Three of the diplomats are employed by Monsanto.
One other thing, food prices are already on the rise. Outlaw GMO crops and watch the fun really begin as costs to farmers skyrocket and yields drop.
I don’t really care, go for it. We need bigger government to save us anyway. That way we can all live forever.
EF
As long as we have a choice and GMO and organic are clearly labelled, monsanto can do what they like. I certainly won’t touch anything GMO and grow my own food using my own DNA (dynamic natural agriculture) growing method i have been working on for the last 5 years. But it’s best to give people choice as it’s a good way of lowering the population levels (as all the dumb dumbs eat GMOs and die 😉
@efarmer, GMOs are basically the agricultural equivalent of central planning (as in the scientists think they know what the are doing but really they haven’t got a clue of all the possible outcomes) If you’re for GMOs then logically you must be for central planning and communism. Nuff said
Here is where the libertarian smugness and myopia are revealed. “I won’t touch it, because I’m an intellectually superior human, but if some multi-national corporation wants to make it and the dumb-ass masses want to eat it, huzzah! More resources for me.”
Like it or not, some things affect everyone. It’s the nature of being human that we must breathe air, drink water and eat food. Agriculture is life. You can’t separate yourself from it, regardless of the dictates of your political ideology.
Right, wrong, or indifferent, it’s all been part of the worldwide push for higher yields, lower costs, more abundance to support a rising population. With global demand for food now threatening to challenge supply, it’s doubtful that GMOs will be discontinued.
I farm and ranch in Oregon, and agree with efarmer. But the Irish potato famine comes to my mind when It comes to crop trait selection…when crop selection simply for the biggest and best left the Irish crop vulnerable to blight.
denjun says:
@efarmer, GMOs are basically the agricultural equivalent of central planning (as in the scientists think they know what the are doing but really they haven’t got a clue of all the possible outcomes) If you’re for GMOs then logically you must be for central planning and communism. Nuff said
You know, I couldn’t sleep last night and have been on the internet since 3 am and this is the stupidest comment I have read all morning. Congratulations.
EF
denjun says:
As long as we have a choice and GMO and organic are clearly labelled, monsanto can do what they like.
I have no problem with that.
EF
eFarmer, as long as I can pay for designer shoes with cornhusks, I have no problem with that.
Except that it doesn’t reflect reality.
#1: We don’t have a choice
#2: There is no clear labelling.
indiejen says: “Here is where the libertarian smugness and myopia are revealed. “I won’t touch it, because I’m an intellectually superior human, but if some multi-national corporation wants to make it and the dumb-ass masses want to eat it, huzzah! More resources for me.
That is absolutely NOT how I feel.
It breaks my heart that we are allowing junk science and profit margins to poison our children and world.
BUT, the reality is that the powers that be behind this monstrosity are so entrenched, so powerful, and so in charge, that railing against them is futile, wasted, stressful and depression-inducing.
efarmer is a farmer. His entire life, and future, depend upon him believing in the science & motives as they are presented to him. He has a non-overcomeable (yeah, I made it up) bias. I know many just like him. They are a big part of the human experience.
And, I’ll be completely honest, we ALL have such biases, Monsanto, frankenfoods, the USDA and farms subsidies are his.
This is America, I didn’t make my comment, nor choose the things I choose to eat, to be greedy, or self-superior, or smug. I do it to stay sane (I don’t like futile confrontations) while staying respectful of others’ opinions and still present the truth as I see it.
I try to warn my friends and families and I do support natural causes and I voraciously support the rights of small farmers (like Michigan’s family pig farmers) through my pocketbook and life.
But trying to convince efarmer of any other reality, is like trying to convince a Chicago teacher that they are overpaid and the system is mathematically unsustainable.
You can scream until you are blue in the face, I’ll do it my way. Thanks.
TeresaE, the comment I made was not directed to or influenced by eFarmer, but by this comment:
Denjun said: “As long as we have a choice and GMO and organic are clearly labelled, monsanto can do what they like. I certainly won’t touch anything GMO and grow my own food using my own DNA (dynamic natural agriculture) growing method i have been working on for the last 5 years. But it’s best to give people choice as it’s a good way of lowering the population levels (as all the dumb dumbs eat GMOs and die.”
My comment was a reflexive, gut reaction to the above comment, which struck me as particularly arrogant. I apologize for not being more clear.
TeresaE,
Just curious about how old you are, I have a reason for asking.
I have farmed for over 34 years now and hardly a week during those 1768 or so weeks goes by without reading that something else we eat is killing us. As farmers we are now numb to it.
If we are all being poisoned why does the lifespan of the average American rise every year? I know there are other factors, but if we are all being poisoned shouldn’t we all be dead by now?
EF
Thinker says: “…I’m with you, eFarmer. But then I have a degree in Ag Biotech from Purdue…”
Benny has an economics degree from Hah-vahd.
Benny’s degree was paid for by the big banks, Wall Street and TPTB, they fund the programs he excelled in. Think maybe his worldview, infallible beliefs and bias might have something to do with that? I know you do.
Hate to tell you Thinker, buy yours was funded by Big Ag, in large part chemicals ( I see what Dow gifts these programs in Michigan), and whether you believe it or not, your “knowledge” has been influenced by that fact.
ALL paths of “knowledge” have been co-opted by the most powerful in their industries. Pharm pays for medical programs, Monsanto, Dow, Bayer and others buy off the ag departments, BoA, Chase, Goldman Sachs run the accounting and finance, teachers unions fund the teaching departments, etc., etc., etc.
You’ll never convince these highly educated people to turn around and perform the same research techniques they use on other areas of our world, on their own.
The man behind the current has always been a very, very, scary thing to find.
And the hardest thing to ever face. I pray that people like them find the courage to do so.
But I ain’t holding my breath.
Flasher:
Hell yeah. I roll with the hippy seeds from Cornucopia in Santa Cruz. Them Boomers definitely rock the garden.
Boooyah!
@efarmer, I’m 45.
My gramps was a farmer, then a farmer and hardware store owner. My other a union worker for a chemical company.
Learned lots from them both. And also from paying attention to the news & what they knew/were telling me. Both of them were in the industries from long before you started, and quite a bit past then too. Plus my grandma was a RN back in the day when women didn’t work.
They have all instilled in me the gnawing need to read, learn, grow, follow the dollar and question everything.
My chemical plant grandpa had long talks with me about the junk science and coverups that he saw happening in his plant (and others, he worked for the union for a while). As did both my RN grandma and farmer grandpa.
After China mfgs of “American” dog food killed my dog, then I heard about them killing their own babies (chasing nutrient numbers on a test), it led me to re-open the reasons behind the nagging feeling I’ve always had about our modern world of magical foods and chemicals.
When I researched religion and the human condition, I spent the better part of my 11th year reading EVERY book in our Carnegie bought library on religion, then most on world history to boot.
When I started researching the deadly chemical & GMO & pharm state of our world, I wasn’t quite so driven (and had a toddler), but still jumped in there and read EVERYTHING I could put my hands on.
As for the life expectancy issue, that is easy. 1. We now have fresh, clean, non-toxic water in ALL parts of the country and many more around the world. I would estimate that half of all deaths in the “old” world could be attributed to sanitation. At least half. 2. We have taken away most of the dangerous things/ways that used to kill people in huge numbers. Car deaths is an example, plus throw in the fact that people used to HAVE to perform “dangerous” (by today’s standards) tasks just to survive. I’m sure there were tons of well drowning deaths, fires, wild animal bites, falling off buckboards and the like. Add in antibiotics (which are already turning on us, barely a century of use and illness is already starting to win again) and there ya’ go.
The results of frankenfoods – which are less than what, 30 years? – are all around us.
Personally efarmer, I believe (with my health) that the reason so many are so fat is that our “food” has been rendered nearly completely void of nutrition – so we are walking around starving to death and severely deficient in any nutrient that we can’t get adequate with our fake vitamin “fortified” foods. Which leads us to overeat and overeat and overeat some more. Many of our current health problems could be directly traced to lacking these nutrients but the pharm industry has ZERO incentive to pay to do so. So it won’t be done.
People like me don’t have the billions and billions and billions of dollars that are now needed to fund any “study” that people like you would believe in.
So, by default, I cannot trust the science bought and paid for by the very people that profit from it. Yet, the other side will NEVER be able to amass the equivalent cash that could prove – beyond a shadow of a doubt – that the science is faulty.
Catch 22 and that is just the reality of the world I see efarmer.
efarmer,
Thanks for answering my questions and I’m sorry I dragged you into this when you wanted to avoid it.
One more question – can farmers be Ceritified Organic and grow GMO crops?
It’s not the GMO products causing tumors so much as the pesticides and herbicides. The chemicals are mutagens, which cause tumors and cancer.
It’s too late to put up much of a fight on these, or GMO’s for that matter. They are already in the environment and the water supply of about 90% localities nationwide. It’s worth it, however, to get cancer when people can eat as much as they want and get as fat as they want. Obesity also causes cancer, 600% increase in most cases.
“It’s not the GMO products causing tumors so much as the pesticides and herbicides. The chemicals are mutagens, which cause tumors and cancer.”
This sums it up pretty much.
When GM corn produces its own pesticide, then GM corn itself IS the problem.Other genetically modified foods may not be capable of creating tumors.
Monsanto is certainly at fault, but so is the FDA which didn’t require long-term studies.
eFarmer, it’s like trying to argue with truthers, birthers or progressives. No matter how much logic and fact you put out there, they remain convinced. You’ll never overcome emotional arguments with rational ones.
Best to just let them believe what they do.
@newsjunkie – Thats note entirely true. The plant that natively possessed the genes might have naturally expressed the genes at levels too low to really cause problems, but then got overexpressed in their GMO product.
I’m not saying thats what is happening, but it IS a possibility. Remember, “natural” doesn’t always mean “safe”.
Newsjunkie — The FDA is a piece of shit, owned by the industry it’s supposed to regulate. IMO.
Us humans are so smart. There are serious unintended consequences messing with mother nature. Mother nature always bats last. I lost the link and don’t have time to find it again, but it was the worlds foremost scientist on GM research talking about GM, and what he said was unsettling. Just another nail in our coffin. There’s much bigger issues then the slow extinction of our species. Did you see X-Factor last night?
Thinker – I don’t see that you’ve presented any logic or facts in this thread. If you do, I would be most open to reading them. Ignorance of genetic engineering? I aced my genetics course. Been a few years, though.
Efarmer – “The other thing is that we have we have been selecting crops for thousands of years…I would love someone to explain to me why that genetic altering, through the use of cross breeding plants, is somehow different from something done in a lab.”
Breeding and genetic engineering are two completely different things. Breeding, you select organisms with desired traits, but you’re not creating anything that couldn’t arise naturally. Genetic engineering, you create genetic combinations that could never arise naturally, e.g. mixing and matching genes from totally unrelated organisms, with totally unknown side effects.
If you’re a farmer who grows gmo, and you’re going to opine, you ought to study up.
Denjun – “As long as we have a choice and GMO and organic are clearly labelled, monsanto can do what they like.”
First, we don’t have a choice as gmo contaminates the gene pool. Second, we don’t have proper labelling.
efarmer- BT and rootworm resistant GMO corn has slashed the use of these insecticides while increasing yields.
Everything has it’s price…
http://www.naturalnews.com/036254_GM_corn_rootworm_crop_failures.html
In a research paper published in the July/August/September 2012 issue of the journal GM Crops & Food, scientists reported that samples taken in 2010 indicated that rootworm populations had an eleven-fold survival rate on Cry3Bb1 maize than did control populations. The paper noted that resistant corn rootworm populations first identified in 2009 had three-fold survival rates on Cry3Bb1 maize at that time compared to other populations.
Mike Gray, a professor of entomology with the University of Illinois reported: “We’re still early in the growing season, and the adults are about a month ahead of schedule,” explained Gray. “I was surprised to see them – and there were a lot.”
Reports of increasing rootworm damage began coming in last year after Iowa State University researcher Aaron Gassmann published a study saying that the rootworms in Iowa were becoming resistant to GM corn, creating so-called “superbugs.” Farmers in several states found that the western corn rootworm was surviving after ingesting an insecticidal toxin produced by the corn plants.
The new “superbug” rootworms may lead to serious financial woes for both farmers and the rest of us, according to a letter sent to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by 22 prominent scientists and corn-management experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and universities across the Midwestern Corn Belt. Patrick Porter, PhD, associate professor at Texas A&M University, who drafted the letter, noted that farmers are paying almost twice as much for seeds that don’t live up to their promises, and are then having to resort to insecticides on top of that.
The potential result, according to Porter, is crop failure which could raise food prices at the grocery store. Porter said, “If farmers start taking damage (from) any pest, that will lower yields. That will reduce the supply of corn and increase prices.” Porter also noted that when prices for corn go up, more farmers start planting corn despite the risks, and when growers shift to growing more of one crop, they grow less of other crops and those crops’ prices also go up.
Adding to GM crop concerns, recent research from Canadian scientists found that pesticides used on genetically modified (GM) crops and, in some cases, the genes used to create GM crops are able to survive in our digestive tracts, move into our bloodstreams and, in the case of pregnant women, show up in their developing infants. The research contradicts repeated contentions by Monsanto and the EPA that only insects would be hurt by GM crops.
Cancer may be indeed a danger of GMO’s the the greatest danger loss of self-replicating heirloom seed.
The GMO corn pollen is filtering over into those who prefer natural seeded corn fields and contaminated their next year’s seed crop which forces them to either purchase more heirloom seed and risk another contamination or go GMO.
And this is only half the problem ,GMO could so disrupt the genetic sequencing of corn and other crops that that the original varieties could be lost forever.
And then if their arises some unknown genetic mutations these meddling scientoadies haven’t foreseen , the agriculture as humans know it could be at risk and therefore humanity as well.
Bottom line is these assholes in lab coats are playing with a frikkin fire that may burn down the human race.
But , its science…It’s all good right?
” Outlaw GMO and watch food prices really go up. Starvation would be a real possibility for some”
Now if we could just target a certain 47% ……………..
AWD – “It’s too late to put up much of a fight on these, or GMO’s for that matter. They are already in the environment and the water supply of about 90% localities nationwide.”
True, to a point. But obviously, many more GMO products can be introduced. And many other countries have less GMO than the US.
Now is not the time to throw in the towel. It’s the time to pull our heads out of our butts.
newsjunkie,
I have a neighbor who has a lot of organic acres and GMO acres as well. They are extremely careful to segregate the two, don’t want to lose their certification. I believe they have two machines for harvest so the two are not commingled.
Does that answer your question?
EF
Yes, thanks.
TeresaE,
Thanks for the nice bit of history and explanation of why you think like you do.
IMO, food has less nutrition because as people quit cooking at home nearly as much and demanded faster food, the processing of it has depleted it of nutrients and all that is left is empty calories. Might as well drink bourbon all day, at least would have fun at it. The masses have lost the joy of cooking.
I eat almost zero processed food, occasional bread and crackers and such. But eggs, beef and pork from the freezer, veggies from the garden is my preferred daily meal.
EF
Thinker says:
eFarmer, it’s like trying to argue with truthers, birthers or progressives. No matter how much logic and fact you put out there, they remain convinced. You’ll never overcome emotional arguments with rational ones.
Best to just let them believe what they do.
That is classic, and I feel the exact same way.
See, we can agree on some things. We both agree the other is like a truther, birther or progressive. And I’ve seen your thoughts on business, you are definitely a progressive in some areas.
GJH says:
Breeding and genetic engineering are two completely different things. Breeding, you select organisms with desired traits, but you’re not creating anything that couldn’t arise naturally. Genetic engineering, you create genetic combinations that could never arise naturally, e.g. mixing and matching genes from totally unrelated organisms, with totally unknown side effects.”
How do you know?? If one can believe humans evolved from bacteria, I would think one could have selectively bred a chemical resistant crop. If weeds or bugs can become resistant, why not the crop itself?
EF
TE, I believe you mean conservative libertarian.
My job is often to protect companies from progressives to ensure a free market economy and consumer choice.
efarmer – There’s nothing to say that resistance to a chemical couldn’t be bred. But that doesn’t change the fact that breeding and genetic engineering are two very different things.
For instance, frost-resistant plants might be engineered by splicing a cold-water fish gene into the plant. Try breeding that!
The more you learn about this stuff, the more you realize how many unintended consequences might come from it.
As Richard Lewontin, Professor of Genetics at Harvard University, has said, “we have such a miserably poor understanding of how an organism develops from its DNA that I would be surprised if we don’t get one rude shock after another.”
And the thing is, it’s not something you can just undo if it doesn’t work out. The modified organisms are out there, possibly breeding with unmodified organisms, contaminating the whole gene pool.
Thanks Monsanto, for making the choice for all of us!!
I applaud your eating habits, I’m the same. Mostly natural. I eat very little corn, soy, or products containing them.
Might as well throw my two cents in. Me, who can’t keep a cactus alive.
1. If you believe ANYTHING written about GMOs by Monsanto, or any Big Ag company, the FDA or any other governmental agency …. then you are nothing but a fucking retard.
2. If you KNOWINGLY stick GMO food down your gullet ……… then you are nothing but a fucking retard.
That is all.
I’m only one third of the way through the comments, but aside from all the other debatable points, the fact is that consumers should be able to make INFORMED decisions when buying their food.
Just tell me exactly what I’m buying. It’s no different than food being required to have nutrition information on the label or disclosing what country it was grown/processed in.
Now why would they not want us to know if our food is GMO? Hmmmm????……
So where do we buy all this great non-GMO food?
I’ll be all over it…assuming hubby will bankroll it.
“The masses have lost the joy of cooking.” – efarmer
I think so too, efarmer.
And we’re seeing the sad results all around us, every day.
Maddie’s Mom says: So where do we buy all this great non-GMO food?
I’ll be all over it…assuming hubby will bankroll it.”
Organic is the only way to get it. I grow it, in fact, I’m sitting here in the midst of a pile of paperwork preparing for my annual inspection.