By Joan McDaniel April 12, 2019
This is a re-write of my original article;
What are Genetically Modified Foods (GMO’s)?
September 28, 2012
Some Current Day GMO History
I wrote this article almost 7+ years ago. I had determined to use a diet of natural food especially food grown in my own garden (Kale) or by the local farmers that attended my local farmer’s markets.
I soon learned it is important to know how the food was grown and how to grow food in my own garden. The word “Organic” soon became part of my vocabulary. Organic means use natural fertilizer the opposite means synthetic (man-made chemical) fertilizer. The fertilizer market had been taken over by Monsanto’s product “RoundUp”.
Dolly the Sheep
When I wrote the following article, I did not quite understand what the organic word really meant nor did I really understand farming. (Not that I fully understand either now.) Although the following article is somewhat dated it presents some interesting research on the concept of GMO’s. “Dolly” the sheep was the topic of discussion. In 1996 Dolly was the first successful cloned animal and it was the hot discussion and hard to imagine concept or the day. It was also a harbinger of what was to come.
Monsanto and Roundup Ready
As I said in my previous article What is Canola Oil, Monsanto in 1996 introduced their first “Roundup Ready” Canola in Canada. This technology changed the face of Western Canadian agriculture and was a catalyst in the success of the Canadian canola industry.
Glyphosate
The main active ingredient of Roundup is the isopropylamine salt of glyphosate. Monsanto introduced seed which grow into plants genetically engineered to be tolerant to glyphosate,which are known as Roundup Ready crops. Monsanto further has patented these Roundup Ready seeds. Many unfortunate farmer has found that they not only had to buy the seed but had to pay royalty on every plant that grew. Monsanto soon was suing thousands of farmers for patent infringement. Many farmers went bankrupted. Many farmers in India facing debt, committed massive suicide.
I have heard it said that Monsanto’s desire was to sell not the seeds but to increase sales of Roundup all over the world.
According to Natural Society, “Monsanto’s GMO Creations Caused 291,000 Suicides in India (2009)”
A Lot Has Changed
A lot has happened since then. After years of Monsanto being outlawed and kicked out of the every country in the rest of the world, except Guess Where? Monsanto successful propaganda and advertising campaign established itself as the number one producer of fertilizer or herbicide. Roundup soon became the center and in control of America’s farmland.
The genes contained in these seeds are patented. Such crops allow farmers to use glyphosate as a post-emergence herbicide against most broadleaf and cereal weeds.
Some definitions:
Pesticides are chemicals that may be used to kill fungus, bacteria, insects, plant diseases, snails, slugs, or weeds among others. These chemicals can work by ingestion or by touch and death may occur immediately or over a long period of time.
Insecticides are a type of pesticide that is used to specifically target and kill insects. Some insecticides include snail bait, ant killer, and wasp killer.
Herbicides are used to kill undesirable plants or “weeds”. Some herbicides will kill all the plants they touch, while others are designed to target one species.
Roundup Kills weeds
But it has been said Roundup kills anything it gets close to, with the exception of seed that has been made “roundup ready”. Their own GMO seed. It isn’t supposed to kill animals or humans but —— lets get the rest of the story.
Suddenly the Earth Shook
After years of battling Monsanto, of working to expose the lies about glyphosate and Roundup weed killer; ————
Suddenly the Earth shook and a farmer in California won a law suit against Monsanto saying it did indeed cause his terminal cancer.
Now it is a whole new story with the courts making the demands not Monsanto.
According to Yahoo News and many other sources
“A wave of lawsuits has put pressure on Bayer since its $63-billion takeover of Monsanto last year, spooking investors who worry damages payouts could quickly mount into the billions if the firm fails to convince courts its product is safe.”
Monsanto Co., is the giant U.S. seed and herbicide maker.
As of this writing Monsanto has lost two major law suites both with payout in the millions of dollars. A third law-suit has just started.
The first Plaintiff was a CA farmer Dewayne Johnson diagnosed in 2014 with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma — a cancer that affects white blood cells — says he repeatedly used a professional form of Roundup while working at a school in Benicia, California.
Monsanto case: Bay Area man with cancer awarded $289 million in damages
The second
Investors flee Bayer after second glyphosate trial blow
The jury in the Hardeman v. Monsanto trial ordered Bayer to pay Edwin Hardeman $80 million. The judgment followed last week’s unanimous decision by the same jury that Roundup caused Hardeman’s cancer.
Meanwhile, jury selection began this week in a third trial, Pilliod v. Monsanto. This time, Alva and Alberta Pilliod, married for nearly 50 years, allege that long-term exposure to Roundup caused them both to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer.
Chief executive Werner Baumann said last month the company faced a total of 11,200 US cases over Roundup and its active ingredient glyphosate, a herbicide key to Monsanto’s business model that has come in for intense scrutiny around the world
How many more trials will it take before Roundup is banned for good?
Oh by the Way, I wouldn’t trust the Organic Label for Monsanto has managed to destroy it also.
I grow my own or go to my local Farmers Market.
Now on with the original article
Also I detox off and on because I sure we all have Glyphosate in our systems.
What are Genetically Modified Foods (GMO’s)?
By Joan McDaniel 9/29/2012 Updated 2/4/2014
In light of the recent alarming findings by French research scientists, in what has been referred to as the first complete study of GMO’s,
Hot Off the Press: Rats Fed GMO Corn Die Young
What Is A GMO?
I thought I’d take a stab at attempting to clarify exactly what is a GMO?
Genetically modified foods (GM foods, or biotech foods) are foods derived from genetically modified organism (GMOs) such as genetically modified crops or animals. This article deals with genetically modified crops only. It will not discuss genetic engineering of animals or of other different organisms. Remember Dolly the sheep? Well we won’t be talking about Sheep, just plants and seeds.
Frankenfood’s
Opponents of genetically modified food often refer to it as “Frankenfood”,
after Mary Shelley’s character Frankenstein and the monster she creates. The term was coined in 1992 by Paul Lewis, an English professor at Boston College who used the word in a letter he wrote to the New York Times in response to the decision of the US Food and Drug Administration to allow companies to market genetically modified food. The term “Frankenfood” has become a battle cry of the Label GMO movement.
Does GMO stand for “God Move Over”?
Just like the creation of the artificial hydrogenation process, in the 1890’s used to create margarine and Procter & Gamble’s Crisco, commercial interests are hard at work. But now they have decided to control more of the food production by creating a whole new plant.
These genetically modified crops are created in a laboratory by taking genes (or DNA) from one plant and inserting them into another. The purpose is to obtain a desired trait or characteristic such as allowing for faster growth, produce extra nutrients, and/or be resistance to pathogens. Bacteria or viruses have also been spliced into the plant’s DNA. Genetically engineered corn, for example, has DNA added so that it has a pesticide built right into it.
The purpose is stated as being beneficial to mankind. It makes me wonder: have these scientists breached the species Barrier set up by nature? This is of benefit to whom? I have heard it said that GMO stands for “God Move Over.”
The First GMO?
Calgene Flavr Savr Delayed ripening tomato.
The first Commercial sale of genetically modified foods began in 1994, when Calgene first marketed its Flavr Savr delayed ripening tomato. This tomato was first marketed under the name MacGregor’s Tomato. Typically, genetically modified foods are called transgenic. Transgenic means the transfer of genes from one species to another.
The current Genetic Engineering (GE) or Genetic Modification (GM) plant products are canola, corn cotton seed oil, cotton, rice and soybean.
http://time.com/3840073/gmo-food-charts/
By DAVID JOHNSON and SIOBHAN O’CONNOR April 30, 2015
These Charts Show Every Genetically Modified Food People Already Eat in the U.S.
Flavr Savr was produced by the Californian company, Calgene, and submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1992. On May 17, 1992, the FDA completed its evaluation of the Flavr Savr tomato concluding that the tomato “is as safe as tomatoes bred by conventional means”. The development of new varieties of tomato, oilseed rapeseed (Canola Oil) and Cotton intended for food use are also safe for use. Calgene made history, but mounting costs prevented the company from becoming profitable, and it was eventually acquired by the Monsanto Company.
Grafting and Hybridizing is not GMO
Growers have in the past grafted plants, animals and hybridizing seeds but within the laws of nature. You cannot mate a pig with a potato or a mouse.
In order to illustrate, somehow the image of a pig comes to mind. My mind somehow went directly to an illustration from the great book “Animal Farm”. Now you take the pig. You can cross-breed or mate a breed of pig with another breed of pig and get a new breed of pig but it is still a pig. Even when the species may seem closely related the offspring is usually infertile. Like a horse, for example. A horse can mate with a donkey but the offspring (a mule) is sterile.
“ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.”
It’s the same thing with cats, dogs, cows, geraniums and the list goes on. We have tall dogs, short dogs, curly-haired dogs and long-haired dogs. You have cats without fur but so far no dog cat or dog goat or boy girl or dogs and WHATEVER.
I told that to a Farmer who sells grass feed beef at my local Farmer’s market. He thought it was funny. His farm still has the original land grant. This man takes the raising of beef very serious. The way we looked at it is why would you want to mix things up? If you get my the picture, if God wanted that kind of animal there would be one already. Leave well enough alone.
Insecticides herbicides Round Up and Round Up Ready
GMO’s scientist are the first to say their research is used to benefit mankind with such grand ideas like, “fight world hunger” or “make growing easier, safer”. Like why not make a plant that is resistant to bugs or weeds?
Monsanto’s (Glyphosate) broad-spectrum systemic herbicide used to kill weeds was invented in 1970 by Monsanto’s chemist John E. Franz in 1970. In 1970 it was brought to market under the trade name Roundup. Glyphosate is the most used herbicide in the US. While glyphosate has been approved by regulatory bodies worldwide and is widely used, concerns about its effects on humans and the environment persist.
Some crops have been genetically engineered to be resistant to Glyphosate (i.e. Roundup Ready, also created by Monsanto Company). Such crops allow farmers to use glyphosate as a post-emergence herbicide against both broadleaf and cereal weeds, but the development of similar resistance in some weed species is emerging as a costly problem. Soy was the first Roundup Ready crop.
GMO’s are Banned or Restricted in Over 40 Different Countries.
Before now we knew very little about the long-term health consequences of eating GMOs or of a diet laden with GMOs. GMO’s have never been proven safe. The FDA does not conduct independent testing and the biotech industry is not required to conduct long-term safety studies because the claim that right is protected under its patented seeds and technologies.
Over 40 countries such as Africa, Asia, Australia, All European Union nations, Japan, South America and the Middle East have banned or restricted GMO Foods. While the United States and Canada allow for both the growth and import of GMOs without even so much as a food label.
Remember the FDA has concluded GMO Foods are “as safe as foods bred by conventional means”.
Now I do not want to tell business what to do, nor do I want the government to dictate what I eat. But the government now approves what food products are safe or in the case of the FDA “GRAS” (Generally Regarded as Safe) and can be sold to the public.
The government with the ability to approve what products are allowed to go to market sounds like a great opportunity for money under the table and payola science… science “for sale” to wealthy corporations. Nearly all the studies that somehow conclude GMO are safe were paid for by the biotech industry. Every one of those studies is unreliable and most likely fraudulent and the scientist a sellout.
The following article from the Health Ranger gives a good overall review of the battle for the GMO labeling and worth the read. We have lost some and we are winning some but more and more people are finding out about — “What exactly is a GMO?”
There is no stopping the GMO labeling movement, admits mainstream media
Originally published January 30 2014
by Jonathan Benson, staff writer
(NaturalNews) It is a war for the truth, and NationalGeographic.com writer Laura Parker seems to think that the people are winning it. Awareness about the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is clearly on the rise nationwide, and in the midst of this knowledge boon comes the admission by some in the mainstream media that mandatory GMO labeling is no longer a question of if, but of when.
Click the following link for the complete article
http://www.naturalnews.com/043712_GMO_labeling_mainstream_media_consumer_rights.html
Corporate science is fraudulent science. When enough money is at stake, scientists can be bought off to even declare smoking cigarettes to be safe.
Health Ranger launches 3-minute ‘GMOs Explained’ video to introduce new people to the dangers of genetically modified foods.
Sorry Gates: GMO Crops Shown to be Ineffective at Fighting World Hunger
“Monsanto shareholder Bill Gates has argued that GMOs are the solution to world hunger, going as far as to say that they are actually needed to fight worldwide starvation. Unfortunately for Gates, who back in 2010 bought 500,000 shares of the company he is now promoting in mainstream media as the solution to the world’s problems, a team of 900 scientists have found that GMO crops are actually not effective at fighting world hunger. “
While I do not want to dwell on politics or any heavy subject like world hunger, I do want to review a growing trend that is taking over our typical farmer and farm land. I will refer you to Dr. Mercola for the heavy stuff. This article is about Monoculture and biodiversity. Our good Dr. says Monoculture can end life as we know it.
In the meantime, communities, indeed entire countries in some cases, are losing their livelihoods and their sovereignty to giant biotech corporations like Monsanto. The small farmer is being replaced or forced to conform to Monsanto’s control.
Kaiser Permanente warning:
Kaiser Permanente, the largest managed healthcare organization in the United States, has published a newsletter advising members to avoid GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in food?
In a Fall 2012 newsletter, Kaiser provided this guidance:
“What do soda, canned chicken soup, margarine, and corn flakes have in common? They all contain genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. GMOs have a piece of DNA from a different species, such as bacteria or viruses, spliced into their DNA. Genetically engineered corn, for example, has DNA added so that it has a pesticide built right into it. This process creates a new species of plant that would have never occurred in nature.”
Till Next Time
Sources
Seeds of Freedom
Scientists Warn about the Potential Health Hazards of Genetically Engineered Foods
The case for mandatory GMO labeling – even if you believe in limited government and the free market
http://www.naturalnews.com/036209_GMO_labeling_ballot_measure_California.html
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/about-gmos.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/037262_GMO_Monsanto_debate.html#ixzz27hnfm6QP
http://naturalsociety.com/gmo-crops-proven-to-be-ineffective-at-fighting-world-hunger/