A Greenpeace report says seven German states have had seed supplies contaminated by genetically modified corn. Losses for farmers could be in the millions of euros.
GM FOOD: FACTS NOT CROPS
The European Commission has just approved growing genetically modified crops for the first time in 12 years, putting the GM lobby's profits over public concerns -- 60% of Europeans feel we need more information before growing foods that could threaten our health and environment.
A new initiative allows 1 million EU citizens a unique chance to make official requests of the European Commission. Let's build a million voices for a ban on GM foods until the research is done. Sign the petition below and spread the word.
Don't forget to include your address so that all of our signatures count for the citizens' initiative.
To the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso:
We call on you to put a moratorium on the introduction of GM crops into Europe and set up an independent, ethical, scientific body to research the impact of GM crops and determine regulation.
Please send this URGENT message to US Government leaders to protect your right to know which foods are made from genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Send an email today to the Secretaries of State (Clinton), Agriculture (Vilsack), and Health and Human Services (Sebelius)..
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 - The Institute of Near Eastern & African Studies (INEAS) in Mass., USA, and other international organizations and individuals from five continents celebrated the International Seed Day (ISD) on April 26 2010.
Farmers, environmentalists and consumers around the country have toured the city demanding the Government to follow the same path followed by countries like France, Germany or Austria, and ban the cultivation of GM maize in Spain.
Spain is the only EU country that grows GM a large scale. Last year, 76,000 hectares were planted with genetically modified maize in Spain. This cultivation is carried out under an absolute lack of transparency and control, with numerous cases of contamination of crops and foods. Still, the government is ignoring their social and environmental impacts, and health consequences that have led other countries to ban it.
We are in the Spanish half of the EU Presidency and the Government has, if anything, even more responsibility to drive another model of food and agriculture. However, when the European Commission approved a few weeks ago the cultivation of a transgenic potato, Spain was one of the few countries that supported this decision.
A federal judge on Monday struck down patents on two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer . The decision, if upheld, could throw into doubt the patents covering thousands of human genes and reshape the law of intellectual property! Learn more....
24th of March 2010. Testbiotech: Genetically engineered corn causes new plant pest. Testbiotech warns that fields will turn into battlefields
Munich / Bremen - Large- scale cultivation of genetically engineered corn is causing
the spread of a new pest in the US Corn Belt. The western bean cutworm infests the
tips of the corncobs. Massive damage is being reported from those regions where the
corn MON810 (sold as YieldGard by company of Monsanto) is grown on large scale.
The world's largest chemicals company BASF has scrapped plans to conduct trials of genetically modified potatoes in the Netherlands.
BASF send only one map where the trails should have been located. So people could not know where both fieldtrails would come.The European GMO-free Citizens did sent a petition to the Ministry of Environment on this. Today spokeswoman Miep Bos got an e-mail from the Ministry BASF had scrapped the two extra trails in Gelderland, the Netherlands.
To: 'Miep Bos' Subject: RE: DGM/SAS IM 07-006/02 en DGM/SAS IM 07-007/02
6th of March 2010. the EU asks your opinion on a GMO-carnation (assessment rapport) with changed colour the Moon Shadow, C/NL/97/13. Consent (Dutch authorities. already in1998!). Genetically modified carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) lines 959A, 988A, 1226A, 1351A, 1363A, 1400A (Unique identifier FLO-11363-1) Comments can be send to this e-mail address untill the 21rst of March 00.00 h.
Belgian farmers are very worried about the permission the EU has given to grow gm-potatoes of BASF in the EU.
February 9th 2010: GMW: India puts moratorium on Bt brinjal, Here's the Indian Environment Minister's report on his decision not to give the go ahead to Bt brinjal.
NOTE: People anywhere in the world can register to fast tomorrow (Jan 30), or light a candle, in solidarity with Indian resistance to the imposition of GM brinjal (eggplant/aubergine). More info and sign up at http://www.brinjal.org
Important news: 12 december 2009: Research Paper
A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian
Health 1. CRIIGEN, 40 rue Monceau, 75008 Paris, France
2. University of Rouen LITIS EA 4108, 76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan, France
3. University of Caen, Institute of Biology, Risk Pole CNRS, EA 2608, 14032 Caen, France Press Release.
December 2009, USA: The Farmer to Farmer Campaign on Genetic Engineering (Farmer to Farmer) is a network of 34 farm organizations from throughout the United States that endorsed the Farmer Declaration on Genetic Engineering released in December 1999. Farmer to Farmer seeks to build a farmer driven campaign focused on concerns around agricultural biotechnology and to provide a national forum for farmer action on these issues. Presents; Out of Hand American farmers are feeling the effects of a concentrated seed industry. Seed options are diminishing while prices increase at historic rates. A new report by the Farmer to Farmer Campaign, Out of Hand: Farmers Face the Consequences of a Consolidated Seed Industry , uses industry sources, government data, and personal interviews with farmers and seed industry representatives to document the consequences of concentration in the seed industry.
JOE WHITTINGTON AND ANDREW M. HARRIS
BLOOMBERG NEWS, 5 December 2009 Uitspraak: Bayer CropScience veroordeeld tot het betalen van $2 miljoen, vanwege verliezen die twee boeren uit Missouri leden, betreffende een experiment met een rijstsoort van dit bedrijf dat hun gewas besmette.
$2 million verdict against Bayer CropScience
JOE WHITTINGTON AND ANDREW M. HARRIS
BLOOMBERG NEWS, 5 December 2009
Bayer CropScience LP must pay about $2 million for losses sustained by two Missouri farmers when an experimental variety of rice the company was testing cross-bred with their crops, a federal jury ruled.
Fragment: Federal district court judge Catherine Perry is overseeing some 3,000 suits in which rice farmers allege that Bayer CropScience was careless in.....more
London, 4 December 2009
Doc. Ref. EMEA/780391/2009
Questions and answers on the risk of fever with Pandemrix in young children
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) at the European Medicines Agency has reviewed data on the use of a second dose of the pandemic flu vaccine Pandemrix in children aged from 6 months to 3 years. The Committee noted that this second dose brings a further immune response, but that there is also an increased risk of fever.
Do NOT Let Your Child And Loved Ones Get Flu GMO-Vaccine ( the H1N1 swine flu ) -- 18 Reasons Why
Posted by: Dr. Mercola
October 06 2009 | 12,000 views
H1N1 Vaccine to German Soldiers; Different Than Citizens.
This report has been submitted to Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer of the
UK, and to the US Food and Drugs Administration.
Please circulate widely, with all the hyperlinks included, to your elected
representatives, wherever you are.
1/6 BELL TOLLING for the Swine Flu (CAMPANAS por la gripe A) subtitled
TERESA FORCADES, doctora en Salut Pública, hace una reflexión sobre
la historia de la GRIPE A, aportando datos científicos, y enumerando las irregularidades relacionadas con el tema.
UPDATE: Polish Health Minister, a family doctor, tells Parliament she will not allow use of untested swine flu jabs: reveals secret contracts violate the law. Polish, English.
Gary Null Speaking Out at the NYS Assembly Hearing | 10-13-2009 | (part 1 of 3)
Fax to Stop the Vax Project - Urgent Plea to all True Patriots!
FORCED FLU VACCINATION BILL PASSES SENATE (Pandemic Preparedness Bill)
FDA scientists were questioned about the potential health hazards genetically modified (GM) foods would have. Previously secret documents attained by the Alliance for Bio-Integrity's 1998 lawsuit reveal that our food experts were very concerned that GM foods carried “serious health hazards.” They unofficially concluded that GM foods lead to “different risks” for consumers than untreated foods. More...
2nd of October 2009 About the hearing on Moonaqua tm:
The hearing went well. We were with 6 persons, the ministry too and she had one independent male secretary to take the minutes and he recorded it on a tape. I could speak for half an hour, to read out a.o. the 14 pieces (some in English, one in French, the chair said that I should not read the French piece because nobody could understand but would be recorded in the minutes) from signers who have send me a piece for the hearing.
You can read them here. I have asked whether the decision on the petition from the Ministry could be in other languages. But they stressed that it is not possible and not allowed and they asked me to send the coming (in 10 weeks) decision to all signers of the petition. So I have to translate it myself.
But Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and French is not a language I master. In my plea I have referred to the cooperation between Niaba (Dutch union of multinationals like Monsanto, Unilever etc.) and several ministries and their civil servants and that one was present in the room. He told me afterwards, "You did mean me, but I don't feel addressed, we just can speak to them don't we?"
Furthermore the question was: who is an interested person who can go to a higher court to try to stop the introduction into the market. Ordinairy people cannot go anymore to court when they aren't an interested party according to some judges. But there isn't a law yet that describes what a interesting person or - party really is. And the Actio Popularis, the law that gave everyone the opportunity to go to court in case of undesired decisions of the government is been abolished silently and nobody knew what had happend. More introductions into the market of GMOs will come up, but all is a lot of work.
Three other persons also spoke. One older person who was a tulip grower and nowadays is a pensioner who grows organic bulbs, spoke long and more in a spiritual way and after an hour and a half the hearing was done.
6th of September: Petition is over!
Press Release
Portuguese - and other European citizens don't like lilac/blue GMO-carnations!
Recently I wrote a petition against a GMO-carnation with changed colour, named Moonaqua TM of Florigene, as a spokeswoman of the European GMO-free Citizens to the Dutch Ministry of Environment. People asked me to translate it into English.
I also asked several people to translate a short text on the carnation into Portuguese, German, Italian and French. A lot of Portuguese reacted on my call, which was put on my website, to undersign my petition. It appears that the carnation is the symbol of Portugal because of the carnation revolution of 1974. In no time I have found 20 Portuguese sites (scroll down) where my petition was mentioned ( "uma petição sobre cravos OGM com a cor alterada"). See also Jornal de Notícias (at the moment, 1rst of September 2009, visited 1370 times). More reactions came from Brazil, Mauritius, USA, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South-Africa, Cyprus, the Philippines, UK, Scotland, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Poland and the Netherlands. People like dr. Mae-Wan Ho (UK, she has put a link of my petition and a story on it with a call up to sign it on the site of ISIS , ) and Prof. R. Cummins (Canada) of ISIS, Institute of Science in Society signed the petition themselves as well as
Petition with objections to the intention of placing on the market(no cultivation) a GMO-carnation with altered flower color: Moonaqua™, C/NL/06/01. Deadline 1rst of September 2009.
English petition with list for more signatures (PDF).
April 2009 GMO Moratorium: The way forward for Europe The participants of the 5th European Conference of GMO-Free Regions “Food
and Democracy” call for an EU-wide moratorium on the authorization and the
commercial planting of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In the wake of
six EU member states banning the planting of MON810 and in light of the rapid
increase in GMO-free regions in Europe, there has never been a better moment
for a moratorium than now.
This is Edyta Jaroszewska. Drawn after a photo.The sign says; " Hungerstrike for a GMO-free Poland".
Edyta Jaroszewska, 42 year old organic farmer and chairperson of the Organic Farmers Association, started fasting for a GMO Free Poland. Two days ago Danute Pilarska, another organic farmer and chairperson of The Organic Farmer's Union, joined her. Yesterday, both women, together with other members of the Coalition for a GMO Free Poland, joined a meeting of the Polish government's Agricultural Committee in the Senate in Warsaw. The committee was discussing the future of GMO in Poland. After a few hours of debate Edyta concluded "There's no political will within the Polish government to stop corporations from illegal planting of the GM maize variety MON 810 - and to ensure that Poland is kept GMO free. This opens the possibility of the widespread planting of MON 810 during this year. So we don't have another choice other than to stay here and fight!" Today, the fasting ladies, supported by other members of the Coalition, have been protesting in front of the Ministry of Agriculture in Warsaw.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe and the United States crossed swords on Friday after EU experts blocked imports of U.S. maize animal feed and grains unless there is proof they are free of an illegal genetically modified organism (GMO).
U.S. exports of corn gluten feed and brewers grains, a by-product of ethanol, would have to be certified by an internationally-accredited laboratory to show there is no presence of Bt-10 maize, a GMO that is not authorized in Europe.
The measures will enter into force early next week and be reviewed at the end of October. U.S. exporters send 3.5 million tons of corn gluten feed to EU countries each year, a trade that is worth some 350 million euros ($449 million).
"This is a targeted measure which is necessary to uphold EU law, maintain consumer confidence and ensure that the unauthorized GMO Bt-10 cannot enter the EU," EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said.
A 'precision' gene therapy turns out to have significant off-target effects Dr. Mae-Wan Ho
Collateral damage from 'precision' gene therapy
A gene therapy technique, hailed as 2002's 'breakthrough of the year' in its ability to shut down specifically and precisely any chosen gene, has been found not to be so specific or precise after all. The technique involves RNA interference ("Subverting the genetic text", SiS 24 ), the ability of a short specific duplex sequence of RNA to target the transcript of gene, thereby shutting it down. Unfortunately, there are "off-target" effects on other genes and proteins.
The technique depends on a perfect match between the siRNA (small interfering RNA) introduced and its complementary sequence in the gene transcript. Only sequences of 19-21 base pairs are generally used, as longer sequences induce nonspecific immune reactions.
However, various mismatches between the siRNA and its target appear to be tolerated, so that other transcripts with similar sequences are also affected.
Please take action now to stop smallpox genetic engineering! Visit www.smallpoxbiosafety.org to send a letter to the WHO
Director General, urging the World Health Assembly to reject a proposal that would permit the genetic engineering of
smallpox, and to instead ensure that all remaining stocks of the virus are destroyed within two years.
The proposal to genetically engineer smallpox, which would also permit smallpox genes to be inserted into related
poxviruses and the unlimited distribution of small segments of smallpox DNA, poses a large number of public health,
biosafety, and biological weapons risks.
The World Health Assembly will discuss the proposal when it
meets in Geneva, Switzerland from 16-25 May 2005.
Unapproved GM corn found in US food chain 13:04 23 March 2005
A Swiss company accidentally sold unapproved genetically modified seed corn in the US for four years. The mistake resulted in about 133 million kilograms of the corn making its way into the food chain.
Officials for the company, Syngenta, and the US Environmental Protection Agency insist there is no danger to human health. But the EPA and the US Department of Agriculture are investigating to see if any laws or regulations were broken. The EPA confirmed the investigation was underway in a statement to the journal Nature .
Between 2001 and 2004, Syngenta accidentally sold an unapproved corn variety called Bt 10, mistaking it for the approved variety Bt 11. Both varieties produce a bacterial toxin that kills insects, using the same inserted gene and producing the same protein. The only difference is the location of the inserted gene, Syngenta says.
The last of the GM crop trials has confirmed that there are no environmental benefits to be obtained from the growing of GM crops in the UK, and that ongoing wildlife damage would be inevitable if they were to be grown commercially (1).
ISIS Press Release 08/03/05 Iraqi Government Urged to Revoke "Cynical and Wicked" Patent Law
Dr. Brian John
"Cynical and wicked" imposition on occupied Iraq
Aid agencies and NGOs across the globe have been reacting with horror to the news that new legislation in Iraq was carefully put in place last year by the United States that will effectively bring the whole of the country's agricultural sector under the control of trans-national corporations. This spells disaster for the Iraqi government and the country's farmers, paving the way for companies like Monsanto and Syngenta to control the entire food chain from planted seed to packaged food products.
The new Iraqi Government is now being urged to revoke Order 81, the offending piece of legislation signed and brought into force by Paul Bremer, the Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority, on 26th April 2004.
NGOs have described Order 81 as "cynical and wicked", as the section relating to the registration and protection of plant varieties was slipped in almost as an appendage to an Order dealing with patents, industrial design, disclosure of information and integrated circuits.
The manner in which this Order was imposed on the people of Iraq is an outrage in itself. There was virtually no Iraqi input into the wording of the Order, as the country and its people were on their knees following the Iraq War.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Prof. Joe Cummins call for urgent regulatory review of the most widely used herbicide in the light of new scientific evidence
New research findings are raising serious concerns over the safety of the most commonly used herbicide, and should be sending shockwaves through proponents of genetically modified (GM) crops made tolerant to the herbicide, which now account for 75% of all GM crops in the world.
Worse yet, the most common formulation of the herbicide is even more toxic than the herbicide by itself, and is made by the same biotech giant that created the herbicide tolerant GM crops.
Broad-spectrum herbicide glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine), commonly sold in the commercial formulation Roundup (Monsanto company, St. Louis, Missouri USA) has been frequently used both on crops and non-crops areas world wide since it was introduced in the 1970s. Roundup is a combination of glyphosate with other chemicals including a surfactant (detergent) polyoxyethyleneamine that enhance the spreading of the spray droplets on the leaves of plants. The use of Roundup has gone up especially in countries growing Roundup- tolerant GM crops created by Monsanto.
Glyphosate kills plants by inhibiting the enzyme, 5-enolpyruvoyl- shikimate-3-phosphate synthetase (EPSPS), essential for the formation of aromatic amino acids such as phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan; which leads onto vitamins and many secondary metabolites such as folates, ubiquinones and naphthoquines. It is believed to be rather specific in action and less toxic than other herbicides, because the shikimate pathway is not present in mammals and humans. However, glyphosate acts by preventing the binding of phosphoenol pyruvate to the active site of the enzyme, and phosphoenol pyruvate is a core metabolite present in all organisms; thus it has the potential to affect other metabolic pathways. This is borne out by many reports of toxicities associated with the herbicide reviewed in the Independent Science Panel Report, The Case for a GM-free Sustainable World [1].
An epidemiological study in the Ontario farming populations showed that glyphosate exposure nearly doubled the risk of late spontaneous abortions [2], and Prof. Eric-Giles Seralini and his research team from Caen University in France decided to find out more about the effects of the herbicide on cells from the human placenta.
Zie dit artikel voor de vele mislukkingen met GM katoen in o.a.: Indonesië, India, China, Africa, AmerikaoGM cotton not environmentally friendly or safe. Bron http://www.i-sis.org.uk/
Angola bans genetically modified imports (24-01-2005)
Luanda - Angola has banned the import of all genetically modified organisms (GMOs) except for food aid destined to feed its hungry, state run news agency Angop reported on Monday.
Berlin , 24 th January 2005 - The Regions of Europe should be given the final say on the growing of genetically modified crops (GMOs) in their area, a major European conference today concluded.
Friday, January 7, 2005 Posted: 9:20 AM EST (1420 GMT)
Quotation:
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Monsanto Co. Thursday said it agreed to pay $1.5 million in penalties as part of a settlement with U.S. authorities over improper payments and financial irregularities related to its Indonesian affiliates.
Strict German law to protect GM-free agriculture followed by majority votes against lifting bans on GM food and feed.
The new law introduces the principle that GM farmers and GM operators are financially liable for economic damage caused if their crops contaminate non-GM products. It takes a proactive stance against GMOs, and protects organic farms and non-GM conventional farms against insidious dominance of GMOs. It also protects ecologically sensitive zones against transgenic contamination. It lays down rules for good professional practice such as minimum separation distances, documentation, and use of GMO fertilizers. And companies are bound by law to inform growers about compliance with the demands of good professional practice by means of an instruction leaflet; and are liable for incorrect product information.
Mae-Wan Ho en Rhea Gala, The Institute of Science in Society
26th of April was a Dutch demonstration, of Milieudefensie (Dutch Friends of the Earth) called "WTO hands of my plate" in the Hague. The last photo you can see the representative of the Ambassy of Luxembourg, they are against placing on the market and cultivation of Bt 11 maize, because of health problems that may arise. For more photos click here
Zambia will feed herself from now on.
In the strongest message yet delivered to the world, Zambia's Minister of Agriculture, reaffirms his country's rejection of GM food, and spells out his ambitious plans to make Zambia self-sufficient. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho reports on an exclusive interview.
Thousands of people against GMO's in Stuttgart, Germany.
On Sunday 18th of April 2004.
300 Farmers helped them: they blocked the streets with their tractors. As a symbol of the genepollen thousands of yellow balloons floated into the air.(German)
Amsterdam/ Brussels Two days before new European Union rules on labelling and traceability of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) come into effect, international environmental group Greenpeace announced that it was stepping up its campaign against the spread of genetically engineered (GE) soya and to mobilise consumers against GE food. Greenpeace believes that the new European Union labelling and traceability rules will ease consumer and market rejection, but strongly criticises the loophole that allows meat and dairy products from animals reared on a GMO diet to be sold without a label to this effect.
All of the information contained within this website has been sourced from books, medical journals, articles and websites to present you with what, at the time of writing, we believe is accurate and relevant information. Any opinions expressed are those of the author. Nothing contained herein is a replacement for medical advice from a competent and well-informed medical professional.
