Free Republic

Hungary has taken a bold stand against biotech giant Monsanto and genetic modification by destroying 1000 acres of maize found to have been grown with genetically modified seeds, according to Hungary deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development Lajos Bognar. Unlike many European Union countries, Hungary is a nation where genetically modified (GM) seeds are banned. In a similar stance against GM ingredients, Peru has also passed a 10 year ban on GM foods.

Vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in our foods, we expect. But information? According to recent research from China’s Nanjing University, when people eat rice, tiny sequences of microRNA from the plant-based food can survive the body’s digestive process and end up absorbed in human tissue where — and here’s the reason why we need to know about this study — plant microRNA may actually affect how our cells behave and function. In the study, Exogenous plant MIR168a specifically targets mammalian LDLRAP1: evidence of cross-kingdom regulation by microRNA, published in the Journal Cell Research, the genetic material from rice showed up...

President Obama, I oppose your appointment of Michael Taylor, a former VP and Lobbyist for Monsanto, the widely criticized Genetically Modified (GM) food multinational, as Senior Advisor to the Commissioner at the FDA. Taylor is the same person who was Food Safety Czar at the FDA when Genetically Modified Organisms were allowed into the US food supply without undergoing a single test to determine their safety or risks. This is a travesty. Taylor was in charge of policy for Monsanto's now-discredited GM Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) which is directly linked to cancer and opposed by many medical and hospital organizations.

Earlier this year, the USDA made a decision to allow the commercial use of “Roundup Ready” genetically modified sugar beets. The decision came a week after the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture approved the planting of a yet another genetically modified plant, alfalfa. Michael Gregoire, deputy administrator of APHIS, a biotechnology regulatory service claims genetically modified sugar beets are safe and should be deregulated. “After conducting an environmental assessment, we have determined Roundup Ready sugar beets could be partially deregulated without posing a plant pest risk or causing significant effects on the environment,” says Gregoire. APHIS claims the partial deregulation of...

The proliferation of superweeds --weeds that have mutated to develop resistance to popular herbicides like Monsanto's Roundup formula --continues to rise. But the individual plants' overall size and strength is also increasing. According to a series of new studies published in the journal Weed Science, farmers are having more trouble than ever dealing with out-of-control superweeds in their fields, some of which grow up to three inches a day in size, and are so strong and thick that they are destroying farm equipment.The studies reveal that there are currently at least 21 different weed species known to be resistant to...

A landmark new study out of Canada exposes yet another lie propagated by the biotechnology industry, this time blowing a hole in the false claim that a certain genetic pesticide used in the cultivation of genetically-modified (GM) crops does not end up in the human body upon consumption. Researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Sherbrooke Hospital Centre in Quebec, Can., have proven that Bt toxin, which is used in GM corn and other crops, definitively makes its way into the blood supply, contrary to what Big Bio claims -- and this toxin was found...

The US Department of Agriculture continues its unprecedented give-away to big agriculture monster Monsanto and its Genetically Modified (GMO) seeds. On Friday, while the media was preoccupied with the Superbowl and Egypt’s rioting, the USDA quietly announced it was deregulating Monsanto’s GMO sugar beets – despite a court order. This move comes just a week after the agency had gone back on its own plan to regulate GMO alfalfa to at least attempt to keep it from contaminating organic farms. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack had been floating a plan to limit the area where the GMO crop could be...

Under these programs, the USDA uses chemical poisons to murder literally millions of birds each year, including an occasional endangered species animal by accident. This is all part of the USDA's insane program of death to protect the financial interests of conventional agriculture giants.

Maybe honest third party testing without influence from government or companies like Monsanto is called for. Are biotech crops safe to eat? Are Americans sicker now than 30 years ago? Are there any links between this food and our kids ailments? We may never know if Mr. Vilsack, the USDA and companies like Monsanto have their way.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the “lame duck” Congress, another law was passed that didn’t quite get the same media coverage as the Bush tax extension “package,” the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and the new START treaty. The Food Safety Modernization Act was not steeped in the same level of popular controversy as these other pieces of legislation. Nevertheless, its passage may affect our daily lives even more than these, and in a rather stealth manner. Yes, the week before Christmas, the 111th Congress of the United States gave Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services...

Wikileaks continues to rock the political world by shedding light on conspiracies, corruption and cover-ups. The latest batch of diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks reveals what can only be characterized as a U.S.-led conspiracy to force GMOs onto European countries by making those countries pay a steep price if they resist. The cable reveals the words of Craig Stapleton, the US ambassador to France, who was pushing the commercial interests of the biotech industry by attempting to force GMOs into France. In his own words (below), he expresses his frustration with the idea that France might pass environmental laws that...

A federal judge has ordered what is believed to be the first-ever destruction of a genetically modified crop in the United States, saying that the altered sugar beets were planted illegally. US District Judge Jeffrey White in California granted a preliminary injunction Tuesday sought by the Center for Food Safety and other groups, which contended that the Monsanto-produced sugar beet crops were planted without proper environmental review.

Just because the duck is lame doesn't mean it can't still do terrible damage to American freedom. Our new Congress, especially the new House, isn't yet seated, and this current Congress can still wreak terrible havoc on our rights if not stopped. Case in point: Senate Bill 510, believed to be coming to the floor Wednesday, November 17 (pending). This is the food safety version of ObamaCare. Reading the thing will make your head hurt for all its cognitive dissonance. Trying to winnow out its complexity and hidden empowerments is stultifying. Introduced by Dick Durbin of Illinois, the bill has...

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-09-20-why-is-the-fda-about-to-rubber-stamp-ge-salmon Gregory Jaffe: Last and perhaps most concerning, the committee’s supposed consumer advocate is a lawyer (not a scientist) representing the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an organization that favors the use of agricultural biotechnology. Like Van Eeenennaam, he has served on AC21, from 2004 to 2008. His views can be seen in a paper he wrote called “Creating the Proper Environment for Acceptance of Agricultural Biotechnology.” In it he states CSPI’s unequivocal support for agricultural biology and his belief that genetically engineered crops have increased productivity and farmer income while reducing pesticide use, and that GE crops...

TINKER with the genetics of salmon and maybe you create a revolutionary new food source that could help the environment and feed the hungry. Or maybe you're creating what some say is an untested "frankenfish" that could cause unknown allergic reactions and the eventual decimation of the wild salmon population. The US Food and Drug Administration hears both arguments this week when it begins a two-day meeting on whether to approve the marketing of the genetically engineered fish, which would be the first such animal approved for human consumption. The agency has already said the salmon, which grows twice...

Many who think they have food allergies actually do not. A new report, commissioned by the federal government, finds the field is rife with poorly done studies, misdiagnoses and tests that can give misleading results. While there is no doubt that people can be allergic to certain foods, with reproducible responses ranging from a rash to a severe life-threatening reaction, the true incidence of food allergies is only about 8 percent for children and less than 5 percent for adults, said Dr. Marc Riedl, an author of the new paper and an allergist and immunologist at the University of California,...

(NaturalNews) Drug and chemical giant Bayer AG has admitted that there is no way to stop the uncontrolled spread of its genetically modified crops. "Even the best practices can't guarantee perfection," said Mark Ferguson, the company's defense lawyer in a recent trial. Two Missouri farmers sued Bayer for contaminating their crop with modified genes from an experimental strain of rice engineered to be resistant to the company's Liberty-brand herbicide. The contamination occurred in 2006, during an open field test of the new rice, which was not approved for human consumption. According to the plaintiffs' lawyer, Don Downing, genetic material from...

jenningsthecat writes "A study published in December 2009 in the International Journal of Biological Sciences found that three varieties of Monsanto genetically-modified corn caused damage to the liver, kidneys, and other organs of rats. One of the corn varieties was designed to tolerate broad-spectrum herbicides, (so-called 'Roundup-ready' corn), while the other two contain bacteria-derived proteins that have insecticide properties. The study made use of Monsanto's own raw data. Quoting from the study's 'Conclusions' section: 'Our analysis highlights that the kidneys and liver as particularly important on which to focus such research as there was a clear negative impact on the...

The European Commission is speeding up approval of the import and processing of two genetically modified (GM) maize varieties in the European Union to prevent disruption of the oleochemical supply chain.Over 200,000 tonnes of soya bean from the US are currently stranded in EU ports after minute traces of unauthorised GM maize were found in a number of trans-Atlantic shipments. The stranded soya would have been used to make a wide range of products, including cosmetics and toiletries, plastics, resins in coatings and printing inks and lubricants. 'There's serious concern among oleochemical producers about future supplies of some raw materials,' says Klaus...

See Video Here (she' pretty, maybe that we'll get you to watch it?) The Documents are HERE ...

Graceful waltzers can count to three, and now stretches of man-made DNA can do it too. Researchers have built a series of genes and put them into bacterial cells, enabling the cells to tally events. The new counters may endow engineered cells with previously impossible functions, the team reports in the May 29 Science. The engineered counters may be used to monitor toxins in the environment or keep track of the number of times a cell divides. The system can even be programmed to destroy the cell that holds it after a certain number of events. “This is the first...

Interleukin-12 is a naturally occurring protein essential for the proper functioning of the human immune system. Having either too much or too little interleukin-12 may play a role in the development of many diseases, including some cancers and auto-immune disorders like Crohn's, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis. In turn, modulating interleukin-12 levels could yield new therapies for those conditions. In an effort to create a new and cost-effective method for producing interleukin-12 and make more of the scarce protein available for research and therapeutic development, a team of scientists at Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center (WPI) and the...

On Monday, December 1, a SWAT team with semi-automatic rifles entered the private home of the Stowers family in LaGrange, Ohio, herded the family onto the couches in the living room, and kept guns trained on parents, children, infants and toddlers, from approximately 11 AM to 8 PM. The team was aggressive and belligerent. The children were quite traumatized. At some point, the “bad cop” SWAT team was relieved by another team, a “good cop” team that tried to befriend the family. The Stowers family has run a very large, well-known food cooperative called Manna Storehouse http://www.mannastorehouse.com on the western...

In the waning months of the Bush administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has joined the ranks of federal agencies rushing through new regulations that weaken protections for human health and the environment. USDA has released a proposed rule that would significantly weaken oversight of all genetically engineered crops, and which continue to allow companies to grow food crops engineered to produce drugs and industrial chemicals. The USDA began this process over four years ago by promising stricter oversight. Unfortunately, improvements considered early on have been dismissed, and the proposed rule now has the same gaping holes as the...

Relying on "gigantic corporations" for food, he said, would result in "absolute disaster". "That would be the absolute destruction of everything... and the classic way of ensuring there is no food in the future," he said. Snip.."If they think this is the way to go....we [will] end up with millions of small farmers all over the world being driven off their land into unsustainable, unmanageable, degraded and dysfunctional conurbations of unmentionable awfulness."

Albert Einstein once said, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left.” Why? Because without bees, plants don’t get pollinated. Without pollination, say goodbye to fruit, nuts, and some vegetables. We also won’t have natural oils (such as olive oil, sunflower oil, hemp oil, etc.). And we don’t have many natural fibers, such as cotton. You can see how important the bee is to our livelihood and existence. Some economists say the bee is worth about $14 billion to our economy. That’s why I was so alarmed to...

Sorry about the caps, this is the way it was posted: =================================================== I HAVE BEEN DOING AN ETIOLOGY OF MORGELLONS MY FINDINGS ARE VERY IMPORTANT FOR ALL AFFECTED WITH THIS NEW DISEASE (MUTATION). I AM 99.9% POSITIVE OF MY FINDINGS FOR ALL AFFECTED IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE A GENETIC/DNA TEST DONE(PERFORMED BY THE *BLAST METHOD*) TO FIND OUT YOUR GENETIC STATUS ALL MORGELLON SUFFERES WILL FIND THAT THEY HAVE A PLANT GENE GROWING IN THEM IT IS CAUSED BY USE OF GMO'S(GENETICALLY MODOFIED ORGANISM'S) THAT ARE IN 68% OF USA'S FOOD CHAIN IT IS PRODUCED BY THE USE...

In August, Bayer Cropscience reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that some of the American long grain rice crop had been commingled with its genetically modified (GM) LL-601 rice. LL-601 is the abbreviation for the gene that confers resistance to the Liberty Link herbicide. LL-601 rice, which has not been approved for human consumption, was field tested between 1998 and 2001 and was dropped by Bayer when other varieties proved more productive and it judged that the time was not ripe for introducing GM rice. No one currently knows how the LL-601 rice got commingled at a...

Zimbabwean Minister of State for Land Reform and Resettlement Didymus Mutasa has denied the press reports that the southern African country had started importing genetically modified foods from Argentina. Mutasa said in a statement that "To be honest, I have never heard of that. They would have to consult with me but no one has done so. That policy (against unmilled genetically modified maize) is steadfast, we continue to maintain it. It has not been reviewed and the cabinet has not changed its position," he said. Zimbabwe and many other countries in the region are suspicious of genetically modified foods,...

Amidst all of political stories, I have noticed several intriguing biology articles on the Drudge Report; and for that matter, on the Free Republic website. (Even though, according to liberals, reading these sites for serious news is like saying you read Playboy for the articles). One of the articles involved a group of scientists who were able to entice human brain cells to grow within mice; another involved a mouse with human ovaries. It is perhaps unfortunate that these articles were juxtaposed with my attendance at a seminar upon the promise of genomics, presented by two researchers from the University...

Amidst all of political stories, I have noticed several intriguing biology articles on the Drudge Report; and for that matter, on the Free Republic website. (Even though, according to liberals, reading these sites for serious news is like saying you read Playboy for the articles). One of the articles involved a group of scientists who were able to entice human brain cells to grow within mice; another involved a mouse with human ovaries. It is perhaps unfortunate that these articles were juxtaposed with my attendance at a seminar upon the promise of genomics, presented by two researchers from the University...

The Congress of Racial Equality’s recent conference, video and commentary on agricultural biotechnology* presented personal testimonials from African farmers whose lives have been improved by GM crops, impressive data on progress, and a message of hope for poor, malnourished people in developing countries. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. But not from all quarters. Predictably, anti-GM zealots continue to offer a steady stream of unsupported and unsupportable invective. To hear them tell it, biotechnology is a "scourge" that will do nothing to save lives or reduce poverty and malnutrition. "Evil multinationals" like Monsanto are determined to impose "a new form...

Tsunami survivors and millions of others could benefit from a marvel of modern science: golden rice. By adding two daffodil genes to common rice, researchers made it rich in beta-carotene, which humans can convert to vitamin A. This miracle rice could help reduce widespread Vitamin A deficiency that causes up to 500,000 children to go blind every year--and 2,000,000 a year to die from diseases they would likely survive if they weren’t so malnourished. Just a few ounces a day will do wonders. Unfortunately, thanks to anti-biotechnology zealots, the rice is still not available. Even if it were, these unfortunate...

Almost everywhere food is sold these days, you are likely to find products claiming to contain no genetically modified substances. But unless you are buying wild mushrooms, game, berries or fish, that statement is untrue. Nearly every food we eat has been genetically modified, through centuries of crosses, both within and between species, and for most of the last century through mutations induced by bombarding seeds with chemicals or radiation. In each of these techniques, dozens, hundreds, even thousands of genes of unknown function are transferred or modified to produce new food varieties. Most so-called organic foods are no exception....

Genetically Engineered Plants Detect Land Mines (look under 11/29/2004 entry) “A Danish company, Aresa Biodetection, has developed genetically-modified flowers that change color when their roots come in contact with nitrogen dioxide in the soil. Explosives used in mines produce NO2 as the chemicals gradually decay. The company plans to sow fields of NO2-sniffing Arabidopsis thaliana (Thale or mouse cress) in areas riddled with long-forgotten ordinance from Angola to Cambodia. The effort's life- and limb-saving potential is staggering: More than 100 million land mines kill or injure 26,000 people in 45 countries each year. Today's most popular detection method is poking...

A new report issued by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) under North American Free Trade Agreement points out that genes from genetically modified corn (maize) have been found in traditional varieties grown by Mexican farmers. The transgenes evidently came from corn genetically enhanced for insect resistance that has been imported from the United States. Instead of eating the corn, some Mexican farmers planted it and it crossbred with local varieties. So Chapela was right.  Now we turn to the question, does it matter?  Scientifically, the CEC report basically concludes that crossbreeding between transgenic, conventional and traditional varieties...

Genetically engineered crops do not pose health risks that cannot also arise from crops created by other techniques, including conventional breeding, the National Academy of Sciences said in a report issued yesterday. The conclusion backs the basic approach now underlying government oversight of biotech foods, that special food safety regulations are not needed just because foods are genetically engineered. Nevertheless, the report said that genetic engineering and other techniques used to create novel crops could result in unintended, harmful changes to the composition of food, and that scrutiny of such crops should be tightened before they go to market. "The...

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"/> May 15, 2004 Europeans Appear Ready to Approve a Biotech CornBy PAUL MELLER and ANDREW POLLACK RUSSELS, May 14 - The European Union appears ready to approve a genetically engineered corn, ending a six-year moratorium on approvals for biotechnology crops that led to a bitter trade dispute with the United States. Spokesmen for the European Commission said here on Friday that the commissioners were expected to approve the corn, an insect-resistant sweet corn developed by Syngenta, at its weekly meeting on Wednesday. United States government and industry officials cautiously welcomed the move but...

Tests Show U.S. Failure to Block Contamination From Gene-Altered Varieties Much of the U.S. supply of ordinary crop seeds has become contaminated with strands of engineered DNA, suggesting that current methods for segregating gene-altered seed plants from traditional varieties are failing, according to a pilot study released yesterday. More than two-thirds of 36 conventional corn, soy and canola seed batches contained traces of DNA from genetically engineered crop varieties in lab tests commissioned by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington-based advocacy group. The actual amount of foreign DNA present in U.S. seeds appears to be small, and most engineered...

<p>A Sacramento biotechnology company is pushing the $500 million California rice industry to a new frontier with a proposal to grow commercial rice engineered to make drug compounds.</p> <p>The controversial plan is ambitious and somewhat mysterious. The company, Ventria Bioscience, will not reveal where it hopes to cultivate what would be America's first genetically engineered plant-produced pharmaceuticals to reach the market.</p>

Move to Ban Altered Crops Is Focused on California Published: January 11, 2004 UKIAH, Calif., Jan. 10 (AP) — The center of the nation's anti-biotechnology movement can be found these days here in Mendocino County, a quirky region with a strong streak of independence. Farmers and businesses in this Northern California county are trying to persuade voters to pass a measure on March 2 that would prohibit genetically modified plants and animals from being raised or kept in the county. "I believe that genetic engineering at this stage is the biggest uncontrolled biological experiment going on in the world today,"...

Technology will make labeling battles moot. Labeling is back in the news because of one mad cow. Actually, the Canadian Holstein seems to have been pretty well labeled. Investigators were able to use her paper trail to trace her north of the border and then confirm it by testing her DNA. Instead of slaughtering 450 calves in order to kill the mad one's progeny, they could have DNA testing to fin the calf—probably still too expensive. In any case, Washington state's single mad cow is now propelling the usual gaggle of "consumer advocates" to push Congress to adopt new labeling...

A Tale of Two Seeds By Pramit Pal Chaudhuri India and Brazil are continents apart, but human aspirations are universal. The experience of farmers in both these countries illustrates their common desire to access new technologies, improve productivity and reach new markets. Indeed, the future of agriculture biotechnology may rest on what happens in these two large agriculturally significant countries. The increasing demand for GM seeds by farmers is forcing the hands of the governments in both these countries. Brazil Basics In a hectic 36 hour period last month, Brazil twice lifted and once restored a ban on the use...

Toxic ShockBy Thomas R. DeGregori From Ripley Today online news site we learn that on Saturday September 27, "Greenpeace campaigners" exchanged "what they described as genetically modified milk for the organic alternative, free of charge" at a booth in front of a Sainsbury's grocery store. This was allegedly for the purpose of food safety and informing and protecting consumers. Somehow Greenpeace always seems to have an uncanny ability to get things exactly opposite to the truth and in this case, once again they have not failed us in being egregiously in error. In a number of recently published scholarly articles...

By now even the lactose intolerant are aware of the battle being waged by chemical giant Monsanto against the against the locally owned and operated [Portland, Maine] Oakhurst Dairy over the "hormone-free" label Oakhurst uses on its milk. Monsanto is the sole US producer of the artificial-growth hormone in question, and reportedly doesn’t like the implication that customers should care about — or want to avoid — such a chemical in their dairy products. Monsanto recently filed for an injunction to prevent Oakhurst from labeling or advertising its milk as hormone-free, based primarily on the fact that Posilac (the hormone’s...

Foes of the Earth by Alex Avery [ 29/07/2003 ] Stock Photo Those who call themselves advocates for the environment continue in their desperate campaign against biotech-improved crops -- the most critically needed farming technology in half a century. In a world that already farms nearly half the non-ice covered land on planet earth, yet faces a doubling of global food demand over the next half-century, neither humanity nor the wildlife we might otherwise plow down for more farmland can afford to lose such a promising technology. This month in the Times of London, Tony Juniper, the director of the...

<p>The chaotic scene was a precursor to an even larger rally and march beginning at 10 a.m. today at the state Capitol. Organizers have taken out a march permit for 8,000 people. Their target: an international agriculture conference, hosted by the U.S. government, that starts today at the Sacramento Convention Center.</p>

"With transatlantic relations still strained by the Iraq war, President Bush on Wednesday opened a new front by accusing Europe of impeding American efforts to combat famine and poverty in Africa and beyond," according to Reuters. "The United States plans to sue the European Union unless it quickly opens its market to genetically modified (GMO) products. France, which led opposition to the Iraq war, is also leading the GMO-skeptics in Europe, where consumer sentiment against the products runs high." In a Cato Institute Trade Policy Analysis, "The Looming Trade War over Plant Biotechnology", Cato Adjunct Scholar Ronald Bailey writes that...

Anyone who's been awake at all in the last six months or so will have noticed that the United States is having trouble keeping friends in the international community. It's not our fault, of course. We only do what we consider to be in our interest, and all we ask from our allies is that they do what's in our interest, too. We give them plenty of guidance in this (and for free!), but a lot of them insist on exercising their own judgement. Not only is this inefficient, but it sometimes leads them to take positions contrary to ours,...

ST. LOUIS (CP) - At 72, lifelong Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser never dreamed he'd be the poster boy in what he calls a worldwide struggle for farmers' rights and autonomy. But five years and $200,000 in legal fees later, the Saskatchewan farmer said he will go down fighting St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. for the right of farmers to plant seed saved from one growing season in the next. Schmeiser barely had heard of Monsanto before 1998, he said Friday at the Biodevastation 7 conference in St. Louis, a three-day gathering of opponents of genetic engineering. He and his wife had...