Information Suppression about GMO’s and Lack of Labeling Currently Harms the Ability of Americans to Make Informed Choices about Food and Farms.
by Lori Grace
Discovering the Health effects of GMO (genetically modified organism) plants: I have always appreciated being able to read labels when buying my food. I was happy to hear about a labeling proposition that was going to be put on the November ballot. I decided at that time to research the health effects of GMOs. I found out that most of the studies have been done in foreign countries because of news and research suppression here in the US. As I began to study the health effects of GMO’s and then of Roundup and Bt insecticide, which is in GMO Bt plants I became even more concerned. Among other issues, I learned that Bt insectide could definitely cause multiple allergies and rashes in both animals and humans and definitely death in animals that ate harvested Bt cotton plants, Roundup ready foods appeared to contribute to infertility, precancerous changes in the intestines and stomach linings of animals and humans and in some cases death in animals who were fed a great deal of Roundup ready food.
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/posts/?cat=194
The New Life Form on GMO fields: My concern reached a crescendo when I talked to Dr. Don Huber, Plant Pathologist and Professor Emeritus from Purdue University who has been studying a new organism in GMO fields that has never before been found on earth. I learned that is implicated in Sudden Death Syndrome in soybeans, Goss’ wilt in corn, infertility, chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, high spontaneous miscarriage rates and sudden infant death syndrome in farm animals and humans.
http://www.naturalnews.com/031473_GMOs_pathogens.html
In talking with Dr. Huber, I learned that this new unnamed organism is as small as the smallest virus, able to replicate rapidly like a bacteria, is highly infectious and cannot be killed by ordinary means like a prion. I learned that humans could possibly take this new organism into their intestines by GMO corn or soy, dairy or egg products from cows or chickens fed GMO feed, plants raised with compost from chickens or cows fed GMO feed, and possibly fish fed GMO corn and soybeans.
With respect to this unknown organism, I was particularly alarmed to hear that could not be killed by cooking. For example, a human could scramble an egg from a chicken fed this contaminated GMO feed, eat the egg and introduce this organism into his or her intestines. This organism then have the opportunity to reproduce rapidly in a person’s intestines and possibly create irritable bowel syndrome, chronic botulism in his or her intestines (producing fatigue), infertility, a miscarriage or sudden infant death syndrome to name only a few possibilities..
The Attacks on Scientists and the Suppression of Information on GMOs: I am profoundly concerned that critical information has been consciously withheld from Americans that is preventing them from making informed choices about their food.
I am dismayed that what I have been reading about GMO foods is not showing up in scientific journals or regular newspapers
Then, in a subsequent call with Dr. Huber, I learned about the intense attacks on scientists all over the United States who have been coming up with groundbreaking research on GMOs and the suppression of the results of their research particularly in the US. I learned from Dr. Huber that for the most part he is allowed to do research but has experienced restrictions on publishing his results or talking about them at conferences. In one instance, when he has been asked to discuss the results of his research at a conference, the conference organizers received in at threatening phone calls from a source I cannot name, saying that they would be sued if he came to the conference. Dr. Huber said that this same approach has been applied to other scientists as well when invited to make their research public,
I asked Dr. Huber how could I help. I wanted American citizens to have the information about food to make the best possible decisions if they were interested for their health. I decided to help a certain unnamed scientist whose research here in the US was about to be terminated by the university where he worked, since he was studying this unnamed organism. (unnamed because the DNA has not been determined effectively yet.) The research scientist could not go by his real name because there would be immediate suppression of his research if it were made public, I learned that the results of his research once completed could be published in France, Germany or Japan and be brought back via the Internet. His research would never be published in the prestigious magazines, Science, Scientific American or Nature.
The Extensive Proliferation of Roundup and BT insecticide in American air, water and soil: I next started learning how Roundup is everywhere. I have learned that it is in air, rainwater, groundwater, lakes and streams. I learned from a German study in the January 2012 Ithaka Journal that Roundup in urine has been found in 100% of Germans tested in levels 5 to 20 times EPA allowable levels in drinking water. Since Germany imports only GMO soybeans for its cattle and does not allow any GMO food to be consumed by humans, I have found myself wondering how much Roundup would be found in the urine of Americans who eat many more GMO foods.
http://naturalsociety.com/monsantos-infertility-linked-roundup-found-in-all-urine-samples-tested/
I learned that the address of the lab where this was done was kept secret even in Germany because of pressure the lab could experience from agro-chemical companies, which might cause the studies to be discontinued or influenced in some way.
With the help of Dr. Huber, I then was able to find out the shocking news of extreme birth defects in Argentinian workers who are tending GMO Soybean fields. The pictures of their children in some cases with no arms or legs or with no eyes or a huge nose horrified me. I am aware that I have seen none of this information in American news.
With respect to Bt insecticide, I learned that it remains in the body, in contrast to the original claims of Monsanto. A University of Sherbrooke Medical Center study (April 2011)with 69 women found that 93% of the women had Bt insecticide in their blood. About half of the women were pregnant, 80% of the fetuses had Bt insecticide in their fetal blood sample. Margaret Laggis, who represents Monsanto said these women had gotten Bt insecticide by eating only organic foods which all of the women denied at the start of their study.
Roundup is Inescapable: Overall, as someone who eats organically and filters her water, I thought I was better protected until today. Now, we can find Roundup in the lakes, streams, rainwater and the air we breathe. Two studies of air in Mississippi and Iowa revealed significant amounts of Roundup in what people were breathing.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/31/us-glyphosate-pollution-idUSTRE77U61720110831
Today, I read a medical study that if a person breathes even 1/450th o f the amount that is allowed to be sprayed as a herbicide over a small area, that in 20 minutes, DNA changes can be noticed in the mucosal linings of the tongue, lips, cheeks and nasal tissues of humans- changes that could become precancerous. This study appeared in the February edition of the Journal of Toxicology.
BREAKING NEWS: The lawsuit put forth by the Center for Food Safety alleging that “Agent Orange Corn” engineered in a partnership by Dow Chemical and Monsanto was thrown out of court on Monday, April 9th. Agent Orange ready corn will be distributed starting next year. Since GMO corn is so subsidized and appears in so many unlikely locations (like US made vitamin C), there is a chance that not only Roundup but also particles of 2,4-D, the main ingredient in Agent Orange Corn may even show up in vitamins and other health products.
Conclusion: With the news each day of the extensive proliferation of Roundup and Bt insecticide and with the creation of new life forms that cause significant harm to animals, plants and humans I would really like to encourage the people of California to support the GMO labeling bill that will appear as a proposition on the California ballot in November of 2012. I do believe that we all need to know more about the GMO foods that have entered our food supply and have more access to knowledge about their effects.