September 2012
Dear Friends,
How I miss the days of writing newsletters that were inspirational and talking about the best herbs for arthritis, migraines or how to treat fibroids or candida. But to spend all my time talking about such things while avoiding subjects like Teflon toxicity, BPAs and GMOs would be tantamount to teaching you how to clear up an ingrown toenail while you’re sitting on a railroad track with a train baring down on you. That kind of help is short lived to say the least.
My goal is to shed some light on what GMOs (genetically modified organisms) or GE (genetically engineered) plants are and what studies have shown are the health hazards. But I will be directing this newsletter to Californians specifically as you have an promising opportunity this November to finally have your voices heard and push back against the biotech companies like Monsanto, Dow and Syngenta, which are some of the biggest and worst offenders. On the California ballots this November there will a proposal to require food labels to disclose if they contain GMOs. If you believe in the fundamental right to know what is in your food, Please VOTE YES ON PROP 37. So why is this a big deal? In direct contrast to the safety claims of the biotech industry, many studies have shown that GE foods cause obesity, infertility, intestinal complications and genetic defects.
One type of GE food is called BT corn; it has been with us since the late 1990s and it has been genetically engineered to produce it’s own insecticide. The BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a bacteria that explodes the stomachs of the insects who eat it. Bt toxins inserted into GM food crops are reaching the bloodstreams of 93% of women and 80% of unborn babies due to the consumption of GE corn and meat, milk, and eggs from livestock fed GE corn. This could turn bacteria in our intestines into pesticide factories. 86% of American corn is GMO
Norwegian scientists just released their findings of a decade long-study that showed a link between obesity and diminished immune systems with a diet high in GE corn and animals that were fed GE corn.
Russian biologist, Alexey V. Surov did a two year study on hamsters fed GE soy. The group that ate 100% GE soy almost totally lost their ability to reproduce after the 3rd generation and had a 50% diminished growth rate with an extremely high mortality of pups. As if this is not disturbing enough, some of the hamsters had a genetic mutation that caused hair to grow in their mouths. 93% of soy on the market in America is GMO. How many babies were raised on soy formula and how will they be affected?
To learn more see The Institute for Responsible Tecnology
So what about the environment? The intense herbicide application pollutes land and water, furthermore BT crops are damaging to the beneficial insects that eat the pestilent bugs, while the target insects become immune necessitating a higher level of insecticide; this is how you create a super-bug. The “Roundup Ready” GE plants that are genetically engineered to withstand massive amount of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide has created super-weeds that have adapted to the herbicide. Rather than moving away from chemical and energy-intensive GMO crops and deadly pesticides, the USDA plans to escalate, letting chemical/biotech companies such as Dow Chemical force upon the market a new wave of genetically engineered herbicide-tolerant crops, mutants that can survive the infamous herbicide 2,4-D, which is an Agent Orange ingredient with documented health human impacts, from cancer to immunosuppression and reproductive damage and neurotoxicity.
Then what of the big hope that GE foods would help world hunger? This is a dismal failure too. The UK’s Daily Mail reports that an estimated 125,000 farmers in India have committed suicide because of crop failure and massive debt. GM seeds are very costly and contractually the farmers can’t save their seeds and must buy them every year from Monsanto. And most of them commit suicide by ingesting their own pesticides. All this plus GE crops contribute to loss of biodiversity. Is it any wonder that GMOs are outlawed in New Zealand, Japan, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Greece and Switzerland just to name a few.
Oh and once the mutated genes are cast to the wind there is no telling what pollination will bring or where it will land. Ask the Canadian canola farmer (Percy Schmeiser) who had his fields contaminated with Monsanto’s GMO canola. He and his family had saved and perfected his canola seeds for over 50 years and when he was found to have Monsanto’s patented seeds in his field (which was most likely pollinated from a neighboring farm) he was sued by Monsanto for patent infringement. After a decade-long battle, Schmeiser won when, in March 2008, Monsanto settled out of court, agreeing to pay for all cleanup costs. Not to mention that the 50 years that he and his family spent developing a hearty seed stock that is adapted to that area is lost forever.
This is a Pandora’s box scenario, which will make it impossible for an organic farmer to guarantee an organic crop if a neighbor is planting GMOs.
So California… the nation is looking to you to set the precedence that we have a right to know what we are eating. A Washington Post poll, (9/17/10)
asked “Should genetically-modified food be labeled?” 95% said YES! So please, go to the polls and VOTE YES ON PROP 37.
Love and Light, Lori
