According to the Guardian UK: 

End quote

According to NDTV:

End quote

The Gates foundation is also involved in the heirloom seed bank in the Arctic.  This is a vault near the North Pole where thousands of varieties of heirloom seeds are being stored.  Just in case.  In case what?

In case the GMO seeds destroy the crop diversity of the planet, one must suppose.

French people know better than to eat GMO.  So much so that they’ve successfully chased Monsanto’s GMO seeds away.  This is what the power of consumers can do.  Label GMOs.  If they are labeled, their sales will dwindle and wither until Monsanto realizes that it is  a chemical company, not an agriculture company.  Monsanto appears to know this.  That is why the aggressive push to prevent labeling.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/us-gmo-france-monsanto-idUSTRE80N1NI20120124

The next step would be to publish that work, wouldn’t it? I am looking for that published work, and I have not been able to find it.  If any readers see it, please post the link.

Now, I, as a consumer, have made a decision not to eat or buy genetically modified food.  I have to say, this is not particularly easy.  Since GMO food is not labeled in the U.S., that means I cannot eat any product containing corn, soy, canola, or sugar unless it is clearly labeled “organic” or “non-GMO.”  This pretty much eliminated 70% of the food in U.S. grocery stores.

Not a problem in my case, because I cook everything I eat.  I don’t eat processed food.  Still, I can see how very few Americans would do this.  That means, Americans are gobbling this stuff down.  Following it up with those pink or purple pills that prevent heartburn, I think.

Whatever, I do want to see Huber’s research.  If anybody knows where it is, please tell me.

Alice

“We do not support the commercialization of GM traits ahead of major market approvals,” Randal Giroux, vice president of food safety for Cargill, told the members of the National Grain and Feed Association, the largest U.S. grain group, at a meeting.

“We don’t think it’s good for U.S. agriculture. We think that we should wait for the commercialization of these traits until we have major market approvals,” Giroux said.

Cargill and other U.S. processors and exporters became hypersensitive to issues related to GMO corn after a variety that was not approved for food use — known as Starlink — was discovered in a U.S. shipment to Japan in 2000. Sales to the biggest U.S. customers at the time, Japan and South Korea, dried up overnight.

The subsequent tracing, sorting, testing, separating and certifying of GMO cost the industry millions of dollars.   Read more from Reuters Africa . . .

I noticed the FDA had a post on their site about how great it was that they approved the world’s first recombinant DNA product 25 years ago.  It was human insulin.  The FDA points out that artificial human insulin, created by genetic engineering, has proven to be identical to real human insulin, and has saved many lives.

http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/ProductRegulation/SelectionsFromFDLIUpdateSeriesonFDAHistory/ucm081964.htm

The FDA points out that scientists were at first concerned about this intervention into nature, but have studied the question intently, concluding scientifically that there is no difference between genetically engineered products and the products of nature.  The FDA emphasized how seriously they and all the scientists convened took this question.  However, the FDA says, after very intense scrutiny, the question of whether genetic engineering is safe was put to rest. And, says FDA’s Division Director Dr. Sol Sobel, he “can’t imagine producing a new therapeutic protein by any other means.”

So the FDA has weighed in.  Genetic engineering is a fine way to produce . . . anything.  Fish, for example.  Insulin, replacement organs, corn, soy, canola, alfalfa, beets.  All good.

But here’s the difference, in my mind.  The food supply is not like the organs of a human body in a number of important ways.

1.  Human beings don’t reproduce as quickly as plants.
2. Nobody eats human beings.
3. Weeds don’t concern themselves with people.  Although viruses do, so if we all got a genetically engineered organ, it could become a problem.
4. Being exactly like plant mutations, genetically modified plants behave exactly like plants.  That means:  they interact with the ecosystem in a big way.

Plants speedily adapt, mutate, and evolve.  People are a lot slower with that.

So when Monsanto’s GMO corn loses its ability to kill worms, we get super-worms.  But nature didn’t make Monsanto’s GMO corn, so the ecosystem isn’t well on its way to compensate for this.  What happens?  Monsanto makes Super-Super-GMO corn.  The farmers all have to buy new seeds, and the chemical agriculture has to “stay ahead” of evolution.

This means farming stops existing without a great big pile of scientific research, funded by a company that has a history of introducing chemicals that turn out to be  detrimental to human health.  But all the chemicals introduced are at first heralded as great innovations, until 30, 40, and 50 years later, when we discover they kill and sicken people.

Doesn’t it sound like there is something wrong with this basic premise:  that it’s okay to risk the future of farming and food on the domination of a chemical company?

So you see, it’s not just the worry about the science of genetic engineering.  Human insulin is okay with me.  Artificial human organs sound reasonable to me.  Drugs that save children sound good to me.  Even Golden Rice might be okay, if there are no strings attached.

But turning the future of farming over to a chemical company with the history of introducing DDT, PCBs, Agent Orange, rBGH, saccharin, and aspartame?

That sounds outright nuts.  And Howard Buffett, son of Warren, seems to recognize that all is not well in the land of GMO.

http://www.kenyaimagine.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&task=tag&category=Howard+Buffett&Itemid=115

2.  Root worms evolve so they become resistant to the GMO trait, and they eat the corn anyway.

3.  Farmers end up using more pesticide than they would normally have used without the GMO seed.

4. Monsanto announces that this is not important, and there is no “scientific proof.”

5.  Corn becomes no longer useful as food because of all the pesticides it needs to survive.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-01/monsanto-corn-may-be-failing-to-kill-rootworms-in-four-states-epa-says.html

A short recap:  In the 1980′s and 1990′s, researchers came up with a way to produce, through genetic modification of the seed, a rice that would offer more Vitamin A.  The proposal was that this Vitamin-A enhanced rice would alleviate world hunger problems.  A fine and noble goal.   According to Ingo Potrykus, in The Golden Rice Tale   the research began as early as 1975, and even then the thought was that this type of research could alleviate world hunger.    As the research showed promise, the need to figure out how to introduce it into practical use arose, and the idea formed  that  “food security for developing countries” would sell.

Both the World Health Organization and UNICEF, according to Potrykus in The Golden Rice Tale, were concerned about Vitamin A Deficiency and Iron Deficiency Anemia in billions of poor people.  If a way could be found to enhance their most common dietary food, rice, it would be a major service to humanity.  If billions of people are suffering from these diseases, and rice is what they eat, then growing rice that has higher nutrient value has to be a good thing.

Doesn’t it?  I don’t see how to argue against that.  But apparently, some do, because golden rice still isn’t out there, bringing nutrition to the suffering.  Certainly, if you were a research scientist, and you had the chance to see your life’s work do something this important and good in the world, you would feel good about what you  had done.  By the year 2000, scientific success was declared, and news articles appeared declaring victory.  Scientifically.  So the hard part was done.

Since it is now 2011, and the rice is not out there feeding people, apparently the hard part was still to come.  How would the rice get to the poor people?  After all, they’re poor.  They don’t have the money to pay for it.  The tests and regulatory approvals would cost millions, and there was the question of patent holders and intellectual property rights.  Who would be paid for all of that?  Who would pay to do it?  Who would pay to distribute it?

Well, the scientists involved, as seems quite understandable, cared sincerely about seeing their work do the good for which it was intended.  This is a normal human response, and scientists seem particularly inclined to want their work to be meaningful.  But the work needed funding, and it had to come from somebody with funds.  At first, that turned out to be Zeneca (you know, AstraZeneca, the drug company) and Monsanto (the chemical turned “agriculture” company).  They stepped in, and provided some money and direction to get this going.

Now, unlike research scientists, corporations don’t do things for the purpose of improving the world.  At times, an individual human being working at a corporation has that motive, but the corporation itself has only one purpose:  to return high yields on the investment of its shareholders.  So when Monsanto and Zeneca shelled out money to get this going, it was because their boards had a long term vision that this would ultimately be a money-maker.  Whatever, the scientists needed the money, so they signed on.

Not that making profit is a bad thing.  Making profit and capitalism is a good thing.  A great thing, that can mean prosperity and justice for all.  If done right, greed can be good.  But done right, power has to be balanced.  In the model of competitive forces, the suppliers and the consumers all have their varying levels of balancing power.  The competitors, the regulatory forces, and the externals in the environment, all balance greed among themselves, so that a tense compromise results in the best outcome for all.  It is only when the balance of those powers is lopsided that the outcome perverts.

So now . . . what happened to Golden Rice?  How did those competitive forces play out?

It turned out, much to the surprise of the researchers, that Golden Rice infringed on a whole slew of previous patents.  Wow.  Who knew? Yet, against all odds, the scientists managed, with the help of their funders, to get agreements to allow the technology to be used for humanitarian purposes.  Agreements were struck to let poor farmers use this seed, without paying license fees for the technology.  That was a huge accomplishment.  Now, the challenge was to get it distributed and in use.  A lot of tests had to be done, a lot of trials, and a lot of money would need to be spent.  All of this to feed the poor.

I’m not sure how much money was spent on the tests and trials over the last ten plus years.  I wonder how many poor people could have been fed on that money, but you know, teach a man to fish, and all that.  So from various humanitarian and industry partners, the tests were done.

Every conceivable “political” argument against GMO was addressed.  The Golden Rice seed does not benefit any company or industry.  Farmers are allowed to save their seed and replant it.  It’s given free to poor people.  So why isn’t it out there?

It couldn’t be because the billions of poor people who are going blind from Vitamin A deficiency don’t want to use GMO.  Those people are highly unlikely to know what GMO is, or care, as long as it’s food and it helps.  After all, the millions of U.S. citizens who buy high fructose corn syrup in every processed food they eat, don’t know it’s GMO, and don’t seem to care.  Surely, the illiterate and starving citizens of whatever country this photo came from would eat GMO if they had it available.

Photo from http://www.globalpost.com

If the citizens of the USA can eat GMO corn in nearly every food they consume, in a manner that is clearly health-damaging, then why can’t the citizens of Africa, India, and other famine-stricken countries eat Golden Rice?  Golden Rice sounds like it would be a good thing, while high fructose corn syrup is clearly health-damaging, at the levels and volumes that Americans are eating it.  Even assuming that there is no damage due to the GMO nature of the corn, just the level of sugar in the Standard American Diet, due to the corn syrup, is a negative consequence for health.

So bad health things can get disseminated in the U.S., but good health things can’t get disseminated in the third world.  Even when the money and the agreements to distribute it are there.  Even when the Gates Foundation backs it.

Why is that?

Well, maybe it’s because the corporate vision that Monsanto and Zeneca saw in the very beginning will be well-enhanced by the introduction of Golden Rice to the third world.  What will happen?  The economic well-being that is promised by Golden Rice is an empty promise, according to Food Freedom.  Food Freedom’s side of the argument says: (paraphrased):  The seeds distributed free to poor farmers will turn out to be a trap, like the Nestle company handing out free baby formula to poor mothers.  After the farmers plant the seeds and become dependent on them, the patent protection and licensing will kick in and the power and control will all be in the hands of corporations again.  The balance of power will be disrupted, because of the patents and license fees.  Like the destruction of small farms in the U.S., this is the beginning to disrupt farming in the third world. (end paraphrase)

Oh, excuse me, did I say ‘third world?”  I meant to say “emerging markets.”  Because what good is an economic pie if it does not have constant new consumers to keep it growing? And since the American middle class has now been essentially devastated, new consumers in other lands must be nurtured and grown.  The introduction of Golden Rice will be the toe in the door, the camel’s nose under the tent, to introduce all the varieties of pharmaceutical food being sold by the former chemical and drug companies, who are now calling themselves “agriculture” companies.  And, of course, that is why they put up the funding for this research in the first place.  These are the companies who brought us dangerous chemicals, and fed it to us for many years.  Their purpose is not humanitarian.

It will be two generations before we find out whether the genetic engineering of food has damaging health impacts.  But the companies who back genetic technology have a history of introducing chemicals that harm us — and continuing to sell those chemicals until the proof is finally in.  Under the guise of “there’s no proof.”  No proof, but clear common sense.

It’s not such a simple world, that we, as human beings, can figure out the workings of nature in such a careful way.  When released into the wild, genetic mutations of the type being done by well-meaning scientists, and not-so-well-meaning funding corporations, have unintended consequences. It is speculated that this “golden rice” will help people have more Vitamin A.  But people and their nutritive metabolism are more complex than laboratories.  Vitamin A is in sweet potatoes.  Plant the rice fields with some sweet potatoes, and use all that money spent on research and trials to teach farmers to grow organic food.

It is these unintended consequences that the 99% cannot absorb.  Would that Bill Gates would direct his attention to Helen Keller International, and plant sweet potatoes, instead of falling for the slick schtick of Monsanto Public Relations.

I’m sad that the food supply of the planet is being endangered by the actions of a few corporations, and the enablers who bravely . . . and naively . . . work on the frontiers of science, wishing for good.

How will this fight for the world’s food supply turn out?  Perhaps it is Nature’s way of killing off a few billion people, to make more room on the planet.  After all, if the method of “eat this so we can see if it kills you” because we can’t “prove” it’s unsafe, has to play out to its ultimate conclusion, then perhaps GMO food is just Nature’s tool.

Meanwhile, as for me and my kitchen, we will eat non-GMO.    And in the end, the power — the real power — lies with the person who buys the food.

Source: RedGreenandBlue.org

As 30,000 marchers crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, Occupy Wall Street once again demonstrated that it was a movement that could shine a spotlight on the parts of America that need to change – and the parts of America that make it so amazing, so inspiring.

Using a high-powered projector, they cast a spell on the Verizon building and turned it into a giant poetic karaoke machine for the thousands of demonstrators crossing the river.

“Mic check,” it suggested, and they echoed it back.

Look around
You are a part
Of  a global uprising
We are a cry
from the heart
of the world
We are unstoppable
Another world is possible
Happy birthday
#Occupy Movement
Occupy Wall Street/Oakland/Los Angeles… etc.
Occupy Earth
We are winning
It is the beginning
of the beginning
Do not be afraid
LOVE
…
We are unstoppable
Another world is possible
99%

Source: Red Green & Blue (http://s.tt/13Uyd)

Chinese GMO rice.  Roll that around on your tongue a bit.  Chinese GMO. Why is that even scarier than Monsanto GMO?  This article in the EU Observer says that EU member states had been taking China’s word for it, that shipments did not contain GMO rice.  But after some random testing found that the rice was GM-contaminated, the EU bloc decided to check all shipments from China.   Read more here:  http://euobserver.com/885/114287

It scares me because it’s illustrating the contamination, which we all know is true, but is just beginning to show up.  Within our lifetimes, there won’t be any non-GMO food left, except for the seeds locked up in that storage room in Norway.  Who owns that storage room?  It’s Monsanto, isn’t it?  Along with others.

Image credit http://euobserver.com/885/114287 photo: Rick Collier

http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/03/a-perfect-storm-of-gmos-chemicals-and-cancer/

What more is there to say?  We all know the incidence of asthma, allergies, and chemical sensitivities has changed from few of us to almost all of us, within the last twenty years.  We all know chemicals are not food.  Yet we don’t seem to know that chemical production is not food production, and chemical companies are not agriculture companies.

Why are we so stupid?

Great article at http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/03/a-perfect-storm-of-gmos-chemicals-and-cancer/