I -  “Organic” personal care

(Healingtalks) Use of the term “organic” in a personal care product apparently does not ensure that they meet USDA-NOP standards (or of the US Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program. Personal care products labeled “organic” either

• Are purely organic
• May contain ingredients considered organic but not certified organic
• Contain absolutely no organic content at all.
• Contain harmful and toxic ingredients.

Initial consumer campaign

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) has started a “Coming Clean Campaign” to limit organic claims on personal care products to only those certified to USDA organic standards. Over 600 companies have joined the campaign since 2004.

New bans

Earlier in 2010, key retailers including Whole Foods Markets and National Cooperative Grocers Association stores announced a banning of products bearing false organic labels. It will force these brands to either change their labels or reformulate their products.

USA Seal

Currently, the USDA certifies personal care products with 95–100% organic ingredients and for companies that comply with its standards. These products are allowed to bear the USDA Organic seal.

The Organic Consumers Association, natural channel retailers and major body care companies are pressuring on the USDA to regulate this label in the same way they do for food and beverage products.

Growing statistics

According to SPINSscan Natural and SPINSscan Conventional data (for natural supermarkets excluding Whole Foods, Conventional Food/Drug/Mass excluding WalMart), sales of 100% organic body care products rose 37.8% over the past year to $2,930,719.

Natural body care items labeled 95–99% organic experienced a 33.1% growth during the same timeframe (total sales of $8,383,609). These data represent the 52-week period ending October 2, 2010, compared with the prior year (52 weeks ending October 3, 2009).

II – GMOs

GMOs are not living up to their claims and offer us huge health and environmental hazards.

False hype plus dangers of GMOs

A growing body of scientific evidence shows that GMO crops do not produce increased yields, are not really drought tolerant, create more expenses for the farmer and ultimately yield deficient crops. In short, there is a deception. Moreover, animal studies have found GMO foods to pose serious health risks including abnormal changes to major organs with stomach ulcers, enlarged livers, precancerous conditions and reduced fertility.

Human research study of GMOs

To date, there has only been one published study on the effects of GMO foods on humans. The study found potential health hazards that were never further examined (1).

Labeling of GMOs and non-GMO products

In response to consumer concerns, retailers helped to start the Non-GMO Project, a non-profit organization that aides shoppers to identify which products are not genetically modified. This created a third-party verification program with its own uniform seal for products that do not have GMO ingredients. The Non-GMO trend is taking root among retailers and shoppers.

Common GMO produce

GMO crops to be on the look out for are canola, cotton, corn, sugar beets, Hawaiian papaya, zucchini and crookneck squash. Many more are in the future pipe lines.

GMO trend statistics

The Non-GMO Project’s label is the first one indicating a third-party verification or testing for GMOs. During the 52-week period ending October 2, 2010, sales of Non-GMO Project-certified foods were $343,201,976. This is a 14.4% growth compared with the previous year (52 weeks ending October 3, 2009), according to SPINSscan Natural and SPINSscan Conventional (natural supermarkets excluding Whole Foods, Conventional Food/Drug/Mass excluding WalMart).

Awareness and controversy grows

As the awareness of the dangers of GMOs increases, so does the legal and legislative controversy. Several states are considering laws that will mandate GMO labeling. Also individuals and organizations are filing lawsuits, to fight back.  The recent lawsuit against the USDA over the agency’s decision to allow the immediate planting of genetically modified sugar beets (2) is a case in point

III – Gluten Free

Another hot issue and major consumer trend is Gluten-free foods. This address the needs of shoppers with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.

Celiac Disease

Celiac disease is a serious autoimmune reaction. It damages  the small intestine, potentially leading to malnutrition and deficiency diseases. This disorder is found in genetically disposed individuals who eat gluten, a protein found in many grains including wheat, rye and barley. About 1% of the US population has celiac disease (3). The majority remain undiagnosed for the percentage is likely much higher. It is not common to test for celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.

Growing awareness

Mounting awareness, self-diagnosis and going to alternative health practitioners has hotly moved this issue into the limelight.

Statistics on Gluten free products

In the natural and conventional FDM channels, gluten-free foods experienced a 16.3% growth in the 52-week period ending October 2, 2010 (source: SPINSscan Natural, SPINSscan Conventional, powered by Nielsen). SPINs estimates gluten-free sales during this period reached over $2.5 billion.

Reading Labels

Reading labels has gotten easier where there are new verification programs in place with readily identifiable seals. More stringent labeling laws are coming to assist consumers.

Related Articles

• Natural Breakfast Cereals Loaded With Pesticides and GMOs
• Shopper’s Guide To Safe Cosmetics & Personal Care Products
• Many ‘Natural’ Foods Loaded with GMOs
• Why Go Organic – Ten Top Reasons
• Choosing Raw Organic Living Foods at the Supermarket
•  50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Foods

Related Videos

References

1. “GM Crops: Just the Science,” www.nongmoproject. org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07 /GM-Crops-just-the-science.pdf, accessed Oct. 25, 2010.

2. K. Blackwell, “USDA Sued Over GM Sugar Beet Permits,” http://naturalfoodsmerchandiser. com/tabId/119/itemId/4956/USDAsued- over-GM-sugar-beet-permits.aspx? cid=nl_iu, accessed Oct. 25, 2010.

3. N. Lapid, “How Common Is Celiac Disease?” http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/faqs/f/ HowCommon.htm, accessed Oct. 25, 2010.

Keywords

Organic cosmetics, organic skin care,celiac disease, genetically modified organisms, genetically engineered foods, gluten-free foods, say no to gmos, natural product labels

Three part theme based on a article by Kerry Watson first published in WholeFoods Magazine

Video series

tells it all

about GMO threats

Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks

(Healingtalks)  There is hardly a threat facing our planet that outpaces that of GMOs – genetically modified organisms. No individual more cogently explains this than Jeffrey M. Smith. And a synopsis of the entire case is presented in these four, each 15 minute long videos:

Jeffrey M. Smith:

GMO Threat I

Synopsis:

• GMOs – What are genetically modified foods
• Crops – 5 main modified crops
• Essentially equivalent – Industry introduction with the claim they are not significantly different
• Political crimes – Consensus of FDA scientists disagreed but were politically muffled by Bush Administrations; policies continued under Obama
• Doctors speak out – 2009 American Academy of Environmental Medicine came out with statement urging their physicians to prescribe only non-GMO diets to all patients because animal studies showed causal reproductive damage, immune system suppression, accelerated aging, insulin/cholesterol production dysfunctions, organ damage and gastro-intestinal harm.
• Two main types of GMOs – poison drinking and producing (e,g. herbicide resistant Roundup Ready and BT toxin producing)
• General planetary impact: significant increase in lbs of herbicides poisoning our fields
• General health impact: studies suppressed by Monsanto that these foods harbor harmfully adulterated proteins, anti-nutrients, and immune system suppressants creating a dangerous “genetic roulette” or health crap game.
• Statistics abound: that since the widespread introduction of gmos into our processed food supply, autoimmune diseases, inflammations, and allergies are more prevalent
• Debunking ingenuous claim – that BT  toxin producing bacteria genetically  inserted into our foods are safe because they either biodegrade or wash off. Deadly consequences observed to farmers and farm animals around the world
• Undressing further false claims - that Roundup ready crops are safe for our environment and for us to eat.

Jeffrey M. Smith:

The GMO Threat II

Synopsis:

• Continuation of debunking false claims for Roundup ready technology; why it causes mineral deficiencies as an essential chelator; disturbs hormones, causes sexual dysfunction, birth deformities or stillbirths and bio-accumulates.
• Suppression of GMO research – how scientists who bring to light GMO dangers are gaged, with examples from the UK, Russia and Argentina.
• Issue of hunger — demolishes the claim on several major counts that GMOs are a solution for world hunger
• Agenda of the biotech industry -What has been the strategy, since 1999, to monopolize or control the planting of all seeds on the planet with two decades.
• How GMOs were thwarted in Europe – Jeffrey describes the “tipping point” whereby major food producers all dropped GMO ingredients.
• Why and how this can and will happen in the US – outlining the Achilles heel of the industry, what we need to do to create a tipping point
• Industry reaction – how “Codex” is trying to thwart this  by making non-GMO labels illegal internationally.

Jeffrey M. Smith:

GMO Threat III

Synopsis:

Uniquely dangerous nature of genetic pollution – how it can be permanent, unlike chemical or nuclear pollution that biodegrades; it can’t fully be cleaned up or remediated. Try recalling salmon from the sea, gm mosquitos or pollen from the air. Damage thus may be irreversible.

Depth of lying plus collusion between government and industry - these parties have gotten together to hide the truth from the public, at the altar of making money. The first ever application for a GMO product at the FDA did provide raw research data and the finding were so bad, that it subjected the whole technology to questioning. The FDA reaction. It lied to the public that the findings were so good, no further research need be submitted in the future for any other GMO products except on a industry voluntary basis. And what is submitted reeks of such bad science it is an accumulation of horrendous lies.  Examples are given. Essentially the FDA was hijacked and outrageous mythologies were released to the public. These myths are promoted with intense arrogance in the face of not knowing the real long-term consequences of this most dangerous of technologies. The myths and claims were that:

• GMOs are safe (when really they are dangerous)
• GMOs proven safe (when no proof abounds)
• Involve a precise technology (actually a crap-shout roulette)
• Can help end world hunger (has very opposite impacts)
•  Is needed and here to stay – intense myths.

How best to oppose this arrogant lying – Small Non-profit organization’s like Jeffrey’s don’t have the funds to go head on with Monsanto’s  corruption of politicians but they can instead and more effectively reach consumers, doctors, and the general public  – families in their kitchens

Jeffrey M. Smith

GMO Threat IV

Synopsis:

• Continuation of the arrogance – 90 day tests conducted as a guide even though humans may eat GMOs for a lifetime
• Threat of terminator technology – how it is designed to devastate agriculture around the world. 1.4 billion farmers rely on annually saving seeds; effort to create bio-serfs/bio-colonialism and the dangerous annihilation of biodiversity
• GMO crop contamination- first declared impossible, then called insignificant (neither of which claims are true)
• Forcing GMOs on Third World countries, via hunger aide, and to contaminate their crops; how Zambia stood up to the US bully
• GMO safety issues – understanding health safety issues as the key to stopping the GMO technology jaugernaut.
• Bio-piratism
• Death of Bees – How GMO technology is implicated in the death of bees internationally
• Summation view of GMO technology – unprecedented dangers to our health and environment

Resources

• 50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Foods

• 10  Reasons to Avoid GMOs
  
• Six Short Videos – Everything You Need To Know About GMOs

Keywords:

Jeffrey Smith, Institute for Responsible Technology, Genetically modified food, genetically modified foods, gmos, genetic food, genetically altered crops, modified plants, gmo health dangers, what is genetic food, gmo organisms, what are genetically modified foods, modified seeds, genetically modifications, organically genetically modified, genetically engineered, gene modified.

Library of Articles on Genetically Modified Foods

Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks Editor

(Healingtalks) One of the most extensive libraries on the WW Web with hard-hitting, researched articles and videos. This includes my own groundbreaking book written over a decade ago, 50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Foods and my philosophical explanation for why the whole genetic model of Mendel carries false assumptions based on a thanoptic, mechanical, or dead view of nature.

The root problem involves the very core vision that led us (with the arrogant assumption of objectivity) out of the medieval and into the modern world. This refers to the mathematical vision of nature. The genetic model is simply derivative of a quantified or mathematical view of nature (as Mendel reduced life’s evolution to little more than statistics and where genes served as  atomic-like components to be analyzed like the rest of the mechanical model).

As a former math prodigy, I first excelled in physics and then became a renegade from that entire worldview, explaining why that vision only helps us best design machines but otherwise crudely misleads us about nature’s other root essence, and then harms nature when falsely driven ever deeper (and in a marriage with commerce). Overall this does not lead us onto a road of progress as promised (such as GMOs solving our world hunger problems) but rather toward progressive disasters. In fact we are on a road to our own self-destruction as misguided by that root vision, again in a marriage with commerce or the profit motive.

Philosophical issues – the deepest and most significant of all

The philosophical section of the library is at the very end, but it is really the most important and we will add to it in time. There are ways to fully correct the chief flaws of again  the root math-based or mechanical/dead vision of nature that ever guides modern life, and as introduced by Galileo, Descartes and Newton. This set the pace for the overall 17-21st century industrial/biotech revolutions. Correcting that vision’s chief flaws is vital for getting us right back on course. And this time we need to stay on course. We need to truly (not following ever deeper illusions) heal our overall relationship with nature.

We are not enlightened about a simple fact that math symbols just abstract universal separation (why these glorified symbols help us build atomic weapons). But the core of nature has, in my experience, a different universal relationship of connection (which the mathematical wisdom reflects in a polar reversal illusion – similar to the  illusion of the sun rotating around the earth rather than the opposite being more true.

Imagine for a moment that this is actually the  greatest of all illusions and corruptions of our consciousness, and why Monsanto’s routine following of but a monetary or financial goal essentially corrupts their consciousness to deceive the rest of us. Imagine also that without breaking through this illusion of illusions, humanity remains stuck in a fundamental human evolutionary rut.

In this light, I am going to say something very counter-cultural that would make my high school math, physics and chemistry teachers turnover in their graves – namely that it is not accidental that several Nobel-prize winning physicists and chemists have come down with Alzheimer’s disease because their guiding vision does not fundamentally fathom, pierce, or help us understand the root nature of the world we live in.

We fundamentally do not understand the root essence of our world, and as we dig deeper, we screw things up ever more.

So the philosophical issues, rarely known to be important, are actually the most critical and significant of all – and for redirecting the whole of modern life or re-navigating the whole of human consciousness about the nature of nature in our cosmos.

Conclusion

We can still create a Garden of Eden on Earth and rather than ever expanding super-toxic waste sites filled with synthetic chemicals, nuclear waste and Monsanto’s terminator GM seeds.

It is up to us.

This library is meant as a helpful tool in that direction.

VIDEOS

What Healingtalks is all about

HARMFUL EFFECTS

American Academy of Environmental Medicine calls for immediate moratorium on all genetically modified foods

50 harmful effects of genetically modified foods

Summary of harmful effects of genetically modified foods

Second Part of summary

Roundup Causes Birth Defects

GMOs could render important antibiotics worthless

Evidence E-coli superbug was bioengineered to produce human fatalities

Healthful foods you should never eat

This could threaten the future of our entire food chain

50% of rats given this died – why is it on our dinner plate?

Genetically modified foods pose huge health risk

Cancer time bomb in your frig – will you stop eating it?

 GMO MARKET

GMO-free is fastest growing retail brand

Natural breakfast cereals loaded with pesicides and gmos- explosive scorecard reveals all

Whole Foods Market caves to Monsanto

GMO sales skyrocket

Many natural foods loaded with GMOs

How to avoid GMOs

How to avoid GMO foods

This could threaten the future of our entire food chain

Shopping for non-GMO foods

ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS

Is GMO grass the next environmental disaster?

GMO beets threaten native pollinators

One third of wildlife refuges use gm crops in southeast

GMO AGRICULTURE

Failure of Roundup

China sows seeds of GM crop growth

Impact of GM corn from food to fuel

Monsanto seeks corporate domination of world food supply

Modified corn seeds sow doubts

Scientists urge better seed access

POLITICS

White House pact with industry to push genetically engineered plants

USDA deregulates GMO alfalfa

Judge revokes approval of modified sugar beets

Monsanto – the worlds poster child for corporate manipulation and deceit

Michael Taylor is back to control “food safety” from the White House

POLITICAL ACTIVISM

California changing the US food landscape

Death blow to gmos

Breaking news California gmo labeling initiative is file

Stop illegal frankensugar

If you eat you better occupy Wall Street

Are Monsanto’s days numbered

Monsanto nation – taking down the Goliath

Genetically Engineered food in the race for market dominance between organic GMO – who is winning?

A moratorium on genetically manipulated GMO foods

Exclusive Lisa Mumm interview on Monsanto trial

Home Depot Roundup correspondence for Christmas

PHILOSOPHY

GMOS – philosophical issues of a thanoptic, death-delivery technology

Chilling and violent trends in the treatment of living organisms

Keywords

Annihilation of biodiversity, Bio-piratism, create bioserfs, biocolonialism, dangerous nature of genetic pollution, Death of Bees, Forcing GMOs on Third World countries, genetically modified organisms, Global Health Activist, GMO crop contamination, GMO product at the FDA, gmo products, GMO safety issues, GMO Threat III, GMO Threat IV, GMO Threats – Video Series Tells It All, GMOs are safe, GMOs proven safe, GMOs were thwarted in Europe, Jeffrey M. Smith: The GMO Threat I, non-GMO labels illegal, Suppression of GMO research, The GMO Threat II, Threat of terminator technology, Two main types of GMOs, Everything you need to know about GMOs, gene modified., genetic food, genetically altered crops, genetically engineered, genetically modifications, genetically modified food, genetically modified foods, gmo health dangers, gmo organisms, GMOs, institute for responsible technology, Jeffrey Smith, modified plants, modified seeds, organically genetically modified, what are genetically modified foods, what is genetic food

Breaking News:

California GMO labeling

initiative is filed

Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks Editor

(Healingtalks) This week the grassroots Committee For the Right to Know, a wide-ranging coalition of consumer, public health and environmental organizations, food companies, and individuals submitted the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act to the State Attorney General for title and summary, prior to circulation as an initiative measure for the November 2012 election. This is part of a nationwide campaign to also raise consumer awareness and thereby reach a triggering a “tipping point” or sufficient rejection (approximately 5% of consumers) to have GMOs largely removed from the marketplace.

What the Right to Know GEFA Requires

The initiative would require genetically engineered foods (also known as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs) and foods containing GMO ingredients to be clearly labeled, similar to current labels with other nutritional information.

Genetically engineered food is usually plant or meat product that has had its DNA artificially altered in a lab with genes from other plants, animals, viruses or bacteria, in order to produce foreign compounds in that food. This genetic alteration is experimental, and is not found in nature.

Risks of GE Foods

The risk of genetically engineered foods is unclear, and unlike the strict safety evaluations required for the approval of new drugs, the safety of genetically engineered foods for human consumption has not been adequately tested, the group said. Recent studies show that genetically engineering food can create new, unintended toxic substances and increase allergies, cancer risks and other health problems, especially for children.

Experts Agree Labeling Is Necessary

Experts agree that by labeling genetically engineered food, we can help identify foods that cause health problems, the committee said.

“Because the FDA has failed to require labeling of GMO food, this initiative closes a critical loophole in food labeling law. It will allow Californians to choose what they buy and eat and will allow health professionals to track any potential adverse health impacts of these foods,” says Andy Kimbrell, Director of the Center for Food Safety.

Most Common GMO Traits

The two most common genetically engineered traits are the expression of an insecticide in the tissue of “Bt Corn” and the expression of a compound in “Roundup Ready Soy” which enables high doses of Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer to be sprayed while the plant survives.

As much as 85 percent of corn in the U.S. is genetically engineered. BT Corn is currntly regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency as an insecticide.

 Worldwide GMO Labeling Movement

Robyn O’Brien, author and founder of the Allergy Kids Foundation says, “I support labeling genetically engineered foods because allergy-sensitive people can exercise caution with essential information to make informed decisions about what they eat.” Fifty countries including the European Union and Japan have laws mandating that genetically engineered foods be labeled, but the United States does not have such a requirement.

Public opinion polls indicate that over 90 percent of California voters support the labeling of genetically engineered foods. Efforts to enact labeling laws in Congress and the California legislature have been blocked by big food and chemical company lobbyists. This measure will take the issue directly to the people to decide whether genetically engineered foods should be labeled.

“These genetically engineered foods have been allowed into our food supply without warning, and they aren’t labeled,” said Pamm Larry, founder of the grassroots movement and the Committee For the Right to Know. “The bottom line is Californians have a right to know what’s in the food we eat and feed our children. It’s time to send a strong, direct message to those who govern us, whether they be agency or elected, that we want genetically engineered foods labeled.”

 The California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act was carefully and specifically written to avoid any unnecessary burden or cost to consumers or producers. California voters are expected to have the chance to vote on the initiative in November 2012.

The full text submitted to the attorney general can be read below.

Source: Lake County News  http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews,

November 2011 – California Right to Know Initiative

Video

• 50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Foods

• 10  Reasons to Avoid GMOs
  
• Six Short Videos – Everything You Need To Know About GMOs

GMO-Free Is

Fastest Growing

Retail Brand

According to a recent survey,   U.S. retailers are expanding their store brands and the fastest-growing brand making a health claim is “GMO-free.”

Nielsen’s Numbers

This labeling, according to Nielsen’s numbers, is up by 67% in 2009 with a sales growth of $60.2 million in that sector. In fact, healthy claims are tops in several categories, including “Gluten free” and bolstering Omega acids.

The consumer tide against genetically modified foods (GM or GMO) is growing. New labels reflect that rend. GMO foods have been linked to infertility, immune system damage and many agricultural hazards. Consumers are waking up to these facts.

New Certification of GMO-Free Products

Thousands of organic and natural food products are also now enrolled in the Non-GMO Project’s Product Verification Program (known as PVP). This is the nation’s first and largest system for testing of product standards against genetic modification. This project finds its verification label on some of the biggest retail names in the food industry.

As sentiment against the GMO seeds and products made from their crops grows, so too will the retail market backlash. Although government agencies like the Food and Drug Administration have refused to rule against GM foods, despite the evidence, the free market and consumer demand is turning the tide against them on its own.

As Shelly Roche of Bytestyle.tv says, “The great thing about this new report is that it shows how quickly the market responds when it sees a shift in consumer demand.” Health-conscious consumers are voting with their forks.

Resources:

1 – U.S. Healthy Eating Trends Part 4: Store Brands Expand Healthy Offerings by Tom Pirovano, Director of Industry Insights, Nielsen Co.

2 – Feature NaturalNews Articles on GMOs and http://www.naturalnews.com/027931_G…

3 – Non-GMO Project

4 – ‘GMO-free’ is fastest-growing retailer brand claim by Shelly Roche, Bytestyle.tv

Based on an article by Aaron Turpen  (AaronsEnvironMental.com) and (HiddenHealthScience.com).

Keywords: Genetically modified food, genetically modified foods, genetically modified organisms, GMOs, genetic modification, food politics

GMOS Failing

Across America

Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healtingtalks Editor

(Healingtalks) The mainstream media reports little or nothing about the downside of GMO farming. only glorious propaganda about how it will save the world from hunger.

A new short video documentary “Farmer to Farmer: The Truth about GM Crops” offers a glimpse into the undisclosed and real downside reality of GMO farming.

Farmer to Farmer’s Documentary’s Story

Michael Hart is not an organic farmer but rather a proponent of agricultural diversity from family farms. He wants the EU to avoid the GMO  trap.

He thus recently produced a documentary that focuses on American farmers’ failures and where Monsanto has trapped farmers into a financial dependency and a way of farming that is toxic to all of life.

Major Points of Farmer to Farmer

• Monsanto’s Contractual Promise
  Monsanto sells its Roundup herbicide with a promise of high crop yields with just one pass of Roundup herbicide.
• The Monsanto Promise Failed
  Within a short time, Roundup resistant weeds began sprouting. Different combinations of tank mixed herbicides had to be contrived and purchased in addition to Monsanto’s contractually required Roundup herbicide. Monsanto even sold tank mixed herbicides as well. Not only did one pass not work, but farmers also attested to different combinations of herbicides with several passes, which included pre-emergence and post emergence spraying to manage their crops.
• New and Greater GMO Threats to Farming
  The new weeds soon became not a nuisance but a plague. And GMO crop production wound up demanding even more pesticide applications than non-GMO commercial farming.
• Impossible Tasks
  Because the biotech industry now funds most agricultural university research, the farmers are concerned about the lack of attention toward developing better pesticides that would minimize spraying. When pesticides don’t work, Monsanto advises farmers to pull weeds by hand. Many crop fields are well over a thousand acres!
• Violating Timeless Traditions For Farming Self-Sufficiency
  GMO farmers are contractually barred from saving seeds for future planting. They have to dependently and addictively buy new GMO seeds from Monsanto for every season. A non-GMO farmer can save seeds to raise new crops. In the long run the non-GMO farmer saves money since he’s able to use seeds saved from prior plantings perennially.
• GMO Crops Represent Health Hazards
  This has repeatedly been documented.
• GMO seed industries are destroying non-GMO seeds
  This is to intentionally create a monopoly control over our food, our lives.
• Coexistence of GMO fields with organic or non-GMO fields is impossible
  The solution is to ban GMOs

You can view the Farmer to Farmer video here

Keywords: genetically altered crops, modified organisms, genetically modified organisms, genetically altered organisms, genetic engineered food, genetic engineered foods, genetic engineered crops, biotech food, genetically modification, genetically engineered corn, genetically engineered soy, genetically modified food problems.

Originally Published as Chilling Trends in Genetic Violence by Nathan Batalion  Published in Sierra Atlantic – Winter 2003

Eons ago man’s violence was limited to throwing stones and wooden spears. Advances in metallurgy led to the use of sharp blades, swords, and lances. Guns, rifles and cannons soon followed –along with machines doing yet more violence to nature such as cutting down entire forests and strip mining.The last century’s violence, however, was unparalleled. According to the World Watch Institute, the 20th century saw the highest percent of humans ever dying in war – via atomic weapons and gas chambers. Environmental violence accelerated in ways that parallel human violence.

However, these transgressions may turn out to be but child’s play compared to what is now under way– a selective elimination/recreation of virtually all of life on earth, for profit. Conglomerates, for example, have bought up competing seed companies, destroying most of their heritage seed stocks and replacing them with only patented genetically altered seeds – what Time magazine has called the Death of Birth.Such waves of “bioviolence” actually begin when companies microscopically attack and breach a seed’s tiny nuclear membrane using a gene ballistics gun. A fish’s genes, for example, can be blasted into a tomato’s foreign nucleus, a snake gene into a flower’s, and so on. Due to this hidden micro-violence, new forms are artificially and forcibly created. Some are employed for food, fiber, chemical and pharmaceutical production, with the latter process called biopharming.

Historically, the chemical/mechanical revolution altered the foods we eat, clothes we wear, as well as cosmetics, cleansers and other products we now use. This new biotech revolution creates “bio-factories” that produce the same and other creations. But when prior chemical wonders went awry, we could generally fix things. We could clean up parks or our backyards (picking up trash, plastic, and cans) and remediate the most supertoxic sites. But with Frankensteinian genetics gone haywire, there is often no fixing. New mutations will spread, sometimes permanently and worldwide. Meanwhile, some companies habitually hide their laboratory disasters and refuse even the very simplest disclosures through labeling – keeping consumers largely in the dark. One is reminded of The Matrix, the film in which humans are also kept in the dark, tube-fed artificial food, and kept alive just as human batteries to run machines. Consumers are, however, told that these new, let us call them “genetically violated organisms” (GVOs) instead of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), are really equivalent to familiar organic ones – and therefore must be intermixed(otherwise it’s unfair trade), permanently polluting organic crops with their gene markers. Once so polluted,the industry can actually claim legal ownership to the new genetically polluted crops and their seeds! Gradually, one can imagine corporations claiming ownership of all crops and thus controlling the world’s food supplies, giving biotech companies ultimate power.

Science fiction? Monsanto has actually started just this kind of strategy on a global level. It is suing and intimidating about 400 farmers in the U.S. and, internationally, claiming patent infringements and seed ownership. Monsanto is also buying up, wholesale, water resources in the Third World.The most ominous danger, however, is the passive acceptance by consumers: in 2002, 46% of Americans surveyed thought GVOs were safe and acceptable, up from 35% in 2001. Meanwhile, 70% of U.S. processed supermarket foods are already genetically altered and unlabeled. This means we are not winning the battle to stop bioviolence, and far more activism is urgently needed.

Nathan Batalion is a member of the Susquehanna\ Group and founder of Americans for Safe Food. He is the author of
50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Foods and a PhD candidate in philosophy at Binghamton University. He is concerned about
the genetically food-violent trends of our culture.

Here is  an outline of more harmful effects of genetically-modified foods, crops and organisms. For a full text and all the details of these harms see www.raw-wisdom.com/50harmful

MAJOR CATEGORIES FOR 50 HARMFUL EFFECTS

(1-15) IMPACTS ON HEALTH
Deaths and Near Deaths, Cancer and Degenerative Disease, Viral and Bacterial Illnesses, Allergies,  General Health Impacts

(16-31) ON THE ENVIRONMENT
Impacts on: Soil, Seeds, Plants,  Trees, Insects and Large Animals, and the Issue of Genetic Uncertainties

(32-43) ON FARMING
Impacts on: Small Farm Livelihood and Survival, Organic Farming and Overall Farm Production, Corporate Control of Farming and Dependency.

(44-47) WIDER ECONOMIC & POLITICAL EFFECTS
Bio-colonization, Violations of Our Right to Know

(48-50) OPPOSING DEEP ECOLOGY
Globally Imposing a Non-living Model of Nature

Once you know the full story of this adulteration and deep corruption of our modern food supply, you will not want to eat anything but WHOLESOME ORGANIC FOODS.

Here is the first part of a two-part synopsis of the major health impacts of genetically-modified foods. Each of the total of fifteen items are discussed in greater detail in my article 50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Foods.

DEATHS
In 1969 dozens of Americans died  (thousands more were impaired) when a GM version of a food supplement  L-Tryptophan was sold to the general public.

NEAR DEATHS
In 1996, Brazil nut genes were spliced into soybeans by Pioneer Hi-Bred. This triggered food allergies which could have engendered anaphylactic shock and death. Nearly 25% of the population has some food allergies. What will the impact be (without any safety testing) of putting fish genes into tomatoes or petunia flower elements into soybeans?  Several studies have shown serious allergic reactions to GM foods – especially with GM soy, Bt-corn, GM potatoes with cod genes, and GM peas.

DIRECT CANCER & DEGENERATIVE DISEASE LINKS
These are legion, especially with genetically modified rGBH growth hormones. A number of other degenerative disease links have been found to DNA fragments found in GM foods – including to cancer, arthritis and blood disorders.

INDIRECT EFFECTS
The use of X-rays and irradiation have been directly linked to a rise in number of cancer rates. Genetic engineering also causes random genetic mutations which thus very likely, if indirectly, can lead to a rise in cancers.

SUPER-VIRUSES
Viruses can cross-breed or mix their gene pools in as little as 8 weeks. GM viruses are commonly used in the creation of GM corn, cotton and canola. There are documented huge risks and dangers involved in the highly probably formation of super-viruses.  No studies, however, have been made on super-molds or mildews and other catabolic life-forms.

BACTERIAL/ANTIBIOTIC THREATES IN MILK
Cows injected with rGBH have a much higher level of bacterial infections. This elicits more antibiotic use by farmers which adds another health-risk layer.

ANTIBIOTIC THREATS VIA PLANTS
Genetic engineering commonly uses  antibiotic resistant genes as markers to trace where implanted genes go in the target plant. An ampicillan-resistant gene is used in GM corn as a marker. These genes can be transferred to super-bacteria resistant to antibiotics. The British Royal Society called for a total ban of this marker due to significant human health risks.