GMO Nightmare: There Is No Escape From GM Foods

As intended by the elitists!

Shoppers wary of GM foods find they’re everywhere

This undated 2010 handout photo provided by AquaBounty Technologies shows two same-age salmon, a genetically modified salmon, rear, and a non-genetically modified salmon, foreground. The Agriculture Department approved more genetically engineered crops in the last month, and the Food and Drug Administration could approve modified salmon for consumption in 2011. If the sale of salmon is approved, it will be the first time the government has allowed such modified animals to be marketed for human consumption. (AP Photo/AquaBounty Technologies)

WASHINGTON – You may not want to eat genetically engineered foods. Chances are, you are eating them anyway.

Genetically modified plants grown from seeds engineered in labs now provide much of the food we eat. Most corn, soybean and cotton crops grown in the United States have been genetically modified to resist pesticides or insects, and corn and soy are common food ingredients.

The Agriculture Department has approved three more genetically engineered crops in the past month, and the Food and Drug Administration could approve fast-growing genetically modified salmon for human consumption this year.

Agribusiness and the seed companies say their products help boost crop production, lower prices at the grocery store and feed the world, particularly in developing countries. The FDA and USDA say the engineered foods they’ve approved are safe — so safe, they don’t even need to be labeled as such — and can’t be significantly distinguished from conventional varieties.

Organic food companies, chefs and consumer groups have stepped up their efforts — so far, unsuccessfully — to get the government to exercise more oversight of engineered foods, arguing the seeds are floating from field to field and contaminating pure crops. The groups have been bolstered by a growing network of consumers who are wary of processed and modified foods.

Many of these opponents acknowledge that there isn’t much solid evidence showing genetically modified foods are somehow dangerous or unhealthy. It just doesn’t seem right, they say. It’s an ethical issue.

“If you mess with nature there’s a side effect somewhere,” says George Siemon, CEO of Organic Valley, the nation’s largest organic farming cooperative, which had more than $600 million in sales last year. “There is a growing awareness that our system makes us all guinea pigs of sorts.”

The U.S. government has insisted there’s not enough difference between the genetically modified seeds its agencies have approved and natural seeds to cause concern. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, more so than his predecessors in previous administrations, has acknowledged the debate over the issue and a growing chorus of consumers concerned about what they are eating.

“The rapid adoption of GE crops has clashed with the rapid expansion of demand for organic and other non-GE products,” Vilsack said in December as he considered whether to approve genetically modified alfalfa. “This clash led to litigation and uncertainty . . . Surely, there is a better way, a solution that acknowledges agriculture’s complexity, while celebrating and promoting its diversity.”

Vilsack later approved the engineered alfalfa for use — along with sugar beets and a type of corn used in ethanol — to the disappointment of the organic industry, but he said the department would do additional research on ways to prevent contamination of natural seeds and improve detection of contamination.

Organic companies have praised Vilsack for even acknowledging the issue, as large seed companies like Monsanto and the substantial chunk of agribusiness that use their seeds have long held sway at USDA.

The organic industry has a lot to lose. USDA regulations do not allow genetically modified seeds to be used in organic production, and organic farmers say that as engineered crops become more common, it will be harder to prevent contamination. The industry also is concerned fears of contamination could hurt its sales, especially in Europe, where consumers have been extremely hesitant about biotech foods.

While opponents of engineered foods haven’t found federal agencies overly receptive to their concerns, they’ve been able to delay some USDA approvals with lawsuits. The alfalfa decision followed a lengthy court battle that was closely watched not only by the organic industry, but by consumers — a development that opponents believe will help their cause.

“We’re seeing a level of reaction that is unprecedented,” says Jeffrey Smith, an activist who has fought the expansion of genetically engineered foods since they were first introduced 15 years ago and written two books on the subject. “I personally think we are going to hit the tipping point of consumer rejection very soon.”

Many consumers also have followed the Food and Drug Administration’s consideration of an engineered salmon that grows twice as fast as the conventional variety. If the FDA approves the fish for sale, it will be the first time the government has allowed genetically modified animals to be marketed for humans to eat.

Consumer interest in the issue has magnified in the past five years, along with interest in eating locally grown and organic foods, said Organic Valley’s Siemon. Young, educated consumers who are driving much of the organic market have no interest in eating crops derived from a laboratory, he said. With as much as 80 percent of the foods in grocery stores containing some sort of engineered ingredient, according to the food industry, some companies have started labeling foods as non-modified to grab onto that share of the market.

Genetically modified crops were introduced to the market in 1996. That year, engineered corn accounted for less than 5 percent of the total crop. Last year, the USDA estimated that 70 percent of the nation’s corn acreage was planted with corn engineered to resist herbicides and 63 percent had been planted with insect-resistant seeds. Rates for soybeans and cotton are even higher.

The federal government approves genetically modified plants and animals on a case by case basis, with the FDA and USDA looking at the potential effects on food safety, agriculture and the environment. Critics say the process needs to be more thorough and more research should be done with an eye on potential dangers. Agencies often rely on companies’ own data to make their decisions.

The genetic engineering industry says its products already receive far more scrutiny than most of the food people put in their mouths. It also says 15 years of consumption with no widely recognized health problems shows much of the concern is overhyped.

David B. Schmidt, who heads the International Food Information Council Foundation, a food-industry funded group that has polled consumers on genetically modified foods, said their responses depend on how the issue is framed. When pollsters tell consumers that some foods can be engineered to have health benefits — such as biotech soybeans designed to reduce trans fats in soybean oil — they become more open to them. Most consumers are more open to modifications in fruits and vegetables than in animals, he added.

Still, many people don’t know what to think. About half of the consumers the foundation has polled recently have either been neutral on the subject or didn’t know enough to have an opinion.

Dan Barber, a well-known New York chef who grows his own food and sits on President Barack Obama’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, said the growing popularity of organic foods has given an “economic legitimacy” to the criticism.

He believes messing with nature will always have collateral damage. And, the more genetically modified crops are used, he said, the more pure crops will become compromised.

“Once you head down that road you don’t turn back,” Barber said.

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press – Fri Feb 25, 11:25 am ET

Source: AP

More information on GMOs:

GM food alters your DNA, changes your brain waves, destroys your immune system, your organs and makes you infertile.

– GMOs: No Seeds, No Independent Research!

– Scientists Warn Of Dangerous New Pathogen From Roundup Ready Treated Monsanto GM Crops Causing Infertility And Spontaneous Abortions

– USDA Deregulates GMO Corn Engineered to Produce Fuel, Not Food, Unleashing Another Mass Contamination of Crops

– Despite a Court Ban USDA Allows Commercial Planting of Monsanto’s Genetically Modified Sugar Beets

– US: Organic Consumers Association Funded by Big Pharma and Rockefeller! Food Freedom Betrayal!

– Change: USDA Recommends ‘Coexistence’ with Monsanto

– Monsanto’s Roundup Triggers Over 40 Plant Diseases and Endangers Human and Animal Health

– Max Keiser: Monsanto And The Seeds Of Evil

– WikiLeaks Cables: US Targets EU Over GM Crops

– Australia: Monsanto GM Strain Blows Organic Status Away

– US Conspired to Retaliate Against European Nations If They Resisted GMOs: Wikileaks Cable Reveals

– USDA GMO Policy

– US House of Representatives Passes Unconstitutional S.510/HR 2751, The Food Safety Modernization Act (TREASON!!!)

– The GMO Orange Scandal

– And Now: GMO Oranges As Solution To Insect-Borne Bacterial Disease

– Judge Orders Destruction Of Monsanto GMO sugarbeets

– Monsanto, Syngenta, BASF And Others Working On GM Wheat

– Scientists working to create genetically modified chocolate – to make you healthy (Sure!)

– MIT Scientists Develop GMO Plant That Produces Pharmaceutical Drugs

– USDA Plans To Allow GM Sugar Beet Planting During Lawsuit

– 10 Freakiest Things About Frankenfish

– GM Flax Contamination Detected in 35 Countries

– Study: GM Corn ‘Has Polluted Rivers Across The United States’

– FDA Refuses to Require Labeling of GM Salmon

– GM Salmon Nears US Approval

– RED ALERT: Dr. Rima E. Laibow On The Food Safety Bill (S 510): This Bill Eliminates All Local Farming, Organic Farmers and Garden Farmers

– US: GM Salmon May Go On Sale

– GMO Sugar Beets – Monsanto Wins Again

– US: Rice Farmer Awarded $500,000 In GM Rice Trial

– Scientist Leading Taxpayer-Funded GM Crop Test Defends Links To US Biotech Giant Monsanto

– US Supreme Court Lifts Ban On Monsanto’s GM Alfalfa

– UK Academics Quit Rigged FSA Frankenfood Propaganda

– Study: Monsanto’s Roundup Kills Human Cells (Flashback)

– GMO Alert: US Attempting Global Censorship of GMO Food Labeling

– California Files Legal Brief Opposing Monsanto in US Supreme Court

– Russian Scientists Prove Genetically Modified Foods are Harmful, Suggest Ban on GM Foods

– Bayer AG admits GMO contamination out of control

– Monsanto: GM-Corn Harvest of 82,000 Hectares in South Africa Fails (!)

– Multiple Ways Monsanto is Putting Normal Seeds Out of Reach

– Monsanto’s Genetically Modified Seed Patents May Trump Antitrust Claims

– Former Managing Director of Monsanto India: Monsanto ‘Faked’ Data for Approvals

– Monsanto GM Corn Causing Organ Failure In Rats: Study (Everything You Need To Know)

– Scientist: Monsanto’s herbicide could cause brain, intestinal and heart defects in foetuses

– Hawaii: GMO taro ban proposal goes to full council

– Monsanto to Charge as Much as 42 % More for New Seeds!

– US Association of Physicians calls for Moratorium on GMO Foods

– Monsanto sues Germany over GM corn ban

– Germany bans Monsanto’s GM maize

– Greenpeace: No need for condoms – GE corn can do the job

– Austrian Government Study Confirms Genetically Modified (GM) Crops Threaten Human Fertility and Health Safety

– BIODIVERSITY: Privatisation Making Seeds Themselves Infertile

– At stake is no less than control of the world’s food supply.

– Exposed: the great GM crops myth:

“Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis.”

Highly recommended videos:

– Life running out of control – Genetically Modified Organisms (!)

– The World According to Monsanto – A documentary that Americans won’t ever see. (!)

Obama and Monsanto:

– Obama Gives Key Agriculture Post to Lobbyist of CropLife America Whose Members Include Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont and Dow Chemical

– Obama Gives ‘Pesticide Lobbyist’ Post as Chief Agricultural Negotiator

– Monsanto lobbyists to be placed in charge of food safety by Obama

– Obama appoints Monsanto shill Tom Vilsack to USDA chief

On CODEX and the agenda of the elite:

– Food Safety Bill Invokes Codex Harmonization And Grants FDA Authority To Police Food Safety Of Foreign Nations

– Dr. Rima E. Laibow: The Globalist Depopulation Agenda

– Dr. Rima E. Laibow on Codex Alimentarius and Food Nazification (!)