Jeffrey Smith - Throwing Biotech Lies at Tomatoes - Part 2: The Liars

I write about the Flavr Savr in Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods. Two biotech advocates, Drs. Chassy and Tribe, created a GMO disinformation site        that allegedly discredits all 65 health risks highlighted in the work. I have already shown that their attack on the first risk, Dr. Pusztai's potatoes, was based on pure PR spin and scientific sleight-of-hand. Below I respond to their accusations regarding the Flavr Savr.

1. (Chassy and Tribe) FDA records clearly show that experts stated that the process of introducing stomach tubes can damage the rats' stomachs and/or end up placing test material in the lungs. . . The reader is not told that regulators approved the tomato because their concerns had been fully satisfied that the GM tomato was not toxic.

As indicated in Part 1, the actual scientists at the FDA wrote memo after memo declaring that the higher rates of lesions in the GM-fed group could not be explained away, and that they were not fully satisfied by the explanations. The discrepancy between what the political appointees at the agency stated publicly, and the concerns expressed in private memos by the scientific staff, has been clearly documented.

Read More:

http://huff.to/gPF0pY 

New research should nail the coffin lid shut on a toxic bee-killing pesticide

Entire food chain found to be contaminated, from soil to pollen to dead bees

The Sierra Club, with over 1.3 million members and supporters, calls on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to immediately suspend the registration of the insecticide clothianidin, based on new scientific evidence of extensive contamination in bees and soil.

Last week (January 3, 2012) scientists at Purdue University documented major adverse impacts from clothianidin, used as a seed treatment in corn, on honey bee health.        The results showed clothianidin present in foraging areas long after treated seed has been planted.

The study raises questions about the long term survival of this major pollinator.

"This research should nail the coffin lid shut on clothianidin", says Laurel Hopwood, Sierra Club's Chairwoman of the Genetic Engineering Action Team. "Despite numerous attempts by the beekeeping industry and conservation organizations to persuade the EPA to ban clothianidin, the EPA has failed to protect the food supply for the American people."

Read More:

http://www.sierraclub.org/biotech/whatsnew/whatsnew_2012-01-10.asp

Insects Developing Resistance to GM Bt Crops

GM Freeze today published a review of insect resistance to Bt toxins in GM maize and Bt cotton crops around the world. It shows how, contrary to promises from GM companies, pesticide use is increasing to keep up with insects in GM crops. [1]

Scientists have confirmed five incidents of insects evolving resistance to Bt toxins in the field to date: Bt cotton in India (2010) and US (2008), moth pests in maize in Puerto Rico (2007) and South Africa (2007) and a beetle pest in maize in the US (2011).

Reasons for resistance developing are:

*Failure to provide adequate non-GM refuges in GM crops to ensure non-resistant adult insects can survive to breed with resistant ones so that the resistance gene does not become dominant. Refuges are required by US laws that are widely flouted.

*Levels of Bt toxin in the crops too low to deliver lethal doses to pests. Sub-lethal doses mean resistance can develop as pests survive, mate and pass on the resistance gene. If the number of resistant individuals is high they can multiply quite rapidly and become dominant.

Read More:

http://www.gmfreeze.org/news-releases/171/

Flint Duxfield - New plant disease linked to GM crops and pesticides

US scientists claim to have discovered a dangerous new plant disease linked to genetically modified crops and the pesticides used on them.

The research, which is yet to be completed, suggests the pathogen could be the cause of recent widespread crop failure and miscarriages in livestock.

Emeritus Professor Don Huber from Perdue University says his research shows that animals fed on GM corn or soybeans may suffer serious health problems due the pathogen.

"They're finding anywhere from 20 per cent to as much as 55 per cent of those [animals] will miscarriage or spontaneously abort," he said.

"It will kill a chicken embryo for instance in 24-48 hours."

Professor Huber says it isn't clear yet whether it is the GM crops or the use of the pesticide glyphosate that causes the pathogen. But he says his research shows both the pesticide and the GM crops also reduce the ability of plants to absorb nutrients from the soil that are necessary for animal health.

"If you have the [GM] gene present there is a reduced efficiency for the plant to use those nutrients.

"When you put the glyphosate out then you have an additional factor to reduce the nutrient availability to the crop," he said.

Professor Huber's concerns came to light in February this year after a private letter he wrote to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary, Tom Vilsack, was leaked to the media.

Read More:

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2011/s3245624.htm

Damaging Effects of Roundup (and its active ingredient glyphosate)

Glyphosate was patented by Monsanto as the active ingredient in their Roundup brand. Monsanto also introduced genetically modified (GM) “Roundup Ready” (RR) soy, corn, cotton, canola, sugar beets, and alfalfa—all designed to withstand Roundup’s normally deadly effect. Glyphosate by itself is only mildly toxic to plants and doesn’t usually destroy weeds directly. As a broad-spectrum chelator,1, it binds with nutrients, 

depriving plants of the minerals needed to help them defend against disease. At the same time, glyphosate can stimulate disease-creating organisms in the soil such as fusarium, which then wipe out the weakened 

plants. Glyphosate also remains in tact in the soil for months or years, and can even be found in the manure of chickens fed RR grains

Glyphosate was patented by Monsanto as the active ingredient in their Roundup brand. Monsanto also introduced genetically modified (GM) “Roundup Ready” (RR) soy, corn, cotton, canola, sugar beets, and alfalfa—all designed to withstand Roundup’s normally deadly effect.Glyphosate by itself is only mildly toxic to plants and doesn’t usually destroy weeds directly. As a broad-spectrum chelator,1  it binds with nutrients, depriving plants of the minerals needed to help them defend against disease. At the same time, glyphosate can stimulate disease-creating organisms in the soil such as fusarium, which then wipe out the weakened plants. Glyphosate also remains in tact in the soil for months or years, and can even be found in the manure of chickens fed RR grains

Read More:

http://responsibletechnology.org/docs/damaging-effects-of-roundup.pdf

Jeffrey Smith - Throwing Biotech Lies at Tomatoes - Part 1: Killer Tomatoes

Remember the pictures of the fish tomatoes? For years they were an unofficial emblem of the anti-GMO movement. They depicted how anti-freeze genes from an Arctic fish were forced into tomato DNA, allowing the plants to survive frost. Scientists really did create those Frankentomatoes, but they were never put on the market. (Breyers low-fat ice cream, however, does contain anti-freeze proteins from Arctic fish genes, but that's another story.) The tomato that did make it to market was called the Flavr Savr, engineered for longer shelf life. Fortunately, it was removed from the shelves soon after it was introduced.

Although there are no longer any genetically modified (GM) tomatoes being sold today, the FDA's shady approval process of the Flavr Savr provides a lesson in food safety—or rather, the lack of it—as far as gene-spliced foods are concerned. We know what really went on during the FDA's voluntary review process of the Flavr Savr in 1993, because a lawsuit forced the release of 44,000 agency memos.

(Those same memos, by the way, also showed that FDA scientists had repeatedly warned their superiors about the serious health risks of genetically modified organisms [GMOs]. They were ignored by the political appointees in charge, who allow GMOs onto the market without any required safety studies.)

Read More:

http://huff.to/icEYZ3

Stephanie Bodoni - Honey Made Close to Modified Crops May Need Regulatory Approval

Beekeepers with hives close to fields cultivating genetically modified crops can't sell honey in the European Union without regulatory approval, an adviser to the EU's highest court said.

The unintentional presence in honey "even of a minute quantity of pollen" from a type of genetically modified maize made by Monsanto Co., the world's largest seed company, means that the honey needs an authorization before being sold in the market, Advocate General Yves Bot of the European Court of Justice said in a non-binding opinion today.

"Food containing material from a genetically modified plant, whether that material is included intentionally or not, must always be regarded as food produced" from modified plants, said Bot. The Luxembourg-based EU tribunal follows such advice most of the time. Rulings normally follow within six months of an opinion.

Read More:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-09/honey-made-close-to-gm-crops-needs-approval-eu-court-aide-says.html

Cristina Luiggi - Plant RNAs Found in Mammals

MicroRNAs from common plant crops such as rice and cabbage can be found in the blood and tissues of humans and other plant-eating mammals, according to a study published today in Cell Research. One microRNA in particular, MIR168a, which is highly enriched in rice, was found to inhibit a protein that helps removes low-density lipoprotein (LDL) from the blood, suggesting that microRNAs can influence gene expression across kingdoms.

"This is a very exciting piece of work that suggests that the food we eat may directly regulate gene expression in our bodies," said Clay Marsh, Director of the Center for Personalized Health Care at the Ohio State University College of Medicine who researches microRNA expression in human blood but who was not involved in the study.

MicroRNAs are, as the name implies, very short RNA sequences (approximately 22 nucleotides in length) discovered in the early 1990s. They are known to modulate gene expression by binding to mRNA, often resulting in inhibition. With the recent discovery that microRNAs circulate the blood by hitching a ride in small membrane-encased particles known as microvesicles (see our July 2011 feature on microvesicles, "Exosome Explosion"), there has been a surge of interest in microRNAs as a novel class of biomarkers for a variety of diseases.

Read More:

http://the-scientist.com/2011/09/20/plant-rnas-found-in-mammals/

Letters from Prof Don Huber to US and EU administrations Sent to President Jose-Manuel Barroso EU President cc to President Herman Van Rompuy, President Jerzy Buzek, Commissioner John Dalli and some MEPs March 25, 2011

This cover letter is provided to explain the reasoning and concerns that were conveyed in a letter which I sent to Secretary of Agriculture, Thomas Vilsack on January 17, 2011 (Attachment 1). The letter was not intended for public distribution; however, the letter was 'leaked' and subsequently posted on the internet from which it soon became public knowledge world-wide. Once it was widely distributed, I gave permission for subsequent postings in order to keep it consistent. My busy meeting and travel schedule has delayed getting further information on this matter out publicly to the many individuals who have requested it. The scientific data on this newly recognized organism is being prepared for formal publication.

I wrote the letter to Secretary Vilsack for a very simple reason: we are experiencing a large number of problems in production agriculture in the U.S. that appear to be intensified and sometimes directly related to genetically engineered (GMO) crops, and/or the products they were engineered to tolerate – especially those related to glyphosate (the active chemical in Roundup® herbicide and generic versions of this herbicide).  We have witnessed a deterioration in the plant health of corn, soybean, wheat and other crops recently with unexplained epidemics of sudden death syndrome of soybean (SDS), Goss' wilt of corn, and take-all of small grain crops the last two years. 

Read More:

http://gmwatch.eu/latest-listing/1-news-items/13021

State-of-the-Science on the Health Risks of GM Food

We all know stories of tobacco, asbestos, and DDT. Originally declared safe, they caused widespread death and disease. Although their impact was vast, most of the population was spared. The same cannot be said for sweeping changes in the food supply. Everyone eats; everyone is affected. The increase in several diseases in North America may be due to the profound changes in our diet. The most radical change occurred a little over a decade ago when genetically modified (GM) crops were introduced. Their influence on health has been largely ignored, but recent studies show serious problems. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been linked to thousands of toxic or allergic-type reactions, thousands ofsick, sterile, and dead livestock, and damage to virtually every organ and system studied in lab animals. Nearly every independent animal feeding safety study shows adverse or unexplained effects. 

GM foods were made possible by a technology developed in the 1970s whereby genes from one species are forced into the DNA of other species. Genes produce proteins, which in turn can generate characteristics or traits. The promised traits associated with GMOs have been sky high—vegetables growing in the desert, vitamin fortified grains, and highly productive crops feeding the starving millions. None of these are available. In fact, the only two traits that are found in nearly all commericialized GM plants are herbicide tolerance and/or pesticide production

Read More:

http://www.responsibletechnology.org/docs/145.pdf