Your tax dollars are wasted on governmental raids against organic food producers
Recently, a statement released by an international group of more than 90 academics, researchers and scientists stated that there are no scientific unanimity that genetically modified foods and crops are safe. The statement came right after the recent claims by biotech industry, its supporters and some scientists that there is scientific unanimity that GMO foods and crops are safe for the environment and health of humans and animals.
The recent statement published by the world scientists calls such claims by biotech supporters “misleading” and “deceptive” and points out that there is no scientific consensus that GMOs are safe.
The chairperson of the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER) and one of the signatories, Dr. Angelika Hilbeck says that "such claims may place human and environmental health at undue risk and create an atmosphere of complacency. The statement draws attention to the diversity of opinion over GMOs in the scientific community and the often contradictory or inconclusive findings of studies on GMO safety. These include toxic effects on laboratory animals fed GM foods, increased pesticide use from GM crop cultivation, and the unexpected impacts of Bt insecticidal crops on beneficial and non-target organisms.”
The statement also mentions how a group of like-minded people make a deceptive claim that GMOs are safe, while there are many unanswered question and speculation about the safety of GMO crops and as a matter of fact, in some cases there is serious doubt and concern about the safety of GMOs.
“A substantial number of studies suggest that GM crops and foods can be toxic or allergenic. It is often claimed that millions of Americans eat GM foods with no ill effects. But as the US has no GMO labeling and no epidemiological studies have been carried out, there is no way of knowing whether the rising rates of chronic diseases seen in that country have anything to do with GM food consumption or not. Therefore this claim has no scientific basis.” says a signatory to the statement, Prof C. Vyvyan Howard, a medically qualified toxicopathologist based at the University of Ulster.
One of the other signatories of the statement, Prof Ernst-Ulrich von Weizsäcker (Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel (UNEP) and Co-President of The Club of Rome) says that “The future of food and agriculture is one of the great challenges of humankind of the 21st century. The claim of scientific consensus on GMO safety is misleading and misrepresents diverse and inconclusive scientific evidence. The full range of scientific research needs to be taken into account, in open, transparent and honest debates which involve the broader society, when decisions of global concern are being made. This is a responsibility of scientists and science.”
“It is misleading and irresponsible for anyone to claim that there is a consensus on these important issues. Many questions remain open, while more are being discovered and reported by independent scientists in the international scientific literature. Indeed answering of some key public interest questions based on such research have been left neglected for years by the huge imbalance in research funding, against thorough biosafety research and in favour of the commercial-scientific promotion of the technology”, says Prof Brian Wynne, associate director and co-principal investigator from 2002-2012 of the UK ESRC Centre for the Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics, Cesagen, Lancaster University.
Scientists release statement as World Food Prize goes to Monsanto and Syngenta:
Many prominent and respected scientists were among those who signed the statement that there are no scientific consensuses on the safety of genetically modified organisms. One of them was Dr Hans Herren (a former winner of the World Food Prize and this year's Alternative Nobel Prize laureate), and Dr Pushpa Bhargava (known as the father of modern biotechnology in India).
The award brought surprise and outrage to many in the world since many countries have been restricting or banning GMO crops and in several countries, GMO crops were even set on fire by Green Peace movement activities. Even developing countries like India, Bangladesh and Philippines have proposed long field trials and proper safety testing on GMOs and countries like Brazil and Argentina have been taking GMO’s approval under legal challenges.
World Food Prize goes to Monsanto and Syngenta while organic farms are raided by your tax dollars:
We are living in a world that companies that destroy and poison our food supply are being awarded while organic farmers are being pushed out of business by giant agribusinesses.
In fact, Texas SWAT team recently raided an organic farm while all the 8 adults present at the house in the farm were handcuffed by heavily armed police officers, including a mother of a 22-month old and 2-week old. Instead of having Monsanto and Syngenta’s CEO on handcuff, SWAT teams and food regulatory agencies like FDA are spending your tax dollars on governmental raids for selling organic foods and raw milk: http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/Texas-SWAT-team-raids-organic-farm.php
We all remember FDA’s raid on rawsome store in CA in August 2011. The footage shows how the SWAT team poured down all the fresh products and raw milk of Rawsome Co-Op down the drain and arrested its owner James Stewart for supposedly selling raw milk. Here is the footage: http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/aspartame-dairy-FDA-petition.php#FDA
Will FDA’s SWAT team be willing to do the same with giant Agribusinesses and pharmaceutical companies who are poisoning you and your family? As a matter of fact, people have been drinking raw milk for thousands of years now, while the conventional medical system is one of is one of the leading causes of deaths in the United States.
Your tax dollars are wasted on pointless governmental raids against the organic food industry who have been trying to bring people fresh foods free of chemicals and pesticides of the evil companies like Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow, Bayer and DuPont.
The five giant biotech and chemical companies are spending heavily in the recent days to defeat GMO food labeling Initiative in Washington. “Yes on 522’ needs your support:
Monsanto just donated another $540,000 to ‘No on 522’ and the No on 522 Campaign has raised nearly $22.9 million to defeat I-552.
Most of the money to defeat “yes on 522’is coming from giant biotech and chemical companies including Monsanto, DuPont, Dow and Bayer while the rest of the money came from junk food companies who tried to hide their identity through GMA. However, a lawsuit by Washington attorney general forced GMA to release the list of these companies who betray our democracy. Click here to boycott these corporations: http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/biotech-food-companies-spending-heavily-to-defeat-GMO-labeling-in-Washington.php#GMO
Yes on 522 has only been able to raise $6.8 million from small donation of the organic food industry and its supporters. According to ‘Yes on 522’ campaign manager, Delana Jones, immediate donations are needed to fight back against the Monsanto, DuPont and Bayer corporate cash.
Sources:
http://www.ensser.org/media/0513/
http://ecowatch.com/2013/10/30/ge-food-labeling-donations/
