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The GMO Agenda Takes a Menacing Leap Forward with Monsanto/Dow’s RNAi Corn

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RNAi Sayer Ji – Without much more than a whisper from the mainstream media, Monsanto’s newest Frankenfood has received full EPA approval and will be arriving on dinner plates by the end of the decade. The implications of this are harrowing, to say the least.

While you may not have made up your mind on the dangers of GMOs, you likely feel entitled to know when you’re consuming a food that is the product of laboratory research. For this reason, I am reporting on Monsanto’s latest food technology, unfortunately, already in the pipeline. And quite silently so. I write this with a certain degree of solemnity, if not also a tinge of regret, because, for three years, I have heard rumblings of Monsanto’s next project – RNA interference technology.

It was actually the late Heidi Stevenson, my friend, colleague, and founder of the platform Gaia Health, who first alerted me to the dangers of RNA interference-based tinkering with our food supply when she reported on the near disastrous approval of GMO wheat using RNA interference technology in Australia. Thankfully a few brave scientists and informed public stood up and, together, averted the disaster. But since then, both the dangers and the breakneck speed of development of this technology have gone largely ignored, even among activists deep in the non-GMO movement. Continue reading →

Could This New ‘Organic Ready’ Corn Help End Monsanto?

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Christina Sarich – In the world of Round Up Ready corn and other genetically modified crops, we’re in dire need of another ‘solution.’ Frank Kutka has been working on ‘Organic Ready’ corn for over 15 years as an all-around answer to biotech’s cancer causing crops.

cornKutka is a plant breeder who has been attempting to grow corn that naturally resists GM crop contamination through cross-pollination, thus eliminating Monsanto’s prevalently grown GMO corn from infesting organic farmer’s crops.

Kutka has been searching for traits in the ancient grain teosinte which makes it very unlikely that GM pollen can enter corn silk, thus making cross-pollination nearly impossible. He explains:

“The trait has been known and used for decades. It was first used in popcorn in the 1950s and then in white corn varieties in the 1970s… It greatly reduces the risk of out-crossing.”

Kutka has been searching for this pollen-blocking trait since 2001, when he was a student at Cornell University. If he is successful, then it will make the job of organic farmers much easier, since many of them face contamination of crops that they work very hard to keep organic, paying exorbitant fees to obtain a USDA organic label. Continue reading →

Dear Farmers: U.S. Is Now Importing Organic Corn To Satisfy Consumer Demand

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Heather Callaghan – There are three things driving a surge in organic imports:

  1. U.S. farmers have been systematically pushed into growing mostly GMO crops; grown primarily for fuel, animal feed and cheap processed foods. Russia even used our food supply as an example for the EU to dump us and join them instead.
  2. U.S. consumers are not only demanding fresh, organic produce as well as non-GMO convenience foods – but also want meat, dairy and eggs from animals that were fed non-GMO or organic feed.
  3. Other countries primarily grow non-GE crops, and plenty of organic. They’ve got the goods and they reap the benefits of trade.

This is ridiculous, as the U.S. could not only use a valuable export, but could honestly use a supportive, in-house product. Yet again, we find ourselves outsourcing for staples. Shouldn’t our own farmers be benefiting from this rise in demand coming from their country? Yet again, farmers have been tricked and kicked by the very companies with which they sign agreements.

U.S. consumers are coming into awareness about how their food affects their health and want superior products, which sadly, aren’t always available here…yet.

An analysis of U.S. trade data released Wednesday by the Organic Trade Association and Pennsylvania State University shows a spike in corn from Romania and soybeans from India. The chief executive officer of OTA is prompting farmers that the market is open for converts. She called it a “help-wanted” sign for farmers and said, “There are market distortions that are pretty striking.” [Also see: Study Quantifies Market Value of Nature’s Farming Services] Continue reading →

Popular “Non-GMO” Tortilla Chips Found to Contain 75% GMOs

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xochitlDo you do your best to avoid GMOs in food by reading labels and only buying from trusted brands? Well how would you feel if you found out that a popular brand of tortilla corn chips that you’ve been buying – specifically because their packaging states they are GMO-free – was FULL of GMO corn? Yea, you’ve been eating those tasty little chips like they were going out of style, all while potentially hurting yourself without even knowing it. That is exactly what’s happening with tortilla chip maker Xochitl, a company recently ousted for covertly including GMO ingredients in its chips.

Xochitl has been printing the GMO-Free label on the bottom left on their packages, branding themselves as a label that consumers can trust. However, after conducting a study looking at many products that are supposed to be GMO-free, Consumer Reports, has found this labeling to be less than honest.

Consumer Reports says that Xochitl has been lying about their GMO content – and not just a little bit. We aren’t talking about trace amounts of GMO corn.

The report even found its way into the mainstream media.

Despite the non-GMO claims by Xochitl (pronounced “so-cheel”) and their Totopos de Maiz original corn chips, the Consumer Reports investigation found that the non-organic (supposedly non-GMO) varieties of the chips contain over 75% GMO corn, after testing 6 different packages. Continue reading →

5 Ingredients Hidden In GMO Corn That Shouldn’t Be There

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“. . .  experts are trying to save Mexico’s 60 varieties of indigenous, non-GMO corn from biotech influence.” C Sarich

cartoon_gmo_cornThe United States is run over with GMO corn. More than 20 varieties of genetically modified corn are being sown across hundreds of thousands of acres of America’s farmland. It is estimated that 89% of all corn crops planted, are in fact, now GMO. With these inexcusable statistics proving that biotech has completely dominated the seed industry, you should know just what is in those corn chips at your favorite restaurant.

Here are 5 things in GMO corn that shouldn’t be in anything we put into our bodies:

1. E. Coli Bacteria DNA

Using recombinant DNA technology, biotech has infused our corn with a strain of E. coli. Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some, such as serotype O157:H7, can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls.

The harmless strains are part of the normal flora of the gut. They can benefit their hosts by producing vitamin K2 and by preventing the establishment of pathogenic bacteria within the intestine. But the GMO E. coli bacteria has been known to cause virulent factors in many animals and humans. Mutated forms of the bacteria, which are known to occur often in recombinant DNA, can then infect a person or animal’s gut, causing digestive issues and more.

2. Cauliflower Mosaic Virus DNA

Continue reading →