Big Money Wins Out In New Bogus GMO Labeling Law

John Phillips: Bio-geneticist and nutrition specialist, has shown links between GMO foods and Alzheimer's.

Perhaps too many citizens are unaware that a new GMO labeling law has been passed, but it is littered with loopholes large enough to drive a metaphorical Mack truck through.  The cynical corporate and government masterminds behind it realized they had to provide some cover for themselves given the uproar in this country concerning the lack of GMO labeling. 

Thus,  multinational and corporate "big food" and its allies spent $100 million to get a bogus labeling law passed in order to counter the anti-GMO labeling movement.  Much of their effort was forced by Vermont's GMO labeling law - now rendered null - which would have spread  to other states had the bogus federal law not emerged  (After all, the M.O. in this country is whenever a serious political challenge or movement arises, create front groups to defuse the issues, the movement or both)

Millions have justifiably expressed concern at this tactic given that - as John Phillips (Barbadian bio -geneticist) has found, Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide) is present in all genetically engineered foods. And it’s not something that can be washed off or taken out of the food by cooking or purification – it’s integrated into the plant on a fundamental level.   Monsanto- the maker-  was also a manufacturer of the pesticide DDT, which now has been conclusively linked to the development of Alzheimer’s, as well as many other degenerative diseases in humans.

Experts like Mr. Phillips now believe that glyphosate is even worse than DDT. It decimates beneficial bacteria in the gut, disrupts immune function, and has been correlated with shocking precision to the rise in autism and other cognitive diseases and conditions. 

But let's return to the bogus labeling law, which on the surface sounds legit. After all, as Mark Bittman in the NY Times has pointed out (9/10): "it mandates that the Department of Agriculture define what constitutes a genetically modified food ingredient and then requiring food manufacturers to label products that contain them". What's not to like?  Well, the loopholes and latitude allowed including (ibid.):

- As a label, food producers can substitute a "toll -free number" for consumers to call to get further information on their own.

- Or they can scan a UPC code using a smartphone to get the info needed

As Bittman puts it,  the message to the American consumer is "You deserve to know what's in your food", but to food producers, "Feel free to make the information as difficult to find as you'd like"

The FDA, as I noted before, has declared GMOs not to be harmful, hence no need for labeling. But the feds have still failed to apply the precautionary principle, that it is the GMO producers' job to prove their products are safe, not for outside observers to disprove it. Further, offering a simple declaration based on research done by those linked to Monsanto and other GMO producers, doesn't make the proof standard. As Bittman puts it: "Our system for declaring products safe leaves much to be desired" - which is putting it mildly.

Bittman goes on to note that while it is true GMO crops, like soybeans and corn, "have led to fewer applications of herbicides"  they have "also encouraged the growth of weeds that have become resistant to herbicides after years of exposure."

And most to the point:

"GMOs have become an indispensable crutch for the fertilizer and pesticide-dependent monoculture that is wrecking our land and water and generating the execrable excess of corn and soy-based junk food that is sickening our population and decreasing our life spans":

Which reinforces local Dem candidate Electra Johnson's recent take (Colorado Springs Independent, Aug. 18-19, p. 20 ):

"Our leaders are not looking after us....we are not cared for at the level of our very survival".

What are our leaders looking after? Well, the profits for the corporations - businesses that give them most of their political campaign largesse. God forbid these poltroons "bite the hand that feeds them".

Bitmann avers that now that we're "allowed" to know at least some of what's in our foods (if we dig deep enough) there are other questions we may have to ask including:

-  Where are the ingredients from?

- Were antibiotics routinely administered to animals?

- What pesticides and other chemicals were used?

- What farming practices were used?

- How much water was required?

Bittman acknowledges all this information and more could be made available and also that "some people may care while others don't" but the point is that whether maximal info content is used ought to be a choice of the consumer - not the product manufacturer.   As Bittman puts it at the end of his piece:

"Companies doing things well should seize the chance to put whatever they can on the package ...companies that don't disclose information could be assumed to have something to hide."

This is well put, and something all of us ought to seriously consider when we make our next food purchase, and as Bittman notes "we're long overdue for a transparency revolution"

Indeed!

The Physician Whores Going After Mehmet Oz - WHY Are They Doing It?

Last week a group of "doctors" (maybe whores is more like it, as I will show) dispatched a letter to Columbia University, asking them to remove Dr. Mehmet Oz from their staff. What had their panties in a twist? According to the news segment this morning, shown on CBS, the statement says in part:

"Dr. Oz has repeatedly shown disdain for science and for evidence -based medicine, as well as baseless and relentless opposition to the genetic engineering of food crops."

Pay special attention to the very last part because that is really what this asinine complaint is all about (and to a lesser extent likely Oz' maintaining that eliminating all vitamin supplements is not a good idea, see e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2015/03/believe-anti-vitamin-scolds-and-you-may.html

And WHO is the top physician -"researcher" whore trying to get rid of Oz?  None other than Henry Miller - a pro-corporate worm ensconced at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank which has also harbored a bunch of lamebrains who've done numerous anti-global warming screeds. In other words, some of the biggest anti-scientific assholes on the planet.  One of these turds actually - according to an ABC News report - served 22 months in prison for Medicaid fraud. Four of the other smearing degenerates have been linked to the "American Council on Science and Health" (ACSH) and received money from companies that sell GMOs. In other words, craven sellout whores.

Oz obviously came into the target sights of Miller and his clique of knuckle dragger "physician" henchmen because of highlighting the dangers of GMO foods, which - of course -  would  mean less money for the likes of Monsanto. In one of his shows, in fact, Dr Oz noted the dangers of glyphosate used in these damned foods and the havoc it can wreak on human health.

For example, on his Sept. 19, 2014 show we beheld a "health calamity" to use Oz's expression, as non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's and other conditions spread as the horrific weedicide Enlist entered our food supply via GMO foods.

Oz began by putting up on the screen a section of a letter put out by dozens of worried scientists, physicians. The letter began by stating:

"We the undersigned scientists, medical professionals, and researchers are writing to urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency not to register a double herbicide mix of 2,4- D and glyphosate - the 'Enlist DUO weed killer"

In the letter all the probable health risks were detailed, as noted in the first paragraph. In terms of the horrors of glyphosate and how it wreaks havoc on foods, I already discussed this in a previous post, e.g.   http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2014/03/alzheimers-epidemic-fro-eating-gmo.html

In that post I quoted Barbadian biogenetic researcher John Phillips:

"Among other toxins and other health-disrupting contaminants, GMO foods contain glyphosate, a horrifically destructive chemical that saps nutrients from foods and quite literally makes them toxic to consume."

The worst part is that GMO foods are everywhere…if something is not explicitly labeled as organic and GMO-free, you should assume that it contains glyphosate. The most damnable shame is that our own Neoliberal government refuses to justify labeling these foods - so consumers have no way of knowing.






















John Phillips: Bio-geneticist and nutrition specialist, has found new links between GMO foods and Alzheimer's

Experts like Mr. Phillips now believe that glyphosate is even worse than DDT. It decimates beneficial bacteria in the gut, disrupts immune function, and has been correlated with shocking precision to the rise in autism and other cognitive diseases and conditions.  The moral of the story is that you should stop eating GMO foods at all costs. Do not consume anything (especially soy and corn) that isn’t specifically labeled as non-GMO.  Wonder why Alzheimer's keeps ramping up - blame the GMO foods, and now - with Entry DUO - the potential to add on other diseases like Parkinson's.

In his opening segment  on 9/19/14  Dr. Oz set out the facts as we know them:

1- Seventy to Eighty percent of the foods we eat today contain GMOs.

2- There are 1.1 billion pounds of pesticides used per year, used on GMO crops - because those crops are designed to survive the poisons.

3- 70 - 170 million pounds of additional highly toxic pesticides will be used if the FDA approves Enlist.

One of the worst scourges is how glyphosate is now in the blood of many kids, and triggering outbreaks of autism (which too many blame on vaccines). As one mom featured on Oz's show observed, her son showed all the symptoms and when she had his blood tested she found inordinate levels of glyphosate. She then went totally organic and the symptoms subsided.

One claim made by the GMO makers (like Monsanto) and promoters is GMOs are crucial to feed a hungry world - by offering higher yields. But as Oz's other guest, Mark Bittman (Food columnist for the NY Times) noted, "Yields are not up and pesticide use is not down. So when you talk about feeding a hungry world, GMOs have not moved us in that direction."

Indeed, it is precisely because of the widespread pesticide-herbicide use connected with GMO foods, that a more powerful toxin has been demanded - by agri-business, and farmers in the maw of the GMO giants. This is because the herbicide overuse has led to the invasive weeds becoming adapted to the toxins and being more difficult to put down. The bottom line: glyphosate alone isn't enough to do the job.

2,4 - D, let us bear in mind, was also used in Agent Orange - the dastardly chemical used to devastate millions of acres of crops in South Vietnam and which left thousands of U.S. military personnel with debilitating conditions,  and tens of thousands of Vietnamese infants with hideous birth defects the country is still dealing with today.

One of the other worrisome effects Oz presented was the dispersive and diffusive potential from GMO crops - say in the proximity of schools, other public places. Oz demonstrated this dispersal as when winds blow to drive it off onto bordering areas - schools, homes, towns. He stated: "It's just hard to put a fence around it. The Environmental Working Group found that over 5500 schools within 200 feet of these pesticides drift range and GMO farms, potentially putting thousands of children and their families at risk of serious health problems.."

This drift and dispersal scenario is also one with which John Phillips concurs - which is why he's vigorously argued against the use of GMO crops in Barbados.

The corporate whore kingdom often cites the FDA or other government agencies to bestow benediction on GMO foods, i.e. that they are "safe" - but of course these federal agencies have already been bought out long ago and become de facto PR- whore extensions for the corporatocracy. This is why they incessantly fight to keep labels off GMO foods.

And while anti-GMO folks are lampooned by the Neoliberal governmental -business estate and its lackeys, let's bear in mind 64 countries already require labeling of GMO foods or ban them outright. Why is the U.S. different? Or better, why is the U.S. the exceptional dumb nation here? Could it be the corporate state has our gov't by the balls, lock, stock and barrel? Maybe! As Heather White observed on Oz' s 9/19/14 show, they are only willing to "rubber stamp" what the corporations want and most of our agencies are in their maw. That makes them corporate whores!

Meanwhile, kudos to Columbia University for showing support of Dr. Mehmet Oz so he can continue his position there while also speaking out against the rampant poison of GMOs. In a statement released yesterday the university wrote:

"Columbia is committed to the principle of academic freedom and to upholding faculty members' freedom of expression for statements they make in public discussion."


As for Oz complainer Henry Miller: he needs to remove his brain from the corporate propaganda axis, stop emulating tools like John McAdams, and try to learn about the real dangers of GMO foods - minus all the BS and tomfoolery.