Those who argue in favor of the creation and propagation of genetically-modified organisms, also known as GMOs, will be the first to tell you that GMOs represent a great humanitarian effort to “feed the world.” Yet despite their rhetoric, GMOs have gotten a lot of bad humanitarian press. GMO crops like corn and soy aren’t living up to their high-yield propaganda. And in less than a decade, India’s seen more than 270,000 farmers commit suicide because of the crushing debt they experienced as outrageously expensive GMO cotton and cereal grains performed far worse than anticipated. Given all the negative coverage, it’s no wonder that they’re trying to tout the humanitarian benefit of Golden Rice — a GMO rice that’s been modified to produce extra beta-carotene. According to biotech firms, this rice will save the lives of millions of children who are suffering from vitamin A deficiency.
Bee Deaths Create Crisis for Crops
Our nation’s bees are vanishing. Every winter for the last six years, more than a third of all bee colonies in the U.S. have simply … gone. Now the decimated bee population has finally reached critical mass. According to an industry wide survey, there will no longer be enough bees in the U.S. to pollinate our almond, avocado, blueberry, pear, plum, and apple crops this year. Yes, you read that right. Next year, these crops will fail — not because of poor weather, not because of a new blight ravaging the crops, but because of a lack of bees.
Videos Monsanto Doesn’t Want You To See
Dare to watch two short videos Monsanto doesn’t want you to see — one of which is uproariously funny (and maybe shouldn’t be!). Find out if you won last month’s giveaways for a $500 Gift Certificate to Vital Choice Seafood or the $275 in prizes from Ayala’s Herbal Water.
Should GMOs Be Labeled?
Nothing spells D-R-A-M-A like a mother going up against academics and former scientists in a public blogging forum. That’s just what happened this month to Michelle Maisto, a food-blogging mother writing at Forbes.com after she wrote a post calling for the labeling of GMO foods. Granted, Michelle is not a biochemical engineer, nor is she a trained physician. However, she wasn’t writing about the health or safety of GMO foods. She was just asking a logical question.
Roundup Resistant Weeds Not A Surprise
Monsanto, the developer of the herbicide Roundup, should have seen it coming. All across the country, weeds are quickly mutating to become resistant to Roundup. Many scientists did see it coming, including Jane Rissler and Margaret Mellon of the Union for Concerned Scientists. They even wrote a book on The Ecological Risks of Engineered Crops in 1996 in which they warned of just such a thing.
But now the New York Times has posted a nearly hysterical article about the End of Roundup. Think: Oh NO, America! Without Roundup and the benefit of genetically-engineered monocultures, agriculture will totally fall apart, get even more expensive, require us to use even more toxic chemicals just to keep our plants alive, and contribute to extensive erosion!! The impact on the environment will be terrible.
It would be laughable if it weren’t all such a bunch of marketing spin. It reminds me of the marketing campaign Monsanto launched last year. You know the one. The one where they declared their total dedication to “sustainable agriculture.”
Real Food LOVE
It’s been a couple of weeks since my last Real Food Link Love post, and I have collected some really tasty, tantalizing, practical, and exciting things to share with you!
Are GMOs Safe?
Five years ago, I didn’t know what GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) were. I certainly didn’t know how pervasive they were in our food supply. And I would never have asked if they were safe or not.
After all, wasn’t that the government’s job? Someone at the FDA or USDA would surely have tested any new food technologies to make sure it was safe for me to consume.
Needless to say, I’ve since learned just how wrong I was.
GMOs and Pharmaceuticals
They call it “pharming.” It’s the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) to manufacture pharmaceutical compounds.
Most scientists cheer the effort on, particularly when pharming animals. After all, you can get as much antithrombin (a protein found in human blood plasma and now manufactured into the milk of GMO goats) from a single GMO goat in a year as can be derived from 90,000 blood donations.
When you’re talking about a single, well-protected herd of 200 goats producing the equivalent amounts of pharmaceutical proteins as 18 MILLION blood donations, the risks seem minimal.
Vandana Shiva On the Dangers of GMOs
Until a few months ago, I didn’t know who Vandana Shiva was. Now I think of her as India’s Sitting Bull — a well-educated freedom fighter who is outspoken against the use of GMOs.
In Shiva’s home country of India, thousands of farmers are taking their lives. In the mainstream news media, reports of the mass suicides are blamed on failed crops. Shiva tells a different story. She blames failed GMO crops.
Just Say No To GMOs — Join the No-GMO Challenge
If you had to name the largest single threat to the environment that you could think of, what would it be? Climate change? Global warming? Deforestation? Overpopulation? Wars? Pollution? A Global Pandemic?
My answer is easy: The single greatest threat to Earth as we know it is the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our food supply. Decimate our food supply, and the rest won’t matter.
But are GMOs really that dangerous?