GMOs

[svenhag]

Monsanto’s GM corn MON863 shows kidney, liver toxicity in animal studies

A variety of genetically modified corn that was approved for human consumption in 2006 caused signs of liver and kidney toxicity as well as hormonal changes in rats in a study performed by researchers from the independent Committee for Independent Research and Genetic Engineering at the University of Caen in France.

What you need to know - Conventional View
• The corn in question, MON863, is made by the Monsanto Company and approved for use in Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, and the United States. It has had a gene inserted from the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which causes the plant’s cells to produce a pesticide.

• Researchers fed rats either unmodified corn or diets containing 11 or 30 percent MON863 for 90 days. The rats who ate modified corn were found to exhibit signs of liver and kidney toxicity, as well as signs of hormonal changes.

• Male rats lost an average of 3.3 percent of their body weight, and their excretion of phosphorus and sodium decreased. Female rats gained an average of 3.7 percent of their body weight, while their triglyceride levels increased by 24 to 40 percent.

• The mechanism that causes the toxicity is not yet known, but the researchers say there is evidence that the Bt toxin may cause the perforation of blood cells. They expressed concern that the methods used by Monsanto in initial tests of the corn were statistically flawed and called their own tests “the best mammalian toxicity tests available.”

• Greenpeace responded to the study by calling for an immediate recall of all MON863 corn and the reassessment of all genetically modified foods currently approved for the market.

• Quote: “Our counter-evaluation shows that there are signs of toxicity, and nobody can say scientifically and seriously the consumption of the transgenic maize MON863 is safe and good for health.” - Lead Author Gilles Eric Seralini

What you need to know - Alternative View
Statements and opinions by Mike Adams, author of Grocery Warning: How to identify and avoid dangerous food ingredients

• It seems that the more these GM foods are tested, the more frightening the implications seem to be for human health. When companies like Monsanto do their own in-house testing, results are mysteriously favorable in nearly all cases, but when independent labs run their own tests, the results are downright shocking.

• I find it interesting that the FDA believes U.S. consumers should not be allowed to know which foods are genetically modified and which aren’t. The push for honest labeling of GM foods has been blockaded by corporate interests and corrupt federal regulators.

Resources you need to know
The Campaign for labeling of GM foods: thecampaign.org

Bottom line
• A variety of genetically modified corn was found to cause signs of hormonal changes and liver and kidney toxicity in rats.

THe powers that be are obviously worried about our health

[Sagesound]

04.11.07.2171

I love seeing vague reports like this… it is a testament to poor news reporting. Of course, I am curious… what is the “root source” of this news that you have “quoted”? Was it this one from Greenpeace?

Regardless… when you have reports making claims without showing specific evidence like for instance; ‘the exact percentage of rats that showed negative effects from MON863’, you’re setting yourself up for political car wreck.

Monsanto argued that the lab results of negative effects to the rats are “statistically insignificant”, even though they never released the numbers either. That’s not the point though… when you have political lobbyist going around trying to persuade people to your cause, you don’t follow the data of those 9 out of 10 doctors who said the product is good… no, you go to that 1 doctor out of 10 who said the product is bad and you make that doctor’s data the center of attention, ignoring the other 9 of 10.

Genetically engineered food should not be the target of political activist assault groups… fast food on the other hand…

[svenhag]

@Sagesound

04.11.07.2171

I love seeing vague reports like this… it is a testament to poor news reporting. Of course, I am curious… what is the “root source” of this news that you have “quoted”? Was it this one from Greenpeace?

Good point, I hesitated to post because the source was not included. I did in the end, however, because I had seen a TV program which was not allowed to air on a major French channel, and in which the same conlusions were reached. Monsanto offers 0 transparency and its interests are put before that of the publics health.

Genetically engineered food should not be the target of political activist assault groups… fast food on the other hand…

They are not the only ones to reach this conclusion. This is the program (without subtitles).

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1783600181213230759&q

It is shown that tests were done by an Italian lab for 2 years with Monsanto GMO soja on 150 mice and that these mice saw their organs modified + had less digestive enzymes than another 150 mice. The Italian government inexplicably put a term to the research after this period.

On the Monsanto OGM corn, French health analysts were not given access to Monsantos study concluding that there was no difference on mices health between those who ate normal corn and Monsanto corn. This is where Greenpeace came in. The German government was not releasing the Monsanto study either, and, through Greenpeaces action, a judge declared the report should be handed over (which apparently showed that the Mansanto corn eating rats saw some of their organs modified). A French government scientest then says that it is not confirmed that this corn is detrimental to health, but he cannot exlude it either. Monsantos study stated that rats who had ate their corn (over 90 days only) did not have significatively more lesions, but the sample of the other group of rats was 6 times more important.

Knowing this, I say the principle of precaution should be adopted.

[someoneisatthedoor]

@svenhag

Knowing this, I say the principle of precaution should be adopted.

@Sagesound

Genetically engineered food should not be the target of political activist assault groups… fast food on the other hand…

You’re both wrong. The precautionary principle forbids itself. The whole of the food industry should come under extreme scrutiny by political activist assault groups and more credible people. The connections between diet and psychology are widely documented, and easily demonstrable. Ergo they are of utmost significance both politically and socially.

[svenhag]

Well, actually, precaution was just a first step. The number one priority in my mind is solving the colony collapse disorder “mystery”. Given that bees are central to having healthy and natural foods.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/27/business/bees.php

http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/issues/emr.php?id=bees

Collapse of Honey Bees in U. S., Canada and 9 European Countries

© 2007 by Linda Moulton Howe

“We’re seeing that some beekeepers have lost fairly high levels
of bees over the winter – one beekeeper as high as 90% loss.”

• Brent Halsall, Pres., Ontario Beekeepers Assoc., Canada

Honey bees working a hive. Albert Einstein said, ” If honey bees become extinct,
human society will follow in four years.”

April 6, 2007 London, England - When hives in Toronto and Saskatchewan, Canada, were opened up in the last week of March, at least 40% had either disappeared – or in another twist of the mystery – in some Canadian hives, thousands of bee bodies were found dead.

In addition to the United States and Canada, in Europe at least nine countries are now reporting massive disappearances of honey bees – similar to the Colony Collapse Disorder that has affected American beekeepers since the fall of 2006. The European countries reporting bee disappearances are:

1)  Spain
2)  Poland
3)  Greece
4)  Croatia
5)  Switzerland
6)  Italy
7)  Portugal
Cool  Germany
9)  And England.

To everyone’s surprise, in the U. K. where genetically modified crops have been resisted and beekeeping is on a smaller scale with less pesticide use than in the United States, honey beekeepers in London who opened hives the end of March found at least half of their hives empty.

If he were a true environmentalist, Al Gore should be all over this.

[Sagesound]

04.11.07.2173

How about we swipe the FDA from existence and rebuild from the ground up a tougher food and drug evaluation board that will enforce a stricter food and drug code that scrutinizes even the most mundane manufacturer. They will have people looking over their shoulders to make sure they never take bribes or go outside their own code restrictions.

“Gen-en” food manufacturers will be pressured to produce a product that shows absolutely no chance for any adverse side effects. Fast food companies (especially McDonald’s) will be forced to use “real” or “unaltered” food. It will be like a hammer coming down on the American freedom of getting fat as easy and quickly as possible.

[svenhag]

Don’t look too trustworthy. I hope they aren’t out to kill us

Health freedom action alert: FDA attempting to regulate supplements, herbs and juices as “drugs”
When it comes to health freedom, this is the FDA’s end game. A new FDA “guidance” document, published on the FDA’s website, reveals plans to reclassify virtually all vitamins, supplements, herbs and even vegetable juices as FDA-regulated drugs. Massage oils and massage rocks will be classified as “medical devices” and require FDA approval. The document is called Docket No. 2006D-0480. Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA is accepting public comments on the docket until April 30th. They tried to sneak this under the radar, but word got out and now the natural health community is up in arms over this rule. If you wish to protect your access to nutritional supplements, herbs, essential oils, homeopathic medicine or any other “complementary” or “alternative” modality, it is crucial that you take action to post your comments with the FDA right now and write your representatives in Washington to put a stop to this outrageous effort to destroy natural medicine.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/dockets/comments/COMMENTSMain.CFM?EC_DOCUMENT_ID=1451&SUBTYP=CONTINUE&CID=&AGENCY=FDA

This move by the FDA is designed to once and for all destroy the 1994 DSHEA law that has made supplements “legal” while eliminating nutritional supplements and natural medicine from the United States, ensuring monopoly profits and control by drug companies and the FDA. It is the latest action item by the FDA / Big Pharma conspiracy that will not stop until health freedom has been abolished, drug companies rule the nation, and every citizen is diagnosied with a fictitious disease and drugged up on monopoly-priced pharmaceuticals.

FDA “experts” will decide what’s a drug or medical device
Under these proposed guidelines, FDA “experts” (the same corrupt officials who reapproved Vioxx after it killed over 50,000 Americans) will decide whether herbs, supplements, vitamins or simple devices like massage stones are to be regulated as drugs and medical devices. If the FDA experts, in their infinite wisdom, decide that these things are to be reclassified, they will essentially be outlawed, stripped from the shelves, and regulated out of existence. Anyone who dares to manufacture, promote or sell such products will be branded a criminal and rounded up by armed FDA agents who have a well established history of suppressing natural medicine.

I’ve documented much of the criminal history of the FDA in my recent book, http://www.truthpublishing.com/naturalhealthsolutions.html, which suddenly seems even more relevant today than when I wrote it. In that book, I documented the FDA ordered book burnings, the raids on vitamin shops, the kidnapping of natural health practitioners, the threats, intimidation and oppression tactics that have been used to suppress natural medicine for nearly a hundred years now. And now, with this CAM Products Regulation effort, the FDA is about to deal a final, fatal blow to the alternative medicine industry, outlawing nutritional supplements, functional foods, homeopathy and natural therapies all at once.

This is not a drill. It really is time to be alarmed. Nothing else I’ve written about this year is as important as this sinister plot to destroy natural medicine and force the American population to resort to dangerous prescription medications sold at monopoly prices under a system of medical tyranny.

Your access to vitamins, supplements, herbs, and even energy medicine modalities is now directly threatened, and you have until April 30 to make your voice heard.

Action items
First, read the document yourself. http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/E7-3259.pdf

Take special care to notice the following text, taken directly from the FDA’s own document: (italicized text is from the FDA, with my own translation following)

“…a product used in a CAM therapy or practice may be subject to regulation as a biological product, cosmetic, drug, device, or food (including food additives and dietary supplements) under the act or the PHS Act. Second, neither the act nor the PHS Act exempts CAM products from regulation.”

Translation: Anything used in any system of medicine may now be regulated as a drug or medical device by the FDA. This includes a biofeedback machine, acupuncture needles, a cup of herbal tea, massage oil, a glass of vegetable juice or even a bottle of water.

“…if a person decides to produce and sell raw vegetable juice for use in juice therapy to promote optimal health… [and] if the juice therapy is intended for use as part of a disease treatment regimen instead of for the general wellness, the vegetable juice would also be subject to regulation as a drug under the Act.”

Translation: Raw vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug and must be FDA approved as a drug. Handing a cup of raw vegetable juice to someone and telling them it’s good for the detoxification of their liver will get you arrested for practicing medicine without a license and promoting an “unapproved drug.”

…“biologically based practices” includes, but is not limited to, botanicals, animal-derived extracts, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, proteins, prebiotics and probiotics: whole diets, and “functional foods”. …a botanical product intended for use in treating a disease would generally be regulated as a drug." …“functional foods” may be subject to FDA regulation as foods, dietary supplements, or drugs under the Act.

Translation: All foods, supplements, superfoods and functional foods may be reclassified as drugs by the FDA, then regulated off the market.

If… the manipulative and body-based practices involve the use of equipment (such as massage devices) or the application of a product (such as a lotion, cream, or oil) to the skin or other parts of the body, those products may be subject to regulation under the Act."

Translation: Massage oils and creams will be regulated as “drugs” and acupuncture needles as “medical devices.” Taking this absurdity one step further, massage therapists who use their fingers to touch patients may have their fingers regulated as “medical devices” and be accused of practicing medicine for merely touching patients.

Things that will be regulated out of existence
It is very clear that the FDA is intending to regulate and ultimately destroy the entire CAM industry (Complementary and Alternative Medicine). Based on the explanations in the FDA’s own document, the following things are likely to occur:

* All vitamins, nutritional supplements and functional foods will be stripped of their structure & function claims, reducing them to empty labels where virtually nothing at all is allowed to be stated.

* Vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug. Raw juice retreats will be raided or shut down.

* Growing and selling common garden herbs will get you arrested as a drug dealer.

* Massage oils and handheld massagers will be regulated as "medical devices."
* Yoga props, pilates machines and weight machines will be regulated as "medical devices" and require FDA approval before being sold or used.

* Raw sprouts and other anti-cancer foods will be regulated as drugs.

* Bottled water that "treats" dehydration will be regulated as a drug.

* Massage therapists who use hot rocks as part of their therapy will have the ROCKS regulated as medical devices! (It's true. The FDA will actually look at a pile of rocks and declare, "Those are medical devices!")

* Functional foods, supplements, vitamins and homeopathic remedies will disappear from store shelves, pending FDA "review." (The only things remaining will be processed junk foods and pharmaceuticals, which is exactly what Big Business wants.)

* Therapeutic tea products, such as green tea, will be outlawed and confiscated.

* Vitamin store owners will be arrested and prosecuted for "practicing medicine without a license."

* Citizens owning personal inventories of "unapproved drugs" (vitamins and herbs) may have their homes raided at gunpoint and their inventories confiscated by armed law enforcement agents.

* The importation of herbs and functional foods from all countries may be banned.

Keep in mind that the FDA is the same agency that:

* Wants to label irradiated foods as "pasteurized."

* Voted to put the deadly drug Vioxx back on the market after tens of thousands of deaths, even after its own manufacurer pulled it from pharmacies.

* Raided a church at gunpoint, confiscating biofeedback machines and charging that they were "practicing medicine" by counseling church members on issues like depression.

* Openly allows corrupt, "on the take" experts to vote on new drug approvals, even when those experts are taking money from the same companies impacted by their votes.

* Refuses to legalize stevia, the safe, natural herbal sweetener that's used virtually everywhere else in the world. The agenda? Protect the profits of aspartame and other chemical sweeteners.

* Openly allows the mass poisoning of the public with cancer-causing food additives such as sodium nitrite.

* Refuses to enforce its own laws regarding unsafe chemical toxins in personal care products, allowing perfume and lotion companies to continue poisoning the public with cancer-causing chemicals that don't even have to be listed on the label, nor proven safe.

* Ordered the destruction of recipe books that mentioned stevia. (A campaign to keep the public ignorant of the herb.)

* Does everything in its power to protect drug company profits, including discrediting herbs, supplements and alternative medicine.

Does anyone honestly believe that this criminal organization has any capacity whatsoever to act in the public interest? Even many Senators are fed up with the FDA’s unprecedented level of corruption and criminal behavior.

Source: http://www.newstarget.com/021789.html

[svenhag]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=451097355502728465

[Sagesound]

04.12.07.2177

@svenhag

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=451097355502728465

Nice doc… thanks sven!

My favorite part was when they unsettled that guy from the FDA about them promoting Prozac over L-Tryptophan, and he starts getting angry enough to tell the producers to cut the camera off… punk.

[Matt]

There’s some who argue fast food’s not the cause, but over eating of bread, etc.:

query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.h … gewanted=8

Also, on the comment about the FDA regulating ‘natural’ health supplements, vitamins, etc. one of the things you have to bear in mind is that too MUCH of a vitamin is bad for you, I’ve vaguely followed the debate about regulating these which started over 10 years ago. I was working at GlaxoWellcome (now GlaxoSmithcline) at the time. There have been reports of some vitmain tablets containing toxic levels of vitamins. They can get away with this precisely because they aren’t regulated.

OK, the FDA is going over the top, but without regualtion they’d all be out of a job. It’s hard to meet in the middle ground.

[tentative]

It is well known that many people suffer allergies tied directly to natural foods. Some people cannot eat anything containing nuts. Many suffer a gluten allergy that can be life threatening. Some people are so allegic to honey products that they have to carry atropine with them at all times. There is no food, natural or gen-modified, that will ever be 100% safe for everyone.

I’m not defending Monsanto, the FDA, or anyone responsible for food safety, but just how much regulation is enough? We know that all of our life-saving vaccines, that all of our drugs manage to kill individuals every day. Where should the line be drawn? Is 100% safe our bench mark? When is the last time you heard or saw anything 100%? (other than death)

[svenhag]

@Sagesound

04.12.07.2177

@svenhag

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=451097355502728465

Nice doc… thanks sven!

My favorite part was when they unsettled that guy from the FDA about them promoting Prozac over L-Tryptophan, and he starts getting angry enough to tell the producers to cut the camera off… punk.

lol

check out how the FDA agents are portrayed in this clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L3tKddZFic

[svenhag]

I’m not defending Monsanto, the FDA, or anyone responsible for food safety, but just how much regulation is enough? We know that all of our life-saving vaccines, that all of our drugs manage to kill individuals every day. Where should the line be drawn? Is 100% safe our bench mark? When is the last time you heard or saw anything 100%? (other than death)

It also depends if you think the health authorities are more out for your best interest, or your worst.

[svenhag]

@svenhag

Well, actually, precaution was just a first step. The number one priority in my mind is solving the colony collapse disorder “mystery”. Given that bees are central to having healthy and natural foods.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/27/business/bees.php

http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/issues/emr.php?id=bees

CCD linked to mobile phone use?

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece

Alternative electromagnetic theories.

http://educate-yourself.org/mc/mctotalcontrol12jul02.shtml

[unrealist42]

@tentative

It is well known that many people suffer allergies tied directly to natural foods. Some people cannot eat anything containing nuts. Many suffer a gluten allergy that can be life threatening. Some people are so allegic to honey products that they have to carry atropine with them at all times. There is no food, natural or gen-modified, that will ever be 100% safe for everyone.

I’m not defending Monsanto, the FDA, or anyone responsible for food safety, but just how much regulation is enough? We know that all of our life-saving vaccines, that all of our drugs manage to kill individuals every day. Where should the line be drawn? Is 100% safe our bench mark? When is the last time you heard or saw anything 100%? (other than death)

Maybe we sould just let the drug manufacturers and everyone else just put whatever they want on the market and then let them declare bankruptcy and walk away from the $100Billions in damages these mass experiments will cause to people and the environment.

“Oh, sorry to hear our drug caused your children to be deformed but there is nothing to be done about it.”
or
“Oops, sorry we made all the weeds pesticide resistant and made all the wheat so it can’t reproduce. Here have some rice instead.”

[tentative]

UR42,

There might be a slight difference between zero regulation and 100%. The reality is that there is a risk of some degree in everything we consume, inject, or are otherwise exposed to. Granted, we definitely want negative effects to be at the lowest possible minimum, but just where is that “minimum” line to be drawn? That was my question. Your conclusion that I was suggesting zero regulation was just a bit wide of the mark…

[svenhag]

The Bionic burger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYyDXH1amic