The momentum continues to build for the banning of glyphosate, active ingredient in Monsanto’s lucrative and “probable human carcinogen” herbicide – wedded at the hip and used in 80% OF ALL GE CROP PRODUCTION.
“Under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 — usually referred to as Proposition 65, its original name — chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm are required to be listed and published by the state. Chemicals also end up on the list if found to be carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) — a branch of the World Health Organization.
“California’s decision to place glyphosate on the toxic chemicals list is the first of its kind. As Dr. Nathan Donley of the Center for Biological Diversity said in an email to Ecowatch, ‘As far as I’m aware, this is the first regulatory agency within the U.S. to determine that glyphosate is a carcinogen. So this is a very big deal.’
“Roundup is sprayed on crops around the world, particularly with Monsanto’s Roundup-Ready varieties — genetically engineered to tolerate large doses of the herbicide to facilitate blanket application without harming crops. Controversy has surrounded this practice for years — especially since it was found farmers increased use of Roundup, rather than lessened it, as Monsanto had claimed.”

Our friend, organic warrior Dave Murphy, founder of Food Democracy Now!, further blows the lid off the BREAKING-SMOKING-GUN sensational scandal of MONSANTO GETTING CAUGHT RED-HANDED secretly hiring public university scientists in a coordinated PR campaign to manipulate public opinion. We have learned NEVER BELIEVE ANYTHING COMING FROM MONSANTO – now, exposure of these double-dipping hired-guns illustrate the jaw-dropping depth of the systematic Tobacco-Lobbyist-Style collusion.
“This wouldn’t be such a big deal if Folta was just another self-promoting blowhard on the Internet, but with Monsanto’s backing and close ties to a PR firm like Ketchum, these compromised public university scientists now have big media access and are being used as pawns to promote the safety of Monsanto and the biotechnology industry’s products.
“For the first time now, with these public records requests, Americans concerned about how their food is produced are getting a firsthand look at the secret tactics of how corporations like Monsanto use PR firms and public university scientists to put a deceptive spin on potential safety issues of GMOs and pesticides…
“Make no doubt about it, Monsanto’s current efforts to recruit public university scientists are not about communicating science, but to manipulate public opinion just like the tobacco industry.
“The tragedy of this scenario is that taxpayers are indirectly helping fund a public disinformation campaign that is ultimately bent on denying them their basic right to know what’s in their food and derail the national movement to label genetically engineered foods. One wonders how much longer Big Tobacco would have been able to deceive Congress and the American public with a few more ‘independent scientists’ like Chassy and Folta on hand.” Jim

http://ecowatch.com/2015/09/12/scientists-conspire-monsanto-gmos/

Steve is a clear thinker who has devoted his life to exposing the FDA’s fraud and dishonesty and the crude political maneuvering which railroaded GE food into America’s kitchens. In this stunning new piece, Steve distills the essence of his breakthrough book, “Altered Genes, Twisted Truth” into a concise, well-reasoned and scholarly thirty-point-manifesto which ABSOLUTELY PROVES GMOs ARE ILLEGALLY IN THE US FOOD SUPPLY.
“Although most Americans (including those who serve in government) are unaware of it, genetically engineered foods are on the market only because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has covered up the warnings of its own scientists, misrepresented the facts, and violated explicit mandates of U.S. law…
“3. Though the FDA admits that the various genetic materials implanted in bioengineered organisms are within the amendment’s purview, it claims they are exempt from testing because they are generally recognized as safe (GRAS)…
“4. However, the FDA’s regulations state that substances added to food that were not in use prior to 1958 cannot qualify as GRAS unless they meet two requirements. Not only must they be acknowledged as safe by an overwhelming consensus of experts, but this consensus must be based on ‘scientific procedures’ – which ordinarily entails studies published in peer-reviewed journals…
“28. Moreover, although the proponents of GE foods claim that the FDA subjects them to scientific reviews, the voluntary consultations that the agency conducts with the manufacturers are not scientific reviews – and the FDA has admitted that they aren’t. As its Biotechnology Strategic Manager has described the process: ‘The FDA requests that firms submit a summary of their assessment to the agency. The FDA does not request the original data and, therefore, does not conduct a scientific review of the firm’s decision’…In January 1999, the FDA affirmed that it still was not conducting scientific reviews, stating: ‘FDA has not found it necessary to conduct comprehensive scientific reviews of foods derived from bioengineered plants . . . consistent with its 1992 policy.'” Jim

While an uncommon organic practice, this requested immediate ban on unclean wastewater is a real no brainer. Please help pressure the USDA by signing the petition TODAY – it takes less than a minute (http://www.cornucopia.org/frack-wastewater-petition/). Fracking is an industry which emerged AFTER organic regs were written.
“Cornucopia pointed to research that shows that the copious amounts of wastewater, a byproduct of the hydraulic fracturing technique in gas and oil production, is contaminated with toxic chemicals and oil. Recent reporting has indicated its use in the growing of organic food in California. Effluent from sewage plants, which co-mingles waste from domestic and industrial sources, can contain pathogens and drug residues in addition to heavy metals and toxic chemicals. This is also a concern of Cornucopia’s.
“‘Because of these potential contaminants, spreading sewage sludge is explicitly banned in organic production,’ said Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute. ‘To keep organic food as pure as possible it’s important that we quickly promulgate regulations that will ban risky wastewater uses, as tempting as they are in drought-impacted states like California, from contaminating our food supply.'” Jim

http://www.cornucopia.org/2015/08/industry-watchdog-asks-usda-to-ban-use-of-wastewater-from-fracking-and-sewage-systems-for-organic-food-production/

Hats off to the persistence of courageous Hawaiians who – battling against a deck stacked by powerful self-interests – are increasingly standing up to a form of modern colonialism coming from mainland multinational Biotech corporations.
“The baby was born minutes before with a severe heart malformation that would require complex surgery. What worried her as she waited for the ambulance plane to take the infant from Waimea, on the island of Kauai, to the main children’s hospital in Honolulu, on another Hawaiian island, was that it was the fourth one she had seen in three years.
“In all of Waimea, there have been at least nine in five years, she says, shaking her head. That’s more than 10 times the national rate, according to analysis by local doctors…
“In Kauai, chemical companies Dow, BASF, Syngenta and DuPont spray 17 times more pesticide per acre (mostly herbicides, along with insecticides and fungicides) than on ordinary cornfields in the US mainland, according to the most detailed study of the sector, by the Center for Food Safety.
“Today, about 90% of industrial GMO corn grown in the US was originally developed in Hawaii, with the island of Kauai hosting the biggest area. The balmy weather yields three crops a year instead of one, allowing the companies to bring a new strain to market in a third of the time…
“Corn’s uses are as industrial as its cultivation: less than 1% is eaten. About 40% is turned into ethanol for cars, 36% becomes cattle feed, 10% is used by the food industry and the rest is exported.” Jim

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/23/hawaii-birth-defects-pesticides-gmo

Why is it that despots – be they from the government or the corporate world (Yes, Monsanto, we’re talking about you) – feel the compulsion “to make examples” of family farmers who, like the rest of us, are struggling to make a living and stay on the farm? Sometimes it’s fabricated stories about “stealing technology” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZGueeao0tE) or – heavens! – “selling raw milk” (our family has been safely drinking the raw milk from our cows for almost 40 years). Now it’s THE CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING SHEEP and CFIA’s false assertion of a nonexistent disease threat. Read the details in this article AND on the Indiegogo crowdfunding site (https://www.indiegogo.com/…/help-defend-farmers-charged-in-…) where funds for Montana and Michael’s legal defense fund are URGENTLY NEEDED NOW.
“Raw milk farmer Michael Schmidt and shepherdess Montana Jones are facing prison time in the 2012 ‘disappearing sheep’ case. According to its website, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is charging the farmers with a litany of violations related to the disappearance of Jones’ flock of healthy, heritage breed Shropshire sheep in April of 2012.”
We donated to Montana’s crowdfuning campaign a couple years back when this story first broke. PLEASE JOIN US NOW AND PITCH IN – BECAUSE THEY ARE FARMERS AND THEY REALLY NEED OUR HELP. Thank you! Jim & Megan

http://www.westonaprice.org/press/worldwide-support-growing-for-canadian-farmers-charged-in-sheep-case/

The effect of the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership treaty would be to consolidate and codify corporate control and severely subjugate citizen’ rights. Canada’s diary farmers – operating under a popular and effective quota-supply-system has the potential to throw a monkey wrench into the entire works. With Canada’s election scheduled for October, we can only hope and cheer on Canada’s family farmers.
“Gauthier, whose three brothers help run the farm, says defending the Canadian system is worth sinking the trade accord, and that any compromise by Prime Minister Stephen Harper would endanger his re-election in Canada’s election in October.
“’You can argue about the economics of the issue, but for us, it is important that you can support yourself and be a good farmer without being very large,’ Gauthier said as his 80-year-old father surveyed the century-old farm from a bicycle…
“Japan’s hesitancy to open its rice market and U.S. reluctance to changes in its sugar program also contributed to talks last month grinding to a halt short of a deal…
“‘With food, your guiding principle shouldn’t be to produce whatever is cheapest,’ said Kessler, 53, who arrived in Canada from Switzerland when he was 17.
“‘There’s no such thing as a free market,’ Kessler said. ‘Someone always controls the production. It’s just that here it’s the farmers, and in other countries it’s the processors.'” Jim

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-20/canada-puts-global-trade-deal-at-risk-to-defend-family-dairies

Do NOT miss this MUST WATCH interview with Steve Druker by FIN’s Carol Grieve’. You will gain critical and unparalleled insight into the landmark lawsuit against the FDA which exposed the starkly illegal basis upon which GE food has entered the American food supply. Steve possesses gravitas and shares the indisputable facts about GE food.
Also – don’t miss Steve’s talk at National Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa two weeks from now. http://theheirloomexpo.com/
“‘It’s almost like a huge comedy of errors that has allowed these [GE] foods to continue to be on the market. Despite the fact that the FDA administrators violated the law in making the initial presumption that they were generally-recognized-as-safe and continue to violate the law. And the fact is that as each year continues to go on, it becomes clearer that there is not a general recognition of the safety of these foods in the scientific community. It’s clearer now than it was in 1998 when the judge acknowledged that we had shown that there wasn’t such a consensus. Just within the last eight months, hundreds of scientists have signed a statement that there is no consensus among experts about the safety of those foods. That statement has been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.” Jim

http://foodintegritynow.org/2015/08/25/altered-genes-twisted-truth-the-fdas-illegal-release-of-ge-foods/

Germany’s announcement follows on the heels of Scotland’s recent statement similarly expressing their desire to ban the growing of GE crops.
“Germany’s Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Christine Schmidt has told German state governments that the country intends to use the new clause that allows individual EU countries to ban the growing of genetically engineered (GE) crops.” Jim

http://www.newsfromota.com/ota-members/genetic-engineering/germany-begins-moves-to-ban-ge-crops/