Monsanto Hopes Justice Thomas Will Be Its Sugar (Beet) Daddy

[Shadowgirlau]

Well I was sent this little piece this morning and being that I am against GM foods/crops this is no surprise.
Over here in WA the ag minister "Redman" gave approval for GM crop trials some of which are down here near me.
I was so angry yet again not surprised.
We are interfering with nature and we are killing ourselves yet although the evidence is there no one is seeing it.
I am now off to see if I can find the rest of the article. Okay back again already - the article in full can be found at this address -
Monsanto Hopes Justice Thomas Will Be Its Sugar (Beet) Daddy
http://www.care2.com/causes/environment ... nto-hopes/

Kathleen

"Way back in 2003, the European Union infuriated United States agricultural exporters by requiring all food and animal feed products linked in any way to transgenic crops to be clearly labeled as "genetically modified" (GM).

"Currently, despite widespread controversy and protest surrounding the potential health and environmental risks of growing and using GMOs, the U.S. has still refused to restrict their use or implement labeling laws.

"This comes as no surprise, however, when you consider that the companies most invested in producing GMOs have gone to painstaking lengths to make sure they have friends in the highest of places.

"In 2001, J.E.M. Ag Supply v. Pioneer Hi-Bred, 534 U.S. 124 granted large biotech corporations like Monsanto extensive patent protection over genetically modified seeds. It might surprise you to learn that this case was authored by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a former lawyer for Monsanto.

"In Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, No. 09-475, the U.S. Supreme Court will review a California appellate court decision ruling that the USDA illegally approved Monsanto's GM sugar beets without determining whether organic farmers, consumers or the environment would be adversely effected. . . ."

[Hayhay]

I can understand how angry you are; I'd certainly not want GM crops grown near me. There is so much stupidity in the world. I assume its canola?

Hayley

[minnie]

Hi Kathleen,

Reading the article led me to this blog http://web.me.com/aprildavila/MWM/Blog/Blog.html this woman tried living for a month Monsanto free, it was an eye opener.

GM is closer than most think and when they're calling some things 'genetically enhanced' rather than 'genetically modified' they're getting away with murder... the tree plantations as the best example.

I've bought Cannelli dried beans from the health food shop but they're grown in the US and most likely GM but nothing tells you, so I don't buy them anymore.

Vicki

[Shadowgirlau]

Hi Vicki,

I am quite sure that we would be hard pressed to find anything in the shops not gentically modified or enhanced.
Ther are now some reports making it out that farmers are having problems with resistance and a couple of other things which escape me right now though at the time heard I wasn't surprised.
We are stupid and ruled by the almighty $ in many cases so what does one expect?

I can't beleive what people fall for.

Credit is another good example as we are constantly being told how much debt we carry and we know about the cost of everything from food to housing and how some things are almost out of our grasp, we suffer financially when we have a slump/bust yet go on even worse spending sprees with our heads in the sand.
The banks are currently pushing up interest rates across the board, housing is on the increase again and I noticed there is a new push for credit cards on telly. The lessons of the latest credit blunder have not been learned well at all.

Yes by the way it is canola that is being grown GM down here in places. On another front I watched a part of a program the other day which was talking about the link they have (these researchers) have found between GM foods and our increasing allergies/intollerances. Food for thought, but I hadn't seen the begining of the programme and do not know what it was on only that is was on SBS.

Kathleen

[Mojojo]

I have also seen a program on SBS about the GM and allergies, wonder if it was the same one. Very interesting, with lots of studies done in europe. One of them was on feeding mice or rats with GM and non GM corn, and when fed both from different containers, they would only eat the non GM. When they only had GM, they ate it, but became listless, fought each other, and even killed one of their cage-mates, but as soon as their food was switched back to to non-GM, their behaviour returned to normal.

Back on the allergies,I also read an article about it in a recent science magazine, will have to dig out and have a look, this one was studies that were looking at the incidence of severe allergies, in comparison to modern ways of raising kids - the use of antibacterial products, the fear of letting kids play in the dirt or come into contact with other children, and all of the dietary restrictions with children, the not letting them eat certain things in the first year/s. It was talking about how its that critical first year when our body develops immunological responses, and if it is not exposed to any of these things in that time, then it cannot develop an immune response easily, thus making it a problem later on when they do encounter it.

Interesting to read how difficult it is to eat monsanto free! I was blown away by how widespread it is.

[childoftheearth]

Hi Jo,

You will find a great deal of information on the net about the failure to challenge our immune systems. In the health science field it is generally referred to as the "hygiene hypothesis".

As well as being suspected as a contributing factor to the increase in allergies, it is currently thought to be connected to the increase in auto-immune diseases such as Lupus, the theory being that if we don't allow the immune system to do its job of attacking foreign cells, it will begin attacking "self" cells.

I always said I wouldn't have an "antibacterial" product in the house, but I had to recant and get some hand sterilizer and sanitizer for cheesemaking purposes.

I never sterilized anything for my kids when they were babies. Both were breast-fed, which I think is vital, and were never offered a bottle, but as soon as they were able to drink and eat they used the same crockery everyone else used, and I never had a problem with them sharing an ice cream or a biscuit with the dog!
I'm happy to say that they are both frighteningly healthy and robust, and the worst illness they have ever had is chickenpox.

I believe one should always look at the motivation of anyone giving advice. In the case of all the antibacterial products which apparently you must use to be a responsible parent, somebody is trying to sell something to make money, not to improve the nation's health. I'm sure from your comments that you don't easily fall for the scare mongering.

Keep up the skepticism!
Cheers
Elaine

[Hayhay]

Hmmm.....I don't THINK we consume anything produced by monsanto. I couldn't find a complete list - is there one? I'm just not good at looking for things.

Unless monsanto takes over our home loan or branches into organics (or does an unethical aerial spray of the entire area!); then I think we're right.....

Clothing we might fall down in - though I never buy new; some is given and op-shops the rest.....

[minnie]

And for anyone who didn't see it the 60 mins programme on pesticides http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/poisoned/x4fb1ne

Vicki