Genetically Modified foods worse than thought

[Mech]

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

Much Worse Than Previously Thought

From seedsofdeception.com

Why didn't you read about the GMO food supplement that killed about 100 Americans and caused another 5-10,000 to fall sick in the news? GMOs are far more serious than initial research indicated, but no testing is being done in the US for their safety. GMOs contain Promoter genes which can PERMANENTLY turn on any of the genes at random in your DNA, making it possible in theory for you to turn into a rat. Some contain antibiotic resistance making bacteria in your body totally immune to antibiotics; they genetically modify your cells and the bacteria in your gut, resulting in your cells making new proteins that cause you to become allergic to the foods you eat, cause stomach lesions and other serious ailments, cause cancer and uncontrolled cell growth, etc etc etc.

Monsanto's corporate goal is to control all seed production in the world via GMOs. They have even sued a Canadian farmer for all he is worth because Monsanto GMOs pollinated his Canola crop and ruined the farmer's 50-year developed new Canola variety. Repeat, it wasn't the farmer who sued Monsanto, but they sued him for damaging his crop. It is going to the Canadian Supreme Court now. Join the worldwide boycott of Monsanto before all our food crops are permanently destroyed by GMO cross pollination and the weeds become superweeds. Monsanto is a more serious threat than the terrorist threat.

Government employees who complained were harassed, stripped of responsibilities, or fired. Scientists were threatened. Evidence was stolen. Data was omitted or distorted. Some regulators even claimed they were offered bribes to approve a GM product. There are only ten published animal feeding studies on the health effects of GM foods; only two of these are independent.

One study showed evidence of damage to the immune system and vital organs, and a potentially pre-cancerous condition. When the scientist tried to alert the public about these alarming discoveries, he lost his job and was silenced with threats of a lawsuit.

Two other studies also showed evidence of a potentially pre-cancerous condition. The other seven studies, which were superficial in their design, were not designed to identify these details. In an unpublished study, laboratory rats fed a GM crop developed stomach lesions and seven of the forty died within two weeks. The crop was approved without further tests.

Many industry studies appear to be rigged to find no problems. In the case of a genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbGH), for example,researchers injected cows with only one forty-seventh the normal dosage before reporting hormone residues in milk. They heated the milk 120 times longer than standard, to report that pasteurization destroys the hormone. They added cows to their study that were pregnant before treatment, to claim that rbGH didn't impede fertility. Cows that fell sick were drropped from studies altogether.

[greywolf]

>the Bivings Group, a PR company contracted to Monsanto, had invented fake citizens to post messages on internet listservers.< link and more below
MONSANTO'S WEB OF DECEIT

>"Anti-GMO (genetically modified organism) scientists and activists are increasingly having their credibility attacked through a campaign orchestrated by the biotech industry," investigative reporter Andy Rowell writes. In two in-depth stories Rowell and Jonathan Matthews, of Norfolk Genetic Information Network, examine the dirty tricks Monsanto has played to promote its gene altered food. Employing an international PR firm called the Bivings Group who specialize in "internet advocacy," Monsanto has trashed peer-reviewed scientific research to undermine and manipulate the scientific debate on genetic engineering.<
source:
Center for Media & Democracy
>Two weeks ago, this column showed how the Bivings Group, a PR company contracted to Monsanto, had invented fake citizens to post messages on internet listservers. These phantoms had launched a campaign to force Nature magazine to retract a paper it had published, alleging that native corn in Mexico had been contaminated with GM pollen. But this, it now seems, is just one of hundreds of critical interventions with which PR companies hired by big business have secretly guided the biotech debate over the past few years.
While I was writing the last piece, Bivings sent me an email fiercely denying that it had anything to do with the fake correspondents "Mary Murphy" and "Andura Smetacek", who started the smear campaign against the Nature paper. Last week I checked the email's technical properties. They contained the identity tag "bw6.bivwood.com". The message came from the same computer terminal that "Mary Murphy" has used. New research coordinated by the campaigner Jonathan Matthews appears to have unmasked the fake persuaders: "Mary Murphy" is being posted by a Bivings web designer, writing from both the office and his home computer in Hyattsville, Maryland; while "Andura Smetacek" appears to be the company's chief internet marketer. Not long ago, the website slashdot.com organised a competition for hackers: if they could successfully break into a particular server, they got to keep it. Several experienced hackers tested their skills. One of them was one using a computer identified as bw6.bivwood.com.
Though someone in the Bivings office appears to possess hacking skills, there is no evidence that Bivings has ever made use of them. But other biotech lobbyists do appear to have launched hacker attacks. Just before the paper in Nature was publicly challenged, the server hosting the accounts used by its authors was disabled by a particularly effective attack which crippled their capacity to fight back. The culprit has yet to be identified. Bivings is the secret author of several of the websites and bogus citizens' movements which have been coordinating campaigns against environmentalists.
<
>Bivings is just one of several public relations agencies secretly building a parallel world on the web. Another US company, Berman & Co, runs a fake public interest site called ActivistCash.com, which seeks to persuade the foundations giving money to campaigners to desist. Berman also runs the "Centre for Consumer Freedom", which looks like a citizens' group but lobbies against smoking bans, alcohol restrictions and health warnings on behalf of tobacco, drinks and fast food companies. The marketing firm Nichols Dezenhall set up a site called StopEcoViolence, another "citizens' initiative", demonising activists. In March, Nichols Dezenhall linked up with Prakash's collaborator, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, to sponsor a conference for journalists and corporate executives on "eco-extremism".
What is fascinating about these websites, fake groups and phantom citizens is that they have either smelted or honed all the key weapons currently used by the world's biotech enthusiasts: the conflation of activists with terrorists, the attempts to undermine hostile research, the ever more nuanced claims that those who resist GM crops are anti-science and opposed to the interests of the poor. The hatred directed at activists over the past few years is, in other words, nothing of the kind. We have been confronted, in truth, by the crafted response of an industry without emotional attachment.
<

[JerseyBluEyz]

At least they made it easy for us to identify genetically modified produce!

www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=3314

Fruit Stickers—Look for the 8
12-Nov-2003

You've noticed that tiny stickers that now appear on almost all fruit, and probably been annoyed that you have to peel each one off. These contain bar codes for the check-out clerk, but they also contain a secret the store might not want you to know.

Nutritionist Karma Metzgar of the University of Missouri writes that these stickers also tell you if the fruit is organic or genetically-modified. On conventionally-grown, non-organic fruit, the sticker has only 4 numbers. Organically grown fruit has a five-numeral code, which begins with the number 9. Since organic fruits and vegetables now have to be in separate areas in grocery stores, this confirms that your apple hasn't ended up in the wrong pile. However, the store does not have to reveal which fruits and vegetables are genetically-modified—but you can find out by looking at their stickers, which will begin with the number 8.

According to Metzgar, this means a regular banana would have a sticker saying 4011, an organic banana would say 94011 and a GM banana would say 84011.

Lots of people complain that the stickers are too hard to peel off, so it may be a relief to know that the adhesive is safe to eat.