USDA Senior Scientist Sends “Emergency” Warning to US Secretary of Agriculture

This is a very interesting thread. Don Huber may really be onto something.

I personally HATE Monsanto and generally wish to see them exterminated like the offensive corporate weed that they are. However, after some digging, I found a statement on Huber's university website (Purdue) stating that perhaps this issue is overblown. As much as I hate and distrust Monsanto, I want only the clearest truth (which is probably damning enough and requires no embellishment).

Here is a statement by Purdue's agriculture department concerning the alarm over Glyphosate:

www.btny.purdue.edu...

We have been getting many phone calls concerning the recent No-Till Farmer
article ‘Are We Shooting Ourselves in the Foot with the Silver Bullet?’ (http://
fhrfarms1.com/notillglyphosate.pdf). In this article based on an interview
with Dr. Don Huber (retired plant pathologist from Purdue University), it is
alleged that the non-judicious use of glyphosate has induced micronutrient
deficiencies which have led to more plant disease. In our opinion the
doomsday scenario painted by this article is greatly exaggerated. A more
balanced assessment of the non-target effects of glyphosate is available in
the article ‘Glyphosate Manganese Interactions in Roundup Ready Soybeans’
(www.weeds.iastate.edu...) written by Dr. Bob
Hartzler (weed scientist at Iowa State University). The extent of glyphosate
and glyphosate-resistant crops on the manganese (Mn) nutrition of soybeans
is not agreed upon, nor fully understood. We are concerned that the article in
No-Till Farmer encourages growers to make drastic changes to their fertility,
weed, and disease management programs out of fear, not understanding. We
suggest the following approach to managing Mn deficiency in soybeans.

...

HOWEVER, after digging EVEN MORE into Purdue's agriculture/weed-science department... I've found, clearly plastered on their front page a link to the "Glyphosate Stewardship Working Group" whose sponsors are as follows:

BASF
Bayer
Dow AgroSciences
DuPont
Illinois Soybean
Association
Indiana Soybean
Board
Monsanto
Syngenta
USDA-CSREES NCIPM Competitive Grants Program
Valent USA


DEFINITELY NOT a list of benevolent corporate entities. I'd say their word on the issue could be questionable considering their sponsors.

I don't know what to think of all this... does anybody have more detailed information about scientific studies of glyphosate, what the scientific consensus is, and if there are any conflicts of interest between botanists/agronomists and companies like Monsanto?

It sounds to me like Los Alamos has been hard at work. This wreaks of their depopulation planning.
The whole instantaneous abortion thing.

I've only read the first page.

Some of the terminology and the way in which it is used is highly suspect for a 'biological scientist'. It is possible however that he is trying to reduce the amount of jargon and simplify things for the policy makers.

As a scientist though, alarm bells are ringing. The letter is much too generic, while trying to sound scientific. If this is legitimate, then this guy needs to work on his communication skills, a lot.

For example: 'electron microscopic pathogen'

Is this just bad English? Or is it an attempt to sound like a scientist?

I challenge anyone to find this term anywhere else in the academic literature. This does not include news sources, or wikipedia.

I just wanted to add that if this is a case of turning science into plain English, I have serious doubts about the US Secretary of Agricultures capacity for accurately utilising scientific knowledge. There are clearly details missing that would be important to any serious scientific analysis. The source is also lacking credibility.

It isn't hard to look up the name of a respected scientist and write something with their name on it, especially if you know your way around academic journals.

Originally posted by Sahabi
The first microbial fungus ever discovered, and it causes abortion and infertility?
Possibly engineered for human depopulation?

That is exactly what I was thinking... It seems like the most probable evidence ever.

this is quite scary. Bear with me people this is my first post here, but when i read this i was immeadiatly reminded of an article i read in my local state paper. here is a link to Reuters and the article there [www.reuters.com... what got me was the fact that in a tmie when they said 1 or 2 dolphin babies usually show up dead each month, they have 20 in just the last 6 weeks!

Originally posted by seenitall
I've only read the first page.

Some of the terminology and the way in which it is used is highly suspect for a 'biological scientist'. It is possible however that he is trying to reduce the amount of jargon and simplify things for the policy makers.

As a scientist though, alarm bells are ringing. The letter is much too generic, while trying to sound scientific. If this is legitimate, then this guy needs to work on his communication skills, a lot.

For example: 'electron microscopic pathogen'

Is this just bad English? Or is it an attempt to sound like a scientist?

I challenge anyone to find this term anywhere else in the academic literature. This does not include news sources, or wikipedia.

edit on 23-2-2011 by seenitall because: (no reason given)

Im right there with you... No reputable sources...

Nice story though... Great fiction

reply to post by HunkaHunka


I would not write it off as a fiction just yet. There is another reference to a "letter" here: www.thepeoplesvoice.org...

However, I agree that the lineage needs to be confirmed. To that end, I contacted the people at farmandranchfreedom.org... where apparently email first surfaced on the web. Here is what I sent:

Hello.

As you might expect, the recently published letter at farmandranchfreedom.org... has created quite a stir on several discussion groups, including AboveTopSecret.com where it is being discussed by a number of us at www.abovetopsecret.com... One point that was brought up that in all fairness needs to be adressed is the lineage of the letter. Unfortunately, your web site, which is is cited as the source of the online publication of this letter by many sources, doesn't really speak to the origins of the email. Could you perhaps describe where the letter originated or when and how your group received it?

I will post back to this thread if I hear anything. If I do not hear anything in a day or two, I will attempt to contact Dr. Huber directly.

I don't want to flat out call BS on this one but I have very serious doubts that this was written by a professional academic (and I say that as one myself). The language pattern and jargon just don't fly for me.

I reserve the right to be proven wrong though...

reply to post by poet1b

I agree with you poet. The possibilities of annihilation by GMO science are staggering. I would like to direct all readers of this thread to an amusing yet distinctly possible GMO scenario nightmare.

www.exitmundi.nl...

(all credit of the link goes to the author(s) of the linked website)

if no other conspiracy theory i read here on ATS comes true this one will... and it will be horrific, right? i wonder if it will be drawn out with cannibalism? or will it be relatively quick, lol i wonder if anyone will drink sea water

what i want to know is how long do we have until it happens and what will the the signs (other than certain higher officials disappearing, right?) also what will happen first

Not worried about it. This type of thing pops up in Nature all of the time. All of the time meaning millions of years as far as scale is concerned. People just look for a reason to get their panties in a bunch. Put the weed pipe down and take the tin foil hat off. It's sunny outside. Get some Vitamin D the ole fashion way.

reply to post by SunSword


the fact that this thread already has 139 stars speaks enough about ATS

Are you fricken kidding me, what competent person would EVER think this sounds real at all... what a fricken joke... no wonder everybody thinks conspiracy theorists are a bunch of looneys....

This is not far fethced, and Don Huber is respected.

Originally posted by burntheships

Is Roundup - Monsanto's glyphosate-based herbicide causing Sudden Death Syndrome?

Sudden Death Syndrome is a serious plant disease, in many fields; A threat to the food supply world wide.

Yet following many different stories in the news we are lead to think no one really knows the cause.

However if we look beyond the surface of mainstream news reporting... a dark picture emerges,
one of a storm looming that has the potential to bring about a world wide food shortage, and potentially famine.

This is urgent, and now the approval by the USDA of Monsantos new Alfalfa 7
the storm has never loomed so large.

Investigators Baffled As Wheat Fields Wither

The Oregon Department of Agriculture and Oregon State University are investigating the yellowing of upward of 40,000 acres of wheat in Umatilla and Morrow counties. So far, the cause is a mystery

www.capitalpress.com...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/72030487bd7a.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ca8c59691cac.jpg[/atsimg]

The latest reports out on several staple crops reveals the devastating and unprecedented impact that Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide is having on the health of our soil, and harvests.

A sobering connect the dots

Dr. Don Huber walked past a soybean field and noticed a distinct line separating severely diseased yellowing soybeans on the right from healthy green plants on the left (see photo). The yellow section was suffering from Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), a serious plant disease that ravaged the Midwest in 2009 and ’10, driving down yields and profits. Something had caused that area of soybeans to be highly susceptible.

Don Huber spent 35 years as a plant pathologist at Purdue University and knows a lot about what causes green plants to turn yellow and die prematurely. He asked the seed dealer why the SDS was so severe in the one area of the field and not the other. “Did you plant something there last year that wasn’t planted in the rest of the field?” he asked. Sure enough, precisely where the severe SDS was, the dealer had grown alfalfa, which he later killed off at the end of the season by spraying a glyphosate-based herbicide (such as Roundup). The healthy part of the field, on the other hand, had been planted to sweet corn and hadn’t received glyphosate.

Sudden Death Syndrome is more severe at the ends of rows, where Roundup dose is strongest. Photo by Amy Bandy.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ebafcdc7288a.png[/atsimg]

This was yet another confirmation that Roundup was triggering SDS. In many fields, the evidence is even more obvious. The disease was most severe at the ends of rows where the herbicide applicator looped back to make another pass (see photo). That’s where extra Roundup was applied.

The diseased field on the right had glyphosate applied the previous season. Photo by Don Huber
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2dd2428914c6.png[/atsimg]url

Wheat affected after 10 years of glyphosate field applications
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5e7827ab4090.jpg[/atsimg]

Corn, Wheat, Soy, and next up? Alfalfa!

But again, this is not being reported in the news!



A child investigates Monsanto - One Of The Best Informative Videos Ever Made.

Study after study shows that not only is glyphosate contributing to the huge
increase in SDS but also to the outbreak of numerous other diseases.
responsibletechnology.org...

But insidiously, the herbicide does not kill the plants directly.

What it does do is cause a unique perfect storm of conditions activating
disease causing organisms in the soil, while at the same time wiping out plant defenses against those diseases!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a5bf883784ff.jpg[/atsimg]
eatdrinkbetter.com...

In fact, Roundup herbicide weakens plants and promotes disease in a number of ways, including:

•Acting as a chelator of vital nutrients, depriving plants of the nutrients necessary for healthy plant function
•Destroying beneficial soil organisms that suppress disease-causing organisms and help plants absorb nutrients
•Interfering with photosynthesis, reducing water use efficiency, shortening root systems and causing plants to release sugars, which changes soil pH
•Stunting and weakening plant growth
•Promoting disease-causing organisms in soil, which then overtake the weakened crops

www.foodconsumer.org...

There are more than 40 diseases of crop plants that are reported to increase with the use of glyphosate

Residues of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide found in GM food and feed have also been linked to cell damage and even death.
www.responsibletechnology.org...

powerpointparadise
www.capitalpress.com...

Related Above Top Secret Thread: In A Stunning Reversal USDA Approves Monsanto GMO Alfalfa 7

It is the soil, the plants, the animals, and yes- you and I, the entire human population under seige

"Monsanto - No Food Shall Be Grown That We Dont Own"

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by ladymerelda


I'd like to help with contacting the necessary powers to be. If we get enough people who take a stand, maybe we can impact the view on GMOs. Let's stop global starvation before it occurs.

reply to post by SunSword


Absolutely terrifying to think about. A fungus that destroys crops and the ability of mammals, possibly humans, to reproduce.

Almost would lead one to believe that this blight is man-made. The Georgia Guide Stones come to mind immediately.

Added to the fact that we as a world are facing the highest food prices in history amidst economic turmoil and the Middle East falling apart... seems like a perfect storm forming. My only question is, what is the intended end-state?

reply to post by rogerstigers


I received an email reply this morning:

Dear Chris,

One of our Board members received an electronic copy of the letter from Dr. Huber, and we have spoken with him directly to confirm its authenticity. I'll add that information to our website. Thank you for letting us know about the questions.

Regards,
Judith
---

Judith McGeary
Executive Director
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
www.farmandranchfreedom.org
[email protected]
Office Phone: 254-697-2661

Our society is always in a rush.

Rush to work, rush home for work.

Rush to eat, rush to produce the food we eat.

When GMO's were first introduced it was for producing and yielding larger crops, in starving countries. What happened was it started to get exploited in ways people never could have imagined.

Maybe it's time to stop rushing things and maybe try to just understand and manage what we already have.

Originally posted by HUMBLEONE
[quote) Don't worry about it though...It's all good...All part of the Divine plan. So relax and enjoy the ride. PEACE [

Originally posted by SunSword
Warning details found here at the Institute of Science in Society.
Confirmation of existence of Don Huber, at Purdue, and the "National Plant Disease Recovery System" found here at the USDA Agricuture Research Service
Confirmation that Don Huber is an active, recently published botanist may be found via a recent paper of his here: Glyphosate Effects on Diseases of Plants

Now for the scary stuff:

Dear Secretary Vilsack: A team of senior plant and animal scientists have recently brought to my attention the discovery of an electron microscopic pathogen that appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals, and probably human beings. Based on a review of the data, it is widespread, very serious...This is highly sensitive information that could result in a collapse of US soy and corn export markets and significant disruption of domestic food and feed supplies. On the other hand, this new organism may already be responsible for significant harm (see below)...This previously unknown organism is only visible under an electron microscope (36,000X), with an approximate size range equal to a medium size virus. It is able to reproduce and appears to be a micro-fungal-like organism. If so, it would be the first such micro-fungus ever identified. There is strong evidence that this infectious agent promotes diseases of both plants and mammals, which is very rare...Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of this organism in a wide variety of livestock that have experienced spontaneous abortions and infertility. Preliminary results from ongoing research have also been able to reproduce abortions in a clinical setting...I have studied plant pathogens for more than 50 years. We are now seeing an unprecedented trend of increasing plant and animal diseases and disorders. This pathogen may be instrumental to understanding and solving this problem. It deserves immediate attention with significant resources to avoid a general collapse of our critical agricultural infrastructure. Sincerely, COL (Ret.) Don M. Huber Emeritus Professor, Purdue University APS Coordinator, USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System (NPDRS)

There is an apparent linkage with Roundup also (this scientist was already investigating issues in that area, and that is how they came across this). If this turns out to be accurate the impact may be extremely serious, possibly even causing "exceptionally grave damage". (Key phrase deliberately included to ensure dissemination to the appropriate parties.)

edit on 22-2-2011 by SunSword because: Title too long

Wow talk about a run-away panic thread. Come on guys. Theres billions of microbes all over everything all the time. Many of them are harmful. Thats why you wash your hands. And wash produce from the store. And who by the way, eats raw un-cooked corn? I certinaly dont. You cook corn. Products prepaired from corn, corn meal, corn flours are also cooked. When you cook corn, the microbes on the corn die. I see absolutely no need to be concerned whatsoever. And WTF is with this thread being hijacked by all the Anti-GMO'ers? There was nothing in the quoted portion of the OP that meantioned anything about a GMO link.
I've been a lurker on this site for a looong long time. I've only created an account recently beacuse I'm getting tired from all the half-thought out alarmisim going on lately. Think people! God.......