It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
USDA to allow GMO corn for fuels, not food
The USDA announced recently that deregulation of Genetically Modified (GMO) corn can go forward to help in the processing of ethanol. The agency specified that the allowing of the GMO production would be dedicated towards fuel, not food, as Americans still have hesitantcy over eating GMO products.
In an article today from Natural News on this new ruling, the USDA seems to be more in the corner of alternative fuels than it does for the diets of Americans as corn prices skyrocket on the commodties market.
Remember when we used to actually EAT corn?
For starters, in a world where food prices are rapidly rising, where crops are failing due to radical weather events, and where food stockpiles are at their lowest levels in many decades, the idea of converting food to fuel is utterly ludicrous. Making matters even worse, there's the simple fact that the ethanol advocates simply refuse to admit: Growing corn for fuel consumes more fuel than it produces!
When a German court ordered Monsanto to make public a controversial 90-day rat study on June 20, 2005, the data upheld claims by prominent scientists who said that animals fed the genetically modified (GM) corn developed extensive health effects in the blood, kidneys and liver and that humans eating the corn might be at risk. The 1,139 page research paper on Monsanto’s “Mon 863” variety also revealed that European regulators accepted the company’s assurances that their corn is safe, in spite of the unscientific and contradictory rationale that was used to dismiss significant problems. In addition, the study is so full of flaws and omissions, critics say it wouldn’t qualify for publication in most journals and yet it is the primary document used to evaluate the health impacts.
Mon 863 is genetically engineered to produce its own pesticide, a toxin called Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt, designed to attack a corn pest called the corn rootworm. Rats fed Mon 863 developed several reactions, including those typically found with allergies (increased basophils), in response to infections, toxins and various diseases including cancer (increased lymphocytes and white blood cells), and in the presence of anemia (decreased reticulocyte count) and blood pressure problems (decreased kidney weights). There were also increased blood sugar levels, kidney inflammation, liver and kidney lesions, and other changes
Environmental Hazards of GMOs
Out-crossing
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is a very real risk of out-crossing, which refers to the transfer of engineered genes (transgenes) from genetically modified crops to conventional, cultivated plants or to related crop species in the wild. This may happen by means of wind, insect pollination, or other transfer.
1. Corn - Corn has been modified to create its own insecticide. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has declared that tons of genetically modified corn has been introduced for human consumption. Monsanto has revealed that half of the US's sweet corn farms are planted with genetically modified seed. Mice fed with GM corn were discovered to have smaller offspring and fertility problems.
The GMO link to strange disease
As early as 2008, NaturalNews.com reported about a condition called Morgellon's disease. The article went on to report the symptoms of the disease as follows: crawling, stinging, biting and crawling sensations; threads or black speck-like materials on or beneath the skin; granules, lesions. Some patients report fatigue, short term memory loss, mental confusion, joint pain and changes in vision. Furthermore, there have been reports of substantial morbidity and social dysfunction leading to a dip in work productivity, job loss, total disability, divorce, loss of child custody and home abandonment.
Originally posted by Unity_99
reply to post by Hopechest
Please use the fairy wings in your avatar and fly away. The studies are one of many and not flawed, even the courts found it, its only the "officials" who want to force poison down our throats whether most of us, you being the exception, are kicking and screaming. They slander the studies.
Please wake up.
Originally posted by Hopechest
I have yet to see any conclusive proof that GMO foods are dangerous.
This study you refer to is filled with an awful lot of assumption with no empirical evidence to back it up. It criticizes the FDA standards for testing and alludes to the fact that because of this weak regulation that GMO foods may be bad.
It certainly doesn't prove it. Same thing with the study on rats, inconclusive either way.
If you do have direct proof that GMO foods are bad though I'd certainly love to look at that report so I can change my view.
Monsanto and the EPA swore that the genetically engineered corn would only harm insects. They stated that the Bt-toxin produced inside the plant would be completely destroyed in the human digestive system. They said it would not have any impact on the health of consumers. Unfortunately they have been proven wrong, because not only is Bt corn producing resistant "superpests", researchers have also found that the Bt-toxin can badly affect human health. In 2011, doctors at Sherbrooke University Hospital in Quebec found Bt-toxin in the blood of: - 93 percent of pregnant women tested - 80 percent of umbilical blood in their babies, and - 67 percent of non-pregnant women Read more: digitaljournal.com...
“Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food, including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. …There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation…” Read more: digitaljournal.com...
Originally posted by Char-Lee
reply to post by Hopechest
There is so much out there if you look. Corn syrup is in almost everything and it is now poison.
Monsanto and the EPA swore that the genetically engineered corn would only harm insects. They stated that the Bt-toxin produced inside the plant would be completely destroyed in the human digestive system. They said it would not have any impact on the health of consumers. Unfortunately they have been proven wrong, because not only is Bt corn producing resistant "superpests", researchers have also found that the Bt-toxin can badly affect human health. In 2011, doctors at Sherbrooke University Hospital in Quebec found Bt-toxin in the blood of: - 93 percent of pregnant women tested - 80 percent of umbilical blood in their babies, and - 67 percent of non-pregnant women Read more: digitaljournal.com...
“Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food, including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. …There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation…” Read more: digitaljournal.com...edit on 15-5-2013 by Char-Lee because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by Char-Lee
reply to post by Hopechest
Ok then how about just using our own heads?
Insecticide that we used to wash off the outside of our food, is NOW inside of our food and we have no choice but eat it.
The foods such as corn and beets used for sugar used to be cleaned before being made into sugar and syrup to add to foods because they were covered in pesticides....NOW?
Originally posted by Hopechest
reply to post by Strawberry88
We have genetically altered plants and animals for centuries with no hriarmful effects so why would this version be any different?
And if you can't prove long term effects yet, as you stated, then why are you assuming there will be any?
As for patoning nature, the seed controversy and unfairness to farmers, and the labeling issue I would agree with you 100% on. Those need to be scrutinized and changed but as for the health issue, I still have not seen proof that its bad for you.
I have seen some evidence that it may not have as many nutrients in it and that should be told to the public but I've not heard of people getting sick or dying from GMO foods.
As I said though, if anyone has evidence of that I will easily switch my view on the matter.