GMO | Alliance for Natural Health USA - Protecting Natural Health

The Journey of Glyphosate

TIM REIHM — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 12:20:24 +0000

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2 Minute Warning, April 26, 2018

The ANH Team — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 17:00:48 +0000

This week’s featured stories:

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Science, the Monsanto Way

The ANH Team — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 14:02:47 +0000

That way appears to be deception, obfuscation, and cronyism.

We’ve been telling you about a court case against Monsanto in which the plaintiffs allege that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the Roundup herbicide, causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Documents in the case, including email messages, are now being made public, demonstrating how far Monsanto will go make sure glyphosate stays on the market. The indications include ghost writing, with Monsanto allegedly drafting scientific reports that were then published under someone else’s name. For example, a Monsanto employee may have written an article, under the guise of an academic, that appeared in Forbes in 2015 attacking the World Health Organization’s determination that glyphosate is probably a carcinogen.

Some of the emails even show Monsanto’s own scientists expressing concern over glyphosate’s safety. In a message from 2001, one Monsanto scientist wrote, “If somebody came to me and said they wanted to test Roundup I know how I would react — with serious concern.”

There are other revelations in the court documents that show Monsanto executives knew that Roundup was dangerous:

In a 2002 email, a Monsanto executive said, “What I’ve been hearing from you is that this continues to be the case with these studies — Glyphosate is O.K. but the formulated product (and thus the surfactant) does the damage.”
In a 2003 email, a different Monsanto executive acknowledges, “You cannot say that Roundup is not a carcinogen…we have not done the necessary testing on the formulation to make that statement.” [Emphasis added]

The revealed documents also showed that Monsanto has relationships with peer-reviewed journals. The former editor of Food and Chemical Toxicology had a contractual relationship with Monsanto and retracted a study from famed GMO researcher Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini that found that Roundup and GMO corn could cause cancer and early death in rats. In addition to the relationship with the editor of the journal, the revealed documents show that Monsanto employees also worked with “third party experts” to generate a barrage of letters demanding the Séralini study be retracted. This was a classic PR tactic of the tobacco industry: use supposedly “independent” experts to lend credibility to industry propaganda. The stakes for Monsanto were high. To let the Séralini paper stand would invite regulators and the public to demand long-term safety testing of Roundup and the crops genetically modified to withstand it.

Let’s not forget that documents unsealed earlier indicated that a top EPA official promised Monsanto he would quash an effort by the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct its own review of glyphosate.

All of this – and doubtless more evidence as yet unreleased – shows that Monsanto executives likely knew what Professor Séralini demonstrated last year, that the “inert” ingredients in Roundup were up to 1,000 times more toxic than glyphosate, the active ingredient. Even though it’s less toxic than the inert ingredients in Roundup, the evidence is accumulating that glyphosate itself is toxic. So, too, the evidence that Monsanto has been pulling out all the stops to get its desired outcome.

Other articles in this week’s Pulse of Natural Health

More Autism Than Previously Thought?
A Gut Check for Autism

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USDA Don’t Reward Monsanto’s Criminal Activities

Tue, 23 May 2017 16:37:07 +0000

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Why Other Countries Don’t Want American Food

The ANH Team — Tue, 23 May 2017 15:17:15 +0000

Sign Petition!

Read Full Story

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Zen Honeycutt

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 13:54:18 +0000

Zen Honeycutt, executive director of Moms Across America, gives an overview of the vast damage being caused by glyphosate on human health and the environment. She details the importance of going organic and provides ways to get involved in the fight against this dangerous chemical.
FULL INTERVIEW:

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Monsanto’s Spy Software to Control the Entire Agriculture Market

Tue, 24 Nov 2015 20:13:55 +0000

We must stop this attempt to create a new and potentially even bigger monopoly. Action Alert!
Monsanto recently reached a deal with Deere & Co. that could dramatically alter the US agricultural market, and not for the better.
John Deere, the world’s largest producer of agricultural machinery, agreed to purchase Monsanto’s Precision Planting LLC equipment unit. As part of the deal, information on crops contained in Monsanto’s FieldView software app, used with the equipment, will send continuous information back to Monsanto. Monsanto will know which farmers have planted which crops, and where.
Importantly, Monsanto has similar deals with two other top producers of similar agricultural machinery, CNH Industrial NV and Agco Corporation.
As Dr. Mercola brought to our attention and astutely points out, access to this information imbedded in farming equipment across the country will give the company “unprecedented insight into market yields of any harvest before anyone else, and this information could allow [Monsanto] to manipulate and reign supreme over the commodities market.”
This is an outrage. The government has done everything in its power to grant Monsanto a monopoly over the seed industry. Now, these technology deals could give Monsanto another monopoly—this time over agricultural information and, through that, the commodities market.
Action Alert! Write to the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, and the Commodities Trading Futures Commission, and tell them they must act to stop this outrageous expansion of Monsanto’s monopoly power. Please send your message immediately.

Other articles in this week’s Pulse of Natural Health:
Plan for an End Run around GMO Labeling
Big Pharma Connections? No Problem, Says Nominee for FDA Chief
Feds Crack Down on Criminal Supplement Dealer

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Whom Do You Trust? Mom Bloggers? Scientists?

Tue, 15 Sep 2015 17:22:19 +0000

Unfortunately, the information you get from either group may be paid for by Monsanto. Action Alert!
Major news outlets reported this week that emails released through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests prove for certain what many of us already knew: Monsanto has enlisted “independent” scientists to deliver their messaging for them, in an effort to overcome the public’s mistrust of GMO propaganda.
This follows reports from last year that Monsanto was similarly trying to recruit “mommy” bloggers to disseminate their GMO messaging.
Last August, Monsanto paid mom bloggers $150 each to attend a three-hour, invitation-only brunch at the company’s research and farm facility in Northern California. Attendees were offered a tour of the facility, along with commentary from two Midwestern moms with family farm backgrounds who rhapsodized about Monsanto’s work to feed the planet.
This wasn’t the first event of its kind. Monsanto held another brunch following a blogger conference in San Jose earlier last year. Monsanto has also funded a film series called A Seat at the Table, which includes episodes with titles like “Distribution: Redefining the Road from Farm to Fork” and “Nutrition: Fortifying Foods for a Modern World.”
The purpose of these events seems crystal clear to us: wine and dine the bloggers, tell them fairy tales about GMOs, and then watch them parrot biotech’s propaganda to their audiences.
The recent email releases show how Monsanto and other biotech companies are working even more diffusely to shape public opinion behind the scenes—this time by buying scientists.
The most egregious case concerns Dr. Kevin Folta, chair of the horticultural sciences department at the University of Florida. The New York Times describes Dr. Folta as “among the most aggressive and prolific biotech proponents,” yet he apparently only publicly acknowledged his ties to Monsanto after the emails were released.
In fact, according to US Right to Know—the group that filed the initial FOIA requests—before the emails were released, Dr. Folta repeatedly denied having any ties to Monsanto! A cursory look at the evidence shows just how deep Dr. Folta’s involvement with Monsanto is:

Folta received a $25,000 unrestricted grant from Monsanto in 2014. In an email to a Monsanto executive, Dr. Folta wrote, “I am grateful for this opportunity and promise a solid return on the investment.”
In another email, Dr. Folta told a Monsanto executive that he is “glad to sign on to whatever you like, or write whatever you like,” during a discussion of which propaganda strategy would be most effective.
When Monsanto’s PR firm created a website called “GMO Answers,” where scientists responded to supposed myths about GMOs, Dr. Folta was given pre-drafted responses by Monsanto’s PR reps, and on several occasions used these answers nearly word for word.

These revelations wouldn’t be so troubling if those who are seeking to quash labeling efforts weren’t so insistent that the science proving the safety of GMOs is “settled.” Good science is never settled; it is always open to new evidence. But in this case, what is being called “science” appears to be propaganda bought and paid for by industry.
Unfortunately, these aren’t the only disingenuous efforts to undermine the public’s right to know what is in their food by labeling GMOs.
This past May we reported on what seemed like a coordinated media attack against Chipotle after the company announced it would be using exclusively non-GMO ingredients in its food.
A new negative ad campaign shows that Chipotle’s success, despite the media onslaught, is continuing to worry the biotech and Big Food industries. The ad campaign, called “Chubby Chipotle,” claims that Chipotle’s advertising is a hypocritical means of selling high-calorie burritos.
A group called the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) is claiming responsibility for the smear campaign. We’ve written about this group before—a misleadingly named organization run by a lobbyist for Big Food. By branding itself as a libertarian organization, it hopes to curry favor with consumers, but it appears to be little more than an industry front group. In the past, they have received funding from Monsanto, Cargill, Wendy’s, White Castle, Tyson Foods, and other food conglomerates. The CCF has also run campaigns downplaying the need for GMO labeling.
What the biotech and Big Food industries are trying to do with these efforts is create an environment in which scientists, doctors, and restaurant owners are afraid to speak out on GMOs. And with bottomless war chests available to prosecute these campaigns, we shouldn’t expect them to go away.
As Congress comes back into session, the House-passed DARK Act, which would prevent states from passing mandatory GMO labeling bills, could be considered any day in the Senate. Another possibility, as we’ve reported previously, is a separate Senate version of a voluntary labeling bill, which would also supersede state labeling efforts, likely to come from the office of Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND). We must put a stop to both efforts.
Action Alert! Write to your senators and urge them to vote NO on any voluntary GMO labeling bill that keeps consumers in the dark about what’s in the food we eat, whether it is Rep. Pompeo’s DARK Act or a future bill from Sen. Hoeven’s office. Please send your message immediately.

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Most Prestigious Medical Journal in America Calls for GMO Labeling!

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 19:27:42 +0000

Help us make sure your legislators on Capitol Hill hear about this. Action Alert!
A recent article published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) calls on lawmakers to label genetically modified foods.
The authors begin by pointing out the well-established fact that genetic modifications to make plants resistant to herbicides and pesticides have tremendously increased the amount of toxic chemicals dumped on crops. Between 1974 and 2014, glyphosate use alone has increased by a factor of more than 250.
This stands to become much worse. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided in 2014 to approve Enlist Duo, a new herbicide made by Dow Chemical that combines glyphosate and 2,4-D. This will lead to substantially more chemicals in our food: according to the EPA’s own projections, 2,4-D use will increase by as much as seven times as a result. (You can read our coverage of the new generation of combination herbicides here.)
The authors point out what many of us have realized for a long time: these are very nasty chemicals. 2,4-D is an ingredient in what used to be called Agent Orange when used in the Vietnam War. The World Health Organization’s ultra-cautious International Agency for Research on Cancer recently classified 2,4-D as a “possible human carcinogen” and glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen.” Both herbicides were linked to increases in malignant tumors at multiple sites in animals. Glyphosate was also linked to an increased incidence of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in humans.
These new developments cause the authors to conclude, “The time has therefore come to thoroughly reconsider all aspects of the safety of plant biotechnology….We believe the time has come to revisit the United States’ reluctance to label GM foods.”
This is not only a bold statement coming from an article in the NEJM. It is also a brave one. NEJM, like other medical journals, is highly dependent on industry for financial support. This shows that the editors still have a measure of independence.
More and more evidence links pesticide use with health problems. Recently, the Guardian reported that Hawaii, where chemical companies spray seventeen times more pesticide per acre than ordinary cornfields in the US, is experiencing a spike in birth defects—in some areas, at more than ten times the national rate.
We reported previously that Rep. Mike Pompeo’s voluntary GMO labeling legislation known as the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act passed the House and could be taken up by the Senate after the August recess. Let’s hope that the words of caution from the NEJM—along with messages from the millions of consumers who want to know what’s in the food they eat—will prevent Big Food’s and Big Biotech’s lobbyists from buying our legislators.
Action Alert! Tell your senators about the NEJM’s recommendation that all GMO foods be labeled, and point out that the DARK Act’s voluntary labeling scheme means no GMO labeling by the biggest GMO producers! Please take action immediately.

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Updated “DARK Act” Will Block States from Banning GE Crops

Tue, 30 Jun 2015 18:15:31 +0000

Rep. Mike Pompeo’s voluntary GMO labeling bill has been amended to include another brazen giveaway to Big Food and the biotech industries. Action Alert!
We’ve been closely monitoring the progress of the bill introduced by Rep. Pompeo (R-KS) and backed by industry. It’s titled, deceptively, the “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015”—and the news hasn’t been good. A few weeks ago, we reported that a Senate version of Pompeo’s bill was in the works while the House bill continued to gain co-sponsors and bipartisan support.
Worse, a new draft of the Pompeo bill doubles down in pandering to the Big Food and biotech industries. In this revision, states and localities would be prevented from banning GMO crops. That’s right—states would no longer have any oversight over genetically engineered crops!
In addition, this updated bill would preempt any state laws mandating the labeling of foods containing GM ingredients, which has prompted pro-labeling advocates to call Pompeo’s bill the “Deny Americans’ Right to Know Act”—the DARK Act. More than seventy bills have been introduced in over thirty states to require GMO labeling, and three states (ME, VT, and CT) have, with the help of ANH-USA’s legal team, passed mandatory GMO labeling laws. But all that would be nullified if this bill becomes law.
We suspect that this revision directly results from recent developments in Maui County, Hawaii, and Jackson County, Oregon. Both counties passed measures (a ballot initiative in Maui and an ordinance in Jackson) to ban the local cultivation of genetically engineered crops. Both measures are being challenged in court by Big Food. If Pompeo’s bill becomes law, decisions to uphold the bans would be moot: the language added to the most recent DARK Act draft would preempt local, democratic efforts to protect local farmers and ensure consumer health and safety.
In the past, we’ve exposed biotech’s pro-GMO talking points as deceptions, lies, and falsehoods on our GMO Fact Check page. GMOs will not feed the world or decrease pesticide use, nor are they proven to be safe for human consumption. But the fact is that, as far as policy discussions go, these arguments are utterly beside the point. Consumers have consistently and overwhelmingly demonstrated that they want to know what’s in the food they’re buying, and supporters of Pompeo’s DARK Act want to withhold this information from consumers.
The fact that Rep. Pompeo’s legislation not only seeks to preempt state labeling efforts but also to block local efforts to ban the cultivation of GE crops makes his real goals crystal clear—to protect the bottom line of agribusinesses, which have contributed over $100,000 to Rep. Pompeo.
Over the last few weeks, the bill has been continuing to gain momentum. Hearings on the measure have been held in the Energy and Commerce and the Agricultural committees, and a “mark-up” session is expected to happen soon, bringing the bill even closer to a vote.
Action Alert! Write to your legislators in Congress and urge them not to support the new discussion draft of the DARK Act, which would block states from taking action to protect residents’ health and safety. Please send your message immediately.

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