Armed with 50,000 signatures from consumers supporting mandatory GMO labeling, there is a showdown brewing in the U.S. Senate

U.S. Senate Seal

 

 

Battle lines drawn as legislative fight over labeling looms

By Carey Gillam

Combatants in a national food fight over labeling genetically modified products are gearing up for a showdown in the U.S. Senate, campaign leaders said on Tuesday. The tactics range from old-fashioned lobbying to modern social media campaigns, and both sides say it is too early to tell who will prevail. "I feel like we're in the final battle now," said David Bronner, a California business owner and leading backer of mandatory labeling for foods made with genetically engineered crops, also known as GMOs. Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, said in a phone interview he has purchased $250,000 in advertising space in several national publications to identify what GMO critics see as concerns about GMO crops, and to challenge what he called a "smokescreen" promoted by corporations and others who say GMOs and the pesticides used on them are safe.

Read More Here

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Arpad Pusztai - Blowing the Whistle, He Knew the Truth About GMO's Years Ago

Hello  everyone , 

 I am back from my hiatus.  I really was  not sure if I would be back at all.   Yet here I am  with an oldie but definitely a goody.  This video was posted in 2012 with test results and  scientific findings  that  should have  made  the  difference  in the termination of GMO in the  marketplace.  Or at least a moratorium on its widespread release.  Not to mention the  cross contamination with non-gmo crops out in the fields.   This is  clear  and  concise proof that we  have been  sold out .  Not to mention being used as  guinea pigs in this race to fill Monsanto's  bank accounts .  Along with other companies like it and their  benefactors the  FDA and The  USDA.
Sooooooo,  if you were still living in that fantasy land that believes  the government is there to protect you, then please  wake up and  smell the rotting corpse of what used to be a public service oriented office.  For it is now and  has been for quite a  while an office of corporate, personal, political and  governmental gain at the expense of the  people.  It is our children and all the children who will come after who are  and will be the by product of this exercise in greed and callous disregard for human life. 
Still asleep?

Desert Rose+

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** A  heartfelt Thank you, to those of you  who waited and  those of you who joined in my absence.  Your  support is very much appreciated.  I am not sure how active I will be , but I will do my best to bring you some of the information I come across on a daily basis as well as some Guest writers when and as they arise  :)

~Be vigilant and aware , for our foes only advantage is the element of surprise~

Desert Rose

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Patrick Timpone

Published on Oct 1, 2012

Click on the link to hear the entire interview
http://www.oneradionetwork.com/health...

World renowned scientist lost his job when he warned about GE foods


Dr Arpad Pusztai evoked world wide media attention in August 1998, when he said in British TV that he would not eat genetically engineered food because of the insufficient testing procedures they have undergone.

Pusztai is a world renowned expert on food safety, who worked at UK's leading food safety research lab, the Rowett institute. His statement obviously threatened to damage the then ongoing multimillion PR campaign of the Biotech industry to create public confidence in GE foods. A few days after his public appearance he was suspended and gagged by the research institute where he worked.

Pointed out weakness in present food regulations
Dr Pusztai's pointed out that substances in Genetically Engineered (GE) foods that have a slow acting effect would not be detected because present regulations do not require long term safety testing. The regulations prescribe an approval procedure based on the principle of substantial equivalence. In practice this procedure allows very superficially tested foods to be approved. As an illustrative example, he mentioned fresh results from his research on certain pesticidal Lectins (Pusztai is recognized as a world leading expert on Lectins). Pusztai found that rats developed immune system defects and stunted growth after a time period corresponding to 10 years of human life.

Humiliating statements displayed about Pusztai
A few days after his appearance on TV and Radio, the Rowett intstitute suspended Pusztai. It was said that the GE potatoes were not intended to be used as food. It was maintained that the results reported by Dr Pusztai were misleading because he had mixed up the results of different studies. In that context it was pointed out that he was old (68), giving the impression of a senile and confused person. It was also said that the research had not been done on GE potatoes but on a mixture of natural potatoes and Lectin. It was indicated in a humiliating way that the quality of Dr Pusztai's research was deficient. The formal reason for his suspension was that he had presented the results publicly before they had been reviewed by other scientists (peer review) as required by the Rowett Institute. At the same time as he was suspended, he was disallowed to speak with the media to defend himself (which would have revealed the misleading information from Rowett Institute).

A scientific committe was asked by the Rowett institute to review the study Pustai referred to. It said there were important deficiencies in the study.

Independent scientists confirmed the correctness of Pusztais conclusions
Pusztai then sent the research protocols to 24 independent scientists in different countries. These turned down the conclusions of the review committee and found that his research was of good quality and justified his conclusions. They found that Pusztai had not mixed up any results.

Scientists and physicians (including the undersigned), who had been in touch with Pusztai confirmed that he was perfectly clear-minded with no signs of confusion or memory defects.

"Breathtaking impertinence" by Royal society according to Lancet
Then a second review committe was appointed by the Royal Society in UK. It again concluded that Pusztai's results were inconclusive yes even flawed.

A world leading scientific journal found the judgement of the Royal Society "a gesture of breathtaking impertinence" (Lancet, Editorial, May 22, p1769).

Pusztai has pointed out a number of obvious deficencies in this review report, see also the interview below and Dr Pusztai's website, where he explains this in detail.


Harmful GE potatoes would have been approved
Recently Pusztai has also said that the lectin potatoes he had been studying were indeed intended for food although that was denied by the Rowett institute. That was the reason why he wanted to make the alarming results known. Had not Pusztai's long term study revealed the danger, the GE lectin potatoes might very well have turned up on the market, as formally they were "substantially equivalent" with the natural variety, Pusztai said. This case demonstrates the serious insufficiency of the present regulations for food safety that don't demand long term testing of GE foods, see Substantial equivalence versus scientific food safety assessment. This is the probable reason why great efforts were made to suppress the truth and to "kill" the messenger.

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Monsanto Protection Act 2.0 Defeated

Anthony Gucciardi·

Published on Sep 25, 2013

The Monsanto Protection Act 2.0 has been defeated by activism and public outrage.

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Natural Society

Victory: Senate to Kill Monsanto Protection Act Amid Outrage

by Anthony Gucciardi
September 25th, 2013
Updated 09/25/2013 at 11:31 pm

In a major victory brought upon by serious activism and public outrage, new legislation changes will shut down the Monsanto Protection Act rider that granted Monsanto protection from legal action and was set to renew on September 30th.
This unprecedented move shows the true power of the anti-GMO, anti-Monsanto movement, and how elected officials are now being forced to side with the concerned population over the money-spewing Monsanto. After all, it was Monsanto who purchased its way into the initial Senate spending bill legislation via a rider dubbed the ‘Monsanto Protection Act’  through Senator Roy Blunt.
Officially labeled the Farmer Assurance Provision under Sec. 735 of the Senate Continuing Resolution spending bill, Senator Blunt was conveniently given over $64,000 by Monsanto before he handed the biotech corporation the ability to write its own legislation for the Monsanto Protection Act. And as I told you back in March here on the frontlines of anti-GMO activism, the financial payload dished out by Monsanto was enough to secure a major victory for corporations over both the public and even the federal government.
It was last March that Obama signed the initial Senate spending bill into law, subsequently bringing the Monsanto Protection Act rider into legal validity as well. But the rider only extended until September 30th of this year, and it was up to Monsanto to pull another slippery legislative trick out of their sleeves in order to pass a Monsanto Protection Act 2.0 renewal. Once again, however, Monsanto executives underestimated the power of the alternative news community and the intelligence of those who do not want to eat contaminated food.

Read More Here

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AntiSec dumps Monsanto data on the Web

March 4, 2012 by desertrose Hackers affiliated with Anonymous go after the biotech giant, stating, "Your continued attack on the worlds food supply...has earned you our full attention." http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57389119-83/antisec-dumps-monsanto-data-on-the-web/#ixzz1nzZRvk32

(Credit: Screenshot by CNET)

Anonymous continued its ongoing attack on agricultural biotech giant Monsanto today by publishing an outdated database of the company's material. This is the newest in a barrage of strikes from hackers aligned with Anonymous who operate under the "AntiSec" banner. In a statement posted with the database on a Pastebin site, the hacktivist group wrote it was aware that exposing the database would not do much harm to Monsanto but warned it would continue to target the company for what it sees as wrong. "Your continued attack on the worlds food supply, as well as the health of those who eat it, has earned you our full attention," wrote AntiSec. "Your crimes against humanity are too many to name on one page." Anonymous' battle with Monsanto began last July when the hackers disrupted the company's Web site and then released data on about 2,500 individuals involved in the agriculture industry. According to Monsanto, 10 percent of this information was related to current and former Monsanto employees. Monsanto was one of seven companies that supplied the U.S. military with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War and for a while made bovine growth hormones. Now it focuses on making genetically engineered seeds and pesticides.

AntiSec says the reason for the attacks is to protest the company's lawsuits against organic dairy farmers for stating on labels that their products don't contain growth hormones."You have put over 9000 small-time farmers out of business by using your enormous legal team to bury them with your malicious patent lawsuits," AntiSec wrote in its statement today. "You have continually introduced harmful, even deadly products into our food supply without warning, without care, all for your own profit."Besides going after Monsanto, AntiSec has also recently claimed responsibility for attacks on U.S. law enforcement agencies, Vanguard Defense Industries, and private prisoncompanies. In these assaults, the hackers deface the companies' Web sites as well as release documents, e-mails, and other files.