Genetically Modified Crops-Poison on a Plate

If the saying: You Are What You Eat’ really means anything…There are A LOT of Monsters at our Tables!

Genetically Modified Crops-Poison on a Plate

In 1999 A Canadian farmer made a discovery on his property that set into motion a predatory advance by Monsanto-unlike anything ever seen before.  The hidden implication of their intention would soon become a landmark precedent setting saga-that continues to this day.

The main crop for over 40 years on this family farm is common to Canadian farmers in this region and throughout the world-Canola.  The farmers name is Percy Schmeiser.

One day while inspecting his fields on his routine ‘walk abouts’ his attention fell upon a clump of plants on the perimeter-on a nearby roadside.  It looked oddly out of place, and shouldn’t have been there. Having previously sprayed his fields, he wondered how it was still there. He was curious, and grabbed a handful and had it analyzed.  Within a few days, Monsanto’s ‘muscles’ where pounding his door down, demanding to inspect his fields, crop records, seeds and obtaining samples.

Monsanto took him to court for Patent infringement.  It was their position that Percy had illegally obtained and planted their ’Round Up Ready Canola Seeds’.  Percy was able to furnish records that he and his family had carefully maintained for over 40 years, of his seed yield and planting.  But somehow, his crop had been ’contaminated’, how it happened was yet to be discovered. Regardless of his record keeping and inspecting his farm, Monsanto persevered at a breathless pace.  By the time his case was heard-dozens of other farmers were just beginning to realize their own version of the same nightmare.

The contamination is now believed to have occurred through one or more of these means-Trans-gender pollination, wildlife foraging habits, and the most likely means-since the resistant crops seem to be discovered on roadsides-Is Monsanto’s contracted trucks losing seed on their trucks that were NOT sealed to proper Quarantine standards, and it quite simply planted as it was dispersed-blown from the trucks ledges, cracks and crevices.

Due to the discovery on Percy’s property, Monsanto was entitled to fine him just for starters $15 p/acre (for the pleasure of contaminating his property, then ‘taking’ his crop) No where is there a mention of  breaching Quarantine Protocol standards that are required when managing a Frankenstein Experiment like this-and fining the entity that it originated from-and how IT was able to contaminate acres and acres of farmland-until the original natural crops’ genetic integrity is no longer recognizable. Even though many of these Farmers were dead set against GM Crops, and had NEVER purchased or planted one molecule of them on their property-now they are having to deal with the same nightmare experience. The monster was already on it’s rampage, and the scope of the contamination was astonishingly mind boggling and shamelessly well documented in Monsanto’s records submitted in each litigious motion it made as it tried to take down DOZENS of Farms. Never showing concern or even mentioned, that the victim did not WANT their seed to begin with-and that Monsanto had CONTAMINATED their farmland!

Percy attempted to mitigate the damage. In 1999, After being unsure of just how much contamination had occurred-at the encouragement of his attorney Terry Zakreski, he simply destroyed his family’s cache of Canola seed. Schmeiser's fields had become contaminated with the Roundup Ready Canola and had destroyed the Canola seed that he had developed over 40+ years of farming.  It was now his future intention to plant Wheat in these fields, avoiding any other possible misconception aka litigation, or an open door invitation for Monsanto’s ‘muscle’ to reappear on his fields just as he finished planting.

Schmeiser noticed volunteer canola was growing in his fields in the spring of 2000. It was especially noticeable along a highway north of the Town of Bruno. Schmeiser performed a test, Fearing the same problem of contamination of his crops all over again, so he sprayed the volunteer canola with Roundup and 2,4-D. A large number of canola plants survived after the spraying. The canola seed he had sown the previous year was not a Roundup Ready variety, and he believed the combination of Roundup and 2, 4-D would kill all the volunteer canola. Monsanto has continually stated that you can kill Roundup Ready canola with 2, 4-D, as it is a potent chemical. But the contamination continues as the volunteer canola in his field survived the spraying combination of Roundup and 2, 4-D.
This chemical cocktail Round-up, enables the farmer to ‘over spray’ the crops. This makes it easier to place crops in rows closer together-enabling more rows of crop. Since the previous methods of control required specific equipment to be able to access the crops-space for it had to be figured in.  Since the modified crop grew it’s own pesticide, it was thought it would manage itself with a lot less ‘maintenance’, man hours,  chemicals per/Monsanto itself-netting a larger crop yield with less loss.

Most popular GM cash crops are: Rape Seed, Canola, Corn, Soy Bean and Cotton.  There is a 100 % chance you have some of it in your home in something you unknowingly-regularly eat. THAT is how pervasive it is. Several attempts at passing laws to label GM foods have failed. The process in the Round-up crops involve actually ‘growing the herbicide/pesticide right within the plant gene. Basically, Round-up for dinner. Here is a more complete list of Foods to Watch:
Corn/Maize
Corn,
Corn Starch,  Corn Oil
Modified Starch
Starch
Corn Syrup
Corn Syrup Solids
Dextrose
"Vegetable Oil                                                                                                                                                                     Tomatoes-Tomato Paste,Tomato Puree,Tomato Sauce
Rapeseed (Canola)
The UK rapeseed (canola) crop has been contaminated by GM rapeseed from Canada. To avoid consuming GM rapeseed oil, avoid all products which use the generic term "Vegetable Oil" on the labelling, as much "Vegetable Oil" is from rapeseed. Contact supermarkets and food suppliers to insist that they label their food accurately and specify the exact source of the "Vegetable Oil" being used.
Aspartame Aspartame, Equal,Nutrasweet

Aspartame is manufactured by Monsanto using Genetically Modified bacteria, according to news reports.

Monsanto submitted their request for patent infringement seeking damages totaling $400,000. Including a list of civil damages, about $250,000 in legal fees, $105,000 in profits they estimate Schmeiser made on the 1998 crop, $13,500 ($15 p/ acre) for technology fees and $25,000 in punitive damages. Schmeiser feels that Monsanto has asked for exorbitant amounts to serve as a warning to other farmers they are bullying. Schmeiser said he has already spent $160,000 of his own savings for legal fees and another $40,000 of his own time, travel and compensation for labor he had to hire when he was away from the farm. The retirement was first to go, when he was forced to destroy his seed-and purchase new seed.

In a key part of the ruling, the judge agreed a farmer can generally own the seeds or plants grown on his land if they blow in or are carried there by pollen -- but the judge says this is not true in the case of a genetically modified seed.
It was that part of the ruling that most upsets Percy Schmeiser. The implications are wide ranging and Schmeiser has launched an appeal that was heard on May 15 & 16, 2002 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Federal Court of Appeal subsequently rejected Schmeiser's appeal. Schmeiser then asked for leave from Canada's Supreme Court to hear the case. Leave was granted in May 2003 and the case was heard on January 20, 2004.

The Supreme Court issued their decision in May 2004 and one can view the decision as a draw. The Court determined that Monsanto's patent is valid, but Schmeiser is not forced to pay Monsanto anything as he did not profit from the presence of Roundup Ready canola in his fields. This issue started with Monsanto demanding Schmeiser pay the $15/acre technology fee and in the end, Schmeiser did not have to pay. The Schmeiser family and supporters are pleased with this decision, however disappointed that the other areas of appeal were not overturned.

Meanwhile, the same medicine continues to be handed out to dozens of other farmers who have had Monsantos ‘muscle’ visit them….and take the poor farmer down the same road they did Percy. After-Their crops were CONTAMINATED!!!

The trial had an unexpected side effect-It highlighted the GM crop process.
Rumors began to persist. The Scientific community took interest. People started taking a closer look, and listening to bits of information coming out related to GM crops. It became alarming, once the process was understood.

The backlash began all over the world. In the UK, the Store ICELAND literally had the foods in freezers in a separate Isle and Clearly labeled “Monster Crops”-I lived in Scotland for a year & witnessed this firsthand.

I recently visited the mid-west for my Fall Hike as well as research for this article.,  I have memories of rows of Corn and crops passing by the bus windows hypnotically as we drove along.  I noticed a lot of the farmers had changed their crops. Sod seems to be gaining popularity.  As a Naturalist, I understand that BEST Farming practices include ‘Resting’ the soil, and Crop Rotation, however, I couldn’t shake that haunting feeling-Had Monsanto already been HERE? Is that what has happened? Or, Had the Farmers finally gotten one up on Monsanto, and started growing a Crop that Monsanto hadn’t had a chance to “Monsterize” yet? IF that is the case, we can’t eat sod….but-What we ARE Eating, has been poisoning us for almost a decade now-and we are no closer to having these foods labeled so we can make our own minds up as to what we choose to eat!

The Following Information Is Taken From “Sourcewatch”
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Monsanto_and_the_Roundup_Ready_Controversy                 To Read more indepth Scienctific Data

Herbicide in Your Food

Most people who aware of the issue are not comfortable with herbicides/pesticides on their food in the first place, let alone in increasing amounts, "Glyphosate ... is absorbed by the foliage and translocated rapidly throughout the plant" from the Centre for Agriculture and Environment. "Residues of the commonly-used herbicide glyphosate have been found in a variety of fruits and vegetables. Residues can be detected long after glyphosate treatments have been made. Lettuce, carrots and barley planted a year after glyphosate treatment contained residue at harvest" says Caroline Cox, staff scientist for the NCAP (Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides) and editor of the Journal of Pesticide Reform See also  under Accumulation in Confined Rotational Crops. Also see NCAP's glyphosate factsheets .
"In fact, while Roundup and similar products were originally used against weeds, 'they have become a food product, since they are used on GMOs, which can absorb them without dying,' maintains the biochemist Gilles-Eric Séralini. A member for years of the French Commission on Biomolecular Genetics (CBG) [and also a member of Criigen], responsible for preparing the files for requests for field studies, then GMO commercialization, he ceaselessly demands more intense studies on their eventual health impact
A recent study testing the effects of glyphosate on human cells which "corresponds to low levels of residues in food or feed" has found that "the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death around residual levels to be expected, especially in food and feed derived from R[oundup] formulation-treated crops" Glyphosate Formulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and Placental Cells.
And though disputed by Monsanto, studies have also indicated that exposure to glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) increases the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and other serious health concerns. This exposure to herbicides will likely increase if Monsanto/Dow's new SmartStax™ technology gains approval which they predict by the end of the decade. In addition to applications of glyphosate corn can also be doused with Dow's LibertyLink glufosinate herbicide  SmartStax will combine ("stack") eight different genes for insect control and herbicide tolerance. The benefit for Monsanto will be increasing control of the market and greater profit, "Stacking traits not only provides farmers with one-stop shopping, it represents incremental margin on a bag of seed corn for Monsanto" says Monsanto's Robert Fraley . Further, tolerance of other herbicides, such as dicamba will likely be added in time. Though applications of dicamba is meant to alternate with glyphosate as a response to resistance. Unfortunately however, engineered crop volunteers and weeds are even evolving resistance to multiple herbicides requiring ever stronger chemicals to kill . Says Tom Philpott about the glyphosate/glufosinate combination, "Wow. So you’d get farmers dousing their fields with not one but two broad-spectrum herbicides—blotting out biodiversity while conjuring up a few super-duper-weeds that will need their own chemical/GMO 'solution' in the near future.
In another report by the Center Simplifying the Pesticide Risk Equation: The Organic Option, which quantifies and compares the exposures to hazardous pesticide residues on conventional vs organic produce, Dr. Charles Benbrook states that "recent USDA pesticide residue and food consumption surveys show that most people consume three to four residues daily just through [conventionally grown] fruits and vegetables. 'Accounting for residues in conventional milk, tap water and other foods, the average American exposes him or herself to ten to 13 pesticide residues daily'" .
Another report by the UK's Pesticides Residues Committee (PRC) found that non-organic fruits and vegetables contained excessive amounts of pesticides. Among other findings, "nearly all the apples (49 out of 52 tested) and every one of the bananas had some form of pesticide in them. Many of the pieces of fruit had more than one pesticide" . For more see the .
Pesticide Action Network has created a searchable database, What's on my food, that one can use to easily find out which pesticides and pesticide residues are used on and remain on everyday fruits, vegetables, milk and meat.

*My article also appears in my Environmental Contributor Column at UTalkNews.com as well as my other Articles on Hiking Tips, and Surviving, Packing for Hikes, etc.

For further research and sourcing please visit the websites indicated below.
http://www.percyschmeiser.com/Archives.htm

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Monsanto_and_the_Roundup_Ready_Controversy

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