Posts Tagged ‘GMO Foods’
November 5th, 2009 | Author: admin
Article from the New York Times on November 5, 2009
As many as 25 percent of the American farmers growing genetically engineered corn are no longer complying with federal rules intended to maintain the resistance of the crops to damage from insects, according to a report Thursday from an advocacy group.
The increase in farmers skirting the rules, from fewer than 10 percent a few years ago, raises the risk that insects will develop resistance to the toxins in the corn that are meant to kill them, the report says. And it raises questions about whether the Environmental Protection Agency and the agricultural biotechnology industry are adequately enforcing the rules.
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: agriculture, food system, GMO Foods, industrial agriculture, natural pesticides, pesticides | 
3 Comments »
September 23rd, 2009 | Author: admin
Article from Civil Eats, September 23, 2009
Many gardeners are currently pulling up plants and preparing beds for fall. They are laying parts of their garden to rest while their squash lay about, curing in the sun. Some gardeners are already turning their backs on their plots and projecting their green minds through winter and into next spring. But fall is not the time for complacency in the garden. It’s a great time to sneak in some late plantings of lettuce and greens—and it’s the ripest time of year to save some seeds.
Saving seeds sustains us. It is a cultural activity, one that connects us to 12,000 years of the most essential human tradition. Saving seeds also connects us to our familiar food plants in new ways, teaching us to appreciate each plant’s full life cycle from seed to seed. Now, more than ever, saving seeds is also a political act—a good garden practice that doubles as agricultural activism.
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: agriculture, farms, food system, gardens, GMO Foods, local food, seed sources |
1 Comment »
September 23rd, 2009 | Author: admin
Article from Google/The Associated Press, September 23, 2009
A federal judge overturned government approval of a variety of sugar beet genetically engineered to resist a popular weed killer produced by agricultural giant Monsanto, according to a ruling released Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco found the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service violated environmental law by failing to take a “hard look” at whether “Roundup Ready” sugar beets would eventually share their genes with other crops.
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: agriculture, corporations, food system, GMO Foods, Monsanto |
2 Comments »
September 14th, 2009 | Author: admin
Article from Greenpeace.org, September 11, 2009
Residents of Germany, (and the rest of you Europeans) watch your breakfast! We’ve just learned there’s a secret genetically-engineered ingredient in some of your food that shouldn’t be there.
Illegal genetically-engineered linseed (also known as flaxseed) from Canadian fields has been found in some of Germany’s baked goods and cereal, according to the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed.
Illegal genetically-engineered linseed (also known as flaxseed) from Canadian fields has been found in some of Germany’s baked goods and cereal, according to the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed.
The linseed, which was never commercially grown in Canada, contains an antibiotic-resistant and herbicide-tolerant gene and has not been approved in the European Union. Though linseed is not a staple food, it is a widely-used health-food and can be found in baked goods, cereal and oil.
In a test conducted by the German federal state Baden-Württemberg, 39 percent of the samples were found to be contaminated.
Greenpeace Germany today released the results of their research finding genetic contamination in products such as bread, cereals, baking mixes and in whole and crushed linseed.
“Without knowing it, the German population has become guinea pigs,” stated Alexander Hissting, one of our experts on Genetic Engineering (GE).
This proves, yet again, that once released into nature, genetically engineered constructs are uncontrollable and cannot be recalled.
The German Federal State has already announced that the linseed contamination is a European problem.
We are calling for world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to recognise that the only effective protection from the uncontrolled spread of genetically modified organisms is a worldwide ban on their cultivation.
In the meantime, Germans should be made aware of which brands have been affected by the infected linseed, and those products should be taken off the shelves.
We stand against genetically modified organisms. There is insufficient scientific research on their effects on the environment and human health. Genetic engineering is a threat to biodiversity as GE plants can spread and infect natural strains.
Linseed is a widely-used health-food and can be found in baked goods, cereal and oil. 68 percent of Canadian-grown linseed is exported to Europe, and a proposed ban on the import of the seed would be devastating to Canadian farmers. This strain is illegal for commercial growth in Canada, which has led to questions as to how the contamination could have occurred.
This is just the latest example of this type of contamination: in 2006, unapproved GE rice spread all over the world, and earlier this summer, shipments of American soybeans containing traces of GE corn were blocked before entering Europe.
September 7th, 2009 | Author: admin
Article from Truth Dig, September 6, 2009:
Our most potent political weapon is food. If we take back our agriculture, if we buy and raise produce locally, we can begin to break the grip of corporations that control a food system as fragile, unsafe and destined for collapse as our financial system. If we continue to allow corporations to determine what we eat, as well as how food is harvested and distributed, then we will become captive to rising prices and shortages and increasingly dependent on cheap, mass-produced food filled with sugar and fat. Food, along with energy, will be the most pressing issue of our age. And if we do not build alternative food networks soon, the social and political ramifications of shortages and hunger will be devastating.
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: agriculture, corporations, farms, food shortage, food system, GMO Foods, government |
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September 7th, 2009 | Author: admin
Article from Credo Action
Massive seed corporation Monsanto — through acquisitions and cut-throat business practices — has cornered 90% of the soy, 65% of the corn, and 70% of the cotton market, and has a rapidly growing presence in the fruit and vegetable market, all without government anti-trust officials raising an eyebrow.
