What is a GMO? You say you've never heard of it? Well, if you eat major brands of cereal, bread, canned food, frozen dinners or candy bars you've been eating it for years. So how come you don't know about it? They don't want you to know. These companies are fighting like hell to not have to label anything. Consumers are being misled and lied to. When a can of frozen juice is labeled 'all-natural' when in reality there is nothing natural about it you know there can't be any true regulations. And people believe the lie, and they go through life confident that what their being told the truth by the same companies whose only goal is to make a profit. They DO NOT care about your well being. But the FDA regulates products so that they're safe for us. Yep, another lie. Look at the facts, look into the past and you will see countless evidence of atrocities done to the people and the environment. Yet we don't learn, we don't listen. How do companies like DuPond and Monsanto come to control our food supply? Companies that made their money making poisons like DDT and Agent Orange are now the ones in charge of feeding us. Do you not see anything wrong with that?  

The regulations of GE vary from country to country. Some require labeling, some have banned it altogether, while some others chose to keep the population in the dark. In the US genetically engineered food is not required to be labeled. Besides the fact that the consumers have the right to know what's in their food, the main problem with the current labeling policies (or lack of) of GE food is the fact that we can't track the effects on the population. There is no way to study the effects of GMO's in our food if there is no record of which foods contains GMO's. Unfortunate for us but very fortunate for the companies that profit off it.

“Absence of evidence of harm is not evidence of absence of harm.”

Primary Suspects: Ingredients and Products to Check

-ANIMAL PRODUCTS: Because animal feed often contains genetically engineered organisms, all animal products, or by-products may be affected.

What happens when we allow a chemical and pesticide company to control our food supply?

Farms are not what they used to be. Family farms are an endangered species now a days, simply becoming the revenue center for biotechnology. And all these companies care about is money, at any cost...

These companies keep telling us lies and giving poor excuses to justify such manipulation of nature and potentially endangering our health and the environment.

They claim GE technology will end world hunger. Hunger is not an issue of lack of food, but rather a problem of food distribution, lack of access and money. GE food and laws that allow companies to patent seeds using terminator technology will eventually increase world hunger since poor farmers will be forced to buy new overpriced seed each year, not to mention the expensive pesticides that go along with it.

Another claim is that GE technology will allow for using less pesticides. When in reality, this technology became widespread so farmers could use MORE pesticides. GE food first started to spread between the years of 1997 and 1999 with the development of Roundup (glyphosate),  a herbicide that kills ALL plants, used and marketed as a weed killer. The problem is, if you want to kill weeds in order to protect other plants, like crops, roundup kills them too. The solution Monsanto came up with was to genetically alter the crop seeds so that they grow plants that are resistant to Roundup. And Roundup Ready seeds were born. So now you can spray away, using even more pesticides, polluting the soil and water even more, and potentially developing Roundup resistant weeds. Even though to some people it might sound like a good idea, Roundup is a harmful pesticide that despite the fact that it has been labeled 'safe' it has shown to cause cancer.

Having the knowledge of the uncertainty and dangers of genetical engineering, how is it possible that it was ever allowed in the first place? Well, when we started experimenting with it, we didn't know as much as we know now about genes. Actually, scientists sold the idea of genetic engineering as being the next step to conventional breeding.

WHAT IS GENETIC ENGINEERING?

"the unnatural insertion of a foreign sequence of genetic code in the midst of the orderly sequence of genetic codes of the recipient, developed through millions of years. This is a profound intervention with unpredictable consequences."

In reality, GMO's are nothing more than an attempt to control nature through a mechanical approach, for profit, of course. Plants are living creatures, much like us, they are not machines in an assembly line. Their parts are not interchangeable.

When all these attempts to alter life began, scientists still believed that genes where trait-specific. Like some kind of everlasting code that we're born with that determines absolutely everything about us, that never changes. It is there to regulate our every everything as we go upon our existence. But time has showed us that they didn't know as much as they pretended to do.

WHAT IS DNA?

DNA is the complete set of information which determines both structure and function of all living organisms. A long string of code that's arranged in an orderly sequence containing instructions for protein creation. A gene is a set of code required to describe a certain protein contained in the DNA chain.

As advanced as we might think technology is, we still don't fully understand how DNA works. Until a decade or two ago, it was still believed that genes were independent carriers of specific properties or traits. This is where problems arise when messing with genetic code. There is no simple one to one relationship between genes and traits. Genes are not independent units of information. The expression of a gene is not only the result of the interaction with the whole organism which contains it, but it is also influenced by external conditions, such as the environment which contains such organism. Therefore, due to all the variables that play part in the existence and behavior of a gene, it would be impossible to predict and master the effects of gene insertion. Although technology allows us to slice and dice genes in a test tube, the insertion into a living organism is random and unpredictable.

GENE INSERTION

After a gene has been genetically altered it needs to be inserted into the recipient. Being too small to be surgically inserted, the new altered gene needs a carrier to be placed into the recipient cell. The two carriers most commonly used are bacteria and viruses. In some cases mechanical methods such as the gene cannon can be used. All methods have one thing in common: they are a random procedure and it is literally impossible to predict where the gene will attach upon insertion. Genetic information is inserted randomly into the genome.

MARKER GENES - WHY IS THERE ANTIBIOTICS IN OUR PRODUCE?

In order to determine whether the insertion of the altered gene was successful, marker genes are inserted along with it. A marker gene is an antibiotic. Most commonly, mainstream antibiotics are used, and with the tendency of cross-resistance this will inevitably lead to an increase of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

PROMOTERS

Genes are genetically altered in order to produce an effect that could not be brought upon naturally. In nature, the expression of traits is regulated in the gene. In order to maximize results, promoters are used to ensure that the inserted trait gene will express the desired trait persistently. The most commonly used promoter is CaMV, cauliflower mosaic virus. The biggest problem is that once inserted and released into the environment there is no way to track, monitor or control this virus. Therefore it could mutate or combine with infecting viruses, creating new ones.

BARRIER PENETRATION GENES - IS THERE SOMETHING FISHY ABOUT THIS TOMATO?!?

Genes from different species don't mix together for a reason. Nature is wise and has taken millions of years of development and evolution to develop an ecosystem that allows all inhabitants of this planet to coexist in harmony. The species barrier has the ability to repel foreign genes. In order to genetically alter genes, technology has come up with combinations of genes derived from viruses and bacteria that can penetrate the species barrier, performing transgenic crosses (unconventional crosses. eg. tomato and fish). These crosses lead to homogeneity, which is unnatural, making crops weak and vulnerable. The biggest problem with this is that these genes can spread in nature contaminating other species, creating new and dangerous bacteria and viruses.

Unnatural gene transfers from one species to another are dangerous. Biotechnology companies claim that their genetic manipulations are similar, or, the next step to traditional breeding techniques. This is NOT TRUE. They make unnatural cross-species transfers that would never be possible to happen in nature and that could, besides disrupting the world's ecosystem could breed new toxins, bacteria and diseases.

WHO IS MONSANTO

So monsanto and its subsidiaries control our food supply. But who is Monsanto? Is it a large group of farmers? Seed developers? Land owners? No. Monsanto is a company that has a long history of releasing harmful products into the environment. It is a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. A chemical pesticide company. The world's leading producer of pesticides, GE seed and bovine growth hormone.

Monsanto was funded in 1901. It's first product: Saccharin (a carcinogenic artificial sweetener). Besides saccharin, it also produced industrial chemicals (eg. sulphuric acid), plastics & synthetics and pesticides. It was also the largest manufacturer of PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls), an oily insulating fluid that causes brain damage, birth defects, immune system disorders and cancer. In 1968 PCB contaminated rice got 1300 people sick in Kyush, Japan, causing serious birth defects to their offspring.

Another of Monsanto's products was the herbicide 2,4,5,-T, which contained the chemical dioxin TCDD, which is highly toxic.

"TCDD (dioxin) has been shown to be extremely toxin to a number of animal species. Mortality does not occur immediately. It appears that the animals' environment suddenly becomes toxic to them."  -Casarett and Doull's Toxicology, 1996

Dioxin was used to make Agent Orange, a defoliant used in Vietnam by the US military. Amongst all the companies manufacturing this product, Monsanto's had the highest levels of Dioxin.

From 1962-1970 the US military sprayed 72 million liters of Agent Orange in Vietnam. Over one million Vietnamese and 100,000 american troops were exposed. Until this day, 40 years later, people are still dealing with the toxic effects of Agent Orange, often with no help from the government.

The authorities have known of the harmful effects of Dioxin for a long time, yet they still allowed it to be used. The first reported industrial Dioxin poisoning was in 1949. Workers in West Virginia reported rash, nausea, headaches, muscle aches, fatigue and depression, some of them eventually developing nervous system disorders such as peripheral neuropathy. Cancer, liver disorders and horrible fetal deformities have also been linked to Dioxin exposure.

Monsanto's subsidiary GD Searlr Pharmaceuticals developed Aspartame (Equal and Nutrasweet). Even though there are countless reports of headaches, blurred vision, numbness, hearing loss, muscle spasms and epileptic type seizures linked to the use of this chemical, Monsanto still denies the toxic effects of their product. And people still enjoy their diet cokes by the bucketfuls.

Yet another harmful product developed by Monsanto: rBHG (Bovine Growth Hormone). Sold under the name Posilac, it makes cows produce much more milk than normal. Winsconsin farmers have reported numerous spontaneous deaths (study by Mark Kastel - Winsconsin Farmers Union), increase in utter infections, severe metabolic difficulties and calving problems. Long term effects on developing human children drinking this milk is unknown at this time. How was such a toxic product approved by the FDA? At the time of Polisac's approval, Margaret miller was the FDA's deputy director of new animal drugs. Before her gig at the FDA, ms. Miller had worked for Monsanto on rBGH safety studies. Suzanne Sechen, was the FDA's lead reviewer of scientific data on rBGH. Before that, she worked for Monsanto.

Michael R. Taylor was the person in charge of writing the rBGH labeling guideline. This guideline requires non-rBGH products to state that 'there is no difference between rBGH and the naturally occurring hormone.' Mr. Taylor, before joining the FDA, was Monsanto's lawyer for 7 years. Isn't that convenient...

Consider the following Monsanto quote, along with the FDA's opposing quote:

"Monsanto should not have to vouch-safe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety if the FDA's job."

-Phil Angell, Monsanto's director of corporate communications, New York Times Magazine, october 25, 1998

"Ultimately, it is the food producer who is responsible for assuring safety"

-FDA, 'Statement of Policy: foods derived from new plant variety' (GMO Policy). Federal Register, Vol. 57, No. 104

"Up to now, living organisms have evolved very slowly, and new forms have had plenty of time to settle in. Now new proteins will be transported overnight into wholly new associations, with consequences no one can foretell, either for the host organism, or their neighbors...going ahead in this direction may be not only unwise, but dangerous. Potentially, it could breed new animal and plant diseases, new sources of cancer, novel epidemics."

-Dr. George Wald. Nobel laureate in medicine 1967. Higgins professor of biology, Harvard University. (From 'The case against genetic engineering' by George Wald)

GMO's are capable of accidentally introducing unintended changes into its new host, much like a side effect if you will. Genetically engineered foods can have characteristics that are unexpected and undesirable. DAMAGE CANNOT BE PREDICTED OR CONTROLLED. When foods are being introduced to new proteins, especially those which have never been part of people's foods before, it is absolutely impossible to foresee the effects they can have on health in the long run.

When the natural DNA molecule is disrupted, there is a definite possibility for mutations. The DNA of most food-producing organisms are very complex. There are a number of components that make such organisms. They are a world of complex subcellular structures, organelles, molecular networks and metabolic pathways, all working together in an integrated, interdependent way. Changes in that code will not happen in isolation. The effects of introducing one single gene will have an overall effect on the whole system. Scientists do not have the ability to predict or control the outcome of genetic manipulation. SURPRISES ARE INEVITABLE.

GENETIC POLLUTION

This is the new threat of life on earth. This is the new epidemic. Genetic pollution could change the world and life in it FOREVER. Genetic pollution is a reality. What will we leave our children? How are we going to look into their eyes and explain to then that WE let this happen because we were too busy trying to keep up with what the "establishment" told us was important?

There already are GMO crops growing in organic farms due to wind pollution.

So what happens if you, an organic farmer, get your field infected by GMO's and your harvest ruined. YOU GET SUED!!!! Yes, Monsanto WILL sue you. There are several law suits against farmers that are in this situation. Monsanto's argument: They don't care how their technology got on your farm, if you don't have a license, you must have stole it! You get sued and on top of that have to pay a technology fee to Monsanto. (Monsanto vs Percy Schmeiser)

HEALTH DAMAGING EFFECTS OF GENETIC ENGINEERING WILL CONTINUE FOREVER...
Unlike chemical or nuclear contamination, genetic pollution is self-perpetuating. It can never be reversed or cleaned up; as of now , it can't even be tracked. The effects of genetic experiments will be passed down to all future generations of a species.

"GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS CARRY MORE RISKS THAN CONVENTIONAL FOOD.
The process of genetic engineering can thus introduce dangerous new allergens and toxins into foods that were previously naturally safe. Already, one genetically engineered soybean was found to cause serious allergic reactions, and bacteria genetically engineered to produce large amounts of the food supplement, tryptofan, have produced toxic contaminants that killed 37 people and permanently disabled 1,500 more." (Refs: Nordlee, J.A. et al (1996) The New England Journal of Medicine 688; Mayeno, A.N. et al (1994) TIBTECH 12:364.)

TERMINATOR TECHNOLOGY

Developed by monsanto, this so-called technology is one of the greatest threats to humanity. It can lead to worldwide famine, starvation, and potentially wipe out many plants species, leading to the catastrophic collapse of the world's ecosystem.

Terminator seeds are seeds that have been genetically altered to produce plants that produce sterile seed, therefore, being unable to reproduce. Morals aside, there are several reasons why this is incredibly wrong and should be labeled illegal.

Poor farmers grow 15-20% of the world's food, that's food for about 1.4 billion people. For thousands of years farmers have been saving and developing their own seed; in fact, they depend on it. With this new technology farmers will be forced to buy new seed every year, which is completely unnecessary, and they can't afford to do anyway.

Genetic traits can be passed along to other plant life. Once this technology is released, it cannot be controlled. It could, potentially, make all plants seeds sterile. No plants, no ecosystem, no life.  So why is it that anyone would ever want this technology used, or even have developed it in the first place? They claim this is the only way to protect patented seed technology. But what does this mean? Two words: monopoly control. They want to have complete control of our food supply, from the seed to the table. Engineered not to reproduce. A seed that breeds death, not life.

THE NEW GENERATION OF GMO'S

It seems that since the GE experiment has been so "successful" and profitable, the companies that control our food supply have decided to take it up a notch. The next generation of GM crops are designed to be drug factories. Human vaccines, proteins, pharmaceutical drugs, industrial chemicals and even plastics. The most important question here is, how can they keep the crops used for drug manufacturing and experimentation separate from our food, when there's already been proof that genes have escaped? Some countries are asking the industry not to use food plants to grow dangerous drugs, although so far, there are no laws preventing the use of food plants. In the US most experimental fields use corn.

As of right now, dangerous drugs ARE being grown in crops. Can they accidentally end up on your dinner table? Are you willing to take that risk for yourself and your family?

GMO's will change the genetics of the crops of the world!!!

PATENTING LIFE - IS IT A MORAL ISSUE?

The patenting of life has never been allowed. No person could claim and have rights to something nature created, and therefore, could not own it and make profit off it. In 1985 it all changed, opening the doors to an uncertain future. In the 70's a GE (General Electric) microbiologist developed a bacteria that could ingest oil. When their patent was denied, due to the fact that life forms were not patentable, GE sued. And won. In 1985 the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) extended the patentable life forms from bacteria only to plants and seeds. In 1988 the first patent for an animal came along, in 1991, the first patent on stem human cells, and later on, human genes. So what comes next? A whole person? Can you imagine someone having a patent on you? Impossible you say? Is it, really.

Modern technology allows us to go to the center of every living cell, and then change it! This is brilliant, yes, but absolutely INSANE!

What they're doing here is not like crossing flowers with flowers, this is crossing flowers with cows, butterflies with snakes, tomatoes with fish and spinach with E-coli.

First a bacteria, then seeds, corn, soy, canola, fish, pigs, you and I? I often wonder who is the mastermind of this calculated plan...

THE ARTIFICIAL CREATION OF LIFE MARKS THE END OF THE NATURAL WORLD.

WHERE ARE OUR BEES?

There is a new phenomenon called COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER or CCD. It refers to the colonies of bees that are disappearing world wide.  Some areas of the US and Europe report up to 80% of their colonies gone! Not even dead, just gone. So where are our bees? The bees are suspected to have become disoriented and not found their way back to their colonies, gotten sick and died.

What is the cause? GMO's. Particularly, pollen from Bt crops manufactured by Monsanto. So what's the big deal, you might ask. Well, VERY big deal. We depend on bees. 30% of our food supply directly depends on bee pollination. That's 15 billion dollars of seed and food every year! Not to mention the environmental catastrophe that could collapse the food chain and wipe out mankind. The disappearance of the honey bee could end our existence.

"If the bee disappeared off the globe, then man would have only four years of life left; no more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."   -Albert Einstein. 

Living in this so called democratic nation, we vote for so many things, except the thing that matters the most: our food. No food, no people. But there is no democratic decision making when it comes this important inssue. Instead, the decisions are made for us by the same companies that depend on our ignorance and inability to take action. These laws - and lack of - will change our lives and the world forever more than any legislation ever passed in the world.

BUY ORGANIC!! - SAY N         TO GMO's 

So far ORGANIC food is GMO free, but for how long? There are no zoning restrictions for GM crops. In fact, there is no labeling required at all. Pollen from GM crops can easily contaminate organic fields, and contaminated crops could easily be undetected, making it UNSAFE to rely on organic crops to avoid GMO's.

Consider this: in a not so distant future, it might be impossible to get 'real food'. Don't support this 'technology' and the companies behind it. Don't buy their products. Every time you buy GE products you are supporting them and their dangerous experiments. I know it might be harder and more expensive, but in the long run, can we really afford to keep consuming genetically modified irradiated 'food'? This is the only planet we have. We only get one chance. What kind of earth do you want to leave your children? So do your part, take responsibility, become informed and have an opinion.

It is the choices you make everyday that make a difference.

You can change the world.

One step at a time...