Officially California has voted “No” on Proposition 37, which required labeling of genetically modified foods (GMOs), even though 96 percent were in favor of labeling before elections according to MSNBC poll.
A $46 million ad campaign by Monsanto, DuPont, and the food industry succeeded, claiming that labeling would be a major inconvenience that would raise costs and food prices.
Organic farmers, retailers, environmentalists, consumers, and other groups comprising over 10 million individuals raised $8 million. In the end, the vote was 4.8 million against Proposition 37 to 4.3 million in favor, according to Acres USA, Jan. 2013.
Because of “unexplained anomalies,” Lori Grace, head of the Institute for American Democracy and Election Integrity, has started a recount, according to independent public television station KCET.
Although it is believed that the basic premise of the majority of “Yes” voters is the desire to be able to make an educated choice regarding food, many feel that GMOs are actually toxic and look to studies done outside the industry for reliable information. One such study came out in September 2012.
According to an article in Le Nouvel Observateur, quoted in the Nation of Change, that study was considered so controversial that the researchers used encrypted emails, banned phone conversations, and even created a decoy study to prevent sabotage.
A two-year study showed increased formation of tumors and early mortality using the rat’s lifespan instead of the usual 90-day safety-testing period. The study, by Gilles-Eric Séralini, et al., was called “Long Term Toxicity of a Roundup Herbicide and a Roundup-Tolerant Genetically Modified Maize” and was published in the peer-reviewed Food and Chemical Toxicology Journal, September 2012. Research.
What Is Roundup?
Roundup is the chemical glyphosate. This herbicide is not toxic to the plant directly as previously used herbicides were. Glyphosate becomes deadly by chelating protective minerals such as magnesium, copper, and iron from plants, making the plants susceptible to pathogens that are naturally in the soil.
Dr. Don Huber, a soil biologist, in a video with Dr. Mercola, describes the weeds as having AIDS. They die, and the soil is left full of plant pathogens, as Roundup also kills off the beneficial bacteria as well.
Glyphosate itself does not break down, but accumulates in the soil, as it has been used as an herbicide for over three decades without alternating it with other herbicides. The super weeds, that take more Roundup than ever plus other herbicides to kill, have developed resistance to the soil pathogens, just as some of us have developed a natural immunity to mumps, according to a Sept. 22, 2012, article on Mercola.com.
The Study
A French study researching the effects of GMOs was conducted on 200 rats.
A New York Times opinion piece by Andrew Revkin cited the French academies of agriculture, medicine, pharmacy, technology, science, and veterinary medicine as banding together to say the study “spread fear among the public,” had “numerous gaps in methods and interpretation,” and the corn type GMO NK603 was already “proven safe.”
Out of the 200 rats, 10 of each sex were given the non-GMO variety of corn closest to GMO NK 603.
Roundup-tolerant GMO NK603 corn was given to one group of 60, and GMO NK603 sprayed with Roundup herbicide was given to another 60.
The groups were further divided into 11, 22, and 33 percent GMOs in their diets, so all diets were under 50 percent GMO. This GMO corn is a type approved for animal feed in Canada.
Three groups (60 rats) were given Roundup only in their water in the following amounts: the amount allowed in tap water, 4 parts per billion; the amount allowed in animal feed; and half the minimal amount used for spraying crops.
The first two GMO-fed males died of huge kidney tumors a year before the first control died. In the 22-percent-GM-diet group, the first female died eight months before the first female control died. Two females and three males out of the 20 controls died before their life expectancy.
Altogether, 50 percent of the females on the GMO diets died before their life expectancy. Even in the lowest concentrations, Roundup in water also claimed almost half the females.
Of the females in the GMO-grain group, 70 percent developed mammary tumors. Of the females in the Roundup-in-water group, over 90 percent got mammary tumors. Over 64 percent of the females had pituitary tumors and dysfunction.
Of the treated males, 87 percent had liver pathology, 97 percent had digestive pathology, and 82 percent had chronic progressive kidney disease.
Although industry scientists considered the GMO corn to be as safe as regular corn, there is one small but significant difference in the chemistry of the two corns. GMO corn is lacking in the amount of ferulic and caffeic acids, two phenols found in regular corn that are cancer-protective and prevent oxidative stress in the kidneys. This study “Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize” was published in Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 50, Issue 11, November 2012.
Eat Like a President
The chef of the Clintons and Bushes, Walter Scheib, said to Mother Jones: “Nearly all the product used was obtained from local growers and suppliers. There was a small garden on the roof of the White House where produce was grown.
“The ethic of the purchasing and the cooking at the White House under my direction and under the continuing direction of Cris Comerford [the current Obama White House executive chef] is one of respect for the pedigree of the product and manner it is grown, gathered, raised, or caught.”
We could agree with our intrepid leaders on one issue: Eat organically. As long as GMOs remain unlabeled, eating organic food is the only way to avoid GMO.
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