Why Monsanto's 'Cure' For World Hunger Is Cursing The Global Food Supply

Sayer Ji

What if the very GM agricultural system that Monsanto claims will help to solve the problem of world hunger depends on a chemical that kills the very pollinator upon which approximately 70% of world's food supply now depends?
  
A new study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology titled, "Effects of field-realistic doses of glyphosate on honeybee appetitive behavior," establishes a link between the world's most popular herbicide – aka Roundup – and the dramatic decline in honeybee (Apis mellifera) populations in North American and Europe that lead to the coining of the term 'colony collapse disorder' (CCD) in late 2006 to describe the phenomena.[1]

The researchers found that concentrations of glyphosate (GLY) consistent with the type of exposures associated with standard spraying practices in GM agricultural - and neighboring ecosystems - reduced the honeybees' sensitivity to nectar reward and impaired their learning abilities – two behavioral consequences likely to adversely affect their survival abilities. Moreover, while sub-lethal doses were not found to overtly affect their foraging behavior, they hypothesized that because of their resilience, "..forager bees could become a source of constant inflow of nectar with GLY traces that could then be distributed among nest mates, stored in the hive and have long-term negative consequences on colony performance."

Getting Used to Life Without Food, Part 1

Wall Street, BP, Bio-Ethanol and the Death of Millions

Grain Storage Wikimedia Image

William Engdahl
Financial Sense

My late grandfather, a man of sturdy Norwegian-American farm stock, who later became a newspaper editor and political activist during the First World War, used to say, 'A man can get used to pretty much anything with time, except dying...and even that with some practice.' Well, as fate has it, it seems we, the vast majority of the human race, are about to test that adage in regard to the availability of our daily bread itself.

Food is one of those funny things it's hard to live without. We all tend to take it for granted that our local supermarket will continue to offer whatever we wish, in abundance, at affordable prices or nearly so. Yet living without adequate food is the growing prospect facing hundreds of millions, if not billions, of us over the coming years.

Groups sue US over antibiotics in farm feed

Hogs are raised on a farm in Iowa
© AFP/Getty Images/File Scott Olson

AFP

NEW YORK (AFP) - A coalition of consumer groups filed a federal lawsuit Friday against the US Food and Drug Administration over the use of human antibiotics in animal feed, saying it creates dangerous superbugs.

The suit alleges that the regulatory agency concluded in 1977 that the practice of feeding healthy animals low doses of penicillin and tetracycline could lead to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria in people.

"However, despite this conclusion and laws requiring that the agency act on its findings, FDA failed to take any action to protect human health," the groups said in a statement.

7 Reasons Food Shortages Will Become a Global Crisis

Activist Post 

Food inflation is here and it's here to stay.  We can see it getting worse every time we buy groceries. Basic food commodities like wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice have been skyrocketing since July, 2010 to record highs.  These sustained price increases are only expected to continue as food production shortfalls really begin to take their toll this year and beyond.

This summer Russia banned exports of wheat to ensure their nation's supply, which sparked complaints of protectionism.  The U.S. agriculture community is already talking about rationing corn over ethanol mandates versus supply concerns. We've seen nothing yet in terms of food protectionism.

Global food shortages have forced emergency meetings at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization where they claim "urgent action" is needed.  They point to extreme weather as the main contributing factor to the growing food shortages.  However, commodity speculation has also been targeted as one of the culprits.

It seems that the crisis would also present the perfect opportunity and the justification for the large GMO food companies to force their products into skeptical markets like in Europe and Japan, as recently leaked cables suggest.  One thing is for sure; food shortages will likely continue to get worse and eventually become a full-scale global food crisis.

Here are seven reasons why food shortages are here to stay on a worldwide scale:


1. Extreme Weather: Extreme weather has been a major problem for global food; from summer droughts and heat waves that devastated Russia’s wheat crop to the ongoing catastrophes from 'biblical flooding' in Australia and Pakistan.  And it doesn’t end there.  An extreme winter cold snap and snow has struck the whole of Europe and the United States. Staple crops are failing in all of these regions making an already fragile harvest in 2010 even more critical into 2011.  Based on the recent past, extreme weather conditions are only likely to continue and perhaps worsen in the coming years.

2. Bee Colony Collapse: The Guardian reported this week on the USDA's study on bee colony decline in the United States: "The abundance of four common species of bumblebee in the US has dropped by 96% in just the past few decades." It is generally understood that bees pollinate around 90% of the world's commercial crops.  Obviously, if these numbers are remotely close to accurate, then our natural food supply is in serious trouble.  Luckily for us, the GMO giants have seeds that don't require open pollination to bear fruit.

3. Collapsing Dollar: Commodity speculation has resulted in massive food inflation that is already creating crisis levels in poor regions in the world. Food commodity prices have soared to record highs mainly because they trade in the ever-weakening dollar. Traders will point to the circumstances described in this article to justify their gambles, but also that food represents a tangible investment in an era of worthless paper.  Because the debt problems in the United States are only getting worse, and nations such as China and Russia are dropping the dollar as their trade vehicle, the dollar will continue to weaken, further driving all commodity prices higher.

4. Regulatory Crackdown: Even before the FDA was given broad new powers to regulate food in the recent Food Safety Modernization Act, small farms were being raided and regulated out of business.  Now, the new food bill essentially puts food safety under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security where the food cartel uses the government to further consolidate their control over the industry. Militant police action is taken against farmers suspected of falling short on quality regulations. It is the power to intimidate innocent small farmers out of the business.

5. Rising oil prices: In 2008, record oil prices that topped $147 per barrel drove food prices to new highs.  Rice tripled in 6 months during the surge of oil prices, along with other food commodities.  The price of oil affects food on multiple levels; from plowing fields, fertilizers and pesticides, to harvesting and hauling.  Flash forward to 2011:  many experts are predicting that oil may reach upwards of $150-$200 per barrel in the months ahead.  As oil closed out 2010 at its 2-year highs of $95/bbl, it is likely on pace to continue climbing.  Again, a weakening dollar will also play its part in driving oil prices, and consequently, food prices to crisis levels.

6. Increased Soil Pollution: Geo-engineering has been taking place on a grand scale in the United States for decades now.  Previously known in conspiracy circles as 'chemtrailing,' the government has now admitted to these experiments claiming they are plan "B" to combat global warming.  The patents involved in this spraying are heavy in aluminum.  This mass aluminum contamination is killing plants and trees and making the soil sterile to most crops.  In an astonishing coincidence, GMO companies have patented aluminum-resistant seeds to save the day.

7. GMO Giants: Because of growing awareness of the health affects of GM foods, several countries have rejected planting them. Therefore, they would seem to need a food crisis to be seen as the savior in countries currently opposed to their products.  A leaked WikiLeaks cable confirms that this is indeed the strategy for GMO giants, where trade secretaries reportedly “noted that commodity price hikes might spur greater liberalization on biotech imports.” Since GMO giants already control much of the food supply, it seems they can also easily manipulate prices to achieve complete global control of food.

The equation is actually quite simple: food is a relatively inelastic commodity in terms of demand. In other words, people need to eat no matter how bad the economy gets.  Thus, demand can be basically measured by the size of the population. Therefore, as demand remains steady while the 7 supply pressures outlined above continue to worsen, food prices will have only one place to go -- up, up, and up.

As international agencies scramble to find "solutions," their energy may be just as well spent on questioning if this famine scenario is being purposely manipulated for profits.  Regardless, the average person would be very wise to stock up on food staples as an investment, and frankly to survive the worsening food crisis.

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NZ and Netherlands link to tackle food shortage

National Business Review

Agriculture Minister David Carter has launched a joint programme in the Netherlands aimed at addressing food shortages by finding substitutes for animal protein.

The project involves a collaboration between Massey University's Riddet Institute and Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR).

Mr Carter said it was an ambitious project that had potential to dramatically improve the world's food supply.

"Already there is a long history of cooperation between WUR and Massey, particularly in the context of the Global Research Alliance, in which New Zealand and the Netherlands are working closely together to lead the Livestock Research Group.

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Banksters Inflate Speculative Food Bubble, UN Offers Global Governance Solution

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Secretive Executive Order Establishes 'Big Brother' Health Bureaucracy

Eric Blair

Activist Post

On June 10th, 2010, amidst the chaotic 24-hour oil spill coverage, Barack Obama quietly signed an Executive Order that some claim lays the foundation for implementing Codex Alimentarius, which is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines, and other recommendations relating to foods, food production and food safety (Wiki).  Codex is widely viewed in the natural health world as a draconian measure to centralize control of all food and other ingestibles.  While this Executive Order may not go that far, it does seem to lay the groundwork for much more control over our personal life choices.

Executive Order 13544, Establishing the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council is a short document outlining the goals and scope of the order. The title gives the appearance that it only creates a Council, but buried within are detailed plans to carry out the "goals" of the Executive Order.  Let's take a closer look at the order. To begin with, the document appears to create the foundation for a massive new multifaceted bureaucracy with 12 departments consolidated in the "membership" of the new Health Council:

Sec. 2. Membership.

(a) The Surgeon General shall serve as the Chair of the Council, which shall be composed of:

(1) the Secretary of Agriculture;

(2) the Secretary of Labor;

(3) the Secretary of Health and Human Services;

(4) the Secretary of Transportation;

(5) the Secretary of Education;

(6) the Secretary of Homeland Security;

(7) the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency;

(8) the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission;

(9) the Director of National Drug Control Policy;

(10) the Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council;

(11) the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs;

(12) the Chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service; and

(13) the head of any other executive department or agency that the Chair may, from time to time, determine is appropriate.

(b) The Council shall meet at the call of the Chair.

This group, under Obama's orders, is tasked with developing an "integrated health-care strategy" for prevention, wellness, and health promotion practices to make recommendations to the President and the Congress, presumably to create more laws to govern people's life choices.  And, of course, like all other Executive Orders, the Council will also be authorized to "carry out such other activities as are determined appropriate by the President." -- Sec. 3 (g)

Section 4 of the order allows the council to choose a 25-member civilian "advisory group" which is promoted as a "diverse group of licensed health professionals" which "shall develop policy and program recommendations and advise the Council" on preventative medicines and lifestyle changes.  The notion that this group will be developing policy to manage preventative medicines and "healthy" lifestyles of Americans smells of Big Brother.  It also seems to be another example of where a civilian advisory group (no doubt infested with corporate interests) will further control the herd of wild humans.

One of the goals is to compile the recommendations into a report for the President, within one year, to contain the following:

Sec. 6 (d) contains specific science-based initiatives to achieve the measurable goals of the Healthy People 2020 program of the Department of Health and Human Services regarding nutrition, exercise, and smoking cessation, and targeting the five leading disease killers in the United States;

(e) contains specific plans for consolidating Federal health programs and centers that exist to promote healthy behavior and reduce disease risk (including eliminating programs and offices determined to be ineffective in meeting the priority goals of the Healthy People 2020 program of the Department of Health and Human Services);

(f) contains specific plans to ensure that all Federal health-care programs are fully coordinated with science-based prevention recommendations by the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and

(g) contains specific plans to ensure that all prevention programs outside the Department of Health and Human Services are based on the science-based guidelines developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under subsection (d) of this section.

Although the reference to Codex Alimentarius may be overstated, the document clearly states that policy recommendations should be based on the goals originating from the Healthy People 2010 Program, which does indeed include food safety.  And that is not the only place where their objectives stray from traditional disease prevention;  there are amazingly detailed recommendations for family planning, environmental health, and injury and violence protection to name a few. They also take on controversial topics like Genomics and Immunizations.

Probably the most disturbing thing in this E.O. is that it makes it a national priority to address lifestyle and behavior modification through policy. It is unlikely that the government will try to jam the entire draconian Codex down America's throat all at once.  Instead, it seems the government is incrementally proposing legislation for food safety, dietary supplement safety, and lifestyle modification legislation separately. 

Examples of the incrementalism include recently proposed corporate-government legislation like the Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510), the Dietary Supplement Safety Act (S.3002), and Chris Dodd's on the way out the door and not fearing backlash from voters  Livable Communities Act (SB 1619) -- which has been referred to as a social engineering bill consistent with the much maligned anti-freedom U.N.'s Agenda 21, which George H.W. Bush signed America up for.

On the ground, the establishment already has begun zapping the rats down their suggested corridor with police raids on private raw food cooperatives and Amish dairies.  Additionally, they seem to be using the recent salmonella egg recall to promote their food safety bill, playing out the traditional problem-reaction-solution method of instituting freedom-smashing policies.  There seems to be enough evidence to the claims that this Executive Order establishes and consolidates more control over our lives.  Let us know what you think.

RELATED ARTICLES:
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Learn to Make Herbal Medicine at Home
Learn to Store Food for the Coming Shortages
Non-GMO Heirloom Seeds
Berkey Family Water Filters
Solar Power Generator

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Fallout Continues for Arkansas Rice Farmers Contaminated by GMOs

Farmers feel economic effects of Liberty Link genes found five years ago 
By Curt Hodges 
Paragould Daily Press - Arkansas, Sept 10, 2010 Straight to the Source 

Rice Plants

JONESBORO — Three Northeast Arkansas rice farmers say that despite nearly five years that have gone by since the Liberty Link genes were found  in commercially-grown long-grain rice in several states in August 2006, they are still feeling the effects.

“It has affected us economically,” said Clover Bend farmer Stan Jones. “We lost our markets and our reputation in the world of producing desirable, high quality long grain rice.”

Their reputations as producers were damaged by something that they had no control over, Jones, along with Greg Gill and Ray Stone, also Lawrence County rice growers, said Wednesday.

They also said several of their friends and fellow rice growers literally lost everything when rice markets collapsed and crops could not be sold in the aftermath of the discovery of genetically modified traits in commercial rice in the south.

“Here we are four years later and still having to have our rice certified as being free of genetically modified traits,” Stone said. “This is something that happened to us, and we had no control over it whatsoever. We’re still feeling the effects of it.”


The big effect, the farmers said, was not just their reputations and those of other rice growers in the south, but there was a stiff price to pay economically in lost markets and lower prices for all rice that resulted from the fallout of the tainted rice situation involving the Liberty Link experiments by Bayer CropScience that apparently went awry.

The European Union said no longer accepts U.S. rice. The market in Japan for American rice has also been hurt by discovery of the genetically modified traits in commercial rice.

Rice saved for seed has to be certified as free of genetically modified traits, and that certification has to be done at the cost of the farmer.

“It is the farmer that has to pay to have that done,” Stone pointed out, adding that it was not the farmer’s fault that the traits became spread through other varieties and ended up in commercial rice.

The announcement of the discovery of the stray traits was made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in August 2006 that Bayer’s LibertyLink traits had been found in commercially-grown long-grain rice in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Missouri. Five days later the European Union rejected rice grown by U.S. rice farmers and announced that a ban on U.S. imports would be instituted.

The farmers say that the EU ban is still in place, despite the fact that extensive testing has shown U.S. long-grain rice to be free of genetically modified traits.

They had no knowledge of nor intent to grow the genetically modified varieties that were in question, the farmers said Wednesday. But they have had to suffer the brunt of the entire situation from the low prices, rejection and damage to their reputations as growers of what was once considered the world’s premium variety, U.S. long-grain rice.

They are further aggravated by the fact that while Bayer does not dispute that rice seed supplies were contaminated with LibertyLink, the company maintains that growers were not economically harmed by the fact and have yet to explain how the contamination occurred nor to provide assurances that contamination will not happen again.

In 2006 the farmers said they had rice that they planned to sell in the markets that supplied the European Union and other parts of the world with American rice. Those markets, premium markets they say, were virtually closed to them and remain so today. Their rice then had to be sold at lower values, causing them economic damage that they still have not recovered from and they continue to pay the price for it.

Jones said the major variety he grew back then was Cheniere, which just happened to be the variety in which the contamination was found. Although he was certain that his rice had no such contamination, he had a difficult time selling his rice and the fallout from that is still being felt.

To date, said Clayton J. Smaistrla, attorney with Goldman Pennebaker and Phipps of San Antonio and McAllen, Texas, who represent the three Lawrence County farmers and others in the situation, six juries have awarded a total of $54.2 million against Bayer in six trials on the issue. The next Arkansas trial is set for Sept. 20 in Pine Bluff. Additional trials are pending in Arkansas.

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