GMO wheat causing gluten problems?

----- Original Message -----
From: renata sack <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wed, 06 Jul 2016 10:50:08 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: New study finds genetically engineered alfalfa has gone wild, exposing failure of “coexistence” policy

Thank you Donna.I will read the book.
Its so awful that so many organic producers and supporters now lobby against GMO labeling!
What to do in this quagmire of rottenness?
Renata Sack

On Jul 6, 2016, at 9:24 AM, Donna Buell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:Hi Tom,
Yes, a book for all Iowans to read  (Altered Genes, Twisted Truth).  U.S. food safety laws require testing of all new foods before approval for the consumer market.  However, the biotech industry has managed to “grandfather” genetically engineered foods, claiming they are “substantially similar” to existing foods and therefore “generally regarded as safe” …  
Do you believe that a plant that produces a pesticide is substantially similar to a plant that does not produce a pesticide…???  
Acute impacts to digestive systems, yes we see anecdotal evidence, but no testing is required.  Chronic impacts — no testing.  And the effect on the greater plant ecology of such genetic manipulations?  Untested.

A very enlightening analogy is made in the book between the computer programming industry and the genetic engineering industry (i.e., the behavior of Monsanto et al).  Computer programming is tested constantly, bugs are identified as quickly as possible and solutions are devised and implemented.  Anybody with a computer knows how often “automatic updates” occur these days.  But to the contrary, the genetic engineering industry shuns such rigor in product testing and improvement — when it’s pretty clear that biology / ecology is a far more complex environment than the simple direct logic of computer code.
Gross negligence.  At best.
Donna




On Jul 6, 2016, at 8:39 AM, l <[log in to unmask]> wrote:In his superb book Altered Genes, Twisted Truth Steven Druker points out that, under existing law, GMO foods should never have been approved by the FDA.


Tom Mathews


-----Original Message-----


From: Laurel Hopwood <[log in to unmask]>


To: CONS-SPST-BIOTECH-FORUM <[log in to unmask]>


Sent: Mon, Jan 18, 2016 10:05 am


Subject: New study finds genetically engineered alfalfa has gone wild, exposing failure of “coexistence” policy

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/blog/4207/new-study-finds-genetically-engineered-alfalfa-has-gone-wild-exposing-failure-of-coexistence-policy#


New study finds genetically engineered alfalfa has gone wild, exposing 


failure of “coexistence” policy


By Bill Freese


Center for Food Safety


January 13, 2016


(edited)



A recent study by USDA scientists shows that GE alfalfa has gone wild, 


in a big way, in alfalfa-growing parts of the West. This feral GE 


alfalfa may help explain a number of transgenic contamination episodes 


over the past few years that have cost American alfalfa growers and 


exporters millions of dollars in lost revenue. And it also exposes the 


failure of USDA’s “coexistence” policy for GE and traditional crops.



The USDA has long maintained that GE crops can co-exist with traditional 


and organic agriculture. According to this “co-existence” narrative, if 


neighboring GE and traditional farmers just sort things out among 


themselves and follow “best management practices,” transgenes will be 


confined to GE crops and the fields where they are planted.



The latest evidence refuting USDA’s co-existence fairytale comes from a 


recently published study by a team of USDA scientists.



In 2013, a Washington State farmer’s alfalfa was rejected by a broker 


after testing revealed transgenic contamination. In 2014, China 


rejected numerous U.S. alfalfa shipments that tested positive for the 


Roundup Ready gene. Alfalfa exports to China, a major market that has 


zero tolerance for GE alfalfa, fell dramatically. U.S. hay prices fell, 


and at least three U.S. alfalfa exporters suffered many millions of 


dollars in losses.



What’s needed now is not more studies to tell us in finer detail what we 


already know, but regulatory action. Yet the USDA – which is 


embarrassingly subservient to the biotechnology industry – has failed to 


voluntarily enact a single restriction on GE crop growers. This forces 


traditional farmers to bear the entire burden of preventing transgenic 


contamination.



Because of federal inaction, citizens have taken action to protect their 


traditional agriculture at the county level. Center for Food Safety 


(CFS) has provided critical assistance to these efforts. For instance, 


in 2014 voters in Jackson County, Oregon, passed an ordinance 


prohibiting cultivation of GE crops in their county. CFS helped the 


county and its farmers fend off a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the 


Ordinance brought by two GE alfalfa growers with financial backing from 


the biotechnology industry.


Similar “GE-free zones” have been created with CFS assistance in at 


least seven other counties in California, Washington, Hawaii and a 


second county in Oregon. CFS is also proud to support a new ordinance 


introduced in November of last year in Costilla County, Colorado, that 


would establish a GMO-Free Zone to protect locally bred heirloom maize 


from transgenic contamination.



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Renata E. Sack
414 Sunset Road
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319 235 7395
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