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# <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.
> 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> 
> To get off the CONS-SPST-BIOTECH-FORUM list, send any message to:
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