Australia to unleash genetically modified wheat - who will burn down these fields and stop this human rights horror?

Thursday, June 13, 2013 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: GM wheat, Australia, genetic pollution

(NaturalNews) It might sound drastic, but the torching and removal of unwelcome genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) is precisely how the people of countries throughout Europe, Asia, and elsewhere have effectively stopped the commercial deregulation of dangerous GMOs in the past. And it may be the only effective remedy right now in Australia, where government officials are poised to unleash the world's first commercial GM wheat, which has been shown to permanently silence human genes and even lead to early death among young children.

In a report entitled No Appetite for Australian GM Wheat, the Safe Food Foundation (SFF), Gene Ethics, FOODwatch and several other prominent environmental and human rights advocacy groups explain how Australia's Office of the Gene Technology Regulatory (OGTR) has issued licenses throughout the country permitting GM wheat field trials, a move that has already led to the contamination of organic and non-GMO wheat fields. And by 2015, OGTR hopes to fully deregulate GM wheat for commercial cultivation, which would most assuredly destroy Australia's crucial wheat industry.

"Wheat is Australia's most important agricultural commodity, estimated to be worth $7.5 billion in 2011-12," states the report. "Despite the value of wheat to the Australian economy, there is little understanding about the attitudes of wheat buyers towards GM wheat and their feelings regarding contamination risks. The Canadian experience showed introducing GM wheat would also affect conventional and organic wheat farmers because buyers know segregation is impossible."

This inevitable reality of contamination became clear back in 2010 when an organic wheat farmer in the Western Australian town of Kojonup lost his organic certification due to contamination from a neighbor's GM canola crop. The organic farmer, whose name is Steve Marsh, filed a lawsuit against his neighbor for the losses he incurred. That case is still pending, and SFF and others are still working to raise needed funds to move the case forward.

"Contamination of conventional wheat with experimental GM wheat is a real possibility despite strategies put in place to 'prevent pollen dispersal,'" adds the report. "If GM wheat is commercialized on a large scale, contamination of conventional and organic wheat would be inevitable.

You can read the full report, No Appetite for Australian GM Wheat, here:
http://safefoodfoundation.org

GM wheat a major threat to human health

Besides the massive economic losses Australia would suffer as a result of adopting GM wheat - most of the countries to whom Australia exports its existing wheat crop, including the U.S., have indicated vehement disapproval of GM wheat - the losses to human health are also noteworthy. As we explained in a recent report published here at NaturalNews, GM wheat is capable of permanently reprogramming the human genome, causing untold damage to human health.

You can read that report here:
http://www.naturalnews.com

Yet, despite all this, the Australian government continues to ignore the facts as it pushes full steam ahead for full GM wheat deregulation. This reckless agenda will of course lead to irrevocable consequences for both the environment and humanity, but short-sighted greed has clouded the judgment of corrupt politicians, thus the need for more drastic intervention by the public on behalf of the human race as a whole.

"Against the advice of the Australian Public Health Association, the Australian Government does not require long-term animal feeding studies before approving GM as safe for humans," explains Greenpeace. "Independent analysis of biotech rat-feeding data, retrieved through a court order, found signs of toxicity in the GM-fed rat groups were significantly higher than non-GM fed groups, with the greatest impact on the kidney and liver."

You can read the full Greenpeace report from which this quote was taken, entitled Australia's Wheat Scandal, here:
http://www.greenpeace.org

Sources for this article include:

http://safefoodfoundation.org

http://au.news.yahoo.com

http://www.greenpeace.org