GMOs have been 'catastrophic' for US agricultural exports, says Canadian alfalfa exporter

Tuesday, February 23, 2016 by: Daniel Barker
Tags: GMOs, agricultural exports, alfalfa

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(NaturalNews) Pandora's box is a disturbingly apt metaphor for the GMO industry. In the Greek myth, Pandora was tempted into opening a forbidden box which contained all the evils in the world. Once the box was opened and Pandora realized what she had done, she tried to close it, but it was too late -- all the evil contained in it had escaped and spread around the planet.

When scientists first realized that they had the ability to genetically modify living organisms, they -- of course -- were tempted into doing so, despite the warnings and protests from those who foresaw the potentially destructive consequences. Biotech corporations, particularly Monsanto, pushed for the introduction of GM crops, promising benefits to farmers and consumers, but the scheme has backfired on many levels.

People are beginning to realize how greedy and shortsighted -- if not downright evil -- Monsanto and other GMO companies truly are, but it's too late. GM crops are being planted and harvested, and even in areas where they have been banned, cross-pollination contamination by GMO-tainted seed has become a serious issue.

Many countries have had the courage to outlaw GM crops and imports -- China is one of them. And China's zero-tolerance policy toward GM imports is causing big problems for U.S. alfalfa farmers.

In a recent article published by The Western Producer, a Canadian agricultural publication, hay exporter Ed Shaw was quoted as warning Canadian farmers about the "catastrophic" consequences of the blacklisting of U.S. alfalfa exporters by China after Monsanto's Roundup Ready GM alfalfa was detected among shipments from U.S. suppliers.

Shaw is concerned that the same thing could happen to Canadian alfalfa farmers, since there are currently Roundup Ready alfalfa test plots being planted in Ontario and Quebec, along with plans to expand testing in other areas of the country.

At a recent Canadian forage conference, Shaw said:

In the export market, it has become a really hot topic item with the Chinese market. The Chinese have zero tolerance for GMO. It's catastrophic.

Shaw is also concerned about GM canola seed, which is already widely planted in Canada, ending up being detected in alfalfa shipments, and said that he is worried that "if we start testing our alfalfa for zero tolerance, I bet we would fail."

China recently blacklisted three American alfalfa exporters and quarantined their shipments -- hundreds of container loads -- after finding Roundup Ready alfalfa in them. It is feared that American alfalfa shipments to China may be banned entirely, since the country forbids the importation of GM hay.

The Hay & Forage Grower website has also published an article on the subject, in which an unnamed USDA representative was quoted as saying:

We understand that China has recently increased the frequency of its GE (genetically engineered) testing and has a zero tolerance for unapproved biotech traits.

China is considering setting even stricter limitations on imports by lowering GMO acceptance thresholds from the current 5% limit to 0.2%. American exporters will likely have a difficult task in meeting these standards.

Monsanto and other biotech companies have indeed unleashed an evil which has already begun to spread throughout the world. It's time to institute a permanent global ban on all GM crops before we poison our entire food supply and endanger future generations.

Plenty of damage has already been done, some of it irreversible perhaps, but that's no reason to continue down a path of scientific madness. GM agriculture has proven itself to be a complete disaster, ecologically and economically -- let's stop the insanity now.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.producer.com

http://hayandforage.com

http://science.naturalnews.com