Originally published March 17 2013
The GMO saga continues (opinion)
by Hesh Goldstein
(NaturalNews) So, there's this guy named Richard Brill that is a professor of science at the Honolulu Community College that wrote an article for our newspaper about GMOs that was relatively innocuous. The article was entitled, "GMO crops could trigger another Green Revolution." What caught my eye was a comment at the end of the article that said,
"Critics also assert that GMO crops have not been proven universally safe. This criticism is without validity since nothing can be proved scientifically. Science is a process of verification and disproof, not one of proof. Yet, decades of research have failed to find conclusive evidence that GMOs are a health risk."
Now the fun started. So I replied to his article with the following:
"I really liked your article. You say that illness from ingesting GMOs has not been proven and that is correct. But, with so many illnesses arising from diet, how can we specifically say where heavy metal poisoning has come from?
We know that heavy metal poisoning is a reality. We know that when our armed forces were exposed to Agent Orange in Viet Nam, many came home with severe debilitating illnesses that stayed with them. And yet, our government denied responsibility and their care for them
We know that 2-4-D, the active ingredient in Agent Orange, is now being sprayed on the cornfields in the contiguous U.S. So, despite the lack of being able to specifically pinpoint the culprit, would it not be safer to allow people to be able to make a choice with regard to what they eat? This is why labeling GMOs is essential.
HIM:
"Thanks for reading and writing the note Hesh. I agree with what you say. I am personally neither for nor against GMO labeling. That there may or may not be numerous dietary illnesses does not relate to GMO labeling in my mind. Why not label food with complete chemical analyses down to POB levels? Then a complete transcription of the genome?"
ME:
"This is why organics are labeled. To give people a choice in purity vs. chemicalization.
HIM:
"What about labels for food that is grown adjacent to fields where 2-4-D is sprayed?
ME:
"It's all part of the scam. If a GMO seed blows over to a neighboring field, Monsanto sues them for theft and patent infringement."
HIm:
"Where does heavy metal ingestion come into the conversation about GMOs?"
ME:
"2-4-D and Roundup Ready pesticide are heavy metals that are enormously sprayed on GMO crops. For me, I tell people if it does not say "organic", do not buy it."
HIM:
"The danger with GMO labeling is ignorance and a supernatural fear. Because of uninformed or ill informed activists, GMOs have become the equivalent of McCarthy's communists in every closet. You can help by spreading knowledge about GMOs to people who may not take the time to become informed and who act out of emotion and fear."
ME:
"I do this by telling people if soy, corn, or cotton products do not say organic or non-GMO, they should not buy them. And, under no circumstances should they buy any type of canola oil."
HIM:
"If I thought that people knew what is really involved, and how broad the range of transgenic food, there would be less fear of poisoning and government conspiracies. Yes, people should be able to make choices about what they eat. But they should be informed choices, not based on myth or superstition."
ME:
When you buy a food, do you check the fat, sodium, or sugar content or the calorie count? If so, why can't they know if it's a GMO or not? If the stuff is so good and so beneficial and safe, wouldn't people buy it in droves if they knew what and where it was?"
HIM:
"I agree with all of this, although I'm not convinced that the 'organic' label makes food any 'better'. Besides, most people can't afford to pay the premium for organic foods. The only bad thing about GMO labeling are the emotional issues. Are all GMO foods a bad thing, or is it that activists have brought too much mysticism to the label? When the average person sees GMO on the label he/she is scared away because the only view typically held is one of ignorance of the pros and cons. Who is going to feed the world's growing population? Is it better to keep relying on petroleum based fertilizers, or to revert to 19th century 'organic' farming that cannot produce enough food to feed the population and which costs more. GMOs may not be all bad. Obviously the core problem is that we are making too many babies. Although population growth is slowing markedly in Europe, less so in North America. Africa and Asian populations have yet to get the message because famines still reduce the size of families unpredictably. Yet, birth control is still an issue. Then there is the abortion issue. By 2050, the world will have to produce 70 percent more food, including a billion tons more cereal to keep up with population growth. Where does one suppose this food will come from? Not likely from organic farming.
Global population is predicted to reach 10 billion by the end of this century. The carrying capacity of Earth is estimated at 9 billion. It is the ability of the planet to cleanse itself, not merely a battle between population and food supplies. FYI: 90 percent of corn, soy, and cotton grown in the US are genetically modified in some way, 75 percent of processed foods contain genetically engineered ingredients, and thousands of unlabeled products containing foreign or altered genes have been eaten by millions of people.
As you seem to be anti-GMO, I am neither for or against GMOs. I just go with the facts as best I can."
ME:
"Here's the deal: Former Monsanto employees head government agencies in charge of food and agriculture;
Monsanto pays off local politicians to keep them on their side.
Big Agriculture lobbies like crazy to make sure things don't change.
Big Food poisons people every day because of insuring shelf -life for what, if you will pardon the expression, "foods", they produce.
In India, thousands of farmers committed suicide because GMO seeds are "terminator seeds", which can only be used once. Being poor, they were in no position to buy seeds every year.
Then there's the animals - in a forest in India, foods were hung from two trees. One tree had dandling 'regular' food and the other tree had dangling GMO food. When the people came back the regular food was gone and the GMO food was untouched. If the animals wouldn't eat them why should people? Unless it's a method to decrease the over-populated population. But committing suicide?
What has happened is that the weeds the GMOs were designed to kill have morphed into "superweeds" that are impervious to what they are sprayed with. Monsanto's answer? Spray more or create more weed lethal poisons.
But people don't really have to worry about eating the foods sprayed on it because the world is so over-populated that someone has to take responsibility for feeding them, right? I wouldn't be surprised if Monsanto open the first "Soylent Green" factory.
As far as feeding the word's growing population goes, making it so that seeds cannot be harvested for the next crop is certainly way counter-productive for a struggling farmer.
As far as birth control goes, in China people are killing female babies because they want boy babies. How's that for admirable parenting?
But, then again, we have Bill Gates, the Rockefellers, and Ted Turner funding the eugenics program I guess we should praise their humanitarian efforts, huh?
Maybe if more small, local farms were supported and maybe if the large food had reductions in their subsidies, and maybe if the chemical companies were not paying off the politicians, the people would have a better shot.
What has happened is the government of, for, and by the PEOPLE has been transformed into a government of, for, and by the CORPORATION.
This is certainly not the time for complacency, apathy, and lack of compassion.
HIM:
I am still waiting for a reply. Such is the world of science?
Aloha!
About the author:
I have been doing a weekly radio show in Honolulu since 1981 called "Health Talk". In 2007 I was "forced" to get a Masters degree in Nutrition because of all the doctors that would call in asking for my credentials. They do not call in anymore. Going to www.healthtalkhawaii.com enables you, among other things, to listen to the shows. I am an activist. In addition to espousing an organic vegan diet for optimum health, I am strongly opposed to GMOs, vaccines, processed foods, MSG, aspartame, fluoridation and everything else that the pimps (Big Pharma, Monsanto and the large food companies) and the hookers (the doctors, the government agencies, the public health officials, and the mainstream media) thrust upon us, the tricks.
After being vaccinated with the DTP vaccine as a child I developed asthma. After taking the organic sulfur crystals (they are harvested from the pine trees in Louisiana) in November of 2008 for 10 days my asthma reversed and has not come back over 4 years later, 18 cases, so far, of autism have been reversed, as has cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, joint pain, astigmatism, gum disease, increased sexual activity, heavy metal and radiation elimination, parasite elimination, free radicals elimination, faster athletic recovery time, increased blood circulation, reduced inflammation, resistance to getting the flu, reduction of wrinkles, allergy reduction, reduced PMS and monthly period pain, nausea, migraines and so much more. And it's only possible because of the oxygen it releases that floods the cells of the body. The sulfur, as proven by the University of Southampton in England, enables the body to produce vitamin B12 and the essential amino acids. You can find out more about this incredible nutrient also on my website - www.healthtalkhawaii.com -.
My book, "a Sane Diet For An Insane World", has been published. It can be viewed at
www.asanediet.com.
I have been doing a weekly radio show in Honolulu since 1981 called "Health Talk". In 2007 I was "forced" to get a Masters degree in Nutrition because of all the doctors that would call in asking for my credentials. They do not call in anymore. Going to www.healthtalkhawaii.com enables you, among other things, to listen to the shows. I am an activist. In addition to espousing an organic vegan diet for optimum health, I am strongly opposed to GMOs, vaccines, processed foods, MSG, aspartame, fluoridation and everything else that the pimps (Big Pharma, Monsanto and the large food companies) and the hookers (the doctors, the government agencies, the public health officials, and the mainstream media) thrust upon us, the tricks.
After being vaccinated with the DTP vaccine as a child I developed asthma. After taking the organic sulfur crystals (they are harvested from the pine trees in Louisiana) in November of 2008 for 10 days my asthma reversed and has not come back over 4 years later, 18 cases, so far, of autism have been reversed, as has cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, joint pain, astigmatism, gum disease, increased sexual activity, heavy metal and radiation elimination, parasite elimination, free radicals elimination, faster athletic recovery time, increased blood circulation, reduced inflammation, resistance to getting the flu, reduction of wrinkles, allergy reduction, reduced PMS and monthly period pain, nausea, migraines and so much more. And it's only possible because of the oxygen it releases that floods the cells of the body. The sulfur, as proven by the University of Southampton in England, enables the body to produce vitamin B12 and the essential amino acids. You can find out more about this incredible nutrient also on my website - www.healthtalkhawaii.com -.
My book, "a Sane Diet For An Insane World", has been published. It can be viewed at
www.asanediet.com.
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