Archive
Millions Against Monsanto: The Food Fight of Our Lives
Saturday, 14 April 2012 06:00
‘For nearly two decades, Monsanto and corporate agribusiness have exercised near-dictatorial control over American agriculture, aided and abetted by indentured politicians and regulatory agencies, supermarket chains, giant food processors, and the so-called “natural” products industry.
Finally, public opinion around the biotech industry’s contamination of our food supply and destruction of our environment has reached the tipping point. We’re fighting back.
This November, in a food fight that will largely determine the future of what we eat and what we grow, Monsanto will face its greatest challenge to date: a statewide citizens’ ballot initiative that will give Californians the opportunity to vote for their right to know whether the food they buy is contaminated with GMOs.’
Read more: Millions Against Monsanto: The Food Fight of Our Lives
Monsanto ‘Knowingly Poisoned Workers’ Causing Devastating Birth Defects
Thursday, 12 April 2012 08:35
‘In a developing news piece just unleashed by a courthouse news wire, Monsanto is being brought to court by dozens of Argentinean tobacco farmers who say that the biotech giant knowingly poisoned them with herbicides and pesticides and subsequently caused “devastating birth defects” in their children.
The farmers are now suing not only Monsanto on behalf of their children, but many big tobacco giants as well. The birth defects that the farmers say occurred as a result are many, and include cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, psychomotor retardation, missing fingers, and blindness.’
Read more: Explosive: Monsanto ‘Knowingly Poisoned Workers’ Causing Devastating Birth Defects
Major earthquake hits off Indonesia, april 11 2012
Indonesia’s Aceh province has been hit by a magnitude 8.7 earthquake, the US Geological Survey said today.
The country’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency issued a tsunami warning after the quake, which struck off the west coast of Sumatra today. USGS revised down its original reading on the quake from 8.9.
Buildings in neighbouring Singapore shook after the quake hit. There were no immediate reports concerning damage.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0411/breaking17.html
Monsanto Threatens to Sue Vermont if Legislators Pass a Bill Requiring GMO Food to Be Labeled
Thursday, 05 April 2012 07:47
‘The world’s most hated corporation is at it again, this time in Vermont.
Despite overwhelming public support and support from a clear majority of Vermont’s Agriculture Committee, Vermont legislators are dragging their feet on a proposed GMO labeling bill. Why? Because Monsanto has threatened to sue the state if the bill passes.
The popular legislative bill requiring mandatory labels on genetically engineered food (H-722) is languishing in the Vermont House Agriculture Committee, with only four weeks left until the legislature adjourns for the year. Despite thousands of emails and calls from constituents who overwhelmingly support mandatory labeling, despite the fact that a majority (6 to 5) of Agriculture Committee members support passage of the measure, Vermont legislators are holding up the labeling bill and refusing to take a vote.’
It’s Not Over: Government Plans for the Worst: Forced Evacuation of Tokyo
Wednesday, 04 April 2012 11:00 ‘While it has for the most part disappeared from mainstream view, the Fukushima nuclear disaster is anything but over. In fact, the situation in Japan has gone from bad to worse. Bottom line: There is no way to contain the radiation. Even more alarming is that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and other agencies have warned that the nuclear storage pools (the containment units that are being used to cool the nuclear fuel) have been damaged and may collapse under their own weight. Such an event would cause widespread nuclear fallout throughout the region and force the government to evacuate the nearly 10 million residents of Tokyo and surrounding areas, a scenario which government emergency planners are now taking into serious consideration.’
Read more: It’s Not Over: Government Plans for the Worst: Forced Evacuation of Tokyo
BASF Gives Up on Pushing GMOs in Europe, Moves Operations to US Where ‘Frankenfoods’ are Not Labeled
Tuesday, 03 April 2012 07:09
‘The latest health freedom victory in Europe means more toxic “Frankenfoods,” aka genetically-modified (GM) crops, for the United States. EurActiv.com reports that Germany-based biotechnology giant BASF is officially calling it quits on trying to push GM crops in Europe. But the company’s withdrawal means that it will be relocating its plant science headquarters from Limburgerhof, Germany, to Raleigh, North Carolina.
When explaining why BASF was pulling out of Europe entirely, Stefan Marcinowski, a company board member in charge of plant biotechnology, said in a statement that “the majority of consumers, farmers and politicians” in Europe oppose GMOs. He added that “it does not make business sense to continue investing in products exclusively for cultivation in [the European] market.”‘
Contaminated Fukushima Fish Recycled as Food Aid: Canned Fish from Tohoku sent to Developing Countries, With Help of WFP
Monday, 02 April 2012 06:18
‘Another “win” for Britain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who operates the ODA (Official Development Assistance). They have managed to obtain support from the United Nations on this one.
I first wrote about this particular ODA in June last year, with the follow-up post in September when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs formally requested the appropriation for the 3rd supplementary budget.
Now it’s official, with the help of the UN. Canned fish from Tohoku will be given to people in developing countries in the world so that the fisheries in the disaster-affected areas can recover and “baseless rumors” disappear. The fish cans will go to Cambodia and 4 other countries and will be used in school lunches to feed school children.’
Stealth GMOs Rapidly Consuming Global Food Supply
Monday, 02 April 2012
‘Obviously there is no room for GMOs in truly healthy food products, which is why it is truly vital that you understand the nature of GMOs and how they are oftentimes hidden in commercial food products. It may very well shock you to know just how prevalent GMOs are within the food supply. It’s truly amazing that modified products continue to go unlabeled despite being linked to organ damage — among a barrage of other conditions — in a prominent review of 19 studies.
In fact, nearly 93-95% of US soybeans are genetically modified in order to resist powerful weed-killers that were found to be killing the actual soybeans as well as the weeds. Following current trends, genetically modified food products will makeup the majority of the future food supply if a change is not made. For now, that change has been shot down by the FDA — the very organization tasked to defend public health. Just recently, the agency deleted around 1 million signatures from the GMO labeling campaign ‘Just Label It.’’
Read more: Stealth GMOs Rapidly Consuming Global Food Supply
Massive Public Protests Spur France to Ban Plantings of Monsanto’s GMO Corn
Friday, 30 March 2012
‘On the heels of ongoing, massive protests against genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), French agricultural officials have announced that plantings of Monsanto’s MON810 GM corn, which contains built-in Bt toxin, will no longer be permitted within France. Reports explain that the moratorium is only temporary, but since there is no indication that opposition to the “Frankencorn” will cease anytime soon, the ban could last indefinitely.
Last November, French authorities lifted a longtime ban that prohibited French farmers from planting MON810, a move that spurred nationwide backlash and protest. But less than six months later, the voices of the people have spoken so loudly that the ban has now been reinstated as a “precautionary measure” in order to “protect the environment.”‘
Read more: Massive Public Protests Spur France to Ban Plantings of Monsanto’s GMO Corn
Protesters Successfully Shut Down California Monsanto Office
Sunday, 25 March 2012
‘A recent two-day protest in Northern California against genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) led to the complete shutdown of a Monsanto corporate office for an entire day, according to reports. On Friday, March 16, 2012, activists affiliated with the Global Days of Action to Shut Down Monsanto began rallying in front of the Davis, Calif., office of Monsanto, where they held up banners, gave speeches, and set up tents in front of the Monsanto building on Fifth Street, which caused the biotech giant to shutter its operations.
“In the course of the two-day event, activists held up signs, gave speeches to inform and inspire each other and solidify the movement, drafted a resolution about Monsanto with many proposed solutions to be presented to the California legislature, celebrated each other and went “freeway blogging” – displaying a large hand made banner that said, “Shut Down Monsanto” on the Pole Line Road overpass over I-80,” writes Mark Graham of Food Freedom. “Thousands of drivers were shown this message.”‘
Read more: Protesters Successfully Shut Down California Monsanto Office
Believe nothing 