biotech

The United States Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, recently met with high-ups at Monsanto and other companies to discuss agricultural ‘advances’ for 2016. But was this really a ‘forum,’ or a way for Vilsack to promote Monsanto? And why were Monsanto insiders ever appointed to protect the safety of our food?
Vilsack’s meeting sounds more like a master conflicts of interest group get-together for the biotech and industrial agricultural model, especially when you consider who was leading the discussion:

L-fucose, a rare sugar found in seaweed, mushrooms, seeds, and other foods, may help treat skin cancer, experts have revealed.
The sugar was linked to certain cancers and inflammation in previous studies, but a new study suggests that by tinkering with L-fucose metabolism, the substance could stave off the spread of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

Monsanto has been looking for something to replace its best-selling Round Up chemicals in light of weeds becoming resistant to the chemical concoction. Now, Monsanto and Round Up are the targets of an international campaign ‘outing’ the herbicide for causing cancer (something which has actually been known for years).

Dicamba herbicide was registered with the EPA in 1967. It contains 2,4-D, MCPP, and MCPA, all toxic chemicals that were marketed to kill specific, targeted weeds and nuisance pests on farms across America. But a new study from Penn State University has found that Dicamba herbicides drift to adjacent farms and fields, causing significant damage to non-targeted plant and pollinating insects.

Monsanto promised that its latest and greatest GM crop, MON810, a genetically modified (GM) insecticidal maize banned by most of Europe, would increase yields and stop crop loss due to pests. A new report from the government of Aragon in Spain says those promises are empty. [1]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently made it a little easier for Monsanto and Syngenta to push their poison. The agency has deregulated two more strains of genetically engineered corn.

Actor Mark Ruffalo got the chance to do something that many of us could only dream of doing when he told off the CEO of Monsanto, Hugh Grant, in the Green Room at CBS while Ruffalo was waiting to do a segment about his new movie, “Spotlight.”
Ruffalo writes at EcoWatch.com that it was an uncomfortable move for him, but a necessary one, as “we must call out the people who are doing horrible things when they do them.”

Actor Mark Ruffalo got the chance to do something that many of us could only dream of doing when he told off the CEO of Monsanto, Hugh Grant, in the Green Room at CBS while Ruffalo was waiting to do a segment about his new movie, “Spotlight.”
Ruffalo writes at EcoWatch.com that it was an uncomfortable move for him, but a necessary one, as “we must call out the people who are doing horrible things when they do them.”

Early exposure to agricultural pesticides may harm children’s lungs – even more than secondhand smoke – researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, are saying.
The study links organophosphate pesticide metabolites in the urine of 279 children aged 6 months to 5 years living in Salinas Valley with decreased lung function. The area is a hub for lettuce, grapes, orchids and many more crops.

‘Proceed with caution, but steer clear of creating GMO babies’ was the general message sent Thursday by the dozen scientists and ethicists who organized the International Summit on Human Gene Editing in Washington, D.C.
The experts said at the end of 3 days of deliberation and presentations that not all gene therapy should move forward, and the world is not ready for “germline” editing that permanently changes an embryo so that the edit could be passed along to future children.