“US activist circles globe to fight biotech crops” was put out by Reuters and picked up in a number of other media outlets on Friday 7 March. You have to take a minute to read it because there are just so many things wrong.
I guess I have a hard time understanding why so much attention would be given to someone, Jeffrey Smith in this case, who is making claims that have no basis like "GMOs have been linked to thousands of toxic and allergic-type reactions, thousands of sick, sterile and dead livestock and damage to virtually every organ and system studied in lab animals…"
Seriously, where does this stuff come from and why is it the media will quote it from him without anything to back it up? The guy has no scientific background, training nor basis for what he says. He’s a professional activist, this is how he makes his living – the more he scares people the more he makes! His sort of hyperbole is wrong and it is dangerous. Yet the media in a quite unhelpful way gave the article a title that makes it sound like Smith is the hero out to travel the dangerous world to save us all. But I think we’re all just fine without his help.
For any of you with any doubts about the safety of gmo crops, you may want to attend this meeting or pass the info on to family or friends in the business:
USA: Public meeting to focus on possible GM crop contamination
Ag Weekly, 13 April 2008.
TWIN FALLS, Idaho -- Idaho Rural Council is holding two public meetings about the potential economic harm to producers and consumers from genetically modified alfalfa, wheat, and other crops.
The presentations, titled Genetically Modified Crops: What's the Problem?, feature a rice grower harmed by contamination from genetically modified rice and alfalfa and hay growers concerned about the future of organic and conventional agriculture.
The meetings will be held on Wednesday, April 23, in Twin Falls and Boise. The first meeting will start at 10:30 a.m. at Pandoraís Restaurant, 516 Hansen Street, which is behind the Depot Grill in historic downtown Twin Falls.
The second meeting will begin at 6 p.m., at the Boise Senior Activities Center, 690 Robbins Road, in Boise.
Confirmed speakers are:
Greg Yielding, executive director, Arkansas Rice Growers Association, will talk about the billion-dollar cost to U.S. rice growers from contamination by an unapproved, experimental genetically modified rice variety.
Phil Geertson, alfalfa seed producer from Greenleaf, Idaho, is the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that stopped the sale and planting of genetically modified alfalfa until the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts an Environmental Impact Statement.
Kevin Golden is an attorney with the Center for Food Safety, which represented Geertson, the Western Organization of Resource Councils, and others in the alfalfa lawsuit.
A representative of Eckenberry Farms, the largest exporter of alfalfa hay in the country, has been invited to speak.
The public meetings are sponsored by IRC, Oregon Rural Action, Western Organization of Resource Councils, and the Center for Food Safety.
Maybe Jeffrey Smith got his information from the same place I did- from Monsanto's own research which was published on their own website. Which mysteriously has since been hidden from public view.
Looks like the Union of Concerned Scientists and Physicians and Scientists for the Responsible Application of Science and Technology have a science background and are equally concerned about gmo crops.
Did you know that over 70% of the food at your grocery contains genetically engineered ingredients that some independent tests have shown to be harmful to mammals? Did you know many of these crops contain pesticides in every cell that cannot be washed off? Did you know gm crops are allowed a heavier residue of the endocrine disrupting pesticides? Did you know you have been eating this for over 10 years? Did you know cross-contamination of conventional and organic crops and seeds has occurred and cannot be stopped? Did you know the EU has rejected our contaminated rice and corn shipments? Did you know? http://www.psrast.org/intro1.htm Physicians and scientists http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/genetic_engineering/ union of concerned scientists http://www.thecampaign.org/ http://www.bioneers.org/node/1950 Did you know food crops like rice and safflower are being used to produce pharmaceuticals?
Did you know that cross-contamination of other genetically engineered rice crops has already occurred and cannot be explained or prevented by the government?
Fear sells. This is the new montra of journalism (unfortunately). Gone are the days of verification before publication. Oh wait, it seems telling the truth about GM crops and food require extrodinary levels of confirmation before the fascts can be run along side the pseudo-science scare stories. And we wonder why the public has no idea what is fact and what is fiction. Look straight at the main stream media for the cause!
