Sunday, 30 January 2022 — The New Dark Age
A collection of documents on the global impact of pesticides on ALL life on the planet. Most are in PDF format and consist of academic papers, contributions to institutes and governments by the leading investigators into the disaster. An essential resource for those doing research into the impact of pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMO) and especially those who have yet to realise the true scale of the disaster. Updated on a regular basis, so check back every now and again (the date reflects the latest addition, not its date of publication)
Major French Study Finds Over 99% Glyphosate Contamination in General Population
In one of the largest studies on glyphosate contamination in a human population, the world’s most used weedkiller was found in over 99% of the general public in France, with a total of over 6,800 urine samples having been tested.
The study, published Wednesday in Environmental Science and Pollution Research, a top peer-reviewed scientific journal, was carried out on 6,848 people, living in 83 municipalities in France.
Bathed in Pesticides: The Narrative of Deception
By Rosemary Mason and Colin Todhunter
The volume of pesticide use and exposure is occurring on a scale that is without precedent and world-historical in nature. Agrichemicals are now pervasive as they cycle through bodies and environments. The herbicide glyphosate has been a major factor in driving this increase in use.
Toxic Corporations Are Destroying the Planet’s Soil
A newly published analysis in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science argues that a toxic soup of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides is causing havoc beneath fields covered in corn, soybeans, wheat and other monoculture crops. The research is the most comprehensive review ever conducted on how pesticides affect soil health.
Toxic Chemicals Engulf the Planet
Worldwide chemical emissions are six times global warming emissions. This hidden dilemma is fully exposed in a superbly researched new book by science writer Julian Cribb: Earth Detox, How and Why We Must Clean Up Our Planet, Cambridge University Press, scheduled for release August 2021.
Effects of the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol on Trade in GMOs, WTO Implications, and Consequences for China
China,
Biosafety,
GMO Biosafety,
Cartegena Protocol
The UN Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety adopted in Montreal, 29 January, 2000 and opened for signature in Nairobi, 15-26 May, 2000 will exert a profound effect on international trade in genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and their products. In this paper, the background to the drafting and negotiation of the Protocol is outlined, and potential effects of various articles of the Protocol on international trade in GMOs are analyzed. Based on the present status of imports of GMOs and domestic research and development of biotechnology in China, likely trends in imports of foreign GMOs and related products after China accedes to WTO is explored. Also, China’s strategies and countermeasures to control and regulate imports of GMOs in line with implementation of the Protocol are discussed.
Effects_of_the_Cartagena_Biosafety_Proto
Biosafety legislation and biotechnology development gains momentum in Africa
Opinion in Africa over the use of genetically modified crops for food has been divided, honed by more than a decade of arguments in Europe and elsewhere. Fortunately, the perceived image of a passive Africa in this game is changing rapidly with clear positions on how to harness modern biotechnology. This article examines the status of biosafety regulation across Africa, pertinent challenges and the extent to which regulation fosters or constrains the development of agricultural biotechnology.
Biosafety_legislation_and_biotechnology
Biosafety at the Crossroads
An Analysis of South Africa’s Marketing and Trade Policies for Genetically Modified Products
South Africa is the only country in Africa that has both adopted genetically modified (GM) crops and developed a functional biosafety system to manage any risks related to the use of GM products. But it is also one of the only countries that trade both GM and non-GM crops, despite being surrounded by countries banning the use of GM products. In this paper, we analyze the marketing and trade policies for GM products in South Africa that have been successful in the past and critically review recent reforms to these policies.
Reviewing_South_Africas_marketing_and_tr
Agricultural Biotechnology Development and Policy in China
This article provides an overview of Chinaís agricultural biotech- nology development policies. Research goals, strategies, priori- ties, commercialization, and Chinaís organizational framework for agricultural biotechnology development are presented. Included is a description of the evolution of Chinaís biosafety regulations as well as Chinaís research capacity building and public investmentóone of the largest public research efforts on agricultural biotechnology in the world.
Agricultural_Biotechnology_Development_a
Glyphosate Hacks Hormones of Baby Girls after Exposure in the Womb – New Groundbreaking Pilot Study
A group of international scientists from the U.S. and EU have released a peer-reviewed pilot study that suggests the anogenital distance of baby girls is becoming more male-typical, due to their mothers being exposed to glyphosate when they are in the womb.
Connecting the Dots: Glyphosate and COVID-19
Are glyphosate and COVID-19 connected? Glyphosate, one of the most toxic chemicals in the world, may be the key to why some people get severely ill from COVID-19. An MIT senior research scientist reports:
By Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D.
Special to JenniferMargulis.net
Sustainable Development and the Ethical Issue of Human Morality; an Overview
Ibrahim Udale Hussaini
The ultimate goal of sustainability is to meet the basic needs of all and extend to everyone the opportunity to fulfil their aspirations for a better life, while moderating and renewing the use of finite resources [1]. Thus, the effort to improve environmental quality, the relevant decisions and the moral precepts that lead to a sustainable world should be directed at the transformation of production – in the industry, agriculture, energy and transportation [2].
This article therefore attempts to discuss the concept of sustainable development on the basis of human morality arising from established ethical system. Nonetheless, ethics and the practice of ethics for a sustainable world is the crux of the discussion; and understanding it is the objective of this study.
Sustainable_Development_and_the_Ethical
Biosafety Decisions and Perceived Commercial Risks
The Role of GM-Free Private Standards
Guillaume Gruère Debdatta Sengupta
We herein investigate the observed discrepancy between real and perceived commercial risks associated with the use of genetically modified (GM) products in developing countries. We focus particularly on the effects of GM-free private standards set up by food companies in Europe and other countries on biotechnology and biosafety policy decisions in food-exporting developing countries.
Biosafety_decisions_and_perceived_commer
Andrew Feenberg and the proposal to democratize technologies: a critical look
João Batista Farias Junior
Since the role that science and technology play in human life is something that concerns less the scientist (qua scientist) and more the ordinary citizen as the main affected, we could deduce: it is then a question of democratizing not only access and use modern technologies as well as the research they involve, risks contained in their uses, environmental, political and economic impacts, etc. Added to this is the fact that technology represents power and that this technological power already surpasses political power in some parts of the world. Supporters of the idea of democratizing technology like Andrew Feenberg, Don Ihde, and Peter-Paul Verbeek have been looking for ways to apply democratic standards to the technological design process.
Andrew_Feenberg_and_the_proposal_to_demo
A Critical Observation on the Mainstream Discourse of Biotechnology for the Poor
Shuji Hisano
2005, Tailoring Biotechnologies, Volume 1, Issue 2, pp.81-105
Since the late 1990s, when massive backlash against genetically modified organisms emerged worldwide, the mainstream political economic powers, i.e., the US government and transnational biotech companies, have been actively and deliberately engaged in the discourse of biotechnology for the poor to combat world hunger. This line of discourse has been endorsed at several international gatherings as well as in epistemic communities. The objective of this paper is to sort out and critically analyze the discourse put forward by the mainstreamers. Within the hegemonic political, economic, legal, and ideological setting of biotechnology development, we need to look for room for maneuver so that we can carefully make out alternative perspectives and frameworks to reappropriate and redesign biotechnology to fit in the socioeconomic and bioenvironmental context of the resource-poor in the developing world. In order for this analysis to be theoretically reflected, we will refer to Antonio Gramscis concept of hegemony and counter-hegemony, as well as Andrew Feenbergs concept of democratic rationalization.”
A_Critical_Observation_on_the_Mainstream
HUMANITARIAN RELIEF AND MARKET INTERESTS: GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS IN THE UNITED STATES
FOOD AID
Thiago Lima, Erbenia Lourenço, Henrique Zeferino Menezes
Abstract: In 2002, Southern Africa was struck by a severe food crisis. Despite the hardships, some nations of this region refused food aid from the US due to the presence of Genetically Modified Organisms. They claimed that the food was unsafe for their population’s consumption. The paper addresses the main reasons for the US donation of GMOs. Based on documental analysis, congressional hearings and literature review, we argue that although the donations may have the intention of helping the emergency problems of these African and Latin American countries, the food aid also promotes US market interests, disregarding public health conceptions and economic interests of those countries.
Humanitarion_Relief_and_Market_Interest
Opposition to transgenic technologies: ideology, interests and collective action frames
Ronald J. Herring
Abstract | Genetic engineering has enabled significant, accepted innovations in medicine and other fields. In agriculture, however, a global cognitive divide around ‘genetically modified organisms’ (GMOs) has limited the diffusion and scope of this technology. The framing of agricultural products of recombinant DNA technology as GMOs lacks biological coherence, but has proved to be a powerful frame for opposition. Disaggregating the concept of the ‘GMO’ is a necessary condition for confronting misconceptions that constrain the use of biotechnology in addressing imperatives of development and escalating challenges from nature, especially in less-industrialized nations.
Opposition_to_transgenic_technologies_id
New study finds glyphosate-related alterations in gut microbiome
Posted on January 27, 2021 Carey Gillam
A new animal study by a group of European researchers has found that low levels of the weed killing chemical glyphosate and the glyphosate-based Roundup product can alter the composition of the gut microbiome in ways that may be linked to adverse health outcomes.
Who benefits from gm crops?
“There could hardly be a more effective form of colonialism. The genetic engineering industry will effectively be able to hold us hostage.”
Dr Tewolde Egziabher, head of the African Group and Like Minded Group of Developing Countries in the negotiations toward the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
Who_benefits_from_gm_crops_The_expansion
Over 2,000 studies and journal publications document risks and harms from GMOs and related pesticides
22 October 2020 — GMWatch
New database launched
The US nonprofit GMO/Toxin Free USA has launched GMOResearch.org, the first-of-its-kind searchable science database of studies and reports on the safety and effects of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and associated agrochemicals.
A new approach to governing GM crops?
Global lessons from the rising powers
Background
- Although the rise of genetically modified (GM) crops has been dramatic, their uptake has not been the smooth nor universal transition predicted by its advocates. Controversy has been marked even in those countries where approvals have been impressively rapid. All too commonly the regulation of GM crops has been challenged as inadequate, even biased.
- The present study was undertaken by Durham University, in partnership with local research teams and advisors in Mexico, Brazil and India. The research was funded by The John Templeton Foundation under the banner ‘Can GM crops help to feed the world?’
- Our strategic question was that unless we examine why GM crops have not been universally accepted as a public good, we will fail to understand the conditions under which ‘GM crops can help to feed the world’.
New_approaches_to_governing_GM_crops_Glo.pdf
On giving account and taking things into account
The case of Glyphosate
Risk regulation regimes in the developed world are increasingly ‘science-based’, that is heavily dependent on scientific assessment of the risk conducted by independent and specialised agencies. In the European Union (EU) these agencies are mostly advisory, and assessments are delivered in the form of ‘opinion’, yet their pronouncements as for the ‘safety’ of a novel food, pesticide or chemical are very often judiciously obeyed by the politically accountable risk managers. In this way the locus of decision-making moves upstream, to the risk assessing agencies and in turn this creates strong pressures to make them ‘accountable’. The present paper explores the accountability of scientific agencies through a case study of the recent highly salient assessments of glyphosate – a popular herbicide – conducted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). It begins by reframing the notion of accountability as the twin requirements to give account as well as take into account. The paper argues that the different sides diverge not merely in having opposite views on the one key issue – whether glyphosate is safe – but also in having quite different views on what matters, i.e. what factors are relevant for the decision. When some factors cannot be taken into account by the decision-makers while others are made pivotal, the stakeholders are forced into a proxy war on the latter (in this case the alleged carcinogenicity of the herbicide). The other key argument of the paper is that the scientific assessments are always shaped by the legal environment the assessors are embedded into and therefore it is impossible to separate ‘legal’ and ‘political’ from ‘technical’ issues at any level. Thus, even the most trivial or technical-looking detail may have enormous political significance. Sophisticated stakeholders never fail to notice this, so it is necessary for policy makers and academics to acknowledge it too.
on_giving_account_and_taking_things_into
The Ideological Power of Alternative Media
By Garret Farmer-Brent
Alternative media has counter-hegemonic power, and using a case study of the anti-GMO movement, this paper will show how that power is created in drawing people away from the mainstream by providing them with different ideological possibilities.
the_ideological_power_of_alternative_med
The Dangers posed by GMOs
Commentary October 2nd, 2015: A landslide victory for the Environmental groups and the anti-GM brigade. More than half the 28 countries in the European Union, including France and Germany, voted to forbid farmers from growing genetically modified crops, however, such prudence has been largely ignored in the U.S.
The_Dangers_posed_by_GMOs
Highly Hazardous Pesticides in Mexico
Human rights are grounded in the principles of universality, non-discrimination, and indivisibility under which human rights are guaranteed for all persons, including the most susceptible and vulnerable groups of society. These principles apply to all aspects of preventing human rights violations. States, as duty bearers, must respect existing human rights principles; protect everyone regardless of income, age, ethnicity or gender from the abuse of human rights by those in positions of power, including abuses brought by powerful industries; and fulfill their commitments by providing services in times of emergency and hardship.
highly_hazardous_pesticides_in_mexico01
World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has declared glyphosate as a 2A carcinogen (probably carcinogenic in humans)
The IARC reached its decision based on the view of 17 experts from 11 countries, who met in Lyon, France, to assess the carcinogenicity of 5 organophosphate pesticides.
Open_letter_to_the_British_Medical_Assoc.pdf
A trial of GM Potatoes at farms in Suffolk and Cambridge Ref No. 19/R29/01
The Hon Michael Gove MP Department of the Environment
Dear Michael Gove I am surprised to learn that from the huge number of scientists employed by Defra and Rothamsted Research, not one of them has read the new book by Caius Rommens, former team leader at Monsanto, the creator of GM potatoes who has retracted his research on GM Potatoes. ‘Pandora’s Potatoes: The Worst GMOs’. It shows an ignorance beyond belief! It just demonstrates how narrow their reading is and how arrogant and brainwashed they have become! Professor Jonathan Jones Group Leader for the Sainsbury Laboratory has worked for Monsanto in the past, so he has massive conflicts of interest. Perhaps their brains have been poisoned by glyphosate-based herbicides, re- authorised by the European Glyphosate Task Force in December 2017 for 5 years!
A_trial_of_GM_Potatoes_at_farms_in_Suffo
Biological annihilation via the ongoing sixth mass extinction signaled by vertebrate population losses and declines
Biological annihilation via the ongoing sixth mass extinction signaled by vertebrate population losses and declines
The Guardian Environment Correspondent Damian Carrington said: ‘Many of these are common species, and Gerardo Ceballos, the lead author, gave an example from close to home: “We used to have swallows nesting every year in my home near Mexico city – but for the last 10 years there are none.” In 2017, very few swallows fly around our nature reserve in Wales that has been poisoned by Roundup.
Paul Ehrlich, the second author, said:
“Less recognised, but perhaps even more dangerous to both people and wildlife, is the increasing toxification of the entire planet with synthetic chemicals. Growing populations want myriad more items of plastic that often leak toxic chemicals: more cosmetics, cleansing compounds, pesticides, herbicides, preservatives and industrial chemicals. Many of these novel chemicals mimic natural hormones, and in tiny quantities can alter the development of animals or human children, with potentially catastrophic consequences”.
Biological_annihilation_via_the_ongoing
African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
GM foods have permeated every part of the food industry and the dangers we all face are coming to the surface. Our food and our medicine are being genetically manufactured for profit, many using the bacteria, E. coli. This bacteria, normally found in our digestive tract and in the digestive tract of all warmblooded animals, is being genetically manipulated to help create deadly life-threatening biological toxins, vaccines, pharmaceutical drugs, artificial vitamin and food supplements, foods, milk, organisms that bind heavy metals (bio-remediation) and explosives, just to name a few.Most of our digestive diseases centers on the food we eat and let’s face it, we are eating contaminated food, even down to the animals, the soil and the water. If diabetes was rare in ancient Egypt, then the question of whether this is a genetic disease or environmental becomes mute. We are told that our bodies have not changed in 20,000 years. What has changed is the food we eat and our environment.
DIGESTION
How glyphosate is being whitewashed for its review in the EU and the US
Compiled by Rosemary Mason MB ChB FRCA, on behalf of a global network of independent scientists, beekeepers and environmentalists
Last week the G8 Conference was held in London to discuss the problem of the massive increases in the incidence of dementia in the Western World.
The herbicide glyphosate will be reviewed by Germany, the Rapporteur Member State, in 2014. The review of glyphosate was due to take place in 2012. Soon after the European Commission was notified of the latest research showing that glyphosate and Roundup® caused birth defects, it quietly passed a directive delaying the review of glyphosate and 38 other dangerous pesticides until 2015.
How_glyphosate_is_being_whitewashed_for
Evidence from independent scientists that Roundup and other Glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) are toxic to humans, vertebrates and invertebrates
Monsanto and the pesticide regulators claim that Roundup is only toxic to plants, fungi and bacteria, but humans and animals have trillions of bacteria in their gut – the gut microbiome.
Evidence_from_independent_scientists_tha
Questions and Answers about Pesticides
Question: Surely you can’t blame the ills of the NHS on glyphosate? Answer:Yes, in fact you probably can. Glyphosate is a man-made amino-acid, which mimics the essential amino acid glycine and takes over many of its functions. Glycine helps to detoxify foreign proteins, promotes gluconeogenesis (making new glucose from amino acids) from the liver and kidney, goes into the bone marrow, helps to make collagen and is a neurotransmitter.
Questions_and_Answers_about_Pesticides
Open letter to medical professionals and the AMA: Start the conversation
We, the undersigned, implore you to take the following actions:
Order toxicology tests for your chronically ill patients, in particular screening for glyphosate and its degradation product AMPA.
Educate yourselves on how to deal with systemic poisoning and detoxification. Open the conversation with your patients, family and colleagues. Establish a procedure for surveillance and tracking.
Open_letter_to_medical_professionals_and
“ROUNDUP READY”? REGULATING GLYPHOSATES AMIDST HEALTH, ECONOMIC AND PUBLIC CONCERNS ABOUT GM
Glyphosate is a leading herbicide, most notably sold as the compound Roundup, which is used in conjuction with crops genetically engineered to be resistant to its effects to reduce pesticide use and increase yields. However, Roundup is also used in maintenance of public parks, pest control in forests, and is sold in gardening centres for household use. Glyphosate itself is used in hundreds of products, making it difficult to fully test in combination with other chemicals which might be used. In light of this, its exact toxicity to humans, bees and the environment in general has been difficult to determine, and has formed a significant area of public resistance to genetically modified organisms. Recently, the licence for glyphosate has come up for renewal in the European Union, opening up the debate about a blanket ban once again. This debate has been recently complicated by the WHO’s reclassification of glyphosate as a probable carcinogen, a conclusion that was subsequently challenged by the renewal process, during which the report on acceptable risk issued by EFSA concluded that glyphosate was in fact not carcinogenic if used according to the limits set.
Roundup_Ready_Regulating_Glyphosates_Am
Glyphosate pathways to modern diseases V: Amino acid analogue of glycine in diverse proteins
Glyphosate, a synthetic amino acid and analogue of glycine, is the most widely used biocide on the planet. Its presence in food for human consumption and animal feed is ubiquitous. Epidemiological studies have revealed a strong correlation between the increasing incidence in the United States of a large number of chronic diseases and the increased use of glyphosate herbicide on corn, soy and wheat crops. Glyphosate, acting as a glycine analogue, may be mistakenly incorporated into peptides during protein synthesis. A deep search of the research literature has revealed a number of protein classes that depend on conserved glycine residues for proper function. Glycine, the smallest amino acid, has unique properties that support flexibility and the ability to anchor to the plasma membrane or the cytoskeleton. Glyphosate substitution for conserved glycines can easily explain a link with diabetes, obesity, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary edema, adrenal insufficiency, hypothyroidism, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s disease, prion diseases, lupus, mitochondrial disease, non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma, neural tube defects, infertility, hypertension, glaucoma, osteoporosis, fatty liver disease and kidney failure.
Glyphosate_pathways_to_modern_diseases_V
GMO FACTS: SETTLING THE GMO DISPUTE
presented by Anarchy Books® and Renegade Publishing®
Another Jeff Prager Learning Experience PublicationTM
This publication was funded entirely by the generosity of the corporations that are directly involved in the manufacture and sale of Genetically Modified FrankenfoodsTM , FrankenseedsTM and Franken-Almost-Everything-Sold-At-The GrocersTM
Thanks to Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow Chemicals and Agroscience, BASF, Bayer Crop Science, Nabisco, Abbot Labs, Quaker Foods, Cargill, General Mills. Phillip Morris, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Campbells Soup, Aurora Foods, Smithfield Foods, Holsum, Kellogg’s, Interstate Bakeries, Kraft, Country Inn Specialties, Cadbury, Hershey’s, ConAgra, Carnation, Del Monte, Hellman’s, Hunt’s, Pace, Ortega, Tostito’s, Frito Lay, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Dole, Delicious Brands, Famous Amos, Keebler, Pepperidge Farms, Snack Wells. Banquet, Budget Gourmet, Green Giant, Healthy Choice, Kid’s Cuisine, Lean Cuisine, Stouffers, Marie Callenders, Ore-Ida, Heinz, Swanson, Vlasic, Weight Watchers, Chef Boyardee, Dinty Moore, Franco-American, Best- foods, Knorr, Lipton, Rice-A-Roni, Uncle Ben’s, Totinio’s, Orville Redenbacher, Pringles, Capri Sun Juices, Fruitopia, Gatorade, Hawaiian Punch, Hi-C, Kool Aid, Sunny Delight, Tropicana Twisters, Bumble Bee, Ocean Spray, Sara Lee, V8, Progresso, Del Monte, Hunts, Prego, Ragu, the JJ Smucker Company, Goya Foods, Post, Morton Salt, Sargento Foods, Croplife America, TreeTop Incorporated, Hillshire Brands, Godiva Chocolate, Clorox, Mars Food North America, Hormel Foods Corporation, the William Wrigley Jr. Corporation, Unilever and of course our staff voted and our favorite was Bimbo Bakeries USA.
All of these companies manufacture numerous products that contain one and often more than one GMO ingredient, far more than any of us 99.99%’ers can count, or so it seems. Previous commitments and normal time constraints and pressing responsibilities simply didn’t allow me to include everyone. For those of you that were omitted from this illustrious list of first-class death merchants, and there are 100s more of you not mentioned, we aren’t fond of you either. You gentlemen should know better, and what’s confounding is that you probably do.
Bulletproof_Glyphosate_Peer_Review
Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America
Abstract
A huge increase in the incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases has been reported in the United States (US) over the last 20 years. Similar increases have been seen globally. The herbicide glyphosate was introduced in 1974 and its use is accelerating with the advent of herbicide-tolerant genetically engineered (GE) crops. Evidence is mounting that glyphosate interferes with many metabolic processes in plants and animals and glyphosate residues have been detected in both. Glyphosate disrupts the endocrine system and the balance of gut bacteria, it damages DNA and is a driver of mutations that lead to cancer.
Genetically_engineered_crops_glyphosate
Glyphosate, mycotoxins and antibiotics in the food chain, effects on the gastrointestinal apparatus and immune system
Maurizio Proietti
2017, Glyphosate, mycotoxins and antibiotics in the food chain, effects on the gastrointestinal apparatus and immune system. May it be a predisposing condition ASD?
Today we have pollution levels out of control; the most important problem is the pollution of the human and animal food chains. The most recognized toxic substances is glyphosate, including involuntary biological contaminants mycotoxins. Each species has its own peculiarities in inducing effects on health. Mycotoxins is an important stressor factor, in particular deoxynivalenol (DON) that disrupted the expression of the Zonulin-1(ZO-1), occludin and claudin of porcine gut epithelial TJs. Mycotoxins are immunotoxic and teratogenic. Antibiotics imbalance microbiota. Pollutants, including involuntary, and antibiotics have a negative effect on cell junctions, the microbiota and the microbiome, which ultimately lead to dysbiosis and leaky gut. Glyphosate is another emerging problem; it appears that the damage is caused by the surfactant, TN-20. Surfactant and glyphosate led to mitochondrial damage, apoptosis, and necrosis, disrupts the integrity of the cellular barrier and blocks out microbial growth at lower concentrations. Furthermore, glyphosate induces an increased activity of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) that leading to a hyperammonemic environment in the gut, incresed ammonia level is believed to be intestinal bacteria in small and large intestine. There is strong correlation between gut dysbiosis and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is strong relationship between intestinal gene expression and bacterial structure. This is the future challenge for research. Keywords: autism spectrum disorder (ASD); deoxynivalenol (DON); dysbiosis; tight Junction (TJ) glyphosate; microbiota; mycotoxin; zearalenone (ZEN); phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL).
Glyphosate_mycotoxins_and_antibiotics_in
The High Cost of Pesticides: Human and Animal Diseases
A significant degradation in the health of wild animals in Montana has been recorded over the past two decades. We surmise that the health issues are related to pesticide exposure. We present some of the evidence of the deterioration of the health in wildlife, which we used to inspire investigations on human health in the US population. While the animals’ exposure is through food, water and air, we believe that human exposure is predominantly through food, as the majority of the population does not reside near agricultural fields and forests. We have obtained US government data on pesticide usage and on human disease patterns over time from the 1998-2010 hospital discharge data. Since glyphosate is by far the most widely used herbicide, we believe it to be a major source of contamination for humans. Correlations between glyphosate usage and specific health issues, along with the known toxicology profile of glyphosate obtained from the literature, reflect a plausible causal relationship. Because much of the wildlife data is from deer fawns, most of the human data presented here involve newborn infants, but we also present some data for children 0-15 years old and for the full population (except newborn). We found many diseases and conditions whose hospital discharge rates match remarkably well with the rate of glyphosate usage on corn, soy, and wheat crops. These include head and face anomalies (R=0.95), newborn eye disorders, newborn blood disorders (R=0.92), newborn skin disorders (R=0.96), lymph disorders in children 0-15 (R=0.86) and in the general population except newborn (R=0.89), congenital heart conditions in newborns (R= 0.98), enlarged right ventricle in all age groups except newborn (R=0.96), newborn lung problems (R=0.95), pulmonary bleeding and edema for all age groups except newborn (R=0.97), liver cancer for all age groups except newborn (R=0.93), newborn metabolic disorders (R=0.95) and newborn genitourinary disorders (R=0.96).
The_High_Cost_of_Pesticides_Human_and_An
Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases III: Manganese, neurological diseases, and associated pathologies
Manganese (Mn) is an often overlooked but important nutrient, required in small amounts for multiple essential functions in the body. A recent study on cows fed genetically modiied Roundup®‐Ready feed revealed a severe depletion of serum Mn. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup®, has also been shown to severely deplete Mn levels in plants. Here, we investigate the impact of Mn on physiology, and its association with gut dysbiosis as well as neuropathologies such as autism, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), depression, anxiety syndrome, Parkinson’s disease (PD), and prion diseases. Glutamate overexpression in the brain in association with autism, AD, and other neurological diseases can be explained by Mn deficiency. Mn superoxide dismutase protects mitochondria from oxidative damage, and mitochondrial dysfunction is a key feature of autism and Alzheimer’s. Chondroitin sulfate synthesis depends on Mn, and its deiciency leads to osteoporosis and osteomalacia. Lactobacillus, depleted in autism, depend critically on Mn for antioxidant protection. Lactobacillus probiotics can treat anxiety, which is a comorbidity of autism and chronic fatigue syndrome. Reduced gut Lactobacillus leads to overgrowth of the pathogen, Salmonella, which is resistant to glyphosate toxicity, and Mn plays a role here as well. Sperm motility depends on Mn, and this may partially explain increased rates of infertility and birth defects. We further reason that, under conditions of adequate Mn in the diet, glyphosate, through its disruption of bile acid homeostasis, ironically promotes toxic accumulation of Mn in the brainstem, leading to conditions such as PD and prion diseases.
Glyphosate_pathways_to_modern_diseases_I
Does Glyphosate Acting as a Glycine Analogue Contribute To ALS
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease involving several protein mutations in glycine-rich regions with limited treatment options. 90-95% of all cases are non-familial with epidemiological studies showing a significant increased risk in glyphosate-exposed workers. In this paper, we propose that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup®, plays a role in ALS, mainly through mistakenly substituting for glycine during protein synthesis, disruption of mineral homeostasis as well as setting up a state of dysbiosis. Mouse models of ALS reveal a pre-symptomatic profile of gut dysbiosis. This dysbiotic state initiate a cascade of events initially impairing metabolism in the gut, and, ultimately, through a series of intermediate stages, leading to motor neuron axonal damage seen in ALS. Lipopolysaccharide, a toxic by-product of dysbiosis which contributes to the pathology, is shown to be statistically higher in ALS patients. In this paper we paint a compelling view of how glyphosate exerts its deleterious effects, including mitochondrial stress and oxidative damage through glycine substitution. Furthermore, its mineral chelation properties disrupt manganese, copper and zinc balance, and it induces glutamate toxicity in the synapse, which results in a die-back phenomenon in axons of motor neurons supplying the damaged skeletal muscles.
Does_Glyphosate_Acting_as_a_Glycine_Anal
Aluminum and Glyphosate Can Synergistically Induce Pineal Gland Pathology: Connection to Gut Dysbiosis and Neurological Disease
Many neurological diseases, including autism, depression, dementia, anxiety disorder and Par- kinson’s disease, are associated with abnormal sleep patterns, which are directly linked to pineal gland dysfunction. The pineal gland is highly susceptible to environmental toxicants. Two perva- sive substances in modern industrialized nations are aluminum and glyphosate, the active ingre- dient in the herbicide, Roundup®. In this paper, we show how these two toxicants work synergis- tically to induce neurological damage.
Aluminum_and_Glyphosate_Can_Synergistica
Can glyphosate’s disruption of the gut microbiome and induction of sulfate deficiency explain the epidemic in gout and associated diseases in the industrialized world?
In this paper, we review the literature on gout and propose a functional rôle for the inflammatory signaling cascade to restore vascular health. Our findings suggest that the primary factor behind the recent gout epidemic is dietary glyphosate, with iron overload and fungus overgrowth as secondary contributing factors.
Can_glyphosate_s_disruption_of_the_gut_m
Glyphosate and Anencephaly: Death by a Thousand Cuts
Anencephaly, which occurs when the rostral (head) end of the neural tube fails to close early in embryonic development, represents perhaps the most extreme manifestation of neural tube defects (NTDs). A wide range of developmental events and processes, working singly or in concert, are either known to cause, or are strongly associated with, NTDs in general, and with anencephaly in particular. Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicidal chemical on the planet. Here we review a multitude of ways in which glyphosate can detrimentally impact, or ‘cut,’ embryological and fetal development to specifically favor the anencephalic phenotype. The evidence presented here includes data gathered from epidemiology, toxicology, general and nutritional biochemistry, and developmental biology. While the case here is often based on statistical associations and plausible biological arguments, we offer clearly defined pathways whereby glyphosate can be seen as likely holding the knife that is inflicting some, or perhaps even most, of these developmental cuts that lead to anencephaly and other NTDs. We offer some suggestions for lines of research to validate or refute our thesis, and conclude with our thoughts on the relevance of this link with regard to public health policy.
Glyphosate_and_Anencephaly_Death_by_a_Th
Glyphosate pathways to modern diseases V: Amino acid analogue of glycine in diverse proteins
Glyphosate, a synthetic amino acid and analogue of glycine, is the most widely used biocide on the planet. Its presence in food for human consumption and animal feed is ubiquitous. Epidemiological studies have revealed a strong correlation between the increasing incidence in the United States of a large number of chronic diseases and the increased use of glyphosate herbicide on corn, soy and wheat crops.
Glyphosate_pathways_to_modern_diseases_V
Death as a Drug Side Effect in FAERS: Is Glyphosate Contamination a Factor?
AbstractAn analysis of selected datasets from the FDA’s drug Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) leads us to hypothesize that glyphosate contamination in both food and drugs is a major contributor to chronic and acute kidney failure respectively. In chronic kidney failure, glyphosate-induced pancreatitis results in the release of trypsin, causing a leaky vasculature. The albumin-bound glyphosate escapes into the tissues, protecting the circulatory system and kidneys but resulting in multiple symptoms related to skin, gut, brain, bones, lungs, etc. The rare and poorly understood acute kidney failure response reported for protamine sulfate and Trasylol® is strikingly similar to that associated with glyphosate poisoning. Both drugs are derived from biological tissues that are plausibly contaminated with glyphosate. These drugs protect from haemorrhage, which leads to retention of glyphosate in the vasculature, are followed by circulatory collapse and a high likelihood of death as an outcome. We support our argument by comparing symptom profiles of selected subsets of FAERS with those related to glyphosate poisoning, anomalous reactions to protamine sulfate, and conditions showing strong statistical time-trend correlations with glyphosate.
Death_as_a_Drug_Side_Effect_in_FAERS_Is
Evidence that glyphosate is a causative agent in chronic sub-clinical metabolic acidosis and mitochondrial dysfunction
Abstract: Many types of chemicals, including pesticides and pharmaceutical drugs, cause metabolic acidosis and mitochondrial disorder. We provide evidence from the scientific literature that glyphosate can be metabolized by humans, that it disrupts the intestinal microbiota, causes severe metabolic acidosis when ingested in high doses and leads to mitochondrial dysfunction by uncoupling of phosphorylation.
Evidence_that_glyphosate_is_a_causative
Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases
Abstract:Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup®, is the most popular herbicide used worldwide. The industry asserts it is minimally toxic to humans, but here we argue otherwise. Residues are found in the main foods of the Western diet, comprised primarily of sugar, corn, soy and wheat. Glyphosate’s inhibition of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes is an overlooked component of its toxicity to mammals. CYP enzymes play crucial roles in biology, one of which is to detoxify xenobiotics. Thus, glyphosate enhances the damaging effects of other food borne chemical residues and environmental toxins. Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body.
Glyphosates_Suppression_of_Cytochrome_P4
Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases IV: cancer and related pathologies
Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the pervasive herbicide, Roundup, and its usage, particularly in the United States, has increased dramatically in the last two decades, in step with the widespread adoption of Roundup®-Ready core crops. The World Health Organization recently labelled glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic.” In this paper, we review the research literature, with the goal of evaluating the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate. Glyphosate has a large number of tumorigenic effects on biological systems, including direct damage to DNA in sensitive cells, disruption of glycine homeostasis, succinate dehydrogenase inhibition, chelation of manganese, modification to more carcinogenic molecules such as N-nitrosoglyphosate and glyoxylate, disruption of fructose metabolism, etc.
Glyphosate_pathways_to_modern_diseases_I
COVID-19 and Pesticides – A Deadly Combination
COVID-19 and the elephant in the room: Aseem Malhotra 16/04/20201
Obesity and chronic metabolic disease are killing COVID -19 patients: now is the time to eat real food, protect the NHS and save lives.
Extracts: “Data from the first 2204 patients admitted to 286 NHS ICU’s with COVID- 19 reveal that 72.7% of them were overweight or obese. Several years ago, a senior advisor personally expressed major concern to me about then-Mayor Boris Johnson. “I’m worried about his health Aseem. He’s significantly overweight and doesn’t look well.” This is despite the fact that Boris would regularly cycle to his office at City Hall. There’s no such thing as being fat and fit.
COVID-19_and_Pesticides_a_Deadly_Combina
Pesticides are not the concern of the Department of Health: Open Letter to the Chief Medical Officer England
The Department of Health ignores pesticides at its peril. None of the more than 400 pesticides that have been authorised in the UK have been tested for long-term actions on the brain; in the foetus, the child or the adult.
Pesticides_are_not_the_concern_of_the_De
50 HARMFUL EFFECTS OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED (GM) FOODS
We are confronted with what is undoubtedly the single most potent technology the world has ever known – more powerful even than atomic energy. Yet it is being released throughout our environment and deployed with superficial or no risk assessments – as if no one needs to worry an iota about its unparalleled powers to harm life as we know it – and for all future generations.
50_HARMFUL_EFFECTS_OF_GENETICALLY_MODIFI
The Complex Nature of GMOs Calls for a New Conversation
Maywa Montenegro
An honest discussion of genetically modified organisms must move beyond narrow concepts of human health to the wider social and environmental impacts of engineered crops.
The_Complex_Nature_of_GMOs_Calls_for_a_N
Evaluation of Atrazine and Glyphosate Literature Reviews
Analyzing and Comparing the Science and Politics in the United States, Europe and Argentina
“On some level, it doesn’t matter if an agricultural chemical has been banned or restricted. We simply don’t know what the negative effects of most of these chemicals will be over time. They’re not studied as complete compounds; isolated and narrow tests are performed on them. Of course they’re not studied on human beings, that would be unethical. So essentially, it’s a big experiment. Whether it is regulated or not, That shouldn’t prevent us from investigating the effects of these legal chemicals. Some of them might be as bad as the banned ones.”- Al Jazeera, Circle of Poison
Evaluation_of_Atrazine_and_Glyphosate_Li
Glyphosate re-assessment in Europe is corrupt: Toxicology Nancy L. Swanson
In January of 2014, the German rapporteur member state (RMS) submitted their draft renewal assessment report (RAR) on the re-approval of glyphosate to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) [1]. The RMS did not actually review the published toxicology studies themselves, but instead relied on a summary provided to them by the Glyphosate Task Force (GTF). The GTF is a consortium of chemical companies in Europe [2]. The bulk of the RAR dealing with toxicology is word-for-word from the GTF, with comments inserted by the RMS in italics. Very little of the 947-page document on toxicology is in italics.
Glyphosate_re-assessment_in_Europe_is_co
Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize
The health effects of a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize (from 11% in the diet), cultivated with or without Roundup, and Roundup alone (from 0.1 ppb in water), were studied 2 years in rats. In females, all treated groups died 2–3 times more than controls, and more rapidly. This difference was visible in 3 male groups fed GMOs. All results were hormone and sex dependent, and the pathological profiles were comparable. Females developed large mammary tumors almost always more often than and before controls, the pituitary was the second most disabled organ; the sex hormonal balance was modified by GMO and Roundup treatments. In treated males, liver congestions and necrosis were 2.5–5.5 times higher. This pathology was confirmed by optic and transmission electron microscopy. Marked and severe kidney nephropathies were also generally 1.3–2.3 greater. Males presented 4 times more large palpable tumors than controls which occurred up to 600 days earlier. Biochemistry data confirmed very significant kidney chronic deficiencies; for all treatments and both sexes, 76% of the altered parameters were kidney related. These results can be explained by the non linear endocrine-disrupting effects of Roundup, but also by the overexpression of the transgene in the GMO and its metabolic consequences.
Long_term_toxicity_of_a_Roundup_herbicid
The Chemical Anthropocene: Glyphosate as a Case Study of Pesticide Exposures
Alessandra Arcuri & Yogi Hale Hendlin
Part of the Pandora’s Box of unique changes humans have wreaked upon our environment with industrialisation, which has brought about the Anthropocene, is the unleashing of chemicals that harm humans and other organisms. Since World War II—arguably the best date to demarcate the most dramatic phase so far of the chemical Anthropocene —US chemical production has increased by 15 times, currently producing 30,000 pounds of chemicals per person each year. Fewer than 200 of the 6700 chemicals produced in quantities of 25,000 pounds or greater in the US have been subject to rigorous toxicological testing, and the US is no exception.
The_Chemical_Anthropocene_Glyphosate_as
Agribusiness drives severe decline of essential insects
Four million tonnes of poison a year, most produced by four agribusiness giants, are killing essential insects everywhere. One-third of species face extinction.
Insects are in decline across the world because of industrial farming and heavy pesticide use which are threatening food production, according to the 2020 Insect Atlas, released on June 9 by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and Friends of the Earth Europe.
Open Letter to the CMO England and Werner Baumann CEO Bayer
The Chief Medical Officer for England’s 2019 annual report focuses on UK engagement with global health. 1 “The UK is a world leader in health, with an impressive track record of global collaboration, but there is no room for complacency. Health is everybody’s business. The family we are born into, the houses we live in, and the food we eat all contribute to our health. But in our changing world, it is time to recognise that the determinants of health are not only biological and social but also commercial (consumer and environmental changes driven by profit). Most of these commercial determinants of health do not adhere to traditional boundaries of state, but they are affected by politics, consumer demand, and globalisation. Across the UK, there are significant and widening inequalities in a range of health outcomes, including healthy life expectancy, infant mortality, and obesity. These health inequalities are not and should never be acceptable.”
Open_Letter_to_the_CMO
Why is life expectancy faltering? The British Government has worked with Monsanto and Bayer since 1949
A Special Report in the Observer on 23 June 2019 asked the question: Why is life expectancy faltering?
In a few days, a team of researchers, statisticians and geographers will gather at University College London to tackle an issue of increasing concern for doctors and health experts. They will investigate why many UK citizens are now living shorter, less healthy lives compared with the recent past.
“The emergence of faltering life expectancy has caused particular alarm because it reverses a trend that has continued, almost unbroken, for close to 100 years. It is a perfect storm,” says Danny Dorling, professor of social geography at Oxford University, who has organised the London meeting. “Our faltering life expectancy rates show we have now got the worst trend in health anywhere in western Europe since the second world war. To achieve that, we must have made a lot of bad decisions,” he said.
Why_is_life_expectancy_faltering_The_Bri
Why don’t pesticides feature in the WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission A future for the world’s children?
Why_dont_pesticides_feature_in_the_WHO-U
Open Letter to the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed
The tribunal’s website says, “According to its critics, Monsanto is able to ignore the human and environmental damage caused by its products and maintain its devastating activities through a strategy of systemic concealment: by lobbying regulatory agencies and governments, by resorting to lying and corruption, by financing fraudulent scientific studies, by pressuring independent scientists, by manipulating the press and media, etc. The history of Monsanto would thereby constitute a text- book case of impunity, benefiting transnational corporations and their executives, whose activities contribute to climate and biosphere crises and threaten the safety of the planet.”
Civil society challenges the global food system: the International Monsanto Tribunal
Nienke Busscher, Eva Lia Colombo, Lidewij van der Ploeg, Julia Inés Gabella & Amalia Leguizamón
ABSTRACT
The global food system has severe implications for human health, soil quality, biodiversity, and quality of life. This paper provides an analysis on how transnational alliances challenge the global food system. We illustrate this by focusing on the activities and hearings of the International Monsanto Tribunal (IMT), held in the Hague in 2016. The IMT provided a platform for civil society and enabled transnational alliances to demand attention for local struggles and legal disputes in relation to Monsanto’s products. With the involvement of independent and renowned experts, the knowledge exchange between local victims and civil society was enhanced, and the IMT reinforced social movement’s goals towards demanding justice for the negative effects associated with the global food system. The advisory opinion determined that Monsanto’s practices are in violation with human rights standards. The IMT exemplified that there is an immediate need for structural change in the current global food system.
Civil_society_challenges_the_global_food
Economic Impact of GMOs Researched By Nogenics
GMO Bio-Piracy, Bt & GMO Companion Chemical Pesticides
1- According to an ‘India Today ’Reported 2- According to ‘The Ecologist’ Reported 3- Why Bt Technology is an Economical Disaster in the Making 4- The Economic Health Impact of Bt Toxicity and GMO Poisonous Companion Pesticides Chemical 5- Conclusion
Global_Economic_Impact_of_GMOs
British journalists, politicians and farmers are being used as guinea pigs
On 21/03/2016 you replied to the Countess of Mar’s question about glyphosate. You said the government supported EFSA’s conclusions that glyphosate does not cause cancer. This was a little premature. The Commission was about to authorise glyphosate for a further 15 years, when 4 Members of the European Parliament asked for Freedom of Information to see the 14 unpublished carcinogenicity studies from the Glyphosate Task Force that IARC had been unable to see. Have the UK experts actually seen these studies or do they trust the Glyphosate Task Force (GTF), and the manufacturers of the chemical, implicitly?
British_journalists_politicians_and_farm
Open Letter to HSE, Defra and CRD about Roundup poisoning people and the environment
Complaints to HSE/Defra and CRD about Roundup poisoning our nature reserve and also people. This blanket spraying of herbicide on the public was against the advice of DIRECTIVE 2009/128/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT but on the recommendation of the agricultural industry Between 2014 and 2017 HSE/Defra/CRD refused to ask the Council to stop spraying Glyphosate- based herbicides on Japanese Knotweed in the valley below us because it was poisoning our nature reserve and the surrounding area. This was even though we said there was glyphosate in the water at levels that promoted the growth of breast cancer cells in the lab and Cancer Research UK had reported 55,122 new cases of invasive breast cancer in 2015 and 11,563 deaths in 2016.1
They said it was “still legal.”
Open_Letter_to_HSE_Defra_and_CRD_about_R
US Scientists sound the alarm over global mass poisoning
The British Government, the US Government, the US Environmental Protection Agency and some farmers have worked together since before WW2 to silently poison air, water and food supply with synthetic chemicals
US_Scientists_sound_the_alarm_over_globa
THE COMPLEX NATURE OF GMOS CALLS FOR A NEW CONVERSATION
An honest discussion of genetically modified organisms must move beyond narrow concepts of human health to the wider social and environmental impacts of engineered crops.
Montenegro_2015_Ensia_The_Complex_Nature_of_GMOs
The sticky materiality of neo-liberal neonatures: GMOs and the agrarian question
Myles Carroll School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada
ABSTRACT
This article uses Marxist theories of agrarian capitalism to explore the political economy of genetically modified organisms (GMO) agriculture. It argues that the successes and failures of GMO agriculture have been partly circumscribed by the structural requirements of the capitalist system, as well as by the materiality of GMO crops themselves. Successful innovations have been able to mitigate the material barriers to accumulation found in agricultural production, and thus appeal directly to farmers as comparatively profitable capital inputs. In this way, they cohere with David Goodman’s notion of appropriationism, where manufactured capital inputs (such as pesticides, machinery and fertilisers) replace ‘natural’ inputs (such as manure or draft animals), reducing labour time and biological contingency, and thus creating a competitive advantage for those farmers who adopt the new technology (at least temporarily). Conversely, innovations that are geared at consumers rather than farmers have largely failed due to their status as value-added products (whose value is subjective and market- driven) rather than capital goods. The article uses contrasting case studies of herbicide-tolerant soybeans, beta-keratin-enhanced rice and slow-ripening tomatoes to demonstrate how and why the structural imperatives of global capitalism have enabled the success of some, and the failure of other innovations.
The_sticky_materiality_of_neo_liberal_neonatures_GMOs_and_the_agrarian_question
50 HARMFUL EFFECTS OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED (GM) FOODS
We are confronted with what is undoubtedly the single most potent technology the world has ever known – more powerful even than atomic energy. Yet it is being released throughout our environment and deployed with superficial or no risk assessments – as if no one needs to worry an iota about its unparalleled powers to harm life as we know it – and for all future generations.
-9_50_effects_gm
GMO Myths and Truths
An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety and efficacy of genetically modified crops and foods
John Fagan, PhD Michael Antoniou, PhD Claire Robinson, MPhil
2nd edition, Version 1.0
GMO-Myths-and-Truths-edition2
CONSPIRACY OR A SIMPLIFIED AND BRIEF 3 PART STEP IN GLOBAL HUMAN AND ANIMAL FOOD CHAIN DOMINANCE
1.) tryptophan depletion and all essential mineral micronutrients by bio-tech giant monsanto and others = tryptophan (epsps) patents create sicknesses and diseases then make money off the contracted sale of the tryp gmo genetically improved products!
GLOBAL_EPIDEMIC_OF_DISEASES_AND_ILLNESSE
‘Superweeds’ or ‘survivors’? Framing the problem of glyphosate resistant weeds and genetically engineered crops
In this paper, we explore how efforts to frame the socio-environmental problem of glyphosate resistant weeds — superweeds — at particular scales shape calls for certain governance strategies and regulatory responses. We use a political agronomy approach and the politics of scale literature to understand the linkages and relationships between socio-political and economic forces and the problem of glyphosate resistant weeds.
Superweeds_or_Survivors_Framing_the_Prob
Teratogenic Effects of Glyphosate-Based Herbicides: Divergence of Regulatory Decisions from Scientific Evidence
Abstract
The publication of a study in 2010, showing that a glyphosate herbicide formulation and glyphosate alone caused malformations in the embryos of Xenopus laevis and chickens through disruption of the retinoic acid signalling pathway, caused scientific and regulatory controversy. Debate centred on the effects of the production and consumption of genetically modified Roundup Ready® soy, which is engineered to tolerate applications of glyphosate herbicide. The study, along with others indicating teratogenic and reproductive effects from glyphosate herbicide exposure, was rebutted by the German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, BVL, as well as in industry-sponsored papers. These rebuttals relied partly on unpublished industry-sponsored studies commissioned for regulatory purposes, which, it was claimed, showed that glyphosate is not a teratogen or reproductive toxin.
Teratogenic_Effects_of_Glyphosate-Based
‘Superweeds’ or ‘survivors’? Framing the problem of glyphosate resistant weeds and genetically engineered crops
In this paper, we explore how efforts to frame the socio-environmental problem of glyphosate resistant weedsd superweedsdat particular scales shape calls for certain governance strategies and regulatory responses. We use a political agronomy approach and the politics of scale literature to understand the linkages and relationships between socio-political and economic forces and the problem of glyphosate resistant weeds. We draw on in-depth interview data with representatives from farm groups, consumer and environmental advocacy organizations, agriculture and biotech companies, government regulatory agencies, and agricultural extension agents, together with a content analysis of websites of GE supporters and opponents. Together these data are used to explore how the problem of superweeds is being framed by proponents and opponents of GE crops, and among agricultural scientists, advocacy organizations and business. We conclude that when environmental problems associated with pesticide resistance are ‘scaled up’ to incorporate more systemic agricultural issues and are linked with broader socio-economic and political issues that impact a larger public, there are greater possibilities for pushing for government intervention and regulation to address environmental burdens and externalities.
Superweeds_or_Survivors_Framing_the_Prob
Written testimony to the Judges of the Monsanto Tribunal
The Monsanto Tribunal is an international civil society initiative to hold Monsanto accountable for human rights violations, for crimes against humanity, and for ecocide. Eminent judges will hear testimonies from victims, and deliver an advisory opinion following procedures of the International Court of Justice. A parallel People’s Assembly provides the opportunity for social movements to rally and plan for the future we want. The Tribunal and People’s Assembly will take place between 14 and 16 October 2016 in The Hague, Netherlands.
Testimony_to_the_Monsanto_Tribunal_Round
Neoliberalism on the molecular scale. Economic and genetic reductionism in biotechnology battles
Kathleen McAfee
New agro-biotechnologies promise bounty from fine tuned molecular manipulation of food crops. They already provide profits and export opportunities to a few transnational seed/agrochemical/biotechnology firms. Against growing resistance in international arenas, industry and US government spokespeople have aggressively promoted genetic engineering, arguing that it permits precise control of life processes. However, this claim is based on a deceptive form of molecular-genetic reductionism which uses outdated notions of ‘‘genes’’ and ‘‘genetic codes’’ and disregards the interactions among molecules, organisms, their environments, and their social settings. This discourse, in turn, supports economic-reductionist arguments that genetic information should be patentable and that market-based management of biotechnology will benefit everyone.
Neoliberalism_on_the_Molecular_Scale_Eco
Industry Regulators, Governments and Corporate Media are colluding to poison the people
Rosemary Mason
This accompanied an email to the Executive Director of the European Chemicals Agency. I told him that our Danish Grandchildren had been to stay and could see the effects of Roundup on our nature reserve.
Industry_Regulators_Governments_and_Corp
The GMO threat to food sovereignty: Science, resistance and transformation
– Brian Tokar
The expansive use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture is one of the most potent symbols of the worldwide threat to food justice and food sovereignty. Today over 365 million acres worldwide is believed to be planted in GMO varieties of soya, maize, cotton and other crops.1 Even though the vast majority of GMO crops are still raised in a small handful of countries, mainly in the Western hemisphere, they include agroexport giants such as the US, Argentina and Brazil. Much of the world, however, is continuing to resist this uniquely controversial and invasive form of genetic manipulation of our food.
The_GMO_threat_to_food_sovereignty_Scien
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using techniques in genetics generally known as recombinant DNA technology.
Recombinant DNA technology is the ability to combine DNA molecules from different sources into the one molecule.
An overarching ethical question is whether humans have the right to manipulate and modify other organisms in this manner, or whether it is “playing God.” In modern biological and biomedical research, the use of GMOs is acknowledged to be an invaluable tool for generating new knowledge. However, even if one has no normative objections to genetic engineering, research ethics questions arise: Do we know enough about what we are doing when we introduce new DNA? Is safety guaranteed? Does the research have an ethically acceptable purpose?
Genetically_modified_organisms_GMOs
2 Silent Killers – the Toxic Legacy of Biocides in Britain
What is a biocide?It is a chemical that kills life. It can be a natural chemical. But nowadays they are mostly man-made chemicals. In modern life there are thousands of made-made chemicals used in consumer products, in food and in the environment, most of which are untested and not measured. In agriculture there are insecticides that kill insects, herbicides that ‘control unwanted vegetation’, fungicides that kill fungi or fungal spores, nematocides that kill plant- parasitic nematodes and molluscides that kill slugs and snails. The general term for them is ‘pesticides’ but the agrochemical industry prefers to call them ‘plant protection products’ (PPPs). Many farmers in the UK use PPPs, which means that there are pesticide residues in all our non-organic food.
2_Silent_Killers_the_Toxic_Legacy_of_Bio
Genetic Engineering and Food Sovereignty
Sustainable Agriculture is the Only Option to Feed the World
Reader on Studies and Experiences
Threats by GM-Agriculture, Ways towards Sustainable Agriculture and Lobbying Work in Developing Countries
Socio-economic_impact_of_GMOs_on_African
Teratogenic Effects of Glyphosate-Based Herbicides: Divergence of Regulatory Decisions from Scientific Evidence
Abstract
The publication of a study in 2010, showing that a glyphosate herbicide formulation and glyphosate alone caused malformations in the embryos of Xenopus laevis and chickens through disruption of the retinoic acid signalling pathway, caused scientific and regulatory controversy. Debate centred on the effects of the production and consumption of genetically modified Roundup Ready® soy, which is engineered to tolerate applications of glyphosate herbicide. The study, along with others indicating teratogenic and reproductive effects from glyphosate herbicide exposure, was rebutted by the German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, BVL, as well as in industry-sponsored papers. These rebuttals relied partly on unpublished industry-sponsored studies commissioned for regulatory purposes, which, it was claimed, showed that glyphosate is not a teratogen or reproductive toxin.
Teratogenic_Effects_of_Glyphosate-Based
CORN CULTURE AND DANGEROUS DNA:
Real and Imagined Consequences of Maize Transgene Flow in Oaxaca
Kathleen McAfee
Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
“Genetic pollution” in Oaxaca has become Exhibit A for critics of crop genetic engineering and the focus of angry charges and counterclaims by biotechnology researchers. Like many disputes about science and technology, this one is linked to economic and resource-control conflicts. To understand why this controversy is so intense, we need to locate the scientific findings and claims about crop gene flow within the broader frame of international agro-food restructuring and its consequences for agrarian communities.
Corn_Culture_and_Dangerous_DNA_Real_and
Transgenic Crops: An Environmental Assessment
Henry A. Wallace Center for Agricultural & Environmental Policy at Winrock International November 2000
Executive Summary The varieties and uses of genetically altered (transgenic) crops have grown much more rapidly than our ability to understand or appropriately regulate them. At this writing, we have only a small core of scientific information to understand the short- and long-term environmental effects of these crops.
Some laboratory and field evidence is helping us to understand the potential environmental benefitsand risks of the most widely used products, such as herbicide-tolerant crops and plants engineered with the insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). However, assessments that account for a full range of differences in geography, weather, pests, and management have not been completed. Only small amounts of funding (approximately 4 percent of U.S. agricultural biotechnology research dollars) are available for seeing these and other studies through to completion.
Transgenic_Crops_An_Environmental_Assess
The 7th International Symposium on the Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms
Beijing, China October 10-16
The_7_th_International_Symposium_on_the
A Review on Impacts of Genetically Modified Food on Human Health
Charu Verma, Surabhi Nanda, R.K. Singh, R.B. Singh and Sanjay Mishra
Abstract: Biotechnology offers a variety of potential benefits and risks. It has enhanced food production by making plants less vulnerable to drought, frost, insects, and viruses and by enabling plants to compete more effectively against weeds for soil nutrients. In a few cases, it has also improved the quality and nutrition of foods by altering their composition. However, the use of biotechnology has also raised concerns about its potential risks to the environment and people. For example, some people fear that common plant pests could develop resistance to the introduced pesticides in GM crops that were supposed to combat them.
Review_of_impacts_of_GMO_on_human
Bayer CropScience rules Britain after Brexit: the public and the press are being poisoned by pesticides
03/02/2020 The Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggests UK will be ‘governed by science, not mumbo-jumbo’ on food imports1
Boris Johnson has called for an end to “hysterical” fears about US food coming to the UK as part of a post-Brexit trade deal, as he ramped up threats to walk away from the EU effectively without a deal. In a speech setting out his goals for trade after Brexit, the prime minister talked up the prospect of an agreement with Washington and downplayed the need for one with Brussels, if the EU insists the UK must stick to its regulatory regime.
Bayer_Crop_Science_rules_Britain_after_B
The GMO threat to food sovereignty: Science, resistance and transformation
For W. Schanbacher, ed., Global Food System: Issues and Solutions
Brian Tokar The expansive use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture is one of the most potent symbols of the worldwide threat to food justice and food sovereignty. Today over 365 million acres worldwide is believed to be planted in GMO varieties of soya, maize, cotton and other crops.
Even though the vast majority of GMO crops are still raised in a small handful of countries, mainly in the Western hemisphere, they include agroexport giants such as the US, Argentina and Brazil. Much of the world, however, is continuing to resist this uniquely controversial and invasive form of genetic manipulation of our food.
The_GMO_threat_to_food_sovereignty_Scien
Transgenic Crops 750 studies: hazards and uncertainties
Gabriel B Fernandes 
Leonardo Melgarejo José Maria Gusman Ferraz
Transgenic_Crops_750_studies_hazards_and
Biotechnology (GMO) issues and research priorities in natural resource management
Report to Land & Water Australia
Over the last two decades biotechnology has advanced to a level where it is generally feasible to make particular changes to the genetic code, and therefore to the expressed characteristics, of living organisms. The product of such a change is called a transgenic or genetically modified organism (GMO).
Such alterations to the structure and/or function of biological entities have the potential to alter the basis of many biologically based activities, including agriculture and aquaculture, medicine, hygiene and health, food production and processing, biochemical production, pest control, eco-tourism, and bioremediation.
Biotechnology_GMO_Issues_and_Research_Pr
MANAGING THE AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION: RESPONSES TO TRANSGENIC SEEDS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
MAY 2016 ALPER YAGCI, B.A., BOGAZICI UNIVERSITY M.A., BOGAZICI UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Peter M. Haas
There has been heated debate over transgenic or genetically modified (GM) crops in agriculture. Advocates and critics argue over possible economic, environmental, public health implications of this technology. This study examines varying policy approaches to regulating GM crop cultivation in four developing countries where the technology has large potential application. Why have some countries banned GM crop cultivation in their territory while others encouraged it? In countries where GM crops were allowed, why have varying systems of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection been constructed? To investigate these questions I comparatively examine the policy experience (1995-2015) of Argentina, Brazil, Turkey relying on original fieldwork and India based on secondary literature. The explanation combines structural considerations with a social constructivist understanding of how actors make use of ideas to interpret and articulate their interests in a context defined by novelty and uncertainty.
MANAGING_THE_AGRICULTURAL_BIOTECHNOLOGY
Genetically Modified Organisms A Summary of Potential Adverse Effects Relevant to Sustainable Development
Biosafety Report 2011/02 GenØk – Centre for Biosafety Tromsø, Norway
GenØk – Centre for Biosafety (www.genok.no), is an independent research institution founded in 1998 and situated in Tromsø, Norway. GenØk is engaged in the field of biosafety and gene ecology research on modern biotechnology, nanotechnology, synthetic biology and further technologies emerging from these. The institution also works with capacity building and advisory activities related to biosafety. GenØk focuses on a precautionary, holistic and interdisciplinary approach to biosafety.
Genetically_Modified_Organisms._A_Summar
Economic Impact of GMOs Researched By Nogenics
GMO Bio-Piracy, Bt & GMO Companion Chemical Pesticides
1- According to an ‘India Today’ Reported 2- According to ‘The Ecologist’ Reported 3- Why Bt Technology is an Economical Disaster in the Making 4- The Economic Health Impact of Bt Toxicity and GMO Poisonous Companion Pesticides Chemical 5 – Conclusion
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Nogenics/
Global_Economic_Impact_of_GMOs
How Technology Is Changing What and How We Eat
Lisa Kretz
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion University of Evansville, IN
To begin, two love stories are presented—both unlikely. One is derived from a novice farmer, the other from a cytogeneticist.
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) famously left the creature comforts of what constituted modern life in his day to build a home by his own hands, and grow his own food. In an oft-quoted passage he describes his motivations for his experiment in living so consciously close to nature: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived…. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life” (Thoreau [1854] 1965, 67). Essential to living deep and sucking the marrow of life was eating food he had grown.
How_Technology_Is_Changing_What_and_How
CHEMICAL & GMO APOCALYPSE: INDUSTRIAL BAD SCIENCE, CORRUPTION & FASCISM, PESTICIDE-CHEMICAL-GMO-TRANSGENE-POLLEN-ENDOTOXIN POLLUTION, & HUMAN HEALTH & BEHAVIOR META-IMPLICATIONS
Murray Thompson
CHEMICAL_and_GMO_APOCALYPSE_INDUSTRIAL_B
The Livingston Tomato Report 2016:
The philosophical environmentalist’s guide to Justice in the Global Food System
“Everyone should have a fresh tomato to eat:
A critical assessment of this proposition in the Costa Rican and Canadian cases.”
This research paper sets the groundwork for an explanation of the global food system using complexity science as the theoretical framework to recount the story of the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), its origin (Solanum pimpinellifolium), its role in popular culture how the tomato enters and exits the global food system and our digestive systems. By arguing in defense of the right of every person to eat a healthy tomato this study focuses upon the benefits and risks of herbicides, specifically N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine. I approach solutions from an environmental justice standpoint. I focus on the role of access to information as a leverage point.
The_Livingston_Tomato_Report_2016_The_ph
Open Letter to Bayer Crop Science Shareholders
Four different patents have been filed for glyphosate in the US by Monsanto (and granted)
- As a chelator of heavy metals (used to clean boilers) and a wetting agent in 1961[1]
- As an herbicide in 1968[2]
- As an antibiotic in 2002[3]
- As an anti-protozoal agent in 2003[4]
Monsanto and pesticide regulators claim that Roundup only affects plants, fungi and bacteria because they have the shikimate pathway which is absent in humans and animals. Their assertion displays considerable ignorance of human physiology. Alternatively, it is deliberately fraudulent. Humans and animals have trillions of bacteria in their gut: the gut microbiome.
Open_Letter_to_Bayer_Crop_Science_Shareh
African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic
Volume 8, Issue 6 NEWSLETTER July 2013
TOXICITY – PESTICIDES, HERBICIDES, INSECTICIDES
Toxicity_-_Pesticides_Herbicides_and_Ins
Sustainability Assessment of Genetically Modified Herbicide Tolerant Crops
The Case of IntactaTM Roundup ReadyTM2Pro Soybean Farming in Brazil in light of the Norwegian Gene Technology Act
The! Norwegian! Environment! Agency (www.miljodirektoratet.no) is an institution subordinated to the Ministry of Climate and Environment of Norway. It was established in 2013 with the merging of the Norwegian Climate and Pollution Agency and the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management. The main focus of the Norwegian Environment Agency is the management of nature, pollution control and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. To this end, the Agency’s main functions are to monitor the Norwegian state of the environment; convey environment-related information; oversee and guide regional and municipal authorities; cooperate with industry authorities; act as an expert advisor; and assist in international environmental efforts.
Sustainability_Assessment_of_Genetically
Revised Draft – 1st July 2014 comments welcome! The Politics of GMOs
Introduction
Environmentalists and many on the left have been campaigning against genetically- modified organisms (GMOs) since the 1990s. Dire warnings of danger were issued and many feared the immediate health and other consequences of these new crops. But today, while Europe remains virtually GM-free, GM-crops are grown widely, particularly in the USA, Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada, and China. The worst fears have not been realised and a number of erstwhile campaigners are now adamant that opposition was misguided at best, or even malign.
The_politics_of_GMOs_4web4comment_140701
GMO FACTS: SETTLING THE GMO DISPUTE
presented by Anarchy Books® and Renegade Publishing®
Another Jeff Prager Learning Experience PublicationTM
This publication was funded entirely by the generosity of the corporations that are directly involved in the manufacture and sale of Genetically Modified FrankenfoodsTM , FrankenseedsTM and Franken-Almost-Everything-Sold-At-The GrocersTM
Thanks to Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow Chemicals and Agroscience, BASF, Bayer Crop Science, Nabisco, Abbot Labs, Quaker Foods, Cargill, General Mills. Phillip Morris, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Campbells Soup, Aurora Foods, Smithfield Foods, Holsum, Kellogg’s, Interstate Bakeries, Kraft, Country Inn Specialties, Cadbury, Hershey’s, ConAgra, Carnation, Del Monte, Hellman’s, Hunt’s, Pace, Ortega, Tostito’s, Frito Lay, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Dole, Delicious Brands, Famous Amos, Keebler, Pepperidge Farms, Snack Wells. Banquet, Budget Gourmet, Green Giant, Healthy Choice, Kid’s Cuisine, Lean Cuisine, Stouffers, Marie Callenders, Ore-Ida, Heinz, Swanson, Vlasic, Weight Watchers, Chef Boyardee, Dinty Moore, Franco-American, Best- foods, Knorr, Lipton, Rice-A-Roni, Uncle Ben’s, Totinio’s, Orville Redenbacher, Pringles, Capri Sun Juices, Fruitopia, Gatorade, Hawaiian Punch, Hi-C, Kool Aid, Sunny Delight, Tropicana Twisters, Bumble Bee, Ocean Spray, Sara Lee, V8, Progresso, Del Monte, Hunts, Prego, Ragu, the JJ Smucker Company, Goya Foods, Post, Morton Salt, Sargento Foods, Croplife America, TreeTop Incorporated, Hillshire Brands, Godiva Chocolate, Clorox, Mars Food North America, Hormel Foods Corporation, the William Wrigley Jr. Corporation, Unilever and of course our staff voted and our favorite was Bimbo Bakeries USA. All of these companies manufacture numerous products that contain one and often more than one GMO ingredient, far more than any of us 99.99%’ers can count, or so it seems. Previous commitments and normal time constraints and pressing responsibilities simply didn’t allow me to include everyone. For those of you that were omitted from this illustrious list of first-class death merchants, and there are 100s more of you not mentioned, we aren’t fond of you either. You gentlemen should know better, and what’s confounding is that you probably do.
Bulletproof_-_Glyphosate_Peer_Review
GMO Myths and Truths
An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety and efficacy of genetically modified crops and foods
John Fagan, PhD Michael Antoniou, PhD Claire Robinson, MPhil
2nd edition
GMO_Myths_and_Truths_An_evidence-based_e
Monsanto: Origins of an Agribusiness Behemoth
– Brian Tokar
Many years ago, in the spring of 1998, I was invited to be part of a publication that would make history, but not for the reasons its editors and publisher anticipated. The item in question was a special issue of the UK-based magazine, The Ecologist, profiling the Monsanto corporation and its expanding push to genetically engineer common food crops. Genetically engineered foods, or GMOs (i.e., foods made from Genetically Modified Organisms) had only been grown commercially for two short years, but had already inspired massive worldwide opposition. The first Global Day of Action against GMOs featured demonstrations and public gatherings in 19 U.S. cities, as well as 17 European countries, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Ethiopia.1 Greenpeace painted a 100-foot biodegradable “X” on a field of Roundup-resistant soybeans in Iowa, and later blocked a ship containing genetically engineered soybeans from leaving Cargill’s grain facility on the Mississippi River, outside of New Orleans.2 European activists fought to block imports of GMO corn and soybeans from the U.S., uprooted experimental plots of engineered crop varieties in broad daylight, and would soon succeed in their push for labeling requirements for products of genetic engineering throughout the European Union.
Monsanto_Origins_of_an_Agribusiness_Behe
Experience of Argentina with Release of GMOs into the Environment *
– As to 15th anniversary of the approval of RR soybean –
Experience_of_Argentina_with_Release_of
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Director-General World Health Organisation
Dear Dr Tedros
In September 2017, I wrote an Open Letter to you and other WHO Directors, telling you about the US Lawsuits against Monsanto for Roundup causing cancer. I received no response.
On 10 August 2018, the jury found Monsanto guilty
Monsanto concealed, with malicious intent, that Roundup caused cancer and the California jury was unanimous in their findings and awarded $289 million for the plaintiff and against Monsanto.1
Why_is_the_WHO_protecting_the_pesticides
GM crops vs. Apiculture. An ecological distribution conflict in the Mayan region of Mexico
Gabriel Tamariz
ABSTRACT Genetically modified (GM) crops have increasingly transformed socio-ecological landscapes around the world. Their impacts on apiculture (beekeeping) when sharing the same landscape reflect these transformations in a variety of dimensions. As a consequence of such impacts these two sectors have already clashed in several regions. This paper studies a case of such a conflict in a biodiversity and cultural hotspot located in the Yucatan Peninsula, the southeastern part of Mexico. In doing so, it explores the visions of Mayan beekeepers and other local and international actors supporting their stand in this conflict. Analysis shows how this heterogeneous group of actors discursively positions its interests and values on this landscape. This study describes the dynamics of production, markets, and access to natural resources and services at stake, while interpreting the languages of valuation held by key actors through official publications and key respondent interviews. Consequently, this analysis suggests that the variety of interests and values in defence of apiculture point out to (existing and potential) transformations produced by GM crops in the economic, ecological, and cultural dimensions of this landscape. In being the first multidimensional approach to a specific conflict between these two sectors, this study introduces apiculture as a key indicator of the transformations that GM crops produce in socio-ecological landscapes.
Keywords: apiculture, ecological distribution conflict, genetically modified crops, languages of valuation
GM_crops_vs._Apiculture._An_ecological_d
The Fight Against Monsanto’s Roundup : The Politics of Pesticides
The_Fight_Against_Monsantos_Roundup_The
Environmental & Analytical JEAT an open access journal Teratogenic Effects of Glyphosate-Based Herbicides: Divergence of Regulatory Decisions from Scientific Evidence
Environmental_and_Analytical_JEAT_an_ope
Open Letter to Bayer Crop Science Shareholders Four different patents have been filed for glyphosate in the US 2 Gradual onset of global extinctions of trees and crops from ‘diseases, pests and pollution’
Open_Letter_to_US_Environmental_Protecti
Open Letter to US Environmental Protection Agency about glyphosate and the International Monsanto Tribunal
Shockingly high levels of weedkiller found in popular breakfast cereals marketed for British children
“Corporate totalitarianism … rules through dispensability and corruption. It treats communities, people, countries, ecosystems and species as disposable and dispensable.” “Far into the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs, all its members are happy consumers.” 1
“Comments are free…but facts are sacred.” CP Scott 1921 Guardian Editor A Guardian editorial on 26/09/2018: Mr Corbyn ought to protect a “free press”, not attack it.
Shockingly_high_levels_of_weedkiller_fou
European Chemicals Agency classifies glyphosate as a substance that causes serious eye damage
As the requirement for cataract surgery has increased, so has rationing, a BMJ survey finds1 Cataract surgery is the most common operation in the NHS, with more than 400 000 procedures performed every year in the UK. Experts had hoped that NICE’s 2017 guideline would make it harder for NHS commissioners in England to ration treatment for financial reasons. But the BMJ’s analysis shows that rationing has actually risen in parts of the country since then, with patients increasingly having to meet strict criteria before they can be referred for surgery. Among the 185 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) that provided data (95% response rate), the investigation found that almost 2900 prior approval requests or individual funding requests for cataract surgery were rejected last year, more than double the number two years ago.
European_Chemicals_Agency_classifies_gly
Glyphosate-based herbicides and neurodegenerative disorders
Glyphosate-based_herbicides_and_neurodeg
New tests show that weed killer products are more toxic than their active ingredients
New tests show that weed killer products are more toxic than their active ingredients, but no-one has ever tested them: only the active product, glyphosate, has been tested
After more than 40 years of widespread use, new scientific tests show formulated weed killers have higher rates of toxicity to human cells.1
Carey Gillam Tue 8 May 2018 06.00 BST
“US government researchers have uncovered evidence that some popular weedkilling products, like Monsanto’s widely-used Roundup, are potentially more toxic to human cells than their active ingredient is by itself. These “formulated” weed killers are commonly used in agriculture, leaving residues in food and water, as well as public spaces such as golf courses, parks and children’s playgrounds.”
New_tests_show_that_weedkiller_products(1)
Open Letter to the Health and Safety Executive and the Chemicals Regulation Division
I am challenging the Health and Safety Executive and the Chemicals Regulation Division about their breach of safety regulations from 2012 in order to protect industry. I also accuse the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority and the European Chemicals Agency of similarly protecting industry.
Open_Letter_to_the_Health_and_Safety_Exe
Corporate Espionage: The Séralini Affair and Beyond
Compiled by Rosemary Mason MB ChB FRCA on behalf of a global network of independent scientists, beekeepers and environmentalists
Prof Gilles-Eric Séralini and colleagues at CRIIGEN in Caen had questioned the adequacy of Monsanto’s testing both for glyphosate and GM crops1
“The 90-day-long tests are insufficient to evaluate chronic toxicity, and the signs highlighted in the kidneys and livers could be the onset of chronic diseases. However, no minimal length for the tests is yet obligatory for any of the GMOs cultivated on a large scale, and this is socially unacceptable in terms of consumer health protection. We are suggesting that the studies should be improved and prolonged, as well as being made compulsory, and that the sexual hormones should be assessed too, and moreover, reproductive and multigenerational studies ought to be conducted too.”
Corporate_Espionage_The_Seralini_Affair
Open letter to NICE; glyphosate is an antibiotic, as are other herbicides
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on overuse of antibiotics 08/09/2015
Deputy Chief Executive and Health and Social Care Director at Nice, Prof Gillian Leng, said: “The over- use of antibiotics in the last 30 years has led to microbial resistance, and with so few new antibiotics being developed, this could result in once-treatable infections becoming fatal in years to come.
This new draft guideline focuses on interventions to help change people’s behaviour, and reduce antimicrobial resistance. It also aims to increase awareness, to both the public and healthcare professionals, of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, and the risks this could involve.”
Open_letter_to_NICE_glyphosate_is_an_ant
Open Letter to Two Eminent Plant Physiologists who claim that Roundup only affects plants, fungi and bacteria
Open_Letter_to_Two_Eminent_Plant_Physiol
2 Silent Killers – the Toxic Legacy of Biocides in Britain
It outlines the ways in which the British Government has worked with the Agrochemical Industry for many years to destroy biodiversity by using biocides – chemicals that kill life. There should be no place for biocides in agriculture or the amenity sector.
2_Silent_Killers_the_Toxic_Legacy_of_Bio
Biocides glyphosate and clothianidin are contributing to the destruction of aquatic life on the Great Barrier Reef European Commission renews the license for glyphosate on the basis of ECHA’s Classification
This is a letter to the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans The Health Commissioner Vytenis Andruikaitis
Why did President Juncker fail to state ECHA’s risk assessment in full?
“On 15 March 2017 ECHA’s Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) agrees to maintain the current harmonised classification of glyphosate as a substance causing serious eye damage and being toxic to aquatic life with long-lasting effects.”
Jack de Bruijn and Geert Dancet of ECHA admitted this was the harmonised risk assessment reached in 2002, when glyphosate was last assessed.
Why did the EU collude with corporations that made nerve gases in WW2 for chemical warfare and for use in the Nazi concentration camps?
They continued to use similar chemicals in agriculture to poison ‘pests’ that also poisoned beneficial insects, birds and people.
Biocides_glyphosate_and_clothianidin_are
TOXICITY AND HUMAN HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH MONSANTO’S ROUNDUP AND OTHER GLYPHOSATE BASED HERBICIDES (GBH) RESIDUES IN OUR FOOD AND WATER.
The Joint WHO-FAO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) – the arm of the WHO that determines and sets the so-called “safe” level of pesticide residues allowed in our food, water, etc, – has declared that glyphosate/Roundup is unlikely to cause cancer through pesticide residues in our food
TOXICITY_AND_HUMAN_HEALTH_RISKS_OF_GLYPH
A Global Citizens Report against Big Ag, Big Pharma and Governments
Compiled by Rosemary Mason MB ChB FRCA on behalf of a global network of independent scientists, beekeepers and environmentalists
- Have you wondered why pollinators, birds, amphibians, bats etc. have dramatically decreased in numbers in the last 20-30years? Or perhaps you weren’t even aware of the fact – because the British Media has been silent on the matter.
A_Global_Citizens_Report_against_Big_Ag
The Corporate Takeover of Britain
Introduction
Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher became close friends. Both were involved in deregulation and both opened the way to corporate influence.
“Poison Spring: The Secret History of the US EPA1 documents, in devastating detail, the corruption and misuse of science and public trust that has turned the (US) EPA from a watchdog into a “polluters’ protection agency.” In its half-century of existence, the agency has repeatedly reinforced the chemical-industrial complex by endorsing deadly chemicals, often against the continued advice of its own scientists. It has botched field investigations, turned a blind eye to toxic disasters, and unblinkingly swallowed the self-serving claims of industry. “Rarely has our government allowed and encouraged the actions of the chemical industry so openly as it did during Reagan’s tenure in Office. He opened the door wide to corporate influence throughout the government, and especially at the Environmental Protection Agency, which began a precipitous functional decline. Reagan gave corporations the reins of power at the agency and they immediately began tearing the EPA apart.”
The_Corporate_Takeover_of_Britain_Introd
New tests show that weedkiller products are more toxic than their active ingredients
I have to thank Carey Gillam for the title of this article. In my discussions with the European Chemicals Agency they had insisted that they only did the harmonised classification of glyphosate. I tried to convince them that a substance that was classified as causing severe eye damage and was toxic to aquatic life with long-lasting effects shouldn’t be allowed on the market, but nevertheless, the European Commission renewed the licence based on ECHA’s reassurance that it wasn’t a carcinogen.
New_tests_show_that_weedkiller_products
Open Letter to the European Chemicals Agency about Scientific Fraud and Ecocide
Geert Dancet Executive Director European Chemicals Agency
Dear Geert Dancet
When you were appointed in 2007 as ECHA’s Executive Director you had previously served in the European Commission’s industry directorate for more than 20 years. NGO’s expressed their dismay; they had serious doubts about your independence from the Commission.
Let’s hope you prove them wrong over the reassessment of glyphosate.
The German Government has accused the German Rapporteur Member State Federal Institute of Risk Assessment (BfR) and EFSA of scientific fraud for using Glyphosate Task Force (GTF) statistics but for some considerable time claimed them to be BfR’s own work. ECHA must ban glyphosate NOW. Human health and the environment are being totally destroyed by it and the hundreds of other chemicals that have been registered illegally. European regulators can no longer rely on industry assessments.
Open_Letter_to_the_European_Chemical_Age
Open Letter to the Director of the Oxford Martin School
It is possible that the UK Government could find itself in The International Criminal Court prosecuted for environmental destruction and crimes against humanity.
The State of Nature Report 2016: “The report includes a new ‘biodiversity intactness index’, which analyses the loss of species over centuries. The UK has lost significantly more nature over the long term than the global average with the UK the 29th lowest out of 218 countries.
The agrochemical industry has worked within government since before WW2: Rothamsted Research is the longest running agricultural research station in the world
When UK Rothamsted was founded in 1843, it was an enormous tragedy that the philanthropist John Bennet Laws, owner of the Rothamsted Estate, appointed a chemist as his scientific collaborator. This set the pattern for farming in the UK: to rely totally on the agrochemical industry and the input of chemicals. Rothamsted developed the first chemical herbicide 2,4-D during World War II at British Rothamsted Experimental Station by Judah Hirsch Quastel (at the same time as in the US) and it was sold commercially in 1946.
‘The low cost of 2,4-d has led to continued usage today and it remains one of the most commonly used herbicides in the world.’ However, on 23/06/2015, WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer classified 2,4-D as a group 2B carcinogen (possibly carcinogenic to humans).
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Testimony to the Monsanto Tribunal Roundup has poisoned our Nature Reserve
They ignored my plea and relicensed glyphosate for eighteen months for the European Chemical Agency to report.
Testimony_to_the_Monsanto_Tribunal_Round
Glyphosate is an antibiotic and Japanese knotweed is a Glyphosate- Resistant (GR) Super Weed
- Glyphosate was patented in the US as an antibiotic, acting against a wide range of pathogenic organisms. That is why it kills off many beneficial bacteria in the guts of humans and animals and allows toxic ones such as clostridium spp. to prevail. In January 2013 the Chief Medical Officer for England Dame Sally Davies announced that antibiotic-resistant diseases posed an ‘apocalyptic’ threat.[1] She told MPs that the issue should be added to national risk register of civil emergencies and placed the blame firmly on doctors, farmers and vets for overuse. This is a drop in the ocean compared with the global use of glyphosate.[2] Glyphosate is used to desiccate crops and those eating foods that are not organic are consuming residues every day in staple foods. The patent was granted to Monsanto US in 2010. Which other companies that produce glyphosate knew? Presumably Syngenta must have known, otherwise how could its parent company AstraZeneca predict that cancer “deaths are estimated to reach 12 million by 2030”?
Glyphosate_is_an_antibiotic_and_Japanese
Open Letter to the Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian
Open_Letter_to_the_Editor-in-Chief_of_Th
Open Letter to George Eustice MP Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Dear Minister
The Guardian European Environment journalist Arthur Neslen interviewed you about Brexit on 30/05/2016.1 You were alleged to have said: “The birds and habitats directives would go,” (referring to two key pieces of European environmental law). “A lot of the national directives they instructed us to put in place would stay. But the directives’ framework is so rigid that it is spirit-crushing.” On pesticides, you said “the EU’s precautionary principle needed to be reformed in favour of a US-style risk-based approach, allowing faster authorisation.”
Perhaps you aren’t aware that farmers, their families and rural communities are most affected by the toxic effects of pesticides?
CHEM Trust published a Report in 2010:2 A Review of the Role Pesticides Play in Some Cancers: Children, Farmers and Pesticide Users at Risk? “Studies of death registries in some parts of the world suggest that farmers and agricultural workers are more likely than the general population to die from several cancers including NHL, leukaemia, multiple myeloma, prostate cancer, Hodgkin’s disease, pancreatic cancer and brain cancer. Some studies strongly indicate an association between pesticide exposure and NHL, leukaemia and prostate cancer.”
Open_Letter_to_George_Eustice_MP_Ministe
A Letter from America about the dangers of GM Crops and glyphosate
2 March 2016
Humans and the environment are being silently poisoned by thousands of untested and unmonitored chemicals
An Open Letter from America was sent on 11 November 2014, warning countries in Europe and EU regulators not to authorize GM crops because of the devastating effects on human health and the environment. David Cameron ignored that advice on behalf of England. He and Defra concealed the letter from the British public. The European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority ignored it as well and have continued to approve GM Crops for growing and for food and feed in the EU. Defra dismissed the complaints of Crop-sprayed rural residents in the UK of ill health: cancers, neurological conditions, allergies etc. just as the Argentinian Government dismissed the health complaints of rural communities in Crop-sprayed towns.
A_Letter_from_America_about_the_dangers
Conflicts of interest and fraud in the re-assessment of, glyphosate in the EU, the UK and the US
UK Parliament Meeting Brings ‘Dangers’ of Roundup® into Public Focus. This meeting of world experts on glyphosate held on June 18 2014 was not reported by the UK mainstream Media Corporations
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Agroecology, Chaired by the Countess of Mar, met in the Houses of Parliament in London on June 18, 2014 to discuss the possible harm caused by the world’s most popular herbicide – Roundup®.
In what was one of the most comprehensive meetings ever held in Europe on Glyphosate and Roundup, experts from around the World gathered in London to share their expertise with the media, members of a number of UK political parties, NGO representatives and members of the general public.The interest in the event was very high and Committee Room 10 of the Houses of Parliament was full to the rafters, with experts having travelled from as far away as Russia, China and the U.S., to listen to the four speakers give detailed presentations on how the unanswered questions surrounding the possible harm caused by Glyphosate and Roundup should be approached.
Conflicts_of_interest_and_fraud_in_the_r
Open Letter to the President of the Royal Society and GMO Scientists
Serious questions about the independence of European Food Safety Authority GMO Panels and about the Royal Society Q&A on GM crops1
Question 14: How are GM Crops regulated? Answer 14: by the European Food Safety Authority
I wrote to Bernhard Url, Executive Director of EFSA in February 2016: Glyphosate causes cancer and birth defects. Humans are being poisoned by thousands of untested and unmeasured chemicals2 in which I asked him serious questions about the independence of EFSA Committees. He has not as yet replied.
Perhaps the President can ask the GM Scientists who are members of the Royal Society to answer these questions
Open_Letter_to_the_President_of_the_Roya
Monsanto has committed slow poisoning of the people of Wales with PCBs and Roundup
With help from the British Government, the Expert Committee on Pesticides, the Health and Safety Executive, Defra, the Royal Society, European Food Safety Authority, European Chemicals Agency (that said that glyphosate was not carcinogenic to humans but was toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects) the German Rapporteur Member State (that claimed glyphosate was not ecotoxic), the BBC, the BMA and Rupert Murdoch
Monsanto has also committed ecocide with Roundup in Wales
Monsanto_has_committed_slow_poisoning_of
Maladministration and criminal collusion with the agrochemical industry involved in the renewal of glyphosate registration
Letter to the EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly
You upheld my complaint about the Chief Attorney for European Food Safety Authority not replying to my letter of 22 October 2012 Subject: EFSA and the Séralini paper on rat tumours1
Iquotefromthetext: “Ihavebeenfollowingtheargumentaboutthescienceandstatisticsofthe Séralini study (on GM Roundup Ready Maize and rat tumours) between GM industry scientists and independent ones with mounting incredulity. I am not a toxicologist or a statistician. I am a medical doctor.
Latin America. As Senior Attorney to EFSA, I presume that your CEO Ms Catherine Geslain-Lanuélle must, on occasions, take your advice. Perhaps you would like to point out to her the trail of disasters to human health and the environment that has followed the planting of GM maize and Roundup® Ready crops in both Latin America and the US since they were first grown in 1996. These statistics are real, not theoretical laboratory ones. Are these the disasters that she would want to see repeated in Europe? Does she want to reject outright the Séralini study on rats and continue to insist that 90 days testing is adequate for the registration of GM crops? The first rat tumours in Séralini’s study appeared in males at 4 months. In 2010, at a physician’s meeting in Cordoba, it was reported that the whole farming area in which GM crops had been grown (14 provinces in Argentina and one in Paraguay) there were increases in cancers, birth defects, reproductive and endocrine disorders.
Maladministration_and_criminal_collusion
Annex IV Mapping the practices of scientific (risk assessment) evaluation of active substances used in plant protection products
Annex_IV_Mapping_the_practices_of_scient
“Roundup Ready”? Regulating Glyphosates Amidst Health, Economic And Public Concerns About GM
INGSA Case Studies, 2017
Tatjana Buklijas Stevienna de Saille
Publication Date: 2017
Roundup_Ready_Regulating_Glyphosates_Am
Open Letter to David Coggon and Alan Boobis
Dear David
In 2011 you said that you belonged to the Hampshire Wildlife Trust. Do you still belong and have you noticed the reduction of butterflies, bees and birds in 2019? The IPBES Report says that loss of biodiversity is a bigger threat to humans than climate change.1
Press release: Dangerous Declines; ‘Unprecedented’ Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’.
Perhaps you have been too busy with all your pesticide committees? I see that you are a member of Science Advice for Policy by European Academies (SAPEA). Have you have read my letter asking why you want to increase pesticide use for the industry? The European Commission has authorised 500 pesticides for use, double the number 10 years ago. As you can see from my letter there are far too many synthetic chemicals in the world and few of them have been properly tested.
Open_Letter_to_David_Coggon_and_Alan_Boo
How Roundup Poisoned my Nature Reserve
Rosemary Mason
A personal witness to the devastating demise of wild pollinators and other species as glyphosate herbicides increase in the environment Rosemary Mason MB ChB FRCA
How_Roundup_Poisoned_my_Nature_Reserve
Effects of pesticides on humans and the environment: Why are the British Government and the BBC protecting industry?
Open Letter to the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed
Roundup and birth defects: the public has been kept in the dark
Roundup_and_birth_defects_the_public_has
A Letter from America about the dangers of GM Crops and glyphosate
2 March 2016
An Open Letter from America was sent on 11 November 2014, warning countries in Europe and EU regulators not to authorize GM crops because of the devastating effects on human health and the environment. David Cameron ignored that advice on behalf of England. He and Defra concealed the letter from the British public. The European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority ignored it as well and have continued to approve GM Crops for growing and for food and feed in the EU. Defra dismissed the complaints of Crop-sprayed rural residents in the UK of ill health: cancers, neurological conditions, allergies etc. just as the Argentinian Government dismissed the health complaints of rural communities in Crop-sprayed towns. In their re-assessment the RMS, EFSA and the European Glyphosate Task Force excluded papers from Latin America where cancers, birth defects, infertility and DNA changes were shown. Exposure of the brains of unborn and young children in the UK to chemicals is reflected in OECD PISA figures for declining educational achievement in 2013. A 2016 study also shows that in England the young have lower basic skills than their counterparts in Europe. The global élite may be able to survive by eating organic food, but not by the pollution of water, soil and air by genotoxic and teratogenic herbicides, insecticides and other industrial chemicals. Governments and Regulators only measure a small fraction of them. The chemical industry has created a toxic environment from which none can escape. The devastating effects of these silent killers in our environment do not distinguish between farmers or city dwellers, the wealthy or the poor, between media moguls, editors or their reporters, Monsanto or Syngenta Executives, Prime Ministers or Presidents. Many people in the UK are no longer reaching the biblical age of three-score-years-and ten because they are dying of cancers.
A_Letter_from_America_about_the_dangers
Monsanto to be put on trial at The Hague in the International Criminal Court
Monsanto_to_be_put_on_trial_at_The_Hague
‘Insect apocalypse’ poses risk to all life on Earth, conservationists warn
Report claims 400,000 insect species face extinction amid heavy use of pesticides
The “unnoticed insect apocalypse” should set alarm bells ringing, according to conservationists, who said that without a halt there will be profound consequences for humans and all life on Earth.
Open Letter to 5th Viscount Ridley and Editor-in-Chief of The Times The Rt Hon, the 5th Viscount Ridley
House of Lords
Dear Lord Ridley
I read your article in The Times 18 May 2016: “A time to embrace GM crops and reap the rewards.”1 I am surprised that the Editor-in-Chief of The Times accepted it without proof.
I would respectfully challenge your assertions and those of the NAS Report
Your Lordship and the National Academy for Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Report on GE Crops Experiences and Prospects from which you quote,2 claim that GE crops need fewer pesticides. I think I smell an industry rat. I find it hard to believe that so many experts on GE crops, in a 407 page Report, could possibly forget this paper by Benbrook on the massive increases in glyphosate use in Trends in glyphosate herbicide use in the United States and globally (2016) which states that, “Since 1974 in the U.S., over 1.6 billion kilograms of glyphosate active ingredient have been applied, or 19 % of estimated global use of glyphosate (8.6 billion kilograms). Globally, glyphosate use has risen almost 15-fold since so- called “Roundup® Ready,” genetically engineered glyphosate-tolerant crops were introduced in 1996. Two-thirds of the total volume of glyphosate applied in the U.S. from 1974 to 2014 has been sprayed in just the last 10 years”?3 [See page 3 for further discussion]
Open_Letter_to_5_th_Viscount_Ridley_and
Corporate influence in food science and policy
More Monsanto documents, more Tamar Haspel problems. Report by Paul D. Thacker
The University of Toronto, Faculty of Law is hosting a conference on food and law where I am appearing on a panel with other experts to discuss conflicts of interest and corporate influence. This presents a perfect opportunity to dive into a really understudied problem — in her recent book, NYU Emeritus Professor Marion Nestle found only 11 studiesexamining corporate influence on nutrition research — as well as address Tamar Haspel, a Washington Post food columnist who has a unique and conflicted approach to journalism.
corporate-influence-food
Open letter to the CMO (England), the Wellcome Trust and Public Health England
Why are your departments promoting corporations at the expense of public health and the environment? Is it to please the British Government or the Corporations?
The first part of this document is background information, the Open Letter starts on page 12
Background information A NEW PAPER REVEALS MONSANTO’S SECRET STUDIES: MONSANTO KNEW THAT GLYPHOSATE CAUSED CANCER IN ANIMALS BUT MANIPULATED THE DATA1
Monsanto has known since the 1970s that glyphosate causes cancer, according to a new paper by researchers Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff. Samsel is the first independent researcher to examine Monsanto’s secret toxicology studies on glyphosate. He obtained the studies through a request to his senator. With Dr Stephanie Seneff of MIT, he reviewed Monsanto’s data. Samsel and Seneff concluded that: “significant evidence of tumours was found during these investigations”.
Extract: Glyphosate has a large number of tumorigenic effects on biological systems, including direct damage to DNA in sensitive cells, disruption of glycine homeostasis, succinate dehydrogenase inhibition, chelation of manganese, modification to more carcinogenic molecules such as N- nitrosoglyphosate and glyoxylate, disruption of fructose metabolism, etc. Epidemiological evidence supports strong temporal correlations between glyphosate usage on crops and a multitude of cancers that are reaching epidemic proportions, including breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, thyroid cancer, liver cancer, bladder cancer and myeloid leukaemia.
Open_letter_to_the_CMO_England_the_Wellc
German Glyphosate Reassessment is fraudulent: reply to the CMO for Scotland 30/07/2014
In a Press Release in March 2014, The President of the German Federal Institute of Risk Assessment (BfR), Prof Dr Dr Andreas Hensel, on the basis of evaluation of 150 new studies and an additional 900 studies from the scientific journals, was quoted as having said on behalf of BfR: These new studies do not suggest that glyphosate has carcinogenic or embryo-damaging properties or that it is toxic to reproduction in test animals. The data do not warrant any significant changes in the limit values of the active ingredient… 1
The BfR legal department claims that the reassessment was solely done by BfR staff members
On 15/07/2014 Herr König, on behalf of the BfR Justiziariat (Legal Department), wrote to Dr Nancy Swanson with regard to her request for information (06/04/2014) about the Renewal Assessment Report (RAR) on glyphosate. Herr König said that the work on the RAR on glyphosate was “solely done by the BfR staff members of department no. 6, who are civil servant employees.”
German_Glyphosate_Reassessment_is_fraudu
WE ARE WHAT WE EAT
The poisoning of our food supply
“We now live in a world where it is considered beneficial and necessary to spray poison over all our food and to add more poison (dye, preservatives, flavor enhancers, etc) in processing our food. Then we take more poison to counteract the poisons. Beam me up Scotty, the inmates are insane.” Dr Nancy Swanson; on the history of how corporations have successfully changed the laws in the US to poison our food: 03/04/2014
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-poisoning-of-our-food-supply
“The world of systemic insecticides is a weird world, surpassing the imaginings of the brothers Grimm. It is a world where the enchanted forest of the fairy tales has become a poisonous forest. It is a world where a flea bites a dog and dies…where a bee may carry poisonous nectar back to its hive and presently produce poisonous honey.” Rachel Carson on systemic insecticides in “Silent Spring”: 27/09/1962
We_are_what_we_eat._The_poisoning_of_our
“Coalition against Bayer Dangers, http://www.CBGnetwork.org” and Photomontage Italy
The Chemicals Regulation Directorate, the European Food Safety Authority and the European Commission
Are in the hands of the Pesticides Industry
Compiled by Rosemary Mason MB ChB FRCA on behalf of a global network of independent scientists, beekeepers and environmentalists 2014
The_Chemicals_Regulation_Directorate_the
OPEN LETTER TO THE NATIONAL FARMERS’ UNION Executive Summary
THE AGROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY HAS WORKED WITHIN GOVERNMENT SINCE BEFORE WW2
Rothamsted Research had been established by a philanthropist collaborating with a chemist in 1843 and had discovered the first chemical herbicide 2,4-D in 1941.
FROM THE 1970s INTO THE 2000s INDUSTRY HAS BEEN GIVEN FREE REIN
The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) criticized the Government for its lax pesticides policy and particularly for aerial spraying, so in 2011 the RCEP was abolished. Syngenta, Bayer CropScience and Monsanto are working within Government. Freedom of Information requests showed that GM companies are running the Government’s PR strategy on GM crops by controlling how public and private money will be invested in research.1
THE GOVERNMENT REFUSED TO LEGISLATE ON ‘SUSTAINABLE’ USE OF PESTICIDES
EU Directive (2009/128/EC) Article 9: Aerial Spraying. The Government refused to prohibit aerial spraying. Article 10: Protection of Water Article. With regard to establishing buffer zones near to watercourses they would seek to work with industry. Article 11: They did not consider it necessary to prohibit the use of pesticides in sensitive areas such as Natura 2000 sites, children’s playgrounds, hospitals, schools, public parks etc. Article 31: Advance notice of spraying to members of the public (including children) who could be exposed to spray drift could be dealt with by developing ‘good relations with their neighbours’.
Open_Letter_to_the_National_Farmers_Unio
Open Letter to the European Commission and European Food Safety Authority
Executive Summary
1) Sealed documents obtained from the US EPA show that Monsanto knew that glyphosate caused cancer in animals but manipulated the research results1 “During its years investigating glyphosate’s bioactivity, Monsanto conducted hundreds of trials on mice, rats, beagle dogs, rabbits and other life. Among the many cancers and diseases Monsanto’s own research found associated with glyphosate are: adenoma/cancer in the pituitary gland; glioma tumors in the brain; reticular cell sarcomas in the heart; malignant tumors in the lungs; salivary mandibular reticular cell carcinoma; metastatic sarcomas of the lymph gland; prostate carcinoma; cancer of the bladder; thyroid carcinoma; adrenal reticulum cell sarcomas; cortical adenomas; basal cell squamous skin tumours. In female mammals there were cancers of the lung, liver, thymus, stomach, bladder adrenal glands, ovaries, colon, uterus, parathyroid and mammary glands.” (page 5 US EPA)
Open_Letter_to_the_European_Commission_a
Close relationships between the British Government, the Agrochemical Industry, the European Food Safety Authority and the European Commission
Contents Page
| Genetically Engineered Foods: The Biggest Fraud in the History of Science |
1 |
|
Glyphosate, destroyer of human health and global biodiversity |
3 |
|
Commercial formulations of herbicides induce changes in antibiotic response to E.Coli and S.enterica serovar Typhimurium; they are biocides |
5 |
|
ADAS recommended pre-harvest spraying of glyphosate on crops and spraying on grassland, but the first papers had been written by Monsanto scientists without declarations of conflict and without peer-review |
6 |
|
The public is unaware that glyphosate (and other pesticide) residues are present in food despite the fact that pre-harvest spraying began in Britain in 1980 |
8 |
|
Disinformation from Science Media Centre and Glyphosate Task Force |
9 |
|
The Scandal of Glyphosate Re-assessment in Europe |
16 |
|
Other independent studies on the toxicity of formulated glyphosate and proof of deterioration of health in the UK and the US |
18 |
|
Britain involved with corporations at the expense of the health of the public |
24 |
|
Open letter from America to the Prime Minister warning the UK against GM crops: November 2014 |
28 |
|
Background on systemic neonicotinoid insecticides: regulation by industry |
28 |
|
Conflicts of Interest in the EU: the Committees are controlled by industry: ‘professional’ members take turns in rotating around the committees |
33 |
|
European Commission, EFSA, UK, WHO and UNEP delay the criteria for defining endocrine disruptors. Is it to protect the Agrochemical Industry and the herbicide glyphosate/Roundup®? |
41 |
|
Other ways in which UK Ministers failed to adhere to the precautionary principle but preferred to support corporations and the economy |
46 |
|
UK denies that exposure to environmental chemicals damages foetal brains |
48 |
|
The Verdict of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal concerning the six indicted corporations (BASF, BAYER, DOW CHEMICAL, DUPONT, MONSANTO, SYNGENTA) |
50 |
Genetically Engineered Foods: The Biggest Fraud in the History of Science1
Governments and leading scientific institutions have systematically misrepresented the facts about GMOs and the scientific research that casts doubt on their safety On 4 March 2015 the Organisation Beyond GM facilitated the Press Release of American public interest attorney Steven Druker’s acclaimed new book, Altered Genes, Twisted Truth How the Venture to Genetically Engineer Our Food Has Subverted Science, Corrupted Government and Systematically Deceived the Public.2
His book reveals how governments and leading scientific institutions have systematically misrepresented the facts about GMOs and the scientific research that casts doubt on their safety.3
Close_relationships_between_the_British
5 November 2019
Another Silent Killer
Compiled by Rosemary Mason MB ChB FRCA with information from a global network of independent scientists, toxicologists, beekeepers, environmentalists, Governments, Industry and Regulators
An increase in the incidence of Type 2 diabetes, obesity and autism has been reported in Scotland. Similar increases have been seen globally. The herbicide glyphosate was introduced in 1974 and its use is accelerating. The manufacturers claim it to be safe, but none of the Regulatory Agencies are monitoring glyphosate levels in groundwater.
By courtesy of independent researchers around the world we present evidence that glyphosate interferes with many metabolic processes in plants, animals and humans, and glyphosate residues have been found in all three. Glyphosate is an endocrine-disruptor (as are many herbicides) it damages DNA and it is a driver of mutations that lead to cancer. We present graphs from the US which correlate glyphosate application and the percentage of GE soy and corn crops to the incidence and prevalence of various diseases in those on a Western diet. The Pearson’s correlation coefficients are very strong and highly significant for obesity, diabetes, autism, thyroid cancer, liver cancer, deaths from Parkinson’s, Senile Dementia and Alzheimer’s, inflammatory bowel disease and acute kidney failure.
We present Cancer Research UK graphs of upward trends in cancer incidences between 1975 and 2009, which are in line with the US graphs. Other consequences are gastrointestinal disorders, heart disease, depression, infertility, birth defect s and other cancers. The data for the amount of non-agricultural use of glyphosate in the UK appear to be confidential. Parts of South Wales, in former mining areas, Japanese knotweed and Himalayan Balsam abound. The local Council does not hold glyphosate records. Instead it contracts out to a commercial organisation to supply industry approved vegetation management techniques. A quote from the contractor:
“The glyphosate we use called round up has a hazard free label.” The level of glyphosate in a river draining from areas of Japanese knotweed was 190 parts per trillion (ppt) and local tap water was 30 ppt. These were of the order of concentrations found in a study in 2013 which showed that breast cancer cell proliferation is accelerated by glyphosate in extremely low concentrations: potential biological levels at part per trillion (ppt) to part per billion (ppb).”
Glyphosate_Destructor_of_Human_Health_an.pdf
HOW CHINA IS MASS POISONING BILLIONS OF PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT WITH THE PRODUCTION OF GLYPHOSATE AND THE IMPORTATION AND CONSUMPTION OF GM ROUNDUP READY SOY AND CORN
Open Letter to the National Assembly for Wales about PISA tests and Ecocide
Research Links Pesticide Harmful to Bees With Collapse of Fisheries
ANDREA GERMANOS, COMMON DREAMS
A new study provides further evidence of harm caused by a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, which have been linked to declines in bees, other insects, birds and other animal populations. Researchers linked use of the chemicals on fields of rice paddies nearby Lake Shinji in Japan with impacts to an entire food web that resulted in the collapse of two fisheries. Read the Article →
“Glyphosate reassessment in Europe is fraudulent”
Steven Bradbury Director Office of Pesticides Programs US Environmental Protection Agency 15/06/2014
Dear Sir
Did EPA know that three different patents have been filed and granted for glyphosate?
- As a chelator of heavy metals and a wetting agent in 19611
- As a herbicide in 19682
- As an antibiotic in 20023
- As an anti-protozoal agent in 20034In the US it is illegal to administer a drug in food without a medical license to do soThe World Health Organisation and the Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Dame Sally Davies, have declared that antibiotic-resistant diseases pose an apocalyptic threat to humans. In 2013 the CMO told Parliament that this issue should be added to the national risk register of civil emergencies. She placed the blame on vets, farmers and GPs for over-use of antibiotics but I informed her that this was a drop in the ocean compared with the massive amounts of glyphosate used globally. Glyphosate is a very powerful antibiotic and those eating foods that are not organic are consuming residues every day in staple foods.
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Open Letter to the Global Pesticide Regulatory Authorities and the UK and US Media
Glyphosate is toxic to aquatic invertebrates and human reproduction
Jack de Bruijn Director of Risk Management European Chemicals Agency
Jack de Bruijn
UNVEILING THE GLYPHOSATE CONSPIRACY1
- Evidence now suggests taxpayers’ money has been used to shield Monsanto and other pesticides companies from liability and obstruct consumers’ ability to prove damages.
- Jess Rowland, former associate director of EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs, appears to have aided and protected Monsanto’s interests. Legal teams are now requesting that he be ordered to supply information about his work to ascertain the quid pro quo relationships.
- Rowland’s post-EPA work includes consulting for three chemical companies and that work involves a chemical in all three instances. All three companies are also close associates of Monsanto.
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Grave Inaccuracies and Omissions in US EPA Glyphosate Issue Paper: Evaluation of Carcinogenic Potential
Contents
Page 1 How Prof Gilles-Eric Séralini’s paper on 2-year rat feeding studies was retracted Page 11 How Prof Andrès Carrasco’s work on teratogenicity was suppressed Page 15 How the International Agency for Research into Cancer was sidelined Page 18 How Samsel and Seneff’s five papers on Glyphosate and Modern Diseases were ignored Page 21 What Monsanto failed to reveal to the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Page 26 Open Letter from America to the Prime Minister warning the UK against GM crops Page 27 The Secret History of the US EPA
Grave_Inaccuracies_and_Omissions_in_US_E
Agrochemical Apocalypse: Interview with Environmental Campaigner Dr Rosemary Mason
The renowned author and whistleblower Evaggelos Vallianatos describes British environmentalist and campaigner Dr Rosemary Mason as a “defender of the natural world and public health.” I first came across her work a few years ago. It was in the form of an open letter she had sent to an official about the devastating environmental and human health impacts of glyphosate-based weed killers. What had impressed me was the document she had sent to accompany the letter. It was over 20 pages long and contained official data and referred to a plethora of scientific papers to support the case she was making.
The British Medical Journal is unaware of the links between Cancer Research UK and the Pesticides Industry – 12 April 2016
An Open Letter from America was sent on 11 November 2014, warning countries in Europe and EU regulators not to authorize GM crops and glyphosate because of the devastating effects on human health and the environment. David Cameron ignored that advice on behalf of England. He and Defra concealed the letter from the British public. The European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority ignored it as well and have continued to approve GM Crops for growing and for food and feed in the EU. Defra dismissed the complaints of Crop-sprayed rural residents in the UK of ill health: cancers, neurological conditions, allergies etc. just as the Argentinian Government dismissed the health complaints of rural communities in Crop-sprayed towns. In their re-assessment, the RMS, EFSA and the European Glyphosate Task Force excluded papers from Latin America where cancers, birth defects, infertility and DNA changes were shown.
The_British_Medical_Journal_is_unaware_o
The Cocktail Effect
UK citizens and the natural environment are being exposed to potentially harmful mixtures of pesticides.
These mixtures appear in our food, water and soil and can affect the health of both humans and wildlife. There is a growing body of evidence that pesticides can become more harmful when combined, a phenomenon known as the ‘cocktail effect’. Despite this, the regulatory system designed to protect us from pesticides only looks at individual chemicals and safety assessments are carried out for one pesticide at a time.
the-pesticide-cocktail-effect
Open Letter to Sir John Beddington Professor of Natural Resources Management Oxford Martin Commission
The Year of the Bumblebee
In 2010 when we sent you our photo-journal: The Year of the Bumblebee we said that Dr Henk Tennekes, an independent toxicologist from the Netherlands, prophesied environmental catastrophe from the use of the systemic neonicotinoid insecticides. He said that these chemicals act on the brains of insects (and humans) in a virtually irreversible and time-dependent manner.1 He showed that collapse of bee colonies, the loss of other invertebrates and bird declines in Europe are associated with chronic low levels of these chemicals.2 Bayer and Syngenta are fighting the partial neonicotinoid ban. The EU authorities have granted many exemptions including those requested by Industry (alone) and the NFU.3 There are plenty of independent studies from around the world to show that neonicotinoid insecticides are killing bees and they are fast heading for extinction. On 20/02/2017 a former employee of the US EPA wrote an article in the US Huffington Post showing that America’s honeybees are on life support.4 However, the summary written by Prof Charles Godfray of the Oxford Martin Commission 5 promoted a paper by Syngenta 6 that denies this. Lack of statistical analysis has been heavily criticized by independent scientists.7 These insecticides are still on the market and in fact the quantities exported by German companies even increased significantly – from 952 tons (2008) to 2269 tons (2014).
Open_Letter_to_Sir_John_Beddington_Profe
The Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen House of Lords
British journalists, politicians and farmers are being used as guinea pigs
On 21/03/2016 you replied to the Countess of Mar’s question about glyphosate. You said the government supported EFSA’s conclusions that glyphosate does not cause cancer. This was a little premature. The Commission was about to authorise glyphosate for a further 15 years, when 4 Members of the European Parliament asked for Freedom of Information to see the 14 unpublished carcinogenicity studies from the Glyphosate Task Force that IARC had been unable to see. Have the UK experts actually seen these studies or do they trust the Glyphosate Task Force (GTF), and the manufacturers of the chemical, implicitly?
British_journalists_politicians_and_farm
Industry, Regulators, Governments and Corporate Media are colluding to poison the people
Monsanto forced to release incriminating emails in US Roundup/cancers trial
Judge Chhabria and the US law firm Baum Hedlund uncovered emails on September 26 2012 between Monsanto’s personnel to discuss plan to seek retraction of the Séralini study with the Editor of Food and Chemical Toxicology (who it turned out had signed a contractual agreement with Monsanto a short time before the article appeared.)
Industry_Regulators_Governments_and_Corp
Open Letter: Where have all our insects and birds gone?
Neonicotinoid insecticides, glyphosate and Roundup Ready GM Crops
Last year the Guardian published letters from all over the country asking this question. Both the neonicotinoid insecticides and glyphosate (Roundup) herbicide appear to be responsible.1 The UK government, the NFU, the Farming Minister, the Defra Minister, Defra and the Department of Health are supporting glyphosate and systemic neonicotinoid insecticides. Some UK farmers say it will be impossible to farm without access to these two chemicals. They are voting to grow GM Roundup Ready Crops after Brexit.
Has Monsanto told the truth about GM Roundup Ready crops? Monsanto, Bayer and Syngenta coat their GMO corn seeds with neonics but charge farmers extra for them— even though studies show that neonic-coated seeds provide no real benefit to farmers.
Open_Letter_Where_have_all_our_insects_a
Carcinogenicity assessment flawed for four out of 10 pesticides, new review shows
A new reviewof carcinogenicity assessments of pesticide active ingredients shows 40 percent were not carried out in compliance with existing European guidelines, leading to possible continued exposure of farmers and consumers to cancer-causing pesticides.[1] In 30 percent of the cases, significant details were missing from the dossiers, raising uncertainties about how European authorities came to the conclusion they did.
To those who support the renewal of the registration of glyphosate or remain silent about it
“Corporate totalitarianism … rules through dispensability and corruption. It treats communities, people, countries, ecosystems and species as disposable and dispensable.”
Update on glyphosate renewal: On May 17 2017, the European Commission announced its intention to renew the license for glyphosate for 10 years despite a petition last year from 1.5 million citizens urging them not to. The British Government and civil servants supported this renewal wholeheartedly. But are they aware of the implications? The EU Commission was in a hurry because it didn’t want to wait for the Monsanto Papers to come out. However, MEPs have asked for an inquiry into them.
To_those_who_support_the_renewal_of_the
US Scientists sound the alarm over global mass poisoning
The British Government, the US Government, the US Environmental Protection Agency and some farmers have worked together since before WW2 to silently poison air, water and food supply with synthetic chemicals
A little more than 100 years later, on 21/12/2017, independent US Scientists sound the alarm over global mass poisoning
US_Scientists_sound_the_alarm_over_globa.pdf
Our Daily Poison: Chemical Contamination of Our Food, Farmland, Rivers and Seas
How the global pesticides industry has been allowed silently to destroy life
Our Daily Poison: From Pesticides to Packaging, How Chemicals Have Contaminated the Food Chain and Are Making Us Sick
Marie-Monique Robin is an award-winning French journalist, author and filmmaker. She is the patron of the Monsanto Tribunal and on the Steering Committee. She received the 1995 Albert- Londres Prize, awarded to investigative journalists in France. She is the director and producer of more than thirty documentaries across Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia, receiving thirty awards. She wrote the best-selling documentary (and book by the same name), “The World to According Monsanto,” which has been broadcast on fifty international television stations, and translated into 22 languages.
Our_Daily_Poison._Chemical_Contamination.pdf
Monsanto’s science is fraudulent Glyphosate causes cancers, many other diseases and is toxic to the environment
World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has declared glyphosate as a 2A carcinogen (probably carcinogenic in humans) On 20/03/2015 IARC reached its decision based on the view of 17 experts from 11 countries, who met in Lyon, France, to assess the carcinogenicity of 5 organophosphate pesticides: tetrachlorvinphos, parathion, malathion, diazinon, and glyphosate.
Monsantos_science_is_fraudulent_Glyphosa.pdf
Why is Britain voting for the renewal of the license of glyphosate?
Europe-wide soil contamination by glyphosate and dramatic declines in insect biomass
Glyphosate and AMPA: widespread persistence in topsoils in Europe
“A new research study by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the Dutch University of Wageningen and Rikilt laboratories, reveals that among 317 EU soil samples of arable land, 42% contained AMPA, the most toxic metabolite of glyphosate, while glyphosate was found in 21% of the soils; 18% of the samples had both. The study was conducted in six crop systems along 11 EU member states comprising soils under different geographical and climatic conditions. Denmark, the UK and Portugal are the worst in this spectrum, with the highest detection frequency, while Italy and Greece seem to be the ones using less glyphosate on their crops. However, and most notably, these 2 molecules could be found in every tested member state. All tested crops presented glyphosate and AMPA residues. By far, the worst case was that of Portuguese vineyards, while no crops exhibited patterns of reduced reliance on glyphosate compared to others.”
Why_is_Britain_voting_for_the_renewal_of.pdf
Open Letter: Head of Unit Pesticides and Biocides and Senior Scientist Chemical Regulations Division
Klaus Berend Head of Unit EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY Food and feed safety, Innovation Pesticides and Biocides Cc Dave Bench UK CRD
Dear Klaus Berend
I am fully aware that you are not an expert in Pesticides and Biocides, but an expert in the REACH specifications of plastics in aviation. Nor was the previous holder of the post, Michael Flüh, who was a non-scientist. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that your letter to me displayed a lack of knowledge of the subject. Does the Commissioner for Health Vytenis Andriukaitis have a shortage of qualified candidates to choose from to fill the post of Head of Unit, as specified by Jean-Claude Juncker?
Monsanto_on_trial_for_concealing_the_dan.pdf
Open Letter to Bayer CropScience
Werner Baumann Chief Executive Bayer CropScience
Dear Werner Baumann
An advertisement that Bayer placed in Politico and the Farmers’ Guardian on 19/12/2018 1
“Transparency creates trust. At Bayer, we embrace our responsibility to communicate how we assess our products’ safety — and we recognize that people around the world want more information around glyphosate. This month, we published more than 300 study summaries on the safety of glyphosate on our dedicated transparency website. “
Open_Letter_to_Bayer_CropScience.pdf.pdf
Why do the experts on Science Advice for Policy by European Academies fight for higher pesticide exposure?
Documents reveal EU bowed to demands of pesticide lobbies
An environmental non-profit has obtained documents showing the extent to which the European Commission has been lobbied by pesticide producers seeking to protect their interests, leading to a more lenient regulation of these controversial substances
The environmental group, Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN), has obtained over 600 documents from the Commission showing top EU officials fighting to “cripple” the bloc’s pesticide protection legislation. “The Commission has chosen the side of the industry,” PAN’s Chemicals Coordinator Hans Muilerman told De Morgen.
The New Dark Age 