Russia Bans GMOs

Russia Bans GMOs

by Stephen Lendman

Genetically engineered foods and ingredients harm human health. Russia banned them. Wants more organic food produced. More on this below.

GMO expert Jeffrey Smith calls GMO foods and ingredients "inherently unsafe. The GM process creates collateral damage in the plant, which can cause (disturbing) side effects."

Independent studies prove it. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) reported "animal studies indicat(ing) health risks associated with GM foods."

Including numerous illnesses, infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, gastrointestinal abnormalities, and major organ changes.

AAEM urged physicians to tell patients to avoid GMOs. Unlike clinical drug evaluations, none are conducted for these products.

The only published human feeding experiment showed genetic material in GM soy becomes hazardous intestinal bacteria.

Continuing to function long after these products are eaten. Potentially causing super-diseases. Resistant to antibiotics.

Able to turn intestinal bacteria into pesticide factories. Recent independent studies show GM corn damages livers and kidneys.

Animals raised on GM feed are inherently different from safely fed ones. Rats ingestind GM potatoes had smaller livers, hearts, testicles and brains, damaged immune systems, and abnormal white cell changes.

Making them more vulnerable to infections and diseases than other rats fed non-GMO potatoes.

Thymus and spleen damage showed up. Enlarged tissues. Including the pancreas and intestines.

Liver atrophy. Significant proliferation of stomach and intestines cells. A sign of greater future risk of cancer.

Roundup pesticide used for GM crops causes birth defects. GM soy causes sterility.

Americans don't know what they're eating. Labeling is prohibited. Violating First Amendment rights.

Monsanto, Dow, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association has teamed up with Koch brothers-backed Congressman Mike Pompeo (R. KS).

Planning legislation denying Americans the right to know what they're eating. Smith calls it the "Deny Americans the Right-to-Know Act (DARK Act)."

Provisions will prevent states from labeling GM foods and ingredients.
Prohibit them from calling natural labeling illegal for GMOs. Prevent the FDA from requiring food companies to label them.

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) calls GM plants and animals "one of the greatest and most intractable environmental challenges of the 21st century."

Over 90% of US soybeans are genetically engineered. Around 85% of corn. About 88% of cotton. Cottonseed oil often used in processed foods.

Over 80% of them contain GM ingredients. From soda pop to soup to salad dressings. Crackers to condiments. Potatoes to "super" pigs. Bananas to baked beans.

Despite known harm to human health, no congressional legislation regulates GM foods and ingredients.

According to CFS:

"The haphazard and negligent agency regulation of biotechnology has been a disaster for consumers and the environment."

"Unsuspecting consumers by the tens of millions are purchasing and consuming unlabeled GE foods, despite a finding by US Food & Drug Administration scientists that these foods could pose serious risks."

Americans are human guinea pigs without knowing it. Part of an unregulated mass experiment, Entailing enormous risks.

Once GM seeds are planted, nothing known to science can reverse their contamination. It spread over two-thirds of arable US farmland.

Despite known human health risks. In America, politics trumps science. Unsafe foods and ingredients are declared fit to eat.

Whatever agribusiness wants it gets. Profits alone matter. Human health be damned. Genetic manipulation is fraught with danger.

It works by forcibly inserting a single gene from one species' DNA into another. Unnatural pseudo-science.

Smith explains as follows, saying:

"A pig can mate with a pig and a tomato can mate with a tomato. But this is no way that a pig can mate with a tomato and vice versa."

Doing so transfers genes across natural barriers. Ones separating species over millions of evolutionary years.

Biotech manipulators want us to believe they can do nature one better. Calling genetic engineering an extension or superior alternative to natural breeding.

With no corroborating evidence. Plenty showing genetic manipulation harms human health.

China banned GMO corn. Dozens of countries require labeling. Despite exemptions and inadequate enforcement.

No international standards exist. Industry claims about GMOs being substantially equivalent to natural foods are Big Lies.

EU countries require labeling. Unrelated to safety. For commercial purposes only.

Distinguishing among GM, conventional and organic foods. So consumers can choose or avoid products they wish.

Since 2007, foods sold in Russia required special labeling if contained 0.9% or more of GM ingredients.

Last March, Putin said Russia is obligated to protect its citizens from GMOs. In April, Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev ordered new controls.

Last February, Russian upper house Federation Council members introduced legislation temporarily banning GMOs.

Until studies evaluate the safety of each one by various scientific standards. Or prove them unsafe to eat.

Polls show over 80% of Russians want them banned. Only 9% approve them.

Russia's National Association for Genetic Security (RNAGS) wants them banned.

Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology researcher Irina Ermakova showed six-fold higher mortality rates/lower body weight among young rats whose mothers were fed herbicide resistant GM soybeans.

Her findings raised serious concerns about human health risks from GMOs. "It is necessary to ban (them), to impose moratorium for 10 years," she said.

"While GMOs will be prohibited, we can plan experiments, tests, or maybe even new methods of research could be developed."

"It has been proven that not only in Russia, but also in many other countries in the world, GMOs are dangerous."

"Methods of obtaining the GMOs are not perfect. (A)t this stage, all GMOs are dangerous. Consumption and use of GMOs obtained in such way can lead to tumors, cancers and obesity among animals."

"Bio-technologies certainly should be developed, but GMOs should be stopped. We should stop (them) from spreading."

Days earlier, Russian media reported Prime Minister Medvedev announcing a complete GM import ban.

"If Americans like to eat GMO products, let them," he said." We don't need to do that. We have enough space and opportunities to produce organic food."

GMOs will be banned for 10 years. So reliable research can evaluate their human health effects.

Russia's decision is important. Along with China banning GM corn. Perhaps other countries will follow.

Foods, ingredients and other human ingested products should be unconditionally banned. False narratives about safety don't wash.

Polls show Monsanto is one of the world's most hated companies for good reason. For slow-poisoning us.

Its former executives run the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). An obvious conflict of interest.

Anti-GMO activists urge buying organic foods. Boycotting Monsanto-owned companies.

Repealing Monsanto Protection Act harmful provisions. Permitting "continued cultivation, commercialization, and other specifically enumerated activities."

Human health be damned. Letting the Secretary of Agriculture ignore public safety. Corporate interests own Obama.

He's their man in Washington. Supporting hazardous GMOs. Other products and services harming human health and welfare.

Congress operating the same way. Letting corporate lawyers and lobbyists write legislation.

Concerned only about bottom line issues. Making the world safe for profiteers. Harming public welfare at the same time.

Monsanto is no stranger to controversy. Spending millions of dollars annually. Buying politicians like toothpaste.

Millions more spent investigating possible farmer patent violations. Targeting anti-GMO state referenda and legislation.

Wanting all plant and animal products genetically modified. Wanting worldwide food control.

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) lists 20 countries banning one or more GM product.

North Dakota and Montana introduced legislation prohibiting GM wheat. Several US cities and municipalities want restrictions or bans imposed. Previous efforts failed.

Vermont wants a moratorium on GMOs. Enacted legislation requiring GM food and ingredient labeling by July 2016.

In response, Monsanto sued. Ludicrously claiming burdensome speech requirements and restrictions.

Vermont Public Interest Research Group's consumer protection advocate Falko Schilling said:

The people of Vermont have said loud and clear they have a right to know what is in their food. So putting labels on is a reasonable and prudent thing so people can decide for themselves."

Organic Consumers Association's National Director Ronnie Cummins praised the new law, stating:

"After years of good old-fashioned work, and playing by the rules, the grassroots labeling movement achieved its first real victory this year, when Vermont passed the first no-strings-attached law requiring mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs)."

He blasted Monsanto's suit. Calling it a desperate attempt to protect corporate shareholder profits at the expense of consumers' rights and health."

The struggle for food safety continues. Hopefully other states, cities and municipalities will follow Vermont's lead.

Ideally banning GMOs altogether. Based on independent research proving them unsafe to eat.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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