Showing posts with label gm. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

As Propaganda For electric Cars Intesifies Disasters (Personal and Financial) Continue to Stack Up

Two People Killed After Tesla Crashes Into A Tree And Becomes "Engulfed In Flames" In Florida

Another two people in Florida, USA, died on Monday night this week when their upmarket Tesla electric car crashed into a tree in Coral Gables, Florida and burst into flames. As has been the case with other Teslas, some of which caught fire after accident while others apppear to have spontaneously combusted, the lithium fire defied the efforts of firefighters to extinguish it..

The "fiery wreck" took place at the intersection of Alhambra Circle and Coral Way, according to Local 10. A police officer at the scence said the driver crashed the car into a tree, but no further details about the accident have been determined yet.

Video shot by witnesses on smartphones shows the wrecked vehicle "engulfed in flames" killing both occupants of the vehicle. "That's a Tesla," the person taking the video of the wreck can be heard saying.

Firensic examiners spent Tuesday collecting evidence at the accident scene and a full investigation is now under way. The driver was a 20 year old male and the passenger was a 19 year old woman, the report says.

The National Highway Transport Safety Association (NHTSA) said recently it had opened a formal investigation into the Tesla company's Autopilot feature after numerous accident of a similar nature over the past few years. An NHTSA statement on the opening of its investigation into Tesla's Model X, S, and 3 for model years 2014-2021 indicated the broad range of models and model years means that this could be the broad investigation that Tesla skeptics have been demanding for many years. Specifically, the regulator is looking into a litany of accidents involving Teslas on Autopilot slamming into immobile emergency response vehicles on the road.

The NHTSA said the investigation would assess technologies, methods "used to monitor, assist, and enforce the driver's engagement" during autopilot operation, according to Bloomberg.

Goldman Sachs appeared anything but optimistic that the probe into Autopilot would be resolved quickly. “Given the current probe is related to a Level 2 driver-assist system, one solution could be for an enhanced driver monitoring system to ensure driver compliance with Tesla’s terms of use,” the investment bank wrote last month. Part of the problem is that Tesla's branding of its system as "Autopilot" suggests the car can be trusted to dive itself however the system is only an electronic assistant for drivers, not an autonomous control system for the car. One hopes drastic action will be taken, Tesla have been getting away with murder (metaphorically,) for too long.

Watch Local 10's coverage of the wreck here.

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After Two Recalls, GM Finally Just Tells Bolt EV Owners: "Don't Park Your Car Within 50 Feet Of Another Car"

from Zero Hedge

After a series of recalls that we have documented here on Zero Hedge, General Motors looks to be taking its precautions with the Chevy Bolt one step further: the automaker is asking Bolt owners to park "at least 50 feet" from other vehicles if you're going to leave your car in a parking deck.

GM spokesman Dan Flores, who we're sure isn't getting paid enough to deliver this line with a straight face, said this week: "In an effort to reduce potential damage to structures and nearby vehicles in the rare event of a potential fire, we recommend parking on the top floor or on an open-air deck and park 50 feet or more away from another vehicle. Additionally, we still request you do not leave your vehicle charging unattended, even if you are using a charging station in a parking deck."

"We are aware of 12 GM confirmed battery fires that have been investigated involving Bolt EVs vehicles in the previous and new recall population," he continued, telling The Detroit News. "We're still working with LG around the clock to resolve the issue. Both companies understand the urgency to move as quickly as possible, but, again, the most important thing here is we have to get this right."

Recall, back in July, General Motors issued their second recall for the Chevy Bolt after it announced that two Bolts had caught fire without impact and that at least one of the two was related to the battery and happened despite the owner getting a fix from a previous recall.

The second recall included all Bolt EVs from 2017 to 2019, encompassing 68,000 vehicles. 50,925 of those vehicles were located in the U.S. and they have batteries that are produced at LG Chem’s Ochang, South Korea, facility, the report notes.

A spokesman for GM said earlier this summer: "As part of GM’s commitment to safety, experts from GM and LG have identified the simultaneous presence of two rare manufacturing defects in the same battery cell as the root cause of battery fires in certain Chevrolet Bolt EVs. As part of this recall, GM will replace defective battery modules in the recall population. We will notify customers when replacement parts are ready."

GM, at the time, was recommending that owners:

Return the vehicle to the 90% state of charge limitation using Hilltop Reserve mode (for 2017-2018 model years) or Target Charge Level mode (for 2019 model year), or visit a dealer to make that change.
Charge the vehicle after each use and avoid depleting the battery below 70 miles of remaining range.
Park the vehicle outside immediately after charging and do not leave the vehicle charging overnight.
Customers who have not received the advanced diagnostics software should visit their dealer to get the update. After obtaining the software, limit the state of charge to 90% and follow the advice above.

We're guessing those rules still run concurrent with the new "50 foot" rule.

Sweden Cancels Bill Gates Geoengineering Plan To Block Sun & Stop Global Warming

from Great Game India Bill Gates has proposed and funded a geoengineering experiment to determine whether blotting out the Sun with aerosols could reverse global warming. This experiment was undertaken by Sweden’s space agency. But now they have called off this project as they are facing a great opposition from the environmental activists. The experiment … Continue reading

Bill Gates Flounders When Asked Direct Questions About His Vaccine Agenda

Bill Gates, the world’s greatest vaccine fan and long term purveyor of software that is not fit for purpose, has been one of the main drivers of the wholly manufactured COVID – 19 global crisis that has seen our political leaders unquestioningly follow the instructions of corporate lobbyists and representatives of the Big Pharma cartel, … Continue reading>>>

Bill Gates running deadly global “vaccine empire” that can only exist through extreme censorship Bill Gates – wannabe Dr. Death? (picture: NewsTarget.com) The reason why Microsoft co-founder and billionaire eugenicist Bill Gates is being given so much airtime amid the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis is because Gates is currently the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines, as well as the money … Continue reading
Continue reading

Italian Politician Demands Bill Gates Arrest For Crimes Against Humanity
As the FDA shuts down a Bill Gates-funded COVID-testing program, an Italian politician has demanded the arrest of Bill Gates in the Italian parliament. Sara Cunial, the Member of Parliament for Rome denounced Bill Gates as a “vaccine criminal” and urged the Italian President to hand him over to the International Criminal Court for crimes …Continue reading

‘Bill Gates seeks to microchip humanity!’ Russian Oscar-winning director pushes vaccine conspiracy…Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov claims billionaire Bill Gates might be seeking to implant humanity with microchips under the guise of vaccination, seeking to control people and ultimately “solve” overpopulation. The ongoing coronavirus crisis has produced a number of wild conspiracy theories, as some are …
Continue reading

World Domination Freak Bill Gates Appeals For World Government
In a recent interview with the German magazine ?Süddeutsche Zeitung?, Bill Gates, son of a CIA director and the New World Order’s ‘made man’ uttered some highly sinister comments in support of abolishing democracy and nationhood in favour of world government. Now those of us in the know have never been puzzled about … Continue reading

Bill ‘Psycho’ Gates Wants To Release Genetically Modified Mosquitoes To Inject Us With Vaccines
The latest luncacy to flow from the megalomaniacal mind of the world’s richest madman and wannabe Galactic Emperor Palpatine, Bill Gates is the latest iteration of a plan this vaccine – obsessed world domination freak has nurtured for a long time. He wants to release genetically midified mosquitos to inject us with vaccine.Apart from the … Continue reading

Gates Vaccine Spreads Polio Across Africa
While Bill Gates, the dodgy billionaire wannabe Galatic Evil Emperor and purveyor of not-fot-for-purpose operatong systems for personal computers has been trying desperately to insert himself and his fake charity into the COVID Pandemic crisis (Gates has now abandoned dodgy software and is selling dodgy vaccines to governments,) another story concerning mass vaccination programs funded … Continue reading

Enlist celebs, churches? Gates warns US needs to reduce ‘vaccine hesitancy’
Billionaire software tycoon Bill Gates has urged the US to prepare for a Covid-19 vaccine rollout by deputizing trusted community leaders to “reduce vaccine hesitancy,” bemoaning the rapid spread of “conspiracy theories” online. The Microsoft founder-turned-vaccine-evangelist painted a mostly rosy picture of a vaccine rollout getting “rich countries” back to normal by the end of … Continue reading

Big Tech Ban President Trump, But Reveal Their Contempt For Free Speech And Diversity Of Opinion
As the Trump presidency enters its final week in the USA the haters are sharpening their knives and drooling at the prospect of taking revenge on Trump and his supporters for denying them the power they crave for four years ...

Facebook Bans All Content On Vaccine Awareness
Authored by Mike Adams via NaturalNews.com,
Just as we warned would happen, the tech giants are now moving aggressively to ban all speech that contradicts whatever “official” position is decided to be “the truth” by the corrupt establishment. This week, Facebook announced it would block all content on Facebook that questions the official dogma on vaccines,

German politician calls on facebook to abolish free speech
A German politician has given the clearest indication yet that the political elites of the free world are ideologically much closer to Adolf Hitler's National Socialists than the social liberalism they claim to support. Free speech is the basis of all liberal democracy. Heiko Maas, the German justice minister has has written to the Facebook it removes “xenophobic and racist” anti-migrant posts from its website and apps., has written to the company to demand an urgent review of its policy over hate messages.

Free Speech Is Being Murdered By The Media And Left Wing Authoritarianism
Without free speech there is no democracy. Without democracy there is no freedom. But all over the developed world free speech is under attack from politically correct politics. It is time to start resisting, do not believe the propaganda published by mainstream media, question everything and make up your own mind. as The Buddha said, "Believe nothing you read or are told unless it agrees with your own experience and common sense."

Farage Reckless Facing Rabid Left Wing Fanatics
Following the defection to UKIP of Conservative MP Mark Reckless, who yesterday shocked the media and political establishment (everyone else knew it was on the cards.) by announcing his switch from con to Kipper from the podium at the closing session of UKIP's conference, the Kippers latest recruit and his new leader yesterday faced angry but ineffectual protests

Obama administration ‘blocking' information from the press
Uncovering information that should be available to the public has become increasingly difficult under the presidency of Barack Obama, an Associated Press bureau chief says. In some cases, it surpasses the secrecy of the George W. Bush administration. The White House's penchant for secrecy does not just apply to the federal government, according to AP's Washington bureau chief, Sally Buzbee.

Western Hypocrisy In Reporting News about Ukraine And Russia
The opening paragraph of a CNN report on the latest developments in the crisis in Ukraine illusrate perfectly the hypocrisy of Western media in the way they cast Russia as the danger to world peace and America as bringer of freedom and democracy. In fact in the crisis over the US attempt to draw Ukraine into NATO the positions taken by the USA abd Russias are the opposite of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Scandal hit Rotherham ‘deleted abuse files’
In a move that puts them among the contenders for lying, self serving shits of the decade, but still in a league of their own un terms of complete and utter shittiness, it has emerged that the scum sucking scab lice of Rotherham Council's controlling Labour group and the public servants they employed had deleted files in order to cover up their complicity in the blatant and systematic child abuse perpetrated under the noses of council officials.

Centralized power - the worst of all possible worlds
The centralization of power over the past few decades in nations of the developed world has led to the evolution of a sociopathic managerial class formed mainly from the old petite bourgoisie who have now gravitted to public sector careers where their delusions of social status and the unaccountability of office lead them to abuse such power as they have.

Kick Political Correctness Out Of Football
As another football versus politiocally correct authoritarianist brings 'the beautiful game' even further into disrepute, we wonder is it time to kick politically correct authoritarianism out of sport.

Intrusive Surveillance Technology, Internet control freaks and The Orwell-Huxley-Dick Dystiopianometer
Are privacy campaigners right to be worried about intrustive internet technology and the massive databases that log our behaviour and parse the data for patters that enable us to be targeted for advertising? Should we bee worried by surveillance or are those that raise doubts just scaremongering? The Orwell-huxley-Dick dystopianometer is rising.

So Who Is Anti - science? Those Who Question Climate Change Or Those Who Would Abolish Free Speech
It was looking as if the global warming scare was dead, then that Nazi shit Barack Obama, seeing his dream of being President Of The World slipping away, gave his science whores enough money to enable them to kick some life back into it. Now the "science" lobby, unable to put together an convinging argument against their challengers are demanding the abolition of free speech.

New World Order War On free Speech Comes To Britain - Guardian editor accused of treason
The right to free speech is under threat from intolerant, authoritarian elitists, call them The Illuminati, New World Order, Scientific Dictatorshgip, Global Elite, whatever. Their goal is absolute power and they know that while the right of free speech, the free press and free access to information exist they cannot succeed.

How academic debate is suppressed on science topics like Climate Change, GMOs, Pesticides and Toxicity of medicines
Intellectual intolerance and the supposed superiority of the scientific education have led not just to the politiciisation of science but to it's being seduced by corporate money and political power. Science was ever fascism's whore of course and the egos of scientists are easily bought. This has led to a very unhealthy emergence of dogmas and orthodoxies and an intolerance of the dissent that is essential if scientific research is to have any credibility.

Phobophobia - Fear Of Being called Phobic?
Homophobia is not fear of homosexuals but fear of thec same thing which does not make sense. Just as politically correct thinking uses the word bigot nonsensically so it's accusations of phobia are irrational - as irrational as the groundless fear familiar to those who suffer the recognized medical conditions called phobias.

The Importance Of Free Speech And A Free Press
Politicians around the developed world including leaders of the two most powerful democracies, Barack Obama and David Cameron have been falling over themselves to join the attack on free speech. On subjects as diverse as climate…

Sunday, June 13, 2021

Scientists Used CRISPR to Engineer a New ‘Superbug’ That’s Invincible to All Viruses

But remember, any suggestion that the SARS - COV2 virus which causes COVID-19 was engineered in alaboratory is just a conspiracy theory. Got it?

from Singularity Hub
by Shelley Fan, June 8, 2021

Can we reprogram existing life at will?

To synthetic biologists, the answer is yes. The central code for biology is simple. DNA letters, in groups of three, are translated into amino acids—Lego blocks that make proteins. Proteins build our bodies, regulate our metabolism, and allow us to function as living beings. Designing custom proteins often means you can redesign small aspects of life—for example, getting a bacteria to pump out life-saving drugs like insulin.

All life on Earth follows this rule: a combination of 64 DNA triplet codes, or “codons,” are translated into 20 amino acids.

But wait. The math doesn’t add up. Why wouldn’t 64 dedicated codons make 64 amino acids? The reason is redundancy. Life evolved so that multiple codons often make the same amino acid.

So what if we tap into those redundant “extra” codons of all living beings, and instead insert our own code?

A team at the University of Cambridge recently did just that. In a technological tour de force, they used CRISPR to replace over 18,000 codons with synthetic amino acids that don’t exist anywhere in the natural world. The result is a bacteria that’s virtually resistant to all viral infections—because it lacks the normal protein “door handles” that viruses need to infect the cell.

But that’s just the beginning of engineering life’s superpowers. Until now, scientists have only been able to slip one designer amino acid into a living organism. The new work opens the door to hacking multiple existing codons at once, copyediting at least three synthetic amino acids at the same time. And when it’s 3 out of 20, that’s enough to fundamentally rewrite life as it exists on Earth.

We’ve long thought that “liberating a subset of…codons for reassignment could improve the robustness and versatility of genetic-code expansion technology,” wrote Drs. Delilah Jewel and Abhishek Chatterjee at Boston College, who were not involved in the study. “This work elegantly transforms that dream into a reality.” ... Continue reading to learn more about hacking the DNA code

RELATED:

Insane science: Babies to be manufactured from two same sex parents
We have said for a long time that science is out of control and scientists, particularly those in the field of biology, have abandoned any pretence of observing ethical contraints in their quest to play God and control nature itself. This articles shows just how far the sick creeps are prepared to go in dehumanising us.

New GMO ‘gene drive’ technology could be used to unleash the world’s most devastating biological weapon

New Book Exposes GMO Corporate Fraud
A big event in the battle to keep the food we eat natural, healthy and affordable for the poorest families this month was the publication in London of a new book by American public interest attorney Steven Druker. The text reveals how the U.S. government and leading scientific institutions have systematically suppressed misrepresented the facts about GMOs and the scientific research that casts doubt on their safety.

GM babies? How About The Frankenstein Lobby Try A Bit Of Honesty And Call It Eugenics
As the British Parliament debated legalising the use of techniques to create three parent babies and the dishonest champions of scientific fascism claim is is a perfectly safe development to remove faulty genes from humanity and in no way similar to programs with the same aim carried out in Nazi Germany, we challenge them to be honest and admit what they propose is Eugenics, a morally repugnant quest to create a master race. And all three main political parties support it.

Food Fascists: GMO and Pesticide Manufacturers Play Dirty/a>
Danish farmer IbBorup Pedersen has made his living rearing hogs for decades so you can be sure he knows a thing or two about the animals. But when Pedersen became alarmed at the growing incidence of deformities and biological defects among newborn piglets, which included gaps in skulls, misshaped bones, missing legs and even a female piglet with testicles ...

Genetically Modified Food Crops - Complacency Is No Way To Fight Corporate Fascism.
Adovcates of genetically modified food crops, particularly the GM versions of staple foods such as wheat, corn, soya beans and potatoes say 'the science is settled' and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) pose not risk to human health or the environment and will feed the world's poor. Not so say independent scienctific studies, GM crops are risky, do not provide increased yields and will only result in handing control of the food supply to some very untrustworthy corporate interests.

The Ongoing Propaganda War Behind GMOs Exposed
The United States has been paying farmers for over two decades to NOT produce food, yet biotech would have us believe that genetically modified organisms are necessary to feed the world. This is but one of the many lies they have perpetrated, all the while hiding the real truth behind GM crops. Genetically modified organisms and the chemicals which support their growth are just an outcropping of the military industrial complex and the war industry.

American Farmers Are Abandoning GM Cops Seeds - Higher costs, Poor Yields
More bad news for the Frankenstein Food Industry - the corporate giants like Monsanto, Du Pont and Dow might have New World Order funded politicians in their pockets but the lies of the science whores they hired are transparent and they face close to one hundred per cent opposition from the public.

How many Parents?

Clones: Science Makes War On NatureWe could understand the arguments for genetically modified food crops (although the science turned out to be fraudulent). Increased yields were a worthwhile goal. But there is nothing to gain from switching animal husbandry from natural reproduction (bull - cow, ram - ewe,) to cloning (scientist - test tube), it will make meat hideosly expensive and hand more control to global corporations.

TV Documentary Tells Truth About Monsanto GM Food Scandal
For the first time mainstream media has examined the independent scientific research carried out of the safety of GM organisms and found the claims of biotech corporations such as Monsanto tha
t genetically modified organisms pose no risk to the environment of human health do not stand up to examination.

Genetically Modified (GM) Organisms Playing Roulette With Humanity's Future
Another group of scientists collabotate to deliver a damning verdict on geneticall modified (g m) organisms and the risks they pose to human health and the environment - risks the government, scientists and corporate bosses will never admit to

Another 'Scientific Consensus' Turns Out To Be Corporate / Government Scam
So there are no scientists in the world who question the corporate lieOpen Letter from World Scientists to All Governments Concerning Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). The World Scientists Statement dates from 1999. It was superceded by the Independent Science Panel Report in 2003, and by the most recent report Ban GMOs Now in 2013.

'No Monsanto!': Protest Against GMO Food Goes Global
Thousands took to streets across the world’s cities on Saturday to protest the use of GMO products, with Giant Monsanto being the main target. Over 50 countries have been taking part in the march for world food day, and across 47 different US states. Berlin, Strasbourg, Chicago, London, Sydney and Mumbai are just a few of the 500 cities worldwide involved in the rallies, with each one drawing hundreds.

Roundup Weedkiller Linked To Global Epidemic of Fatal Kidney Disease
thousands to die each year from a MYSTERY fatal kidney disease, with evidence pointing THE herbicide Roundup (glyphosate) as the primary culprit. A new study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health proposes a link between the herbicide known as Roundup (aka glyphosate) and a series of mysterious epidemics of fatal ... MORE

The World has Really Been Turned Upside down When We Look To Russia To Defend Our Rights
Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, the land of the free, defends corporate fascism, even when it threatens the future of western civilisation. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, a nation with a long history of authoritarianism and tyranny, stands up for human rights and putting protection of the environment ahead of corporate power and profit. What's going on?

New Study Shows Toxins In GMOs Are Poisonous To Mammals
More evidence that Gemetically Modified organisms are totally unsuitable to be part of the human or animal food chain. When will the message sink in that our politicians and "experts" who advise them just steal our tax money on behalf of fascist corporations like Monsanto.

Are 90% Of Cancer Research Studies Fraudulent?
A shocking report published in nature magazine has revealed that up to 89% of cancer research studies may be fraudulent. In that many cases the results reported were not reproducable and were in the interests of Pharmaceutical and healthcare corporations rather than cancer sufferers. It is not clear in how many cases the researchers were knowingly dishonest and how many were just stupid ...

Diabetes skyrockets across America as Big Pharma drugs fail yet again

In spite of year on year increases in medication usage rates for preventing and treating Type II diabetes, the condition is becoming more prevalent throughout the U.S.A., according to a new study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Between 1995 and 2010, the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in nearly half of all the U.S. states more than doubled, ...

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Monsanto Slammed With $289 Million Verdict In Historic ‘RoundUp’ Cancer Lawsuit

Picture: www.topmastersinhealthcare.com/

In a case that could halt the development of GM crops around the world, and thus the push by a few global corporations to gain control of the food supply, a court San Francisco this week awarded $289 million in damages to a former school groundskeeper, Dewayne Johnson, whose lawyers claimed Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller gave him terminal cancer. The award consists of $40 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages.

Johnson’s trial was fast-tracked due to the severe state of his non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system he says was triggered by Roundup and Ranger Pro, a similar glyphosate based herbicide that he was a=obliged by his job to use up to 30 times per year. His doctors didn’t think he’d live to live to see the verdict.

Johnson told the court that he had been involved in two accidents during his work in which he was soaked with the herbicide. The first of these occurred in 2012. Two years later, the 46-year-old father of two was diagnosed with lymphoma – which has since covered as much as 80% of his body in lesions.

Dewayne Johnson listens in court to evidence in his lawsuit against Monsanto

Monsanto says it will appeal the verdict.

“Today’s decision does not change the fact that more than 800 scientific studies and reviews — and conclusions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. National Institutes of Health and regulatory authorities around the world — support the fact that glyphosate does not cause cancer, and did not cause Mr. Johnson’s cancer,” Monsanto Vice President Scott Partridge said in a statement.

Monsanto is now a subsidiary of Germany’s Bayer AG, which closed on its $66 billion purchase of the agrochemical company in June.

On Tuesday, Johnson’s attorney Brent Wisner urged jurors to hold Monsanto liable and slap them with a verdict that would “actually change the world” – after arguing that Monsanto knew about glyphosate’s risks of cancer, but decided to ignore and bury the information.
According to a report in The Guardian, Johnson’s lawsuit against is the first such case against Monsanto to complete the full trial process over allegations that the chemical sold under the Roundup brand is linked to cancer. Thousands have made similar legal claims across the United States. Many of these are still tied up in the labyrinthine procedures of the American justice system and many other complainants have either run out of money or simply given up.

The Johnson case focused on the chemical glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide, which Monsanto began marketing as Roundup in 1974. The company began by presenting it as a “technological breakthrough” that could kill almost every weed without harming humans or the environment. –SHTFplan.com

In September, 2017 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that glyphosates were not likely carcinogenic to humans, based on a decades-long study. In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s cancer arm issued an opposite statement – warning that glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

Johnson’s case is not part of the consolidated proceedings in Missouri, Delaware or California state court, where some 2,000 similar cases are pending. It’s also separate from a federal multidistrict litigation waiting to be heard by US District Judge Vance Chabria of San Francisco – who allowed hundreds of Roundup lawsuits to proceed to trial after ruling that there was sufficient evidence for a jury to hear the cases despite calling a plaintiff’s expert opinions “shaky.”

Documents released in August of 2017 led to questions over Monsanto’s efforts to influence the news media and scientific research and revealed internal debate over the safety of its highest-profile product, the weed killer Roundup.

As the New York Times commented last year, leaked internal emails, among other things, reveal ethical objections from former employees to “ghost writing” research studies that were pawned off as ‘independent’ analyses.
These documents detail the meaures to which the Monsanto was willing to resport in order to protect its image. Documents show that Henry I. Miller, an academic and a vocal proponent of genetically modified crops, asked Monsanto to draft an article for him that largely mirrored one that appeared under his name on Forbes’s website in 2015. Mr. Miller could not be reached for comment.

A similar issue appeared in academic research. A biologist involved in writing research funded by Monsanto, John Acquavella, a former Monsanto employee, appeared to express discomfort with the process, writing in a 2015 email to a Monsanto executive, “I can’t be part of deceptive authorship on a presentation or publication.” He also said of the way the company was trying to present the authorship: “We call that ghost writing and it is unethical.”

The newly disclosed emails also reveal internal discussions which cast some doubt over whether internal scientists actually believed in the company’s external messaging that Roundup was, in fact, safe. In the bigger picture these documents will throw into doubt legal judgements in many other cases, as they strongly suggest Monsanto have misled the courts in their evidence.

RELATED POSTS:

World Bank Aims to Hand Over Seed Industry to Agribusiness

Today Donald Trump will be inaugurated as 45h President of The United States, his victory in the November election having been a major setback to those dark forces that give the impression only one more big push was needed to drive the world into accepting a global authoritarian government. Trump's victory, combined with 'Brexit' the vote by British citizens to leave the EU, combined to make 2026 a bad year for the globalists.

World Bank Aims to Hand Over Seed Industry to Agribusiness
Today Donald Trump will be inaugurated as 45h President of The United States, his victory in the November election having been a major setback to those dark forces that give the impression only one more big push was needed to drive the world into accepting a global authoritarian government. Trump's victory, combined with 'Brexit' the vote by British citizens to leave the EU, combined to make 2026 a bad year for the globalists.
Red Meat Causes Cancer Says World Health Org. Scientists. They Are Lying Of Course

Science was ever fascism's whore; it has become a catchphrase of The Daily Stirrer over the years as week after week we report instances of scientists whoring themselves for research grants, produce results that serve the vested inerests of the organisations which provide their funding.

U2 Celeb Bono partners with Monsanto, G8, to biowreck African farms with GMOs

JProfessional do – gooder and former rock star Bono (full name Pro – Bono because everything he does is for Bono) is very fond of strutting around the world proclaiming his love for Africa. Like most celebrity lefties he is a hypocrite; if he really wanted to help Africans improve their lot he would not …

Insane science: Babies to be manufactured from two same sex parents
We have said for a long time that science is out of control and scientists, particularly those in the field of biology, have abandoned any pretence of observing ethical contraints in their quest to play God and control nature itself. This articles shows just how far the sick creeps are prepared to go in dehumanising us.

New GMO ‘gene drive’ technology could be used to unleash the world’s most devastating biological weapon
We told you that push to make all our food crops Genetically Modified was much more sinister than feeding the world's poor at the expense of ordinary people in developed nations. Now the real agenda is starting to be revealed.
UK's First GM crops enriched with nutrients ready for harvest
With public opinion and a significant (but ignored by mainstream media sngly opposed to the introduction of Genetically Modified foods one would think that politicians, having lost the trust of voters, might hold back on this one. But no, as usual they are sidelining the public interest and ignoring public opinion in order to push the interests of the corporate cronies.Latest Posts

Elsewhere: [Boggart Blog]...[Little Nicky Machiavelli]...[Scribd]...[Wikinut] ... [ Boggart Abroad] ... [ Grenteeth Bites ] ... Ian Thorpe at Flickr ]

'No Monsanto!': Protest Against GMO Food Goes Global
Thousands took to streets across the world’s cities on Saturday to protest the use of GMO products, with Giant Monsanto being the main target. Over 50 countries have been taking part in the march for world food day, and across 47 different US states. Berlin, Strasbourg, Chicago, London, Sydney and Mumbai are just a few of the 500 cities worldwide involved in the rallies, with each one drawing hundreds.

Another 'Scientific Consensus' Turns Out To Be Corporate / Government Scam

So there are no scientists in the world who question the corporate lieOpen Letter from World Scientists to All Governments Concerning Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). The World Scientists Statement dates from 1999. It was superceded by the Independent Science Panel Report in 2003, and by the most recent report Ban GMOs Now in 2013.
Monsanto Whistleblower Admits Entire Department Exists to "Discredit” Scientists

Dare to publish a scientific study against Big Biotech will mount a campaign similar to a medieval witch hunt, aimed at defaming and discrediting you. All in all this is very similar the what happens in any area of commercial activity in which researcers working in the public interest collide with the science whores who prostitute themselves for corporate money.
Thousand of Indian farmers protest against corporate imperialism and Government promotion of GMO seed.

In India the deeply unpopular Modi government is facing a massive revolt against possibly corrupt and certainly undemocratic collaboration with biotech giants like Du Pont and Monsanto in trying to use legislative power to force farmers to accept the introduction of Genetically Modified seed. Protests against the Government and ruling coalition took place in Delhi on ...

"I'm Not Stupid" Monsanto Lobbyist Refuses To Drink Weedkiller After Proclaiming "It Won't Hurt You"

The glib claim backfired however when the Monsanto lobbyist was offered a glass of diluted Roundup (active ingredient Glyphosate) and asked to drink it.

"Do you think I'm stupid, " the lobbyist blustered ...

UN Report Says Small-Scale Organic Farming Only Way To Feed The World

New Book Exposes GMO Corporate Fraud

A big event in the battle to keep the food we eat natural, healthy and affordable for the poorest families this month was the publication in London of a new book by American public interest attorney Steven Druker. The text reveals how the U.S. government and leading scientific institutions have systematically suppressed misrepresented the facts about GMOs and the scientific research that casts doubt on their safety.
Even as the United States government continues to push for the use of more chemically-intensive and corporate-dominated farming methods such as GMOs and monoculture-based crops, the United Nations is once against sounding the alarm about the urgent need to return to (and develop) a more sustainable, natural and organic system.
Playing God In The Garden. The Risks Of Messing About With Nature.

As the corrupt politicians, greedy corporate businesses and insane scientists stepo up their efforts to assure the public that food containing Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) is safe, why is public opposition growning. OK, recently exposures of corporate corruption, scientific fraud and politicical dishonest have destroyed trust but is there more to it than that?
Top anti-GMO scientists band together in film exposing threats and secrecy.

The debate within the scientific community about the safety for humans and the environment of the widespread replacement of natural crops with genetically engineered plans is hotting up. On one side is the pro - GMO lobby, mainstream science, the political and business establishment and the big money campaigning of the biotech industry. On the other, a growing number of dissenting scientists, the environmentalist movement and We The Punters who don't want to be forced to eat this shite.
‘Uncaged Corporate Parrots’ Of The Political Elite and The GMO False Narrative

The Environment Secretary in the UK Coalition Government, Elizabeth Truss has argued that genetically modified (GM) food should be grown in Britain because it is more ‘eco-friendly’. She adds that steps should be taken to speed up this development. Her statements come as little surprise to many because Truss’s predecessor, Owen Paterson, was also a staunch supporter of GM technology.
Insane Science Pushing The Earth Towards Ecocide.
At the Daily Stirrer we have suspected it for a long time, science is insane, a game for the ethically challenged and sociopathic to compete to be first to develop a new plague, or a death ray, or to trash the enviromnent in pursuit of political power or corporate profits for their paymasters. There's even a name for what they are doing now, Ecocide.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

US States back Laws Gagging Opposition To GM Crops.

With little notice, more than two dozen state U.S. legislatures have passed corporate - friendly “seed-preemption laws” designed to block counties and cities from adopting their own rules on the use of seeds, including bans on GMOs. Opponents say that there’s nothing more fundamental than a seed, and that now, in many parts of the country, decisions about what can be grown have been taken out of local control and put solely in the hands of the state.

Critics of the GM seed lobby say this move has come as a result of unethical activity by lobbyists employed by a monopolistic cartel of biotech giants whose influence over agricultural policy in the US government is definitely not in the public interest

“This bill should be viewed for what it is — a gag order on public debate,” Kristina Hubbard, director of advocacy and communications at the Organic Seed Alliance, a national advocacy group, and a resident of Montana said. Montana, along with Texas, Oregon, California and Colorado and many other states passed a seed-preemption bill this year, thus removing from voters the right to decide what kind of food will be sold in shops they use, and handing it to politicians and indirectly to the corporate lobbyists who bribe them.

“This thinly disguised attack on local democracy can be easily traced to out-of-state, corporate interests that want to quash local autonomy,” Hubbard added

Seed-preemption laws are part of a legislative campaign by industrial agriculture (Big Food), including ag-gag laws passed in several states that legally prohibit outsiders from photographing farms, and “right-to-farm” laws that make it easier to snuff out complaints about animal welfare, and of course the usual demands from corporate business, unthinkingly backed by the university brainfucked humandroids who call themselves the left. The seed laws, critics say, are a related thrust meant to protect the interests of agro-chemical companies, by banning laws which require foods containing material from GM crops to be clearly labelled, so depriving consumers of a choice about whether they eat this shite or not.

Foods containing GM matter are currently banned in the European Union, and though the EU bureaucracy and some national governments have tried to overturn this, strength of public opinion has blocked any change. Politicians, academics and media luvvies have as usual described the mass opposition as being due to the "scientific ignorance of the masses," who do not understand science and believe eating GM foods will lead to babies being born with two heads. It is such hubris that has led the complete breakdown of trust between the general population and the establishment. Few people believe eating GM food will be harmful in the short term, but having already seen the effects in increased costs and reduced quality of modern intensive farming techniques, they are very suspicious of any move to hand control of the food supply to global corporations. The derailment of Barack Obama's two "free trade" policies, TPP and TTIP

Some politicians in the U.S.A. and European Union have even talked of banning the planting of natural seed and only allowing food crops to be grown from GM seed. This would of course hand control of the food supply for humans and animals to a small group of corporate giants whose track records on ethical issues are very dubious. but it gets worse.

Nearly every seed-preemption law so far enacted in the USA borrows language from a 2013 model bill drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The council is “a pay-to-play operation where corporations buy a seat and a vote on ‘task forces’ to advance their legislative wish lists,” essentially “voting as equals” with state legislators on bills, according to The Center for Media and Democracy. ALEC’s corporate members include the Koch brothers as well as some of the largest seed-chemical companies — Monsanto, Bayer, and DuPont — which want to make sure GMO bans, like those enacted in Jackson County, Oregon, and Boulder County, Colorado, don’t become a trend.

In Oregon, the bill blocking anti - GM laws was greenlighted in 2014 after Monsanto and Syngenta spent nearly $500,000 fighting a GMO ban in Jackson County. Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences, and Syngenta spent more than $6.9 million opposing anti-GMO rules in three Hawaiian counties, and thousands more in campaign donations. (These companies are also involved in mergers that, if approved, would create three seed-agrochemical giants.) Now ask yourselves this question: 'If GM biotech produce was so good, why would the corporations that profit from it have to work so hard to overcome opposition?'

RELATED POSTS:

UK's First GM crops enriched with nutrients ready for harvest

With public opinion and a significant (but ignored by mainstream media strongly opposed to the introduction of Genetically Modified foods one would think that politicians, having lost the trust of voters, might hold back on this one. But no, as usual they are sidelining the public interest and ignoring public opinion in order to push the interests of the corporate cronies.

‘Uncaged Corporate Parrots’ Of The Political Elite and The GMO False Narrative

The Environment Secretary in the UK Coalition Government, Elizabeth Truss has argued that genetically modified (GM) food should be grown in Britain because it is more ‘eco-friendly’. She adds that steps should be taken to speed up this development. Her statements come as little surprise to many because Truss’s predecessor, Owen Paterson, was also a staunch supporter of GM technology.

TTIP Tries To Dump US Frankenfoods On Europe; Left and Right Unite To Back States' Right To Ban Them.

As public awareness increases of the way the secret trade deals that even our elected representatives are not allowed to know the terms of, the Trans Atlantic Trade And Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans Pacofic Partnership will increase American global hegemony ...

New GMO Approval Will Go Ahead Despite Public Outcry.

Corporate monopoly men and control freak politicians, aided by their Dr. Death scientists are determined to force genetically modified (GM) foods on an very sceptical public. If there was any truth in the claims that GM crops can feed the world and are safe, the public would not be sceptical, but the genetically engineered organisms now being developed are modified to be resistant to highly toxic chemicals to which humans and animals have no resistance.

Independent Scientists Demolish The Lies About GMOs And The Safety Of Glyphosate

The GMO battle goes on, one one side the corporate funded, government backed, global government supporting science lobby, on the other the part of the biological research community that still believes in hostesty, integrity and objectivity. This article reports a conference at which independent scientists (i.e. those not funded by biotech corporations) expose the lies and corruption behind claims that GM crops are safe. Say no to GMO.

Genetically Modified Truth? How Corpoate Money Corrupted Science.

Little Nicky is sceptical about many things, it's in my job description. Incidentally, for the benefit of those over qualified, under educated idiots who think I'm right wing extremist, it is a basic tenet of Liberal philosophy that we all have a duty to question that which is presented as an established truth.

We Told You That GM Crops Are Harmless Claims Were Bollocks

The financial markets seem to be getting more volatile, with share prices and currency values fluctuating wildly on the slightest indication of good or bad news. what you have to remember of course is that the more the markets fluctuate, the more our pensions and insurances get hit and the more profit those whose business depends on betting on or against shares, commodities and derivatives will make.

The Mad Scientists Mania For Genetically Modifying Everything

Genetically Modified (GM) organisms? The science is setttled right, the only way to feed the world's growing population is to accept GM foods and hand control of the human food chain to some of the nastiest, most fascistic corporate busineses on earth, right? Well fortunately it is not as clear cut as that, independent research shows GM crops do not give increased yields and do pose very significant risks for humans, wildlife and the environment.

Black Hat Biotech And The Law

In the first part of Black Hat Biotech I reported on how a single corporation are close to establishing a monopoly as supplier of seed for the world's staple food crops. Now we look at how that same corporation either by buying political influence or other, less ethical means (if you know what I mean) has come close to buying the co operation of the U S government in placing itself beyond the reach of the law. A clause in a new bill now going through congress that would have given Monsanto immunity from prosecutions related to problems caused by its genetically engineered products almost slipped through under the radar. Fortunately it was spotted by activists and is now being challenged.

Europe Kicks Monsantos Arse Over GMOs

While the politicians and bureaucrats are mad to push GMOs down our throats (literally) publich opinion hostile to Franlenstein Foods has pushed Monsanto out of Europe ... for the present.

The World has Really Been Turned Upside down When We Look To Russia To Defend Our Rights

Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, the land of the free, defends corporate fascism, even when it threatens the future of western civilisation. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, a nation with a long history of authoritarianism and tyranny, stands up for human rights and putting protection of the environment ahead of corporate power and profit. What's going on?

New Study Shows Toxins In GMOs Are Poisonous To Mammals

More evidence that Gemetically Modified organisms are totally unsuitable to be part of the human or animal food chain. When will the message sink in that our politicians and "experts" who advise them just steal our tax money on behalf of fascist corporations like Monsanto.

Death By Genocidally Modified Food

The now notorious Monsanto Protection Act, recently passed by the US Congress, which gives biotech corporations, particularly Monsanto immunity from criminal or civil prosecution should harm to humans or the environment arise from ...

Has The Global Food Supply Fallen Under The Control Of The Big Food Cartel?

Speed Up Introduction Of GM Crops Says Increasingly Stalinist Coalition GovernmentThe coalition is selling us out to the global government Nazis and the corporate fascists. This time is is over the introduction of GM crops which will not feed the world but will create a much greater environmental hazard than carbon dioxide. But GM crops were never about feeding the world, that are about power and control. A global tyranny is on the way if we do not start to resist now.

Latest Fear and Panic Strategy: They Tell Us We Are All Going To Starve

GM crops will not feed the world

To feed the world we need more CO2 not GM crops

Just what chemicals are going in your food?

Global Food Crisis and Control Freakery

Freaky Frankenstein Fish

Science and technology menu

Greentheeth Environment Articles

Saturday, June 04, 2016

Using fake science to sell GM foods.

In a recent piece for The Times newspaper in the UK, corporate propaganda merchant Matt Ridley cites a new report from the American National Academies of Sciences (NAS) to support his claim that there can be no doubt genetically engineered crops are as safe or safer, and are certainly better for the environment, than conventionally bred crops. Ridley's case is based solely on biotech industry funded research findings and ignores the many reports prepared by independent geneticists and medical researchers which make counter claims that the known health risks make Genetically Modified food crops a no-no without taking account of long term risks, the consequences of which will not emerge for decades.

Ridley repeats the claims of the biotech industry that GM technology reduces insecticide use and speculates that future GM crops will be even safer, better for the environment and better for human health. He says that it is a disgrace that Greenpeace still campaigns against Golden Rice, a vitamin-enhanced variety that its backers claim could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year. In fact many research projects have shown there is no nutritional difference between GM and conventional crops and that higher yields can only be achieved through use of specialised (and highly polluting) fertilizers, and extensive irrigation.

According to Ridley, opposition to Genetic Midification from rich westerners adds to the cost of bringing such crops to the market, which he argues restricts the spread of GM technology.

In discussing the labelling of GM food in the US, Ridley argues that labelling food that has G M content implies there is something wrong. He argues that the recent NAS report makes the point that genetic engineering is a method, not a category of crop (it is, a method that replaces, for example, some of a tomato plant's genes with shrimp genes), and it makes no sense to single it out for special labelling because regulation should be based on traits, not techniques. Ridley implies, therefore, that GM is no different from food that is boiled or roasted as its actual content remains unaffected. By the same logic one could argue that it makes no sense to distinguish on labelling between peas and beans, corned beef and SPAM or wine and grape juice. It's about consumer choice.

Ridley finishes by saying the NAS report points out that “emerging genetic technologies have blurred the distinction between genetic engineering and conventional plant breeding to the point where regulatory systems based on process are technically difficult to defend.” This is completely untrue.

With a good dose of industry-inspired Public Relations puff , he concludes that because gene editing in particular will soon allow scientists to improve crops in ways that have none of the even theoretical risks that critics highlight, if Europe does not embrace biotech plants now, its agriculture will wilt.

Ridley’s piece is the usual concoction of misrepresentations, falsehoods and junk science we have come to expect of pro-GMO propaganda that rely on flawed sources and reports. Many other journalists who seem to have 'emotional ties' to biotech industry lobbyists have challenged their criticts to 'show us the evidence' but when they do, even citations from peer reviewed sources are dismissed as fake.

His major blunder is to have accepted at face value the NAS report.

In recent years American National Academies of Sciences has been compromised by serious conflicts of interest within its research arm, the National Research Council (NRC) studies promoted by NAS as authentic show GMO safety reports are authored by people with financial ties to Monsanto Corp and other big players in biotech..

A new report by Food & Water Watch “Under the Influence: The National Research Council and GMOs” highlights the millions of dollars in donations received by the NAS, NRC and other supposedly independent research organizations from biotech companies.

On its website, GMWatch discusses the Food & Water Watch report, which documents the one-sided panels of scientists the NRC enlists to carry out its GMO studies and describes the revolving door of its staff directors who shuffle in and out of industry groups. The report also shows how it routinely arrives at watered-down scientific conclusions based on industry science.

Some 11 out of the 19 members of the NRC committee listed in the NAS report have ties to the GMO industry or to pro-GMO groups. The two reviews of animal data relied on by the NAS to claim GMO safety are authored by people who also have conflicts of interest (an analysis of these reviews and why they are misleading is here).

Readers are advised to read the Food & Water Watch Report to see for themselves the massive conflicts of interests that Ridley either appears to be ignorant of or deliberately ignores in order to push a pro-GMO agenda. Lord Ridley has a track record for this sort of thing too, he has campaigned, presenting himself as an independent scientists, on the safety of shale fracking for oil and gas, without revealing his family's financial links to fracking companies.

GMWatch website notes that the NAS committee member chosen to speak about the food safety aspect of the report to the online magazine The Conversation was Michael A. Gallo, emeritus professor of environmental and occupational medicine at Rutgers University. Gallo is a regular pro-corporate commentator who in 2004 defended farmed salmon in the wake of research showing it contained high levels of toxic PCB chemicals.

In his piece for The Conversation, Gallo makes false and misleading statements, which are apparently intended to soothe public disquiet about the safety of GM foods; mistrust which has actually been fuelled the the industry's willingness to spend $$$many millions to suppress open discussion. For example, he says that any changes seen in GMO feeding experiments were “within normal ranges”. WTF does that mean?

GMWatch states it is an unscientific statement of a type often used to dismiss significant differences found in GM-fed animals compared with the non-GM-fed controls and goes on to highlight how pro-GM scientists make “pervert the scientific method” to come up with conclusions designed to mislead.
GMWatch concludes:

“It is well established that conflicts of interest affect scientific outcomes and conclusions in every field that has been investigated, from tobacco to pharmaceuticals to GM crops and foods. The public deserves better than the NAS’s biased attempt to convince the public that GMOs are safe.”

It is not the first time advocates for GM like Matt Ridley have used flawed reports to push for this technology and to attempt to pass off tainted sources as ‘independent’ and thus beyond reproach (see this and this).

It is gratifying to see that in spite of the money being spent on corporate lobbying and mainstream media propaganda in support of GM technology, and in spite of the (bought and paid for?) support from influential figures, the GM industry appears to be losing the argument.

RELATED POSTS:

New GMO ‘gene drive’ technology could be used to unleash the world’s most devastating biological weapon

We told you that push to make all our food crops Genetically Modified was much more sinister than feeding the world's poor at the expense of ordinary people in developed nations. Now the real agenda is starting to be revealed.

To Feed The World In A Grain Of Golden Rice, The Controversy Of GMO Foods
With their business plans in tatters and their GM products languishing unwanted on shop shelves, the chances of Big Biotech and Big Ag corporations revovering the billions they had invested looked bleak. Then came a scientific breakthrough, not in the field of genetics or biology, but in the science of public relations.

US Accused of Pressurizing EU to Drop Frankenstein Food Ban Ahead of TTIP
Opponents of the TTIP trade treaty and environmental campaigners have accused US politicians and bureaucrats of putting pressure on the EU to overrule a legal opinion compelling biotech corporations to submit new types of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to rigorous safety testing and rquiring that foods containing genetically modified produce be clearly and explicitly labelled, ahead of the finalization of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement.

Europe Unglued - Will TTIP tear EU apart

TTIP will make national sovereignty history

The tyranny of moral relativism

USA behind regime change, Ukraine, Libya, Syria

How Strange: Russia's Putin Is The Last Defender Of Democracy

TTIP? Its all for the best in the best of all possible world's

Obama is the real danger warns Czech poet president

Obama builds an oppressive regime

America going for global hegemony

Agenda 21 - the driving force behind many bad things

America forces Obama's TPP on small nations

New World Order conspiracy - Corporate Fascism goes global

Global government will serve the rich not the poor

Competition is a sin says oligrach Rockefeller

Corporate friendly TTIP a licence to plunder taxpayers

Baby TTIP exposes threat to liberty and justice of Big Brother

France’s President Hollande Says 'Non' To Obama’s Demand for Corporate Global Oligarchy

New ‘Monsanto Law’ in Africa Would Force GMOs on Farmers

Living Within The Conspiracy

New World Order

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Sunday, May 22, 2016

Genetically Modifed Crops Safe To Eat Say Monsanto Funded Scientists

A public outcry is developing over a new report that claims genetically modified (GE or GMO) foods are safe for human and animal consumption.

Appnanas? GM Fruit - (image source: sangrea.net free cartoons )

Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects (pdf), released on Tuesday (17 May, 2016) by the federally-supported organisation US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, National Research Council (NRC) states not only that GMO crops are safe to eat, but that they have no adverse environmental impacts and have cut down on pesticide use. There are two statements in the preceding sentence that are hotly disputed by independent scientists. Its publication comes as U.S. Congress — which founded the institution—considers making GMO labeling mandatory on consumer products.

There is always some controversy attached to these reports but in this instance the subject is a highly controversial one and information has emerge that NRC, the organization that produced the report has ties to the biotechnology industry in general and in particular has taken corporate grants from Monsanto, the biggest player in the GM crop seeds business.

“There clearly are strong non-safety arguments and considerable public support for mandatory labeling of products containing GE material. The committee does not believe that mandatory labeling of foods with GE content is justified to protect public health,” the report states.
However, on the day before publication of the report, the independent environmental watchdog group Food & Water Watch (FWW) reported in an issue brief (pdf) that the National Research Council (NRC)—the National Academy of Sciences’ research arm has deep ties to the biotech and agricultural industries, which FWW says have “created conflicts of interests at every level of the organization.”

The NRC and the National Academy of Science take millions of dollars in funding from corporations like Monsanto, and other biotech firms including DuPont, and Dow Chemical, FWW reported in its issue brief, Under the Influence: The National Research Council and GMOs (pdf).

Representatives from those companies—along with big food wannabe monopolists Cargill, ADM, General Mills, and Nestlé Purina, among other GMO-friendly corporate members of the big food cartel — sit on the NRC’s board that oversees GMO projects, thus making the NRC's work in biotech vulnerable to lobbying from vested interests. NRC has not publicly disclosed those ties, FWW said. This is damning enough in itself and when you know that more than half of the invited authors of the new report have proven ties to the industry it makes the report worthless.

According to the FWW brief, not only does the NRC have a history of bias toward the biotech industry, it has also worked to suppress criticism of GMOs, the dodgy scientific work that declares them safe and of the companies that have placemen on its board.

“While companies like Monsanto and its academic partners are heavily involved in the NRC’s work on GMOs, critics have long been marginalized,” said Wenonah Hauter, FWW executive director. “Many groups have called on the NRC many times to reduce industry influence, noting how conflicts of interest clearly diminish its independence and scientific integrity.”

The FWW document states:

Weak, watered-down or biased findings from the NRC have a very real impact on our food system. Policy makers develop “science-based” rules and regulations on GMOs based on what the science says—especially what the NRC says, because it is part of the National Academy of Sciences, chartered by Congress to provide scientific advice to the federal government.
And this is where science can become politicized. Companies like Monsanto need favorable science and academic allies to push their controversial products through regulatory approval and on to American farms. Corporate agribusinesses pour millions of dollars into our public universities, play a heavy hand in peer-reviewed scientific journals and seek to influence prestigious scientific bodies like the National Research Council.

Despite these criticisms, the NRC has continued to conceal its connections to biotech and big food corporations and the true influence the industry wields over research in this field.

“Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the NRC is required to form balanced committees of scientists to carry out its research—and to disclose any conflicts of interest,” Hauter continued. “Yet the NRC failed to disclose even the conflicts of the members of this deeply unbalanced committee.”
“Agribusiness companies like Monsanto have an outsized role at our public universities, at peer-reviewed journals, and the NRC,” Hauter concluded. “We won’t have good public policy on new technologies like GMOs until these rampant conflicts of interest are exposed.”

So more corporate corruption exposed. This blog does not have an issue with humans eating produce from genetically modified seed stock, plenty of scientists have disputed the industry funded studies that declare it safe, but we are not qualified to comment knowledgeably on such issues. What we are qualified to comment on and what concerns us and ought to concern all consumers is the eagerness of the US government and the European Union (EU) to collaborate with global food corporations with established reputations for unethical behaviour of the corporations that have acquired patents on seeds for the most important staple food plant species the and the risk to public welfare of putting control of the worlds supply of staple foods into the hands of some very untrustworthy corporate pirates.

RELATED POSTS:

UK's First GM crops enriched with nutrients ready for harvest

With public opinion and a significant (but ignored by mainstream media strongly opposed to the introduction of Genetically Modified foods one would think that politicians, having lost the trust of voters, might hold back on this one. But no, as usual they are sidelining the public interest and ignoring public opinion in order to push the interests of the corporate cronies.

GM biotech lieotech
GM crops bannned in Mexico
Corporate fascism: Consequences of switch to GM food crops
March against Monsanto: Global protests
GM global takeover
GM crops will not feed the world
Genetically modified food will never be safe says geneticist
GMO corporate lies

Elsewhere: [ The Original Boggart Blog] ... Daily Stirrer ...[Little Nicky Machiavelli]... [ Ian's Authorsden Pages ]... [Scribd]...[Wikinut] ... [ Boggart Abroad] ... [ Grenteeth Bites ] ... Ian Thorpe at Flickr ] ... [ Tumblr ] ... [Ian at Minds ] ... [ Authorsden blog ] ... [Daily Stirrer News Aggregator]

Friday, May 20, 2016

E U warned of 'Devastating Consequences' of German Bid for Monsanto

German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer has launched a hostile takeover bid for US agrichemical and biotech firm Monsanto which freedom and anti corporatism activists warn will have "devastating consequences" for independent farmers at the same time as the European Union is debating banning one of Monsanto’s most profitable fertilizers.

Bayer's bid has raised eyebrows in the German media because Bayer enjoys a good reputation as a chemical company, whereas Monsanto is despised for its cavalier attitude to national law, product safety and consumer rights. The corporation promotes generic modification and produces the controversial herbicide Roundup, which contains glyphosate, a herbicide currently facing an EU-wide ban because of cancer fears after the World Health Organisation reported that the herbicide 'probaly' causes cancer in humans.

Global Justice Now food campaigner Aisha Dodwell told the media:

"The proposed Bayer bid for Monsanto will have devastating consequences for farmers and consumers across the globe. The creation of a mega-corporation that is both the world's biggest seed and pesticide company means that a single organization will be handed almost total control of our foods, what we eat and how it is grown.

"This should worry all of us as we already know that these agri-businesses use aggressive techniques to further their market dominance which do not act in the best interests of farmers, public health or the environment,"

Roundup Ready crop seeds, produced by Monsanto, are resistant to its Roundup herbicide, which means farmers around the world can buy the seeds from Monsanto and then treat them with its own herbicide. More controversial is that the crop seeds are sterile – known as terminator seeds – which means that farmers – often in the poorest areas of the world – have to buy fresh batches from Monsanto each year, rather than taking seeds from the growing crop.

While many independent scientists have questioned the short and long term safety issues attached to Monsanto's products, this blog's concerns are economic and social. We have reported on the contracts forced on independent farmers in poor third world countries who want to, or are coerced into using Monsanto GM crop seed by corrupt government officials. These contracts tie the farmers into Monsanto seed and products for life or until they are forced into bankruptcy.

At the same time the contract makes it almost impossible for Monsanto to be held responsible for crop failure or any harm done to human or animal health.