Growing Controversy Over GMO Bananas in Uganda

Kiggundu works with the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), an Ugandan government agency developing genetically modified bananas.  The new plants are meant to be resistant to black sigatoka and banana bacterial wilt, which has been wiping out vast swaths of the country’s crop.

But the issue has created a firestorm among Ugandan activists, with many claiming genetically modified organisms would be dangerous to human health, the environment and the livelihoods of small-scale farmers.

Giregon Olupot, a soil biophysicist at Kampala’s Makerere University, has been an outspoken critic of the technology.

“There are a range of options that risk to be wiped [out], just by this technology," said Olupot.  "With bananas, tissue culture has worked well to engineer healthy plants.  You then take these plants to a clean garden and maintain field hygiene.  Why are we not giving emphasis to that technology?” Read more >>

Organic farmers condemn U.S. report, claim it favors GMO

Organic growers and food safety advocates on Tuesday condemned an advisory report to the Agriculture Department claiming its recommendations would be costly for farmers who want to protect their conventional crops from being contaminated by genetically modified (GMO), also known as genetically engineered (GE), varieties.

The groups were responding to a report submitted Monday afternoon to the U.S. Department of Agriculture by a committee assigned by USDA with studying how best biotech agriculture could "co-exist" with organic and conventional agriculture.

"Of particular concern in the report is the recommendation that organic and non-GE conventional farmers pay to self-insure themselves against unwanted GE contamination," said a statement by the National Organic Coalition.

"This proposal allows USDA and the agricultural biotechnology industry to abdicate responsibility for preventing GE contamination while making the victims of GE pollution pay for damages resulting from transgenic contamination," it said.

Since their introduction in 1996, genetically engineered crops have become popular with U.S. farmers and now make up the majority of corn and soybeans produced in the United States. But there are a range of environmental and health concerns tied to biotech crops, and many farmers prefer not to grow them and many markets, both domestic and international, pay a premium for non-GMO crops and other products. Read more >>

DHS Working for Monsanto

One can see their not very subtle desperation to shut down all questions about their GMOs in the bill proposed in India, that would set up a biotech regulatory authority and laws to imprison anyone who even dared to bring up the issue of the safety of GMOs (including in vaccines, which now contain GMOs with news equally dire). The Indian bill has been called “unconstitutional, unethical, unscientific,” which is practically a nickname for Monsanto at this point.

But however outrageous the efforts to force GMOs onto India, they are small potatoes compared to what Monsanto and the biotech industry have done behind the scenes in the US where they have arranged for Homeland Security to define organic food – the only safe food – as a bio-security threat. They are clearly not happy about the unpatented, free for the taking, biodiversity people are working to save – open pollinated seeds and crops, as well as heritage animals raised on small farms.

As is Monsanto’s modus operandi, reality has been turned on its head, such that GMO seeds and only crops raised on giant mono-culture GMO farms and sprayed with deadly pesticides, and only animals trapped in animal prisons (CAFOs – controlled animal feeding operations) where they are fed on GMOs with pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones, have now been defined as “normal” and what actually is normal (and safe) has been defined as a threat. Read more >>

One of The Most Important Films You Will Ever Watch on Genetically Modified Foods

Watch entire film for free until Sept 22, 2012

This seminal documentary provides compelling evidence to help explain the deteriorating health of populations being exposed to genetically modified (GM) foods. Besides the impressive and reputable experts who share their knowledge on GM foods, it offers a recipe for protecting ourselves and our future.

When the US government ignored repeated warnings by its own scientists and allowed untested genetically modified (GM) crops into our environment and food supply, it was a gamble of unprecedented proportions. The health of all living things and all future generations were put at risk by an infant technology.

After two decades, physicians and scientists have uncovered a grave trend. The same serious health problems found in lab animals, livestock, and pets that have been fed GM foods are now on the rise in the US population. And when people and animals stop eating genetically modified organisms (GMOs), their health improves.

Source:
geneticroulettemovie.com