AND is under investigation by Congress. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), has asked the ADA and other health advocacy groups for a listing of their payments from the pharmaceutical, medical device, and insurance industries. Due to the ADA’s lack of financial transparency, the senator’s investigation into the ADA is ongoing.
Month: September 2014
A Giraffe Goes Into A Bar
A chance meeting in a bar could mean big changes for Ernie Elephant. Has Ernie finally found a way to overcome his olfactory challenges?
Myth: It’s Too Late—GMOs are Here to Stay
Biotech companies would have consumers believe that, like it or not, GMOs are a permanent fixture, and that our food system would simply not work without GMOs. This is nothing more than a myth spread by biotech companies to discourage consumer activists: over 60 countries currently ban the cultivation, importation, or sale of GMO products.… Continue reading Myth: It’s Too Late—GMOs are Here to Stay
Myth: GMO Technology Results in Critical, Innovative Products
GMO products aren’t as remarkable as biotech companies would have you believe: Biotech companies Monsanto and DuPont sell “trans fat-free” soybeans, an entirely superfluous invention with a “healthy” veneer. GMO Golden Rice is genetically engineered to contain beta-carotene, and is marketed as a way to save malnourished children in developing countries. However, beta-carotene needs to… Continue reading Myth: GMO Technology Results in Critical, Innovative Products
Myth: GMOs Can Alleviate Global Poverty
It is often claimed that the presence of GMOs in our food chain decrease costs for citizens and help to alleviate the effects of poverty—that GMOs will feed the world. This is simply not true. • In 2009, the World Bank and the United Nations published a 590- page report concluding that GMOs have no… Continue reading Myth: GMOs Can Alleviate Global Poverty
Myth: GMOs Help Family Farmers and Benefit the Economy
While purveyors of this technology, like Monsanto, reap incredible financial rewards, studies indicate that small farmers are being squeezed out of the industry or are forced to be little more than sharecroppers, perpetually in debt to the large companies that hold their crops hostage: • In 2013, Monsanto sued 500 farmers for patent violations. Farmers… Continue reading Myth: GMOs Help Family Farmers and Benefit the Economy
Myth: GMOs Will Feed the World
The biotech industry claims that GMO crops deliver higher crop yields. The facts, however, do not bear this out. According to a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists: Only one kind of GMO corn (corn that has been genetically altered to express the bacterial Bt toxin, which is poisonous to certain insect pests) has… Continue reading Myth: GMOs Will Feed the World
Myth: GMOs Can Coexist With Organic and Conventional Crops
The ability of conventional and organic farmers to produce GMO-free food, as well as the ability of consumers to buy GMO-free products, is being threatened by the biotech industry: GMO seeds can drift and contaminate organic crops. More than 30% of farmers seeking to grow organic crops reported that unintended GMO presence has been found… Continue reading Myth: GMOs Can Coexist With Organic and Conventional Crops
Myth: GMOs Are Environmentally Friendly
GMOs are not environmentally friendly, and have not lessened the use of toxic chemicals—in fact, they’ve increased it. Many crops are genetically modified to withstand the use of extremely toxic herbicides like Roundup. However, weeds are becoming increasingly tolerant of Roundup, creating “superweeds;” so much so that a new generation of crops is being engineered… Continue reading Myth: GMOs Are Environmentally Friendly
Myth: GMO Technology is Natural, and Just Like Crossbreeding
The biotech industry would have us believe that genetic modification is “natural,” and the same as crossbreeding (which farmers have undertaken for thousands of years). However: Natural breeding usually only takes place between closely related forms of life—mixing genetic material from different organisms is not “natural.” Take, for example, salmon with antifreeze DNA and tomatoes… Continue reading Myth: GMO Technology is Natural, and Just Like Crossbreeding