The US Department of Agriculture last Friday gave farmers the go-ahead to resume planting Roundup Ready sugarbeets—claiming it’s the only way to avoid a nationwide shortage of sugar!
Hot on the heels of the deregulation of genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa, the USDA said it would once again allow the GE sugarbeet to be planted, contrary to the order of district court judge Jeffrey S. White, who said a full environmental impact statement (EIS) needed to be done first. As the Wall Street Journal points out, an EIS of the type ordered by the judge is usually thousands of pages long and takes years to conduct. That would have kept the genetically modified sugarbeets out of the hands of farmers at least through 2012.
This would allow farmers to begin planting GE sugarbeets this spring. But the environmental and organic seed groups that originally sued the USDA said Friday they would ask Judge White to block this latest move by the USDA.
Processors say there aren’t enough non-GE sugarbeet seeds around for farmers to plant this spring. A study conducted for the sugar industry predicted that US sugar production would plunge 20% if the judge’s ban stays in place, and it appears this study alarmed food companies enough that they were able the pressure USDA into acting now. (For more on sugar and sweeteners, see our article elsewhere in this issue.)
In this case, the sugarbeets are being “partially deregulated”: USDA is permitting farmers to plant genetically modified sugarbeets this year only if they adhere to rules designed to prevent the plant’s wind-blown pollen from reaching organic fields, where its biotechnology traits could spread—though if the rules themselves prove ineffective, organic sugarbeets will be contaminated.
That contamination is what is most worrisome. The Organic Consumers Association had this to say about the deregulation of alfalfa: “[It is] guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds….” Health advocates have the same concerns about sugarbeets.
If you haven’t already done so, please visit our Action Alert page where you can write to President Obama, Congress, and the USDA, and tell them to reverse this terrible decision. Please contact them today!
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TO SEND YOUR MESSAGE TO THE PRESIDENT, |
Please stop” GMO” seeds. We do not know of the long term dangers it poses to our seed stock; ie cross pollination and mutation of native plants. It could virtually wipe out our food supply.
Sincerely,
Jackie Frady
Jackie,
I both agree and disagree with you.
I agree with your concerns, but disagree that we don’t know of the long term dangers. They are becoming more and more apparent. Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide is reported to trigger over 40 plant diseases that endanger human and animal health.
The damage that Roundup leaves in its path is frightening and extensive by creating organisms in the soil that wipes out a plants defenses against disease. It annihilates beneficial soil organisms, interferes with photosyntheis, damages and shortens roots systems , changes the soil Ph and of even greater importance, it deprives plants of vital minerals and depletes the plant’s valueas a nutritional food. It is truly a threat to the world’d food supply.
But then what can we expect, since Monsanto has moved their corporate headquarters to the White House.
Keep up the good fight. If we lose this battle, the world as we know it is doomed.
They (Washington) couldn’t care less about us, or they wouldn’t be letting this happen. we don’t want or NEED GE food. We also don’t need the cleaning chemicals in our food either, but do you know what people say, when you tell them that, you don’t want to eat this stuff? ” well it is necessary in the processing, and the EPA and USDA have ok’ed the minuet amounts, and it WON’T HURT US ” that is what my sister was told by a cereal company (M.o.M,) when she asked them about the TRISODIUM PHOSPHATE in one of their products. READ LABLES people and look it up. some of this stuff is endangering you health already!
Karen,
When I was investigating the ingredients in cereals about a year ago, I came across the same startling discovery of Trisodium Phosphate in a cereal marketed to children. This is a heavy duty industrial strength cleaner, with instructions to wear rubber gloves when using. I called the Cusstomer Service Dept of the company and asked what was Trisodium Phosphate doing in a cereal? I was told that it was a “flavor enhancer”. They don’t take into account that many of these chemical build up in the body and can react with other “incent” chemicals.
USDA “Uncle Sam’s Damn Agency”, FDA “Fudged Data Admissible”.
It must be that the people running the USDA didn’t read their history or was it that when they were studying a AGENT ORANGE wasn’t a problem.
What are you thinking? Can’t you see that we need to stop believing the giants like Monsanto and the government agencies that subscribe to the so called honesty of these corporation. People are dying because of the abuse from marketing and chemical corporation lobbyist. Stop making money talk and think about the health and well being of humans.
I am disgusted with how the USDA is bought off by these guys.
I don’t want to eat GE sugar. Sugar is part of the problem with obesity in this country and diabetes. Why are we worried about a shortage of a known health risk?
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX !!!!!!
Our Government is a disgrace to this country. Really. It is.
Why do we need more sugar? Why do we not use conventional methods of saving seed?
Oh thats right we don’t have small farmers any more. We have corprate farms who can regulate
what they want . Monsanto can regulate the seed so that if you save your seed you as a farmer can be sued because you don’t own your crop put the little man out of business.
Didn’t the presidents wife run a campaign to decrease the preservatives by 25% well my math says we can do with out the 20% loss of sugar
Thank you for keeping the public informed on Monsanto’s rape of the land. I belong to an organic CSA, and do not buy anything that is not organic. I so hate it that Monsanto has such a hold on the USDA, and will stop at nothing for the almighty dollar.
I keep saying it; the USDA, FDA and MONSANTO need to be obliterated
I agree, The USDA (Uncle Sam’s Damn Agency) and the FDA (Fudged Data Admissible) or (Food Destruction Agency) have become representatives of Monsanto. It could not be more apparent.
Organic is the way to go. Genetically engineered food is a terrible solution.
Firstly, I don’t believe in the shortage of sugar beet seed. This is the type of ploy Monsanto, et al use to create fear, and manipulation of the growers. That being noted, the scare about a shortage of sugar is actually a good piece of news. This country clearly is addicted to sugar and the levels of obesity testify to this. Less sugar should be seen as a road to improved health and therefore lower health care costs.
This decision to unleash the 2nd GE species onto our land and people in less than a month is not only a totally unscientific decision, it is a cynical slap in the face of the public that rallied so strong to support a candidate for change. The only change so far is to increase more of the Bush legacy of corporate control of the world around us.
It seems the only research performed has to do with the financial bottom line of the corporate moghuls. They are not this country. You need to remember that. Do not continue this madness.
The US’s food practices will take care of the worlds over population for sure.
Seems to me that the USDA needs to be dissolved. They are certainly NOT acting in best interest for consumers. Can we spray the USDA with Roundup???? Nothing like getting a taste of one’s own medicine…!
Ya gotta keep it shorter. The “letters” to the Pres, Senators, Reps is just too short on punch and long on details. Have an opening that is straight to the point and short. Bring in the fact that the citizens wishes are being ignored, etc. Thanks for all you do.
I love beets but will no longer eat them because they are genetically engineered. Don’t we have enough health problems caused by newer methods of making food? Must beets be ruined? I don’t want anything to do with any genetically engineered food, do you?
I will just grow my own.
To much has been compromised in the food industry…here goes another one with no proof that it won’t have negative effects in the long run. How sad.
When receiving such a missive and certainly before reprinting/sharing one, I need to see your scientifically based sources supporting the call to action…My friends are a scientifically astute and cynical lot…if you want everyone on board, provide the required info…I basically trust you, or I wouldn’t have signed up for the emails…but I need you to be more thorough
Lynn,
If you want the facts about genetically engineered foods, check out Jeffrey Smith’s “Spilling the Beans” on the internet. He has probably done more research on the subject that nanyone.
Approving and allowing the spread of GMO seeds/plants (such as corn, alfalfa, and now sugar beets, etc.) will destroy this planet as we know it. Such a trend must be reversed in favor of living creatures, not what will line the pockets of greedy corporations. We have no idea what the long-term health effects will be on people & animals who eat GMO products. Please, reverse this terrible decision for all our sakes.
I am very happy to have the info and want GMOs gone but it seemd they are here to stay.
GMO’s are dangerous! Big business is like a monster here – grdedy and ruining our ecological balance with GMO’s. But worst of all it’s going to make us all incredibly SICK.
Please document the harm.
Weeds are adapting to Roundup. Eventually, farmers will stop using it. With the selective pressure eliminated both cultivars and weeds will slowly lose their resistance and the natural balance will be restored.
There are already alternate products which will go through the same cycle.
The problem seems to be that any crop which MIGHT be tainted by exposure to GMO versions MUST be considered tainted and cannot be sold as organic. Any product that uses that crop as an ingredient and any livestock fed that crop may also not be sold as organic.
While a specific gene substitution might well be harmful to consumers, the claim that all gene substitutions are harmful and that the harm extends to all derivatives regardless of how processed and regardless of the quantity being consumed smacks more of religious and advertising hype than science.
It sounds like a judge has refused to cause real harm to a larger class of consumers when the only benefit would be to advance an unproven belief structure among a small class of marketers and their captive consumers.
As an educator, I am fully aware of the dangers posed by genetically modified crops. We only have to look to Europe and see how it labels its genetically modified products.
In this country little research has been done to document the long term effects of GMO’s.
I buy only organic products and I do not want these products to be contaminated by the pollen of Genetically Modified Crops.
I say no to GMO alfalfa and sugar beets. It is unfair to the consumers to support companies like Monsanto that are ready to gain huge profits on the backs of small farmers.
Jane Thiefels
I did send a letter to the president, Congress, and The USDA. It seems they never listen, and if money is to be made, then nothing else ever seems to matter to these people. Our planet is being destroyed, and so many just go on each day thinking it will all be ok. I say to these people, “WAKE UP!” It’s not ok! We are all sick from contaminated foods, genetically engineered foods, processed foods that slowly kill, medicines that kill, doctors that don’t have a clue, distruction of our forests, global warming, yatta, yatta, yatta. It will all bring us to our end, and it will be disasterous. Just look at all of the cancers we have now, all of the side effects we live with in our pharmaceutical medicines. We are brain washed into thinking these things should be acceptable. We can wake up now and fix it, or we can all perish in the not so far away future. Getting rid of giant business, not consuming so many unneeded things, Recycling on a personal basis, did I say consuming less? Did I say we don’t need as much stuff as the commercials on TV tell us we need. The more you buy, the more we need oil to produce it, the more we have to fight wars to get the oil to produce the stuff you can’t live without. Before you know it, we will have poisoned ourselves, over extended the need for more stuff, and the planet will be polliuted beyond the ability to support humans, stripped of it’s trees, and turned into deserts. It won’t matter by then though, because the ground and soil will all contain poisons, and there won’t be any eatable food to eat anyway. A pessimist you say? Just wait, reallity will come to light, because not enough is being done about these things! Politicians are concerned only with their greed. Take action in some way to help life on this planet survive.
What a ghastly situation knowing that the USDA is our enemy. This is shock and awe against the citizens of America attempting to keep our immune systems healthy to avoid the pharmaceutical and medical industry scams on our health. DO NOT ALLOW Monsanto, genetically engineered foods into our organic food chain. This is the most important issue on the books. STOP this attack on healthy foods to feed the pockets of the corporate farms and pesticide producers. This is shocking.
Wouldn’t you know??? I just started making a beet juice blend with blueberries because I don’t want to buy the pasturized stuff at the supermarket. We live in a nation that has leaders and agencies and corporations who care about profits. Big pharma is also going to reap their reward when people are going to be sick from eating all the gm crops. I refuse to call them food. Food is our medicine and medicine is our food. But that’s crops grown in the proper way without gene contamination. I guess with this nation falls so far into that abyss it will be too late. There is one true God. He gave us His Son as our only path to salvation. Repent and be baptized and start hearing what God and Christ say instead of what humans say about Him. We as a nation are falling into obscruity. May God have mercy of a disobetient world.
Yes may God have mercy on those greedy corporations and may he protect us that have few choices of what to eat due to geographical and financiual restraints. May the Lord come quickly.
It will backfire BIG TIME, sooner than later.
Nature can correct everything and fix itself by avenging the humans.
And those who will pay will be of course the farmers and those who control them.
They all will pay THE Ultimate PRICE.
I was saddened to receive this news. American’s ignorance and laziness to change the way we feed and care for our bodies and allow profit driven corporations, government and even our medical communtity to expose us to known and unknown toxins is a travesty.
So many people are lulled by hypnotizing advertising campaigns by the industries and fast food giants. They are programmed to just accept their ill health and then expect (or hope) the medical community will fix them even though the damage has already been done. Just so sad to see an epidemic of people living low grade lives with obesity, diabetes, stomach and colon problems……
so sad
You are playing with our lives, and you have NO right. I don’t want ANY genetically modified ANTHING. Do your job for God’s sake.
Although most people should cut down on their sugar intake, I hate to have beets ruined
by genetically modifying them or using round-up, etc to grow them. Companies are
not labeling our food properly , as they do in some of the European countries….telling
whether they are GMO, etc. There is also false advertising about the human body not reacting
differently to corn syrup or cane sugar /beet sugar. When are people going to quit acting
like robots and not paying attention to what is going in their mouths? McDonald’s, Nestle’, Monsanto, Coca-Cola and Walmart are on the top 10 corporate criminal list to avoid. I also want to know
if my food has come to the U.S. via China, such as the honey we eat….or some fish, frozen veggies, etc. I wish to be a proud American, but I am not so proud of the greed of some big
food/farm/pharm practices here. I want U.S. organically grown, non GMO food…..sugar,
honey, beets, almonds, strawberries, etc. etc.
Say no to GMO sugar beets. Americans need less sugar anyway. We do not need that
GMO corn sugar either. The most patriotic thing an American can do is look out for his
own where good nutrition/health/ agricultural practices and big pharm practices are concerned.
Please stop destroying farmers’ ability to farm by allowing the use of genetically engineered anything! It is a ploy to make us all dependent on these corporations who provide the seed. What about the poor farmers here and in other countries? They have no money to buy seed over and over again; they need to buy it once and then produce their own crops from which they can harvest the seed. Why is it that ONLY our U.S. corporations matter, and not the rest of the population on the Earth? An environmental impact statement should be prepared, and it should be thorough. Therefore, please, please reverse your very bad decision, oh U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, or you will soon no longer deserve that title! There are sugar substitutes and I am sure we could import sugar…
Disaster!!! Alfalfa and now sugar beets! What next?!!! Pretty soon at this rate we’ll all be eating Frankenfoods whether we choose to or not! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO GOVERNMENT IN THIS COUNTRY??? THIS CALLOUS DISREGARD OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE MUST STOP!!!
I think this is very dangerous and very harmful.
I think this is very dangerous and very harmful.
I think this is very dangerous and very harmful.
I think this is very dangerous and very harmful.
I think this is very dangerous and very harmful.
I think this is very dangerous and very harmful.
I think this is very dangerous and very harmful.
The Frankenstein effect is in full bloom now. Why are these crimals allowed to proceed with their dabolical acts?
“criminals”
This is madness — please Don’t !
I had written to my Michigan Senator, Carl Levin with my concerns regarding GE Alfalfa. Below is the response he provided me, I thought you would be interested to see it:
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Dear Mr. Hoffman:
Thank you for contacting me regarding genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa. I appreciate hearing your views on this matter.
GE foods are created by inserting individual genes from one crop or animal into another. Although the genetic engineering of crops was introduced only a few decades ago, farmers and researchers have been modifying plants and animals for centuries through crossbreeding or hybridization.
The potential impact of GE foods on human health and the environment has been a controversial issue. Some claim that GE crops could lead to the creation of super weeds or pests, have an adverse effect on human health, and harm beneficial native species. Others claim that GE crops lead to lower pesticide and fertilizer use and eventually could be enhanced to increase nutritional benefits.
In February 2007, a Federal District Court ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to craft an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on GE alfalfa. The EIS needed to evaluate the potential effects of deregulating two types of GE alfalfa that are engineered to be resistant to the herbicide glyphosate.
In December 2009, APHIS announced that the draft EIS was available for public comment. The draft EIS examined two options: granting nonregulated status to GE alfalfa resistant to glyphosate; or maintaining the regulated status of these two GE alfalfa lines. The EIS analyzed the potential environmental impact of each option in a number of areas, including weed development, wildlife and plant species, gene flow, socioeconomics, herbicide use, and human health and safety. APHIS received over 200,000 public comments on this draft from interested parties and stakeholders and released a final EIS in December 2010. Most recently, on January 27, 2011, APHIS announced its decision to grant nonregulated status to GE alfalfa resistant to the herbicide glyphosate. More information on this determination and the process used to evaluate GE alfalfa can be found at [http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs/04_11001p_rod.pdf].
Should legislation regarding this issue come before the full Senate, I will be sure to keep your views in mind. Thank you again for writing.
Sincerely,
Carl Levin
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I am not sure what to make of this response except it appears that Sen Levin is supporting Genetically Engineered crops. I can’t tell that he has even listened to organic conerns. Is there information that I can provide him that could potentially alert him to the danger?
Thank you for your assistance,
Jeff Hoffman
Cross breeding and hybridization of plants and genetically modifying genes in plants are NOT the same at all. That statement right there tells me he knows nothing except what the companies that stand to profit have been spewing out.
http://fanaticcook.blogspot.com/2009/10/genetically-modified-organisms-whats.html
Here is a good discussion on the difference.
As far as info on the dangers, all he has to do is google it.
Sen. C.Levin is not a stupid man, and if anyone would read the information supplied to him. I have no doubt he would read it, and make his recommendations, if he is provided the material. But I think it would need to be, the most current material, factual and as unbiased as possible, a really good study, that would cover everything from A to Z, and all the variables that could occur from having this GE stuff in our food supply.
The criminals at the FDA and the USA govenrment should be Roundup. Lets feed them their own medicine.
Defund and remove the USDA. They are all sick, slacker’s out to do our Agriculture in.
It’s guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds….” Health advocates have the same concerns about sugarbeets.
This is totally unfair to the American people. Taking advantage of the poliltics of agriculture has given new rise of the meaning of corporate domination over the wishes of the American people. We Americans don’t have much of a choice in what we consume, or allowed to be planted without any due regard for the health, or well being of those who will consume these GE sugarbeets. I simply do not have the answers to how these products take over and dominate our natural or organic crops, but the lesson has been learned, by GE corn, soybeans, and canola plants. Companies like Monsanto has done much harm us by the use of GE crops grown in other nations as well as our own. What is more disturbing is the corporate mode continues with support of our own government officials as Secretary of Agriculture, Vilsack and our own President. These issues of what is occuring have to be exposed to the public and those in the mainstream media have to be independent of the will of the corporations in order that the American people know what they are dealing with. We have taken the shift away from allowing what is occuring by censorship and non reporting, totally ignoring information that the public should be informed about, in order that Americans have a say so on this issue.
NO GE Foods!!!!
Studies of GMO show that the third generation of those who consume contaminated products is sterile. This means no grandchildren for young children of today if the U.S. continues the short-term greedy deregulation of Monsanto products. Suicide of farmers in India foreshadows our future.
Hello,
It is so important that we keep organic foods. Please do what you can to see that our great
nation continues to have the organic seed needed. I have a toxic injury and need to eat organic
foods. There are many more like me. We depend on organic food to live. Please, help in this
matter, do not let the seed made by man surpass the seed from when we grew up that was
healthy. We need real food, not fake, people are sick enough now. Surely, you want your
chilldren to grow up healthy too. Thank you for your time in this matter.
Sincerely,
Debra K Dove
Why do we need to genetically modify our food? This is a science experiment that I do not want to be part of! Sounds like the people at the USDA are getting kickbacks from Monsanto. Maybe we need to severe the ties between Monsanto and the USDA before we all start growing extra limbs and a third eyeball in the middle of our foreheads.
Also, I heard that Round Up is responsible for the honey bee decline. How can we pretend to be concerned about the extinction of a insect that is responsible for pollinating our food crops yet continue to use products that kill them. People down at the USDA and FDA needs to come to the realization that monetary kickbacks are not worth jepordizing the safety of the American public.
“Why do we need to genetically modify our food?”
Many of us have figured out the “food” that comes in boxes, bags and plastic is killing us. We only eat UNPROCESSED food.
GMO is the ultimate food processing. It destroys the food itself.
Now the depopulation agenda can proceed.
We don’t know all the environmental effects on the interbreeding of GMO crops with standard, non-GMo crops. Stop rushing into a possible disaster until more is known. Are these GMO varieties directly harmful to beneficial insects, or are they harmful because of Roundup being applied?
Could it be more obvious that this railroading of ever more GMO farming is a pure eugenics operation? Corrupt courts, congress criminals, USDA and FDA officials couldn’t give a rat’s ass what this does to our health, the environment, or the future of growing food on this earth! I hope in the end, these disgusting people can eat the money sitting in their offshore bank accounts.
what s next..? leave food alone to grow naturally.
I am a farmer and hybridizer and know ,to some extent, what cross – pollenation can do to mess-up Mother Nature. Folks, your dealing with a real disaster hear and for the future ! Please really check it out !!!!!!! Good Luck,you will need it.
Kiss organic goodbye! Once again this Administration has sold us out for a buck. Third party canidates for me from now on!
Americans do not want genetically made food or beverages, and yes this includes gentically made animals. Quit trying to play god, you will only end up doing more damage than you can correct.
I cannot believe the utter stupidity of this country and what it is becoming. The BIG Chemical companies like Monsanto, Dow, etc…are paying those in power under the table for BIG favors and NOTHING is being done about it. Why is nothing being said on the “so called” news programs? Gotta ask yourself this question, too.
Get out of our lives, you are slowly killing us with these genetic procedures.
The government is only interested in wasting and spending money. (spending)
“You are slowly killing us”
This was true BEFORE GMO. 95% of soy, 90% of corn is GMO. Much of sugar is to be GMO.
Soy, corn and sugar make up the majority of “Processed, Fast and Junk food”
Soon most of out population will be eating this VERY toxic poison. I am afraid in five to ten years, if we have that long, we are going to see a “health crisis” in this country that can only be called a total politically induced mass murder.
Seems like we’re not doing too well convincing the ignorant.
It seems we are living in the United States of Monsanto.
I am horrified by this news. We eat organic & have absolutely no wish to have this travesty growing. I once thought I was allergic to apples & grapes (gave me stomach cramps & worse) until I tried organic ones – that’s right no ill effects. i used to love corn on the cob, until it started giving me nasty blisters all over my lips & inside my mouth & on my tongue. No more corn consumed here-in any form.
What we have forming is a dictatorship over our food supply ~ and here we thought we lived in a democracy !
So many mothers are almost militant about the safety of their children, yet really do not seem to realize how insidious the entire GMO issue is.
Over 90% of US citizens want genetically engineered (GM) foods to be labeled, yet we are denied the Right to Know what is in or has been done to our food. We have known about the foxes in the hen house; Tom Vilsac former Monsanto lawyer, now Secretary of Agriculture and Michael Taylor, former Monsanto VP, now the FDA Food Safety Czar. Now as part of President Obama’s move to bridge the gap between government and business, it appears that Monsanto has been invited to move their corporate headquarters to the White House.
In December District Judge Jeffrey White ruled against the USDA’s decision to approve GM sugar beets, stating they could harm consumers and the environment. He asked for an environmental impact statement to be filed. Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide has been found to trigger over 40 plant diseases, endangering human and animal health. Apparently with the backing of the White House, the USDA issued a statement allowing the planting of GM Roundup Ready sugar beets, claiming that it was necessary to avoid a 20% shortage in sugar production. The judge and consumers were over ruled. What has happened to our justice system?
re: “Monsanto has been invited to move their corporate headquarters to the White House”
Floyd are you smoking something? Where did you read this?
This is ridiculous, if you do not want genetically modified crops than buy organic you still have a choice. The major companies and the farmers are not the ones to blame for GM crops we the people are. Are demand for excess amounts of food at fast food restaurants, if it bothers you that bad buy a tractor and some seeds and grow your own crops until then let people who actually know what they are talking about make the decisions.
Be careful about the “democracy” term. United States is actually supposed to be a constitutional republic complete with individual natural rights which cannot be taken away by law.
This nation was tyrannical and fascist ever since the formation.
And illusion given to the people about their so called power was smoke and mirrors.
Going to take a lot more of us to fight to get anything done.
It doesn’t surprise me. The amazing thing is that people continue to believe in government to improve our lives. That has never been the case. It’s always been about big government, corporate welfare, social welfare and most importantly the ability of politicians to provide goodies in order to get either the resources for reelection or to be reelected. People need to start thinking radically!!! Free markets, elimination of laws against liability so that these companies can be sued for polluting crops, traceability on all foods so companies can be sued for all the illnesses related to the toxins they put into the food chain. Elimination of the USDA and FDA as they provide absolutely no benefit to the US public but just ensure monopolies for the big agricultural and pharmaceutical concerns. Repealing the 17th amendment so that Senators are elected by state legislators and therefore protect the interests of the states and therefore prevent this massive centralisation of power in the federal government and bureaucrats like Tom Vilsac and Michael Taylor. There are also technologies that could completely revolutionise agriculture by allowing for farming and the complete elimination of all types of pesticides, organic or conventional. It’s the GOVERNMENT that prevents and legislates against this. It’s no different in relation to sugar. We could easily buy sugar from Brazil or other countries in South America for 1/3 the price that is paid in the states. This is because the government has erected tariffs that prevent or render prohibitively expensive the importation of sugar from these countries. So for years we not only pay 3x more for sugar, but we provide massive subsidies for corn (one of the first GMO products). What do you think would happen if these subsidies were eliminated? The large agriculture companies couldn’t afford to compete because without the government subsidies, the farmers couldn’t survive with the form of agriculture dependent on massive use of pesticides like roundup. Wake up!!!
I want to choose for myself whether or not I want to buy and consume genetically modified “foods”. These USDA approvals take that choice out my hands, and those of all Americans, for the sake of Big Agribusiness profits. It’s fundamentally wrong, and it’s wrong for USDA to allow these crops to come to market, without full disclosure labeling of the products containing genetically modified foodstuffs.
I hope that the Human Nature never come in a ” Soilent Green ” Situation.
But GMO is the DOOR OPENING to that.
– POOR EARTHLINGS –
The proper solution is obvious. Lower the human population (stop breeding) and stop feeding these fat tubs of lard junk food. Simple. Too simple?
The world is not overpopulated. We are routinely shown pictures of crowed cities in order to convey this idea. There are actually a number of societies that are becoming underpopulated and are not “breeding” enough to simply replace the current generation – they are losing ground. All of humanity can fit in a small percentage of the world’s landmass. For instance, everyone could fit nicely in Texas without overcrowding. Be careful what you believe. Who is to be gotten rid of to “lower” population? Who gets to decide?
Perfect!
When our people have been lied to, and misled about DIET products… you still think it is all about people stuffing their faces with junk food??
You seem to be EXACTLY the ignorance that many of us on this site are railing against!!
SHORTAGE OF SUGAR!!! Is it for REAL? With obbesity rate in this country?!?!?
There is no shortage!!!
C’mon Barbara… they’ve been FATTENING us up for the slaughter… of course they are afraid of a sugar shortage!!
I say VOTE EVERY LAST ONE of those ba$tards out of office, and terminate all the jerks at the FDA… then, arrest the Boards of Directors from all the companies (like Monsanto), seize all their ASSETS and charge them with conspiracy to murder millions of people… and the whole gamut of lies and fabrications they have put forth to get away with this!!
I just don’t even know what to say. We are more powerful than this people, we MUST unite, there is no other choice.
With so much sugar added to our mass produced prepared foods, and so much of our population unknowingly adiicted to sugar, salt and fat, we could afford to lessen the amounts of addded sugars to our foods and we would all be healthier for it. If we used less sugar , we wouldn’t have a so called shortage.
Greed and ignorance is depleting our planet. The more we consume, the more the big business makes, the more they make, the more they deplete, the more they deplete, the more they need, the more they need, the more we need to fight wars, the more wars we fight, the angrier the world becomes, and all the while, big business is getting fat, not worrying one Iota about the panet, or human beings. It’s all about money which brings us right back to greed. Consume less. We don’t need as much as big business would like us to think we need, recycle on a personal basis, use phytonutrients to heal your body, and make better choices when we select our leaders. This administration is a disgrace. Look what Congress just pulled with the Food Safety, just a disgrace, not worth much. We have to just keep fighting the battle for the sake of our children.
Given the obesity epidemic in the US — statistics in the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans indicate almost one-third of adults and one of every four children are now obese — why would reducing availability of sugar be seen as a bad outcome?
You have allowed HFCS, hormones, chemicals and more. Our kids are ovulating at at 6, boys cant reproduce, goiders everywhere, cancer is on the upswing, people are fat but dying from malnutrion. Now you allow Genetically altered plants, our bees are falling out of the sky and non existent, our birds are disappearing and our bats cant fly- animals show us the horror that is coming our way- remember the canaries in the mines? Soon, plants will no longer allow to seed thanks to Monsanto and its criminal enterprise all alowed because of profit and ignorance. With all our technology you would think we would be a great nation, but since you took charge our kids are dying faster than they did a century ago- with much greater disease and ailments.
I agree with the post above.. we can always save our bees from extinction and enjoy their honey instead.
jeanene the honey will be contaminated with GM Alfalfa pollen 😉 you can’t get away from this stuff unless you eat organic, and GM Alfalfa all but guarantees there will be no organic (or at least a new definition for it) Google “GMO Ecological Disaster.”
Choke it down while it still only causes cancer, various organ failure, lung disease, sterility… When roses start bleeding caustic pesticide, they’ll blame God.
Genetically modified incidents of disaster are significant to all. Oats gone bad, sickened pollinators
such as Monarch butterflies, honey bees colony collapse, bats white nose syndrome … to name only a few, oh people to. Monsanto seems to be paving its way systematically in hopes we will just get used to their resilient poisons in our food chain and others across the planet. Pesticides invited into our food chain by the Government is not desired in a NO CHOICE disastrous fashion and never will be. Please wake up but don’t smell anything as it may be GM.
Where is the EPA ? What a joke. The environmental destruction agency is more like it. If the bees don’t recognize the junk as food, why should we eat the stuff that isn’t real.