GM and Monsanto

[Shannon Nelson]

More information about this.

Those interested in the issue, and/or wanting to engage in a bit of "activism", might do well to find a website or few that tracks the issue. One I notice is www.organicconsumers.com . (Anyone want to recommend some others?)

Their current "Featured Alert" sends the reader to:

http://www.capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroot ... 36&type=ML

Action Alert

Save "Gen-M," Generation Monsanto!
Tell Congress to Label Genetically Modified Foods!
Take Action Now!
Enter Your Zip Code:



Gen-M, "Generation Monsanto ," the first generation of humans force-fed genetically modified foods, hasn't reached reproductive age yet (they were born in the late 1990s). But, if a critical mass of animal feeding studies are any indication, the millennial generation, reared on Food Inc.'s unlabeled "Frankenfoods" can look forward to a long-term epidemic of cancer , food allergies , sterility , learning disabilities , and birth defects

Corn (85% of U.S. production is GM), soy (91% GM), cotton (88% GM), canola (85% GM) and sugar beets (95% GM) are all genetically engineered by Monsanto to withstand massive doses of the company's glyphosate herbicide RoundUp, or else to exude their own pesticide, Bacillus Thuriengensis (Bt). [snipping some bad news about Monsanto's RoundUp, and their rBGH] ...

With Monsanto's genetically modified crops and chemicals threatening public health and the environment, not to mention the next generation's reproductive capacity , why isn't there a massive consumer outcry to restrain Monsanto's biotech bullying and ban genetically engineered foods and agriculture?

The answer is disturbingly simple. Collusion between Monsanto and elected public officials (including the current Obama Administration) has obscured the fact that almost all non-organic foods in the US contain genetically modified ingredients. Despite poll after poll indicating that 87 -95 % of US consumers want mandatory labels on foods containing genetically modified ingredients, Congress has heretofore listened to Monsanto and corporate agribusiness, rather than their own constituents.

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Personally, I had been unaware of just *how* deeply we've been penetrated by genetically modified foods! "Corn (85% of U.S. production is GM), soy (91% GM), cotton (88% GM), canola (85% GM) and sugar beets (95% GM)..." That looks like, basically, if it's not organic, it's genetically modified (and if it *is* organic, you're just hoping...)

Maybe if enough people write to the big food processors (Kraft; General Mills; etc.) ...