GMO crop contamination of the general environment, agricultural areas and food supplies is one of the biggest crimes being committed in the world by Big Agribiz like Monsanto and BASF, yet the media largely ignores it. GMO’s constitute one of the worst potential hazards to both health and the environment, while people have been brainwashed into believing that natural climate change is the biggest problem. So most of their attention is placed on running around telling people to accept global government, change their lightbulbs and cut back on their lifestyles, instead of grappling with the real issues. I’ll say no more because most people are just too dumbed-down to grasp what is happening to them.
PW
Following a Council of Ministers stalemate, the Commission has announced that it will approve a genetically modified potato for use in industrial processes and livestock feed. NGOs have reacted critically, arguing that the safety of the new crop cannot be assured.
Approving genetically modified organisms (GMOs) involves a request for authorisation by a producer. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is then mandated to conduct a scientific assessment and to report to the Commission, which then submits its decision on the matter to the Council.
In the event that the Council cannot reach a majority for or against authorisation, as was the case on 16 July 2007, the matter is handed back to the Commission, which is free to authorise the GMO based on a special regulatory procedureexternal .
Both the special regulatory procedure and the role of EFSA have been the subject of criticism (EurActiv 05/12/05 and 10/03/06), and the Commission has decided to introduce practical changes to EFSA’s GMO-approval process (EurActiv 12/04/06).
Issues:
The EU has approved GMOs only on a handful of occasions, and a de-facto approval moratorium for approving new GMO crops has been in place since 1998, largely in response to NGO pressure and public concern about the potential health risks of GMOs.
* BASF’s potato
The potato in question is a blue variety that is used primarily for industrial starch production. Developed by German chemicals giant BASF, the potato is intended for use in the production of glossy magazine covers, for example.
In April 2004, BASF requested authorisation of the potato, and the Commission published a favorable decision in December 2006, following a scientific assessment by EFSA, which concluded that cultivation of the potato did not pose any “relevant” health risks.
* Antibiotic resistance
In addition to starch enhancing genes, the potato contains antibiotic-resistant marker genes (ARMGs).
Public health watchdogs and environmental NGOs are concerned that ARMGs might be transferred from plants to bacteria, thus rendering bacteria resistant to antibiotics and undermining the effectiveness of antibiotics for treating certain infections in humans.
Another concern is that if parts of the potato, such as skins and other non-starch parts, are also used to feed livestock (as requested by BASF), then the GMO would ultimately enter the food chain on a more widespread basis.
Positions:
BASF intends to begin commercial cultivation of the potato in 2008, and is confident that the product presents no health risks. “EFSA has repeatedly stated that [it] is for humans, animals and the environment as safe as any conventional potato,” the company stated.
Commission spokesperson Barbara Helferich assured journalists in Brussels on 16 July that the Commission is making “120% sure that this product is absolutely safe”. “We will approve the potato,” she said.
Greenpeace is calling for “an urgent review of EFSA’s role in the authorisation of GMO’s”, arguing that the food safety body’s authorisation process is flawed and, in this case, ignores a 2001 directiveexternal that mandates the phasing-out of antibiotic resistant marker genes by 2004.
Friends of the Earth Europe is sceptical: “The risk of contaminating future crops is ignored. As they grow underground, it is virtually impossible to harvest all potatoes from a crop. Potatoes therefore grow back the following years and future crops could be contaminated with the genetically modified variant.”
7 responses so far ↓
Danielle // July 17, 2007 at 6:39 pm
This is absolutely disheartening. The E.U.’s
fight against G.M.O.s was the sanest reaction
and most hopeful. I am so disgusted by this.
I have written a few articles on this topic
and continue to share what I learn.
Thank you for doing the same.
Be well and enjoy the day.
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Ishereal // July 19, 2007 at 7:02 pm
P.W , I adore your comments they are always right on point. i had a question have you heard anything about experiments with genetically modifying humans or is that bogus?
Ishereal // July 19, 2007 at 7:14 pm
p.s is there anything we can eat anymore ???????????????????
pjwalker911 // July 19, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Yes, Organic foods. The easiest thing to do is to shop at organic chains like Wholefoods and Trader Joes. They have policies of maintaining food safety (no pesticides, no hormones, mostly American products, no GMO) unlike the big supermaret chains. You are never going to have a perfectly pure diet, but if you want to get close, you should shop are farmer’s markets where you know the farmers personally. Or grow your own. Fish, you want to get wild caught from the nearest American ports. Meats, you definitely want American organically grown. Water is best from a good purifier or if you can, drill your own well. City water is generally poison and bottled water is not much better. Next best is local artesian water delivered to your home.
pjwalker911 // July 19, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Ishereal:
Thanks, yeah I’m angry and disgusted not only with our predatory multi-national corporate rulers, but with the bleating sheep who can’t think for themselves and exercise common sense.
Yes, it’s called eugenics, and genetic manipulation is the leading obsession of the power elite and it has been happening for thousands of years through elite breeding programs. Now there is the transhumanist agenda to create “post-humans” through a combination of genetic engineering, nano-technology and robotics. Google Lebensborn, Eugenics Movement, transhumanism, post-human, Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance, human cloning, Raelian movement, designer babies, Human genetic engineering, bioethics.
All of this is for two things: to create a master race that rules over a slave race. All the food additives, GMOs, fluoride, aspartame, vaccines, pharmaceutical drugs, the drugging of the children are helping to implement this process.
Bottom line is that all of this is generated by Freemasonry, the religion of domination practiced by the elites of the New World Order. We must fight them. Show the People how they have been deceived, expose the criminals and put them all away.
PW
Ishereal // July 20, 2007 at 3:56 pm
i do agree but “they” have done such a good job at “dumbing” us down with propaganda and such I mean people are more interested in Paris Hilton than the fact that there is a war going which should not be going on in the first place. they buy so much into the 911 story the news tells them and refuse to educate themselves because they dont wat to be taken out of there comfort zone but i got news for them when we are all in working concentration camps how comfortable will that be. I watched the cartoon that you posted and it made so much sense but people have been trying to wake “America” up and it’s not just America anymore “they’ are trying to take over the world and keep us divided by rascism and classes. You have to wonder about the veracity in the mind frame the eite have when they think that we are nothing more than mindless cattle …………………….
Monsanto called ‘Best Corporate Citizen’ « Aftermath News // March 13, 2009 at 11:48 pm
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