Forum discussion about GMOs, vaccination, sustainable gardening & farming, renewable energy technology, DIY green everything, EV car conversions, oz flag designs, 'green' recipes....at My Big Green Ask .com !
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( and this is the short version ! - and coming soon )
But all the extended reasoning
will be found below
- NOT !! ...but that's what they'd like you to believe, going by the way the biotech corporations and GM industry contracted scientists spin it out at us.
But like sex, they affect everyone and everything in one way or another, sooner or later. What’s disconcerting is that you’ve probably missed your virgin moment without even realising it - since you, your family and your animals have probably been having an intimate GMO relationship for some time now - they just neglected to tell you. Or ask you. Or give you a choice to opt out if you're not interested. Or protect what you're interested in from GMO intrusion.
CBC Canada report on GMO contamination, especially from GMO plants containing drugs and chemicals
OTHER THINGS I DIDN'T KNOW
After I began researching GMOs several years ago, my ignorance of the agricultural and food world became exposed when I started to learn about nanotechnology, food irradiation, the corporate gobbling up of small farmers, contemporary conventional ( non-organic) farm practices in general, agricultural sciences and agricultural policy, that have all been occurring and developing virtually unnoticed, unquestioned and untethered for the most part, by the major community.
I even discovered that there are new agri-biological techniques that have outdated and superceded the GM technology ( observations supported by biotechindustry folk ).
But this has made no difference to the all devouring GM machine in its efforts at world food market control and ownership.
"The hope of the industry is that over time the market is so flooded [with GMOs] that there’s nothing you can do about it. You just sort of surrender."Don Westfall, biotech industry consultantand vice-president of Promar International quoted in, “Starlink fallout could cost billions”, Toronto Star, 9 January 2001
"People will have [GM] Roundup Ready soya whether they like it or not."Monsanto spokesperson in Britian, Ann Foster, “The politics of food", Maria Margaronis, The Nation, 27 December 1999
- Editor
If You Need Bringing Up to Speed....
( Apologies, this section is still under construction { I'm doing this section
last } - but there's lots in the side columns and in the sections
following this one. You'll find most of these questions answered in the many
videos below, in one form or another, as well. - Ed. )
Click a panel to open it, and anywhere away from a panel to close it again.
Which crops are currently commercially released as genetically modified ?
What's in
the
pipeline?
There are
also drugs, chemicals & industrial materials
being grown
in crops.
Who's
growing it ?
Who buys
it ?
Who's
eating it ?
Can you identify the products with genetically modified ingredients?
Is it safe?
What studies have been done for
safety and health ?
How does it affect
farmers? (contamination, costs, market prices...)
Is it 'normal' food ?
The fallacy of 'substantial equivalence'
Is it the same as the plant modification practiced in the past by farmers and scientists ?
How climate change
friendly is
GMO crop production ?
Who are
the main players?
Won't we
need this to feed the world's future population size?
If
there are all these issues, why does it have so much influence in getting established?
Are
there
any viable alternatives
?
----------
Click title to open or close drop down screen
Common Accusations by Pro-GMers
Common Accusations ( Media Hooks & Spin )
By 'Pro-GMers'
About 'No-GMers' & 'No-GMer'
Arguments
( if you have some other examples, let me know. - Ed.)
"too emotional"
"irrational"
GM technology is about food, health, the environment, national economies and social infrastructure. If you saw something going on that seemd to be at risk of damaging all of that, wouldn't you be angry ? Being angry or 'emotional' doesn't change the issue or the facts. It just means you care strongly.
"luddites"
Luddites are defined as folk who oppose or fear industrial or technical change or innovation. But opponents of GM technology have usually done the research and seen that there are serious concerns that need to be, and should have been, addressed first, before introducing such consequential technology on the world.
"uninformed"
NoGMers are usually more more broadly informed, and less biased, than any government offiical, media person or GM contracted scientist. Like myself, they often spend enormous amounts of time, energy and money sometimes researching all the studies, reports, getting scientific opinions and analysis from independent scientists, attending conferences and so on. All for no personal financial gain and at cost to other personal and family commitments. All because they see a problem, and want to understand it and do something about it. It's about not being bullied and doing what's democratically more correct, and also more scientifically appropriate
"small group", "minority group of activists"
Virtually all surveys and polls, worldwide, indicate that the greater majority of people, do not want, and are strongly opposed to, the introduction of GM technology and its accompanying corporate and political agendas.
And here's a recent 'combo pack' example from Matthew Cossey, CEO of Croplife Australia ( from Stock and Land, 21-4-11 ):
"...any concern about approved GM products is driven by a non scientific, fact-free, alarmist and scaremongering section of the community "
This type of comment is typical spin from the pro GM industry and lobbyists. If he's being honest then he must actually not even listen or look at the arguments and data that No-GMers and non GM contracted scientists put forward, nor look at the global stats for people's views on GM. He may also be what I describe as a 'science / GM addict' ( no offence to Matthew ) - too addicted to their work or product ( or profits ) to be objective anymore. Fran from MADGE says she spends 6 hours a day reading up on GM, and I and others do similar. I do this because I can see that some things are not right, and this is our food supply we're talking about. ( There are plenty of things I'd rather be doing if this wasn't so damned important ! )
( Click article title to close this drop down screen )
Some audio-visual help with the science of GMOs. Please send any other recommendations here :info[AT]ifitsgmoitsgottago[DOT]org
Be sure to check Dr Judy Carmen's assessment of the
science, and its regulation, in the first video in
" What They Say" below.
' WHAT THEY SAY '
( videos )
Comments or extracts from talks, from
scientists, environmentalists, nutritonists, doctors, NGOs,
community groups, chefs, farmers, trade experts & economists,
food industry producers & manufacturers....( click images to play )
PS Some modules contain multiple videos from that speaker
PLUS :Watch Andrew Kimbrell & Debbie Barker
( Center for Food Safety - USA ), Gary Herschberg
( CEO Stoneyfield Farms USA ), Host - Deepak Chopra Scroll to view at the bottom of this page or click here
Click image to
view video. Image courtesy of nasaa
video
Steve Marsh, WA Organic Farmer 2011 : ( interviews ABC programs here and here ) Steve recently lost his organic accreditation after his fields were found to be allegedly contaminated by his neighbour's GM crop. He has been forced to sue his neighbour. Buy a poster or bumper supporting Stevehere from us, or find out more or donate to the GM Contamination Case fund hereor here
The ABC's Country Hour has audio interviews and text with almost all parties ( steve, his neighbour, steve's lawyers, growers' associations, the government, the shire council and more - here
Click image to view video - Image courtesy of greenpeace.org
Geoffrey Carracher, SA Wimmera region. Contaminated canola farm, 2005 : Through no fault of his own, Geoffrey Carracher found he had bought and planted GM contaminated seed. This video is an excerpt from an interview with him in 2008. ( apologies for my interviewing style - it was my very first ever interview, I thought I'd only be filming )
Michael Hart, a conventional livestock family farmer, has been farming in Cornwall for nearly thirty years and has actively campaigned on behalf of family farmers for over fifteen years, travelling extensively in Europe, India, Canada and the USA.
In this short documentary he investigates the reality of farming genetically modified crops in the USA ten years after their introduction. He travels across the US interviewing farmers and other specialists about their experiences of growing GM.
-----------------------
THERE'S A CAMPAIGN READY TO GO.
IT JUST NEEDS YOU !!!
To find out more - click the image
INTERNATIONAL ENQUIRIES - POSTERS CAN BE
CUSTOMISED WITH YOUR LOCAL LINKS
Contact me at info[AT]ifitsgmoitsgottago[DOT]org
BUMPER STICKERS & LAMINATED
POSTERS ( including A 'BUMPER
STICKER SIZED' POSTER )
( Click images to go to view and / or purchase pages )
( PS The images above that appear a bit 'squashed' are the
posters, which aren't of bumper sticker proportions - I haven't had
time to modify them so that they display truer to their actual
shape and layout yet.
If you go to the viewing or purchasing
pages you'll be able to view them as they are intended
and designed. The posters are an A4 sizing. )
( Prof Seralini has recently won his liable case against
a pro GMO group. Read more here. )
GM SCIENTISTS, INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENTS CALL GM CROPS
' SUBSTANTIALLY EQUIVALENT '
TO TRADITIONALLY GROWN
& BREDCROPS.
Unbelievably,
the scientifically indefensible premise that
' If it looks the same, it must be the same '
is one of the foundation platforms that the GM
industry is based upon.
" On May 26, 1992, the FDA declares that it has
determined that genetically modified foods are
'substantially equivalent' to conventionally grown
foods and therefore will not be subject to any special regulations." Read more here (not linked yet )
So, What's in Your
'Substantially Equivalent' GM Banana ?
( Here's an example using the GM banana
being developed in Qld 2007/8 )
Genes inserted into the QUT GM banana
are extracted from the following organisms :
a nematode ( a soil living roundworm), a glow in the
dark jellyfish, a strain of E.Coli and a soil bacterium
Read about the above gene sources, here( not linked yet )
The FDA justified it's position saying that assessments
concerning the safety of food products should be based on
the characteristic of the food product, and not on the
method used to develop the product.
Does this GM banana seem like it is
' substantially equivalent '
to a conventionally produced banana
to you ?
------------------------------------
As I wrote this section, the ABC's Tasmanian Country
Hour program broadcast a report on this banana below.
Listen below here, or view the online reporthere .
To view ( in full screen, new window )
- click the icon second from the right.
From
The Airwaves
Part 1
Part 2
BBC Radio 4 ( Feature Report ) A spectacular backlash, including threats against a scientist. A $150,000 grassroots campaign is crushed by a $5million corporate counterblow. Whole countries have changed policies. The link? GM foods, and the backers of agricultural biotechnology. View original posting here
( For starters... more info coming )
Use the fullscreen button ( second from end,
bottom right of player ) so you can read the
onscreen text that is displayed at times.
If there are all these issues, how and why,
are GMOs able to establish themselves ?
Try the 'quick quiz' above,
for some possible insights.
AUSTRALIAN MEDIA REPORTS
ABOUT GMOs ( RECENT & BACKGROUND REPORTS ) ( tv, radio & online only )
Current media reports from australian 'mainstream'
TV, radio and online services you may have missed.
ABC radio & TV have virtually been the only mainstream
news network, along with various community radio
stations, who have reported at any depth about
GMOs in australia.
The ABC reports bear no apparent bias toward
either a pro or anti GMO argument, and
officially remain neutral.
( some ineteresting stuff but needs updating - coming soon ) Click title to open or close drop down screen
Oz Media Drop-Screen 1
FROM LIVE W.A PARLIAMENT BROADCAST -
the (GMO) DISALLOWANCE MOTION
( to stop the legalising of growing GM canola in WA )
PART 1 : First 75 mins of the Disallowance Motion debate,
Western Australian parliament, wednesday, march 10,
2010. Features Mick Murray ( the Motion initiator ) & Chris
Tallanyne ( both for the motion ) &
John McGrath (abstained from voting )
Audio only ( 25mb )
PART 2 : Last 50 mins of the Disallowance Motion debate,
Western Australian parliament, wednesday, march 10,
2010. Predominantly Minister Peter Abetz ( Liberal party ),
supporting the motion while listing many strong issues of concern,
and Agriculture Minister Terry Redman, in this segment. Includes
the actual vote and the protocol issue at the vote.
Can be played in full screen mode ( see bottom right hand corner of player
for full screen button ). Picture quality very average
due to very large file size ( 104mb)
The following day the ABC's Country Hour program
interviewed Terry Redman & ('vote abstainer') John McGath
( government whip & member for South Perth ).
Listen here. You can view the Country Hour original
online written report here
Bush Telegraph
ABC Radio, Feb 02, 2009 : Will Ockendon reports - Guests Gustav Nossal scientist ), Julie Newman ( farmer ) and others Original source link no longer available.
Bush Telegraph
ABC Radio, Jan 28, 2010 : Michael Mackenzie- Western Australia has given the green light to farmers wanting to grow genetically modified canola.Original source link
** More australian, and international, media reports,
audio & video here
( Click title of this drop down screen to close )
For more GMO information
& enquiries, campaign involvement, receiving newsletters etc
( in Australia ):
