The word “Illuminati” has become a catch-all term for the defacto Rulers of Planet Earth. Definition is crucial because the words “Conspiracy” and “Illuminati” have themselves become code-words for the occult (hidden) machinations of the Powers That Be. With the advent of the internet and its rough cut of “news” and disinformation, what was once considered esoteric knowledge has been revealed for all to see. Even the cowans – a derogatory Masonic term for non-Masons – and the goys – a derogatory Yiddish term for non-Jews – are learning about the Illuminati black magic hoodoo that permeates the planetary matrix.

Illuminati originally meant “the enlightened ones” in Latin, and it refers to those who control the political, economic and social infrastructures of the planet. By their reasoning, they believe they are the (self) designated rulers of Planet Earth.

Also called “Olympians” and “Moriah Conquering Wind,” the Illuminati are a “network” of interconnected “bloodlines” who call themselves “The Family” or “The Circle.” Intergenerational satanism, or more accurately Luciferianism, is their primary Belief Structure (That’s BS to you, pardner).

Also don’t forget their fatal flaw… The Illuminati consider themselves a tribe apart – Bande à part – a proud super-race who trace their genealogical origin back to the biblical Nimrod.

To add to the confusion, people sometimes refer to the Illuminati as the Bavarian secret society which infiltrated Freemasonry – even as the term “Illuminatus” is an actual title in Freemasonry.

Current understanding of the Illuminati comes from first-hand knowledge of mind control survivors like Arizona Wilder, Cathy O’Brien, author of Trance Formation of America, Brice Taylor, author of Thanks for the Memories, Kathleen Sullivan, author of MK, and Annie McKenna, author of Paperclip Dolls.

Their accounts describe a parallel Illuminati “culture” whose primary goal is to keep the populace “productive” and under control, as their corporate motto promises to deliver, “Ordo ab Chao” (Order Out of Chaos).

This parasitic Illuminati culture also uses mind control programming to keep its own members of the Family, as well as the rest of society, locked in a grid of compliance. (See “Mind Control Slavery and the New World Order”, www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=36&contentid=8774)

Various authors have further introduced errors in their “exposés” of the Illuminati by interpreting history with a bias that reflects their own political and religious indoctrination.

For example, the works of Fritz Springmeier and Cisco Wheeler, while informative about the Illuminati’s sociopathic “traditions” (no es mi costumbre) and psychopathic behaviour, which includes torture, human sacrifice and mind control, nevertheless belie a Christian programming which adds to the chaos and confusion of trying to untangle history from disinformation.

Likewise even as the writings of John Coleman, author of The Committee of 300 and Eustace Mullins, author of The World Order, describe various Illuminati organisations which exercise political and religious control in pursuit of their oft-stated goal of establishing a New World Order (One World Government), their asides reveal a rigid Christian fundamentalist mindset which undermines their credibility.

The greatest confusion, however, seems to lie in the connection between the Illuminati and the Gnostics. For example, authors like Nesta Webster in her book on Secret Societies claims the Illuminati can be traced back to the Gnostics. In other words, she frames her argument that Illuminati and the Gnostics are “bad” because they appear to be antithetical to Christianity.

This conflict then refers to the perennial battle between the Gnostics, representing the Mystery Schools, and the Roman Catholic Church which fought fiercely against self-knowledge, mysticism and other metaphysical concepts, inimical to the mind control confabulations of the Vatican.

Today this animosity is evident in the Belief Systems (BS) of Christian evangelicals, among others, who see all secret societies, Gnostics, New Agers, and the like as devil worshippers and ignorant (or conscious) agents of the Illuminati.

Not so… The Mystery Schools were pre-Christian mystical communities that were in effect educational centres with libraries and workshops amid a vibrant cultural life.

This just may be the scene of the crime, so to speak, and the origin of the current metaphysical confusion.

Was this where the great ideological schism, or the Dividing of the Way, began?

Gnostics vs. Illuminati

Comparative mythologist John Lamb Lash, the world’s foremost authority on Gnosticism and esoteric traditions, is the author of the indispensable groundbreaking book Not In His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology and the Future of Belief.

According to Lash, Mystery School adepts (so-called Gnostics) were originally members of the Magian order of shaman-initiates whose purpose was to guide humanity as teacher-mystics in pursuit of spiritual/ human evolution.

The controversy began when certain initiates of the Mystery Schools began to abuse their mystical knowledge and redirect it into behavioural manipulation, psychological programming and mind control technology. In essence, the Illuminati gave up their role as teachers to become social engineers and advisors to the Ruling Class. This coincided with the rise of the patriarchal Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, which also required techniques of mind control to keep their followers (“believers”) in line.

“Around 4000 BCE with the rise of urban civilisation in the Near East, some members of the Magian order chose to apply certain secrets of initiation to statecraft and social engineering,” writes Lash, describing the spiritual devolution of the Kali Yuga. “They became the advisors to the first theocrats of the patriarchal nation-states, but in fact the advisors were running the show.”

“Their subjects were systematically programmed to believe they were descended from the gods,” continues Lash. “The Illuminati inaugurated elaborate rites of empowerment, or kingship rituals. These rituals were in fact methods of mind control exercised on the general populace through the collective symbology and mystique of royal authority.”

Civilisation – the Civil Lie in Action – needed an iron fist in a velvet glove from the beginning, and the Illuminati were there to ensure compliance. “Kingship rituals were distinct from the rites of initiation that led to instruction by the Light and consecration to the Great Goddess,” writes Lash. “Their purpose was not education and enlightenment but social management.”

The control freak tendencies of the Illuminati are evident everywhere now, as their failure in managing the world financial system is rushing the planet headlong into economic collapse.

“Gnostics refrained from assuming any role in politics because their intention was not to change society, but to produce skilled, well-balanced, enlightened individuals who would create a society good enough that it did not need to be run by external management,” Lash continues. “The intention of the dissident Magians to run society by covert controls was based on their assumption that human beings are not innately good enough, or gifted enough, to create a humane world.”

Of course Lash is being too “liberal” in labelling the Illuminati as “dissident” since their spiritual betrayal in the Mystery School was more of a bitch slap to Gaia, than the red flag of a covert rebellion.

“The difference in views of human potential was the main force that precipitated the division of the Magians,” writes Lash, meaning that the judgmental arrogance of the Illuminati who believed they were indispensable, even as they think they’re nothing less than “God’s gift to mankind.”

“It’s simple enough to see that this mind set would develop the hierarchal structures in society today,” Lash continues.

True enough. The so-called Global Elite keep the planet under control utilising Illuminati Gofers known as politicians, military personnel, police officers, and religious leaders, whose function is to be the shepherds of society – guarding the sheep… until they’re ready for slaughter in their endless wars and intertribal rivalries.

People who behave as sheep, or so-called “sheople,” are always the ones who suffer the most because of their programming. Meanwhile the Illuminati Gofers pretend that this is the way it’s supposed to be. This long-standing ideological disagreement in the Mystery Schools has, it appears, resulted in the gross inequities of life on Planet Earth.

“The Illuminati program was (and still is) essential to patriarchy and its cover, perpetrator religion,” writes Lash, describing the global conspiracy which has conquered the world.

“While it cannot be exactly said that the deviant adepts known as Illuminati created patriarchy, they certainly controlled it,” continues Lash. “And still do. The abuse of initiatory knowledge to induce schizophrenic states (‘entrainment’), manipulate multiple personalities in the same person (‘platforming’), and command behaviour through posthypnotic suggestion (The Manchurian Candidate technique) continues to this day, with truly evil consequences for the entire world.”

Attempting to disentangle the erroneous idea that Gnostics and Illuminati refer to the same characters, Lash writes: “If we accept that the Mysteries were schools for Gaian co-evolution dedicated to the Goddess Sophia, they could not have been run by the Illuminati, as some contemporary writers (who believe they are exposing the Illuminati) have supposed. Everything the Gnostics did in the schools was intended to counterbalance and correct the machinations of the deviant adepts.”

Right intent once again becomes critical and the radical difference in ideology between the Gnostics and the Illuminati become self-evident.

“Initiation involved melting ego boundaries in preparation for deep rapport with nature, not lowering the ego consciousness, so that the subject could be behaviourally programmed using the power of suggestion, imprinting and other psychodramatic methods. These behavioural modification tools of the Illuminati were strictly forbidden in the Mysteries overseen by the Gnostics.”

The metaphysical perverts known as the Illuminati have structured today’s society to reflect the manipulation of humankind through religious belief systems, political affiliations as well as the non-stop onslaught of media programming known as “news” and “entertainment.”

The Defeat of the Illuminati

As renegades from the Mystery Schools who betrayed the Mysteries and subverted Gnosis (“Knowledge”), the Illuminati plan to divide, conquer and rule the world has worked quite well because people are easily programmed into belief systems contrary to their own welfare.

As Lash notes, “Skilled in theology and dialectical argument, the Gnostics were able to refute fanatical beliefs, but unable to protect themselves against the violence driven by those beliefs.”

In other words Judeo-Christian Annihilation & Apocalyptic Theology sponsored by the Illuminati was responsible for the destruction of the Mystery Schools and the murder of the Gnostics, who were no match for those who perceived them as a threat to their planetary dominion.

“Not only were the gnostokoi like [the female philosophy teacher] Hypatia [who was murdered by the Church] apolitical, they deliberately refrained from involvement in politics in order to dissociate themselves from the other type of initiates, the Illuminati who had been enmeshed in patriarchal and theocratic power games from their outset,” Lash concludes.

The Illuminati may be considered to be apostate Gnostics who abandoned their role of enlightening humankind in order to reap the benefits and entitlements of the Ruling Class.

Now as before the Illuminati continue to move towards their goal – a feverish dream of world domination culminating in the so-called New World Order (One World Government), which simply means Global Techno-Feudalism.

This has always been Metaphysical Warfare. And humankind’s choice is once again – Freedom or Slavery.

Maybe the “Know-It-Alls” – a derogatory term used by the Church against the Gnostics – might be able to help them out…

About the Author

Writer and Artist URI DOWBENKO is the author of Bushwhacked: Inside Stories of True Conspiracy and Hoodwinked: Watching Movies with Eyes Wide Open. He is also the founder and publisher of www.ConspiracyPlanet.com, www.ConspiracyDigest.com,www.AlMartinRaw.com, and www.InsiderIntelligence.com, as well as the publisher of The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider by Al Martin. You can visit Uri atwww.UriDowbenko.com and www.NewImprovedArt.com.

The above article appeared in New Dawn Special Issue 18.

If you appreciated this article, please consider a digital subscription to New Dawn.

© Copyright New Dawn Magazine, http://www.newdawnmagazine.com. Permission granted to freely distribute this article for non-commercial purposes if unedited and copied in full, including this notice.

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Image Source

Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri, Wake Up World
Waking Times

America’s Invisible Crises – Connecting the Dots (Part 1):

Modern technology is growing by leaps and bounds. The corporate-controlled media extolls its virtues, but does not cover the known harm of its dark side. Most of this technology goes unchecked for human safety.

The following is a short synopsis of the hazards of several invisible technologies that are already an unreported and grave danger to all of us.

Nano-Technology

For example, nano-technology, including nano-biotechnology, brought in $2.13 billion to corporations in 2012; but consumers are never told of the many dangers they pose. It is estimated by next year (2014), this unregulated industry may be worth $24 billion.

Nanotechnology is a manipulation of matter and works with the very basic building blocks of life. The scale is incredibly small: one nano-meter is one-billionth of a meter. So, it’s invisible, rarely listed in ingredients (although there are more than an estimated 1,000 products now on the market – no one knows the exact number of products); and it is unregulated and untested for either short or long-term dangers.

Products using nano-technology are found in: cosmetics (including sunscreens and anti-ageing creams); medicines; energy; electronics; clothes [for example, to make them very lightweight, or for socks to resist odors]; paints; various coatings; and scratch-resistant car bumpers.

This technology is also in the highly toxic Chemtrails aerosols, as nano-coated fiber Aluminum, that, for the past 15 years, are poisoning us daily. The Air Force has admitted to using them. Documents have been published on the Internet, over many years, listing various patents for these covert and criminal programs. And most recently, a former Air Force Industrial Hygienist has confirmed this stealth geo-engineering program from first-hand knowledge.

See: www.youtube.com/watch?v=icNNr7o5n_k

Retired Professor Ron Epstein, formerly at San Francisco State University, has compiled a list of websites linking nano health dangers.

See: http://online.sfsu.edu/rone/Nanotech/nanotech.htm

Even as the technology’s health ramifications were barely understood, a 2003 report already noted:

“… that nanoparticles are showing up in the livers of research animals, can seep into living cells, and perhaps piggyback on bacteria to enter the food chain. The commercial use of nanoscale carbon was likened ‘to either the next best thing to sliced bread or the next asbestos.’ Despite these revelations, there is no regulatory body (and no plans for one) dedicated to overseeing this potent and powerfully invasive new technology.”(1)

In another more recent science report in 2011, it was noted that “nanoparticles in cells can disrupt important intracellular transport pathways … (and also) can interfere with the transport of vital substances in cells.”(2) As with asbestos and tabacco, manufacturers knew all along about the toxicity of these products. It is ignored, because Greed trumps everything else. This is all about massive corporate profits; but never about our safety or any kind of real precaution.

RFID Chips

Then there is the explosion of use of RFID [Radio Frequency Identification] chips. They are made of a two-way radio antenna, and some encasement or support, such as small glass vial implanted under the skin. The origins of this technology go back to 1948 when the idea was first conceived. They are now found in ATM and credit cards, and some “enhanced” driver’s licenses, highway toll systems, and inventory tracking systems.

First our animals were RFID chipped. Supposedly, it was to keep track of them in case of theft or if the animal was lost. However, from the very beginning, there were medical reports that the site at which a dog or cat was chipped became the site of an aggressive carcinogenic tumor. Mainstream news did not report these dangers.

A review of the scientific literature from 1990-2006 documents “Microchip-Induced Tumors in Laboratory Rodents and Dogs.”(3) There are also numerous reports from pet magazines of microchipped animals who have developed these cancers soon after being chipped and then died.

See: www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/microchips-pet

Another scientific report on cancer and microchipping is here:

http://vet.sagepub.com/content/43/4/545.abstract

Inevitably, it was then just a short jump from our pets being chipped to the next step: our children. There are reports of children’s clothes being chipped to track them in school or for truancy. Some misguided and mis-informed parents thought that this would be a good way to keep tabs on their children; and they have supported having their children physically chipped. This is not only morally and ethically reprehensible, but also an invasion of privacy. This step now holds the same carcinogenic dangers for children that are also seen in pets.

See: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-006-0014-2 and www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1567422306000378

The latest direction in chipping the human population comes from the hidden part of the Obama “health care” reform. Who reads more than 1,000 pages of mostly incomprehensible “doublethink” drivel? The Senate Healthcare bill HR3200 was passed in 2010, and requires the implant of an RFID chip in every American. This chip will be inserted into our skin and linked to all our banking, medical, and other personal documents. Here is a short quote:

“The Secretary shall establish a national medical device registry (in this subsection referred to as the ‘registry’) to facilitate analysis of postmarket safety and outcomes data on each device that— ‘is or has been used in or on a patient; ‘and is— ‘a class III device’; or ‘a class II device that is implantable, life-supporting, or life-sustaining.’”(4)

Since there is no actual mention of the word “RFID” chipping in the bill, one must then go to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to find that this “medical device” is actually an RFID chip.(5) The entire wording of this document is loaded with doublespeak and massive obfuscation. It is a deliberate and criminal act of harm cloaked in Orwellian terminology. How many Americans know that this is part of this so-called health care “reform”?

So, we continued to be tracked by corporations and agencies – no longer working for us. Since these devices can be linked to constant and toxic monitoring, who isn’t to say that these chips could actually be “turned off” without our knowledge, and this terminates a life?

Katherine Albrecht, the co-author of “Spychips: How Major Corporations and Governments Plan to Track your Every Move” and head of the consumer group, Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering [CASPIAN] says:

“The reason you’re starting to see [RFID tags show up in credit and ATM cards] is that the industry itself did some studies and found that people spend more when they actually don’t have to handle their credit card. The act of looking at your card, and the act then of having to get out your pen and sign for [the purchase] creates many decision points at which a consumer could decide NOT [author emphasis] to make the purchase.”(6)

This is all about manipulating consumer choices, no matter what the risks involved. So far, four states have banned forced human RFID tagging: Wisconsin (2006), California (2008), Missouri (2008), and North Dakota (2012).

The EMF Global Grid

The Electromagnetic Frequency Spectrum is the scientific term for the entire range of light distribution and this goes from radio waves, to microwaves, infrared, visibile, ultraviolet, x-ray, to gamma waves.(7) At its lowest range, from 0 to 13 Hz, the body is in a relaxed state. Past that small range, there are various stages of increasing panic; and then damage to the human body ensues. These higher ranges emit various levels of massive electroshocks per second. This includes: wireless internet technology, mobile phones, cordless phones, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, computers, and AC current in TVs.

As one of the world’s leading EMF scientists, Prof. Olle Johansson, has noted many times: “This is the first time in human history that we are constantly exposed to this technology, 24/7/365. It is unprecedented.” Prof. Johannson has been researching the EMF Spectrum for almost 40 years, and has written many scientific journal articles, noting the cumulative dangers of this constant exposure.

Here are four links to his research:

1. Cell phone dangers: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS7YIZ1x0r8

2. Wake-up Call from Prof. Johansson: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdmQDJ9WOiQ

3. This is part 1 of a 2-part interview Prof. Johansson and I did:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXqud__K5PU

4. Irreversible sterility: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH3gJctqKk4

In essence, there is no safe level for this invisibile, but highly dangerous, EMF bombardment. We are constantly surrounded by it via thousands of cell towers linking to satellites; and the electrosmog pollution has already had devastating effects on all living beings [humans, animals, and plants]. We now have an epidemic of glioma brain cancers from cell phone use. This used to be a rare form of cancer, now it is prevalent, yet hardly noted by the mass media.

When there are 6-billion cell phones in use, the corporate profits continue to take precedence over our safety. This was “cool” technology when Star Trek’s Captain Kirk was using his communicator 40 years ago. Now, it is our deadly cell phone.

There is also a link between this wireless, cellular communication and Chemtrails. Barium is one of the main ingredients in this toxic aerosol, and it is an excellent conductor of electromagnetic energy. We have been breathing a hazardous level of Barium for almost 15 years. Long-term exposure damages the lungs and heart.

When a person uses a cell phone regularly, a common complaint is severe headaches. As little as two minutes on a cell phone is enough to open the blood-brain barrier “allowing blood proteins inside to disrupt brain signals and start killing brain cells. A cell phone typically transmits at 2 watts.” This creates a situation where blood toxins and proteins enter the brain and neurons are damaged in the brain’s memory and thinking areas.

Dr. Leif Salford notes that he is finding an “astonishing number of dead neuron cells, actually [people] suffering holes in the brain from the damage” created by just one cell phone call. The serious memory problems already seen worldwide are, in great part, due to this link between barium with its electrical conductivity and constant EMF exposure.

See: http://aircrap.org/chemtrails-wireless/337175

Over the past two years, I have written several articles on the extreme dangers of “Smart” Meters – using another part of the EMF Spectrum. It is the planned global change from analogue meters to digital meters. It is being done supposedly to upgrade the entire global energy system. Done by many different companies worldwide, the changeover involves billions of dollars for corporations. However, not one of these companies has ever advised their customers of the many known dangers. See:

1. “Smart Meter Dangers: The Latest from, Dr. David O. Carpenter. July 14, 2012:

http://consciouslifenews.com/smart-meter-dangers-latest-dr-david-carpenter

2. “Smart Meter Dangers Update: Scientific Proof of These Hazards.” Feb. 10, 2012:

http://consciouslifenews.com/smart-meter-dangers-update-scientific-proof-hazards/1124466

3. “Radiofrequency Radiation: The Invisibile Hazards of “Smart Meters” Aug. 19, 2011:

www.globalresearch.ca/radiofrequency-radiation-the-invisible-hazards-of-smart-meters/26082

None of this technology is even remotely safe. For decades, we continue to be uninformed experimental lab rats. But when we are exposed to a multi-pronged environmental assault that already has devastating consequences to our well being, safety, and even our ability to reproduce, it is way past time that we hold “public” officials and corporate criminals accountable.

What can we do? I have a workable, real plan. Watch for Part 2 next week.

About the Author

Environmental writer and educator Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri is the author of the highly acclaimed book “The Uterine Crisis”,  the result of 15 years of independent research linking women’s reproductive illnesses with invisible environmental toxins. London’s “The Ecologist” calls this book an “inspiration”. For decades, Dr. Perlingieri has been writing about the links between chronic exposure to invisible environmental toxins and dramatic increases in illness. Her cross-disciplinary lecture at the first US Chemtrails conference in August 2012 was live-streamed to 30 countries. Dr. Perlingieri continues to take a cross-disciplinary approach to all her research. She has a background in both science and art. In addition to her graduate academic degrees, she also has had formal herbal training and studies in the US, London, and Italy.

References:

1. “No Small Matter! Nanotech Particles Penetrate Living Cells and Accumulate in Animal Organs.”

See: http://online.sfsu.edu/rone/Nanotech/nosmallmatter.html

2. “Health Risks With Nanotechnology? Nanoparticles Can Hinder Intracellular Transport.” Science Daily. Aug. 24, 2011:

See: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110824091143.htm

3. Katherine Albrecht. “Microchip-Induced Tumors in Laboratory Rodents and Dogs. A Review of the Literature 1990-2006.” 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society.”

See: www.chipmenot.org/pdfs/P074.pdf

4. H.R. 3200, section 2521, page 1001, paragraph 1. There is also a version, HR 3590.

See also: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsbgqTCS9ZQ

5. “Another Hidden Secret in Obamacare “RFID CHIP Implants.” Jan. 22, 2011:

See: www.fourwinds10.net/homeland_security_patriot_act_fema/news.php?q=1331216728

and from the FDA’s website on “Medical Devices”:

www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ResourcesforYou/Industry/ucm310872.htm

6. “Experts Warn RFID Risks Outweigh Benefits.” Oct. 19, 2011:

See: www.wnd.com/2011/10/357773

7. Two good sources of visuals on the EMF Spectrum are:

http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-electromagnetic-spectrum

and http://bevolution.org/BrainwavemodelBevolutionGB.pdf

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Currently there is no commercial growing of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in the United Kingdom, only an experimental trial of GM Wheat which started in 2012, but now the Prime Minister’s personal scientific adviser; Sir Mark Walport and others are pushing an agenda to allow GM crops from Biotech firms such as Monsanto to be grown for commercial use.

Sir Mark said it was his ‘job to advise on the science and it is then the politician’s job to decide how to use that … The final decision is a political decision’.

His comments – in his first public speech in the job – are the latest indication that the GM lobby is rapidly gaining influence after years of public hostility.
- Let farms grow GM food, says PM’s personal scientific adviser: Top adviser backs calls to relax rules on crops

“My job is to provide the best, most accurate scientific advice,” he said. “The job of the civil service is classically sometimes portrayed as telling truth to power, and there’s no doubt that is my job.”
- Case for GM crops is becoming ‘stronger’, says chief scientist

Over the past 8 weeks 6 supermarkets; Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, Marks & Spencer and Co-operative ended bans on farm suppliers giving GM Soya and Maize to animals producing meat, milk and eggs, this includes free range animals.  Waitrose still requires non-GM feed for poultry, eggs and lamb.

The supermarket giants said suppliers had told them that non-GM feed for poultry is now too difficult and too expensive to obtain. There are also concerns that there is a risk non-GM and GM animal feed could become mixed up, making it more difficult to police the UK food chain.
- M&S, Co-op and Sainsbury’s say chickens will be fed on GM soya

This is primarily because Monsanto soya grown in the US and Brazil (where a lot of the feed is imported from) is over 80% genetically modified.

A new study in France has found genetically modified maize to have devastating effects on the health of lab rats — which could indicate risks for other biological creatures, including humans. For two years, these rats were fed a diet of 33% genetically modified corn developed by Monsanto. The results are horrific. The rats “developed tumours the size of ping-pong balls, liver damage and digestive problems” according to the study.
- French GMO Research Finds Monsanto Corn Causes Cancer: America Should Pay Attention

Of course the European Union has ignored a GMO ban saying that more research needs to be done to prove it is dangerous, rather than to prove it is safe, as it should be.

A survey by the Food Standard Agency last year found two in three people believe foods from animals given a GM diet should be described/labelled as such, however there are no plans to do so.

A British Science Association study showed public support for GM foods declining from 46% in 2002 to 27% now, even with all of the disinformation of the media, food companies, etc…

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson last year came out as keen supporter of GM crops, dismissing consumer fears as ‘humbug’.

Certain myths are used to push the GMO agenda such as increased yield, while 15 million tonnes of food are thrown away every year in the UK.

For estimates with prices of how much is wasted (in trillions) click here.

All of this ignoring the decline of Bees from pesticides and GMOs that we all need to pollinate our food.

The proof is obvious that one of the major reasons of the bees’ decline is by the ingestion of GMO proteins. This is problematic, as there is such an increase of indigestible foods in humans and bees. The situation of colon cancer in humans is somewhat similar in occurrence. This is only a theory but leaves one to wonder what are we eating en mass. The external or complementary good of the bee is obviously a rise for a global concern. The long-term economical and environmental impact has yet to be completely understood.
- Death of the Bees. Genetically Modified Crops and the Decline of Bee Colonies in North America

Last week the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the body of scientists that provides scientific risk assessment to the European Union regarding food and feed safety, issued a report that acknowledges a number of serious risks associated with the use of systemic pesticides–clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam–on bee health.

These pesticides of the neonicotinoid family paralyze insects by blocking a specific pathway that transmits nerve impulses in the insects nervous system.

Evidence demonstrating a strong association between these pesticides and a significant decline in bee health and bee colony collapse has been growing. Beekeepers in the United States, facing on average 40% over-wintering losses, greater if summer losses are factored in, have been urging the Environmental Protection Agency to suspend the registration of clothianidin to no avail. This past summer, the French health and safety agency, ANSES, announced a ban on the use of Syngenta’s pesticide, Cruiser OSR, which contains thiamethoxam used to coat rapeseed plants, citing bee collapses concerns.
- European Food Safety Authority: Neonics Pose Acute Risk To Honeybees

However there has been some good news on this topic recently;

Today (8 May 2013) major European retailers from five countries, including Germany’s REWE Group, EDEKA and LIDL have released the Brussels Soy Declaration in which they have pledged support for the non-GMO soy production system of Brazil.

Large retailers in Germany, France, Austria, Luxembourg, and other mainland European countries, quite opposite to the UK, are increasing their use of non-GMO soy in livestock production because they believe that consumers like choice as to whether they purchase genetically modified products.
- EU retailers pledge support for Brazilian non-GMO soy

About the Author

Aaron Jackson is a writer for the excellent site, Exposing The Truth. Please visit them on Facebook, here.


Sources:

Consumers should have the right to know if they are eating GM food – The Guardian

Let farms grow GM food, says PM’s personal scientific adviser: Top adviser backs calls to relax rules on crops – Daily Mail

Case for GM crops is becoming ‘stronger’, says chief scientist – The Telegraph

The inconvenient truth about GM – The Telegraph

EU retailers pledge support for Brazilian non-GMO soy – AllAboutFeed

10 reasons why we don’t need GM foods – GM Watch

Making the food and farming industry more competitive while protecting the environment – GOV.UK

GM crops and foods in Britain and Europe – GeneWatch

GM wheat? NO THANKS! – GM Freeze

Scottish Government Policy on Genetically Modified (GM) Crops – The Scottish Government

More hidden GMOs in British food – Alliance for Natural Health Europe

Regulation of genetically modified organisms in the European Union – Wikipedia

A View Of GMOs From The UK – AgBioForum

Campaign to Ban Genetically Modified Food - Natural Law Party of The United Kingdom

UK supermarkets: “Let them eat GM!” - Alliance for Natural Health Europe

M&S, Co-op and Sainsbury’s say chickens will be fed on GM soya – The Guardian

French GMO Research Finds Monsanto Corn Causes Cancer: America Should Pay Attention – policymic

Study linking GM maize to cancer must be taken seriously by regulators – The Guardian

Cancer row over GM foods as study says it did THIS to rats… and can cause organ damage and early death in humans – Daily Mail

Monsanto Corn Study In France Finds Tumors And Organ Damage In Rats – Huffington Post

Death of the Bees. Genetically Modified Crops and the Decline of Bee Colonies in North America – Global Research

Dead Bee’s – Monsanto Genetically Engineered Seeds Killing Off Honeybees – Underground Health

Europe Takes Action To Protect Bees But Where Is the EPA? – GMO Journal

European Food Safety Authority: Neonics Pose Acute Risk To Honeybees – GMO Journal

Monsanto buys leading bee research firm after being implicated in bee colony collapse – Natural News

Environment minister says UK families are losing £50 a month on wasted food – The Independent

Food waste facts – Feeding The 5000

The cost of food waste in the UK every year – Love Food Hate Waste

The post GMOs Quietly Pushed For Commercial Growing in The UK appeared first on Waking Times.

The federal government should stop building a pointless $7.7 billion facility to convert plutonium into fuel for nuclear reactors.

Can a single example illustrate why the federal budget is so hard to get under control? A somewhat obscure nuclear processing plant on the Savannah River in South Carolina might do the trick.

The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, known by the awkward acronym MOX, is a multi-billion dollar facility the government’s been building since 2005 to convert weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for nuclear reactors.

Construction hasn’t exactly gone smoothly. Take the South Carolina facility’s cost: The government initially projected a $1.7 billion price tag. Construction, now at least three years behind schedule, is currently estimated to cost a cool $7.7 billion before the plant goes online — if that ever happens.

Plus, the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semi-autonomous Department of Energy branch responsible for the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, has grossly mismanaged the MOX program.

With all the recent doom and gloom over the federal budget, axing a multi-billion dollar boondoggle should be a no-brainer.

You’d think so, but MOX shows how difficult it is to cut a federal program once it lands in an agency’s budget.

The National Nuclear Security Administration is doing everything it can to keep the ill-fated MOX program — that it can neither afford nor justify — funded.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone who has followed the agency, which is notoriously bad at managing the contractors who design, build, and run its nuclear facilities. It even has the dubious distinction of being named to the Government Accountability Office’s list of programs at a high risk for fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement for years.

Other National Nuclear Security Administration projects, such as a European-based bomb program, a nuclear materials facility in New Mexico, and a uranium facility in Tennessee, have all garnered congressional scrutiny and criticism because of cost increases of billions of dollars over the past few years. And the agency still can’t seem to get its act together.

Just last month, a federal inspector general reported that the agency lost nearly $4 million to the contractor running construction at the MOX facility. The contractor, Shaw AREVA MOX Services, routinely billed the agency on behalf of its subcontractors for living expenses and pricy plane tickets that weren’t eligible for reimbursement. But, because of the agency’s hands-off approach to management, it unknowingly paid the bills, anyway.

Frustratingly for taxpayers, the Inspector General had warned the agency that it was on track for losing money on MOX as early as 2005.

And that’s not even the worst thing about this mammoth waste of money.

The plant is intended to convert weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. That might sound like a great idea for disposing of the nation’s excess plutonium, except not a single U.S. reactor uses this type of fuel. Nor are any companies in the nuclear power business interested in using it in their reactors. As you can probably figure out, the lack of a market for MOX fuel renders this facility essentially useless.

Thankfully, it looks like the administration is finally getting the message that no one wants what it’s selling. President Barack Obama’s latest budget request to Congress proposes slashing the facility’s budget next year while the National Nuclear Security Administration looks for less expensive ways to handle its excess plutonium. This is a step in the right direction, to be sure, but it doesn’t go far enough. And, of course, it’s years overdue.

Instead of zeroing out funding for MOX, Obama’s plan will pour more than a billion dollars into the facility over the next five years. The plan is to complete the shell of the building and put a roof on it. Given that the roof is already built, this part of the plan seems like another massive waste of money.

About the Author

Mia Steinle is an investigator for the Project On Government Oversight. POGO is part of the Pentagon Budget Campaign, a broad national effort to rein in wasteful Pentagon spending. POGO.org

This article is a feature of OtherWords. 

Distributed via OtherWords. OtherWords.org

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Almost all the media channels you watch are controlling your perception of reality – namely to get you to value their commodities (goods and services) instead of yourself and your own morals and values. This affects you at every level, from the food you eat, the friends you are more likely to make, the goods your purchase, and even the careers you choose or education you decide to get. It also affects your self worth as you believe you are only as good as the things you can buy or the ‘hot’ woman you can take out, since sex and money are the primary ways media motivates you. The world has become censored in ways you wouldn’t even imagine in both covert and overt ways. Let’s look at the six major corporations who control every single media station that you probably peruse on a daily basis:

• Comcast – formerly owned by GE, controls MSNBC, NBC and Telemundo
• Disney – controls ESPN, the History Channel, A & E and Lifetime
• Viacom – the parent company of Paramount, BET and MTV
• CBS – and its dozens of affiliates
• Newscorp – controls Fox News, New York Post, Wall Street Journal
• Time Warner – controls CNN, Time, People Magazine and Warner Brothers

Recent egregious, top-down censorship incidents include the following:

• Monsanto threatened Fox investigative reporters, who wanted to out bovine flu, and stated, “We’ll tell you what the news is.”
• ABC was going to air a story on 20/20 about how Disney Land was going to hire pedophiles. The story wasn’t aired because ABC is owned by Disney.
• CNN’s coverage of the deep water horizon oil spill was laughable when just after the coverage aired, there was a commercial for BP Oil, touting the benefits of enjoying wildlife in the Gulf.

These are just a few examples of a rampant and detestable control of your brainwaves, via the air waves. Only 118 people sit on more than 200 media boards that drive most of what you see, hear or look at. So a very small number of people is controlling the media with complete disregard for people and their health and well being.

There are alternative news media outlets that have popped up all over the internet to try to give real facts and not corporate agendas to the people. They include Waking Times, for example, as well as InfoWars, Natural News, Natural Society, DavidIcke’s site, GreenMeInfo, Prevent Disease, Activist Post, and many more.

Some of these sites are heavy on the ‘conspiracy’ theory angle. Others try to offer unbiased news as much as possible, since we all alter ‘information’ based on our own opinions. In the very least, these alternative news sources are not controlled by an elite population of merely 118 people who are essentially running the world through managing our perceptions of it. There is a grand diversity of ideas and interpretations of world events.

If you know of other great alternative news sources that really provide good information and not merely a good brainwashing dosed with a heaping spoonful of propaganda, please list them below.

About the Author

Christina Sarich is a musician, yogi, humanitarian and freelance writer who channels many hours of studying Lao Tzu, Paramahansa Yogananda, Rob Brezny,  Miles Davis, and Tom Robbins into interesting tidbits to help you Wake up Your Sleepy Little Head, and See the Big Picture. Her blog is Yoga for the New World. Her latest book is Pharma Sutra: Healing the Body And Mind Through the Art of Yoga.

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When former service men that have battled in Iraq start to encourage people to organize against the very same government that they once fought far, it gets some attention. Adam Kokesh, a once US Marine and veteran who has been organizing against the US government since 2007, was in a jail cell until May 24^th. While some of his acts of civil disobedience in recent years have been called into question, there is a huge swell of support for this vocal ex-marine who urges us to demand an ‘orderly dissolution of the federal government,’ in a recent interview with Alex Jones.

Kokesh read the following statement from a Philadelphia Federal Prison just a few weeks ago, and was released the very next day:

“When a government has repeatedly and deliberately failed to follow its own laws, violated the fundamental human rights of its citizens, threatened the sanctity of a free press, created institutions intended to eliminate privacy of communication, waged war at the behest of special interest that threatens the public safety, killed hundreds of children with drone strikes, imprisoned and destroyed the lives of countless individuals for victimless crimes, stifled economic opportunity to maintain the dominance of the financial elite, stolen from the people through an absurd system of taxation and inflation, sold future generations into debt slavery, and abused its power to suppress political opposition, it is unfit to exist and it becomes the duty of the people to alter or abolish that government by whatever means necessary to secure liberty and ensure peace.

“A new American revolution is long overdue. This revolution has been brewing in the hearts and minds of the people for many years, but this Independence Day, it shall take a new form as the American Revolutionary Army will march on each state capital to demand that the governors of these 50 states immediately initiate the process of an orderly dissolution of the federal government through secession and reclamation of federally held property. Should one whole year from this July 4th pass while the crimes of this government are allowed to continue, we may have passed the point at which non-violent revolution becomes impossible.

“The time to sit idly by has passed. To remain neutral is to be complicit, just doing your job is not an excuse, and the line in the sand has been drawn between the people, and the criminals in Washington, D.C. While some timid souls will say that it is too early, that we can solve this problem through democratic means provided by government, that current levels of taxation are reasonable for the services provided, and that the crimes of this government are merely a tolerable nuisance, it may already be too late.

“While there is risk in drastic action, the greater danger lies in allowing this government to continue unchallenged. So if you are content with the status quo, stay home, get fat, watch the fireworks from a safe distance, and allow this Independence Day to pass like any other. But if you see as we see, and feel as we feel, we will see you on the front lines of freedom on July 4th, 2013for this, The Final American Revolution.”

As Jeff Berwick, of TDV points out, “The extortion arm of the US government, the IRS, has admitted to targeting people with certain political beliefs for aggressive shakedowns.” With recent news that Google has been forced to hand over private information to the US government, it seems that targeting individuals that keep the system accountable is getting easier all the time.

Since the original July 4^th demonstration that Kokesh planned asked Americans to sling rifles over their shoulders, some critics were calling him ‘crazy,’ while others were understandably arguing that we should be able to uphold our rights that were upheld in Supreme Court five years ago in a landmark decision (District of Columbia vs. Heller), that protected any individual US citizen’s right to carry a loaded firearm, otherwise known as the second amendment.

Perhaps you don’t agree with Kokesh’s particular method of voicing his displeasure with the Federal Government, but what other measures might we take to protect ourselves from a system that has gone madly out of control? If this is not a time for self-defense, as the second amendment was originally meant to support, then when is it? Kokesh has cancelled the gun march, but encourages us, via a recent interview to “appeal on a state level” and protest at state capitols. Why the sudden change of heart? Kokesh hasn’t yet explained, but some think it is going to be a wildcat protest of sorts, happening through all 50 states.

About the Author

Christina Sarich is a musician, yogi, humanitarian and freelance writer who channels many hours of studying Lao Tzu, Paramahansa Yogananda, Rob Brezny,  Miles Davis, and Tom Robbins into interesting tidbits to help you Wake up Your Sleepy Little Head, and See the Big Picture. Her blog is Yoga for the New World. Her latest book is Pharma Sutra: Healing the Body And Mind Through the Art of Yoga.

This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.

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The economics of oil or natural gas hydrofracking are seldom analyzed from the perspective of the American consumer. Most discussions focus upon the investment opportunities of specific companies, royalties to leaseholders, windfall tax revenues that state governments will benefit from and the bonanza that local communities will enjoy from the added business activity. Missing is a clear understanding of the pricing points and factors that will determine the actual selling charge and total all inclusive retrieval costs in the domestic market. Will the price of energy drop precipitously or will the net effect be that the native end user sees no direct benefit from the rush to drill?

The environmental risks of the fracking process are real. Policymic presents an assessment of the merits of Hydrofracking Fact and Fiction: What You Need to Know About the Controversial Practice.

“Hydrofracking uses a lot of water: it may take several million gallons of water to properly frack a single well. Water is the main ingredient in hydrofracking; the sand is used to help keep the fractures open once they are created, while the mix of chemicals helps the process along and eases the flow of gas/oil. It is hard to say what chemicals are used since most firms treat their frack mixtures as proprietary secrets, and thanks to industry lobbying efforts, the Environmental Protection Agency ruled in 2005 that companies do not have to disclose their frack mixtures. Much of the water used in hydrofracking eventually comes back up to the surface contaminated with hydrocarbons, sand and other chemicals. Treatment and disposal of this used water is a major challenge to any hydrofracking operation. Environmentalists are sounding the alarm over hydrofracking-related groundwater contamination, contending that methane gas and fracking chemicals are migrating up from the frack locations and into local water tables.”

The next point starts with a specious assumption:

“The economic benefits of hydrofracking are obvious, but is the process too inherently dangerous to use, or can its environmental risks be mitigated? That is the question to ponder. Unfortunately both the oil and gas industry, and environmentalists are doing their best to make an informed debate on the issue impossible.”

Who really reaps economic gains from this process? Clearly, the corporatists have a strategy that benefits from international sales, while burdening local jurisdictions with the reclamation expenses from the negative eco aftermaths. Also, the effect from actual greater production extraction costs results in selling in to markets willing to pay top prices for the oil or gas.

Opponents of hydrofracking warn of the Fracking Economics Revealed as Shale Gas Bubble, Not Silver Bullet.

“The reports, Drill Baby Drill by veteran coal and gas geologist David Hughes and Shale and Wall Street by financial analyst Deborah Rogers, assess the economic sustainability of the tight oil and shale gas booms that are sweeping America.

Together, the authors conclude that rather than offering the nation a century of cheap energy and economic prosperity, fracking will provide only a decade of gas and oil abundance, at most, and is creating a fragile new financial bubble that is already starting to deflate. Additional research conclusions discussed at the briefing included:

1. The shale gas and tight oil booms have been oversold. According to actual well production data filed in many states, shale gas and shale oil reserves have been overestimated by operators by as much as 400-500 percent.

2. Wall Street has played a key behind-the-scenes role in hyping the fracking boom through mergers and acquisitions and transactional fees, similar to the pattern seen in the housing boom that led to the financial crisis.

3. High productivity shale plays are not common. Just five gas plays and two oil plays account for 80 percent of production of those energy sources, while the most productive areas constitute relatively small “sweet spots” within those plays.

4. Production rates are already in decline in many shale plays. The high rates of per-well investment required to maintain production mean U.S. shale gas production may have already peaked and maintaining production will require high rates of potentially unsustainable, high-cost drilling.

Deborah Rogers points out the most significant economic consequence from hydrofracking.

‘Exporting is a last ditch effort to shore up a failing balance sheet. Exportation will drive the price higher in the U.S.There’s no doubt about it. The question is how high will it go. When you are producing a commodity and have produced it to such a high extent, you want to find someone who will buy it, and in this case, it will be the Asians.’”

Here is the key issue. If the energy resources from fracking are destined for an export market, sold at a dramatically higher price overseas, the pressure will increase to raise domestic prices when the oversupply vanishes.

The greed from the Fracking Boom Prompts Foreign Export Of U.S. Gas, Could Drive Up Prices At Home, inevitably demonstrates that the public will never experience the benefits of low cost energy produced from our own soil.

“In recent months, however, production has begun to level off as the glut of natural gas keeps U.S. prices down. In response, producers have begun pushing to export the fuel to Europe and Asia, where prices are far higher.

Approval of all the projects currently under review by the Energy Department could result in the export of more than 40 percent of current U.S. production of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, which is gas that’s been converted to liquid form to make it easier to store or transport.”

Energy internationalists, opportunistic politicians, Wall Street banksters and irresponsible developers would stash ill-gotten gain from the pillaging of our domestic resources, as our energy rich residents get to pay a higher price for their energy needs. Add into the equation the enormous environmental chemical pollution of our finite ground water and you have a monumental disaster in the making.

Since safeguards and less caustic additives can be substituted within the fracking technology, the bare minimum course is to protect the water supply. In addition, production from such development needs to have a direct benefit to the American consumer. No fracking for export sales is the national interest.

Please visit BATR.org, where this article was originally featured.

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The Western World is on the brink. That means the whole World is. An energy like no other is coursing through the veins of those who have opened their hearts and minds and is producing an energy ‘return’ that is steadily undermining even the best laid plans of the scheming global elite. It is happening because the Masonic manipulators energy output is an inverted and distorted form of the energy output of those who are awake and awakening. As long as a large majority of people act according to the inverted energy plan the elite cabal gets its way – but once a critical mass cut into the true expression of Universal energy – the inverted one gets into the slip stream of its own turbulence – and it’s fear based energy weapons start jamming. While on the surface it looks like ‘business as usual,’ just under the surface it doesn’t. Here in the UK, a significant number of people are experiencing – maybe for the first time – that strange feeling that eats into one when what is being said ‘officially’ and what is happening ‘actually’ fail to match – big-time!

Universal consciousness is on the rise – and it is blatantly contradicting what engineered universal un-consciousness is still doggedly trying to make us believe in! It’s like two weather fronts bumping into one another, the turbulence that swirls around as a result catches everything and everybody. Do you feel it? And yes, the weather itself is at the heart of this freakish state of affairs. The day before Bilderberg we were slammed by a massive chemtrailing operation and a weather forecast that got the temperature wrong by eight degrees centigrade. That is with super computers and hundreds of forecasting experts making their judgements about the weather on that very day – not even in advance. One might have thought that the coordinated conspiracy between government and paid-up weather forecasters would be pretty full-proof. But because the aerosol geo-engineering of the atmosphere cannot be a ‘precise science‘, in an exact parallel with the genetic engineering of plants and animals, it will inevitably back-fire on it’s perpetrators and proponents. So it is that weather forecasters who don’t supply the public with what they know is happening – but just what they want their listeners/viewers to believe is happening – are looking increasingly silly, as their forecasts go wildly wrong. So you see, the status quo’s version of what should be happening, and what is actually happening, are falling out of sync.

This was best witnessed on 9/11. The BBC and other mainstream US media operations had been given due secret warning that the twin towers would be brought down on that date. So they got their staff and kit over there to get the best filming angles set up in advance. A HAARP activation had already cleared the skies to ensure a perfect blue sky and excellent photographic conditions. And then there it was – we rushed to turn on out TV sets upon hearing the devastating news – and got the perfect reportage job relayed through to us. Utterly surreal and utterly horrific. But the script got out of sync and a BBC TV reporter announced the collapse of the third tower twenty minutes before it happened. There it was standing in the background – beyond the glass screen – as she spoke those fateful words. The entire charade was blown in that instant. But it was too much for the majority to handle; they had to go on believing that the government version was the truth and that the truth was a lie.

It is the erosion of the ability to live in this lie that is accelerating now for many. We are witnessing more and more willing to start penetrating the outer layers of the Veil of Maya. Yet the veil is deep – very deep. Each clearance of the mist reveals yet another layer still to be penetrated. To be willing to see through this multi layered veil requires courage. It requires us to take on the mantle of the warrior, willingly and passionately. The cold dark veil, with which the cabal seeks to cloak the true reality, then starts to thin, brushed by the rising heat of newly manifest truth energy, thus forcing the cabal war plan into re-evaluation, re-timing and even reversal.

At the Bilderberger gathering in the Grove Hotel, Watford, UK, the leading Masonic manipulators of this planet are, as I write, planning the next phase of operation global lock-down while outside two or more thousand veil penetrators are celebrating the truth: David Icke and Alex Jones at the forefront. This is something of a watershed. The walls of the Grove Hotel seem to have lost their impenetrable aura. The Bilderbergers inverted version of truth is crumbling away. A shaft of sunlight has penetrated the drawn curtains. One can feel them recoiling. We somehow know that Truth will never be able to be locked so tightly into the black box again.

Over thousands of years the true spirit of man has kept the flame alive, often against great odds. We mortals of the twenty first century have inherited that task. The baton has been pushed into our outstretched hands. We are going to press forward now with a greater spring in our step. We have gained just a sniff of a glorious perfume. The perfume of victory. Victory for the irrepressible spirit that is aching, aching, aching so deep in the heart of each one of us. Ache on irrepressible one. Ache so much that no one on this planet who calls themselves human can dare to turn away from your great longing to be blazingly manifest.

About the Author

Julian Rose is an organic farmer and international activist. He is the author of “Changing Course for Life – Local Solutions to Global Problems” www.changingcourseforlife.info  His next work: “In Defence of Life – Essays for a Radical Reworking of Green Wisdom” is to be published later this summer.

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Leatherback sea turtle returning to the water after nesting on Moin beach. Photo by: Carlyn Samuel.

Jeremy Hance, Mongabay
Waking Times

On the evening of May 30th, 26-year-old Jairo Mora Sandoval was murdered on Moin beach near Limón, Costa Rica, the very stretch of sand where he courageously monitored sea turtle nests for years even as risks from poachers rose, including threats at gunpoint. A dedicated conservationist, Sandoval was kidnapped along with four women volunteers (three Americans and one from Spain) while driving along the beach looking for nesting sea turtles. Sandoval was separated from the women—who eventually escaped their captors—but the young Costa Rican was stripped naked, viciously beaten, and finally shot in the head. Police found him the next day, face-down and handcuffed in the sand.

“Jairo was so passionate about turtle conservation,” Carlyn Samuel a researcher with Imperial College London who worked with Sandoval through the local non-profit Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST) told mongabay.com. “We’d normally start our patrols on the beach at around 9.00pm and often at 4.30am, on the drive home he’d still be as fresh as a daisy, sitting in the back of the pickup searching desperately for any turtles still on the beach at dawn. Then with a bang on the roof to let me know, he’d have leapt out of the truck and would be running over to the turtle before we’d even stopped. He never tired of the work; and we’d always have to remind him to take a day off!”

Sandoval entering data on sea turtles. Photo by: Carlyn Samuel.

Six of the world’s seven sea turtle species nest in Costa Rica. However, the most common nester on Moin beach is the Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), the world’s largest and deepest-diving turtle. This massive animal, representing its own genus, is currently listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List.

Despite widespread media attention both in Costa Rica and abroad, no arrests have been made in Sandoval’s death. Police say they have not yet determined a motive for the murder, but many conservationists say it was clearly an act of revenge for Sandoval’s unflinching dedication to safe-guarding the turtles on the beach. In this case, the murder may have been a pre-meditated assassination.

Leading up to Sandoval’s murder

While the murder of Jairo Mora Sandoval has led condemnation from both the UN and the U.S. embassy, conservationists working on Moin Beach have faced quiet harassment and violence for years. In 2012, several volunteers with Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST), were tied up and beaten while working at a turtle hatchery. The assailants, who were never caught, took the hatchery’s eggs.

“Jairo and I came back from a night patrol to find them terrified, face down in the sand,” explains Samuel. “Jairo was devastated and you could tell then that he was not going to give up on this beach!”

In addition, Sandoval was warned by men with AK-47s to stop doing sea turtle monitoring walks on the beach, according to the volunteer coordinator with WIDECAST, Vanessa Lizano. Lizano was herself threatened at gunpoint by poachers. After receiving threats which included photos of her son, Lizano moved from Limón to San Jose, but still worked with the project when she could.

Rising violence, especially the attack on the hatchery, led Costa Rican authorities to begin patrolling the beach with WIDECAST last year.

“The project was assigned a U.I.P guard (a special Costa Rican elite police task force who specialize in riots, protests and drugs issues),” explains Samuel. “These police patrolled with us, carrying AK-47s and wore bullet proof clothing etc. Thanks to their presence the project was confident to walk on the beach at night and resulted in about 1,750 nests being saved. Additionally, they managed to make arrests and seize stolen eggs as well as deterring poachers from ‘working’ on the beach.”

However, the police stopped these patrols this nesting season despite calls from WIDECAST for protection, a decision many say led to Sandoval’s murder.

“Despite repeated pleas from Jairo and Vanessa [Lizano] the police made promises to come, but never arrived. This meant that a frustrated Jairo saw no other course of action but to patrol the beach without them to try to save his beloved turtles,” Samuel explains. “However, without this support and deterrent the project was only able to save about six nests. Jairo’s last Facebook post was a plea for people to beg the police to come and help.”

Indeed, shortly before his death, Sandoval wrote on his Facebook Page: “Send messages to the police so they come to Moín beach… Tell them not to be afraid but to come armed… 60 turtles lost and there wasn’t even a single nest… we need help and fast.”

But help never came.

Social ills

The murder of Jairo Mora Sandoval, the illegal poaching of sea turtle eggs, and the illicit drug-trade stem in part from a variety of social ills in the region, according to Carlyn Samuel. With a population of around 60,000 people, Limón is home to Costa Rica’s largest port and, according to Samuel, a large number of migrant works and entrenched poverty.

“As with any town of this type, this can bring drugs and violent elements to society,” she says. “Additionally, a high unemployment rate adds to the tensions in the region. The culture in the area almost seems to have accepted that carrying guns is a normal occurrence, with AK-47s becoming increasingly commonplace. [...] They are mainly unemployed men and are a very poor element of society, some are ex-convicts and drug users, who live in makeshift shelters with no running water, electric, or any ‘modern’ services such as toilets or roads. ”

Samuel says conservationists sometimes even encountered drunk or high poachers on the beach. The beach itself is used as a landing place for many than just sea turtles: the illicit drug trade also uses it for smuggling.

“There are several well-known narco-traffickers who operate in the region [...] they patrol the beach at night to collect drugs packages delivered by boat and conduct deals on the beach,” Samuel says.

The success of WIDECAST in protecting sea turtles eventually pushed the program’s workers and volunteers into conflict with the poachers, who, according to Samuel, had a history of plundering the beach without trouble.

Aftermath

Costa Rica has become known as one of the greenest countries in the world with vast rainforest protected areas, an environmentally-conscious government, and a hugely popular tourist industry. But Lizano, who often risked her life to protect sea turtles on Moín beach, says that with the murder of Jairo Mora Sandoval Costa Rica’s green image “has been shattered.”

She notes that despite its reputation, Costa Rica is not as environmentally progressive as it maintains.

“We are finding that although Costa Rica seems to be hitting its [Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)] targets on the face of it, many of the protected areas are not enforced by law or patrols. Although [Moín beach is] not a protected area we have found it virtually impossible to get any support from the government in this respect.”

Lizano says that government ambivalence toward the beach goes beyond basic lack-of-support. Despite evidence that the beach is an important site for nesting sea turtles, authorities have proposed plans to build a new port on the beach in addition to a massive tourist complex. She says government refusal to recognize the beach as a turtle primary site may be linked to these development plans.

Moreover, the authorities’ response to Sandoval’s murder has been muddled. The Vice President of Costa Rica, Alfio Piva, called the murder an “accident,” while Limón police have been reportedly considering the murder as a robbery simply because Sandoval’s phone and cash were stolen.

“We feel that shining an international spotlight on this murder is the only way we can to hope to gain any justice for Jairo and possibly bring some degree of closure to his family,” Lizano adds.

To that end, WIDECAST has proposed that the Costa Rican government make Moín beach a protected area, and name it in honor of Sandoval. On June 5th, vigils were held for Sandoval across the country. Meanwhile, a coalition of conservation groups have offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of Sandoval’s killers with money coming from a special fund. Information should be sent toPorJairoMoraSandoval@gmail.com.

Police are reportedly working to evict the poachers squatting on the beach, but the beach has also become devoid of conservationists. WIDECAST halted all patrols after Sandoval’s murder given the lack of security. And with the loss of their champion, the sea turtles of Moín beach are once again at the mercy of poachers.

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OMG, GMOs!

You might ask, “why all the fuss about agricultural genetically modified organisms (GMOs)?” After all, regulatory agencies have approved these technologies for widespread application and consumption, so they must be safe, right?  Well, the truth is that there is no agency and no industry that  works to protect our health.  At best, the EPA, USDA, and FDA attempt to respond to our disease after the cause is widespread.  At that point only risk reduction, rather than risk avoidance, can be achieved.  This has been the case historically with radium paint, tobacco, particulate air pollution, water pollution, asbestos, lead, food-borne illnesses, and DDT.  A number of the various 80,000 chemicals in production will likely be added to this list in the future while the majority of them that actually do contribute to disease (often in combination and in complex ways) will never be scientifically associated with disease.  This is because science is far from perfect, scientific methodology is always biased and often manipulated, and scientific interpretation by stakeholders and decision makers is alarmingly inept (I’m not being political or condescending, these are well known and easily observed facts).

The situation with agricultural GMOs is unique compared to other technologies. While genetic engineering of food crops has been ongoing for 15 years, it is currently experiencing a major boom with the potential for widespread worldwide application.  Yet, few people understand how a GMO food could really be so much different than a non-GMO food in regard to health and disease effects.  GMO foods look like non-GMO foods and so we don’t experience the same hesitation and aversion to consuming them like we would, say, a clearly labeled bottle of virus and pesticide in tomato juice.  Therefore, the quality of public education, consumer awareness, and informed public discussion about this technology has the potential to alter the future of GMO agriculture for better or worse.

In this article, I’ll first briefly mention the relative paucity of risk assessment studies on GMOs and the unbelievable weaknesses of the industry studies that have been done.  Then, drawing from numerous independent studies, I will explore the routes by which agricultural GMOs may cause adverse health effects.

GMOs Have Never Been “Proven” Safe

Let me be clear; despite the following negative review of industry science, this article is not a hatchet job against the agricultural GMO industry but, rather, a vehicle for consolidated scientific information on the safety or risks of GMO foods intended to allow readers to make informed choices about this technology.  It is just that, well, the science coming from the industry tends to raise serious concerns and suggests that the agricultural GMO industry has little concern for protecting public and ecosystem health.  Before we dive into the independent non-industry studies which suggest potential harm from GMO crops and foods, we must first look at the studies which supposedly demonstrate the safety of GMO crops and foods.  A critique of these studies remained impossible for some time as the data was kept private, until French researchers obtained a court order for their release.  This team of researchers, lead by Joel Spiroux de Vendomois, then analyzed the raw data from studies on three varieties of GMO corn owned by Monsanto.  Yet, it immediately became apparent that this data was not extremely helpful as the study methodology was profoundly insufficient.  In a 2010 paper published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences[1], the researchers summarize several major flaws in the study.  I’ll list just a few of them here:

1. For each of the three varieties of GMO corn tested, only a single study was done.  However, a central tenet of sound science is that the results are reproducible and replicated by other studies, preferably those done by different researchers.

2. Only the rat was used as a toxicological model.  Rats are useful models for the human detoxification systems, but poor models for human reproductive and embryological systems.  Remember, rat studies “proved” that thalidomide was safe for pregnant women to use… but the rabbit studies done AFTER thousands of babies were harmed “proved” that it caused birth defects!  Scientific proof is only as good as the scientific studies, which are always limited and narrowly focused.

3.  The studies lasted only 3 months and were done on young adult rats.  Yet, captive rats live about 24 months.  No studies looking at late life outcomes from this brief exposure or studies which used lifelong exposure to GMOs were performed.  This is clearly a problem unless human consumers are only supposed to eat GMO foods for no longer than 9 years between the ages of 10 and 20.  Yet, GMO food technology has been released (without labeling) with the intention of lifelong consumption.

4.  No reproductive or developmental studies were done.  Yet GMO foods do not carry a label declaring that their safety during pregnancy has not been evaluated.  Instead, they are unlabeled and meant to be consumed by both genders, at all ages and developmental stages, including during pregnancy and infancy.

5.  Adverse outcomes were only considered if they occurred in both genders!  Clearly genders are different.  For instance, women are much more likely to get breast cancer than men, and one must have a prostate to get prostate cancer.  In the industry studies, increases in prostate cancer in male rats and increases in mammary tumors in female rats would apparently have been omitted since they differed between genders.  This explains exactly what happened to their findings that male rats eating GMO corn had an 11% increase in heart size while female rats eating GMO corn had a 40% increase in serum triglycerides[2].   It is not clear what to make of these findings, but they should not have been omitted and, instead, should have been used to encourage more numerous and longer duration (lifespan) studies before the worldwide release of GMO corn.

6.  Adverse outcomes which are consider “normal” in old rats were omitted in this young rat population.  For instance, the researchers did not consider “chronic progressive nephropathy”, a kidney disease common in older rats, to be a problem even though it was occurring in young, 5 month old, rats eating the GMO corn.

Now, I can attest that modern toxicology students training at respectable universities are taught to do much better work than this. We can only speculate about the reasons such limited study methodologies were chosen.  Nonetheless, these are the studies which the FDA determined to be sufficient for the approval of the three GMO corn varieties represented.  As if the major flaws in the study methodologies were not enough to warrant a different decision, the French team of researchers found a number of concerning associations upon re-analyzing the raw data[3].  They summarize:

“Our analysis clearly reveals for the 3 GMOs new side effects linked with GM maize consumption, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, although different between the 3 GMOs. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and hematopoietic system. We conclude that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn.”

This is not the only group of researchers to demonstrate an association between GMO consumption and adverse health outcomes.  Despite the industries resistance to providing GMO varieties to outside researchers for independent studies, there are still dozens of studies available to the public for review.  I’ll synthesize the findings of several of these studies below in considering the possible mechanisms by which agricultural GMOs may cause problems.  In general, the health effects of agricultural GMOs are mediated through at least three routes; 1. Directly though ingestion, 2. Indirectly through GMO associated pesticide exposure and ingestion, and 3. Indirectly through environmental and ecosystem effects.

Effects of GMO ingestion:

Ingesting GMOs can affect both the microbiome and human cells.  The microbiome is the microorganism population which lives on and in the human body.  Most of it exists in or on the mouth, nose, stomach, intestines, and skin.  The gut microbiome has received considerable attention due to its apparently profound effect on the immune system, not to mention its effect on food digestion.  The gut microbiome is involved in determining the risk of autoimmune diseases, allergic diseases, cardiovascular disease, and some infectious diseases like osteomyelitis.  The microbiome can get out of balance (called dysbiosis) and produce severe diseases such as Clostridium difficile overgrowth and more mild disorders like small bowel bacterial overgrowth and irritable bowel syndrome.  The bottom line is that a balanced microbiome is critical for health and we are just now beginning to appreciate how serious the consequences of dysbiosis may be.

Several studies have shown that the organisms (mostly bacteria) of the microbiome can take up genes from GMO foods[4],[5].  “Conjugation”, or gene transfer, is a common trick used by bacteria to evolve and adapt.  This is one mechanism by which antibiotic resistance perpetuates.   The consequences of GMO gene transfer to intestinal bacteria involve the expression of the gene and/or insertional mutagenesis.  The frequency with which these consequences will occur is not known, but they will occur to some degree at least.

Intestinal bacteria which begin to express the GMO gene will then be producing the same active proteins which define the GMO.  For example, intestinal bacteria could start producing the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) pesticidal toxin that has been inserted into potatoes, corn, and soybeans.  The exact effect of this toxin on humans, if any, is not well established but it has been found in a study of Canadian women, including pregnant women and their fetuses[6].

Insertional mutagenesis refers to the gene inserting itself into another coding gene and, thus, causing a gene mutation by disrupting the code.  This may produce more severe results as it is a well known mechanism by which viruses may cause cancer, cell death, or cellular dysfunction.

These same mechanisms, gene transfer and insertional mutagenesis, can affect human cells just the same.  While intestinal cells are likely to be the most affected, GMO genes which pass into the blood intact may affect just about any cell and tissue in the body.  It is quite possible that GMO foods are regularly resulting in the genetic modification of the humans consuming them!  There are many unknowns here and I suspect that there remains a lot to be discovered, but we should not let the absence of evidence be mistaken for the evidence of absent harm.  We should, instead, demand more information and more research!

Effects of GMO associated pesticide exposure and ingestion:

Another route of possible harms from GMO foods comes from the exposure to and ingestion of GMO associated pesticides.  The most successful GMO crops have been the “Roundup Ready” or glyphosate resistant varieties of corn, soybean, and cotton.  The same genes have been inserted into alfalfa, wheat, and canola (rapeseed) but these have not yet been widely introduced.  The result of glyphosate resistance is that glyphosate can then be applied without discrimination to area or dose.  In the past, the use of a pesticide like glyphosate to control weeds had to be balanced with the cost of losing crop due to inadvertently heavy crop exposure.  Glyphosate spraying has dramatically increased with the introduction of glyphosate resistant crops.  This logically increases the risk for excessive occupational exposure, the magnitude of environmental contamination with glyphosate, and the direct and indirect exposures to the general public and consumers of GMO foods (including livestock).  Presumably, the glyphosate residue on (and inside… it can’t be washed out) glyphosate resistant food products is higher than that on non-resistant varieties, but data supporting this is scarce.  I’ve failed to find any study which quantifies and contrasts the amount of pesticide residue between GMO and non-GMO foods.  More research is needed, but again we can’t assume that the absence of evidence is evidence of absence.  It is simply unknown if there are any differences, but assuming so is a very logical assumption.

Glyphosate appears to produce a plethora of problems.  Let’s begin with the microbiome again.  Studies have shown that glyphosate may contribute to the contamination of chicken and beef with pathogenic (disease causing) bacteria like E. coli.  The reason is that glyphosate produces a dysbiosis within livestock consisting of the overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria.  It turns out that many of the most dangerous bacterial pathogens are resistant to glyphosate (perhaps due to the gene transfer discussed above), yet some of the most healthy bacteria are quite sensitive to it.  The result is a decline in healthy bacteria and proliferation of pathogenic bacteria.  Glyphosate in chicken feed resulted in the proliferation of salmonella and clostridium species (both of which cause food poisoning and infection in humans) and a decline in enterococcus, bifidobacterium, and lactobacillus (species thought to be the foundation of a healthy microbiome)[7].  Enterococcus and lactobacillus are especially important in preventing the overgrowth of Clostridum botulinum and researchers have suggested, as a result, that glyphosate induced dysbiosis is causing an increase in botulism in cows[8].  The same phenomena has been shown to occur within the human microbiome as well, and it is reasonable to propose that the increasing prevalence of Clostridium difficile dysbiosis, a potentially fatal disorder that is also plagued by increasing antibiotic resistance, may be one of its many consequences.

Beyond the microbiome the situation may be even worse.  It is well known that glyphosate and its metabolites are genotoxic (causing DNA damage), and cytotoxic (causing cell death or dysfunction) to human cells. [9],[10]  Exactly how these toxic attributes manifest as disease is more complex, but the following studies point to several possibilities.

Numerous studies have implicated the pesticides paraquat, rotenone, lindane, and dieldrin in the development of Parkinson’s disease due to their ability to kill dopaminergic neurons, and it appears that glyphosate may have similar capabilities[11].  Several case reports of Parkinson’s disease onset after chronic and acute glyphosate exposure have indeed suggested that glyphosate may contribute to the development of the disease, but more research is needed here[12],[13]. When studied in cultures of nerve cells, however, glyphosate did cause cell death through self-destruction (apoptosis) and self-consumption (autophagy)[14].  Therefore, the biological mechanism behind neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease is definitely induced by glyphosate, lending additional credibility to the association.  A recent review article not only associated glyphosate with Parkinson’s disease but also “gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease”.[15]

Epidemiological studies have suggested an association between chronic glyphosate exposure and certain cancers.  One study, done in Sweden, found that those diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma were 3.04 times more likely to report a history of glyphosate exposure compared to those without cancer, suggesting that glyphosate may increase the risk of this disease[16].  Another study, using populations in Iowa and North Carolina, suggested a possible association between glyphosate exposure and multiple myeloma[17].

Glyphosate also appears to be a potent endocrine disruptor with pronounced effects on testosterone production in males.  Studies on male rats demonstrate the glyphosate inhibits testosterone related enzymes and decreases the levels of testosterone in a dose-dependent manner[18].   Compared to control rats, those exposed to the highest dose of glyphosate produced only ½ of the testosterone.  Another rat study utilized doses of glyphosate which have been found in samples of human urine (1 ppm) and demonstrated that this dose reduces testosterone production by 35%[19]!  The same study showed that higher doses cause testicular cell death.  A study on human reproductive cell lines demonstrated that endocrine disrupting effects start at a dose of 0.5 ppm.  Genotoxic effects started at a dose of 5 ppm and cytotoxic effects started at 10 ppm[20]. The glyphosate residual that is allowed by federal regulations is 400 ppm in animal feed, 200 ppm in spearmint and peppermint tops, 85 ppm in sunflower and safflower seeds, 30 ppm in barely and cereal grains like rice, 30 ppm in molasses, 20 ppm in soybean, and 5 ppm in corn, legumes and quinoa, just to name a few[21].  Assuming that the average person has 5 liters of blood, one could experience blood levels of glyphosate at 0.5 ppm from eating 125 grams (or roughly 4.4 ounces) of soybeans or 29 grams (1 ounce) of sunflower seeds (note that small bags of sunflower seeds are often 5 ounces or more).

In addition to glyphosate toxicity, we should be concerned about possible toxicity from other GMO associated pesticides like Bt (bacillus thuringiensis) toxin.  The effects of ingesting this GMO crop produced pesticide have hardly been studied.  I found only one study, an in vitro study on human cells, and the results indicate the Bt toxins Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac do trigger cell death at moderate concentrations[22].  Additionally, these pesticides appear to interact with glyphosate (which often accompanies them on food) with unpredictable consequences.

The issue of interaction effects in toxicology is a very serious one that is poorly studied or not studied at all.  Of 80,000 chemicals in production, very few have been studied in combination, let alone the extremely common combinations that are found in the environment and in various products.  For instance, glyphosate is rarely used alone, yet studies still evaluate its toxicity alone.  Glyphosate products contain adjuvants or surfactants that enhance its herbicidal activity.  One study did, in fact, look at the effects of glyphosate and its adjuvants (like POE-15) on human cell lines.  The results showed that the combination was much more toxic than glyphosate alone[23]!

It needs to be mentioned that the levels of glyphosate exposure from food and the complexity and doses of pesticide combinations (and their interactions) are likely to increase as a result of progressing glyphosate resistance.  Just like antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria, the target plants (i.e. weeds) for glyphosate are rapidly evolving a resistance to the pesticide as a result of its intensive use[24].  In order for glyphosate to work on these plants, higher and higher doses are needed, or additional pesticides must be applied simultaneously. Currently there are 24 weed species listed with resistance to glycine pesticides, the pesticide class of glyphosate[25].

To be fair, internal studies done by Monsanto (the owner and producer of glyphosate) in the early 1980′s show glyphosate to be relatively non-toxic.  These are the studies submitted to regulatory agencies for approval and then used to set regulatory limits on public exposure and environmental contamination.  For example, the EPA uses this 30 year old data for its Integrated Risk Assessment System (IRIS).  These reviews often take 10-20 years to complete due to inadequate EPA funding, making them outdated the moment they are published!  Again, no one is out there protecting our health.  You can browse the EPA glyphosate review here if interested: http://www.epa.gov/iris/subst/0057.htm

Environmental and ecosystem effects of agricultural GMOs:

In addition to the possible harm of GMOs and GMO associated pesticides on the microbiome, cells, and physiology of humans and other mammals, there is concern about environmental effects (which always end up affecting the health of the environment’s inhabitants as well). These environmental effects involve the same or similar mechanisms as those above.  For example, GMO genes can transfer to environmental (soil and aquatic) microorganisms as well as native plants (like grasses) and possibly other food crops (like organic corn and soy, the fields of which may become contaminated with GMO seeds)[26].

Additionally, GMO associated pesticides or toxins may negatively impact helpful insects (like predator or carnivorous arthropods) as well as target insects, selecting for the emergence or immigration of new, more resistant, pests[27].  Similarly, intensive use of glyphosate may kill plants which support critical pollinators.  For instance, glyphosate use has reached levels which are now killing milkweed, thus jeopordizing the monarch butterfly habitat and leading to a decline in their numbers.

Additionally, glyphosate and Bt toxin accumulate in the soil due to serial applications, leading to escalations in soil contamination, and glyphosate has been shown to contaminate most agricultural watersheds[28],[29].

The environmental effects of GMOs and GMO associated pesticides have barely been studied and the consequent effects on biodiversity and groundwater (drinking water) are uncertain.

Don’t Throw the Bathwater Out With The Bathwater

To be fair, I need to mention the supposed intentions behind GMO agriculture promoted by the industry.  Clearly, there is a profit motive as there exists a powerful synergistic feedback cycle in the consumption of proprietary pesticides and proprietary pesticide resistant seeds.  However, GMO advocates sincerely, I believe, also hope that the technology can do good in the world.

For instance, “Golden Rice” is genetically modified rice which possesses the genes to produce beta-carotene.  Beta-carotene is the precursor to vitamin A in humans, and in regions of Africa and Asia, vitamin A deficiency is extremely common (causing a number of severe problems such as blindness).   Therefore, this rice could effectively reverse the epidemic of vitamin A deficiency.  Such medical and public health applications of GMO technology do appear to be much more reasonable than the pesticide resistant varieties (which are largely admired because they make agriculture more simple).  However, the potential health implications of medical or public health oriented GMO technology are largely the same as all other GMO technology with regard to gene transfer and insertional mutagenesis.

Even more relevant, however, is that the vitamin A deficiency in much of the world can be remedied in several other ways, many of which will have additional health benefits than just supplying beta-carotene.  The vitamin A deficiency in much of the world is a result of a subsidized grain (largely rice) diet, which is a product of World Bank, World Trade Organization, and UN economic incentives and agreements aimed at increasing the economic output of developing nations.  If the people of these nations were growing food for themselves and not for export, they would likely grow more diverse plant foods.  Beta-carotene is widely abundant in the plant kingdom.  Basically any plant food with a yellow, red, orange, and dark green color is likely to contain significant amounts of beta-carotene.  Essentially, rice is not the solution to the vitamin A deficiency, it is the cause of it.  This is a larger problem and a more difficult one to reverse, for sure, but we need to recognize the difference between real solutions which address the root problem and superficial solutions which simply compensate for one consequence of the problem.  Failure to do so will accelerate our decline down the slippery slope of unintended consequences.

About the Author

Nathan is a visionary in health-oriented medicine, integrative preventive medicine, and ecological medicine. He helps individuals discover their unique paths to health through adventuresome vacations. See: http://ecoholos.com/ and http://www.epichealthexperience.com

Resources:

For additional research on GMOs on the GreenMedInfo.com database: Health Guide: GMO Research

The post GMO’s and Health: The Scientific Basis for Serious Concern and Immediate Action appeared first on Waking Times.