Bio-rape of our native food supply by bunch of corporate criminals: Farmers report widespread cross contamination of GMO crops
Cross-contamination of GE crops over our native food supply is no longer a mystery. In fact, according to ipsnews.com, a third of US organic farmers are experiencing difficulty selling their grains, since GE genes of a nearby farm has been contaminating and ruining their native crops.
According to a survey by foodandwaterwatch.org, more than 80% of farmers have are seriously concerned over the impact of GE crops on their farms. "USDA has been extremely lax and, in our opinion, that’s due to the excessive influence of the biotech industry in political circles” says Organic farmer Oren Holle.
In fact, more and more countries are putting regulations and restrictions and have even banned the import of certain crops from US. As a result of wide spread cross-contamination, US farmers have been financially hurt and export of US agricultural products to Europe has dropped drastically.
Between the years of 2006 and 2007, three varieties of unapproved GM rice owned by Bayer CropScience sneaked into the US commercial rice exports in more than 30 different countries. US rice export was severely affected as a result of the contamination and many countries worldwide pulled US rice from their shelves. Countries like Bulgaria and Russia put a ban on US rice while many countries like the European Union, South Korea, Philippines and Japan put more restricted laws and regulations on testing rice imported from US.
The USDA under the Obama administration has miserably failed to pass regulations to protect our native crops:
The critics of the Obama administration have criticized the incompetence of USDA to take a serious action against wide-spread GE cross-contamination. Instead, the USDA has been favoring the giant biotech by extending public comment on a 2012 controversial and biotech-funded study on how GM and non-GM crops can “coexist”. Soon after this study, other independent studies, including the one by an association of organic farmers and Food & Water Watch, (a Washington advocacy group) have confirmed that GE contamination is inevitable once GM crops are grown in a region.
In fact, independent studies have shown that GE herbicide-tolerant canola seed can persist and remain in soil for years to come. There have been cases that 80% of the wild canola plants had GE genes present in them, even when they were planted ten years after the GE canola.
“The USDA says that they didn’t have the data of this new study (that shows wide-spread contamination of GE crops with organic ones), but all they had to do was ask,” says Oren Holle, a farmer in the midwestern state of Kansas. “Our very strong feeling is that the introduction and propagation of the genetically modified products that are coming out under patent at this point have not had the regulatory oversight that they should have, and need to involve a far broader section of stakeholders. USDA has been extremely lax and, in our opinion, that’s due to the excessive influence of the biotech industry in political circles.”
“The USDA’s focus on coexistence and crop insurance is misplaced,” says Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “The department must recognize the harm that is already being done to organic and non-GMO farmers and put the responsibility squarely where it belongs – with the biotech companies … Now USDA can no longer claim ignorance about this problem.”
The Organic farmer Oren Holle says that “There’s been a lot of new technology introduced in agriculture over the past 50 years. But there’s always been a point of law that, whatever happens on my side of the fence, I’m still responsible for how it might affect my neighbor. GMOs take away that neighbor-to-neighbor relationship, however, as the ways in which unintended presence occurs is a completely different set of concerns from other new technologies. For that reason, they need a completely different set of rules.”
“I’m getting tired of maintaining these miles of buffers,” one farmer wrote in response to the new survey, complaining about the heavy use of herbicides typically associated with GM crops. “How about the guy that sprays up to the fence be liable for the damage that is done?”
Who do you think should be responsible for GE contamination? In countries like Germany, the farmers who plant GE crops are held liable, but, in US and Canada, the organic farmers are often found guilty:
Many advanced countries including EU have taken serious steps to protect their agricultural heritage against the biotech tyranny. For example, in Germany, a law was passed that the farmers who grow GE crops are liable for the economic damages to organic farmers. That law virtually helped to halt planting GE crops, since not that too many farmers were ready to accept full liability for cross contamination.
However, in US, because of political corruption of biotech and its influence over our judicial system, farmers have to pay biotechnology fees to giant Monsanto. In fact, recently, a group of farmers made an argument in front of the US Supreme Court, that they do not want Monsanto’s GE seeds in their farms since Monsanto had supposedly promised (in another court ruling) not to sue farmers, when their crops contained traces of Monsanto’s Frankenseeds: Read the full story here: http://seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/us-supreme-court-denies-farmers-protection-from-Monsanto.php
However, once again, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the giant Frankenfood Company Monsanto. But that’s no surprise, since Monsanto has bought and paid for Judges like Clarence Thomas. Keep in mind that Judge Clarence Thomas, (an extremist and a right wing nutcase) was Monsanto’s former attorney and a big promoter of agribusinesses and mass chemical poisoning who was appointed to the US Supreme Court, (during Bush presidency) despite the rage of the whole nation.
We have to understand that we might have passed the point of no return:
Monsanto has left a legacy that will always remain for centuries to come. As the environmental activist and anti-globalization author, Dr. Vandana Shiva says, “Saying farmers should be free to grow GMOs that can contaminate organic crops is like saying rapists should have freedom to rape”. The fact is that the transgenic genes of GE crops force themselves into receptive non-GMO plant, forcing them and all their future offspring to permanently become GMOs. We have to understand that once that happens, there is no going back.
This is bio-rape of our native food supply and natural inhabitant, by bunch of corporate criminals. The right of farmers whose their native crops are ruined and contaminated with Frankenseeds are violated by Monsanto. The same agrogiant which has patent on GE seeds and can legally sue farmers.
Our farmers are the real victims of biopollution.
Sources:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/03/farmers-address-u-s-data-gap-gm-crop-contamination/
