Superweeds that are resistant to Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup are widely spreading across the country and how most Americans live in a bubble and passively accept biotech shoving ‘Agent Orange Corn’ down their throat
Nearly half of US farms are now dealing with superweeds that are becoming resistant to Monsanto’s best selling herbicide ‘Roundup’. Many farmers throughout the East, Midwest and South are forced to use stronger and more toxic herbicides, but relentless spread of superweeds have forced these farmers to use labor-intensive methods like pulling weeds by hands or regular plowing.
Many experts predict that using stronger herbicides and labor-intensive methods like regular plowing can lead to raising costs for farmers, higher food prices, more environmental pollution and lower crop yields.
According to NY Times, Bill Freese, the science policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety in Washington said that “The biotech industry is taking us into a more pesticide-dependent agriculture when they’ve always promised, and we need to be going in, the opposite direction.”
Another expert, Bryan Young, who is the professor of Plant Soil and Agricultural Systems at Southern Illinois University said that “The problems associated with herbicide-resistant weeds are spreading and intensifying, especially weed species resistant to multiple products, including the mainstay of 21st century agriculture, the herbicide glyphosate.”
Mr. Young also mentioned that “More than 200 individual weed species have been confirmed resistant to at least a single herbicide, with infestations covering millions of acres in the United States and 60 other countries. It is spreading beyond soybeans and cotton. Weed management in corn has become more and more difficult in recent years due to herbicide-resistant weeds.”
However, some pro-GMO researchers believe that glyphosate is a once-in-a-century discovery and necessary steps should be taken to preserve its effectiveness. According to NY Times, Stephen B. Powles, an Australian weed expert said that “Glyphosate is as important for reliable global food production as penicillin is for battling disease”.
Not to mention that it’s such an irony to compare penicillin to glyphosate, since Monsanto’s best selling herbicide ‘Roundup’ itself has been spreading diseases both in humans and wild life. In fact, a new study published in the Journal of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology reveals that the active ingredient of Monsanto’s best selling herbicide ‘Roundup’ is toxic to dairy cows. Also, in many other independent studies, researchers have linked glyphosate in Monsanto’s Roundup to autism, infertility, liver damage, nutritional deficiencies, allergies and cancer in human beings.
But despite all the facts, Monsanto still claims that Roundup is ‘safe’ and is in control of weeds across many farms in the country:
Despite Monsanto’s claims, it appears that Monsanto Company is concerned enough since biotech companies including Monsanto are developing GMO crops resistant to other herbicides.
According to NY Times “Bayer is already selling cotton and soybeans resistant to glufosinate, another weedkiller. Monsanto’s newest corn is tolerant of both glyphosate and glufosinate, and the company is developing crops resistant to dicamba, an older pesticide. Syngenta is developing soybeans tolerant of its Callisto product. And Dow Chemical is developing corn and soybeans resistant to 2,4-D, a component of Agent Orange, the defoliant used in the Vietnam War”.
Since ‘Roundup’ has lost its full affectivity to combat weeds, Monsanto and Dow are moving forward with ‘Agent Orange Corn’
Monsanto and Dow have now officially agreed to cross-license and share their technologies in creating “SmartStax corn” known as “Agent Orange Corn”. The main ingredient in Agent Orange called 2,4-D, is a toxic chemical that was used during Vietnam war against the Vietnamese civilians. Now 2,4-D is pushed into the market again as an herbicide by the chemical company Dow. http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/Monsanto-Dow-agent-orange-corn.php
As mentioned since Monsanto’s Roundup has lost its full effectiveness to combat weeds and have resulted in superweeds and a wide range of diseases in the soil, Monsanto and Dow are sharing their technology to create a new corn that is resistant to both Roundup and 2,4-D. Keep in mind that 2,4-D is considered a carcinogen by many advanced countries and research centers around the world including the InternationalAgencyforResearchonCancer.
While 30 countries ban GMOs and 57 other countries require GMO labeling, the US Congress aggressively vote against the interests of their own people. More than 400,000 Americans recently signed a petition to USDA opposing the approval of Agent Orange Corn.
While we in US live in a bubble and passively accept biotech shoving ‘Agent Orange Corn’ down our throat, other countries take necessary steps to protect their agricultural heritage and their citizen’s health by kicking Monsanto and GMOs out of their supermarkets:
According to an article by Daily Mail, recently, the British parents were so outraged to see Lucky Charms (an artificially-colored and popular GMO cereal in U.S) making its way to the U.K. Tesco store shelves.
While many health-conscious parents in US don’t let their kids to touch lucky Charms, Monsanto’s home-made Franken-Cereal remain one of the top-selling cereals in US market. Here is how Daily Mail describes Monsanto’s top-selling cereal in US: “A Frankenstein food breakfast cereal designed for children and packed with additives linked to bad behavior and hyperactivity is now being sold in Britain”.
The article also mentions that despite the harms of GMOs, the artificial coloring in Lucky Charms have been linked to hyperactivity in young children. According to Daily Mail, “although Lucky Charms is marketed as nutritious cereal for children, it contains four suspect colorings – Tartrazine, Sunset Yellow, Brilliant Blue and Allura Red”.
General Mills (the manufacturer of Lucky Charms) describes that Lucky Charms has wholegrain content and the mix of corn, soya, sugar and marshmallow in Lucky Charm is in fact, ‘magically delicious’.
However, despite General Mills deceptive advertising, the British parents were outraged that Tesco did let their customers down by selling Franken-cereals. One parent got so angry when his son suffered from extreme hyperactivity after eating the Lucky Charms that he destroyed the packet. He also complained to Tesco that the package for Lucky Charms was extremely attractive and deceptive for little kids.
“As his behavior became more and more unusually hyper and lacking attention I then noticed that he was enthusiastically eating and talking about this new cereal called Lucky Charms,” said Mr Stevenson. “I checked the box and found out that in very small lettering it said that it was a GM food. I destroyed the packet and he calmed down the next day but I was very concerned and angry”.
According to Daily Mail, “Pete Riley, of campaign group GM Freeze, called on customers to boycott Tesco. ‘The idea of promoting a cereal to children that is not only GM but also contains suspect colors does not seem to me to be the correct policy for a company that claims to be a responsible retailer,’ he said”.
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/business/energy-environment/04weed.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://newswise.com/articles/new-weapons-on-the-way-to-battle-wicked-weeds
