The Agricultural Holocaust explained: the 10 worst ways GMOs threaten humanity and our natural world

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor 

(NaturalNews) Why are genetically modified organisms (GMOs) a serious threat to humanity and the environment? The reasons span the realms of science, social justice, economics and the environment, and once you understand this, you'll readily understand why so many environmentalists, humanitarians, responsible scientists and social justice advocates are strongly opposed to GMOs.

Here are the top 10 ways GMOs threaten us all:

#1) Every grain of GM corn contains poison

GM corn is genetically engineered to develop a deadly pesticide in every grain of corn. When this corn is harvested and turned into Corn Flakes, corn tortillas, corn syrup or other corn-based foods, that same poison remains in the corn.

What is the effect of human children eating all the poisons grown in GM corn? Nobody knows for sure because the tests haven't been conducted on human consumption. That's why GMOs remain an untested experiment that exploits humans as guinea pigs.

See www.GMOevidence.com to learn more.

#2) GMOs have never been safety tested for human consumption

Although GMO advocates ridiculously claim GMOs have been "proven safe in thousands of studies," what they don't tell you is that those were all short-term studies on animals, not humans.

In fact, GMOs have never been shown to be safe for long-term human consumption. What happens when a child eats GMOs for two decades? Does it substantially increase their risk of cancer, diabetes, kidney failure or future Alzheimer's? Nobody knows, exactly, because the tests haven't been done.

As often happens with other chemicals, GMOs are simply let loose into the world with an attitude of "let's see what happens!"

See: www.GMOseralini.org to learn more.

#3) GMOs transform farming freedom into farming servitude

Because GMOs are sold with an intellectual property restriction that prevents farmers from saving their own seeds, they invoke "economic servitude" where farmers are forced to buy expensive new seeds each year from the GMO seed supplier.

As a result, farming practices (like seed saving) that have sustained humanity since the dawn of civilization are now being criminalized. And when GM crops fail, as they frequently do, the economic burden placed upon farmers is often too much to bear. That's why farmer suicides have skyrocketed in India among farmers who bought GMO seeds.

Reportedly, over 270,000 suicides have already happened in India due to crop failures, and more happen every day.

Learn more from the GMO Myths and Truths report.

#4) GMOs run the very real risk of runaway self-replicating genetic pollution and ecocide

Unlike isolated chemicals, GMOs self-replicate. This means there is an automatic risk of a runaway ecological holocaust caused by genetic pollution from GMOs.

Once scientist calls this risk "ecocide" and has calculated the risk of ecocide caused by GMOs will approach 100%. As I wrote in this March 2014 article:

As Taleb convincingly argues, genetically engineered crops are specifically designed to have a survival advantage over conventional crops, allowing them to better resist droughts or infestations of pests or weeds. This survival advantage -- if it's as real as seed manipulators claim -- means genetically engineered plants can out-compete non-GMO crops in open fields. The genetic pollution which is already underway across North America will only get worse, therefore, and there's no reversing it because all living systems -- even genetically engineered ones -- have a natural drive to spread, multiply and survive.

The result is that GMO crops will out-compete and thereby displace non-GMO crops over time. Why does this matter? Because the rise of GMOs is nearly synonymous with the collapse of genetic diversity in seeds and food crops.

#5) GMO agriculture is breeding a new generation of chemical-resistant superweeds

The rise of chemical-resistant superweeds is a horrible problem for modern farmers. In the same way that deadly superbugs have arisen from the abuse of antibiotics in hospitals, "Frankenweeds" have arisen from the continued growing of GMOs and the routine application of glyphosate to crop fields.

Glyphosate-resistant superweeds have become such a problem that the very industry which once claimed GMOs would require "fewer chemicals" to grow food is now recommending fields be treated with a triple or quadruple layer of multiple chemicals to attack the superweeds with different chemicals.

That's why agriculture experts are right now sounding the alarm over glyphosate, GMOs and superweeds, calling for an end to the unsustainable GMO farming practices that seriously threaten the sustainability of agriculture.

See www.naturalnews.com/superweeds.html

#6) GMOs may have long-term unintended consequences on the environment

What happens when genetically engineered plants cross-pollinate with non-GMO plants and are then subjected to the random mutations of plant evolution?

No one knows because it's never been tested in the open world. Or, I should say, it's being tested right now on us all, in the world's largest genetic experiment ever conducted (without our consent, no less).

The problem in all this is that Mother Nature has a way of bringing about unintended consequences, even from well-meaning scientists. Is it possible that an artificial, genetically engineered trait could dominate future plant generations but begin to show a completely unintended physiological trait that scientists never intended? You bet it is. From Thalidomide to Fukushima, the world is full of examples of catastrophic consequences that scientists once swore could never happen.

Famous last words: "What could possibly go wrong?"

#7) GMOs collapse biodiversity

In an effort to monopolize the global seed supply, GMO companies are buying up smaller seed companies and shutting them down, collapsing their seed supplies. The following chart shows some of the seed consolidation activity that's concentrating ownership over seeds into the hands of a very small number of powerful, unethical corporations:

(Click image to view full-sized chart.)


This consolidation of seed companies has caused an alarming collapse in seed diversity over the last decade, placing humanity at increased risk for catastrophic crop failures due to a loss of genetic diversity.

That's the problem with genetic conformity: it makes the crops far more susceptible to systemic diseases that can cause catastrophic crop failures. Precisely this scenario is happening right now with banana crops, as most commercial banana trees are genetically identical clones.

As a result, a fungus has attacked banana crops and is causing devastating destruction across the banana industry. The industry is responding by -- guess what? -- foolishly turning to genetically engineered bananas which will suffer from the exact same weakness of genetic conformity, practically guaranteeing a future disease epidemic.

#8) GMOs put control over the food supply into the hands of profit-driven corporations

Before corporate agriculture, food production used to be under the control of local farmers who cared for their families and communities. But now, food seeds are monopolized by greed-driven corporations that care nothing about families or communities (but worship profit at all costs).

It almost goes without saying that these corporations make decisions in the best interests of their shareholders, not the best interests of humanity or the environment.

Expecting corporations to place the long-term sustainability of life on Earth as a higher priority than their own quarterly profits is a form of insanity. Corporations only exist to maximize short-term profits, regardless of the long-term cost to humanity or the planet.

#9) GMOs may be harming pollinators

Although the evidence on this isn't yet conclusive, GMOs may be contributing to the harming of all-important pollinators, without which we would all starve from lack of food crops.

Honeybee pollinators are dying in record numbers across North America, and many scientists fear we may be witnessing a catastrophic collapse of pollinator populations. Evidence is already emerging that neonicotinoids -- a class of pesticide chemicals -- may be responsible for the collapse, but there's also evidence that GMOs may be worsening the population decline.

Were GMOs ever tested for their long-term impact on pollinators in the wild? Of course not. That would cost too much money, and the promotion of GMOs is all about making money; the environment be damned.

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." - Albert Einstein

#10) The kind of scientists who collaborate with biotech companies are the most dishonest, corrupt and unethical scientists in our world

The world of science consists primarily of ethical, reasonable people who are doing their best to contribute to knowledge and progress for our world. But the darkest "fringe" fanatics of bad science are found in the realm of GMOs, where scientists routinely accept money from the biotech industry to lie to the public and attack "GMO skeptics" -- people who are skeptical about the false promises made by biotech corporations.

Biotech-linked scientists and journalists are the most nefarious and evil-minded of their kind, waging vicious smear campaigns against environmentalists while working desperately to block the public's right to know what they're eating. "Biotech shills" have been a key part of the defeat of GMO labeling laws in California and Oregon, for example, where their message has been, "Make sure the public NEVER knows they're eating GMOs!"

In every way imaginable, the scientists and journalist who blindly push GMOs are a great disservice to the scientific community and will only discredit science in the long run as the long-term harm caused by GMOs becomes undeniable.

REAL science allows for skeptical questions and embraces the precautionary principle, but quack "GMO science" abandons precaution while disparaging anyone who poses reasonable questions about playing God with nature.

The blind leading the blind

GMO shills, of course, dismiss all these concerns (or hope you don't notice them). Their foolish strategy is to cover their eyes, cover their ears and march humanity down this path of destruction, all while hoping to cash in on quarterly profit dividends in the mean time.

There is no rational justification for putting the entire world at risk with genetically engineered crops that have clearly failed to be subjected to responsible long-term scientific testing. As with most other chemicals -- aspartame, Agent Orange, Bisphenol-A and so on -- industry simply unleashes them onto the world and hopes nothing goes wrong.

But Murphy's Law tells us bad things can happen even when you don't want them to, and with GMOs, we're now playing with self-replicating organisms rather than mere chemicals. GMO-based agriculture is a Pandora's Box which can never be closed once opened.

While I do believe GMOs might one day be developed and deployed in a safe and cautious manner, today there is presently zero willingness on the part of biotech corporations to expend the kind of time, money and resources required to establish such safety. There is also zero willingness in the minds of GMO-fronting scientists to even consider the possibility that they might be wrong. One such GMO front man named Jon Entine has even written a book with one of the most disturbingly arrogant titles imaginable: "Let them Eat Precaution."

And so, in a very real sense, we are all playing Russian Roulette with our collective future, hoping against all odds that the shortcut scientists working for companies like Monsanto have already thought of everything.

History tells us such hope is deeply misplaced.

Learn more about GMOs:

www.ResponsibleTechnology.org
www.OrganicConsumers.org
www.GMwatch.org
http://gmomythsandtruths.earthopensource.org

Seven reasons to eat less meat and more plant-based foods

by PF Louis 

(NaturalNews) Not all of us have the same genetic composition or body type. But even so, most of us do well as vegetarians. Not everyone does well with grains, and some of us need or want dairy while others need or want some meat.

Ayurvedic practitioners are usually experts at determining what foods you should eat, and some western health practitioners, whether physicians, chiropractors, or naturopaths have devised methods of their own to determine just what type of diet you should have.

Not all of us can or should be totally vegan, abstaining completely from meat, eggs, or dairy. But most agree that nutrients from greens are extremely vital, and the food you eat should be real and wholesome, which brings us to the first area of selectivity - commercial meat.

Seven reasons to eat no commercial meat and more plant-based food

(1) Commercial meat is factory farmed or CAFO (confined animal food operation). That livestock is cruelly treated and forced into tortuous slaughterhouses that inspire decades of artist renderings of hell. None of this should be supported for obvious humane reasons.

Before their tortuous demise, livestock are crowded into confined, disease breeding spaces and constantly injected with antibiotics and/or GMO growth hormones, all of which get passed on to you when you eat their flesh.

They are force fed grains when they should be grazing on grass or at least eating hay. Those grains are usually genetically modified and overly sprayed with herbicides and pesticides, all of which gets passed on to you too.

So in addition to contributing to obscenely cruel animal treatment, you are contributing to your own bad health.

Select only meat, dairy products, and eggs from farms that don't use CAFO practices but allow their livestock to roam in open areas and graze on their natural diets. This eliminates cruelty and allows the real unadulterated health benefits of meat, eggs, and dairy to get through to you.

(2) Since it takes 100 pounds of grain feed to produce a pound of meat, that much more grain would be available for feeding humans if its not genetically engineered or GMO. Less meat eating allows more soil to be used for plant-based foods while causing less water and soil contamination. It's simply more ecological.

(3) If you buy non-GMO organic bulk grains and dry legumes, you'll get plenty of healthy nutrients and sufficient protein at a fraction of the price of meats. (http://www.naturalnews.com)

(4) Plant-based nutrients provide protein by surrendering essential amino acids that allow your body to form complete proteins. Breaking down complete proteins from cooked meats demands a lot of metabolic enzyme production, straining your pancreas to the point of exhaustion.

Metabolic pancreatic enzymes are proteins strong enough to penetrate and destroy free roaming cancer cells before tumors are formed. You need them for that, and therein lies a reason why heavy meat eaters are more prone to cancer. (http://www.naturalnews.com/031411_cancer_prevention.html)

(5) Most of the industrialized world is magnesium deficient. Magnesium is involved with over 300 metabolic processes in our bodies. Fresh, organic greens are a good source of magnesium.

Even unadulterated meat and raw dairy from grass fed cows can help pass on some magnesium from their consumed chlorophyll.

When it comes to dairy, don't bother with pasteurized products. They are food-like substances and not real food after their enzymes and major nutrients are cooked out. Try to get raw dairy or don't bother.

Meat from antibiotic injected CAFO cows as well as GMO grains or soy destroys your friendly gut bacteria. This intestinal flora is essential for your digestion, and it's a major part of your total immune system. (http://www.naturalnews.com/033094_gut_health_brain.html)

6 ways to protect your family from the danger of GMOs

by PF Louis 

(NaturalNews) The California Proposition 37 ballot to make GMO (genetically modified organisms) labeling mandatory by state law is approaching. The hope is that if the California popular vote carries it by voting yes, this will set a precedent for other states.

The European Union (EU) might ban GMO corn in light of the recent French study that clearly showed horrific consequences from a lifetime of GMOs fed lab rats.

Most EU nations already mandate GMO labeling. Some EU farmers have uprooted or burned genetically modified Monsanto crop testing fields. Europeans aggressively oppose GMOs. These developments give hope to those of us who oppose biotech interventions into the food chain.

Meanwhile, here in the USA, even health food store chains carry products containing GMOs that are not labeled as such. USA labeling laws require listing ingredients. But Monsanto's influence on government agencies has kept those laws from including GMOs on food labels.

Even if Proposition 37 passes in California, and there is a chance it may not, the rest of us need to be able to avoid genetically modified foods to protect ourselves and families from direct health hazards without labeling.

Enough of a national GMO boycott could at least slow down Monsanto's stated goal of controlling the world's food supply.

GMO avoidance tips

(1) Two labels will help you know whether or not you're looking at food genetically modified or containing GMOs: USDA (or other agency) certified organic or the None GMO Verified seal from the non-GMO project, a non-government group that inspects foods from provider members. View the seal here (http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/non-gmo-project-seal.html).

Unfortunately, neither label is an absolute 100% guarantee that there are no slight traces of GMOs. Nearby GMO crops of the same type you purchase can pollute even organic crops and still be USDA approved as organic.

(2)Which infectious GMO crops should be avoided unless clearly designated organic? Almost all corn, and soy crops in the USA and Canada are genetically modified. A lot of cotton is and canola is genetically modified. Avoid those cotton seed and canola oils. Beet sugar can come from genetically modified beets.

(3) Nearly 80 percent of packaged foods contain GMOs. These need to have one or both of the labels mentioned earlier. Besides causing liver damage, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or corn syrup sweeteners come from GMO corn. Another toxic sweetener, aspartame, is also a GMO.

(4) Realize that the term "natural" on a food product is meaningless for determining an organic or non-GMO food product. It's simply deceptive marketing.

(5) Non - organic milk and milk products are usually from cows fed GMO corn or soy. Even worse, one-third of commercial milking cows are injected with patented Monsanto GMO growth hormones called recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH).

If dairy is not labeled organic or grass fed, at least look for a labels that says no hormones or rBGH. Traces of pus or blood from rBGH cows' udder infections is not nutritious. Meat eaters should avoid factory farm meats that are fed GMOs and injected with antibiotics. Look for organic grass fed.

(6) Avoid packaged cereals unless the logos from section (1) are present. If you have children, train them patiently to not demand those cereals in brightly colored boxes. Most are full of GMOs, even if they say "natural" or appear in health food stores.

Here's a handy free shopping guide to help you maneuver food aisles without buying GMOs (http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/download.html).

In case you're not convinced about the dangers of GMOs, or there's someone you're trying to convince, or if you need to review and expand your awareness, go here to begin your research (http://www.naturalnews.com).

Food shock: what the labels don’t tell you

(This article is adapted from the June 2011 issue of Consumer Reports ShopSmart magazine.)


You could be eating meat and drinking milk from cloned or genetically modified animals without knowing it. The reason: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require labeling on most products that contain genetically engineered plant materials, or on meat and milk from cloned animals. So there’s no way for consumers to tell.

The agency claims that such labeling could confuse consumers and turn them away from products that currently are deemed safe.

The genetic engineering issue has caused problems with imports and exports because the U.S. government stands virtually alone in its opposition to such labeling. Many importing countries require it and labeling is authorized by international guidelines.

Where the modified genes are

Genetically modified versions of corn, soybeans, canola, and cotton are widely sold in the U.S. The grains make their way into lots of stuff—an estimated 60 to 70 percent of processed food sold has genetically modified ingredients.

Last fall, AquaBounty Technologies petitioned the FDA for approval to sell salmon that is genetically engineered to grow at twice the normal rate. If approved, it would be the first genetically engineered animal to enter the U.S. food supply.

Along with other consumer and environmental organizations, Consumers Union (CU), the nonprofit publisher of this website and Consumer Reports, testified against the AquaBounty petition. CU’s testimony cited concerns that the fish could trigger or worsen allergic reactions, and also noted the overall lack of solid safety data.

The labeling of genetically modified fish also came under debate. CU noted that the FDA should require labeling based, in part, on the fact that the inserted genetic material, which is from the Chinook salmon growth hormone gene, and the resulting products are man-made food ingredients.

In addition, CU pointed out that FDA should require labeling to insure that any unexpected or unintended effects of engineering this salmon come to FDA attention. The decision whether to approve the salmon is on hold while the FDA is gathering more information.

What you can do

If you’d prefer to avoid milk and meat from cloned cows and genetically modified plant ingredients, you should buy products labeled "USDA Organic." According to our Eco-label center, there also are some other reliable labels certifying "no genetic engineering." They include: the Food Alliance (FA) label; the Maine Quality Trademark Seal.

Unlike the labels above, a label claim, such as "GMO-free," is not independently verifiable or meaningful, according to our Eco-label center.

Wikio