by Arjun Walia, Collective-Evolution
Last year, Sausalito Marin City School District became the very first completely organic and non-GMO district in the country. Its two schools are Bayside MLK Jr. Academy in Marin City and Willow Creek Academy in Sausalito. The program aims to improve students’ health and educate them about food, agriculture, and the environment. (source)(source)
The program was initiated by Judi Shils, the founder of the non-profit education and advocacy group Turning Green and the director of The Conscious Kitchen.
The move marks encouraging and tangible progress in the fight to take back our food which seemingly every mainstream media outlet is either ignoring or ridiculing. Several hundred scientists from around the world have expressed their concern that GMOs are dangerous for our health and that of the environment, and dozens of countries would seem to agree, since they have banned the import of GMOs into their countries and the growth of GMOs within them. Yet this is not what’s being reported.
Here’s what Irina Ermakova, VP of Russia’s National Association for Genetic Safety, said last year when Russia was mulling over the decision to ban GMOs:
It is necessary to ban GMOs, to impose moratorium (on) it for 10 years. While GMOs will be prohibited, we can plan experiments, tests, or maybe even new methods of research could be developed. It has been proven that not only in Russia, but also in many other countries in the world, GMOs are dangerous. Methods of obtaining the GMOs are not perfect, therefore, at this stage, all GMOs are dangerous. Consumption and use of GMOs obtained in such way can lead to tumors, cancers and obesity among animals. Bio-technologies certainly should be developed, but GMOs should be stopped…. [We] should stop it from spreading. (source)
All of these governments are citing concerns for the health and the environment, but we aren’t hearing about this in North America. Such stories are routinely suppressed because corporations dictate both media coverage and government policy.
“As part of the process, they portrayed the various concerns as merely the ignorant opinions of misinformed individuals – and derided them as not only unscientific, but anti-science. They then set to work to convince the public and government officials, through the dissemination of false information, that there was an overwhelming expert consensus, based on solid evidence, that GMOs were safe.”
– Jane Goodall (source)
Why This Is A Great Idea
“Children today are sicker than they were a generation ago. From childhood cancers to autism, birth defects and asthma, a wide range of childhood diseases and disorders are on the rise. Our assessment of the latest science leaves little room for doubt: pesticides are one key driver of this sobering trend.”
– October 2012 report by Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) (source)(source)
The shift towards organic food is strong and growing; it’s what consumers are demanding. After all, who wants a bunch of pesticides accumulating in their body, especially ones which have been undeniably linked to several diseases? The science is there, and people are taking their health into their own hands.
A recent study conducted by researchers from RMIT university, published in the journal Environmental Research, found that an organic diet for just one week significantly reduced pesticide exposure in adults by 90 percent. (source)
Another study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, indicated that among individuals eating similar amounts of vegetables and fruits, the ones who reported eating organic produce had significantly lower OP pesticide exposure than those who normally consume conventionally grown produce. You can read more about that here.
A study conducted by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute IVL also illustrates what happens to the body when we swtich to organic produce. You can find out more about that by watching this video titled ‘The Organic Effect.’
These chemicals are manufactured by big bio-tech corporations like Monsanto, who has been caught lying on more than one occasion. A study published in the journal Biomedical Research International, for example, revealed that Roundup herbicide is 125 times more toxic than its active ingredient glyphosate studied in isolation. (source) Roundup was also (finally) linked to cancer recently by the WHO, although a number of scientists had already proven this.
GMOs
Mainstream media continues to propagate the idea that GMOs are safe, even in the face of research which clearly shows otherwise. A recent article in Forbes titled “The Debate About GMO Safety Is Over” does just this. Rarely, if ever, do we see mainstream publications assessing or even acknowledging the concerns being raised all over the world.
One noteworthy study published in the journal Evironmental Sciences Europe clearly demonstrates that GMOs are dangerous, finding severe liver and kidney damage, as well as hormonal disturbances, in rats fed GM maize in conjunction with low levels of Roundup — levels that were below those permitted in most drinking water across Europe. The rats also developed large cancer tumours. Yet the WHO has never cited any longterm studies that prove the safety of GMOs. (source)
Other studies have found instances of adverse microscopic and molecular effects of some GM foods in different organs or tissues. They also determined that no standardized methods to evaluate the safety of GM foods have been established. Many studies have emphasized that more scientific effort is needed in order to build confidence in the evaluation and acceptance of GM foods. (source)(source)
Studies have also linked GMO animal feed to severe stomach inflammation and enlarged uteri in pigs. (source)
As if they weren’t bad enough, GM crops are also sprayed with billions of pounds of toxic chemicals every year.
A study published in the Journal of Organic Systems last September examined US government databases, with researchers searching for GE (Genetically Engineered) crop data, glyphosate application data, and disease epidemiological data while performing a “correlation analysis” on a total of 22 different diseases.
They arrived at an alarming conclusion:
These data show very strong and highly significant correlations between the increasing use of glyphosate, GE crop growth and the increase in a multitude of diseases. Many of the graphs show sudden increases in the rates of diseases in the mid-1990s that coincide with the commercial production of GE crops. The large increase in glyphosate use in the US is mostly due to the increase in glyphosate-resistant GE crops.
The probabilities in the graphs and tables show that it is highly unlikely that the correlations are a coincidence. The strength of the correlations shows that there is a very strong probability that they are linked somehow. (source)
The Most Comprehensive Book On GMOs
The GMO debate is not only about the science, but about the scientific fraud which has made GMOs so prevalent. If you want to learn more, check out: Altered Genes, Twisted Truth: How the Venture to Genetically Engineer Our Food Has Subverted Science, Corrupted Government, and Systematically Deceived the Public.
“Altered Genes, Twisted Truth will stand as a landmark. It should be required reading in every university biology course.”
– Joseph Cummins, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Genetics, Western University, London, Ontario (source)
“This incisive and insightful book is truly outstanding. Not only is it well-reasoned and scientifically solid, it’s a pleasure to read – and a must-read. Through its masterful marshalling of facts, it dispels the cloud of disinformation that has misled people into believing that GE foods have been adequately tested and don’t entail abnormal risk.”
– David Schubert, Ph.D. molecular biologist and Head of Cellular Neurobiology, Salk Institute for Biological Studies (source)
