Breaking news: EPA will approve new "Agent Orange" 2,4-D GMO crops!

Remember Agent Orange from the Vietnam war days ? Well, it’s back and going to be in our food unless we, the people, can prevent it. Now would be the time to contact your legislators to object to this insane practice. Take immediate action and spread the word.

Following News Announcement from Food Democracy Team

Tell the White House to stop Monsanto and Dow's toxic GMO chemical treadmill!

Breaking: EPA is set to Approve Dow Chemical's new 2,4-D GMO corn and soy! Please lend your voice to say NO to the next generation of GMOs!

I just got off the phone with a source in Washington DC and the news is NOT good. Sources close to the administration claim that as early as tomorrow, the Environmental Protection Agency WILL APPROVE Dow Chemical's new Enlist Duo 2,4-D "Agent Orange" GMO corn and soy. This is outrageous and we need your help to stop these toxic new GMO crops!

Click here to tell President Obama to stop the approval of Dow Chemical’s toxic new GMO crops - it's time to end the chemical arms race taking place on our plates! Every voice counts.

[action.fooddemocracynow.org]

With the failure of Monsanto's Roundup Ready GMO crops, which have led to more than 70 million acres of superweeds across American farmland, the biotech industry is now promoting a series of more toxic chemical cocktails to spray on farmers' fields to kill these out-of-control weeds.

Tragically, rather than find a real solution to this serious problem, the Obama administration is charging full steam ahead with the approval of this new GMO chemical treadmill nightmare that Food Democracy Now! and our allies have been warning you about for years.

Just last month, the USDA green-lighted the use of Dow’s new genetically engineered corn and soybean seeds that are resistant to the heavy-duty weed killer 2,4-D and glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's best selling weed killer Roundup.

And now - the only thing standing in the way of this toxic new chemical cocktail is approval of the new chemical mixture of 2,4-D and glyphosate from the EPA!

Tell President Obama that it’s time to end the toxic chemical GMO arms race started by Monsanto and now being driven by Dow – Reject the approval of Dow’s new “Agent Orange” GMO crops!

The administration has already heard from more than half a million farmers and citizens, including scientists and public health officials about the real health and environmental health concerns about 2,4-D and the new chemical arms race this approval will lead to. But they need to hear from you again!

The consequences are not imagined, but real and the USDA and scientists around the world know this.

According to the USDA’s own estimates, the introduction of these new GMO crops will mean the additional spraying of 5 to 13 times as much 2,4-D by the year 2020. Which means that use of 2,4-D in America will skyrocket from 26 million to as much as 176 million pounds per year.

That means that these new GMOs and a chemical linked to birth defects, hormone disruption, reproductive failure, cancer and Parkinson’s disease will appear unlabeled on our plates. Unless we can stop them!

Send a Message to President Obama and the White House on Dow Chemical’s new 2,4-D GMO Crops! Every voice counts!
[action.fooddemocracynow.org]

Right now the USDA and biotech industry are locked hand in hand in promoting a system of agriculture and food production that is leading to a more toxic future for our children and future generations – and we need your voice to help stop it!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead.

Thank you for participating in food democracy,
Dave, Lisa and the Food Democracy Now! team


Sources:
1. “USDA grants approval to Dow's Enlist GMO corn and soybeans,” Reuters, September 17, 2014.
[action.fooddemocracynow.org]
2. “USDA Approves New Modified Corn, Soybean Seeds”, Associated Press, September 17, 2014.
[action.fooddemocracynow.org]
3. “Altered to Withstand Herbicide, Corn and Soybeans Gain Approval”, New York Times, September 17, 2014
[action.fooddemocracynow.org]
4. “Going Backwards: Dow’s 2,4-D-Resistant Crops and a More Toxic Future “, Center for Food Safety,
[action.fooddemocracynow.org]
5. “Editorial Escalating the weed wars”, Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times, September 29, 2014
[action.fooddemocracynow.org]

How about being fair and balanced, this is the other side of the story.




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Opinion 1/06/2014 @ 12:04AM 18,038 views

Agent Orange GMO? After USDA Backs 2,4-D Seeds, Michael Pollan, Marion Nestle Lead Activist Hype Of Discredited Link

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As the Genetic Literacy Project reports, new genetically modified corn and soybean seeds, already approved in Canada for rollout this year, are closer to being greenlighted in the United States–unless activist protests delay the process yet again.

Screen Shot 2014-01-05 at 12.42.18 PMLast Friday, a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released by the US Department of Agriculture recommended that full deregulation is the “preferred alternative” for Dow AgroSciences’ corn and soybean traits resistant to the herbicide 2,4-D–products known as the Enlist Weed Control System.

What is 2,4-D? According to scientists, it’s an effective herbicide and plant growth regulator widely and safely used for decades in household weed killers, such as Scotts TurfBuilder, and also by farmers. To opponents, it’s “Agent Orange”.

That’s factually untrue. As agricultural scientist Steve Savage has written on the independent website Biofortified, “Agent Orange, a defoliant used in the Vietnam War, was made with two herbicides: 2,4-D (the one that the new corn tolerates), and 2,4,5-T. The 2,4,5-T was unknowingly contaminated with a dioxin, something that was only later recognized as a significant human safety issue. Yes, 2,4-D was part of Agent Orange, but it wasn’t what made Agent Orange a danger back in the 1960s.”

The facts haven’t slowed the anti-GMO demonization express, let by Michael Pollan, in a tweet dispatched within minutes of the USDA announcement.

Screen Shot 2014-01-05 at 10.46.06 AM

“If finalized, this decision would launch American agriculture into a new era of vastly increased dependence on more toxic pesticides,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the anti-GMO Center for Food Safety, which popularized the demonizing term “Agent Orange Corn” to stigmatize the chemical. “The Obama Administration must overturn this dangerous and misguided proposal.”

On her blog, Marion Nestle, New York University food scientist and organics promoter appropriately linked to independent government studies endorsing the safety of 2,4-D, but then provided a mouthpiece for one of the country’s most anti-science groups, Earth Justice. “The potent and toxic 2,4-D has been linked to many human health problems,” Nestle quotes the anti-GMO group. “It also is likely to harm non-genetically engineered crops in neighboring fields, threaten endangered species, and ultimately lead to the development of weeds that are resistant to it, leading to even more problems.”

Following the Earth Justice quote, Nestle chortles: “Even more reason to buy and promote organics!”

That’s the cynicism. What do the facts show?

1757.jpg.thumb_280x280The Environmental Protection Agency has evaluated 2,4-D numerous times under increasingly stringent risk assessment evaluations and consistently found the comparatively mild herbicide safe. The Oregon State University and EPA-backed National Pesticide Information Center thoroughly reviewed the chemical and found it safe in its proposed usages.

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) endorsed the safety of the traits years ago after extensive reviews, but the final approval process slowed to a crawl in the face of activist pressures. Citing “public concerns” about the potential increased volume of herbicides and their movement onto non-target crops, APHIS announced in May that it would require a more stringent environmental review of Enlist crops waiting to be approved for the market. That’s now completed. The draft EIS will be published in the Federal Register this week and open for public comment for 45 days.

After years of independent review, Canadian regulatory authorities approved the traits in October, opening the way for cultivation for the first time this year.

For environmentalists interested in higher crop yields with lower impact and more sustainable farming practices, including the use of less pesticides, a final approval would come as welcome news. As Savage points out, farmers have been moving increasingly towards the control of weeds with herbicides rather than with mechanical methods called “tillage.”


“Plowed and tilled soils are susceptible to erosion. Erosion carries not just sediments, but also fertilizers and pesticide residues into streams. The mechanical disturbance of soil degrades its properties over time so that it becomes less able to capture and store rain and less able to sequester nutrients. Beginning in 1960, some farmers began to experiment with “no-till” farming methods on a commercial scale. One of the reasons they were able to do that was because herbicides like 2,4-D had become available.

Pollan, Nestle and groups like the Center for Food Safety and Earth Justice harp on concerns that the use of herbicides can result in the evolution of so-called superweeds, requiring even more spraying. That has begun to happen in some farm areas in cases f09c77eb396b8c149656cd29318e8288involving the overuse of glyphosate (Roundup Ready), where resistance has indeed emerged. But herbicide resistant weeds has been a problem long before GMO crops were introduced. Pro-active farmers combat this by employing multiple options, including herbicides with different modes of action, cultural methods like cover crops or planting date shifts and in some cases the judicious use of tillage. Invoking the problem of superweeds is often a crafty surrogate for attacking GMOs (one of Pollan’s favorite tactics)–typical of the way ideologues rather than scientists or independent journalists evaluate a complex problem. The introduction of a 2,4-D tolerant crop would actually lessen the problem, as farmers could rotate in another mode of action.

The sustainability benefits of 2,4-D have been documented, which is why both farmers and cutting edge environmentalists are so eager for the approval process to conclude. “We are on a trajectory for continued weed resistance and thus major adverse impact on crop productivity,” said weed science expert, University of Western Australia professor Stephen Powles. “To fight resistance we need herbicide diversity and alternative technologies. Enlist is one such diversity tool.”

Monsanto’s Roundup Ready GMO seed line, which incorporates herbicide resistant traits, has led to a sharp reduction in the overall toxicity content of chemicals sprayed because glyphosate is so much less toxic and environmentally risky than the chemicals it replaced. The same would happen with Dow’s 2,4-D corn or soybeans. The new products would give farmers multiple options to further control the weed problems that have dogged modern agriculture for 50 years.

Even as the evidence for the safety and sustainability benefits of these new GM traits mounts, anti-GMO activists escalate the rhetoric. Pollan et al. not only invoke the Agent Orange canard to spread dicey environmental interpretations of complex issues, as part of their crusade they show no compunction about misrepresenting an unrelated national tragedy. As Savage has written:


“This new corn, and the soybeans that will follow, are part of what will enable land-use efficient, low environmental footprint farming. They have nothing to do with a 50 year old defoliant. There is absolutely no doubt that the lessons from “Agent Orange” must be remembered. The innocent victims of Agent Orange deserve that heightened awareness. What they don’t deserve is to have their tragedy exploited in an irresponsible way.

Michael and Marion: Will you stand by science?

Bought - Official Trailer
Looks like this video covers vaccines, autism, drugs and GMO food.

Synopsis
The hidden story about vaccines, autism, drugs and food... Americas health has been BOUGHT. Your health, your family's health. Now brought to you by Wall Street... "If you thought they hurt us with the banks, wait till you see what they're doing to health care." Vaccines. GMOs. Big Pharma. Three big, BIG, okay... HUGE topics in one film. Why? Why not 3 films, why put all this in one movie? Great question, 2 answers. 1st and most importantly: We need to band together. We need a mainstream film, not another radical movie that only interests the "already converted". Over 5 million people supported Prop 37 in CA. Reportedly, over 2 million worldwide marched against Monsanto in a global protest. There are thousands of actively involved parents focused on vaccine safety truth. We're going to use multiple groups to make sure the critical message in this film "crosses the chasm" and makes it into mainstream. We've already allied with some of the most successful voices in these areas. We can't afford to stay "silo'ed", focused on only one key issue. These causes are directly related, and we need to harness all of us to draw close to the level of noise put out by the medical-industrial conglomerate. Combining all three topics makes wonderful storytelling, because it's the same villain! You peel back the layers and see what's really driving our industrialized food, our insane vaccine expansion, and our love affair with pharmaceuticals- it's the same villain. It's a risky story to tell, but would be a tragedy to passively consent to with silence. There is something horribly wrong with health care today. Huge money, billions and billions of dollars flowing into the same pockets. Meanwhile, MD's aren't being allowed to actually practice the art of medicine and anyone who questions vaccination safety, pharmaceuticals, factory farms, etc. is ridiculed and belittled. Meanwhile, the billions keep flowing, carried on a river of pain and anguish. Huge corporations funded by individual misery, one broken life at a time. Three huge stories, each worthy of multiple films, but each brought together by one staggering fact: it's the same villain. These three story lines converge on Wall Street, in a tale of corruption, greed and shocking lack of conscience.


Watch here now: [ykr.be]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2014 06:29PM by Todd.

Wall street is to blame for everything (according to you) but when Wall street falls it doesn't bode well for our economy and the world' s economy, what is so wrong about making money and having a business that makes money, that is the American dream.

Some of the banks didn't want the bailout but were made to take it, by the way they paid it back.

Polio was eradicated by the polio VACCINE, many diseases that people used to die from are no longer feared because of VACCINES. Ebola is now in the U.S. threating us, we have no drugs against it, the pharams (that you hate) are scrambling to find an anti-body against it, perhaps millions will die, we are all hoping that big Pharam finds a VACCINE or horror of horrors a DRUG.

Drugs, many on this forum take some drugs, they try supplements etc. but finally seek out medical intervention, I don't like drugs I do take some supplements, eat from food I raise and cook from scratch, but I am glad there are drugs if I should need them, glad for Big Pharma. Do you realize how expensive it is to bring a drug to market?

As to our Health care, which was the best in the world, is now being compromised by our Government sticking their nose into it, anything run by our Government suffers.

Explain to me Todd why farm animals aren't sick and dying, they have been eating GMO foods since I believe the early 1990s.

Liz



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2014 12:36AM by Elizabeth.

Just a short 2 min video about commercial processed meat.
[www.youtube.com]

About Polio vaccination below.
Suzanne Humphries, MD, speaking on Polio at the Association of Natural Health Conference
[www.youtube.com]

Obama signs Monsanto Protection Act! It's Time to Label GMOs! Kinda Old News.
They are making a real good living at it, for sure.
We regret to inform you that President Barack Obama has signed H.R. 933, which contained the Monsanto Protection Act, into law. President Obama knowingly signed the Monsanto Protection Act over the urgent pleas of more than 250,000 Americans
[action.fooddemocracynow.org]


5 Appalling Facts About The Monsanto Protection Act Obama Signed Into Law (GMO Heaven)
[planetsave.com]

I think we'd all be wise to grade the thoroughness, accuracy and credibility of the institutions involved in the various studies on this issue; ie., follow the money trail of who benefits how much by the varying results before leaping to such far reaching conclusions.

You'll find that the CDC, UC Davis and President Obama benefit very little, if any, from going through all this. Can we say the same for non-certified private small opinions based upon emotion instead of facts and research. Meta analysis really doesn't work in cases like this, especially when the studies used for the meta analysis are all with the same result.

If you follow the money trail, you'll see that even Monsanto shareholders haven't really kept up with the overall stock market increase over the past several years. [fficial&client=firefox-a&channel=sb" rel="nofollow">www.google.com]

In the end analysis, consumers worldwide are the beneficiaries, and we need evermore things like this that help mankind in general.

Gordon