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GMO Disease Epidemics: (5) Maize (StarLink corn)
Author
- Myron (Mike) Stagman, PhD
Date Created
- 01 Aug 2006
Date Edited
- 01 Aug 2006 09:52:39 PM
License
This work is in the public domain.
Genetic Engineering is a nightmare technology that has already caused MANY disease epidemics — documented but unpublicized. This is the 5th in a series revealing the epidemics, dealing with GM maize (corn). The contamination by genetically modified organisms of a wonderful food originated by native Americans more than 2,000 years ago is vile beyond description.
Myron (Mike) Stagman, PhD
Concerned Citizens Information Network
www.ccin.info (environmental website)
www.MyronStagman.com
email: artemesium@gmail.com
GMO DISEASE EPIDEMICS:
Maize (StarLink corn]
I. The Face of Frankenstein's Monster
Genetic Engineering Biotechnology (GE, GM, GMOs) evades Evolution's safeguards by injecting genes of one species into a totally unrelated species, something impossible in Nature.
GM evades Evolution's safeguards, and may therefore give rise to PATHOGENS that can — and HAVE, many times — caused crippling and deadly DISEASE EPIDEMICS — documented but unpublicised.
Genetic Engineering is also ideal for developing horrific biological and other military weapons —- sufficient cause to OUTLAW GM.
The Greatest Racket in History (Listen to this !): —-
GM contamination is virulent, spread by wind, bird, insect, animals and travelling human beings. Co-Existence with GM is completely impossible, only fools or liars would say differently.
GM has contaminated crops in areas of North America which dwarf the UK and even Western Europe. Planetary contamination is inevitable, if We don't stop it.
The Biotechnology corporations know oh-so-well how contamination spreads and spreads and spreads.
Now get this: Through their political influence, these Corporations have been able to acquire the obscene, sacrilegious, and indeed revolutionary PATENTS on LIFE-FORMS.
Before these revolutionary Patents on Life, a farmer could have sued — successfully without any doubt — the Biotechnology corporation for having contaminated, poisoned his crops.
However, given these Patents on Life (here, on the seeds), the Corporation can — and DOES, successfully — sue the victimised farmer for (Hold your nose) "infringement of patent".
[Our tainted, corrupted political systems allow this monstrosity.]
Thus the formula the reader might keep in mind:
GM Contamination + Patents on Life-Forms equals Corporate Ownership Rights in the crops of victimised farmers.
This formula spells the serfdom and ruin of all small family farmers on this planet. (They are the majority of the population in Asia, Africa, and Latin America).
The Chemical-Drug-Biotechnology syndicate and its Enforcers (corrupted governments in the West and Third World, corporation-dominated organisations like the WTO, World Bank, IMF) have started a WORLDWIDE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION.
They want to destroy small family farming, and have only gigantic Corporate GM Plantations with farmers working as serfs.
[This process is underway, especially in South America where the U.S. Military has begun to intervene on behalf of GM Plantations to crush farmer opposition.]
Already, according to the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE) in New Delhi, 40,000 farmers in India have committed suicide primarily as a result of the Corporate Enforcers' so-called "free trade" policies —- dumping heavily-subsidised Western farm produce onto glutted Indian markets, pushing GM crops, insisting that Patents on Life-Forms be accepted so farmers must sign contracts with GM Corporations and can no longer save seeds, etc.
The Greatest Racket in History —- GM Contamination + Patents on Life-Forms equals Corporate Proprietary Rights in the crops of victimised farmers, and spells the serdom and ruin of small family farmers everywhere on this planet.
We MUST OUTLAW GM and PATENTS on LIFE-FORMS — or else !!
(e.g. No more organic, healthy food —- you and your children will only be able to eat unsafe GM)
See the Action Plan in Part III designed to OUTLAW GM and PATENTS on LIFE-FORMS.
But beforehand, read the next in our series of "GMO Disease Epidemics".
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II. GM Maize (StarLink corn) Disease Epidemic
Genetically engineered organisms are a dire threat not only to human health but to farm animals and Nature. The history of GM maize (corn) illustrates the unpredictable, random, and hazardous process of gene-splicing.
Note: It should be kept in mind that government is morally and legally obligated to prove GM safe before allowing it on the market. This has not been done.
Moreover, one should bear in mind that GM food and crops hold no benefits whatever for consumers, only risks. And the same is true for Nature.
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"Cows ate GM Maize and Died" (Institute of Science in Society, London)
In Hesse, Germany, twelve dairy cows on a farm in Woelfersheim died after being fed GM maize and silage. In 2002, Syngenta, the British-Swiss biotech giant that manufactured the GM maize, paid farmer Gottfried Gloeckner 40,000 Euros in compensation.
[Syngenta, the 2nd biggest biotechology corporation, after Monsanto (USA), is comprised of the British drug giant AstraZenca and the Swiss drug giant Novartis.]
Why is genetically engineered fodder given to animals? Have we learned nothing from Mad Cow Disease?
GM animal feed not only endangers the animal, but endangers human beings who eat animal products.
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In Hesse, Germany, twelve dairy cows on a farm in Woelfersheim died after being fed GM maize and silage. In 2002, Syngenta, the British-Swiss biotech giant that manufactured the GM maize, paid farmer Gottfried Gloeckner 40,000 Euros in compensation.
[Syngenta, the 2nd biggest biotechology corporation, after Monsanto (USA), is comprised of the British drug giant AstraZenca and the Swiss drug giant Novartis.]
Why is genetically engineered fodder given to animals? Have we learned nothing from Mad Cow Disease?
GM animal feed not only endangers the animal, but endangers human beings who eat animal products.
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Mass Deaths of Monarch Butterflies
"An example of what can happen when genetically modified crops are introduced was reported in May [1999] in the United States. Pollen from corn into which a toxin called Bt had been genetically engineered, killed nearly half the monarch butterfly caterpillars [that] fed on it in a test at Cornell University."
[International Herald Tribune, 5 August 1999, "Genetically Modified Food Alarmingly Out of Control"]
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Mass Deaths of Bees
Regarding the Bt toxin spliced into GM maize, Genetically-engineered Bt-cotton killed 30% of the bees in the fields when field-tested in Thailand.
[Institute for Science in Society, London]
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Mass Infertility of Sows
Pig farmers in Iowa grew GM maize and fed it to their pigs. 80% of them became infertile.
[Bt Corn Linked to Hog Breeding Problems", Jim Riddle, May 20, 2002, In: "GM Crops: What you should know", GM Free Cymru, 2nd ed., July 2003, pp.21-22]
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Animal antipathy to GM feed —- There have been many reports that livestock and laboratory animals avoid genetically engineered feed when given a choice.
The previous items in this Fact-Sheet demonstrate that they have excellent reasons for doing so.
Domestic cows and pigs, wild geese, laboratory rats and mice —- they all avoid GM food when given a choice.
[Institute of Science in Society; Seeds of Deception pp. 47, 73, 138, 199]
- - - - - - - - - - -
GM Maize Disease Epidemic (StarLink)
Washington Post, 19 March 2001 (International Herald Tribune on 20 March 2001) printed an article entitled "Allergic Reactions Trigger a Sober Look at Biotech Foods". Quotations from that article:
"Taco shells and other corn products had been recalled nationwide because they were found to contain a genetically modified type of corn [maize] called StarLink. The corn had been approved for only animal consumption because of concern it might trigger dangerous allergic reactions in people. . . .
"Grace Booth had just finished a chicken enchilada lunch with co-workers when she began to feel hot and itchy. Her lips began to swell, she developed severe diarrhea and soon she was having trouble breathing. Her colleagues called an ambulance. Ms. Booth, 35, [was] apparently suffering from anaphylactic shock."
Hundreds of Americans have contacted the FDA, and thousands called food companies, about suffering allergic (i.e. toxic) reactions, including cases of anaphylactic (life-threatening) shock, after eating maize products almost certainly containing the Bt genetically-engineered toxin.
(This may represent a fraction of those nationwide who suffered toxic reactions.)
One victim died.
And we are exposed to this after thousands of years of growing healthy maize.
[Jeffrey M. Smith, Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Genetically Engineered Food You are Eating, 146-155;
Andrew Rowell, Don't Worry, It's Safe To Eat, 2003, 131ff
[www.foe.org/camps/comm/safefood/gefood/starlink.pdf) www.exnet.iastate.edu/Pages/grain/publications/buspub/0010star.PDF
(This may represent a fraction of those nationwide who suffered toxic reactions.)
One victim died.
And we are exposed to this after thousands of years of growing healthy maize.
[Jeffrey M. Smith, Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Genetically Engineered Food You are Eating, 146-155;
Andrew Rowell, Don't Worry, It's Safe To Eat, 2003, 131ff
[www.foe.org/camps/comm/safefood/gefood/starlink.pdf) www.exnet.iastate.edu/Pages/grain/publications/buspub/0010star.PDF
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The Phillipines. "Scientists Suspect Health Threat From GM Corn" (The Guardian, 28 February 2004):
"Scientists investigating a spate of illnesses among people living close to GM maize fields in the Philippines believe that the crop may have triggered fevers, respiratory illnesses and skin reactions. . . . The concern surrounds an unnamed village in northern Mindanao, where 39 people living near a field of Bt maize — which contains a pesticide in the gene — started suffering last autumn when the crop was producing pollen.
"Scientists investigating a spate of illnesses among people living close to GM maize fields in the Philippines believe that the crop may have triggered fevers, respiratory illnesses and skin reactions. . . . The concern surrounds an unnamed village in northern Mindanao, where 39 people living near a field of Bt maize — which contains a pesticide in the gene — started suffering last autumn when the crop was producing pollen.
"Terje Traavik, scientific director of the Norwegian Institute of Gene ecology, was asked to investigate. . . . His studies suggest that a virus promoter — which is like a motor driving the production of the genetic message — was unexpectedly found intact in human cells.
"His team also said it had found genetically engineered viruses used in the GM process recombined with natural viruses to create new hybrid viruses with unpredictable characteristics. If confirmed, this could suggest that they could cause new diseases.
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Soil degradation is another result of the Bt toxin, since it commonly leaches out of the plant and into the soil. The poison causes the death of worms, according to a study published in Nature (UK).
Soil degradation is another result of the Bt toxin, since it commonly leaches out of the plant and into the soil. The poison causes the death of worms, according to a study published in Nature (UK).
Another study indicates that the mortality rate of lacewings, a beneificial insect that feeds on caterpillars and aphids, increased after eating GM maize. (New Scientist 27, February 1999, "Dispatches from the killing fields")
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GM maize plantings increase the use of herbicides and pesticides
"Herbicide use on GM maize and soya has increased dramatically in the US in recent years. This completely undermines the recent claims the biotechnology companies have been making about reduced herbicide use on GM crops and the positive findings of the Farm Scale Evaluations (FSEs) about GM HT [herbicide tolerant] maize.
"Herbicide use on GM maize and soya has increased dramatically in the US in recent years. This completely undermines the recent claims the biotechnology companies have been making about reduced herbicide use on GM crops and the positive findings of the Farm Scale Evaluations (FSEs) about GM HT [herbicide tolerant] maize.
"In the US, reductions in agrochemical use on GM crops were only temporary. After a few years GM crops have led to a substantially greater use of herbicides than non-GM crops with significant year on year increases particularly for GM soya and maize.
"Herbicide tolerant crops have increased pesticide use an estimated 70 million pounds [lbs] over the last eight years."
[Soil Association briefing, based on Dr. Charles Benbrook's paper "Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use in the United States: The First Eight Years, Biotech InfoNet, Technical Paper No. 6, Nov 2003, http://www.biotech-info.net/technicalpaper6.html)
[Soil Association briefing, based on Dr. Charles Benbrook's paper "Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use in the United States: The First Eight Years, Biotech InfoNet, Technical Paper No. 6, Nov 2003, http://www.biotech-info.net/technicalpaper6.html)
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GM maize contamination
Gene flow from GM crops is typically virulent. Wind, birds, insects, machinery, transportaion vehicles, and the unintentional and intentional mixing of seeds can carry GM seeds and pollen throughout the world.
GM maize contamination
Gene flow from GM crops is typically virulent. Wind, birds, insects, machinery, transportaion vehicles, and the unintentional and intentional mixing of seeds can carry GM seeds and pollen throughout the world.
Dust from the Sahara Desert has fallen on Great Britain, 1,800 kilometres away, and pollen has one-half the density of dust.
Evidently Canada can no longer guarantee any of its maize to be GM free. The situation by now is probably not much better in the United States.
Tragically, the government and scientific community of Mexico announced (November 2003) that Mexico's traditional maize crop is contaminated with DNA from GM maize.
In Europe, GM maize contamination has already been detected in conventional seeds in Austria, France, and Switzerland.
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III. Conclusion and What To Do
Human beings and Nature, as we have known them, cannot survive in a GMO-Frankenstein world.
The nightmare technology of Genetic Engineering Biotechnology, and its incestuous Patents on Life-Forms, must be OUTLAWED.
How To Do It?
There is only one way to overcome this extremely powerful, ruthless Corporation-Government-corporate Mass Media axis.
It is to conduct grassroots Public Education Campaigns to educate and politically activate the General Public, university / college students in particular.
The General Public !! Stop forever talking to the Converted. To get around the corporate media's suppression and distortion of truth, one must talk to people and go door-to-door with leaflets and vocal messages.
And major efforts must be made to inform and activate university students.
Important Hints:
(1) Concentrate on university students.
And senior citizens.
I speak to you now, elder citizens like myself. Put moral purpose into your lives and help rescue this planet and your grandchildren.
(2) AVOID NGOs and all established organisations, especially large ones. They are not what they seem.
Their hierarchies and decision-making are corporation-influenced if not outright purchased.
Never ever join them. Never ever give them Money.
[see George Monbiot's very important article in The Guardian, 4 September 2001, "Sleeping with the Enemy: Consumer and Environmental Groups are Getting into Bed with Big Corporations]
[Note: In developing countries there are some exceptions, but very very very few in the West. If by a miracle one of them ever conducts a genuine and sensible public education campaign, then you can help out. But NEVER join or give money to them.]
The environmental field especially is riddled with wealthy, prestigious, deceptive organisations adept at dilutng and derailing environmental causes, GM in particular.
[I am thinking at this moment of one such organisation I have observed over a long period of time, in my view a very slick and dangerous FOE of environmentalism, originally created by polluting Corporations to deal with the growing environmental movement.
Don't go anywhere near this one.]
When they talk about being 'practical' and seeking 'Coexistence' with GM, let a red flag go up.
Nothing short of OUTLAWING GENETIC ENGINEERING and PATENTS ON LIFE-FORMS will save us and our planet.
Do your educational work as individuals or in small groups of people you know.
In a little of your SPARETIME (perhaps 3 or 4 hours a week, but regularly, as part of an ethical life-style):
Educate and activate the Public by writing and telephoning and just talking to your family members, friends and acquantances;
Write letters and make telephone calls to local, regional and national media;
Write, call and especially visit your legislative representatives and other government personnel, and
Take appropriate Direct Action.
Good Luck to You.
P.S. For a detailed Action Plan on conducting education/activation campaigns (e.g. composing A4 leaflets for distribution, lobbying your legislative representative) see "Creating a Grassroots Democracy While Outlawing Genetic Engineering"currently on the Indymedia Biotech website. Or email me and request it.
For extensive information on the casualties and unprecedented dangers of Genetic Engineering, see "Genetic Engineering Fact-Sheet" on the website of the Concerned Citizens Information Network, www.ccin.info
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