Green | December 08, 2008 | 13 comments

Bush-s environmental legacy on GMOS

source: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_15931.cfm

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JanforGore
In a few hundred thousand years, after all weather effects of 21st century climate change have disappeared from the earth-s surface, after our quietly smoldering nuclear waste has been extinguished, two destructive impacts traceable to George Bush-s policies will yet remain.

The first is extinctions. Species that have died out, including the subset resulting from Bush-s environmental policies, will forever deprive our evolving biosphere of their contribution.

The second is genetically modified organisms (GMOs) -- animals, plants, bacteria, and viruses, whose DNA have been mixed and mangled by insertions from foreign species. Once released into the ecosystem, by intention or accident, the genetic pollution self-propagates. No recall by the Obama administration can clean up Mexico-s indigenous corn varieties, now contaminated by our genetically modified (GM) corn. No executive order can remove or even identify the wild mustard plants now carrying altered genes bestowed on it by the pollen from its cousin, GM canola.

We all know stories that illustrate the exponential effects of invasive species. Here-s my favorite, recalled in my book Genetic Roulette:

On Christmas Day 1859, the Victorian Acclimatization Society released 24 rabbits into the Australian countryside so that settlers could hunt them for sport and feel more at home. The rabbits multiplied to well over 200 million, spreading out over 4 million square kilometers. That Christmas present now costs Australian agriculture about $600 million per year.

http://geneticroulette.com/

Will GMOs of today show up as the Australian rabbits of the future? While their impact on our ecosystem and diet is largely unstudied, that has not stopped the current and past administrations from presiding over the release of millions of acres of GM crops. Not only does each plant carry a gene from bacteria or viruses, its DNA has hundreds or thousands of mutations resulting from the disruptive process of genetic engineering. Reports suggest that the side effects of GMOs are quite dangerous. http://geneticroulette.com/

Bush policies institutionalize GMO contamination

If we were to ban GMOs today, as is more than justified, some contamination from commercialized GM food crops will nonetheless carry forward in the gene pool of those (and related) species. This includes contaminants from our largest farmed GM crops, including soybeans, yellow corn, cotton, and canola, as well as the smaller crops: Hawaiian papaya, zucchini, and crookneck squash. Newly added--in this year-s harvest--are GM sugar beets and white corn. There are also GM tomatoes and potatoes no longer on the market, but whose genes and seeds, to some degree, continue to persist out there. But the dirty laundry list actually includes over 100 different experimental GM crops, field trialed at more than 50,000 sites in the US since 1986.

Although the government is supposed to make sure that these trials won-t contaminate the surrounding environment, a 2005 report by the USDA Office of Inspector General harshly condemned the USDA-s abominable oversight. Current regulations, policies, and procedures, said the report, do not go far enough to ensure the safe introduction of agricultural biotechnology. The agency-s weaknesses increase the risk that regulated genetically engineered organisms will inadvertently persist in the environment.

But George Bush-s pro-biotech response was to further weaken the agency-s GMO oversight--and he-s trying to do it quickly, before Obama steps in. The proposed ruling makes gene escape more likely, even from GM crops designed to produce pharmaceutical drugs and industrial chemicals.

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13 comments // Bush-s environmental legacy on GMOS

  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • BS. MONSANTO OWNS THIS GOVT. And he's done "stupid" things? Spying on American citizens isn't STUPID IT'S CRIMINAL. LYING to the American people to start a war for his corporate pals is not STUPID IT'S CRIMINAL. DESTROYING the environment for profit resulting in more sickness for Americans is not STUPID IT'S IMMORAL. No wonder this country is in the shape it's in. Americans on the whole really are the stupid ones.

    • 3 years ago
  • JamieGray
    • 0
      JamieGray  

    • Look, I get why people want to blame GWB for just about everything. I do.

      However, it just simply isn't rational, and makes those who engage in Bush bashing the most easily dismissible agents of misinformation.

      The reality here is that we as humans are pushing the boundaries of many, many realms of science without ample consideration of the medium to long effects of our actions. The reality here is that our scientists are guilty of tunnel vision, focusing on narrow goals without adequate wide angle oversight.

      The result: Things that seem like huge breakthroughs turn out to be disasters. Sure let's blame Bush because he is personally responsible for EVERY single stupid thing that EVERYBODY did during his 8 years.

      Seriously. He's done plenty of stupid things. Let's stick to blaming him for things he was personally cognizant of. W probably wouldn't know GM food from GM vehicles.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Well, we shouldn't forget. We as Americans should be arresting and trying them for crimes against humanity and the constitution of our country. The laziness of some Americans to just FORGET their crimes because they got Obama is astounding. And you won't be able to forget the GMO pollution in your food. That's the gift that will keep on giving. They even want to be able to conduct secret trials of pharma crops and crops meant to go into chemical compounds near where your food crops are grown. Why people don't understand the urgency of this truly baffles me. But hey, one of the top stories this morning is that "women drink men under the table." How earthshattering. If I didn't know any better I would think there were people here deliberately trying to sabotage this station with their crap that is not news.

    • 3 years ago
  • motokoinversailles
  • darkhorsejim
    • 0
      darkhorsejim  

    • Thanks for the Monsanto update Jan, & to those who understand just how evil & powerful this company really is. Hitting 'em where it hurts - the bottom line - is a good start at redefining these insane, profit driven corporate ideologies that are outdated & completely unrealistic now.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • SeaJade: Yes, a national boycott of their garbage is certainly in order! I will be sending out letters next year in my free time to every elected official I can get an address for in every state. It will also include a flyer from the Institute for Responsible Technology. I have already distributed some flyers in my neighborhood and sent a letter to my local school board. Just with the climate crisis, it will be us who gets out the information about this and raises awareness so people will demand a choice in their food sources, disclosure of the sources, and tighter controls on the FDA, USDA, and EPA.

      Queenofit: Great post. We know the truth. And so does Monsanto. Despicable bastards.

      covelogibbs: Thank you and I agree. I sometimes wonder who is really voting on this site.

    • 3 years ago
  • queenofit
    • 0
      queenofit  

    • When I hear the word GMO (seems like a word to me now) I immediately think of Monsanto. So, when I was doing a search today on corporate stocks and wondering how Monsanto's was holding. I ran across this comment and I find it very telling.

      12-08-2008 @ 10:58AM
      Keith Houston said...

      I wouldn't buy 1 share from Monsanto because all they care about is profit & they treat their employees like garbage.
      Yes, I know very well how Monsanto does business. I worked for them for 21 years & they run their plants very reckless & could care less what hazards they expose their employees to. The plant I worked at was very run down & they would make temporary repairs so they could keep running to make that profit & the temporary repairs were actually permanent until the problem occurred again. I had big hopes for my employment with them until I realized all they cared about was the bottom line.
      They sold our plant which was eventually shut down & moved to Belgium because Belgium had no environment policies & the labor was cheap so some day this moving overseas so they could increase their profits will come back to bite them because when Belgium figures out that Monsanto releases their pollution into their air & water, they will take action against Monsanto & I hope they eventually get what they deserve.

      ----------------------------------------------------------------------

      Nothing we don't know, but it was nice for me read this truth from an ex-employee. When we read about companies like this overseas, we call them "sweatshops" when we read about them in the US, we call the our Corporate Neighbors. (well, I don't)

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
  • SeaJade
    • 0
      SeaJade  

    • Thank you Jan - in the meantime, I highly recommend not only buying organic produce from as local a source as possible, and augmenting the local food supply by growing as much as we can as individuals (in the middle of a city or not), but we should all be saving the precious seeds from the food that is not currently contaminated whilst we can. Those little seedlings will become our treasure of the future.
      We have the power to pull monsanto down, but it will take many of us to simply stop buying into their expensive public relations spiels on what is "good", and farmers to re-educate themselves on how to work with weeds and bugs (all of which have a place in our tightly woven web of interdependence here on planet earth).

    • 3 years ago
  • covelogibbs
    • 0
      covelogibbs  

    • This is an issue that should concern us all.

      P.S. If this doesn't make it to the top and get on Current News, but stories like "Outrage at iPhone drug dealer game" does, there's something seriously flawed with the "Current News algorithm," or.... what?

      Are the majority of us just that superficial?

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • The Effects of GMOS
      Dr. Jeffrey Smith

      And these policies were instituted with Bush 41, carried through under Clinton, and now Bush. We need to tell Obama that it is time to reverse these policies for the health and safety of Americans and our environment. Independent testing must prove unequicocably that they are safe for human consumption, and labels must now be a part of the policy regarding these foods

    • 3 years ago
  • onechance
  • JanforGore
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