Toxic // Current

France Finds Monsanto Guilty of Lying

France's highest court has ruled that U.S. agrochemical giant Monsanto had not told... more

mae37
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Lawsuit challenges uranium mine that threatens water and wildlife of the Grand Canyon

What's the point of the Interior Dept. issuing decrees if companies are still going to... more

JanforGore
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2 days ago
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2 comments

One more reason to Quit

Kinda seems like common sense that cancer sticks are deadly to more than just humans.... more

TheBrownKid
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3 days ago
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Report details "coal's assault on human health"

Coal is not now and never will be clean. It kills.

JanforGore
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3 days ago
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4 comments

Biotech crops cause big increase in pesticide use-report

And just how much of it is in your stomach? These companies don't care. The only thing... more

JanforGore
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5 days ago
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8 comments

Breaking our costly addiction to nitrogen

As with oil and coal, our addiction to nitrogen is harming the very ecosystems we need... more

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10 days ago
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1 comment

'Toxic' US ship banned in India

India has blocked entry to a former US naval ship heading for break-up at a scrap yard... more

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13 days ago
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10 Cordblood samples yield wide array of toxins

"We all know pollution and toxins are bad for you, but the Environmental Working Group... more

ii386
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13 days ago
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Cocaethylene studied: Cocaine, Alcohol mix to create toxic 3rd chemical

Drug addiction clinics say they are becoming increasingly concerned by the health... more

atomiclegion
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14 days ago
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9 comments

25 Common Foods That Can Be Toxic for Your Pet

These 25 common household foods can be lethal to your furry or feathered buddy. As a... more

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18 days ago
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Soldiers Nearly Killed with Military's Bioterrorism Vaccine

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19 days ago
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Journal article states suppressed study shows GM corn killed ladybugs

A recent article in Nature Biotechnology on how biotechnology companies restrict... more

JanforGore
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20 days ago
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11 comments

Call Lisa Jackson and tell the EPA to intervene at Coal River Mountain

I just called and was told there have been several hundred other calls and that they... more

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27 days ago
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GM food can cause cancer: French scientist

French scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini unmasked the dangers of genetically modified brinjal, almost approved for commercial production in India. He shared with Savvy Soumya Misra his findings on Bt brinjal and Roundup Ready soybean

*On the data submitted on Bt brinjal by Mahyco for approval from the Indian government

The data submitted to the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (geac) of the Union environment ministry is not valid; it has not been signed by the scientist who conducted the tests. What is more scandalous is that the studies on the effects of Bt brinjal were conducted for just three months.

If the product is to be consumed by humans, the tests should have been for a period of at least two years—the lifespan of a rodent.

Worse, Mahyco tried to cover up the side-effects by jumbling data on various types of brinjal in a way that it was hard to compare Bt brinjal with normal brinjal. I am sorry to say people in the geac did not carefully assess the data. It is also not clear how the geac overlooked the fact that Bt brinjal has a protein that induces resistance to antibiotics. Mahyco has not studied hormonal impacts of Bt brinjal—Bt toxin found in it could lead to reproductive health problems.

*On his findings on Roundup Ready soybean that tolerates herbicides

Our study found that even minute doses of Roundup (a natural herbicide) disrupt sex hormones like androgen and estrogen. The inert ingredients in Roundup Ready (RR) soybean like polyethoxylated tallowamine kill human cells and disrupt the synthesis and action of human sex hormones. The research was published in this year’s July edition of the journal Toxicology. Some pregnant women who consumed RR soybean developed disorders. This combined with certain studies on animals in labs (conducted by others) made us conclude that Roundup is an endocrine disruptor.

*On claims that GM plants reduce the need for pesticides

This is a false projection. Bt plants, in fact, are designed to produce toxins to repel pests. Bt brinjal produces a very high quantity of 16-17mg toxin per kg. They affect animals. Unfortunately, tests to ascertain their effect on humans have not been conducted. RR soybean that makes up 63 per cent of GM plants in the world contains high amounts of Roundup. The US food and drug administration (usfda) has allowed up to 400 ppm Roundup residues in animal feed. It is much more than what we recommended. There was a paper published in June in Scientific American saying usfda would review the approval accorded to RR soybean because of our study.French scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini unmasked the dangers of genetically modified... more

JanforGore
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28 days ago
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BT brinjal biosafety assessment a disaster for India

"I have never seen less professionalism in the presentation and quality assurance of... more

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1 month ago
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Going Coastal: Teaching a Man to Fish.

A fisherman at the Pier in New York is having a successful day fishing, when a... more

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Canadians challenge Smartstax approval

Canadians Join Global Day of Action Against Monsanto: Challenge approval of new eight-trait GM "SmartStax" corn

Today Canadians opposing Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) crops will join the first "International Day of Action Against Multinational Corporations" that has been initiated by the global farmers' movement called La Via Campesina. Canadians will support this year's focus on Monsanto and GM crops by inundating the Minister of Health with letters and calls asking for the immediate withdrawal of approval for Monsanto's GM "SmartStax" corn, authorized without safety assessment from Health Canada.

Canadians are calling and writing the Minister of Health to ask that she immediately halt the introduction of Monsanto’s new eight-trait GM corn called "SmartStax" because it was not assessed for safety by Health Canada. "SmartStax" corn was authorized this summer by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for planting next year but was not examined by Health Canada for human health safety.

La Via Campesina is calling multinational corporations the "main threat to peasant and indigenous families and humanity" because corporations are privatizing land, biodiversity, water, and seeds. Monsanto is the world's largest seed company and owns almost 90% of all the GM crops sown globally.

"It's extremely significant that La Via Campesina is focusing their World Food Day action on Monsanto and GM crops. It shows us that farmers around the world see GM crops as a major threat to their survival," said Devlin Kuyek, a Montreal-based researcher for the international group GRAIN.

"Monsanto and Dow together own eight patents in 'SmartStax' corn and will charge higher prices and take deeper control over seed," said Benoit Girouard, President of Union Paysanne, a member group of La Via Campesina.

"Health Canada must stop Monsanto's 'SmartStax' corn before farmers start growing a GM crop that was never assessed for human consumption." said Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network. "The Minister of Health is supporting Monsanto ahead of safeguarding the health of Canadians."

"Monsanto is still pushing GM wheat and GM alfalfa regardless of the major environmental risks and despite the fact that consumers and farmers have soundly rejected both," said Arnold Taylor of the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate’s Organic Agriculture Protection Fund.

"Contamination by GM crops is causing deep financial harm to Canadian farmers," said Terry Boehm, Vice-President of the National Farmers Union, also a member group of La Via Campesina. "Right now we see that Canadian farmers face the loss of their most important flax market in Europe due to GM contamination."Canadians Join Global Day of Action Against Monsanto: Challenge approval of new... more

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1 month ago
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Vedanta versus villagers: the fight for Niyamgiri mountain

Indian tribe the Dongria Kondh face destruction of their lands and extinction at the... more

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1 month ago
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Former marine becomes face of new Vieques battle

The headaches began just after Hermogenes Marrero arrived on Vieques, the small Puerto Rican island where the young U.S. Marine guarded stores of Cold War-era chemical weapons.

The retired sergeant, now 57 and terminally ill with cancer and other ailments, blames exposure to toxins released while he was stationed there from 1970 to 1972. By coming forward to support similar claims by island residents, he has become the public face of a new and bitter battle over Vieques, the Navy bombing range-turned-tourist destination off the U.S. territory's east coast.

"I've been sick since I left Vieques," said the wheelchair-bound Marrero, who now lives in an apartment cramped with life-support equipment in this small town in northwestern Puerto Rico.

Marrero is a key witness in a lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in compensation for illnesses that past and current Vieques residents have linked to the bombing range, where the U.S. and its allies trained for conflicts from Vietnam to Iraq.

The range closed in 2003 after years of protests over the environmental risks and the death of a Puerto Rican civilian guard who was killed in 1999 by an errant bomb. Many had long complained about clouds of smoke and dust wafting toward populated areas and explosions echoing across the hilly, 18-mile-long island of less than 10,000 people.

The U.S. has denied any link between illnesses and weapons that rained down on the island for six decades. With independent studies suggesting otherwise, however, a federal health agency recently began a new analysis of the situation.

Marrero, who was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in New York City, has had colon cancer twice. He is losing his vision and suffers from more than dozen other illnesses, including Lou Gehrig's disease, that he believes are lingering effects of his 18 months at Camp Garcia. He said he was recently diagnosed with a new bout of cancer that is inoperable in part because of a lung disease that requires him to stay on oxygen around the clock.

He is not party to the lawsuit because it is limited to Vieques residents, and involves more than 7,000 of them. But he has been fighting his own battle to have his ailments recognized as service casualties.

The chemicals he handled included canisters labeled "112" — a reference, he later surmised, to the secret Project 112 program that tested chemical and biological agents and was declassified by the Pentagon earlier this decade.

During some of the tests, he said, the military assessed how long it took an aerosol spray of chemicals to kill animals such as tethered goats. Though superiors said he was a safe distance from the tests, he was overwhelmed by a smell like roach spray every time he opened the door to the chemical warehouses. He said he vomited constantly.

"I asked 'How dangerous is that stuff? I'm watching animals drop dead,'" Marrero said. "They told me I'd be fine."

The military also experimented with napalm, depleted uranium and agent orange, besides the millions of pounds of ordnance that Navy aircraft and ships dropped annually on Vieques. A cleanup began in 2005 to clear thousands of unexploded munitions from the former training range site that is now a Fish and Wildlife Service refuge, and the island has placed new emphasis on tourism.

The Mississippi attorney for the plaintiffs in the Vieques lawsuit, John Eaves Jr., said Marrero's account is crucial to understanding the legacy of contamination.The headaches began just after Hermogenes Marrero arrived on Vieques, the small Puerto... more

JanforGore
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1 month ago
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The Sum of It All: Straight Talk About Aspartame

“No matter how you look at it, aspartame is bad news in my book. The massive... more

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1 month ago
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9 comments

tagged w/ Toxic

France Finds Monsanto Guilty of Lying

Lawsuit challenges uranium mine that threatens water and wildlife of the Grand Canyon

One more reason to Quit

Report details "coal's assault on human health"

Biotech crops cause big increase in pesticide use-report

Breaking our costly addiction to nitrogen

'Toxic' US ship banned in India

10 Cordblood samples yield wide array of toxins

Cocaethylene studied: Cocaine, Alcohol mix to create toxic 3rd chemical

25 Common Foods That Can Be Toxic for Your Pet

Soldiers Nearly Killed with Military's Bioterrorism Vaccine

Journal article states suppressed study shows GM corn killed ladybugs

Call Lisa Jackson and tell the EPA to intervene at Coal River Mountain

GM food can cause cancer: French scientist

BT brinjal biosafety assessment a disaster for India

Going Coastal: Teaching a Man to Fish.

Canadians challenge Smartstax approval

Vedanta versus villagers: the fight for Niyamgiri mountain

Former marine becomes face of new Vieques battle

The Sum of It All: Straight Talk About Aspartame

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