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Unbeleivable - Toxins in Your Body and How They Got There
10 people tested for over 400 pollutants in their bodies. The average contamination was 200 chemicals per person. The source of the pollutants was not from the air, job environment, personal care products or food. Watch and see how these 10 individuals were exposed.
Environmental Working Group - http://www.ewg.org/
Take Action - http://www.seventhgeneration.com/show-whats-inside/Chem... 10 people tested for over 400 pollutants in their bodies. The average contamination was 200 chemicals per person. The source of the ... more -
Study links farmworker psychiatric disorders with toxin exposure
A study of farmers finds that those with the highest number of lifetime exposure days to agricultural pesticides were 50% more likely to be diagnosed with clinical depression than those with the fewest application days and were 80% more likely if they had applied a class of insecticide called organophosphates. This is the first study to find a link with chronic, low-dose pesticide exposure, although previous studies show an increased risk of depression among people exposed to very high doses or poisoned. This study reinforces concerns that exposure to commonly used pesticides could cause psychiatric disorders.
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Researchers analyzed data from the Agricultural Health Study, a large study of individuals with pesticide applicator licenses in North Carolina and Iowa. Participants in the study are divided into commercial pesticide applicators and private applicators, who tend to be farmers. The researchers limited the current analysis to male private applicators.
More than 17,000 men filled out detailed questionnaires about their pesticide use, their health and their behaviors for the study. Men were asked if they had ever been diagnosed with depression requiring medication or shock therapy. They were also asked about their lifetime use of 50 different pesticides, including the number of days per year and the total number of years each pesticide was applied. Pesticides were grouped into different classes, including herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and fumigants. Insecticides were further broken down into three types: organophosphates, carbamates and organochlorines. Individuals were categorized into low (752 days) lifetime pesticide exposure. Men were also asked if they had ever been diagnosed with pesticide poisoning or experienced an incident of unusually high pesticide exposure.
The researchers then compared the likelihood of being diagnosed with depression among men with low, medium and high cumulative days of pesticide use. Using statistical methods, they took into account factors such as age, education, race and marital status that could impact the results.
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This study suggests that long-term, chronic pesticide use may have neurological effects, particularly relating to depression. Previous medical reports have shown anxiety and depression symptoms in pesticide-poisoned individuals. This is the first study to extend those findings to regular pesticide use.
The men in this study were all licensed pesticide applicators who experienced pesticide exposures at levels much higher than the general public. However, pesticide exposure is widespread in the general population because of use in homes, workplaces and food.
The study is strong because it looked at a large population of men with wide variability in their pesticide exposures, allowing the authors to compare individuals with high exposure to those with low exposure in the same population. The researchers had extensive information on participants' backgrounds and pesticide exposure history. The major weakness of the study is that men reported about diagnosis of depression and pesticide use that occurred in the past, without differentiating whether the pesticide exposure came before or after the depression. Self-reporting, large time categories and lack of information about some stress-related events (financial) were additional limitations.
The results indicate that pesticides may have neurological effects at exposure levels well below those that cause clinically identifiable poisoning symptoms. Those who apply pesticides as part of their jobs, such as farmers and pest control applicators, should remain vigilant and use safety precautions to protect their long-term mental health. The authors advise that "physicians should be alert to mood changes in those with a history of applying pesticides." A study of farmers finds that those with the highest number of lifetime exposure days to agricultural pesticides were 50% more likely ... more -
How Monsanto really makes GMOs
GMO's are made by manipulation of extremely deadly viruses & bacteria that have been engineered to be IMMUNE TO ANTIBIOTICS, such as E. coli (Pause video at 8:08). Monsanto spends millions of dollars each month to "sugar" coat and hide the truth of what they are doing or what is really behind how GMO's are made.
This video straight-forwardly explains the scientific facts how Monsanto manufactures their GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms) by removing all the corporate propaganda, the "smoke & mirrors" if you will.
**Please be warned, the once the mask is removed from what you are eating & feeding your children each day, it will outrage you and shock you to the core.
Monsanto's greed combined with their quest to totally monopolize all aspects of food on the planet, has knowingly allowed the proverbial Reaper free upon the world.
GMO's are now acting much like the deadly virus and pre-cancer cells they are made from... by infecting other organisms that were once pure and healthy.
The people of the world should be demanding Monsanto be held for crimes against humanity for the atrocities they have committed and what can be reasonably seen as the start of the end to all life as we know it.
The Bee's disappearance is in perfect unison with the time line of Monsanto's release of GMO's; this can not be argued but due to Monsanto's influence of corruption in governments across the globe, any scientist that tries to inform the public and raise the alarm about the Bee's & GMO's is destroyed financially, as well as their careers'.
Monsanto is the MOST ruthless corporation in the world, which basically controls many governments due to their near limitless resources, money and their "campaign contributions".
They buy WHO they need and crush those that try to stand in their way.
Now that you know, what will you do?
Will YOU decided to fight, right now, this very day or will you put it off for some other time?
After watching these videos, will you also knowingly look the other way and FEED your family GM foods; even though you now know you could be killing or permanently harming your child/family??? If so, call Monsanto for a job, for you have disgraced and shamed yourself for knowingly poisoning the people you claim to love and PROTECT!
....BUT
If you are OUTRAGED at Monsanto's poisoning our food, milk (see my other video on milk!) and health; Please do the following actions, do them once a week... make a difference:
1) Call and WRITE (pen & paper) you're Legislators
(Emails are the very last thing you should do; most are scanned by software and are blocked/deleted when they contain certain key words. This is a fact.)
Demand:
2) That they FULLY endorse: "H.R. 6636 GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOOD RIGHT TO KNOW ACT"
3) An immediate moratorium on all GMO's and their Byproducts!
4) FDA change their findings on GMO's being "Generally Recognized As Safe"! This was done with ZERO testing by the FDA!
5) Demand a full investigation into the criminal conflicts of interest as it pertains to the head personal of Monsanto and the FDA being one in the same.
6) Demand congress pass a "whistle blowers protection" for all professional scientists so that Corporations, Universities and Colleges can no longer manipulate their research.
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This is the description of the video written by the member who uploaded it. I concur with it. We need to wake up. Now. GMO's are made by manipulation of extremely deadly viruses & bacteria that have been engineered to be IMMUNE TO ANTIBIOTICS, ... more -
NRDC sues EPA for honey bee pesticide data: their answer: approve bee killing Move...
This interview is alarming. I really think it is time to shut down some of these agencies and start over. This is criminal.
To save space I jumped around. The entire article and interview is at the link in its entirety.
Aaron Colangelo, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, D. C.:
And the reason that NRDC sued is that five years later, there was no public information. We couldn't find out from the EPA website or anywhere else whether those (Bayer) studies had been conducted and submitted to EPA? And if so, what did they show? Did they actually show safety? Or did they raise more concerns?
And we still don't have a clear answer to that. EPA and Bayer have both said since we sued that the studies have been submitted and they show safety. But we haven't seen the actual studies themselves. So we still think there is no way for the public to evaluate the information about harm that this (clothianidin) pesticide causes to bees.
But there does seem to be a growing scientific consensus that pesticides are implicated ; that they might be contributing in some way and that's what we are trying to find out.
YES, AND IT IS THE SYNERGY OF SO MANY CHEMICALS OUT THERE NOW IN THE LANDSCAPE, OVERLAYING WITH EACH OTHER. AND ON THAT VERY POINT, JERRY HAYES IN THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE CONTACTED ME THIS WEEK TO SEND ME A COPY OF THE NEW WARNING LABEL FROM BAYER CROP SCIENCE ON A BRAND NEW PESTICIDE CALLED MOVENTO. IT SAYS QUOTE: THIS PRODUCT IS POTENTIALLY TOXIC TO HONEY BEE LARVAE THROUGH RESIDUES IN POLLEN AND NECTAR, BUT NOT TO ADULT HONEY BEES. EXPOSURE OF ADULT BEES TO DIRECT TREATMENT OR RESIDUES ON BLOOMING CROPS, CAN LEAD TO EFFECTS ON HONEY BEE LARVAE.
And one problem with that kind of label and the label language you just read is that the (chemical) industry almost uses it as a kind of Get Out of Jail Free card that if enough warnings are on the label, then we (Bayer) can be exonerated from any harm that's caused. And another problem with that is that these labels are pages and pages long. They might have detailed instructions about what time of year and what wind speed and what nozzle size on your sprayer is or is not appropriate, depending on which crop and when they are blooming. And to expect every applicator, every farmer who is using that pesticide to read the fine print for pages and pages and comply with it in every case is just asking too much.
EPA really needs to develop a comprehensive strategy for protecting honey bees and look at all the different pesticides that are already on the market that are known to be highly toxic to bees. Sometimes in combination, multiple pesticides are many times more toxic than either one would be individually.
MOVENTO SCARES YOU, RIGHT?
Oh, absolutely!
HOW COULD THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY APPROVE REGISTRATION OF MOVENTO?
It's an excellent question and we in the industry and some industry groups are trying to propose a meeting with the EPA so that they can get some more facts about why this product was approved without perhaps some more research data behind it.
SO, WHAT YOU MEAN IS THAT BAYER DID ITS OWN FIELD TESTS AND THEN SUBMITTED THAT WORK TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, WHICH BASICALLY RUBBER STAMPED THE BAYER SELF-SERVING FIELD TESTS?
Yes, EPA accepts all data whether it's from Bayer or other companies on products, assuming that their (companies) science is good. And it's kind of like putting the fox in the hen house, isn't it? This interview is alarming. I really think it is time to shut down some of these agencies and start over. This is criminal. ... more -
Italy bans pesticides linked to bee devastation
The Italian government banned the use of several neonicotinoid pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees. The Ministero del Lavoro della Salute e delle Politiche Sociali issued an immediate suspension of the seed treatment products clothianidin, imidacloprid, fipronil and thiamethoxam used in rapeseed oil, sunflowers and sweetcorn. The Italian government will start a monitoring program to further investigate the reasons of recent bee deaths.
Italy followed Germany and Slovenia which banned sales of clothianidin and imidacloprid in May. In France imidacloprid has been banned on sunflowers already since 1999. In 2003 the substance was also banned as a sweetcorn treatment. Bayer´s application for clothianidin was rejected by French authorities.
The two substances are produced by the German company Bayer CropScience and generated *800 million in 2007. Imidacloprid is Bayer´s best-selling pesticide.
In August the German Coalition against Bayer Dangers brought a charge against Werner Wenning, chairman of the Bayer Board of Management, for marketing dangerous pesticides and thereby accepting the mass death of bees all over the world. The charge was introduced in cooperation with German beekeepers who lost thousands of hives after poisoning by the pesticide clothianidin in May this year.
Neonicotinoid pesticides are systemic chemicals that work their way through the plant and attack the nervous system of any insect it comes into contact with. The substances also get into the pollen and the nectar and can damage beneficial insects such as bees. The Italian government banned the use of several neonicotinoid pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees. The... more -
Monsanto expects Roundup to generate 1.8 billion in profits for 2008
That's a lot of poison in our rivers, streams, food, air and stomachs. Poison for profit. That should be their slogan. And why are these profits so high? Well, because they have bought up close to 90% of the global seed market thus forcing farmers to sign their bogus contracts holding them to buying their seeds and poison every year. They cannot save the seeds, and they have to buy the poison sprays with the seeds yearly. And the pesticides sprayed on crops made by these companies have also been found in higher levels in beehives, suggesting that it is possible that when bees have tried to pollinate GM crops they carry these pesticides back to the hives which makes them sick, thus causing them to desert the hives. Imagine what their seeds with built in pesticides can do for your salad!
And yet, the FDA states there is no difference between this poison and the conventional crops that farmers once grew and could regrow with saved seeds as has been the tradition in agriculture since ancient times. That way they also get out of responsibility from labelling the food you eat. That way you don't know the poisons you are consuming. And even if you are an organic farmer, chances are your crops have also been poisoned by their transgenic pollution. Even without selling you the seeds, you are a part of their big happy poison family.
Oh, and of course, these fake seeds with the poison centers are feeding the world! Don't pay attention to all of the starving people in Haiti, Africa, Asia and elsewhere. Don't let the real truth blind you to their propaganda... profit is good even at the expense of morality, truth, and this planet. That's the Monsanto way.
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From the entry noted:
Monsanto positions itself as a green company.
"Using the tools of modern biology," its website informs us, "we help farmers grow more yield sustainably so they can produce more and conserve more."
Compare that twaddle to this bit from Monsanto's announcement on Tuesday:
[Monsanto's Chief Financial Officer Terry] Crews will indicate that Monsanto's Roundup® and other glyphosate-based herbicides business is on track to be above $1.9 billion of gross profit for the 2008 fiscal year, ahead of the previous forecast. Wow. Nearly $2 billion in profit, from Roundup alone. As recently as February, Monsanto was expecting to make $1.4 billion from its herbicide division this year. I guess farmers applied it even more copiously than expected.
But the company isn't just churning out profit by peddling weed-killer. Its seeds are doing pretty well, too -- particularly corn:
Crews will also note that for the 2008 fiscal year, the company's corn business should exceed $2 billion in gross-profit generation for the first time. Interesting. So it makes nearly as much on herbicide as it does on corn seeds. (Overall, the company expects to make $3.8 billion on seeds in '08).
Investors applauded Monsanto's announcement, sending shares up 7.5 percent Tuesday.
I wonder if they're being short-sighted. Monsanto's success rests on Roundup Ready technology -- selling seeds genetically engineered to withstand heavy doses of its flagship herbicide.
But Roundup-tolerant weeds (so-called "superweeds") are on the rise. Eventully, farmers will have to shift away from Roundup -- Monsanto's $1.8 billion cash cow.
Meanwhile, Bayer is rolling out a new line of herbicide-tolerant seeds, this one designed to withstand doses of Bayer's glufosinate herbicide. Ain't the agrichemical industry grand? That's a lot of poison in our rivers, streams, food, air and stomachs. Poison for profit. That should be their slogan. And why ar... more -
Head Lice: The Latest Superbug Becoming Resistant to Pesticides
While drug companies continue to say its not happening, school nurses around the country are saying more and more parents are at a loss for solutions. So why are common medications like Nix, Rid, Ovide and Kwell still prescribed? Simply because they work on some cases, some of the time.
For the children whose head lice are resistant to pesticides, at this time, all they can hope for are stronger medicines, new gels that will coat the head and smother the lice or "hot air treatments that desiccate [the lice]." One gel awaiting FDA approval would kill the bugs in 30 minutes by blocking their air holes -called the "Lice Asphyxiator."
It takes roughly three to five years for head lice to build immunity to the pesticide, says Florida Atlantic University associate professor Shirley Gordon, at which point you have to look for something else. Most headlice can live for a month on your head, but they need to "eat" blood at least two to three times a day. There are estimates that roughly 1.8 percent of US schoolchildren are affected with head lice each year. In Turkey the problem is much worse with roughly 30% of children infected and as high as 60% in Greece.
http://www.buchananschool.co.uk/headlice/life_cycle2.gi... While drug companies continue to say its not happening, school nurses around the country are saying more and more parents are at a los... more -
Michigan Government intentionally poisons us time and time again!
To implement their 2008 Saginaw County Brush Control Program, this year the notice contains even more herbicides to their deadly roadside cocktail spray. The notice to spray can be read in its entirety on the Saginaw County Road Commission Website; www.scrc-mi.org. OUR Website address is; www.roadsiderage.com. We have a pending lawsuit in regards to the spraying of our private property / Certified Naturally Grown herb business in Burt (Taymouth Township) Michigan, and once again our township is on the list to be sprayed. Why spray? There is NO GOOD REASON! Why not spray? To keep our roadsides, personal properties, ourselves and our children safe from this horrific means of controlling brush. Should you or those you know and love live in the affected townships in Saginaw County, MI. please have them contact us @ 989-770-6004, 989-233-3859, or E-mail: wildcrafted@usa.com. The COURT DATE for an injunction hearing is THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th @ 1:30pm, 10th District Court, Saginaw Michigan, Judge Crane. PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN!!!!!!!! To implement their 2008 Saginaw County Brush Control Program, this year the notice contains even more herbicides to their deadly roads... more
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Research reveals higher than expected amounts of pesticides in beehives
While pesticides have consistently been acknowledged as a contributing factor within this problematic milieu, recent research at Penn State has revealed that pesticide levels in hives are much higher than researchers predicted. Beekeepers use some pesticides as an inexpensive way to combat varroa mites in their colonies. While the researchers were able to reduce the pesticide levels in beeswax foundation -- the wax that beekeepers use to create hive structures -- through irradiation, this only addresses part of the problem. The extraordinarily high levels of pesticides discovered in the bees, their honey, and their pollen, showed that pesticide exposure outside of the hives is contributing to the problem.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates agricultural pesticide use, but this regulation does not account for the interaction of these chemicals that inevitably takes place through the bees' pollination processes. Some of these combinations of pesticides have been found to have a synergistic effect hundreds of times more toxic than any of the pesticides individually, says James L. Frazier, professor of entomology at Penn State. Bees' exposure to these toxic chemical combinations both outside of, and within, the home -- er, hive -- may cause behavioral changes. These changes include immune system blocks and disorientation, which may help to explain the CCD crisis of late.
Last year, the American Beekeepers' Federation, in a letter to the Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, encouraged Congress to pass the 2007 Farm Bill. The letter highlighted environmental regulation and enforcement as one of the beekeeping industry's priority issues, stating "the central role of bees in the environment and farm economy should be emphasized in environmental regulation and enforcement, including in the review and approval of new farm chemicals and treatments.... In the Farm Bill or otherwise, Congress should, among other things, mandate that sub-lethal effects on honey bees be considered in the regulatory process for new agricultural treatments."
Whether Congress follows through or not, organic farming and agricultural practices provide an approach to addressing the problem of pesticide toxicity in bees. The Institute of Science in Society stated in a recent press release that "organic farming practices that retain more natural habitats and avoid the use of chemical pesticides should provide environments that serve as honeybee sanctuaries from the ravages of CCD. There are scientific studies showing that agricultural landscapes with organic crops are far superior environments for both honey- and bumblebees. It would be prudent to create organic bee sanctuaries as widely and as soon as possible... There is every reason to eliminate the use of all pesticides that act synergistically with parasitic fungi, and all Bt crops should be banned for the same reason. Obviously, these problems will disappear with the widespread adoption of organic, non-GM farming."
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Could it be that Monsanto's Round Up pesticide or some other pesticide made by Bayer is contributing to colony collapse disorder? The NRDC recently filed suit against the EPA to disclose information they have regarding CCD and pesticides as they refused to answer questions about it. I think this research is instrumental in then shedding some light on whether CCD is related to the pesticides bees come in contact with on GM crops when trying to pollenate them, or some other toxic source. While pesticides have consistently been acknowledged as a contributing factor within this problematic milieu, recent research at Penn ... more -
Film review: The World According To Monsanto
The most important documentary you will see this year.
How much outrage can a single multinational corporation inspire? How much damage can they inflict? The breathtaking new film, The World According to Monsanto, features a company that sets the new standard. From Iowa to Paraguay, from England to India, Monsanto is uprooting our food supply and replacing it with their patented genetically engineered creations. And along the way, farmers, communities, and nature become collateral damage. The Gazette says the movie "will freeze the blood in your veins." The Hour says it's a "horrifying enough picture" to warrant "fury." But most importantly, this critical film opens our eyes just in time. The film is the work of celebrated award-winning French filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin, whose three years of work on four continents exposes why Monsanto has become the world's poster child for malignant corporate influence in government and technology.
Combining secret documents with accounts by victims, scientists and policy makers, she guides us through a web of misleading reports, pressure tactics, collusion, and attempted corruption. And we learn how the company systematically tricked governments into allowing dangerous genetically modified (GM) foods into our diet-with Monsanto in charge of determining if they're safe.
Deception, Deception, Deception
The company's history with some of the most toxic chemicals ever produced, illustrates why they can't be trusted. Ask the folks of Anniston, Alabama, where Monsanto's PCB factory secretly poisoned the neighborhood for decades. PCBs are Monsanto's toxic oils used as coolants and lubricants for over 50 years and are now virtually omnipresent in the blood and tissues of humans and wildlife around the globe. But Anniston residents have levels hundreds or thousands of times the average. They all know their levels, which they carry as death sentences. David Baker, who lost his little brother and most of his friends to PCB-related diseases such as cancer, says Anniston kids used to run up to him, report their PCB level and ask, "How long you think I got?"
Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group says that based on Monsanto documents made public during a trial, the company "knew the truth from the very beginning. They lied about it. They hid the truth from their neighbors." One Monsanto memo explains their justification: "We can't afford to lose one dollar of business."
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Replacing Nature: "Nothing Shall Be Eaten That We Don't Own" Monsanto is the world's largest seed company and many are concerned. Troy Roush says, "They are in the process of owning food, all food." Paraguayan farmer Jorge Galeano says, "Its objective is to control all of the world's food production." Renowned Indian physicist and community organizer Vandana Shiva says, "If they control seed, they control food; they know it, it's strategic. It's more powerful than bombs; it's more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the populations of the world." The World According to Monsanto is aptly named. It is about Monsanto seeking to recreate the world in its own image, for its own benefit. They intend to replace (and patent) the entire food supply. And since their genetic pollution self-propagates in the environment, it will outlast the effects of global warming and nuclear waste. Such widespread permanent influence may not be safe with any individual or company. With Monsanto's record, the results can only be catastrophic. This powerful documentary might just inspire a global rejection of Monsanto's plans for our world. If so, it will be the most important film in history. The most important documentary you will see this year. ... more -
Germany Bans Eight Pesticides Linked to Honeybee Population Collapse
The German government has provisionally banned a family of pesticides conclusively linked to the massive dieoff of honeybees in a southern state.
"It's a real bee emergency," said Manfred Hederer, president of the German Professional Beekeepers' Association, referring to the collapse of bee populations in the state of Baden-Württemberg. "Fifty to 60 percent of the bees have died on average and some beekeepers have lost all their hives."
Government researchers tested the bodies of dead bees, and found that 99 percent had been contaminated with the pesticide clothianidin, made by Bayer. The pesticide had been applied to the seeds of oilseed rape in the nearby Rhine River Valley.
Bayer blamed the dieoff on the improper application of the pesticide, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified as "highly toxic" to honeybees. Normally, seeds to be sprayed with clothianidin and similar pesticides are treated with a kind of glue so that the toxin sticks. In this case, Bayer said, the glue was not applied, allowing the poison to get into the air.
Clothianidin is a pesticide in the neonicotinoid family. This class of chemicals is applied to seeds and then spreads into all the tissues of the plant. Based on nicotine, the neonicotinoids are toxic to the nervous systems of any insect that comes into contact with them.
"We have been pointing out the risks of neonicotinoids for almost 10 years now," said
Philipp Mimkes of the Coalition Against Bayer Dangers. "This [incident] proves without a doubt that the chemicals can come into contact with bees and kill them. These pesticides shouldn't be on the market."
The German government, apparently in agreement, withdrew the licenses for eight neonicotinoid pesticides, including Bayer's best-selling insecticide, imidacloprid. If manufacturers submit evidence that the chemicals are safe for bees, however, the government may reinstate the licenses.
The Coalition Against Bayer Dangers wants Germany to follow the lead of France, which permanently banned imidacloprid after massive honeybee dieoffs in 1999. France also bans the use of clothianidin. The German government has provisionally banned a family of pesticides conclusively linked to the massive dieoff of honeybees in a sout... more -
Poisonings from exposure to chemicals increase...
EPA's Sluggish Response
Wednesday 27 August 2008
by: Hartford Courant | Editorial
The number of reported poisonings from exposures to pesticides known as pyrethrins and pyrethroids have increased as the chemicals have exploded in popularity over the past 10 years. (Photo: AP)
Pesticides known as pyrethrins and pyrethroids, long considered "safe," have exploded in popularity over the past 10 years. Unfortunately, so has the number of reported poisonings from exposures to these chemicals.
Yet the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which collects this data and has a role in protecting public health and the environment, has been unconscionably slow in responding to the threat. Read more at above link. EPA's Sluggish Response Wednesday 27 August 2008 by: Hartford Courant | Editorial ... more -
A New Biopesticide For The Organic Food Boom
With the boom in consumption of organic foods creating a pressing need for natural insecticides and herbicides that can be used on crops certified as "organic," biopesticide pioneer Pam G. Marrone, Ph.D., is reporting development of a new "green" pesticide obtained from an extract of the giant knotweed in a report scheduled for presentation here today at the 236th national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
That 12-foot-high Goliath, named for the jointed swollen nodes on its stem, invaded the U.S. from Japan years ago and grows along the East Coast and other areas. "The product is safe to humans, animals, and the environment," says Marrone, founder and CEO of Marrone Organic Innovations Inc., in Davis, Calif.
The new biopesticide has active compounds that alert plant defenses to combat a range of diseases, including powdery mildew, gray mold and bacterial blight that affect fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals. The product will be available this October for conventional growers, according to Marja Koivunen, Ph.D., director of research and development for Marrone Organic Innovations. A new formulation has also been developed for organic farmers and will be available in 2009.
In one of the presentations by Marrone Organic Innovations (MOI), the progress toward discovery of an "organic Roundup" — the Holy Grail of biopesticide research — an environmentally friendly and natural version of the world's most widely used herbicide was discussed.
Biopesticides are derived from plants, microbes, or other natural materials and are proven to be safer for humans and the environment. The active ingredient in one of the company's first products, GreenMatch EX, came from lemongrass oil, and microorganisms from around the world are studied in the search for novel and effective natural pesticides. Currently, the MOI R&D team is working on an organic rice herbicide based on an extract from a marine microorganism, as well as on insecticides and nematocides to kill insect pests and soil-inhabiting, parasitic roundworms that affect plants and animals.
Although sales of synthetic pesticides dominate the $30 billion pesticide market, the use of biopesticides is increasing. Officials from MOI estimate that global sales will hit $1 billion by 2010 and grow 10 percent a year on average. Biopesticides could make up 4.25 percent of the global pesticide business in 2010, up from 2.5 percent in 2005. As they become more popular, synthetic pesticides are expected to shrink by 1.5 percent each year over the same period.
What accounts for the changing numbers? Public awareness, Koivunen said. "I think the time is right, there's more demand," she said. "People are becoming more aware of the negative effects of conventional pesticides. At the same time, growers are more willing to switch. They have more choices and incentive compared to 10 years ago."
All organic farmers must have markets for their food — markets that might not have been available to them a decade ago, Koivunen said. Why are people switching to organic food? "I think there has been enough scientific evidence that there's a difference between, let's say, conventional tomatoes and organic tomatoes in terms of pesticide residues but also improved taste and higher levels of antioxidants," she said.
Koivunen adds that the growing popularity of biopesticides and organic foods is not a fluke. In fact, it is part of a much larger development.
"I think it's a combination of the movement of green chemistry, trying to protect the environment and people's thoughts about their own health — maybe not even their health but their kids; and grandkids' health." With the boom in consumption of organic foods creating a pressing need for natural insecticides and herbicides that can be used on cro... more -
Millions Against Monsanto Campaign, from Organic Consumers Association
Support Schmeiser, Nelson and hundreds of other farmers who are being forced to pay Monsanto to have their fields contaminated by genetically modified organisms.
Sign OCA's "Millions Against Monsanto" petition. These petitions will be physically delivered to Monsanto and related court hearings
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/petition.jsp?p...
The petition can also be found half way down the subject page above organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm after the following story.
Multi-Billion $$ Monsanto Sues More Small Family Farmers
Percy Schmeiser is a farmer from Saskatchewan Canada, whose Canola fields were contaminated with Monsanto's genetically engineered Round-Up Ready Canola by pollen from a nearby farm. Monsanto says it doesn't matter how the contamination took place, and is therefore demanding Schmeiser pay their Technology Fee (the fee farmers must pay to grow Monsanto's genetically engineered products). According to Schmeiser, "I never had anything to do with Monsanto, outside of buying chemicals. I never signed a contract.
If I would go to St. Louis (Monsanto Headquarters) and contaminate their plots - destroy what they have worked on for 40 years - I think I would be put in jail and the key thrown away."
Rodney Nelson's family farm is being forced into a similar lawsuit by Monsanto.
Support Schmeiser, Nelson and hundreds of other farmers who are being forced to pay Monsanto to have their fields contaminated by genetically modified organisms.
Sign OCA's "Millions Against Monsanto" petition. These petitions will be physically delivered to Monsanto and related court hearings.Monsanto Takes Ownership of Public Water Resources
Over the past century, global water supplies have been contaminated with the full gamut of Monsanto's chemicals, including PCBs, dioxin and glyophosate (Roundup). So now the company, seeing a profitable market niche, is taking control of the public water resources they polluted, filtering it, and selling it back to the people. In short, Monsanto is making a double profit by polluting the world's scarce freshwater resources, privately taking ownership of that water, filtering it, and selling it back to those who can afford to pay for it.
Sign OCA's "Millions Against Monsanto" petition. These petitions will be physically delivered to Monsanto and related court hearings Support Schmeiser, Nelson and hundreds of other farmers who are being forced to pay Monsanto to have their fields contaminated by gene... more -
Honey bee crisis & Ice Cream
What causes honeybee colonies to collapse?
Why do 36 states have honeybees with this disorder and not other states?
Are pesticides part of the problem?
What role does hybridized corn seed created by Monsanto have on honey bee colonies?
What do we know about the genetic makeup of honeybees and how they are affected by pesticides and other toxic chemicals such as pest control products?
These are all questions that were discussed on on KQED just today. It was a great discussion but answering these questions was almost impossible.
These are the facts.
Honeybees, which pollinate everything from almonds to apples to avocados, began abandoning their colonies in 2006, destroying about a third of their hives.
Since then, their numbers have not improved. A survey of beekeepers in the fall and winter 2007 by the Bee Research Lab and the Apiary Inspectors of America showed that beekeepers lost about 35 percent of their hives compared with 31 percent in 2006.
Scientists have not pinpointed the cause.
In 2007, Congress recognized colony collapse disorder as a threat and gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture emergency funds to study honeybee disappearances. In addition, the 2008 Farm Bill grants the USDA $20 million each year to support bee research and related work. And earlier this year, ice cream maker Haagen-Dazs, who relies on honeybees for 40 percent of its flavors, awarded a $250,000 research grant to UC Davis and Pennsylvania State University to research honeybees.
Recently
Published on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 by the San Francisco Chronicle
Lawsuit Seeks EPA Pesticide Data
by Jane Kay
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is refusing to disclose records about a new class of pesticides that could be playing a role in the disappearance of millions of honeybees in the United States, a lawsuit filed Monday charges.
The Natural Resources Defense Council wants to see the studies that the EPA required when it approved a pesticide made by Bayer CropScience five years ago.
The environmental group filed the suit as part of an effort to find out how diligently the EPA is protecting honeybees from dangerous pesticides, said Aaron Colangelo, a lawyer for the group in Washington.
In the last two years, beekeepers have reported unexplained losses of hives - 30 percent and upward - leading to a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder. Scientists believe that the decline in bees is linked to an onslaught of pesticides, mites, parasites and viruses, as well as a loss of habitat and food.
please go to this link for more...
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/19/11070/
Also recommended is this book
Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis by Rowan Jacobsen
Talking and learning what is going on around us will help change this crisis.
X What causes honeybee colonies to collapse? Why do 36 states have honeybees with this disorder and not other states? ... more -
NRDC sues EPA over withheld information regarding colony collapse disorder
The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit today to uncover critical information that the US government is withholding about the risks posed by pesticides to honey bees. NRDC legal experts and a leading bee researcher are convinced that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has evidence of connections between pesticides and the mysterious honey bee die-offs reported across the country. The phenomenon has come to be called colony collapse disorder, or CCD, and it is already proving to have disastrous consequences for American agriculture and the $15 billion worth of crops pollinated by bees every year.
EPA has failed to respond to NRDC Freedom of Information Act request for agency records concerning the toxicity of pesticides to bees, forcing the legal action.
Recently approved pesticides have been implicated in massive bee die-offs and are the focus of increasing scientific scrutiny, said NRDC Senior Attorney Aaron Colangelo. EPA should be evaluating the risks to bees before approving new pesticides, but now refuses to tell the public what it knows. Pesticide restrictions might be at the heart of the solution to this growing crisis, so why hide the information they should be using to make those decisions?
In 2003, EPA granted a registration to a new pesticide manufactured by Bayer CropScience under the condition that Bayer submit studies about its product's impact on bees. EPA has refused to disclose the results of these studies, or if the studies have even been submitted. The pesticide in question, clothianidin, recently was banned in Germany due to concerns about its impact on bees. A similar insecticide was banned in France for the same reason a couple of years before. In the United States, these chemicals still are in use despite a growing consensus among bee specialists that pesticides, including clothianidin and its chemical cousins, may contribute to CCD.
In the past two years, some American beekeepers have reported unexplained losses of 30-90% of the bees in their hives. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), bees pollinate $15 billion worth of crops grown in America. USDA also claims that one out of every three mouthfuls of food in the typical American diet has a connection to bee pollination. As the die-offs worsen, Americans will see their food costs increase.
Despite bees critical role for farmers, consumers, and the environment, the federal government has been slow to address the die-off since the alarm bells started in 2006. In recent Congressional hearings, USDA was unable to account for the $20 million that Congress has allocated to the department for fighting CCD in the last two years.
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Is the EPA hiding colony collapse disorder information? Hopefully this suit will give us the answers. Personally, I have always thought pesticides, particularly Round Up by Monsanto was contributing to the decline of bees... here you have bees naturally pollinating or trying to naturally pollinate a biofake plant. What are the chances something would go wrong, or that the bees would suffer some sort of repercussions from that? Did Monsanto, Bayer, or any company really do any tests regarding that or their pesticides? Who knows... we are never told anything. All we know is that the food is on our shelves because all of these agencies tell us everything is safe without showing us anything to back it up. The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit today to uncover critical information that the US government is withholding abou... more -
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community: Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project Protects Pollinat...
In July 2008, a three-year initiative began called the Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project that involves Native American youth and Marquette teens building butterfly houses and planting over 26,000 native plants to help pollinators recover due to the shocking death of billions of honeybees across the Midwest and around the world.
Butterfly houses are slimmer than better known birdhouses and are lined with bark offering a place for butterflies to rest, be protected and in some cases lay eggs.
It's important as thousands of Monarchs pass thru the U.P. in the annual migration to Mexico of 3 million Monarchs.
Native plants indigenous to any region of the world are important for local pollinators that can be fooled by imported vegetation resulting in death or eggs not hatching.
The Zaagkii Project was founded by Rev. Jon Magnuson and his non-profit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette, Michigan.
The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community has long supported initiatives like the Zaagkii Project that were founded by the non-profit Cedar Tree Institute (CTI) including wild rice restoration and Earth Day clean sweeps. The three-year Zaagkii Project is sponsored by the KBIC, CTI, Marquette County Juvenile Court and the United States Forest Service.
The Zaagkii Project would not be possible without contributors that include the Marquette Community Foundation, the Negaunee Community Fund, the Negaunee Community Youth Fund, the M.E. Davenport Foundation, the Kaufman Foundation, the Phyllis and Max Reynolds Foundation, with assistance from the Upper Peninsula Children's Museum in Marquette and the Borealis Seed Company in Big Bay. In July 2008, a three-year initiative began called the Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project that involves Native American youth and Marque... more -
Is your organic food really organic?
Half of federally accredited organic certifiers recently audited were put on probation after foods were found with unacceptable pesticide levels.
When you buy food with a "USDA organic" label, do you know what you're getting? Now is a good time to ask such a question, as the USDA just announced Monday it was putting 15 out of 30 federally accredited organic certifiers they audited on probation, allowing them 12 months to make corrections or lose their accreditation. At the heart of the audit for several certifiers were imported foods and ingredients from other countries, including China.
Chinese imports have had a bad year in the news, making headlines for contaminated pet food, toxic toys, and recently, certified organic ginger contaminated with levels of a pesticide called aldicarb that can cause nausea, headaches and blurred vision even at low levels. The ginger, sold under the 365 label at Whole Foods Market, contained a level of aldicarb not even permissible for conventional ginger, let alone organics. Whole Foods immediately pulled the product from its shelves.
Ronnie Cummins, the national director of the Organic Consumers Association, emphasizes that most organic farmers "play by the rules." They believe in organic principles and thereby comply with organic standards. Unfortunately, Congress' pitifully inadequate funding for enforcement, including for organic imports from countries like China, "guarantees it'll be easy for unscrupulous players to cheat, and that's obviously what's going on here."
Farms that produce USDA-certified organic food are not personally inspected by anyone from the USDA National Organic Program (NOP). As a small and underfunded agency within the USDA (it has fewer than a dozen employees), NOP relies on what it calls Accredited Certifying Agencies -- ACAs -- to do the legwork. The ACAs take responsibility for ensuring that any farm or processor bearing the organic label meets the strict requirements for certification.
Since the Chinese government does not allow foreigners to inspect Chinese farms, an extra step is involved for oversight of organics from China: Chinese companies, which are allowed to inspect Chinese farms, subcontract with foreign ACAs. Cummins believes "the safest course of action is ... to say we won't certify imports from China because their law won't allow inspections."
For Americans who shop at the growing number of farmers markets springing up around the country, the status of organics from China -- or even organics from faraway U.S. states -- may be irrelevant. Just as the hippies who founded the movement intended, ethical eating extends beyond pesticide-free food for these shoppers, some of whom call themselves locavores, meaning "one who eats food produced locally." They wish to support small farmers and to ensure their food was produced in an environmentally friendly manner by workers who were treated well and paid fairly.
And not matter how strict a law may be, there will always be those who game the system. Even if a Chinese inspector notices illegal pesticide use, he or she might feel pressured to stay silent, says Dr. Robert E. Hegel, professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis. "Everybody there is so proud of increased production that few people ask much about the farmer's production methods," says Hegel. "And there's no 'organic' food tradition in China." According to Hegel, in China "everything was just 'food' and it was, until the 1950s, mostly 'organic' by our contemporary definitions -- fertilized with human and animal waste, compost ... and ashes."**continues, click link to read the rest** Half of federally accredited organic certifiers recently audited were put on probation after foods were found with unacceptable pestic... more -
She's talking about Monsanto, but it's not talking to her
Monsanto doesn't want anything to do with French investigative journalist Marie-Monique Robin.
The American biotechnology and herbicide-producing giant wouldn't co-operate with Robin in her three years researching her highly critical documentary The World According to Monsanto and her accompanying, French-language bestseller (with an English translation on the way).
Now that her film is being shown in more and more countries, and advocacy groups are featuring clips of the documentary on their websites, Monsanto still hasn't called Robin.
To many viewers, the company's "no comment" may appear to be damning in itself, given the litany of accusations made against Monsanto by farmers, scientists, watchdog groups, health and agriculture advocates.
Googling for seeds of truth
The documentary shows farmers alleging that Monsanto - a leader in developing genetically modified seed and herbicides - has pitted farmer against farmer, encouraging them to rat on anyone suspected of not buying new Monsanto seed each year. It shows agricultural experts alleging genetically modified corn has invaded indigenous Mexican corn, with monstrous varieties being found. And advocates in India alleging that cotton farmers sometimes commit suicide owing to their dependence on genetically modified crops and the risk of low harvests. The list of accusations goes on.
A spokeswoman from Monsanto Canada, however, did respond to calls for this article. "Any of the allegations that have been made in the movie have been responded to publicly on our website," spokeswoman Trish Jordan said. A segment on the company's website labelled For the Record, she explained, "basically responds to some of the common allegations that are dredged up by activists. And I think that would probably give you our position on most, if not everything, in her documentary."
The film does refer to the website, and the explanations used by Monsanto in response to various criticisms.
Still, Robin said she was astonished by what she found when making the film. "Yes, I was very surprised. It's very difficult to understand how they manage - what they called in the U.S. the revolving door," she said. By this, she means the way in which government officials and elected leaders have often worked for corporations such as Monsanto, only to later pass regulations while in office favouring their former employers.
It was also difficult to get people to talk. "It's very difficult," Robin said, whether officials within regulatory agencies, scientists or other journalists. She said that one regulatory insider told her they didn't want to have any problems with the company, since it's so powerful.
The World According to Monsanto is as disturbing as any Hollywood thriller. Robin's next documentaries will likely be just as heavy, with a film on the U.S. military's use of what many see as torture during interrogations and a documentary on environmental causes of cancer.
So what drives Robin to investigate such dire topics?
"I have three daughters at home," she said, "and I think when I'm doing this kind of documentary, it's for my daughters. ... With what's going on with GMOs [genetically modified organisms] and what it means, in 20 years, if we don't react, it's very worrisome."
Aug.1,2008 Monsanto doesn't want anything to do with French investigative journalist Marie-Monique Robin. ... more -
Great Lakes danger zones?
Here’s the report that top officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thought was too hot for the public to handle — and the story behind it.
For more than seven months, the nation’s top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states, reportedly because it contains such potentially “alarming information” as evidence of elevated infant mortality and cancer rates.
The 400-plus-page study, Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in the Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern, was undertaken by a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the request of the International Joint Commission, an independent bilateral organization that advises the U.S. and Canadian governments on the use and quality of boundary waters between the two countries. The study was originally scheduled for release in July 2007 by the IJC and the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
The Center for Public Integrity has obtained the study, which warns that more than nine million people who live in the more than two dozen “areas of concern”—including such major metropolitan areas as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee—may face elevated health risks from being exposed to dioxin, PCBs, pesticides, lead, mercury, or six other hazardous pollutants.
In many of the geographic areas studied, researchers found low birth weights, elevated rates of infant mortality and premature births, and elevated death rates from breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer.
Since 2004, dozens of experts have reviewed various drafts of the study, including senior scientists at the CDC, Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal agencies, as well as scientists from universities and state governments, according to sources familiar with the history of the project.
“It raises very important questions,” Dr. Peter Orris, a professor at the University of Illinois School of Public Health in Chicago and one of three experts who reviewed the study for ATSDR, told the Center. While Orris acknowledged that the study does not determine cause and effect—a point the study itself emphasizes—its release, he said, is crucial to pointing the way for further esearch. “Communities could demand that those questions be answered in a more systematic way,” he said. “Not to release it is putting your head under the sand.”
In a December 2007 letter to ATSDR in which he called for the release of the study, Orris wrote: “This report, which has taken years in production, was subjected to independent expert review by the IJC’s Health Professionals Task Force and other boards, over 20 EPA scientists, state agency scientists from New York and Minnesota, three academics (including myself), and multiple reviews within ATSDR. As such, this is perhaps the most extensively critiqued report, internally and externally, that I have heard of.”
****continues,click link to read**** Here’s the report that top officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thought was too hot for the public to handle — ... more
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