GMO // Current

: ^#1

U.S. Congress eyeing honeybee support

The U.S. Congress is considering appropriating millions of dollars for honeybee research that could reap benefits, experts say.... more

retro_Syl
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GMO corn: France rejects report by EU food agency

France on Friday rejected a report by the European Union's food safety watchdog that said a controversial strain of... more

Vierotchka
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10 diseases linked to soda / Aspartame is made using genetically modified hacteria. Yum!

you know it's not good for you yet you still drink it. we all do. but learn how it affects your health and you'll be... more

planetstupid
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Holistic Biochemistry 0.6 Billion Years of Cannabinoids, by Robert Melamede, PhD

At 2004 Cannabis Therapeutics Conference, Dr. Melamede, University of Colorado, explains how the Endocannabinoid System functions... more

ras_menelik
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King Vilsack

Governor Vilsack signs a law that outlaws citizens in Iowa from deciding what can and can not be grown in their communities.... more

frankpatton
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Germany, GM crops, bovine growth hormones, and ‘The World According to Monsanto’

Earlier this month Germany banned the cultivation of Monsanto’s GM corn, “claiming that MON 810 is dangerous for the... more

salviad
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True blue GM rose

Naturally occuring roses cannot make blue pigment delphinidin IT’S not royal blue or even sky blue, but blue enough to... more

ras_menelik
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5 Food Films That Deserved an Oscar Nomination

Now that this year's Oscar nominations are out, debate will rage about which films deserved it, which actors should have... more

covelogibbs
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Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Foods

The American Academy of American Environmental Medicine is sharing their take on GMO foods and the like. At best scary, at... more

cyn_cyn
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'Food, Inc.' offers plenty to chew on _ if you don't lose your appetite

You put food in your mouth every day. But do you know exactly what you're consuming when you pick up chicken breasts at the grocery store or drive though a fast-food restaurant for a cheeseburger? Or do you even bother to care?...

Wal-Mart, the Lucifer of multinational corporations in many liberal eyes, sees the fiscal sense in stocking an increasingly wide array of organic foodstuffs, consumer habits truly are changing. Not fast enough, though, for documentary filmmaker Robert Kenner, whose eye-opening "Food, Inc." should win a few hearts and minds regarding what we put in our stomachs.

Several things -- too many, probably -- are going on in "Food, Inc.," all connected. Kenner begins by tracing the impact of 20th Century American fast food on industrialized food production, and notes that when McDonald's brought factory assembly-line strategies into practice, everything changed. McDonald's became a universe of beef-purchasing power unto itself. Their cows, like so many millions of other feedlot residents, consume corn instead of grass; the humans in our increasingly obese nation eat a ton of corn as well, courtesy of high-fructose, heavily subsidized corn syrup (found in everything).

As a Brooklyn, N.Y., doctor in another food doc, "King Corn," put it: American food policy ensures that "we subsidize the Happy Meals -- but we don't subsidize the healthy ones."

Are the federal regulatory and protection agencies doing enough to keep us safe from E. coli outbreaks and the like? The film answers that one with a firm "no." Does eating organic food lead to a healthier diet and a healthier environment?

The film got virtually no cooperation from representatives of the dominant players in industrial food production, including Tyson (we see a chicken processing factory in full swing), Monsanto (whose strong-arm business practices come off very, very badly) and others.

As a result, "Food, Inc." is a rangy, well-articulated essay rather than a compelling point-counterpoint. Kenner can be accused of substituting surface tension, with threatening music cues riding in on almost every sequence, for a higher brand of dialectical tension -- the accused getting time, and room, to debate their accusers.

The most eloquent arguments in "Food, Inc." belong to Michael Pollan, who wrote "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and who served as project consultant. "Fast Food Nation" author Eric Schlosser is onscreen a lot as well.

MPAA rating: PG (for some thematic material and disturbing images)
Running time: 1:33
Featuring: Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation"); Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore's Dilemma"); Gary Hirschberg (Stonyfield Farms); Joe Salatin (Polyface Farms)
Directed by: Robert Kenner; produced by Kenner and Elise Pearlstein. A Magnolia Pictures release.'Food, Inc.' offers plenty to chew on _ if you don't lose your appetite You put food in your mouth every day.... more

julesrs007
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21 days ago

: ^#11

Argentine Herbicide Lawsuit Alarms Soy Farmers

BUENOS AIRES - An environmental group's push to temporarily ban a widely used herbicide in Argentina, citing a... more

mae37
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1 month ago

: ^#12

Environmentalist Receives Higher Prison Sentence than Al-Qaeda Operative

Mar 2nd, 2009 by Will Potter

While the FBI targets environmentalists, Osama bin Laden remains free.

Christopher Paul, aka “Abdul Malek,” is an Ohio native who joined Al Qaeda in the early 90s. According to the FBI, he:

* received training in “the use of assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, and small unit tactics,”
* fought with the mujahedeen in Afghanistan,
* and returned to Ohio to recruit and establish a terrorist cell.

He pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to use a weapon of mass destruction against Americans at home and abroad. His sentence: 20 years.

By comparison, Marie Mason was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison, as a “terrorist,” for property destruction in the name of defending the environment.

Her sentence, for arson targeting genetic engineering at Michigan State University, was the most severe yet in what many are calling the “Green Scare.” Unfortunately, it is not an isolated incident. Jeffrey “Free” Luers was sentenced to 22 years and 8 months for setting fire to SUVs. And Eric McDavid was sentenced to 20 years for “conspiracy” to sabotage the Nimbus dam, even though an FBI operative provided the group with bomb-making recipes; at times financed their transportation, food and housing; strung along McDavid, who had the hopes of a romantic relationship; and poked and prodded the group into action.

The FBI has labeled the environmental and animal rights movements as the “number one domestic terrorism threat.” Groups like the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, and activists like Marie Mason, have clearly broken the law in the name of defending the environment. But they have never used rocket-propelled grenades, never created weapons of mass destruction, and never harmed a single human being.

This should concern everyone, regardless of how you feel about environmental issues or economic sabotage: Such skewed government priorities are wasting valuable law enforcement resources targeting environmentalists while Al-Qaeda continues to place American lives at risk.

What kind of message do you think this sends, when environmentalists who target property are a greater national security threat than the organization responsible for the most deadly act of terrorism in the history of the United States?Mar 2nd, 2009 by Will Potter While the FBI targets environmentalists, Osama bin Laden remains free. Christopher Paul, aka... more