India's Grocery Stores Should Serve as
a Stark Warning to Americans
“Poison on the Platter”: GE Foods
Are Spreading Across India
November 22, 2014
Story
at-a-glance
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The documentary “Poison on the Platter” examines how
multinational corporations and the Indian government
have conspired to spread GE foods across India
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Despite laws banning the import of GE foods, they
line supermarket shelves across India
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Dozens of GE crop trials are underway on Indian
farmland, including okra, potatoes, and BT brinjal
(eggplant), which makes its own insecticide
By Dr. Mercola
The corporate and regulatory forces that are out to get
genetically engineered (GE) foods onto your dinner plate by any
means possible are not confined to the United States.
In his documentary, Poison on the Platter, Indian
filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt examines from a unique non-Western
perspective how multinational corporations and government regulators
have conspired to spread GE foods across India.
The film provides an insightful perspective about the world
impact of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as discussed by
scientists on the other side of the globe.
If you don’t believe contamination of our food supply by GMOs
holds the potential for planetary disaster, you might change your
mind after seeing this film. Mahesh Bhatt warns:
“In their mad rush to capture the multi-billion dollar
Indian agriculture and food industry, the biotech multinational
companies are bulldozing warnings by scientists about the
adverse impact of GM foods on health and environment...
[T]his is hurtling mankind toward a disaster, which will
be far more destructive than anything the world has seen so far,
simply because it will affect every single person living on this
planet.”
GE proponents claim that GE foods are the solution to world
hunger, increased crop yield and variety, lowered input costs, and
reduced environmental impact.
They also claim that foods derived from
GMOs are “substantially
equivalent” to foods created by conventional growing methods. The
problem is that none of those claims are supported by
science.
The List of Risks Posed by GE Foods Continues to Grow
Epidemiological patterns reflect a rise in more than 30 human
diseases alongside the steady increase of GE ingredients in our food
supply and the dramatic increase in the use of agrichemicals, such
as glyphosate.
Glyphosate is not “just” an herbicide—it was originally patented
as a mineral chelator. It immobilizes nutrients, making them
unavailable for your body. Glyphosate is also patented as an
antibiotic that can devastate human gut bacteria.
When you mix the genes of one species with those of another,
you’re courting disaster. GE food trials involving laboratory
animals have uncovered higher mortality, infertility, and
multi-organ damage—such as bleeding stomachs.
Even Monsanto’s own mouse studies demonstrated that GE foods have
toxic effects on multiple organs, including the liver and kidneys.
One of the most ominous concerns about the GE food system is its
impact on our
soils.
Monoculture and massive agrichemical use are decimating soils at
an alarming rate—soils that took thousands of years to develop.
Trillions of beneficial microbes that make up healthy soil are
destroyed, depleting its nitrogen and leading to soil erosion,
pollution, and wasted water from massive runoff.
Nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizer runoff has created dead zones
along many coastal waterways. GE crop monocultures destroy in a
blink what nature has taken millennia to create.
US Recklessly Speeds Ahead with Next-Generation GE Crops
What’s going on in India is not that different from the US.
Despite all of the hellish evidence, there seems to be no risk
substantial enough to deter the American government from
pushing ahead with new GE seeds.
Herbicide and insecticide use is skyrocketing. USDA recently
deregulated Dow Chemical’s
next-generation GE crops, which are not only
glyphosate-resistant, but also carry resistance to toxins like the
Agent Orange ingredient 2,4-D and Dicamba. EPA has also approved
Enlist Duo—a new herbicide to be used on Dow’s 2,4-D and
glyphosate-resistant corn and soybeans.
EPA has also doubled the amount of glyphosate allowed in your
food. For example, soybean oil is allowed to contain a whopping 400
times the limit at which it can impact your health. Widespread use
of GMOs has led to an enormous resistance problem.
Superweeds and resistant pests are rapidly spreading across
farmland, which has necessitated the deployment of even more noxious
chemicals. USDA data reveals that glyphosate use has increased
12-fold since 1996. Meanwhile, weed resistance has been documented
on 60 million farm acres across the US.
The US Earns the Gold for Highest GE Food Production
The US is the world’s leading producer of GE foods, many of which
are being exported to countries, like India, that will allow it.
Monsanto is the largest manufacturer of GE seeds, producing 90
percent of those used across the globe. Yet three quarters of
Americans are not even aware that they consume GE ingredients in
almost every meal.
Many other countries believe that GE foods must be safe
because Americans have been consuming them for two decades—and “not
dying from them.” However, the fallacy of this reasoning is evident
when you realize that it took the US about 500 years to realize that
tobacco wasn’t safe.
The incidence of chronic diseases in the US has escalated since
the introduction of
GE foods. Therefore, no one can claim that Americans are
healthy, and no one can say with any assurance that GE foods are
safe. Many scientists argue that we haven't had enough time for the
effects of GMOs to fully reveal themselves across populations—and
when they do, the damage may be irreparable. In the words of GMO
expert and founder of the Institute for Responsible Technology
Jeffrey Smith:
“I can say with absolute confidence that there is
irrefutable and overwhelming evidence that
genetically engineered foods are harmful and that they are not
being evaluated properly by the governments of India, United
States, the European Union, or anywhere in the world.
This is one of the most dangerous technologies ever introduced
on Earth, and it’s being deployed in our food supply. It is
madness! What we need is a political willingness to say no
more... We don’t understand the language of DNA.”
Cheap Food Brings Expensive Healthcare
Genetically engineered foods have increased to keep pace with an
exploding demand for "cheap food." Farmers are constantly pushed for
higher yields. The current system is creating a glut of ecological
problems, such as ravaging our bee populations. Forty years ago,
Americans spent 16 percent of their income on food and eight percent
on healthcare; today, those numbers are reversed. This "cheap food"
system has bought us the most expensive healthcare in the world. In
the same way that medical schools and universities are controlled by
the drug industry, the food system is controlled by the agrichemical
industry.
The
industrialized food system is putting many small farmers out of
business. Land grant universities, funded by corporate agribusiness,
are under enormous pressure to shush any research that goes against
the party line. Educational institutions are afraid to "bite the
hand that feeds them." Mark Kastel, Co-Founder of The Cornucopia
Institute, explains how other strategies are used to ensure that the
public never finds out about the health dangers of GMOs:
"Monsanto and others actually have contracts with
farmers, a technology agreement that prohibits the farmers from
using any of their crop for research—other than agronomic
research and yield research. So they can't partner with a
physician or a medical researcher to take a look at the impact
on human health. They've really impeded our ability to know
whether or not GMOs are safe."
Big Bucks Buys Big Votes
Money changes everything. Monsanto, Grocery Manufacturers
Association (GMA) and other pro-GMO forces continue pouring millions
into every anti-labeling campaign in an effort to prevent you from
knowing what you’re eating. Their strategy consists of false claims,
lies, and scare tactics, but their money is buying them smaller and
smaller margins—labeling laws are coming closer to passage with each
election. Every “loss” is actually a “win” when you look at the
trends. As people gain awareness of the issues, they will refuse to
stand for the status quo.
- In 2012, industry spent $45 million to defeat California’s
Prop 37 labeling bill, and it lost by six points.
- Between 2012 and mid-2014, Monsanto and the Grocery
Manufacturers Association (GMA) successfully blocked GMO
labeling laws in over 30 states, at a price tag of more than
$100 million. According to the most recent analysis, opponents
of GMO labeling spent more than $27 million on lobbying in the
first six months of 2014 alone—this is about three times more
than they spent during all of 2013.
- In the November 2014 election, the GMO industry and
supporters spent $37 million to prevent Oregon and Colorado from
passing their respective labeling laws. This effort was
successful in Colorado, but in Oregon the race couldn’t be any
tighter!
It’s Time to Stop the Insanity
Election season may be over, but you can vote with your wallet
every day. If enough of us make our voices heard, things CAN change.
For example, you can boycott
GMA Member Traitor Brands, which helps level the playing field.
As always, continue educating yourself and sharing what you've
learned. Think of yourself as being pro-evidence, as opposed to
anti-GMO. Just because you question something doesn't mean you're
opposed to it—you just want more evidence so that you can make a
good decision for yourself and your family. This film provides one
more learning tool that you can forward to your friends and family,
to help them take charge of their health.
Copyright 1997- 2014 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
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