Gucciardi reports: "In a riveting victory against genetically modified creations, a major biotech company known as Syngenta has been criminally charged for denying knowledge that its GM Bt corn actually kills livestock."
Corn is the second-most important GM crop worldwide, growing in 18 countries. GM corn includes insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant varieties, and unlike soybeans, some GM corn has both modifications 'stacked' together. (photo: Reuters)
Biotech Leader Covered Up Animal Deaths From GM Corn
16 June 12
n a riveting victory against genetically modified creations, a major biotech company known as Syngenta has been criminally charged for denying knowledge that its GM Bt corn actually kills livestock. What's more is not only did the company deny this fact, but they did so in a civil court case that ended back in 2007. The charges were finally issued after a long legal struggle against the mega corp initiated by a German farmer named Gottfried Gloeckner whose dairy cattle died after eating the Bt toxin and coming down with a ‘mysterious' illness.
Grown on his own farm from 1997 to 2002, the cows on the farm were all being fed exclusively on Syngenta's Bt 176 corn by the year 2000. It was around this time that the mysterious illnesses began to emerge among the cattle population. Syngenta paid Gloeckner 40,000 euros in an effort to silence the farmer, however a civil lawsuit was brought upon the company. Amazingly, 2 cows ate genetically modified maize (now banned in Poland over serious concerns) and died. During the civil lawsuit, however, Syngenta refused to admit that its GM corn was responsible. In fact, they went as far as to claim having no knowledge whatsoever of harm.
The case was dismissed and Gloeckner, the farmer who launched the suit, was left thousands of euros in debt. And that's not all; Gloeckner continued to lose many cows as a result of Syngenta's modified Bt corn. After halting the use of GM feed in 2002, Gloeckner attempted a full investigation with the Robert Koch Institute and Syngenta involved. The data of this investigation is still unavailable to the public, and only examined one cow. In 2009, however, the Gloeckner teamed up with a German action group known as Bündnis Aktion Gen-Klage and to ultimately bring Syngenta to the criminal court.
Using the testimony of another farmer whose cows died after eating Syngenta product, Gloeckner and the team have charged the biotech giant for the death of over 65 cows, withholding knowledge of the death-link, and holding the corporation liable for not registering the cattle deaths. The team is even charging Hans-Theo Jahmann, the German head of Syngenta , personally over the withholding of knowledge.
The charges bring to light just how far large biotechnology companies will go to conceal evidence linking their genetically modified products to serious harm. Monsanto, for example, has even threatened to sue the entire state of Vermont if they attempt to label its genetically modified ingredients. Why are they so afraid of the consumer knowing what they are putting in their mouths?
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
 16 June 2013
|
 16 June 2013
|
 17 June 2013
|
 16 June 2013
|
 16 June 2013
|
 19 June 2013
|
 18 June 2013
|
 18 June 2013
|
 19 June 2013
|
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
It's time to hold corporations - because they are big and wield incredible power - responsible for their greed, their murders, and their destruction on our environment.
However, we must remain open to the idea that genetic food modification could possibly benefit all mankind; and while we don't know for sure, we want to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
How on earth, with the above kind of evidence prevailing and with no credible studies measured in decades, can anyone consider this junk science safe?
We know it takes tens of years for things like cancers and other diseases to develop. We also have zero ability to predict how genetic modification will affect the ecosystem in the future.
Consider gmo salmon growing one and a half times bigger in half the time of a normal salmon or actually putting a gene from a pesticide or herbicide INTO the food we eat??? How about the fish gene in strawberries so they will not be harmed by early frosts?
Sorry, but all the prattle and fear mongering about too many people not enough food we need gmo, is an empty suit honed over decades by the likes of Monsanto.
These gene manipulation people are easily as looney as nuclear energy or fracking being safe advocates.
Beagles are an example of genetic manipulation. Why do you hate beagles?
your take is typical of our education system and MSM informing US.
I take it you have a beagle or two so enjoy. They are a neat breed of dog.
Considering the fact that millions upon millions of head of cattle have been reared on this treated corn and the complaint stems from two to sixty-five cows from the same area, it is much more likely that a local phenomenon caused the livestock fatalities than did Bt treated corn.
Lessee here, uranium is naturally occuring, poison oak/ivy are naturally occuring, bella donna is naturally ocurring, rattlesname venom is naturally ocurring, cyanide is naturally ocurring all of which is to say that you and yours need DECADES of double and triple blind studies in order to make the presently insane claims you attempt to make.
I grow organically and I had used it. I now use diamaecous earth food grade to control bugs. I believe unless we are all doing tests on the crap sold, we may be all buying poison ....
Obviously, some technology is good. Heck, a winter coat made out of nylon and polyester represents technology, not to mention things like surgical instruments. But when technology is used just as a way to look for lots and lots of money, things often go wrong.
It is none the less the tools of science that are used and abused by science itself in technology applications...
AND in 'proving' itself as seen in Monsanto purchasing Beeologics which had found that Monsanto's gmo crops were playing a major part in colony collapse.
Science+technology+$$'s ='s junk science...farrr rr tooooo often!
This is simplified; but the essence is the greed and impatience of farmers is going to kill the business.
As things stand right now Monsanto can pollute and in fact have sued farmers for their creepy seeds flying into organic farming fields. Something is really evil about this.
It wouldn't be the first time that companies knowingly sold harmful deadly products because they saw better chances of profits than the liabilities if they were caught. When we hear about private corporations taking risks in the free market, that's what it usually means.
on our food.
We all know GM foods are not labeled because consumers will reject them. Lundberg rice has labeled their rice as not genetically modified. Perhaps that is a way around the corporate refusal to label. Just look for products that let you know they are not modified.
How do we know that we're NOT eating this stuff? Sitting in the hospital this past week with a relative near death from some mysterious digestive ailment, I began to wonder -- Is the HUGE fuss that's being made about gluten in our diet at least in part a scam to cover the terrible effects of GMO foods we're all being fed?
RESEARCH (SERIOUSLY!) the ill effects of these suckers -- and JAIL the responsible parties who are cashing in on the suffering, of man and beast!
We keep hearing how harmless Bt is to humans. Have in fact used it myself on some crops. BUT -- with GMOs now affecting most of our grains, soy beans, fruits, vegetables AND the meat, milk and eggs of livestock fed these crops, we talking a full diet of Bt and a whole range of other ingredients FAR from natural. It's like saying oh, table salt is not poison. Of COURSE not -- until we are dosed with enough of it!
I hope, hope you will soon be MUCH better -- we NEED you in this world!
You are absolutely right, Erdajean. Just about any substance can be lethal if used improperly and in greater than needed quantities. I think the GM stuff may have pushed things way past the tipping point.
And Barbara, I'm sorry to learn you are suffering from such illness. May you be healed.
You are not alone. I have been battling digestive problems for the past 4 years and hospitalized twice. I also lost weight and looked like a skeleton and am still quite thin.I'm doing better too but still have to watch what I eat.
I have met so many people that have digestive problems young and old. Just yesterday I was talking with two women, one in her mid 30's and the other was my age in her late 50's and both also had digestive problems and were limited in what they can eat. Whenever the subject of digestive problems comes up most of the time the person or persons I'm talking with also has problems. It's an epidemic that is going unnoticed by the medical community, media, and etc.
It's not only the GM and the poisons put on foods like insectacides it's the poisons that are put IN the foods. You need a PhD in Chemistry to read ingredient labels.
BTW, I just recently read that 90% of all corn is GM. So no more Corn Flakes or corn on the cob smothered in butter and grated cheese :-( The thing about GM corn that really gets my goat is that not only the insanity of putting pig genes in corn but also putting killer E-coli bacteria into corn.
What no one has answered anywhere yet is the question of how much Roundup (or other pesticides from other companies) is absorbed by the plants it is sprayed on to control pests. Just because GMO corn is immune to being killed by Roundup does not mean that it does not absorb it when it is sprayed by it!
The burden of proof is on the farmer and his team. They must demonstrate either this corn contains something toxic to cows (the Bt toxin that this corn produces is only toxic to insects; vertebrates like cows and humans are unaffected), or they must demonstrate that cows in controlled conditions are more likely to get sick if eating this corn.
Unless the farmer and his team can show one of these things, this entire case is just an anecdote and entirely without scientific merit.
Really, Tristan?
It wasn't Syngenta corn that killed his cows?
So Syngenta just gave the farmer 40,000 Euros because they felt sorry for him, right?
Did you read the article and pass over this telling little fact?
They claim "substencial equivalence" between their product and the natural plant to bypass rigorouis testing, and then they just flood the market and line their pockets.
The natural plant does not produce insecticides, so how comes the insecticide produced by this plant does not need to undergo FDA testing?
Then, as an engineer I can relate to the idea of inserting the code for a protein between a start and a stop - except these guys insert it anywhere, thereby obtaining start- beginning of some protein /start the insecticide stop/ rest of the protein stop.
What does the "beginning of some protein" or the "rest of the protein" code?
They don't know and they don't want to know.
They only test that the insecticide is produced, not whether the rest of the plant has been adversely modified.
PRIONS are malformed proteins responsible for BSE in cattle and Kreutzfeld-Jaco b in humans.
And they have the gall, when someone comes with a case that at the very least calls for some questioning, positing that it cannot be their product?
PRIONS, in French, happens to mean "Let's pray" - how suitable.
I believe in Canada it was found in the blood of tested women.
Back to the bottle of toxin.
If it is in corn and we get a lot of corn in our diet then we have a lot of it in our bodies.
Monsanto and other companies marketing this poison ought to be prosecuted. And let's keep on signing those petitions and protesting GM foods at every opportunity.
If you did, you would probably get more BT "toxin" in your corn than if you bought BTGM corn. Most Organic labeled corn has been given a heavy dose of BT, since BT kills earworm and corn borers without harming beneficial insects. Because BT is a bacteria, it qualifies as Organic pest control. People have been ingesting BT laden fruits and vegetables for over 50 years with no reported ill effects.
Yes, I know that, but here's a good point Erdajean made in a conversation with Barbara back up there somewhere: many, many substances are fine, even beneficial, used judiciously -- think aspirin, or any of the drugs that help heal us when we're ill; misused, any of them can also kill us! There's a tipping point -- cross that line and you get into the negative effects. Could be that BT has been beneficial used carefully as pest control all these years, but seems to me genetically modifying our food with it -- or any other substance -- is pushing things WAY too far.
The biotech industry is just one more big business motivated by nothing but GREED at the top. More and more profits and to hell with the consequences! That seems to be their mantra, over and over and over again.
China executes those who put lethal products into the stream of commerce.
Strict liability laws are needed with criminal penalties, including imprisonment, appended. Threats against those who reveal wrongdoing should be treated like hate crimes, as a penalty enhancer.
However, in the world in which we live there is no sense of right and wrong or of human morality. Decency is an illusion. The only thing that matters is money. Those without it lose. Those with it win.
Pretty soon more and more people will withdraw in an effort to save themselves and their families. Our government no longer functions except to make things work for those at the top and their handmaidens in the three branches.
I was thinking the same thing as I was reading the article. Soylent Green here we come.
Oh, but wait; we have its girlish cousin here with us today. Can you say, "Pink Slime for lunch today students?"
ARE DESTROYING US FROM WITHIN.
They are 'Legion'.
Rule of Law. Rules of Accounting, Rules of accurate reporting. Rules of Moraity.
All Dead.
But we are flooded with horror stories of how bad and lethhal GM is. So I have been trying to figure out where my logic went wrong. But I can't find facts to help me out. How many farmers fed GM Bt corn and had no animal illnesses or deaths? What was it about the corn that was toxic? Is GM as imprecise as selective breeding or even more so?
In the past, corporations have put harmful products on the market which were and are reprehensible. That is why we have a Food and Drug Administration and a Consumer Protection Agency. I am impressed by the charged emmotions on this issue. These emotions seem stronger than emotions that would be caused by the economic dislocations caused by technological breakthroughs. I wish I had more solid facts about what is really going on technically. The emotions and politics are pretty clear.
Traditionally the selective breeding has been done through natural means such as cross pollenation of two varieties of the same kind of plant and then using the seeds to grow a better vegetable.
GM is not natural. Corn will not naturally cross pollenate with a pig or E-coli bacteria.
I've never heard of a pig and corn mating.
We need to boycott as much as possible.
BTW, genetic modification happens in nature all the time, but it's called by a different name, that being MUTATIONS! Chow down folks. They always say that two heads are better than one, and a four legged runner will break the 3 minute mile for sure some day.
Bill Clinton, Al Gore & Senator Obama supported the California 2006 Prop. 87, a GMO corn ethanol welfare program.
Bill, Al, have changed opinion on the ethanol mandate, I wonder if Obama will make this the time for CHANGE?
I support a waiver of the ethanol mandate, voluntary use of ethanol in my gas.
Federal ethanol policy increases Government motors oil use and Big oil profit.
It is reported that today California is using Brazil sugar cane ethanol at $0.16 per gal increase over using GMO corn fuel ethanol. In this game the cars and trucks get to pay and Big oil profits are the result that may be ready for change.
We do NOT support AB 523 or SB 1396 unless the ethanol mandate is changed to voluntary ethanol in our gas.
Folks that pay more at the pump for less from Cars, trucks, food, water & air need better, it is time.
The car tax of AB 118 Nunez is just a simple Big oil welfare program, AAA questioned the policy and some folks still agree.
AB 523 & SB 1326 are just a short put (waiver) from better results.
GOOGLE: Prop 87 (510) 537-1796
Let's give Facebook a real and significant purpose for existing.
California needs to know what winning the labeling law means to the rest of the country this November. If they don't vote for anything else, they need to support this, for all our sakes.
Body Count: Taking Stock of All the Bugs That Call Humans Home
Characterizing the diverse human microbiome may someday help us avoid disease and boost health
By Katherine Harmon | Wednesday, June 13, 2012 | 11
[...]
Now a question: how does BT, as just one example, affect the normal flora in a particular person (or cow)? Any interactions? Perhaps with some percentage of people (as some people are intolerant of lactose or gluten)?
Notice that the related article in Nature http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v486/n7402/full/486194a.html is not available unless you pay $18 for it, and many of these sorts of scientific articles cost much more. Some research data is not available at all, even to government agencies responsible for certifying safety.
This is not a question of 'x is safe and y is not' in nature, because this is a very complex and dynamic system, always changing and evolving, with various elements in interaction. Species (including people) evolved to handle changes as they arose (those who could not, dying out) -- and then other species either were able to, or were able to evolve to, handle THOSE adaptations or they died out. Static testing, even if well done, is problematic.
http://mbio.asm.org/content/2/4/e00161-11.full
Expand+
mBiombio.asm.orgdoi: 10.1128/mBio.0 0161-11 16 August 2011 mBio vol. 2 no. 4 e00161-11
Shifting Paradigm on Bacillus thuringiensis Toxin and a Natural Model for Enterococcus faecalis Septicemia
Joerg Graf
ABSTRACT
The Bt toxin is widely used in agriculture both as a spray and in transgenic plants, yet its precise mode of action against lepidopterans is poorly understood. The study by Mason et al. [mBio 2(3):e00065-11, 2011] revealed that Bt toxin enables an inhabitant of the midgut, Enterococcus faecalis, to enter the hemolymph of larvae and cause septicemia, leading to death.
[...]
Now compare to the article I linked to about how human flora vary in individuals -- and wonder if unreported or unknown interactions occur there too...
2) Long term jail for all politicians receiving any kind of monetary gain from any corporations, companies or special interest groups. This would be while in office and for a 10 year period after leaving office.
3) Fines equal to 10% of a corporations, companies or special interest groups total worth for contributing to any person or organization assisting in the election of any person running for political office or holding office. These organizations have no business influencing our elections or decision making (policy or law). They don't represent people they represent stock holders and owners that in many cases aren't even Americans
RSS feed for comments to this post