Mercola writes: "As it currently stands in the United States, you are actually being completely kept in the dark about what's in your food. And it may interest you to know that many pro-GMO corporations such as Monsanto intend to keep it that way."

Occupy Monsanto activist wearing a Genetic Crimes Unit hazard suit. (photo: Occupy Monsanto)

Why Are We Being Kept in the Dark Over GMOs?

By Dr. Mercola, NaturalSociety

14 September 12

ou may already be fully aware of the fight surrounding the latest California GMO labeling legislation known as Prop 37, a bill which I have been very passionate about supporting over the past few months. As it currently stands in the United States, you are actually being completely kept in the dark about what's in your food. And it may interest you to know that many pro-GMO corporations such as Monsanto intend to keep it that way.

But why are you being kept in the dark about the dangers of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the fight against Proposition 37? Despite the massive amount of research linking genetically modified foods to environmental and human dangers, giant corporations are shelling out millions and millions of dollars to ensure that GMOs are not labeled in the food market. Why are Americans and others being kept in the dark?

While studies continue to highlight the very serious impact of GMOs on both the human body and the environment alike, a few major countries still do not require the labeling of GMOs. Countries like China, Russia, Australia, France, Spain, and others all require GMOs to be labeled, while Canada and the U.S. are slow to follow. Biotechnology giants like Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences — as well as government organizations such as the FDA — have such a significant impact on what really goes on in America that they may actually be the reason Americans are still kept in the dark.

"Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the F.D.A.'s job" - Philip Angell, Monsanto's director of corporate communications. "Playing God in the Garden" New York Times Magazine.

Does that make you a bit concerned about the integrity of our food safety system? There are many important factors to consider with genetically engineered foods, which are increasingly overtaking the food supply. These are living, synthetic organisms that can reproduce and proliferate; they can mutate and migrate. How can a small group of chemical companies be trusted to control and monopolize our foods and restructure the world's food system?

Well, it seems that no individual within government or alphabet government agency is doing the required work to ensure GMOs are safe; they are simply putting safety responsibility on each other. The FDA has not conducted a single independent test of any genetically engineered product. The agency simply accepts the testing completed and provided by the biotechnology corporations like Monsanto.

"Ultimately, it is the food producer who is responsible for assuring safety" - FDA, "Statement of Policy: Foods Derived from New Plant Varieties" (GMO Policy), Federal Register, Vol. 57, No. 104, p. 229.

While the Food and Drug Administration is put in place to protect the consumer, they still let destructive GMOs run rampant. Other organizations like the USDA have also begun 'speed approving' the latest creations coming from Monsanto, reducing the approval time and subsequently the ability to measure the true effects.

It may also be shocking to you that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is just as corrupt in maintaining the safety of the food supply and other consumer products. Despite links to organ damage, the USDA says that it is changing the rules so that genetically modified seed companies like Monsanto will get ‘speedier regulatory reviews'. What does this mean? With the faster reviews, there will be even less time spent on evaluating the potential dangers.

Most recently, 12 new genetically modified crops have been submitted for USDA approval, with 9 of them being the new fast-tracked process. As stated in their press release, the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, sees the USDA transforming "into a high-performing organization that focuses on its customers."

Former United States Secretary of Agriculture (served from 1995 until 2001) Dan Glickman was a major promoter for biotechnology and pushed for such products to be sold in Europe to secure profitable exports. He concluded after his USDA departure:

"What I saw generically on the pro-biotech side was the attitude that the technology was good and that it was almost immoral to say that it wasn't good because it was going to solve the problems of the human race and feed the hungry and clothe the naked. And there was a lot of money that had been invested in this, and if you're against it, you're Luddites, you're stupid. There was rhetoric like that even here in this department. "

But right now is your chance to say "NO!" to the USDA. For the ‘fast-track crops', you only have until September 11th of 2012 to have your say before these seeds hit the soil.

The Most Recent News on GMOs - California's Proposition 37 and GMO Labeling

The most recent fight against GMOs is GMO labeling bill Proposition 37. On November 6, 2012, voters will decide if California's Proposition 37 will be the first bill to require the labeling of genetically modified foods. About 18 states have made similar attempts, but nothing has even come close to Prop 37. And while 50 other nations have moved to label GMOs, the United States population is still fighting for a bill to be passed in a single state.

While the fight for GMO labeling is loud and clear, corporations and companies opposing GMO labeling, for their own profit and corrupt relations, will stop at nothing to ensure GMOs remain a secret to the public. Monsanto has put out at least $4,208,000 to fight GMO labeling, while other corporations such as Pepsi Co. and Coca Cola have ‘donated' over one million dollars each. But Monsanto still remains among the largest fighters of GMO labeling.

GE Crops - the Largest Experiment on Earth

Genetically modified organisms may very well be one of the largest and most concerning experiments conducted by humankind. Genetically modified foods have already been linked to numerous health complications, while simultaneously destroying crops, insects, and even helping to contribute to large-scale farmer suicide.

We are performing an experiment on a global scale, where long-term consequences have yet to be conducted. In the realm of short-term research, the information points in a very dangerous direction. Dr. Charles Benbrook, a former agricultural staff expert on the Council for Environmental Quality at The White House, Executive Director of the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Agriculture, and Executive Director of the Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences, has stated:

"The scope of the fraud, if you will - I know that's a harsh word - the scope of the fraud that's being sold to the American public about this technology is almost unprecedented.

They have no control over where in that cell or where in that plant's genome the new genetic material gets lodged and expressed. Because they don't have control over that, they have absolutely no basis to predict how that trans-gene, the new genetic material, is going to behave in the future as that plant deals with stresses in its environment - whether it's drought, too much water, pest pressures,imbalances in the soil, or any other source of stress.

They just don't know how it's going to behave. They don't know how stable that expression is going to be, or whether the third generation of the plant is going to behave just like other generations. They don't know whether the promoter gene, which has been moved into the plant to turn on the new piece of genetic material, will influence some other biosynthetic pathway that's in the plant, turning on some natural process of the plant when it shouldn't be turned on, or turning it off too soon."

Without choice, how can there be trust? Why is the United States government so reluctant to let you know if you're ingesting GMOs? California's Proposition 37 is the most recent and possibly last hope for America to move a massive step forward in freedom of choice and freedom of health. Those against us are afraid because we have the power to initiate change.

Please contribute to the Organic Consumers Fund to ensure that Americans will finally have the basic right to know what's in their food.

I urge you to get involved and help in any way you can. Please support this important state initiative, even if you're not a resident of California!

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+49 # brianf 2012-09-14 20:09

Knowledge is never a bad thing. The market is not truly "free" if consumers are not free to know what they are buying. There is no good reason to keep us in the dark. Let US decide. Knowledge is power. Power to the people.

+8 # Bob P 2012-09-15 04:57

You are correct! Knowledge is essential to safety! We need to know a GMO is safe in ways that were not needed under previous seed strain selection methods. As far as I kknow there is no federal agency responsible for nutritional content or safety of corn. The only legal liability would seem to be civil suit for damages. There are beneficial GM products that have been tested, and some that don't need testing. Knowing a product is GMO is of some help, but what is needed is safety and efficacy testing. Legislation would be required, but would our present legislature pass such laws? It would be a miracle! There is too much money to be gained in hurting us.

+14 # grandma lynn 2012-09-15 06:29

David Axelrod, of the current White House and re-election campaign, helped push through Monsanto's GM Alfalfa, a food crop that connects with many other foods. Shame on the Obama White House, and shame on Michelle Obama for sort of being into good food, but having on the blinders concerning Monsanto and GM foods.

0 # Bob P 2012-09-16 13:21

Yes, the regulatory fight was over the environmental impact statement. Protection of the environment bears little relationship to human or animal toxicity unless it harmfully effects air or water quality. To judge safety and efficacy would reqire FDA legislation. Alfalfe, like corn, is generally recognized as safe under FDA law so is exempt from regulation. Brianf is right, we need knowledge to sort beneficial from harmful GMO's. An emotional fight at the EPA seems like a poor arena to get safety and efficacy facts and safety and efficacy regulation.

P.S. In 2010 the US Supreme Court lifted the court ban on GMO alfalfa planting but did not reverse the EPA decision which was to disapprove at the time.

+8 # mgwmgw 2012-09-14 21:38

What prevents non-GMO foods from being voluntarily labelled in the same way that Kosher foods are? The big corporations can buy the government, but they cannot stop this kind of labeling. Then those who care can pay the premium and buy what they want.

+19 # Barkingcarpet 2012-09-14 23:10

I am a GMOPHOBE, and you should be too..... Monsanto IS the Antichrist, and has few if any reddemming qualitie.

Support California prop 37, label GMO's. Let us choose. http://www.carighttoknow.org/

-21 # Texas Aggie 2012-09-15 00:32

The part that bothers me the most about the protests against GMO is that there is a very strong resemblance to the kind of arguments that the creationists present against evolution or the deniers present against global warming. None of it makes sense in reality with data and evidence, but rather it is based on emotional responses similar to what the Discovery Institute throws up against evolution. They don't have real data, but instead distort and fudge their statistical analysis. Then they try to extrapolate those results far beyond what is possible.

Another analogy that is appropriate is the reaction of the fundamentalist Moslems against this stupid movie that some idiots made about Mohammed.

+12 # warrior woman 2012-09-15 06:09

2 months ago, I bought a bottle of Bt Toxin at the local garden store, full name: Bacillus Thurengiensis. A pesticide with full warning labeling that it is a poison and not intended for human digestion! That is what is put in GMO's. Wake up, Tex, is this what you want to feed yourself, kids and grandkids? In every bite?

+8 # Helen 2012-09-15 06:51

I understand your concern, but unfortunately the data and evidence you seek will take years to accumulate, and it certainly will not be provided on a silver platter by the biotech industry and conventional food distributors who are pouring $25 million into defeating California's Proposition 37.

If you want evidence in reality today, go out ad look up the farmers pictured in the movie "Genetic Roulette," who fed their cattle GM corn and saw them get sick and die off. When they got corn that wasn't GM, their herds got better again. THEN, when they could no longer GET regular corn and had to go back to the GM corn, the cattle got sick again. Or talk with the medical doctors who think genetically-mod ified corn and soybeans may be responsible for an increase in gastro-intestin al damage among our people. Talk with the pediatricians who already tell the parents of autistic children to avoid GM ingredients entirely. You can't avoid those ingredients if you can't even tell whether or not they are there.

+3 # Barbara K 2012-09-15 09:11

Helen: The fact that they are paying so much money to hide what they are putting in our food should be all the more reason to find out and stop them. I don't eat corn at all any more. Not able to eat anything with wheat in it, doctor wants me not to eat any grains at all. That really narrows down the food choices, doesn't it? I'm glad I had a smart gastroenterolog ist, though I provided the key when I realized that I became even more ill after eating bread, cereal, etc. It's like having the stomach flu for the past 2 12 years.
I hope we can get someone to listen and stop doing this to our food. I know I am not alone.

+1 # jlohman 2012-09-15 04:56

Look, GMOs may be bad, and they may be good. People are living longer today than ever before. What bothers me more is that our trusty politicians are on the payroll of Monsanto and are therefore changing the rules to benefit the company.

But that's true on ALL issues. Our corrupt politicians are killing America. Only a 100% turnover in November will fix it.

+3 # Eliza D 2012-09-15 08:17

jlohman Genetically modified food has only been around for about twenty years, and for much of that time, it has mainly been used as animal feed. As Helen has pointed out, there has been a massive increase in cattle sickness and death, especially in France and Poland, after GMO cattle feed was introduced. That's part of the reason Europe has banned GMOs, although they are thinking about lifting the ban. God help us all! Therefore, most adults, who have stronger immune systems, have only been exposed to large amounts of GMO for perhaps ten years. But many children with weaker immune systems have been fed GMO laden food soaked with pesticides. I can't help but wonder if the soaring rates of autism,ADD and hyperactivity are related to this trend. Anderson Cooper did a segment on Dateline two years ago showing children in California whose blood was tested for toxins, and at 6 years of age, virtually all of them had small,but above the FDA recommended levels of hundreds of toxic chemicals, including BT. As an academic, I read about this years ago, and have fed my children almost exclusively organic, non GMO food. But most people just don't have the time to research these issues.

+21 # Barbara K 2012-09-15 05:01

I believe that our best defense is for those producing NON-GMO foods label their foods as such. I am one who has been ill the past 2 1/2 from the poisons on wheat, and in the seed itself. I know I'm not alone, it took my doctors 2 years to figure out what was making me so ill. There are people out there who are ill and don't know why. They need to consider the poisons put on the food we eat. I had a test and am not allergic to wheat,it is the poisons on it making me ill. This will happen to more and more people if we cannot rid ourselves of these monsters.

Let's promote NON-GMO labeling, they will get my business.

+11 # warrior woman 2012-09-15 06:13

Another distinction that is aside from GMO's is the use of systemic pesticides. Of course, this produces the same affect on us with ingestion. An example of the systemic pesticide is clothiandin which is also suspected to be a cause of the massive bee die-offs. Bayer produces clothiandin and the EPA scientists warned it produced grave danger to bees but the higher ups approved it anyway. No one is doing human safety testing. Clothiandin and Bt Toxin are both meant to kill the insect by destroying its digestive tract causing it to die of malnourishment. Now, what do we think its doing to US???????

+4 # Barbara K 2012-09-15 09:05

warrior woman: I can tell you what it is doing to us. It is destroying OUR digestive system too. It makes me so angry that they are allowed to poison our food like this and make people ill. Murdering us comes to mind.

+9 # grandma lynn 2012-09-15 06:27

Good idea. If GMO products are not going to be labeled due to political pull and pay-back, label normal food products as NON-GMO.

+4 # jlohman 2012-09-15 10:03

Sorry, but Monsanto doesn't like that either, and they own the politicians!

+4 # Barbara K 2012-09-15 11:54

jlohman: The farmers and the grocers and the food packaging companies can do the labeling, Congress need not be involved.

+6 # jlohman 2012-09-15 06:30

I agree 100% on disclosure, Barbara, and to make clear my intent, I do not want either side coming up with the answers. I want our board of directors, congress, to quit taking campaign bribes from Monsanto and whoever, and HIRE competent and non-biased scientists who are also not on the industry's payroll, to get to the bottom of this!!! But they cannot do it with campaign bribes flowing.

+3 # nursewithms 2012-09-15 11:06

Quoting jlohman:

I agree 100% on disclosure, Barbara, and to make clear my intent, I do not want either side coming up with the answers. I want our board of directors, congress, to quit taking campaign bribes from Monsanto and whoever, and HIRE competent and non-biased scientists who are also not on the industry's payroll, to get to the bottom of this!!! But they cannot do it with campaign bribes flowing.

Your right,soooooo,w hat are we going to do? Start looking to ourselves as hero's,not congress,not scientists,we the people.

+11 # Shar 2012-09-15 06:50

I have attempted to check the beginning of the childhood condition AUTISIM increase. and when GMO grains began to enter our food products. They both seem to have occured about the same time. First GMO grain, then the increase in Autisim Has anyone else noticed this ?

+1 # chrisconnolly 2012-09-15 09:05

If the concurrence of GMO's and increase in autism is so, then where did the anti-vaccinanti ons crowd get their info and verve. From Monsanto maybe? We are being governed not by our votes, self and community interests but by the highest profit possibilities. If you think this improbable just look to the recent Nazi thalidomide for profit story. We have got to vote Democrat just to get bak to the center where moral ideas and good intentions reside.

+3 # nursewithms 2012-09-15 11:08

Quoting chrisconnolly:

If the concurrence of GMO's and increase in autism is so, then where did the anti-vaccinantions crowd get their info and verve. From Monsanto maybe? We are being governed not by our votes, self and community interests but by the highest profit possibilities. If you think this improbable just look to the recent Nazi thalidomide for profit story. We have got to vote Democrat just to get bak to the center where moral ideas and good intentions reside.

democrat,republ ican,blah blah blah,it will never change,we are to far gone,we the people have to be out own hero's. period.

+3 # nursewithms 2012-09-15 11:04

So,someone tell me exactly what to eat? For real? I have mulitple sclerosis,17 million other autoimmunes,gre w up in Northwest Indiana,several steel mills,air was awful,all of the girls I grew up with,also have auto-immune diseases,and I know it's d/t where we grew up.I don't feel whomever becomes president will bring this to light,I quit looking for a hero or hero's to lead "WE THE PEOPLE"in the right direction years ago. I have to be my own hero. What do I eat?

+1 # Barbara K 2012-09-15 11:52

Nursewithms: I know how you feel. I am at a loss myself as to what to eat. Nothing with wheat in it, no grains, no dairy or meat products. So do I go out and just graze in the backyard? Oh, ya, I'm allergic to everything outside, even the grass. lol. I hope you are feeling okay and wish the best for you with your illness. I've known people with MS, it is no picnic.

0 # chizables 2012-09-16 17:06

nursewithms, Have your tried to cut out all dairy from your diet? My daughter had an auto-immune disease and cut out dairy and her symptoms disappeared in about 10 days. She was in her early stages though. It could take you longer. It would be worth a try for you. Have you ever heard of Dr. John McDougall. Here is his website: http://www.drmcdougall.com/ He has very convincing theories and evidence to back them up. You should check him out! Seriously.

+3 # Anarchist 23 2012-09-15 14:27

Humanity has been modifying crops for millennium-but by selective breeding without resort to what is going on here. Monsanto is certainly the best example we now have for pure evil; destroying everything everywhere for money. I have been fortunate in being able to grow my own lettuce and parsley, using 4 x 4 raised boxes, covered with hoop and shade cloth for heavy sun like now. I will shortly be experimenting with a winter hot box for spinach. We must change our relationship to the big systems that dominate our lives. You can sprout in your own kitchen, you can buy organic brown rice and cook up in job lots. We must organize locally and to the best of our ability we must not cooperate with what the 'Usual Suspects' try to impose on us, including ideology, hatred, scapegoating and all that is too much in evidence to distract the people while Evil, or the closest thing to it, destroys 99% of all things through greed etc...It really is 2012!

+4 # BlueReview 2012-09-15 17:58

We are being "kept in the dark" concerning GMOs because companies like Monsanto knew even back in the '60s that labeling GMOs was not in their best interests--thei r financial best interests!--bec ause people don't want their food genetically tinkered with. They'll spend billions of dollars lobbying Congress to block any law that would force them to label their food accurately, but spend a buck or two redesigning that label? OMG WE'RE GONNA GO BANKRUPT!--whic h is really hypocritical when you realize how often those packages get redesigned--aft er which the price of the product goes up . . . !

And the same Congresspeople who scoff at scientists warning about climate change, will take the word of a lobbyist masquerading as a scientist.

Are GMOs dangerous? Earth Open Source has an article on a report called “GMO Myths and Truths.” Here’s the link if you’re interested:

http://earthopensource.org/index.php/news/60-why-genetically-engineered-food-is-dangerous-new-report-by-genetic-engineers

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