Kenyans Demand a Stop to GMO Food Imports
GMOs, Health & Disease, Village Development — by African Biodiversity Network July 7, 2011
A press release from the African Biodiversity Network
We demand the recognition of organic agriculture and other agro-ecological farming practices in Kenya’s agriculture policies and practices.
The developers of GMOs have exerted great pressure to ensure that our recently enacted Biosafety Act of 2009 serves the interests of foreign agribusiness, rather than farmers and consumers. The introduction of patented seeds and related chemicals into our farming systems threatens our agricultural practices, our livelihoods, the environment, and undermines our seed sovereignty. We believe that we can feed our communities and this country with organic and agroecological farming practices that do not destroy, pollute and contaminate food, land and seeds. Our ability to feed Africa through agro-ecological practices is recognised and supported by UN reports [see also], the IAASTD report and many research findings. We call upon the government to support small scale farmers in having access to water and capacity building in agro-ecology and for this to be enshrined in our Kenyan policies.
Rising Temperatures Melting Away Global Food Security
Consumerism, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Health & Disease, Society — by Earth Policy Institute July 6, 2011
by Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute
Heat waves clearly can destroy crop harvests. The world saw high heat decimate Russian wheat in 2010. Crop ecologists have found that each 1-degree-Celsius rise in temperature above the optimum can reduce grain harvests by 10 percent. But the indirect effects of higher temperatures on our food supply are no less serious.
Self-Sufficiency and Survival Foods… Are You Prepared?
Consumerism, Courses/Workshops, DVDs/Books, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Health & Disease, Medicinal Plants, Society, peak oil — by Isabell Shipard
Planting a garden with food potential is one of the most valuable things we can do. Will we always have a free country with unlimited food supply? Could a major calamity or drought affect the supply and the price of food? Could rolling strikes disrupt electricity, water, telephone, transport and other amenities to shops and our homes… and how would no petrol affect every household? We need to encourage one another to be as self sufficient as possible… now… in our gardens, as this is the most nutritious fresh food… and is the cheapest way to live in these times of rising prices. Growing our own food is very satisfying as well as beneficial to our health and well-being.
Australia has truly been a ‘lucky country’ — plentiful food, running water in our homes, sewerage systems which take away our wastes, comfort and luxuries in our homes. We truly are blessed. However, it may not always be this way in the future. Would families be prepared if a catastrophic disaster struck?
Comments (6)What the Frack is Going On?
Economics, Energy Systems, Health & Disease, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton & Loss, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor July 2, 2011
Hungry for energy? Worried that oil is running dry and coal is getting squeezed out? Well, don’t panic — now we have gas on the menu (literally…)! It doesn’t matter where it is, or how hard it is to reach. We will just drill, baby, drill!
Hydraulic fracturing (otherwise known as ‘fracking’) is now all the rage — more, it’s the new frontier — and for good reason. It’s the hippest new way to get the energy we need to fuel our modern lifestyles. Yes, it may give you exploding drinking water and make your livestock radioactive, but imagine the fun you’ll have hosting parties — people will marvel at your flame-throwing kitchen entertainment before retiring to the porch with a cigar and whiskey to watch your glow-in-the-dark cows light up the evening like Chinese lanterns.
Comments (7)Greenpeace Takes on Monsanto Over ‘Pesticides Arms Race’
GMOs, Health & Disease, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by GM Watch July 1, 2011
Editor’s Note: In addition to the post below, check out this, this and this. It seems that Monsanto, and even industry regulators, have known for decades that glyphosate (the main ingredient of Roundup) causes birth defects, even in very low doses "comparable to levels of pesticide residues found in food and the environment". The philosophy of ‘caveat emptor’ doesn’t work well in this situation, where industry are outright lying to us, and when regulators, the supposed guards at the door, are not taking their job seriously. Banning Roundup everywhere would not only help protect our health from glyphosate, it could also be the death knell for Monsanto. It sounds like a plan to me.
Glyphosate has been linked with escalating rates of birth defects and other
health impacts in Argentina. Photo: Dr Graciela Gomez
The main ingredient of Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer is being linked to cancer, birth defects and Parkinson’s disease and should be banned, according to campaigners behind new report.
The use of the popular weedkiller, ‘Roundup’, in public parks and on agricultural crops is a danger to public health, according to a new analysis of scientific evidence.
Comments (1)My Beloved Weeds
Conservation, Consumerism, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Food Shortages, Health & Disease, Irrigation, Medicinal Plants, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation — by Mari Korhonen June 29, 2011
I’ve been exploring the world of edible weeds, and so found a new layer of bounty in the garden!
Edible weeds from left to right: Fireweed shoots, young galeopsis,
lamb’s quarter, chickweed, thistle shoots peeled, and corn spurry.
Things in the garden even way up here in Finland are well on their way now, including many plants that most gardeners would condemn as weeds, or things to get rid of. For me a bed full of weeds has become a salad bar, and weeding has gotten a fresh new perspective to it!
Comments (2)Why Societies Fail and a Lesson from the Game of Monopoly
Biodiversity, Consumerism, Deforestation, Economics, Food Shortages, GMOs, Global Warming/Climate Change, Health & Disease, Nuclear, Population, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton & Loss, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor June 10, 2011
They say if we don’t study history, we’re destined to repeat it. Many of you will be familiar with Jared Diamond and his work. Author of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Mr. Diamond has put a lot of energy into studying various cultures that have come, and, significantly, gone again. Amongst these is the example of Easter Island, where it appears that despite the islanders’ major resources being clearly in decline, they continued to use these resources for their own particular, peculiar economy — that being to make their giant Moai idols. Not only that, but, over time, as the resources needed to create them dwindled, the Moai statues only got larger. Their economy not only had to continue, but it had to grow — regardless of their context, and despite what should have been obvious consequences.
Some dispute the exact nature of the collapse of Easter Island, but what we do know is that pollen samples taken from the island show that it was once covered in forest, yet by the time Europeans arrived the island was treeless. There are no pollen traces dated beyond around 1650, around the same time the statues ceased being made. Surviving clans after this time, no longer able to create more competing statues, instead took to pushing over those of rival clans — until by 1868 all the Moai had been toppled, and many beheaded.
Comments (12)Hidden Dangers in Tornado Debris
Building, Health & Disease — by Barbara OBrien June 4, 2011
The monster tornadoes that recently tore through the South Midwest did more than destroy property. As they shredded homes and other buildings they also released deadly environmental hazards. The most common of these are lead paint and asbestos.
Asbestos is a mineral that easily breaks into small fibers that can linger in the air. When breathed, asbestos fibers can settle in the lungs and do a lot of damage, including cause the deadly lung cancer mesothelioma. And any ingestion of lead can cause lead poisoning.
Comments (0)Dangerous Toxins From Genetically Modified Plants Found in Women and Fetuses
Consumerism, GMOs, Health & Disease — by Jeffrey M. Smith May 31, 2011
When U.S. regulators approved Monsanto’s genetically modified “Bt” corn, they knew it would add a deadly poison into our food supply. That’s what it was designed to do. The corn’s DNA is equipped with a gene from soil bacteria called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) that produces the Bt-toxin. It’s a pesticide; it breaks open the stomach of certain insects and kills them.
But Monsanto and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) swore up and down that it was only insects that would be hurt. The Bt-toxin, they claimed, would be completely destroyed in the human digestive system and not have any impact on all of us trusting corn-eating consumers.
Oops. A study just proved them wrong.
Comments (4)Bacteria – an Endangered Species!
Fermenting, Health & Disease, Processing & Food Preservation, Recipes — by Elisabeth Fekonia May 30, 2011
3 types of lactic ferment
The world is full of bacteria but there are certain bacteria that are fast becoming an endangered species. The bacteria that live in the gut of homo sapiens, particularly those of Caucasian origin, are fast disappearing. These particular bacteria comprise of the good bowel flora that is needed to create vitamins, break down undigested food particles and generally be a dominating presence within the nether regions. The importance of these bacteria cannot be overestimated as more and more victims can attest to the symptoms that a lack of these organisms will create.
Comments (12)Cancer Now Leading Cause of Death in China
Consumerism, Economics, Health & Disease, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Earth Policy Institute May 27, 2011
Editor’s Note: Turn many of our products upside down today, and you’ll find the words ‘Made in China’. China is today called the ‘factory of the world’. We are outsourcing our pollution to this country on a massive scale, and it doesn’t happen without consequence. To give you an idea of the seriousness, non-smoking women in one region of Yunnan Province die from lung cancer at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world. In other places "there has been an explosion of lead poisoning cases close to smelting plants. Studies have shown that communities that recycle electronic waste are exposed to cadmium, mercury and brominated flame retardants. Elsewhere, there have been protests against chemical factories that are blamed for carcinogens that enter water supplies and the food chain." In Liukuaizhuang, Tianjin province, one in fifty people have been diagnosed with cancer over the past ten years. This has given rise to the term ‘cancer villages‘. But, it gets worse… We’re now having to take this name and raise the threat level to ‘villages of death’ – as in the case of the village of Shangba, where approximately 80% of residents have been taken by cancer. The solution is to vastly reaccess what kind of world we want to live in, but the Chinese, keen to remain the world’s economic powerhouse, are instead arguing the pros and cons of assisted suicide for the many suffering instead. This is truly the Industrial Revolution Like No Other.
by Janet Larsen, Earth Policy Institute
Cancer is now the leading cause of death in China. Chinese Ministry of Health data implicate cancer in close to a quarter of all deaths countrywide. As is common with many countries as they industrialize, the usual plagues of poverty—infectious diseases and high infant mortality—have given way to diseases more often associated with affluence, such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
While this might be expected in China’s richer cities, where bicycles are fast being traded in for cars and meat consumption is climbing, it also holds true in rural areas. In fact, reports from the countryside reveal a dangerous epidemic of “cancer villages” linked to pollution from some of the very industries propelling China’s explosive economy. By pursuing economic growth above all else, China is sacrificing the health of its people, ultimately risking future prosperity.
Comments (0)Unnatural Selection
Biodiversity, GMOs, Health & Disease — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 25, 2011
This explosive exposé reveals what the biotech industry doesn’t want you to know – how industry manipulation and political collusion, not sound science, allow dangerous genetically engineered food into your daily diet. Company research is rigged, alarming evidence of health dangers is covered up, and intense political pressure applied. Chapters read like adventure stories and are hard to put down: * Scientists were offered bribes or threatened. Evidence was stolen. Data was omitted or distorted. * Government employees who complained were harassed, stripped of responsibilities, or fired. * Laboratory rats fed a GM crop developed stomach lesions and seven of the forty died within two weeks. The crop was approved without further tests. * The only independent in-depth feeding study ever conducted showed evidence of alarming health dangers. When the scientist tried to alert the public, he lost his job and was silenced with threats of a lawsuit. Read the actual internal memos by FDA scientists, warning of toxins, allergies, and new diseases – all ignored by their superiors, including a former attorney for Monsanto. Learn why the FDA withheld information from Congress after a genetically modified supplement killed nearly a hundred people and disabled thousands. — GoogleVideo
Comments (3)
Is Monsanto Poisoning Babies? A New Report Begs the Question…
Consumerism, GMOs, Health & Disease — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 20, 2011
Is Monsanto poisoning babies? You could be forgiven for thinking so given this month’s report from the University of Sherbrooke, Canada.
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a naturally occurring soil bacteria. These bacteria produce proteins which are inherently insecticidal. Because of this, ‘brilliant’ reductionist scientists eager to justify their employment — by creating new, patentable products in their employer’s biotech labs — thought it’d be a great idea to introduce them into the genes of various plant species, like corn, cotton and potatoes, and in doing so effectively making every cell of the plant toxic to insects.
Online Non-GMO Speaker Training (Webinar) with Jeffrey Smith begins in June
Consumerism, Courses/Workshops, GMOs, Health & Disease — by Jeffrey M. Smith May 6, 2011
Dear Friends,
We invite to join us for our next Online Non-GMO Speaker Training Webinar with Jeffrey Smith.
When: June 14, 21, 28, & July 12th
Time: 8:00pm-10:00pm EST
Cost: $80 Individual / $140 Couple Early Discount Before May 20th $70/$120
Partial scholarships are available — please contact scholarships (at) responsibletechnology.org
Speaker Training Course Description:
Join international bestselling author and filmmaker Jeffrey M. Smith to learn how to speak about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and to organize effective activism on the issue. Whether you want to give complete presentations or simply add a GMO section to your current lecture, whether you’re planning to discuss GMOs in a professional setting with clients or just with friends in a casual way, or whether you want to be a leading anti-GMO campaigner or simply want to help out where you can, don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn from the leading spokesperson on GMO health dangers.
You will learn:
Comments (2)Fukushima Nuclear Crisis – Chronicle of a Disaster Foretold
Consumerism, Energy Systems, Health & Disease, Nuclear, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton & Loss, peak oil — by I-SIS April 14, 2011
Fukushima is just one among many similar disasters waiting to happen worldwide; governments and regulators have systematically downplayed the risks and hidden the real costs of nuclear power; there is no place for nuclear in a truly green energy portfolio; furthermore, there is a lot we can do to put the nuclear genie back into the bottle.
A fully referenced and illustrated version of this report is posted on ISIS members website and is available for download here.
Nuclear crisis following earthquake & tsunami
On Friday 11 March 2011, Japan was hit by a magnitude 9 earthquake followed by a gigantic tsunami. The official toll by 6 April was 12 468 dead, and more than 15 000 missing [1], hundreds of thousands lost their homes, millions are still either without electricity or affected by shortages of electricity [2]; and most worrying of all, a nuclear disaster with no end in sight. The earthquake and tsunami were unstoppable, but was the nuclear disaster waiting to happen, and could it have been avoided?
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