Holy Cow

About the Small Dairy in Thailand:

“Another dairy farm also in Northeast Thailand run by two sisters achieved high levels of production. Two out of five cows were producing over thirty liters of milk each day. The cows were very well fed and the milking routine was distinctive. The cows stood in the yard and came up to be milked when they were called up by name. As each cow came into the milking stall, it was fed and then washed all over, the udder being washed last. Then, one sister sat on each side of the cow and milked together while chatting constantly. The procedure would be repeated for the next cow and so on until all five cows were milked. In this way, each cow was milked very quickly and there was no chance of the `let down’ being over before the milk was all removed. This particular milking routine really suited the cows and they responded by giving excellent yields.”

Source: Gilmour, D. “Chapter 16: Milking,” Smallholder Dairying in the Tropics, eds. Falvey L. and C. Chantalakhana, Nairobi, Kenya, ILRI, 2012, http://www.ilri.org/InfoServ/Webpub/fulldocs/SmHDairy/chap16.html

About the Hamsters on GMO Soy:

Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov and his team fed three generations of hamsters varying diets (one without soy, one with non-GMO soy, one with GMO soy and the final with higher amounts of GMO soy). By the third generation, the pups from the fourth group suffered a high mortality rate and most of the adults were infertile or sterile.

But then, an even bigger problem became apparent, because nearly all of the third generation hamsters lost the ability to have babies altogether.

Only a single third-generation female hamster gave birth to sixteen pups and of those, one-fifth had died.

In short, nearly the entire third generation of GMO soy eaters were sterile!

But it doesn’t end there.

In the GMO soy-fed groups, they also found an unusually high prevalence of an otherwise extremely rare phenomenon—hair growing inside the animals’ mouths.

Sources:

Lisa Garber, “GMO Soy Repeatedly Linked to Sterility, Infant Mortality, Birth Defects,” Nation of Change, January 12, 2013, http://www.nationofchange.org/gmo-soy-repeatedly-linked-sterility-infant-mortality-birth-defects-1358006915(Accessed on October 30, 2013).

Dr. Joseph Mercola, “Warning: This Common Food Causes Devastating Offspring Defects in New Research Study,” Mercola.com, May 22, 2010, http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/22/jeffrey-smith-interview-april-24.aspx (Accessed on October 30, 2013).

About Cows Giving Birth to Empty Water Bags:

Farmers report pigs and cows became sterile from GMO corn

1. More than twenty farmers in North America report that pigs fed GM corn varieties had low conception rates, false pregnancies or gave birth to bags of water.
2. Both male and female pigs became sterile.
3. Some farmers also report sterility among cows.

Source: “65 Health Risks of GM Foods,” Institute for Responsible Technology, http://www.responsibletechnology.org/gmo-dangers/65-health-risks/1notes (Accessed on October 30, 2013).

About East Indian Cotton Farmers:

“Fashion to Die For?” The Cotton Story (Blog) http://www.thecottonstory.com/ (Accessed October 30, 2013).

One post out of a discussion between East Indians on the GMO Cotton problem:

“ . . . But globalization has literally changed even that optimism of reaching incarnation in India and farmers are committing suicide–20,000 farmers–735 suicides in one state in the last month alone. And all of this has happened after the big companies came into the seed sector in India–started to sell costly seed and started to sell expensive chemicals linked to the seed and started to sell them with very aggressive advertising.

People always say, ‘But why do the farmers buy it?’ Because Monsanto doesn’t come selling seed as Monsanto. Monsanto comes firstly, selling seed through Indian companies they have bought up but even more importantly, they hire all our gods and divinities. So in Punjab, they have Guru Nanak posters, who is the founder of the Sikh religion with Round Up and their seeds and when the farmer suicides started in Andhra Pradesh; I wish I had a camera, I never took a camera, but there was a wall—with you know, our lord Hanuman the monkey god and he had carried a whole mountain to save Lakshmana in the (hamaran). Well, Monsanto seeds are this life-saving miracle. And you can imagine peasants who have some association with the mythology if the advertising of the companies comes through that mythology, you are not suddenly going to have a mind switch in the peasantry and say stop believing in your mythology. You are going to still believe this is the Hanumanji bringing you the ultimate deliverance from poverty.

And then they bring lovely videos, they show American farmers with big combines and rich tractors and say, you will be like that. The farmers get trapped within the season. Every year I do a public hearing and the last public hearing I did was in February and we called, I think, about 200 families where people had committed suicide. In every family, it was the women who were left behind. Because you know, the men go into the town to play a game of cards, drink a bit of Indian liquor, have a smoke. And that’s when they’re trapped by the agents of the companies. Usually the family doesn’t even know that this seed is ten times more costly, that this chemical is a poison. They have no idea and eventually when the men can’t pay back the debt, they drink the same poisons to end their lives.”

Source: Bharat Rakshak - Consortium of Indian Defence Websites, http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5271&hilit=GMO (Accessed October 30, 2013).

About Mexico Banning GMO Corn:

Recently, Mexico banned genetically engineered corn. Citing the risk of imminent harm to the environment, a Mexican judge ruled that, effective immediately, no genetically engineered corn can be planted in the country. This means that companies like Monsanto will no longer be allowed to sell seed to growers within the country’s borders.

Source: Ocean Robbins, “Huge GMO News,” The Huffington Post, October 19, 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ocean-robbins/huge-gmo-news_b_4129311.html (Accessed October 30, 2013).

About GM Toxins Found in Unborn Babies:

Recent research has revealed that toxins created by GM food crops to kill pests are reaching the bloodstreams of women and unborn babies.

A landmark study found ninety-three per cent of blood samples taken from pregnant women and eighty per cent from umbilical cords tested positive for traces of the chemicals.

Source: Sean Poulter, “GM Toxins Found in the Blood of 93% of Unborn Babies,” MailOnline, May 20, 2011, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1388888/GM-food-toxins-blood-93-unbornbabies.html#ixzz2bmkrqweF (Accessed on October 30, 2013).

About Rice:

Rice and Wheat, and many other main staples are being grown in GM test fields and are in various stages of pending approval.

Since about 2006, Ventria has been quietly cultivating rice that has been genetically modified (GM) with genes from the human liver for the purpose of taking the artificial proteins produced by this Frankenrice and using them in pharmaceuticals. With approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Ventria has taken one of the most widely cultivated grain crops in the world today and essentially turned it into a catalyst for producing new drugs . . .

. . . So Ventria’s GM rice eventually ended up in Kansas, where it is presumably still being grown for the purpose of manufacturing drugs on 3,200 acres in Junction City. And while this GM rice with added human traits has never been approved for human consumption, it is now being cultivated in open fields where the potential for unrestrained contamination and spread of its unwanted, dangerous GM traits is virtually a given.

Source: Ethan Huff, “Human Genes Engineered into Experimental GMO Rice Being Grown in Kansas,” NaturalNews.com, May 2, 2012, http:www.naturalnews.com035745_GMO_rice_human_genes_Kansas.html (Accessed October 30, 2013).

A group of activist farmers in the Philippines stormed a government research facility and destroyed an area of genetically modified rice crops the size of ten football fields . . . The farmers attacked the fields at the research facility in Pili, Camarines Sur out of concern that their own crops could be pollinated and thereby contaminated by the GMO plants, possibly resulting in a boycott of their products like U.S. farmers of soft white wheat saw when a strain of Monsanto herbicide-resistant wheat abruptly appeared in an Oregon field. South Korea and Japan both halted imports of U.S. wheat in the wake of the discovery.

Source: David Ferguson, “Filipino Farmers Destroy Genetically Modified ‘Golden Rice’ Crops,” The Raw Story, August 10, 2013, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/10/filipino-farmers-destroy-genetically-modified-golden-rice-crops/ (Accessed October 30, 2013).

Non-GMO Shopper’s Guide (as of 2013)

Unless labeled 100% Organic or Non-GMO, the food you are buying could contain GMO. If the label just says organic the product can have up to thirty percent non-organic or GMO ingredients. It must read specifically 100% Organic or Non-GMO in order to be completely pure of tampering.

Even then, I’d still say growing it yourself is the only sure way to be GMO free.

Many fruit and vegetables are marked with a sticker and a four or five digit number indicating the variety (i.e.: 4321). If the sticker uses a four digit number it is possible that it is GM. If the number is five digits and begins with an eight (8) then it is GM, if it is five digits and begins with a nine (9) then it is organic, and has natural genetics. Not sure what this says about GM containing pesticides or fertilizers.

Top Genetically Modified Foods that affect the US as of 2013:

This list is derived from the author’s research of many sites and articles online. The items are not necessarily in order of most dangerous since not everyone has the same dietary staples. Also, not all of any single item is 100% GMO in the USA. For instance, over ninety percent of corn is genetically modified and ninety-five percent of sugar beets (refined white sugar). I have listed the percentages I could find for 2013.

1. Corn and corn byproducts (90% at least)

1. Soy and soy byproducts (94%)

1. Sugar and Sugar Beets (95%) (sugar labeled “Cane Sugar” is not GMO)

1. Cotton (90%)

1. Alfalfa Hay (potentially the most dangerous of all GMO crops, recently approved as an unregulated US crop)

1. Papaya (grown in Hawaii)

1. Squash

The following usually contain one or more of corn, soy, and/or sugar:

1. Farm animal feeds and grains
2. Breads and crackers
3. Cereals
4. Pre-made meals
5. Baby food
6. Sweets—candies, cookies, drinks, etc . . . (beet sugar)

The following items are listed because the animals are fed GMO grains, which contaminate the meat, eggs and milk. Additionally, 80% of US commercial beef and dairy are injected with a GM soy-based hormone to increase growth and production:

1. All dairy
2. Beef
3. Chicken
4. Pork
5. Farmed fish
6. Eggs

Finally, this may seem over the top, but in the case of Hawaii I assume that anything that was produced in the state of Hawaii is GM contaminated. The same could probably be said of Nebraska, Kansas, North Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. However, these states do not have a strong “Product of [our state]” or “Grown in [our state]” branding initiative like Hawaii does. Neither do they produce the variety of food types that Hawaii does. A huge step in the right direction, however, is the recently passed bill on the “big island” Hawaii (the island, as opposed to the archipelago that makes up the state) banning open-air research and any agricultural use of GMO’s.

On the other hand, when I find a product that is from Vermont, I am tempted to buy it without a second thought. I don’t, of course, but I am tempted. Non-GMO kudos, Vermont!