Good Reasons NOT to Label GMO Food

by Doug
(UK)

I guess there are a few toxic food concerned citizens around the world that are following the campaign to force GMO Food labelling in Washington State, USA.

The GMO Biotech companies (Monsanto, etc) have contributed around US$ 10 million (as of mid Sept 2013) to fight off this campaign and ensure that food DOES NOT have to be GMO labelled.

The pro GMO campaigns often advertise how GMO is good for the world, good for the farmer and ultimately, good for us. One cannot help to ask the question, if it is so good for us and the world, why would you not want to label the food products that GMO engineering has created?

It is common knowledge that US Government Foreign Policy actively promotes GMO technology through their Embassy's, Aid Programs, World Bank and IMF. The policy is so robust that Wikileaks released US diplomatic communication actually discusses punishing countries that do not adopt US GMO Food Engineering.

Yet, in the USA, the US Government does not label GMO Food products, in fact, they, and the GMO Biotech companies, rigorously fight it.

Why?

It seems mainstream consumers don't really know about GMO and its associated risks and the Biotech companies (and US Government) do not really want to raise any red flags that may attract unnecessary attention - an ignorant customer is a happy customer.

If they all had to know that a 2 year study led by Prof GE Seralini, in 2012, found that the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup and a GMO maize engineered to tolerate it, caused severe organ damage and increased rates of tumours and premature death in rat tests, these ignorant customers may start asking some very difficult questions.

The study found that Roundup was found to be toxic at HALF the level permitted in EU drinking water (which is 0.1 μg/l). Roundup is so toxic that as little as 85 ml has been recorded to cause human death.

In 2005, in the US Midwest, a study of streams was conducted to measure glyphosate levels at various seasonal times. The maximum concentration detected was 8.7 μg/l. (80 times higher then the EU minimum but still much lower than the USA minimum which is 700 μg/l (US EPA 2009)). The reason for the significant difference between EU and US - no idea.

Roundup is the worlds best selling herbicide. The European Union does not publish data of EU's glyphosate/Roundup usage but a 2007 EU survey of pesticide residue frequency found glyphosate to be in 9.54% of samples (EFSA 2009).

According to the UN FAO Codex Alimentarius system, cereals have the highest allowable MLR (Maximum Residue Levels) for human food and various fodders have the highest MLR for animals. By looking at the same Codex table, there is an obvious pattern that shows glyphosate is not limited according to safety data, but by agricultural practice.

This means that if glyphosate is used to clear a field before planting, MLR will be very low. If glyphosate is used during growing, MLR will be a little higher. If glyphosate is used when harvesting (grains, cereals, etc), MLR will be highest. This may also explain why there is such a big difference between US and EU drinking water contamination limits - by raising the limit, the Government effectively gets rid of the problem. (This is not an uncommon practice - it is used in medicine too)

In the EU, one can assume that most livestock is GMO/Biocide fed - exactly the same way as Seralini did his rat study. GMO/Biocide is not grown in the EU (GMO on its own, is grown) but the EU imports massive amounts of GMO/Biocide produced soy/maize from South America for livestock feed.

In Seralini's study, the rats did not do too well with the GMO/Biocide food and it is highly unlikely that Seralini and his crew took out the barbecue to sample the rats after the study ... yet, EU livestock that produce meat, milk and eggs, for human consumption, are fed the same way.

While the Scientists and Governments collude or try to figure out what the glyphosate limits should be and in the absence of fat and happy rats from Seralini's study, I would like my food to be labelled, at the very least. On a personal level, I don't trust anybody and I prefer to grow what I can and eat certified organic, for what I can't.

These are links to 2 interesting reports from Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth - they are both worth reading.

Glyphosate - Greenpeace
Glyphosate - Friends of the Earth Europe

Don't be ignorant - glyphosate will kill you or make you sick at the very least.

In June 2013, Friends of the Earth Europe released test results from volunteer urine samples across Europe.

The Highest Human Traces of Glyphosate in Europe are as follows :
(1) Malta
(2) Germany, Great Britain, Poland
(3) Netherlands

Glyphosate contamination in the entire living cycle is real and GMO Foods plus normal/conventional foods plus Government policy are directly responsible for its increasing use.

If you don't have time to get sick and you want to safely skip all this "GMO/Biocide" noise completely, Eat Organic!

You can view Seralini's full report here.