End of Organic? Report Says GMO Crop Contamination Cannot Be Stopped
contamination
With each passing year, an increasing number of states are attempting to adopt GMO labeling laws amid the federal government’s resistance to allow you to know what’s in your food. With each victory, or even loss, we get stronger — and closer to making GMO labeling a reality. The sad reality, however, is that many experts say GMO labeling will not suffice in the overall fight against biotech due to the fact that GMO crops can easily contaminate nearby farms.
A new report finds that the GMO contamination issue is much more serious than previously thought, and the concerned experts couldn’t be more correct.
There have been numerous real-life cases of GMO contamination thus far, though most aren’t well known. One key example rests with Australian farmer Steve Marsh, an organic farmer who sued a neighboring farmer for compensation after his field of non-GMO wheat was contaminated by Michael Baxter’s RoundUp Ready canola seeds. He took his case to the Supreme Court of Western Australia and lost.
Another example of GMO contamination can be seen with an unapproved strain of genetically modified wheat discovered in Oregon. The Roundup Ready strain was nixed in 2005 when global resistance to Monsanto forced the company to stop working on it. It was never approved for use, let along growing and exporting.
The claim by the biotech industry that GMO crops can be contained and kept away from organic farmers who have chosen not to use genetically modified ‘suicide’ seeds has steadily been proven false. A third of organic growers are now reporting problems with cross contamination, according to one survey. More than 80% of farmers who participated in the survey are ‘concerned’ about the impact of genetic seeds. About 60% are ‘very concerned.’
One organic farmer, Oren Holle, blames the USDA’s loving relationship with Monsanto:
“…the USDA has been extremely lax and, in our opinion, that’s due to the excessive influence of the biotech industry in political circles.”
The newly released report outlining the prevalence of GMO contamination, which can be found in the International Journal of Food Contamination, reports that by the end of 2013 and since 1997, 396 incidents of GMO cross-contamination across 63 countries had been recorded. Many of which had involved GM rice.
The Paper Makes the Following Main Points:
- 1. GMO contamination is unavoidable and will happen no matter what through nature.
- 2. Contamination will even occur via field trials or illegal plantings. The report references 9 cases of contamination of unauthorized GMO crops which have bypassed environmental and food safety testing.
- 3. Genetically modified rice made up about 33% of the contamination cases by crop. This is despite the fact that as of December 2012, GM rice hasn’t even become widely available for production or consumption. There is a global absence of any commercial cultivation of GM rice. The authors suggest this figure might be related to the routine testing of imports of GM rice at national borders.
- 4. It is difficult to contain and halt contamination after it has already happened.
- 5. “From these data, it’s not clear what the main factors affecting contamination rates are. It’s not only the GM contamination itself (cross-pollination, mix-ups etc.) that contributes to the number of cases, but also the the testing regime (both routine and targeted). The highest rates of contamination are in imported foodstuffs to Germany but this is probably because they do a lot of testing. All EU countries have high rates because they report their findings of the RASFF database. The data for contamination exists – but not the factors to analyse what influences contamination.”
- 6. The researchers conclude that for most experimental GMOs, there is no protocol for testing, which makes detection for contamination extremely difficult.
The report concluded:
“The detection of GMO contamination is dependent on both routine and targeted monitoring regimes, which appears to be inconsistent from country to country, even within the EU. The lack of an analytical methodology for the detection of GM crops at the field trial stage (i.e. pre-commercialisation) can hamper efforts to detect any contamination arising from such GM lines.”
Additional Sources:
 | Mike is the co-founder, editor, and researcher behind Natural Society. Studying the work of top natural health activists, and writing special reports for top 10 alternative health websites, Mike has written hundreds of articles and pages on how to obtain optimum wellness through natural health. |
Monstanto, and all it’s top executives should be tried for crimes against humanity. If nothing else destroys this planet it will be evil corporations such as Monsanto & their GMO BS!
BAN GMO! Burn GMO fields! Uproot GMO crops! Boycott Monsanto products! Don’t waste time with labeling! BAN, BURN, UPROOT, BOYCOTT! There is no way to play nice with environmental criminals.
Amen!
I agree 100%!! I just sent the following email to my state senators. I suggest everyone reading this contact their state senators and voice your opinion!
As an American, I want to know what is in the food I am buying and feeding my family, which is why I support mandatory GMO labeling with a clear label – not a computer code.
The so-called “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act” aka the DARK Act, is the complete opposite of what the name implies. The name “safe and accurate” implies that labeling would be clear, inclusive of every ingredient, and fully informative for the consumer. Such is not the case.
It is mind-boggling that we have gone so far down the slippery slope of liberalism that American citizens have been sold out to big food companies and are not even allowed to know what is in our food!! It is astounding that, not only do many believe that the federal government should have control over our health care, but that we should not be allowed to safeguard our most valuable possession, our health, by determining what should be in our diets!
If there is no harm in foods containing GMOs, then let food companies label their products **accurately**, clearly stating the GMO ingredients contained. What could they possibly have to fear? Let the consumer decide for himself, and the free market system will determine the out-come.
More serious is the crop contamination resulting from Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” crops cross-pollinating with organic crops. There are people who claim this is a myth, but they are completely wrong based on the natural order of things which every farmer and every gardener knows to be fact. Bees pollinate. You cannot control where bees pollinate. If Monsanto’s pollution and destruction of our food supply is not stopped, eventually, there will be nothing left but “Roundup Ready.” It has already been proven that foods grown with “Roundup Ready” seed are highly detrimental to our health, destroying the good bacteria in the most important part of our immune systems, the gut. This results in all kinds of toxicity and disease, including Alzheimer’s, autism, cancer, respiratory illness, and many more.
https://naturalsociety.com/gmo-crop-contamination-cannot-be-stopped/
Eventually, when it is proven beyond the ability of our Monsanto-bought-and-paid-for politicians to deny that GMO-containing foods are indeed harmful to our health, it may be impossible to obtain non-GMO seeds.
Some 88% of Americans support the clear labeling of our food. Do you have a right to know what is in your food? Of course you do. Then why don’t all Americans have that same right? If you vote for the falsely-name “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act,” it is clear that you are against freedom and liberty of the American people. That is nothing less than tyranny. You are listening to Monsanto’s “experts” instead of the people you have been elected to represent.
The DARK Act keeps consumers in the dark. I urge you to do everything in your power to stop the DARK Act and instead support the consumer’s right to know what’s in our food. In addition, I would be greatly in favor of a bill that would stop Monsanto completely from producing “Roundup Ready” seed and ban any further experimentation with our food supply. It is irresponsible. Unfortunately, the rich and powerful are allowed to get away with anything, including murder.
Honestly, I mean no disrespect. It is simply past time for the people to take a stand and for our leaders to actually work for the people rather than the rich and powerful. “It’s all about the money” should not be our new national motto.
Solution. Construct hermetically sealed biodomes.
How does one do that? And how much does it cost? Who do you suggest should do that, Monsanto, or the little farmers who are trying to protect their crop? Someone suggested establishing our own bee hives. Good idea, but it won’t stop the problem, just slow it.