by Dr.
Paul Craig Roberts
February 26, 2013
from
GlobalResearch Website
In the United States everything is polluted.
Democracy is polluted with special interests and corrupt
politicians.
Accountability is polluted with executive branch exemptions from law
and the Constitution and with special legal privileges for
corporations, such as the Supreme Court given right to corporations
to purchase American elections.
The Constitution is polluted with corrupt legal interpretations from
the
Bush and
Obama regimes that have turned constitutional
prohibitions into executive branch rights, transforming law from a
shield of the people into a weapon in the hands of government.
Waters are polluted with toxic waste spills, oil spills, chemical
fertilizer run-off with resulting red tides and dead zones, acid
discharges from mining with resulting destructive algae such as
prymnesium parvum, from toxic chemicals used in fracking and with
methane that fracking releases into wells and aquifers, resulting in
warnings to homeowners near to fracking operations to open their
windows when showering.
The soil’s fertility is damaged, and crops require large quantities
of chemical fertilizers.
The soil is polluted with an endless array
of toxic substances and now with glyphosate, the main element in
Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide with which GMO crops are sprayed.
Glyphosate now shows up in wells, streams and in rain.
Air is polluted with a variety of substances, and there are many
large cities in which there are days when the young, the elderly,
and those suffering with asthma are warned to remain indoors.
All of these costs are costs imposed on society and ordinary people
by corporations that banked profits by not having to take the costs
into account. This is the way in which unregulated capitalism works.
Our food itself is polluted with antibiotics, growth hormones,
pesticides, and glyphosate.
Glyphosate might be the most dangerous development to date. Some
scientists believe that glyphosate has the potential to wipe out our
main grain crops and now that Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture,
Thomas Vilsack, has approved genetically modified Roundup Ready
alfalfa, maintaining sustainable animal herds for milk and meat
could become impossible.
Alfalfa is the main forage crop for dairy and beef herds.
Genetically modified alfalfa could be unsafe for animal feed, and
animal products such as milk and meat could become unsafe for human
consumption.
On January 17, 2011, Dr. Don Huber outlined the dangers of approving
Roundup Ready alfalfa in a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack. Huber requested that approval be delayed until independent
research could evaluate the risks. Vilsack ignored the letter and
accommodated Monsanto’s desire for monopoly profits that come from
the company’s drive to control the seed supply of US and world
agriculture by approving Roundup Ready alfalfa.
Who is Don Huber, and why is his letter important?
Huber is professor emeritus at Purdue University. He has been a
plant pathologist and soil microbiologist for a half century. He has
an international reputation as a leading authority. In the US
military, he evaluated natural and manmade biological threats, such
as germ warfare and disease outbreaks and retired with the rank of
Colonel. For the USDA he coordinates the Emergent Diseases and
Pathogens Committee.
In other words, he is high up in his scientific
profession.
You can read online what Huber told the Secretary of Agriculture.
Briefly, the outcome of many years of Roundup Ready GMO corn and
soybeans has been a decline in nutritional value, the outbreak of
new plant diseases resulting in widespread crop failures, and severe
reproductive problems in livestock, with some herds having a
spontaneous abortion rate that is too high to maintain a profitable
business.
Glyphosate is a powerful biocide. It harms beneficial soil
organisms, altering the natural balance in the soil and reducing the
disease resistance of crops, thus unleashing diseases that devastate
corn, soybean, and wheat crops, and giving rise to a new pathogen
associated with premature animal aging and infertility.
These
developments, Huber told the Agriculture Secretary,
“are threatening
the economic viability of both crop and animal producers.”
The
evidence seems to be real that genetically modified crops have lost
their genetic resistance to diseases that never previously were
threats.
There is evidence that the new pathogen is related to a rise in
human infertility and is likely having adverse effects on human
health of which we are still uninformed. Like fluoride, glyphosate
might enter our diet in a variety of ways.
For example, the label on
a bottle of Vitamin D says, “Other ingredients: soybean oil, corn
oil.”
Monsanto disputes Huber’s claims and got support for its position
from the agricultural extension services of Iowa State and Ohio
State universities. However, the question is whether these are
independently funded services or corporate supported, and there is
always the element of professional rivalry, especially for funding,
which comes mainly from agribusiness.
The Purdue University extension service was more circumspect.
On the
one hand it admits that there is evidence that supports Huber’s
claims:
“The claim that herbicides, such as glyphosate, can make
plants more susceptible to disease is not entirely without merit.
Research has indicated that plants sprayed with glyphosate or other
herbicides are more susceptible to many biological and physiological
disorders (Babiker et al., 2011; Descalzo et al., 1996; Johal and
Rahe, 1984; Larson et al., 2006; Means and Kremer, 2007; Sanogo et
al., 2000; Smiley et al., 1992)...
Although some research
indicates there is an increase in disease severity on plants in the
presence of glyphosate, it does NOT necessarily mean that there is
an impact on yield.”
On the other hand, the Purdue extension service maintains its
recommendation for,
“judicious glyphosate use for weed control.”
However, one of Huber’s points is that weeds are developing Roundup
resistance. Use has gone beyond the “judicious” level and as glyphosate builds up in soil, its adverse effects increase.
A submission to the Environmental Protection Agency by 26 university
entomologists describes the constraints that agribusiness has put on
the ability of independent scientists to conduct objective research.
The submission, in which the scientists are afraid to reveal their
names because of the threat of funding cutoffs, is included as an
item in one of the bibliographical references below.
Here is the
statement:
“The names of the scientists have been withheld from the public
docket because virtually all of us require cooperation from industry
at some level to conduct our research.
Statement:
Technology/stewardship agreements required for the purchase of
genetically modified seed explicitly prohibit research.
These
agreements inhibit public scientists from pursuing their mandated
role on behalf of the public good unless the research is approved by
industry.
As a result of restricted access, no truly independent
research can be legally conducted on many critical questions
regarding the technology, its performance, its management
implications, IRM, and its interactions with insect biology.
Consequently, data flowing to an EPA Scientific Advisory Panel from
the public sector is unduly limited.”
Monsanto is not only sufficiently powerful to prevent any research
other than that which it purchases with its funding, but also
Monsanto succeeded last year in blocking with money and propaganda
the GMO labeling law in California.
I would tell you to be careful
what you eat as it can make you ill and infertile, but you can’t
even find out what you are eating.
You live in America, which has “freedom and democracy” and
“accountable” government and ”accountable” corporations. You don’t
need to worry. The government and responsible corporations are
taking good care of you.
Especially Obama, Vilsack, and
Monsanto...
Video
Short
bibliography
http://fhr.branditimage.com/hot-topic-letter-to-us-secretary-of-agriculture/
http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/blog/2011/apr/6/don-hubers-cover-letter-euuk-commissions/
http://www.greenpasture.org/utility/showArticle/?objectID=7169
http://ourecovillage.org/2011/04/11/dr-hubers-cover-letter-to-secretary-vilsack/
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14164-glyphosate-and-gmos-impact-on-crops-soils-animals-and-man-dr-don-huber
http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/may10/consequenceso_widespread_glyphosate_use.php
http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/huber-pathogen-roundup-ready-crops.aspx
http://southeastfarmpress.com/resistant-pigweed-plagues-central-georgia-cotton
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/time-for-usda-to-wake-up-to-weed-resistance-and-ban-agent-orange-corn-once-and-for-all/
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