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Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Former Pro-GMO Biotech Scientist Admits GMOs are NOT Safe (Re-Post from HealthMasters)

Let's start with a piece from Austin Broer, Ted Broer's son and co-host on the HealthMasters podcast, as well as the HealthMasters store.


Submitted by Austin Broer on Fri, 07/22/2016 - 17:26
Dr. Thierry Vrain  A former GMO biotechnologist who has come out with a lot of information that should open people’s eyes about the real dangers of genetically modified foods and crops.
Vrain will be the first to admit that Monsanto has conducted a lot of studies showing that GMOs are safe, but he changed his own tune about ten years ago when he started reading scientific journals from other countries.
Vrain explains:
“I started paying attention to the flow of published studies coming from Europe, some from prestigious labs and published in prestigious scientific journals, that questioned the impact and safety of engineered food.”
Vrain was so much a supporter of GMOs (as well as a former biotech scientist for Agriculture Canada) that he used to conduct tours and tell large groups of people all about the greatness of genetically altered crops – but not anymore. Here is what he thinks about his former industry now:
“I refute the claims of the biotechnology companies that their engineered crops yield more, that they require less pesticide applications, that they have no impact on the environment and of course that they are safe to eat.
There are a number of scientific studies that have been done for Monsanto by universities in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. Most of these studies are concerned with the field performance of the engineered crops, and of course they find GMOs safe for the environment and therefore safe to eat.”
Vrain thinks the public is being swindled. He believes we should all demand that government agencies replicate tests showing that GMOs are safe rather than rely on studies paid for by the biotech companies. He continues:
“The Bt corn and soya plants that are now everywhere in our environment are registered as insecticides. But are these insecticidal plants regulated and have their proteins been tested for safety? Not by the federal departments in charge of food safety, not in Canada and not in the U.S.
There are no long-term feeding studies performed in these countries to demonstrate the claims that engineered corn and soya are safe. All we have are scientific studies out of Europe and Russia, showing that rats fed engineered food die prematurely.
These studies show that proteins produced by engineered plants are different than what they should be. Inserting a gene in a genome using this technology can and does result in damaged proteins. The scientific literature is full of studies showing that engineered corn and soya contain toxic or allergenic proteins.”
This science is actually only about 40 years old. It is all based on a theory of genetic manipulation hypothesized around 70 years ago – of the ONE GENE – meaning that each gene codes for one single protein. The Human Genome project proved this totally wrong.
Most scientists now understand that any gene can give more than one protein and that inserting a gene anywhere in a plant eventually creates rogue proteins. Some of these proteins are obviously allergenic or toxic, like Cry proteins found in GMO corn. Otherwise known as Bt toxins (Bacillus thuringiensis), Cry proteins are one of biotech’s answers for ‘safe’ food.
That’s odd; one study found them absolutely toxic for mammalian blood. Dr. Mezzomo says that Cry toxins are deathly for mice. Another study linked them to a higher rate of leukemia. Yet another study conducted at Sherbrooke University Hospital in Quebec found corn’s Bt-toxin in the blood of pregnant women and their babies, as well as in non-pregnant women. These same toxins are also associated with higher levels of inflammation in the body, allergies, MS, and cancer.
Furthermore, what ridiculous egocentricity for biotech scientists to think they can crack the code of life when there are still acres and acres of rainforest that contain medicinal herbs that they have never even studied or recognized. Every square mile lost in these forests represents a possible cancer soution or super-food source.
Why the heck do we need GMOs? We haven’t even utilized the plethora of foods and herbs Mother Nature has already provided us with, if only we would steward them sustainably. There seems to be a new wonder-extract being discovered every few days, despite our pillaging.
Additionally, Vrain once answered honestly to this question in an interview:
“Q: It is astounding that people don’t question the very idea of altering DNA. When Monsanto or others claim a genetically modified organism is “substantially equivalent” to the conventional plant, it’s illogical to me because when DNA is altered, the plant is altered. It’s not the same and it’s certainly not natural.
A: That depends on your view of the world. As a scientist, when you add a bacteria gene to a plant, or a plant gene to a fish, or a human gene to corn, or 10,000 acres of corn growing insulin – they consider it progress. So if a tomato plant has a bacterial gene, it still looks very much like a tomato plant. You couldn’t tell very much from the taste of the tomato so there is something easy about believing in “substantial equivalence” . . . but Roundup (Monsanto’s herbicide) is a chelator; it holds manganese, magnesium and a few other minerals. It holds the minerals and doesn’t let go so basically it starves the plant. It probably also starves many other creatures in the soil.” 
New evidence shows that these same important minerals are chelated from humans that eat RoundUp GMOs.
Vrain has based his research on over 500 government reports and scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals, some of them with the highest recognition in the world.
Now tell me – how exactly are GMOs safe?
If a soil biologist and scientist of genetic engineering of 30 years revisits his stance on GMOs – shouldn’t those who are still clinging to biotech efficacy relent? We need as many GMO whistleblowers as we can get to come forward and shed light on the real truth about what is being done to our food.
Honestly, I'm spending an inordinate amount of time at MINDS, considering how much more I am able to spread the word about the things in this world that require attention. One thing I intend to do is to fact-check vitamin companies and ask as to why certain things are present in our vitamins. For example, why would Walgreens use sucralose in their version of Emergen-C product? Wouldn't that simply negate any positive aspects whatsoever?

There are Vitamin D products that use calcium carbonate, which for humans, is the equivalent of chowing down seashells from the beach. The human body cannot break it down, so you can't be possibly getting any benefit at all from the product. Check your labels.

Now, just because you may wish to ignore politics, doesn't mean that politics will ignore YOU.

James O'Keefe's explosive video:


Friday, October 7, 2016

Chip In To Put Monsanto On Trial!

From my buddies on Minds

Chip in to put Monsanto on trial! 

The hens are finally coming home to roost for Monsanto. A tribunal of activists and experts from across the world are coming together to hear charges of human rights violations, crimes against humanity and ecocide.

This time no amount of lobbying and behind-the-scenes settlements will silence the victims of Monsanto’s deplorable tactics.

The tribunal is an international civil society initiative, and will hear testimonies from victims, and deliver an advisory opinion following procedures of the International Court of Justice.

But we need your help to make sure that people from all over the world can attend and give evidence at the tribunal.

This October, the Monsanto Tribunal -- an international civil society initiative -- will hold Monsanto accountable for its crimes.

This trial couldn’t come at a worse time for Monsanto. The company just lost a vital battle for glyphosate in Europe. After a huge public outcry, the toxic weedkiller glyphosate was not renewed for another 15 years.

This tribunal will make Monsanto’s life so much harder in so many ways.

The brand damage resulting from this tribunal is going to put a spanner in the works for the planned merger with Bayer. Bayer and Monsanto are working overtime to present Monsanto as a reasonable company that is merely doing its bit to help feed the world.

But with your help, we can make sure the truth about Monsanto’s tactics will come out.
I wonder if Monsanto will be able to change their company name before the dung hits the fan.

Here's a story that must be read to be believed:

Margaret Holcomb said she was growing the plant as medicine, a way to ease arthritis and glaucoma and help her sleep at night. Tucked away in a raspberry patch and separated by a fence from any neighbors, the plant was nearly ready for harvest when a military-style helicopter and police descended on Sept. 21.
In a joint raid, the Massachusetts National Guard and State Police entered her yard and cut down the solitary plant in what her son, Tim Holcomb, said was a “pretty shocking” action — one that he argues constitutes unlawful surveillance and illegal search and seizure.
“It’s scary as hell,” said Tim Holcomb.
Those agencies also conducted raids in Wendell and Granby recently.
Heated exchanges at marijuana legalization forumHolcomb said he was at his mother’s home eating a late lunch with his sister when they heard whirring blades and looked up to see a military-style helicopter circling the property, with two men crouching in an open door and holding a device that he suspects was a thermal imager to detect marijuana plants.
Margaret Holcomb was not home at the time.
Within 10 minutes of the helicopter departing, several vehicles arrived at the home, including a pickup truck with a bed filled with marijuana plants seized at other locations, and several State Police troopers, including one who flashed his badge.
“He asked me if I knew there was a marijuana plant growing on the property. I didn’t answer the question. I asked, ‘What are you doing here?’” Holcomb recalled.
Holcomb said he was told that as long as he did not demand that a warrant be provided to enter the property or otherwise escalate the situation, authorities would file no criminal charges.
“’We just want the illegal contraband,’” Holcomb recalled the officer saying. Margaret Holcomb does not have a medical card authorizing her to grow or possess marijuana.
Margaret Holcomb said she is “not a huge social activist” but she is ready to stand up in this case, in which she feels like her civil rights were violated. If she’s unable to get medical marijuana by other means, she said, she may grow another plant.
“I’m prepared to take actions if I need to,” Margaret Holcomb said. “I don’t picture them out here and putting an 81-year-old woman in jail.”
State police spokesman David Procopio confirmed in an email that State Police and National Guard enforcement occurred in the Amherst and Northampton area Sept. 21. He said the plant at Margaret Holcomb’s home was one of 44 found on various properties outside and in plain view that day.
“At each location where property owners were home, troopers identified themselves and explained the purpose for the visit, why the plants were being grown illegally, and seized the plants,” Procopio said. None of the property owners was charged with a crime.
The seizures included an additional 21 plants in Amherst, with 16 on Montague Road and five on Potwine Lane; two plants on Cross Path Road in Northampton; and 20 in Hadley, with 10 plants on Honey Pot Road, eight on River Road and two on Pine Hill Road.
Seizures commonplace
“The exact same stuff happened last year,” said Cutler, who specializes in helping clients understand the state’s medical marijuana law and recently participated in drafting the language of the Nov. 8 ballot initiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
The latest enforcement push comes almost exactly a year after prominent medical marijuana proponent Ezra Parzybok was prosecuted after a Massachusetts National Guard helicopter observed plants growing in his backyard in Northampton. State police seized 67 marijuana plants, 20 one-gallon bags of marijuana, 59 jars of hash oil, three scales, a heat sealer, numerous ledgers and receipts and $1,640 in cash.
Parzybok was charged with possession of marijuana and hash oil with intent to distribute. Last November, he admitted to sufficient facts to support a guilty finding and was placed on 90 days probation, allowing him to emerge without a criminal record if he abided by the law during that period.
Cutler said it’s likely that authorities are using budgeted funds, prior to the end of the federal fiscal year Saturday, to gas up helicopters and do flyovers.
“We’re seeing the last throes of police hostility to the changing laws,” Cutler said. “They’re taking the position that if it’s in plain view, it’s somehow illegal.”
Another raid occurred on Sept. 13 in Wendell at the home of residents who have valid medical marijuana cards.
In that case, authorities seized marijuana plants from a couple because their plants were not secure and may have been visible from the street, both alleged violations of the law.
Law enforcement may itself be stretching the definition of “plain view,” Cutler said. And he wonders whether raiding backyards constitutes a wise use of public resources.
“Is this the way we want our taxpayer money spent, to hassle an 81-year-old and law-abiding patients?” Cutler said.
Procopio said that the Massachusetts National Guard Counter Drug Team — working under the Domestic Cannabis Eradication and Suppression Program and using a Department of Justice grant — looks for marijuana plants that are “outside of a locked, enclosed location that is fully inaccessible to any other person” each year during the summer growing season.
The recently seized plants were transported to a storage building at the Massachusetts State Police headquarters in Framingham, where all will be destroyed in controlled burns at an incineration site. None of the property owners are facing charges.
Police chief unaware
Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone said he was unaware that such enforcement actions were taking place in Amherst. Mary Carey, spokeswoman for the Northwestern District Attorney’s office, said the district attorney had no role in the operation.
Sylvia Smith, who lives near Holcomb, said she was unaware of the marijuana plant growing on the neighboring property or the raid. Margaret Holcomb said she has informed some neighbors about the presence of the marijuana plant.
Tim Holcomb said that he finds it troubling law enforcement is occurring without bringing charges. “If the state has a problem with people being discreet, the state has to use due process,” Holcomb said.
He is also left wondering if part of the motivation behind such raids is so that patients can’t self-medicate, protecting the lucrative market of medical marijuana. He hopes to have a community meeting to address the topic and promote legalization. The consequence of marijuana being illegal, and drug laws, has led to a growing prison population and racial profiling, he said.
Tim Holcomb said his mother will see what legal avenues she can pursue.
“She’s called a criminal lawyer and plans to grow one for next year,” Tim Holcomb said of planting another marijuana plant.
For now, though, Margaret Holcomb may have to turn to getting a medical marijuana card. She worries about the challenges in getting a doctor to sign off on her need, and the costs of obtaining medicine with the only dispensary in Hampshire County provided by New England Treatment Access at 118 Conz St. in Northampton.
Holcomb said she understands the risks of growing another marijuana plant. But at her age and with her medical problems, she says she may just decide to plant the seed.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com
 That's it for now...have a great weekend!