Commentary by Cathy Geibel TLB writer/reporter
This battle is never ending it seems. All we want, as consumers, is to know what is in our food and how and where it comes from. Is that really too much to ask?
I became curious about these Senators who are sponsoring this bill. First let’s look at Senator Pat Roberts from Kansas. What attracts my attention in his bio is that he not only heads the Senate Agriculture Committee but is a proponent of bioscience. I interpret that to mean pro GMO and therefore I have to ask how much influence does he get from biotech companies such as Monsanto. In my opinion this, albeit circumstantial evidence, puts him in league with these companies and makes me suspect he gets lobbying monies from them. Is he truly representing the people or Monsanto et al?
And now let’s look at Senator Debbie Stabenow from Michigan. She is a “ranking member” of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Her bio describes her as being a proponent of conservation and a “Protector of our Great Lakes”. Really Ms. Stabenow? How can you be described as a protector of these lakes while sponsoring a bill that would put them at greater risk? I reference the article I shared yesterday “Glyphosate Sprayed on GMO Crops Linked to Lake Erie’s Toxic Algae Bloom” . You see, you are being hypocritical, we recognize that, so should you.
Please take the time to write, email, call your Senators and tell them you demand that any legislation that would compromise GMO or any other food labeling be halted. If you do not know who your representative is click on this link for the List of US Senators. We cannot waste time. We must be loud and be that squeaky wheel. Keep passing this on to everyone you know. Together we CAN make a difference. (CG)
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By L. J. Devon
Should the American people compromise their health and future by letting the biotech industry continue to operate in sheer secrecy?
The new “anti-GMO labeling law” proposed in the U.S. Senate by Roberts and Stabenow would allow the biotech industry to continue on just as they have – in utter secrecy. The bill, a negotiation between two senators and industry lobbying groups, would exempt major portions of current and future GMO foods from being labeled. For example, if a biotech product is genetically modified with items “found in nature,” (such as bacteria), then it can be passed as a natural food product. Other GMOs, which cannot yet be detected by current technology, would also pass as whole foods under the new law. This would include foods made with non in vitro recombinant DNA techniques.
All food transparency laws to be wiped off the books as USDA pushes new, unreadable QR product code
If signed into law, the bill would also wipe out existing GMO transparency laws established in states like Vermont, and would block any state from passing their own GMO labeling laws. Over the next two years, Americans would be forced to wait, as the USDA gains the power to establish new federal rules for labeling GM foods. Since the USDA has many longstanding ties to Monsanto and the rest of the biotech industry, it is only fitting that the USDA would get to make all the rules for Big Biotech if this law came to pass!
A future USDA Secretary would also gain the power to determine what “amount” of GMO ingredients qualified the food for labeling. This newfound USDA power is a formula for deception. In theory, up to 99 percent of GMOs could pass as natural under the USDA’s rules, which would most definitely cater to Big Biotech’s poisonous domination of the world.
Even more ridiculous is that the new law would roll out a uniform QR code system that would be impossible to read and decipher, from a consumer standpoint.
Current food labels are a fraud, a distraction
Today’s food labels are incomplete, leaving consumers clueless as to what’s really going into their bodies. Consumers are counting calories instead of chemicals, as they are distracted from the real problems with food.
Food labels should be among the most transparent of all documents. A real food label should not be a manipulation of words, of clever marketing, of claims that have not been validated. Food labels should come with full-blown scientific documentation, similar to vaccine insert sheets, giving consumers further knowledge of the product’s chemistry and risks. Consumers should have sufficient knowledge about products to make informed decisions as to what they put into their bodies.
How does genetic modification of food affect human genes over time, from one generation to the next? The study of epigenetics should apply. How do pesticides and changes in the genetic sequence of foods affect the human endocrine system and normal hormone messaging? Changes in food chemistry can signal changes in how the body behaves.
How does glyphosate’s destruction of microbial hosts in the human gut contribute to changes in a person’s behavior, cognitive function and immune system de-activation?
Transparent food labels are not enough. Consumers need to know the science behind the changes in their food. Rigorous testing of foods should list heavy metal, pesticide and herbicide content. Consumers should know what these elements and chemicals are doing to their bodies and minds.
If we had real science and transparency working in the public’s interest, then healthcare could be revolutionized. Consumers would be able to see where all their health problems are actually derived from – the chemicals we’re being secretly force-fed.
No compromising on transparency or human health
American consumers should not compromise one bit on the new Roberts-Stabenow legislation. Organizations like Whole Foods should not be supporting any kind of anti-GMO labeling law compromise that will only blind the American people and prevent the science behind GMOs, heavy metals and pesticides from coming out in the open. Why would Whole Foods CEO Walter Robb come out calling this fraudulent law an “incredible thing” that was “accomplished together?”
There should be no compromise. Consumers should have 100 percent transparency, more than just QR coding language, more than fake labels that gloss over the real health issues created by biotech experiments with food.
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Other works by L.J. Devon
TLB recommends other informative articles at Natural News
Moochelle Obama.. eat the damn food and shut up