Genetic Roulette

[mother earth]

&feature=player_embedded
Technology

Are you and your family on the wrong side of a bet?

When the US government ignored repeated warnings by its own scientists and allowed untested genetically modified (GM) crops into our environment and food supply, it was a gamble of unprecedented proportions. The health of all living things and all future generations were put at risk by an infant technology.

After two decades, physicians and scientists have uncovered a grave trend. The same serious health problems found in lab animals, livestock, and pets that have been fed GM foods are now on the rise in the US population. And when people and animals stop eating genetically modified organisms (GMOs), their health improves.

This seminal documentary provides compelling evidence to help explain the deteriorating health of Americans, especially among children, and offers a recipe for protecting ourselves and our future.

[mother earth]

1. Genetically modified foods…Are They Safe?

http://www.responsibletechnology.org/

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) doesn’t think so. The Academy reported that “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food,” including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. The AAEM asked physicians to advise patients to avoid GM foods.

Before the FDA decided to allow GMOs into food without labeling, FDA scientists had repeatedly warned that GM foods can create unpredictable, hard-to-detect side effects, including allergies, toxins, new diseases, and nutritional problems. They urged long-term safety studies, but were ignored.

Since then, findings include:
◦Thousands of sheep, buffalo, and goats in India died after grazing on Bt cotton plants
◦ Mice eating GM corn for the long term had fewer, and smaller, babies
◦More than half the babies of mother rats fed GM soy died within three weeks, and were smaller
◦Testicle cells of mice and rats on a GM soy change significantly
◦By the third generation, most GM soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to have babies
◦Rodents fed GM corn and soy showed immune system responses and signs of toxicity
◦Cooked GM soy contains as much as 7-times the amount of a known soy allergen
◦Soy allergies skyrocketed by 50% in the UK, soon after GM soy was introduced
◦The stomach lining of rats fed GM potatoes showed excessive cell growth, a condition that may lead to cancer.
◦Studies showed organ lesions, altered liver and pancreas cells, changed enzyme levels, etc.

Unlike safety evaluations for drugs, there are no human clinical trials of GM foods. The only published human feeding experiment revealed that the genetic material inserted into GM soy transfers into bacteria living inside our intestines and continues to function. This means that long after we stop eating GM foods, we may still have their GM proteins produced continuously inside us. This could mean:
◦If the antibiotic gene inserted into most GM crops were to transfer, it could create super diseases, resistant to antibiotics
◦If the gene that creates Bt-toxin in GM corn were to transfer, it might turn our intestinal bacteria into living pesticide factories.

Although no studies have evaluated if antibiotic or Bt-toxin genes transfer, that is one of the key problems. The safety assessments are too superficial to even identify most of the potential dangers from GMOs. See our Health Risks brochure and State of the Science report for more details and citations.

Recent health studies provide growing evidence of harm from GMOs:

GM Corn Damages Liver and Kidneys
Meat Raised on GM Feed is Different
Roundup Could Cause Birth Defects
Genetically Modified Soy Linked to Sterility

[proverbialwisdom]

15. RECOMMENDED: 'Scientists Under Attack' (German documentary on independent biotech researchers)

[proverbialwisdom]

2. Related info here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014148788

http://allergykids.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/a-ripple-of...

A Ripple of Hope: When Courage and Conscience Collide

June 10, 2008
by Robyn O'Brien

I was raised on capitalism and the Wall Street Journal. As a child, my family celebrated the birth of Reaganomics the way one would have celebrated the birth of a child. There was prosperity to be had by all – if only we believed. My father, like so many of his era, fully supported deregulation and the notion of trickle down economics. If we loosen the regulatory purse strings that government tightly controls, we will all prosper. The system works.

In our house, the Reagans had an almost royal status – to watch them dance, with Nancy in her red dress, gave me the feeling, as a child, that I was watching some magnificent combination of Frank Sinatra and a foreign prince with his graceful companion on his arm.

I trusted my political values would serve me well – I was loyal, patriotic and supported the system.

And then one of my children got sick. With a blood condition that no one could pronounce and a pediatric mandate requiring immediate enrollment at a Children's Hospital. And I awoke.

Suddenly, everywhere I turned, there were sick children. Children with diabetes, children with cancer, children with obesity, children with asthma and children with allergies. What had happened?

As headlines in the paper warned me of environmental dangers, I began to pay attention. What was in the food? Wasn't organics a left-leaning thing? And what about the plastics and the baby bottles and the vaccines? Should I worry? Doesn't our system protect us from these dangers?

And without realizing it, an internal battle had silently begun.

I lay awake at night as I tried to reconcile the loyalty I had to my father with the loyalty I had to my children. Had a generation of grandfathers failed to recognize the health risks associated with capitalism's profits, unintentionally jeopardizing the well being of their grandchildren?

I had been raised to support the system, to believe in it, to never question it, and certainly to never speak out. Activism was something that "radicals" did, certainly not conservative soccer moms.

But I couldn't shake the internal dialogue. And armed with an MBA in finance and my four children, I began to investigate the expanding role that corporations had taken in the system in which I was raised to believe. And I was stunned.

There were insecticidal toxins engineered into crops to increase profitability for the world's largest agrichemical corporation – a company whose former employees included Donald Rumsfeld and Clarence Thomas. There were petroleum based chemicals in my children's toys and shampoos that were a product of an oil corporation that had recruited me in business school. How had this happened? Had we forsaken our physical health for financial wealth?

As I struggled with the responsibility that I felt for betraying my own children, I realized that it was now my responsibility to act. But the internal battle raged on – as the call from my conscience collided with the familiar comfort of conformity – and I was paralyzed.

But with sick children, paralysis was not an option.

I realized that I had to find the courage, on behalf of my children and others, to speak out against the very system in which I was raised.

And I reluctantly stepped forward.

With the words of another crusader in hand, I found my voice: "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls." (Robert F. Kennedy).

It is with that hope, and holding the hands of my four children, that I took a stand.

Our world is changing. Our children's voices are not being heard; there is no "show of hands" to gauge their reactions to the impact that our environment is having on them.

It is our turn to engage, to help our fathers recreate the world that their grandchildren deserve. We must not be daunted by the enormity of the task at hand, nor fear political "activism". For the sake of our children, it is our political responsibility.

If you take just one step forward, it might send forth that tiny ripple of hope that will touch your daughter's life years later or your son's health in ways you might never foresee.

If we dare to dream that it is possible to affect this change for our children, we will be inspired by hope and find the courage and capacity to act. Together.

http://www.robynobrien.com/speaking.html

“Robyn’s analysis is a startling revelation of the corruption of our food supply and our failure to protect two of our country’s most valuable assets, our children and our environment. Her message of courage, tenacity and hope is a beacon of light in our toxic world."
—Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Robyn recently addressed a crowd of 600 at TEDx Austin and received a standing ovation for her presentation, "Patriotism on a Plate" as seen in the VIDEO:

More: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1949482

http://blogs.prevention.com/inspired-bites/2012/05/22/generation-rx-the-changing-landscape-of-childhood/

Generation Rx: The Changing Landscape of Childhood

May 22, 2012 10:26 am Posted by Robyn O'Brien


Childhood appears to be under siege.

From the escalating rates of childhood cancers, to the increasing diagnoses for conditions like autism and allergies, the landscape of childhood has changed, earning our children the title “Generation Rx”.

And this is changing the face of American families and our economy. We already spend 17 cents of every dollar on health care, managing disease. The pharmaceutical companies can’t keep up with demand, and now there are shortages for drugs used to treat cancers and ADHD.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 15. The journal Pediatrics has reported that 15% of American girls are expected to begin puberty by the age of 7 (with the number closer to 25% for African American girls) and a growing number of American children struggle with obesity. On top of that, the rate for having food allergies is 59% higher for obese children, with the Centers for Disease Control reporting a 265% increase in hospitalizations related to food allergic reactions. And while not all of those hospitalizations are for our children, what is becoming increasingly obvious is that the health of our children is under siege.

But more often than not, the solution is not found in the medicine cabinet, but in the kitchen.

And as scientific evidence continues to mount, courageously presented by doctors like Mark Hyman, MD, in his groundbreaking book, The Blood Sugar Solution, and pediatric specialists like Dr. Joel Fuhrman and Dr. Alan Greene, about the role that diet and nutrition plays in the health of our children, parents are beginning to take notice.

And as we introduce new foods that are nutrient-dense (meaning full of vitamins and minerals) and try to reduce our loved ones’ exposure to the foods that are nutrient-void (packing mostly artificial ingredients that have been synthetically engineered in laboratories), we are realizing that we have the power to affect remarkable change in the health of our children and families, so that together, we can stem this tide of children flowing into pediatric hospitals being built across the country.

Because while our children may only represent 30 percent of the population, they are 100 percent of our future. And if spending on health care and disease management is viewed as a leading economic indicator, we need to stem this tide before it becomes a tsunami, for the sake of our children, our families, our economy and our country.

[proverbialwisdom]

3. California's 'YES on Prop 37' website here.

RECOMMENDED:

VIDEO: https://carighttoknow-labelgmos.nationbuilder.com/donate_truth

ENDORSEMENTS: http://www.carighttoknow.org/endorsements

BLOG: http://www.carighttoknow.org/blog

[proverbialwisdom]

4. News at the national level here - http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/campaigns/ .

eg. Last June, the Indiana State Medical Association and the Illinois State Medical Society both introduced resolutions to the American Medical Association supporting Federal legislation and/or regulations to require labeling of food with genetically engineered ingredients. The AMA may have punted, as widely reported, but that's burying the lead, IMO.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/AMA_please_label_gmos/

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(late June 2012)

...The Indiana State Medical Association and the Illinois State Medical Society have both introduced resolutions to the American Medical Association supporting Federal legislation and/or regulations to require labeling of food with genetically engineered ingredients and they need your support today.

A copy of this petition will be delivered to Dr. Roger Brown, Director of Office of AMA House of Delegate Affairs, on behalf of the American Medical Association:

Adopt Resolution 509-A-11 in lieu of the Council Report on GMO labeling

Dear Doctors and Delegates of the American Medical Association,

I am writing to urge the American Medical Association House of Delegates to Adopt Resolution 509-A-11 in lieu of the Council Report on GMO labeling. Medical doctors have a vital role to play in guaranteeing that the rights and health of their patients are taken seriously and by passing a resolution to label GMOs, the AMA would be taking that important step.

A simple label on foods could help doctors keep track of important data related to the rise of food allergies and the novel proteins found in genetically engineered foods. Without labeling, there is no way to track potential adverse consequences of eating genetically engineered food.

Americans have a basic right to know what's in their food and how it's produced. Already nearly 50 countries recognize their citizens' basic right to label genetically engineered foods in order to give them vital information about the food they are eating. While the long-term health effects of consuming genetically engineered food are unknown, there is global agreement that genetically engineered foods are different from traditionally bred crops.

In 2011, the United Nations food safety standards organization adopted guidelines recommending all genetically engineered foods go through a safety assessment prior to approval, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not require health studies before the products are approved for human consumption.

In an effort to join growing international consensus regarding the potential for GMOs to introduce increased toxins and allergies in our food supply, I urge the American Medical Association to support GMO labeling to better inform consumers about the food they are buying and feeding their families.

Sincerely,

[mother earth]

6. A huge thank you for all the added info. This needs to be made known to all.

[bbgrunt]

5. +1000. k and r

[proverbialwisdom]

7. Business Section NYT: 'The Epi-Pen's Maker Invests in Expansion As Allergy Rates in Children Rise'

EXCERPT: A study last year in the journal Pediatrics found that about one in 13 children had a food allergy, and nearly 40 percent of those with allergies had severe reactions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/08/business/mylan-invests-in-epipen-as-child-allergies-increase.html?pagewanted=all

September 7, 2012
Tiny Lifesaver for a Growing Worry
By KATIE THOMAS

It has become an all-too-familiar story in schools across the country: a child eats a peanut or is stung by a bee and suffers an immediate, life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis.

If parents and school authorities know about the allergy and a doctor’s prescription is on file, a nurse can quickly give an injection of epinephrine, saving the child’s life.

But school nurses in many districts face an agonizing choice if a child without a prescription develops a sudden reaction to an undiagnosed allergy. Should they inject epinephrine and risk losing their nursing license for dispensing it without a prescription, or call 911 and pray the paramedics arrive in time?

After a 7-year-old girl died in January in a similar case in Virginia, the state passed a law that allows any child who needs an emergency shot to get one. Beginning this month, every school district in Virginia is required to keep epinephrine injectors on hand for use in an emergency. Illinois, Georgia and Maryland have passed similar laws, and school nurses are pushing for one in Ohio. A lobbying effort backed by Mylan, which markets the most commonly used injector, the EpiPen, made by Pfizer, led to the introduction last year of a federal bill that would encourage states to pass such laws.

Mylan has also lobbied state legislatures around the country directly and is passing out free EpiPens this fall to any qualifying school that wants them.

“When a child is having an anaphylactic reaction, the only thing that can save her life is epinephrine,” said Maria L. Acebal, the chief executive of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. “911 doesn’t get there fast enough.”

The efforts are an acknowledgment of the rising rates of food allergies among children and a handful of deaths from allergies across the country. In many schools, children carry their own epinephrine injectors in their backpacks to use themselves, if they’re old enough, or the devices are stored on their behalf in nurses’ offices.

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[font style=color:blue]Although no one knows exactly why, the rate of food allergies among children appears to be on the rise.[/font] One survey found that in 2008, one in 70 children was allergic to peanuts, compared with one in 250 in 1997.

“I don’t think it’s overdiagnosis,” said Dr. Scott H. Sicherer, the author of the report and a researcher at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan. “There really seems to be a difference.”

A study last year in the journal Pediatrics found that about one in 13 children had a food allergy, and nearly 40 percent of those with allergies had severe reactions. A recent survey in Massachusetts, where schools are permitted to administer epinephrine to any student, found that one-quarter of students who had to be given the drug for a reaction did not know they had an allergy. But in many schools, employees are not allowed to use epinephrine injectors on children who do not have a prescription.

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[umaysing]

8. Spam deleted by Warren DeMontague (MIR Team)

[proverbialwisdom]

9. Business Section NYT: 'Uneasy Allies in the Grocery Aisle'

Yet another article which buries the lead: WHOLE FOODS endorses California's 'Vote Yes on 37!'

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/14/business/california-referendum-pits-organic-brands-against-corporate-parents.html?_r=0

Uneasy Allies in the Grocery Aisle

By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: September 13, 2012

Giant bioengineering companies like Monsanto and DuPont are spending millions of dollars to fight a California ballot initiative aimed at requiring the labeling of genetically modified foods. That surprises no one, least of all the proponents of the law, which if approved by voters would become the first of its kind in the nation.

But the companies behind some of the biggest organic brands in the country — Kashi, Cascadian Farm, Horizon Organic — also have joined the antilabeling effort, adding millions of dollars to defeat the initiative, known as Proposition 37.

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“Consumers aren’t always aware that their favorite organic brands are in fact owned by big multinationals, and now they’re finding out that the premium they’ve paid to buy these organic products is being spent to fight against something they believe in passionately,” said Mark Kastel, a co-founder of the Cornucopia Institute, an organic industry watchdog and farm policy group that has been tracking corporate contributions in the ballot fight. “They feel like they’ve been had.”

<...>

On Tuesday, Whole Foods, the retail mecca of the organic and natural foods movement, said it supported the California proposal, though with some reservations over the details — and without putting any money into the effort in accordance with its policy, a spokeswoman said.

<...>

http://www.cornucopia.org/2012/09/iconic-organic-industry-giants-missing-in-action/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=iconic-organic-industry-giants-missing-in-action

<...>

According to Cornucopia, and California state records, numerous more modest companies, such as Nature’s Path, Dr. Bronner’s, Nutiva, Eden Foods, Organic Valley and Lundberg Family Farm are “walking their talk,” having collectively contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaign in favor of Proposition 37 and food transparency. But the California Secretary of State’s records fail to show one red cent from the missing organic industry giants.

“There’s been speculation that because some of these company’s leaders have close relationships with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, a proponent of genetically engineered foods, and others in the Obama administration, that they are sitting on their hands, and sitting on their wallets, so as not to embarrass the president during an election year,” Kastel notes.

“The sad reality is that the Obama administration has done nothing more to make GMO labeling happen than the Bush administration, while accelerating—at the behest of the biotech companies—the review and approval process for an increasing number of genetically modified food crops by the USDA.”

“To be candid with you,” Stonyfield’s Chairman Gary Hirshberg told the New York Times, “I understand exactly what they’re trying to accomplish, and I’m supportive of their goal, but I don’t believe that in the long run we can solve a problem like this on a state-by-state level.”

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My view? I think he would've if he could've. He didn't yet, so it's up to us to assist. Those counting on the public to be passive or lazy need to think again.

[proverbialwisdom]

10. Full film available for free until 9/22 and for purchase.

@ http://geneticroulettemovie.com/

According to http://www.facebook.com/GMOFreeUSA the film is available for free until 9/22 (found as I was looking for links rebutting http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml , specifically, that Monsanto has threatened to sue VT, CT when state legislatures were ready to pass labeling laws).

http://truth-out.org/news/item/9873-mom-turned-activist-launches-national-movement-to-boycott-gmos
http://www.facebook.com/GMOFreeUSA
http://geneticroulettemovie.com/

[proverbialwisdom]

11. bs link

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/09/16/mark-bittmans-very-strange-argument-about-gmo-food-labelling/

Tim Worstall, Contributor
I write about business and technology.

Tech

9/16/2012 @ 9:36AM |904 views

Mark Bittman's Very Strange Argument About GMO Food Labelling

[proverbialwisdom]

12. Forbes article asserting labeling rights of individual companies are protected is questionable, too.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/01/monsanto-vs-milkman

Monsanto vs. the Milkman

A Maine dairy fights for the right to wear its hormone-free label.

By Susan Q. Stranahan
January/February 2004 Issue


Around the state of Maine, it's hard to miss Stan Bennett's fleet of red-and-white trucks. They're the ones with the Oakhurst Dairy logo emblazoned across the side and the Oakhurst guarantee (Our Farmers' Pledge: No Artificial Growth Hormones) spelled out in big bold letters below. That pledge is printed on every carton and jug of milk that family-owned Oakhurst, Maine's largest dairy, sells. And Bennett, who has spent the last decade inducing Maine dairy farmers to "swear off the needle," as he puts it, isn't inclined to change the wording around one bit. "We state what we are trying to do, simply and honestly," says Bennett, president and principal owner of the Portland-based dairy. "It's my right -- and obligation -- to inform [customers] of the facts."

These days, Bennett has been spending a lot of energy defending that position. Monsanto, the nation's largest (and only) producer of recombinant bovine growth hormone, rBGH, doesn't think that Oakhurst -- or other dairies around the country that have put similar labels on their milk -- has a right to tout its products as rBGH-free. Last summer, with Bennett poised to expand Oakhurst's market into the Boston area, lawyers for the St. Louis-based chemical giant struck. The company sued Oakhurst for "deceptive" and "misleading" marketing, and asked a federal court to order that the Farmers' Pledge be removed from the dairy's labels, advertising, and trucks. Monsanto's argument: The genetically engineered rBGH, which increases a dairy cow's milk output by about a gallon a day, has already passed muster with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Oakhurst's labels, contends Monsanto, might cause consumers to question the drug's safety, even though the FDA has found that milk from cows injected with rBGH is the same as regular milk and that the hormone poses no human health risks. Oakhurst's milk is the same as every other dairy's, maintains Monsanto spokeswoman Janice Armstrong: "Milk is milk. There's no scientist in the world who can tell them apart."

Still, although the FDA approved use of rBGH a decade ago, the controversy over the safety and ethics of the drug has never completely gone away. Some food-safety experts continue to argue that more research is needed to determine, for instance, if a hormone found in elevated levels in the milk of rBGH-treated cattle promotes growth of tumors. Canada and the European Union have both banned use of rBGH based on concerns that animals injected with the drug are prone to more illnesses and, as a result, may require higher doses of antibiotics. John Nutting, a third-generation dairy farmer and Oakhurst supplier in Leeds, Maine, shares those concerns, which is a major reason he refuses to use artificial hormones. "If you forced a racehorse to run 20 percent faster, that horse would eventually break down," he says. "It's much like that with a cow [on rBGH]."

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[proverbialwisdom]

13. The new film is narrated by Lisa Oz. I look forward to seeing it.

RECOMMENDED:

1. Links to The Dr. Oz Show on GMOs (3 parts):

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/genetically-modified-foods-pt-1
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/genetically-modified-foods-pt-2
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/genetically-modified-foods-pt-3

2. Notice additional recent video, too.

[proverbialwisdom]

14. 'Romney & Bain Boosted Agriculture Giant Monsanto In Spite Of Toxic Past' (ThinkProgress.org)

Last edited Tue Sep 18, 2012, 10:01 AM - Edit history (1)

This deserves traction.

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/09/14/850321/romney-monsanto/?mobile=nc

Romney And Bain Boosted Agriculture Giant Monsanto In Spite Of Toxic Past

By Aviva Shen on Sep 14, 2012 at 11:37 am


Biotechnology firm Monsanto Company, which currently owns most of the patents for America’s staple crops, is already cozy with American lawmakers. A new Nation report, however, indicates that “a very old friend in a very high place” may usher in the corporation’s most prosperous years yet.

The Nation’s investigative report ( http://www.thenation.com/article/169885/mitt-romney-monsanto-man# ) has uncovered how Mitt Romney personally helped Monsanto shed its string of toxic chemical-related scandals and reinvent itself to dominate American agriculture. Monsanto, an early Bain & Company client, was so impressed with Romney that they started bypassing his superiors to deal with him directly. Romney’s close relationship with then CEO John Hanley prompted his boss to create Bain Capital to keep Romney from leaving and taking their largest consulting client with him.

From 1977 to 1985, Romney helped navigate Monsanto through very rocky waters. The agribusiness was flooded with lawsuits after Congress banned the toxic coolant PCBs, a Monsanto product that has been linked to cancer and neurological disorders. At the same time, Monsanto’s Agent Orange toxin, used to defoliate jungles in the Vietnam War, was linked to the contamination of millions of Vietnamese and American soldiers and had been dubbed “the largest chemical warfare operation” in human history.

Tom Philpott at Mother Jones dug up a 2002 article ( http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/09/romney-monsanto-bain ) describing Monsanto’s attempts to hide its toxic waste disposal even after managers discovered fish “spurting blood and shedding skin” within 10 seconds of the PCB dump:

Monsanto Co. routinely discharged toxic waste into a west Anniston [Alabama] creek and dumped millions of pounds of PCBs into oozing open-pit landfills. And thousands of pages of Monsanto documents—many emblazoned with warnings such as “CONFIDENTIAL: Read and Destroy”—show that for decades, the corporate giant concealed what it did and what it knew.

Faced with costly litigation, Monsanto relied on Romney to create their new public image — one that did not involve poisoning soldiers or dumping chemicals in rivers:

Dr. Earl Beaver, who was Monsanto’s waste director during the Bain period, says that Bain was certainly “aware” of the “PCB and dioxin scandals” because they created “a negative public perception that was costing the company money.” So Bain recommended focusing “on the businesses that didn’t have those perceptions,” Beaver recalls, starting with “life science products that were biologically based,” including genetically engineered crops, as well as Roundup, the hugely profitable weed-killer. “These were the products that Bain gave their go-ahead to,” Beaver contends, noting that Romney was a key player, “reviewing the data collected by other people and developing alternatives,” talking mostly to “the higher muckety-mucks.”

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[proverbialwisdom]

16. VIDEO: Alex Bogusky interviews Robyn O’Brien, author of "The Unhealthy Truth."

Last edited Sun Sep 30, 2012, 12:22 PM - Edit history (1)

O’Brien turns to accredited research conducted in Europe that confirms the toxicity of America’s food supply, and traces the relationship between Big Food and Big Money that has ensured that the United States is one of the only developed countries in the world to allow hidden toxins in our food–toxins that can be blamed for the alarming recent increases in allergies, ADHD, cancer, and asthma among our children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Bogusky
http://godsofadvertising.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/after-changing-our-business-forever-alex-bogusky-resigns-from-crispin-porter-bogusky/



http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/126/june-2008

Previously posted at DU2 and currently unavailable.

[proverbialwisdom]

17. NEW PSA: Celebrities Say Vote Yes on GMO Labeling with Prop 37

Last edited Sun Oct 14, 2012, 10:14 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.ecorazzi.com/2012/10/09/watch-stars-ask-public-to-vote-yes-gmo-labeling-with-prop-37/


WATCH: Stars Say Vote Yes on GMO Labeling with Prop 37

by Ali Berman October 9, 2012

Do you have the right to know what’s in your food? Hollywood says yes.

In a new PSA the stars came out to ask the public to vote yes on prop 37, a ballot initiative in California that will make it so companies have to label whether or not their foods contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Danny Devito, Dave Mathews, Emily Dechanel, Bill Maher, John Cho, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, KaDee Strickland and Kristin Bauer van Straten use some reverse psychology to say that you don’t need to know what goes into your food. So what that China, Japan, Europe and other countries require foods with GMOs to be labeled. In America, we can’t handle that kind of information so best to let the companies worry about our health and for us just to trust them. Sounds like a good health plan, right? Yeah. Not so much.

Check out the PSA and if you live in California, think about the importance of food labeling when you head to the ballot in November.