Your Food Probably Has This Extra Ingredient That You Didn’t Even Know About

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.therainforestsite.com/against-monsanto/

In the 1980s, Monsanto pioneered agricultural genetically modified organism (GMO) technology, and developed some of the first herbicide-resistant crops on the market.

Today, the agro-giant holds roughly 1,700 patents, and their patented seeds make up more than 90% of the U.S. soybean market, and around 80% of U.S. corn. Monsanto’s seeds are marketed as “Roundup Ready,” meaning they can survive being doused in Monsanto’s own name-brand weed-killer Roundup.



Via OttoFarms.com


Roundup’s active ingredient is glyphosate, which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says is “safe” in small amounts for short periods of time, but may cause lung congestion and an increase in breathing rate. Chronic exposure, though, may result in kidney damage and unspecified reproductive effects.

In 1984, the Supreme Court upheld a $10.5 million antitrust settlement against Monsanto, and in 2004 the company was once again accused of price-fixing.

FULL 2 page info at link.

[marym625]

1. All the crap in our food

And in the ground and water, has to be behind some of the prevalence of Alzheimers, cancer, autism, etc. I know that it's not the only reason but the unhealthy crap has to be connected.

[jwirr]

2. Agreed. When I talked with the EPA about my daughters illness from poluted well water and

farm chemicals they suggested that instead of any one farm chemical it was more likely a chemical soup of all the chemicals eventually finding their way to the well water.

[marym625]

3. I'm sorry your daughter is ill.

There's just no way that our bodies can constantly ingest this crap and be ok.

[jwirr]

4. Actually I don't think it was her ingesting the water. I had kidney troubles in my first trimester

of pregnancy. My usual cure was to drink as much water as I could to get rid of it. So she was the victim of all that water. But still it was the only reason anyone has ever come up with for her problems. Thank you for your concern.

[pnwmom]

7. I am so sorry, jwirr.

I've had a couple difficult pregnancies. There is nothing worse than being afraid something that happened during pregnancy possibly hurt your child.

[marym625]

8. I hope you don't blame yourself

You did what you should have done

[jwirr]

15. No I would have gotten a lot worse if I had not drank that water. The well is no longer providing

drinking water.

[marym625]

19. That is good at least

I hope that your daughter improves. You didn't say what is wrong, and I don't want to pry. But I hope it is something that can improve

[Richard D]

22. Chemicals are tested one by one.

So there's no one looking at what happens when they get combined with each other or with pharmaceutical drugs. Russian Roulette with all six chambers loaded.

[appalachiablue]

28. That's a very expressive way of putting it, the toxic mix we live in-

[villager]

31. Exactly. But the kool-aid drinkers -- or rather, the glyphosate drinkers -- who post here

assiduously avoid that aspect of it.

[jwirr]

32. You would think that at least someone would be interested in the effects of the mix.

[hedgehog]

34. oddly enough,drugs are checked for interactions, but not what's on

our food and in our water.

[Surya Gayatri]

11. When will the FDA stand up for the people against Monsanto?

'...the unhealthy crap has to be connected.'

Well, yeah, that's why it's banned in the EU.

[marym625]

12. When money doesn't matter

So, never, unfortunately

[Surya Gayatri]

13. Cry, my beloved country...indeed.

[marym625]

14. exactly

[Buzz Clik]

17. Monsanto is banned in the EU? Glyphosate? What do you mean?

[Surya Gayatri]

18. AFAIK, its limited use has been approved, but the debate is still on-going.

http://scholar.google.fr/scholar?q=glyphosate+use+in+the+eu&hl=fr&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ei=n10pVdSaEsm4aY6bgYAI&ved=0CB4QgQMwAA

Glyphosate‐resistant crops: adoption, use and future considerations

Glyphosate‐resistant crops: history, status and future

Concentrations and specific loads of glyphosate, diuron, atrazine, nonylphenol and metabolites thereof in French urban sewage sludge


Make no mistake, Monsanto spends big bucks lobbying over here, too.

At least its use is being closely monitored, and approval may be rescinded at any time.

Point being, the EU is infinitely more willing to stand up to big-Chem and say 'NO, not in our food.'

[Major Nikon]

45. Which is also true for the US

[appalachiablue]

23. The FDA IS Monsanto in a manner of speaking & fact. The head staff of many US federal

government regulatory agencies -the FDA, USDA, EPA, SEC, are filled with insiders from the very corporations, businesses, banks and industries they are supposed to be regulating, sorry to say. This corrupt system also exists on the state and local level and has been around since the 90s, maybe earlier.
Executives and staff often move back and forth from the private sector to the public sector, then back to the private sector and so on in what's referred to as, 'THE REVOLVING DOOR' of influence and connections.

*MICHAEL TAYLOR was appointed by President Obama to be Chief Advisor to the FDA in 2009 to much protest. In more than 20 years Taylor has served as an executive lawyer for *MONSANTO that worked with early GM foods and in government positions at federal regulatory agencies.

(Apart from M. Taylor, Tom Wheeler, current Chief of the FCC (Fed. Communications Commission) was previously a lobbyist for the Telecom private sector industry. The US Treasury has been headed by private Wall Street bankers, particularly alumni from Goldman Sachs for many years like Treasury Secy. Robert Rubin of Citibank during Clinton's administration who supported deregulation of the banks in 1999, and later Larry Summers and Tim Geithner in the Obama administration.)

Swiss-based SYNGENTA is another huge AG-Chemical Industry giant and cousin of Monsanto, Dow, Dupont and others. Syngenta manufactures ATRAZINE, the second most widely used herbicide after glyphosate. ATRAZINE is banned in Europe since 2004 over concerns about contaminating ground water, but it is widely used in the US in agriculture, on lawns and golf courses and enters water ways and systems. The product is known to be an endocrine disruptor that causes hormonal problems and deformities in animals and probably chronic illnesses in humans.

It's a global world, and a highly toxic one...

*MONSANTO/FDA/MICHAEL TAYLOR...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/post/monsanto-petition-tells-obama-cease-fda-ties-to-monsanto/2012/01/30/gIQAA9dZcQ_blog.html

*SYNGENTA/ATRAZINE
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/16-cities-sue-manufacture_n_490762.html?

[Surya Gayatri]

25. Sadly, yes, bought and sold out.

Very telling:

'ATRAZINE is banned in Europe since 2004 over concerns about contaminating ground water, but it is widely used in the US in agriculture, on lawns and golf courses and enters water ways and systems.'

[merrily]

24. The FDA stood against the EPA and us and for Monsanto.

[RKP5637]

27. In the US, only $$$$$'s count, people not so much! It's pathetic! n/t

[PatrickforO]

35. That and the constant stress of living in our exceptional capitalist utopia...

[marym625]

37. Utopia. funny! :)

[appalachiablue]

41. Soon to be Dystopia, the real deal, sans Zombies, Vampires & Popcorn

[Enthusiast]

57. At age 58

I was suddenly and extremely gluten intolerant. The gluten caused so much damage that I required surgery. WTF?

Why are people suddenly gluten intolerant? There must be an environmental component.

[marym625]

58. I hope you are OK

That's actually another thing I have wondered about. Thanks for bringing it up

[Enthusiast]

59. I am alright now that we have diagnosed my problem.

The medical care industry was only interested in expensive tests that revealed nothing useful. Now that we know how to avoid gluten I am much better.

[marym625]

60. I'm glad you found out what it was

And at least with the increase in gluten problem it's easier to find gluten free now

[Surya Gayatri]

5. You know, sometimes I'm really happy I live in Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_genetically_modified_organisms_in_the_European_Union

The European Union (EU) may have the most stringent GMO regulations in the world. All GMOs, along with irradiated food, are considered "new food" and are subject to extensive, case-by-case, science-based food evaluation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

[pnwmom]

6. And you can't wash off this "probable carcinogen" because it's absorbed INTO the plant.

But no worries, it's only a "probable" carcinogen, according to studies conducted by the U.N.'s World Health Organization. So they don't eat in in Europe, but here in the U.S. it's fine.

[Surya Gayatri]

9. The EU sets the standard for the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_genetically_modified_organisms_in_the_European_Union

The European Union (EU) may have the most stringent GMO regulations in the world. All GMOs, along with irradiated food, are considered "new food" and are subject to extensive, case-by-case, science-based food evaluation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

[pnwmom]

10. Yes, they do. We'd be better off just adopting their standards. nt

[Buzz Clik]

16. In my view, Roundup Ready crops, particularly food crops, are on the verge of becoming passe.

It sounded good on the surface to use a single, effective herbicide on the crops. But, this led to two drawbacks: 1) Ever increasing weed-resistance to glyphosate; 2) spraying glyphosate late in the season, increasing the likelihood for the herbicide to show up in the food.

Time to move on.

[redruddyred]

21. might I recommend agent orange?

another fine monsanto creation.

[Buzz Clik]

30. 3,4,5-T is not labeled in the US

2,4,-D, however, is an excellent chemical.

[redruddyred]

39. the people of vietnam agree

6 toes is not enuff
moar toes plz.

[Buzz Clik]

40. Non sequitur much?

If we're looking for chemical weapons against humans, there are far better choices.

When used properly, 2,4-D is just fine as a herbicide.

[redruddyred]

44. I don't really give a lot of thought to the technical details of best practices of killing ppl.

seems a bit gruesome really.

[Buzz Clik]

54. No thought, perahps, but that's the only thing you want to talk about.

And, on this this, such conversation is non sequitur.

[redruddyred]

69. sadly some ppl struggle to follow my train of thought.

not everyone is fit to grapple w/ my genius

[Buzz Clik]

71. Just stay on topic, Edison.

[redruddyred]

72. ironic for someone named buzzclik to make an adhd diagnosis

[Major Nikon]

46. It's not a Monsanto creation

Monsanto produced it in accordance with a mil-spec created long before, and warned congress to its dangers before they ever produced it.

[redruddyred]

48. if it was so dangerous, why were they so willing to produce in large quantities?

brown ppl aren't ppl tho.

[Major Nikon]

50. Because they are a chemical company

They warned congress about it so that the government could make an informed decision regarding its use. The pentagon investigated and made the decision to use it the way they did.

Bayer made chemicals the Nazis used to murder Jews. Who swears off Bayer aspirin or calls them evil?

[redruddyred]

51. but I do think bayer is evil.

the rest of big pharma too. I don't use their crap products.
so what you are saying is $$$$>>>>>>>>>chinks who talk funny
or koreans or whateva geography is HARD

[Major Nikon]

52. it's a shame big pharma keeps producing so much propaganda against the effectiveness of water memory

[redruddyred]

68. should be more ashamed of their open bribery of medical professionals

[Major Nikon]

73. Sure, what most people would call a paycheck

[redruddyred]

76. and here I was naively imagining that doctors earned their living from patient fees and insurance.

what a fool was I!

[Major Nikon]

77. Who needs doctors when you have homeopathy?

[redruddyred]

78. never had a homeopath interrupt me midsentence tho.

[redruddyred]

20. oh I know abt it.

this is the no. 1 argument against gmos in my humble opinion.
now let's talk abt all those antibiotics they're pumping into my chicken, and why I'm organic 4 lyf.

[randr]

26. I am truely alarmed at how many people here on DU defend Monsanto

The argument is always how Monsanto is going to save the world from starvation. Pure propaganda from an evil corporation intent on profits at all costs.
The sole purpose of GMO food is for Monsanto to sell more of their poison.
Any corporation willing to spend millions so we can not know what is in our food has something to hide.

[villager]

33. All part of astro-turfing an "underground," so that parroting corporate talking points...

...is now seen as "free thought," etc.

[randr]

56. Right you are--Here is an example

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026329715

[villager]

79. Yup. Classic corporate misdirection

...all bundled into one neat OP!

[appalachiablue]

38. Yes it's very disturbing, plus all the (bought) studies & research papers they site & the paid,

rent-a-scientist practices. Saving the world is bull, like Gates, Michele Rhee, Marvin/Neil Bush ('No Child Left Behind' testing racket) non-educator corporatists pushing cheap privatized schools loaded with tech contracts. They used the propaganda on Rachel Carson also, over the elimination of DTT, saying she was going to be responsible for the deaths of millions of children from malaria. And how about the 'wealth creators' spin, and the 'trickle down' concept from the '80s and RR, all of it from the well funded and highly motivated RW think tanks. But their ideas are becoming less original, a lot more obvious esp. the older you get. 'Healthy Poverty' was a new one a few months ago from the RW spin but so absurd it disappeared quickly.

When I read here a few months ago that American humorist WILL ROGERS had commented about the bs behind 'TRICKLE UP' and Pres. Hoover in 1932, just before FDR came into office, I couldn't believe it.

The lie of giving money to the wealthiest at the top, in the form of tax breaks, deregulating business and other favors, so that they will supposedly use it for wage increases for their employees and create more jobs was known to be corrupt in the 1930s, yet it was revived by the GOP and Reagan less than 50 years later. Have we no history and institutional memory in this country anymore I wonder.

http://wiredpen.com/2015/01/30/will-rogers-trickle-economics/

[Major Nikon]

80. I'm not really alarmed at how many channel junk science to further an agenda

It seems to be an outcropping of people who don't really give a shit about actual "pure propaganda" so long as it says what they want to hear.

Case in point the OP references the pseudoscience of Seralini who's studies are funded via shell corporations which take money from large European megamarket chains which time organic advertising campaigns to the release of his nonsense.

So whether you realize it or not, there are other very large financial interests who are pumping money into producing "pure propaganda" for financial gain, and their tactics seem to rely heavily on the collective ignorance of those who promote such ideas. You also have other pseudoscience interests like "naturalnews.com", Mercola, et al which promote those ideas as if they have any scientific merit, purely for the purposes of promoting chemophobia so they can sell homeopathic and other "natural" so-called remedies which are nothing more than pure quackery. What really should be alarming you is most of those sites also promote anti-vax, AIDS denialist, and other assorted nutbaggery. Fucking Joe Mercola is a even a far right wing forced birther and people continuously parrot out his bullshit on DU.

[gregcrawford]

29. If I believed in an omnipotent deity...

... and his evil twin, Skippy, I would say that Skippy had manifested himself, in all his malignant glory, as the most evil corporate entity ever conceived by the mind of man... Monsanto.

[Octafish]

36. Endocrine Disruption

Gee. No wonder so many people have so many health issues their parents' generation didn't have.

No wonder Monsanto owns Washington.

[appalachiablue]

42. READ THIS POST! GLOBAL TOXIC POISON ALERT-

Glyphosate & Atrazine= 2 killer Herbicides brought to you by Monsanto and Syngenta, AG-Chemical Corp. Cousins.

*ATRAZINE-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/01/AR2010030102331.html

[Zorra]

55. Wow. Interesting article, thanks. nt

[appalachiablue]

61. Here's another article on ATRAZINE and Lawsuits by 16 Midwest US cities.

Two years ago I listened to a panel of experts on NPR discuss water contaminants in the metro Washington DC area. There's so many pollutants and chemicals running off city streets and suburban lawns that the water system wasn't designed to handle- especially endocrine disruptors, unnecessary antibiotics and antiseptics put in consumer products to be 'germ free' like shampoo, mouthwash, dish and laundry soaps, and prescription meds disposed at home.

TRISCOLSAN is a pesticide used in Colgate Total, some mouthwash, and by Johnson & Johnson in their Baby Shampoo until it was taken down from consumer pressure. At least 80% of antibiotic use in the US is to prevent illnesses in the massive number of factory farm animals grown here.
PLASTICS everywhere also contain damaging Phthalates, BP-A (Bisphenol A) and other chemicals that leech into food, beverages, the contents of everyday items and the environment.

No wonder there are so many CHRONIC DISEASES now of the immune, digestive, hormone and reproductive systems. So many kids with allergies, ADD, intestinal problems and autism. In adults, younger and younger there's cancers of the breast, prostate, thyroid and colon. All of this didn't exist until after WWII when the chemical, petroleum and plastics industries exploded. For my parents, grandparents and greats these toxins weren't present in the food, water, soil and air. None of them were sick with premature chronic diseases.

I swear they're trying to kill us off due to overpopulation and surplus labor now with escalating computer automation since most of us will be unneeded in the next 20 years. Acute sickness can kill, with chronic you suffer but someone makes money in the process. Biologist and author of 'Silent Spring', Rachel Carson was right in the 1950s about the overuse and damage of new chemicals in the natural world.

Deregulation, privatization and less govt. has been increasing under conservative, 'free market' influence for 30+ years. Federal govt. regulatory agencies are understaffed and underfunded, and food, water, soil, air and environment are not being regulated and inspected as they should. Fortunately there are many groups working to educate and amend these issues like Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families; Food and Water Watch; Organic Consumers Assn.; and Rodale Press News.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/16-cities-sue-manufacture_n_490762.html?

[Octafish]

43. Glyphosate found in breast milk, infant formula, and honey.

http://ecowatch.com/2015/04/10/glyphosate-breast-milk-infant-formula/?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=d2d2f37d00-Top_News_4_9_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-d2d2f37d00-85955433

[Major Nikon]

47. So is arsenic and many heavy metals

[Octafish]

62. True, part of our modern day chemical burden.

National Geographic wrote about it.

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/chemicals-within-us/

Radioactivity is seldom mentioned,anywhere, for some classified reason.

[Major Nikon]

63. Sure, and the vast majority of it is naturally occurring

[Octafish]

64. Not the dangerous parts.

That's man made.

[Major Nikon]

66. Sure. Nothing dangerous about arsenic and heavy metals

[Octafish]

70. Good Corporate Citizen BP likes mercury. It's why they dump it into Lake Michigan.

From Indiana, of course. Quality public education and all these days.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-bp-mercury-20130623,0,3016940.story

If link doesn't work, Internet Archive:

http://web.archive.org/web/20140403071330/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-bp-mercury-20130623,0,3016940.story

No one seems to mind, apart from those who can still comprehend.

[Major Nikon]

75. Sure, and every single municipal water supply tests for it

But certainly your links provide good evidence as to why we should totally freak out about everything all the time.

[Major Nikon]

49. Hydronium Hydroxide is an industrial solvent found in many foods

It has a known toxicity and kills many people per year. Andy Warhol died from it.

[greymattermom]

53. It's not just the food

It's hard to avoid plastic, but clear plastics contain endocrine disruptors, BPA or various replacements.

[appalachiablue]

65. Righto, not just food. From agriculture, factory farming, industrial fishing, consumer products

and food made with pesticides, herbicides, endocrine disruptors, antibiotics, plastic pthathalates, Bisphenol A and more. So now there are toxins all around, in the soil, water, air, and us! It was the Post WWII expansion of giant chemical, petroleum and plastics industries that bear much of the responsibility .

None of my grandparents, greats or parents had chronic diseases especially early onset, or took multiple prescription medicines of high cost before they were 65+. Just regular people, they worked, walked, were average weight. Pre 1950s-70s there weren't mass toxins everywhere in the environment like now. Relatives lived near small farming areas and ate 'normal' food, unpackaged and non industrially processed. Things are messed up now, chronic, costly and deadly but it doesn't have to be this way.

~ WE NEED A US MARSHALL PLAN TO CLEAN UP & REBUILD THE US! LIKE WE DID EUROPE AFTER WWII~

[Major Nikon]

67. It's hard to avoid rocks also which are natural emitters of radiation

And are a much bigger concern than BPA, but that doesn't say much.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/26/283030949/government-studies-suggest-bpa-exposure-from-food-isn-t-risky

[jillan]

74. I contacted the company that makes my dog's food to make sure they are GMO free - listen to this -

they responded that their food is a big seller in Europe and they cannot sell dog food in Europe if it contains GMOs.

So there you go - dogs in Europe eat healthier than humans in the US.


The brand is Arcana if you want to check them out.

[evirus]

81. Did you ask if they contain death crystals?

GMOS is a broad category, to make a blatant statement like food automatically being healthier is irrational