Source (whole paper with the pictures)

Embark on an organic journey towards healthy living

As a consequence of industrial revolution dated long back and still going on, human life has been constantly dependent on several artificial products. Nature almost took a back seat. However, one cannot ignore nature and all the organic products coming from it in the face of problems created by artificial products.

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 3:25 AM
To: WEBGURU, EMAIL [AG/1000]
Subject: Monsanto Gateway - Site Feedback
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Name: Ermakova

City: Moscow
State: XX
Country: Russia
Category: Site Feedback

Does Consent: Yes

Message:
NEW IDEA

Dear Mr/Mrs,

I am an investigator, who performed experiments with rats and found
negative effect of GM-soy (RR, line 40.3.2) on offspring (Ermakova,
2005, 2006). I am absolutely sure that the biotechnology is the future
of humanity and like the idea of gene introduction. However we must
think about biosafety. My opinion is that the main reason of the
negative effect obtained by independent scientists and by me also is the
imperfection of gene introduction procedure used for GMO creation.
Analyzing results I understood how it would be possible to modify the
technologies to make them safer for humans and the Environment. I would
be glad to discuss this idea with you and ready to check it in
experiments. If you like this idea it will belong to your Company,
because it is only modification of your methods.

Scientists Concerned For Academic Freedom.

Dr. Judy Carman, senior scientist working in the field of epidemiology in Australia and awarded a government grant to study the safety of GM feed, has been subjected to a sustained campaign of vilification by individuals associated with the biotech industry, with the clear intention of preventing her from carrying out the research. Political pressure is now being brought to bear on her research by the current Agriculture and Food Minister of Western Australia.

            Dr. Carman is not an isolated case. A long string of scientists beginning with Arpad Puszati, Susan Bardocz, Chiv Chopra, Ignacio Chapela, Irina Ermakova, and more has suffered the same attacks when their research or laboratory findings are deemed unfavourable to the biotech industry; they have also lost their grants or their jobs as a result.

It is important for scientists to make a stand for real science, and for the right of scientists to do research without being harassed and intimidated, or losing their grants or positions. The public will not be well-served unless this academic freedom to do research independent of industry or the whims of government is guaranteed.

Please add your name and affiliation to the letter below by sending an e-mail message to Ýòîò e-mail çàùèùåí îò ñïàì-áîòîâ. Äëÿ åãî ïðîñìîòðà â âàøåì áðàóçåðå äîëæíà áûòü âêëþ÷åíà ïîääåðæêà Java-script

Please forward for more signatures

Source: THIRD WORLD NETWORK BIOSAFETY INFORMATION SERVICE

Dear friends and colleagues

The 'No Patents on Seeds' coalition and supporting farmers' organizations issued an alert on 21 October over a new class of patents covering plants and animals and endangering innovation and food security.  

Preliminary findings suggest a link between Morgellons Disease and Agrobacterium, a soil bacterium extensively manipulated and used in making GM crops; has genetic engineering created a new epidemic?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6EIlNaqM60

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States announced the launch of an investigation on ‘Morgellons Disease’ in January 2008 [1], after receiving thousands of complaints from people with this bewildering condition, which it describes as follows [2]: “Persons who suffer from this unexplained skin condition report a range of cutaneous (skin) symptoms including crawling, biting and stinging sensations; granules, threads, fibers, or black speck-like materials on or beneath the skin, and/or skin lesions (e.g., rashes or sores). In addition to skin manifestations, some sufferers also report fatigue, mental confusion, short term memory loss, joint pain, and changes in visions.”

Source: Dailymail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1147635/British-scientists-condemn-using-children-GM-food-trials-unacceptable.html By Sean Poulter 17th February 2009 Children in China and America were fed GM rice in a controversial trial (posed)þ Children have been used as 'lab rats' in GM rice trials that were carried out in breach of ethics rules drawn up in response to the medical crimes of Nazi Germany, it is claimed. Youngsters aged 6-10 were fed so-called Golden Rice, which has been modified to contain enhanced levels of beta carotene or vitamin A.

The rice is being developed to combat Vitamin A deficiency, which is linked to damage to the sight, poor brain development and immune system failure.

However high consumption can also have harmful toxic effects and cause birth defects.
Critics are furious that the GM rice was not put through animal feeding trials to ensure it was safe before being given to children. The decision to use the children has been condemned as 'completely unacceptable' by a group of 22 scientists - all GM critics - from Britain and around the world.

They claim it is indicative of moves by the biotech lobby, led by the USA and biotech firms, to force GM food into the mouths of the world without proper assessment. The project was financed and run through the US National Institutes of Health and involved children in China and America. The scientists have written an open letter to the team behind the experiments, condemning the way they were conducted.

It states: 'We are writing to express our shock and unequivocal denunciation of the experiments being conducted by your colleagues which involve the feeding of genetically modified Golden Rice to human subjects.' The letter says there has been 'woefully inadequate pre-clinical evaluation' of the rice. The scientists argue there is a large body of evidence showing GM food production can trigger gene mutations which 'can result in health damaging effects when GM food products are fed to animals'. The letter adds: 'Our greatest concern is that this rice, which is engineered to overproduce beta carotene, has never been tested in animals'. It says there is evidence that certain chemicals derived from beta carotene 'are both toxic and cause birth defects'.

Critics of the GM experiments says the Nuremburg code states that children under 10 are not considered legally capable of giving consent to participation in such experiments. They say the code also requires that human guinea pigs should not be used if scientists have an alternative experimental method. Thirdly, experiments on humans should not be conducted until tests with animals have identified potential hazards. Among the leading bodies behind the GM Golden rice project are the biotech company Syngenta, the Rockefeller Foundation and the charitable foundation set up by Microsoft boss Bill Gates.

The list of signatories to the protest letter includes Malcolm Hooper, emeritus professor of medicinal chemistry at Sunderland University, who said: 'This type of experimentation is frightening - children as lab rats - it is not on.'
Another is Prof David Schubert, of the Salk Institute of Biological Studies, San Diego, who said: 'It is completely immoral to feed this rice to children without proper safety testing...It's like putting a new drug on the market with no toxicology or safety trials.'

Other signatories include Prof Carlo Leifert, director of the Tesco Centre for Organic Agriculture at Newcastle University; and Dr Stanley WB Ewen. Dr Ewen was involved in rat feeding trials in Scotland in 1999 which linked GM potatoes to harmful toxic effects.

Dr Brian John, of GM Free Cymru said: 'These irresponsible and dangerous trials must be stopped immediately, and the Golden Rice Project team must put its much-vaunted product through a full and transparent testing process before it is allowed to pass the lips of any other human being.'

Project manager at the Golden Rice Organisation, Dr Adrian Dubock, denied that the Nuremburg Code has been breached. He said the feeding trials had been approved by independent ethical review panels.
'Parents were not given financial rewards for their children’s participation - to avoid undue pressure on poor families - but children were rewarded with school bags and pencils and paper as a thank you for participating,' he said.

Dr Dubock said 6,000 people around the world die every day due to illnesses related to failing immune systems where Vitamin A deficiency is a factor. 'The Golden Rice contains the food colours found everywhere in coloured natural foods and the environment...There is no possible way the trials could do any harm to the participants.'
Dr Dubock said animal experiments would not have helped. 'As humans are the designed beneficiaries of Golden Rice, animal testing could not answer the questions posed,' he said.

This appears odd as all GM foods, which are designed to be eaten by humans, are required to go through animal testing by food safety authorities in many countries.

This formal letter of protest relating to a severe breach of medical ethics has been sent by 22 senior scientists to the Tufts University School of Medicine, together with a call for these GM feedingexperiments to be terminated immediately.

Author: Werner Mueller, eco-risk.at, Vienna

May 2008

Institute for Responsible Technology �� P.O. Box 469 �� Fairfield, IA 52556 �� USA +1.641.209.1765 �� Ýòîò e-mail çàùèùåí îò ñïàì-áîòîâ. Äëÿ åãî ïðîñìîòðà â âàøåì áðàóçåðå äîëæíà áûòü âêëþ÷åíà ïîääåðæêà Java-script �� www.responsibletechnology.org

We all know stories of tobacco, asbestos, and DDT. Originally declared safe, they caused widespread death and disease. Although their impact was vast, most of the population was spared. The same cannot be said for sweeping changes in the food supply. Everyone eats; everyone is affected. The increase in several diseases in North America may be due to the profound changes in our diet. The most radical change occurred a little over a decade ago when genetically modified (GM) crops were introduced. Their influence on health has been largely ignored, but recent studies show serious problems. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been linked to thousands of toxic or allergic‐type reactions, thousands of sick, sterile, and dead livestock, and damage to virtually every organ and system studied in lab animals.1 Nearly every independent animal feeding safety study shows adverse or unexplained effects. Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt, which produces a natural insect‐killing poison called Bt‐toxin. In addition to these two traits, there are also disease resistant GM Hawaiian papaya, zucchini and crook neck squash, which comprise well under 1% of GMO acreage.

GM foods were made possible by a technology developed in the 1970s whereby genes from one species are forced into the DNA of other species. Genes produce proteins, which in turn can generate characteristics or traits. The promised traits associated with GMOs have been sky high—vegetables growing in the desert, vitamin fortified grains, and highly productive crops feeding the starving millions. None of these are available. In fact, the only two traits that are found in nearly all commericialized GM plants are herbicide tolerance and/or pesticide production.

Herbicide tolerant soy, corn, cotton, and canola plants are engineered with bacterial genes that allow them to survive otherwise deadly doses of herbicides. This gives farmers more flexibility in weeding and gives the GM seed company lots more profit. When farmers buy GM seeds, they sign a contract to buy only that seed producer’s brand of herbicide. Herbicide tolerant crops comprise about 80% of all GM plants. The other 20% are corn and cotton varieties that produce a pesticide in every cell. This is accomplished due to a gene from a soil bacterium  or Bt, which produces a natural insect‐killing poison called Bt‐toxin. In addition to these two traits, there are also disease resistant GM Hawaiian papaya, zucchini and crook neck squash, which comprise well under 1% of GMO acreage.

Experimental Systems to Monitor the Impact of Transgenic Corn on Keystone Soil Microorganisms
by Turrini, A., Sbrana, C., & Giovannetti, M.

Keywords: GMO, environmental impact, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi,  
coexistence, nontarget organisms

Abstract
Risks and benefits of transgenic crop plants should be evaluated not only by assessing pollen flow, but also by considering soil persistence of  transgenic products, such as Bt toxins, which can accumulate in the soil and remain active for a long time. Moreover, transgenic plants are often plowed under as crop residues, representing a potential hazard for nontarget arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, a group of beneficial plant symbionts fundamental for soil fertility. In this study, we monitored the effects of transgenic corn plants (Bt 11 and Bt 176) and their residues on AM  fungal growth and root colonization ability. Both transgenic plants decreased mycorrhizal colonization and Bt 11 plant residues negatively affected mycorrhizal establishment by indigenous endophytes four months after their incorporation into soil.

16 IFOAM Organic World Congress, Modena, Italy, June 16-20, 2008
Archived at http://orgprints.org/view/projects/conference.html