They don’t
stop, you see—which is curious, because...aren’t they reading? Aren’t they paying
attention? Surely this blog should put the fear of God into at least a few people….
There’s Monsanto, for example, and what, by the way, ever
became of that genetically modified wheat that somehow sprang up in a farmer’s field in May of last year?
Remember that? An Oregon farmer sprayed the herbicide Roundup on his field, and some wheat plants refused to die. So he
sent them off to Oregon State University—which unsurprisingly is quite
interested in wheat, since the state sells 700 million bucks of it mostly to
Asia—and yup, it was Monsanto’s experimental wheat. And the experiment? It had
ended more than a decade before.
Japan
suspended purchases of wheat; the USDA guys were scrambling to try to determine
how the wheat got there. Then, in a conference call, some Monsanto spokesman
came up with an ingenious idea: sabotage. One of those nutty foodies, you see,
had snuck into Monsanto—presumably any soul can drift in and out of their
facilities, rather like a mall—and copped the wheat. Then, he had gone into a
field, planted the seed, and pointed the finger at Monsanto, to tarnish the
company’s reputation! Hah! Foiled that dude!
The
complete inanity of the explanation was of no importance. What’s important, as
anybody in corporate America knows, is that somebody says something. Anything.
Whatever….
Because
they know—the public forgets. We go on. We worry about North Korea until it’s
time to worry about the Crimea, and then, guess what? The North Koreans
detonate a nuclear missile and then we all start worrying again.
And so I
googled “GMO wheat Oregon,” and was unsurprised to learn: we still don’t know,
the story went cold. I did, however, discover the name of the professor who
identified the wheat—Carol Mallory-Smith, professor, Weed Science.
Weed
Science?
This, I
have to say, greatly improves the Monday morning experience. Who knew, for
example, that there is the Weed Science Society of America, or the WSSA, which takes its weeds very
seriously? And I regret to inform the readers of this blog that I completely
screwed up by not informing you guys about National Invasive Species Awareness Week, which was February 23-28. (Though it
does seem curious—don’t most weeks have seven days? Or do invasive species move
so fast….)
Right—so I
have emailed Professor Mallory-Smith, to see if there’s any more information on
the Oregon wheat situation; the professor, curiously, has not immediately
responded. She may be out in the field; stay tuned.
What else
did I find? Well, take a look at this….
And the
caption for this photo?
Michael
Doane, Monsanto's wheat industry affairs director, looks at growth in a wheat
field in an undisclosed location in North Dakota in this undated file photo.
(Reuters / Carey Gillam)
And the
date of this article? January 15, 2014.
Guys? Who
the hell decided to allow Monsanto to test their new GMO wheat in—of all
places—a North Dakota field? And why, by the way, did The New York Times publish an opinion piece entitled “We Need G. M. O. Wheat?”
Well, I
read it, which turns out to be an op-ed written by guys seriously in bed with
the “biotech industry.” One of the authors, in fact, has written a book, The Frankenfood Myth: How Protest and
Politics Threaten the Biotech Revolution—does that tell you the story?
According
to the authors, the soybean and corn farmers made the switch to GMO seeds in
the 1990’s, and they’ve been happy as Chesapeake Bay clams ever since—enjoying
increased yields, using less herbicide, making more money. But those fussy
foodies won’t let the biotech industry approve GMO wheat, since 15 percent of
it is exported to countries that don’t want the stuff. Oh, and the authors go
on to say:
The
scientific consensus is that existing genetically engineered crops are as safe
as the non-genetically engineered hybrid plants that are a mainstay of our
diet.
Whew—what a
relief!
Or is it?
Because I had been watching a documentary about Monsanto, and something stuck
in my mind. So I googled “GMO food autism” and sure enough, there’s a body of
research out there—done in admittedly iffy institutions like Harvard and
Massachusetts General—that suggest that there may be a link between autism and
GMO foods.
Why? It
appears that GMO foods cause the intestines to weaken and become inflamed.
Here’s what one article had to say:
One of the
earliest indications that GMOs might cause GI tract distress was a 1999 study
published in the Lancet. After rats were fed experimental GMO potatoes for just
10 days, the cells of the stomach lining and intestines were significantly
altered.[12]
When
California pediatrician Michelle Perro reviewed the study in 2011 and saw the
photos of the increased cellular growth and abnormal architecture, she thought
to herself, “Uh oh -- we’ve got some problems.” Based on her experience
treating children for 30 years, she said, “You can extrapolate that the same
thing may be occurring in babies clinically. They are not digesting their food.
They are malabsorbing. . . . And I’m seeing that commonly now.” Digestive
issues are skyrocketing among her patients.
Does this
gastric distress lead to or cause autism? Nobody knows. What’s more
interesting, though, is the research on rats fed GMO. Consider this:
Dr. Irina
Ermakova, PhD, a senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences, reported
to the European Congress of Psychiatry in March 2006 that male rats fed GM soy
exhibited anxiety and aggression, while those fed non-GMO soy did not [3].
Ermakova reported the same behavior in GM soy-fed female rats and their
offspring in her study published in Ecosinform. The animals “attacked and bit
each other and the worker."[4]
(Far more
shocking, however, was that more than 50% of the offspring from the GMO-fed
group died within three weeks when compared with a 10% death rate among the
group fed natural soy. The GM group also had high rates of infertility and had
smaller members.)
In one of
his books, Michael Pollan writes of being given GMO potatoes,
which he kept for a while. Then the question came up—could he make a potato
salad and take it to a pot luck supper? And if so, was he morally obliged to let
people know? Pollan eventually tossed the potatoes, and came to the conclusion
any sane person would: even if the potatoes were safe, why take a risk?
In fact, we
have all taken the risk—everyone who has eaten “normal” food for the last 20
years. And now, one
in 68 kids in the US may have autism; in New Jersey, one
in 28 boys has autism.
Oh, and the
guys who are regulating the “biotech industry?” Unsurprisingly, they’re not
even in bed with the industry, they’re in flagrante with them.
It’s a
cynical as it is evil.
PS—The good
professor came through!
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