<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/2014/11/22/report-81-percent-gm-crops-approved-without-adequate-safety-studies/"><b><span style="font-family:garamond,serif"><font size="4">Nation of Change</font></span></b></a><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">
<h1 class=""><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">81 Percent of GM Crops Approved Without Adequate Safety Studies</span></h1><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<img style="margin-right: 0px;" src="http://www.nationofchange.org/2014/wp-content/uploads/GMOCrops112214.jpg" class="" alt="genetic experiment" height="281" width="441">
</span><h2 style="font-size:16px;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">With all the GM crops
approved for planting and marketing globally, a high percent were not
studied for possible health and environmental safety risks. This is a
recipe for disaster.</span></h2><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><div class=""><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
Published: November 22, 2014<br>Authors:
<a class="" href="http://www.nationofchange.org/2014/author/christina-sarich/" rel="author">Christina Sarich</a>
| <a href="http://naturalsociety.com/81-gm-crops-approved-scientific-safety-studies/">Natural Society</a> <br>News Report </span></div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">What’s a recipe for environmental mayhem and the destruction of
human health? The approval of genetically modified organisms by
governments worldwide <strong>without any scientific safety studies</strong>. A new study published by the risk-assessment journal <em>Environment International </em>states that <strong>of the GM crops approved for planting and marketing globally, <a href="http://rightbiotech.tumblr.com/post/100437995195/ultimate-experts">81% were not studied</a> for possible health and environmental safety risks.</strong></span></p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Nevertheless, the biotech <a href="http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/pages/biotech-safety-gmo-advantages.aspx">industry keeps touting</a> GMO ‘benefits’ like a narcissistic madman on steroids. This chest beating continues – despite <strong>a complete lack of published, peer-reviewed research supporting the safety of genetically modified organisms</strong>.</span></p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">The <a href="http://biology.usf.edu/ib/data/flyers/ROHR-PESTICIDE-REGULATION-11-2014.pdf">researchers of the risk-assessment</a>
study looked at GM crops engineered either for tolerance to the
herbicide glyphosate (Roundup) or engineered to produce pesticides in
their tissues due to the expression of cry1Ab or cry3Bb1 genes. Of all
the bioengineering tricks up Monsanto and Syngenta’s sleeves, these are
the most commonly used in commercial GM crops.</span></p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">A whopping 47 GM crop varieties meet these conditions and have been
given approval by agencies like the USDA, the FDA, and other regulatory
bodies around the world.</span></p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">When the researchers did a search for peer-reviewed studies on these crops <strong>prior to their approval</strong> so
that they could tell if the agencies were relying on published vs.
secret, industry-led studies, their findings were indeed telling.</span></p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><strong>The approval of these crops was based entirely on industry-biased data</strong>.</span></p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Only 18 peer-reviewed studies could be found which assessed the
safety of any of the 47 GM crops that have been given a rubber stamp,
and only 9 of the 47 crop varieties were studied. This means that the <strong>remaining 38 GMO varieties</strong> <strong>were approved with zero credible scientific evidence of their safety.</strong></span></p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">This is an incontrovertible piece of evidence that Monsanto, Dow,
Syngenta, Bayer, Cargill, the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association, and
others have completely swayed government opinion about GMO safety based
on manufactured to appease ‘experts.’ Experts who are supposed to assess
the possible toxicity of any food or beverage we consume. This means
that GMOs got the green light without safety assessments by independent
scientists. No government-appointed shills should be making decisions
about our food supply with such little risk assessment conducted.</span></p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><strong>The new study does suffer from one major limitation, however</strong>, since it looked only for published studies involving <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412014002669">feeding rats the GM crop</a>
in question and then monitoring them for health effects. There are
obviously other ways to conduct safety tests, but these were not
conducted either.</span></p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Furthermore, these companies did indeed test their own crops and hid
the results from regulators, even when they knew their toxic GMO
products could cause serious health risks. The biotech industry has
called these tests a ‘<a href="http://naturalsociety.com/monsanto-hides-toxicity-test-results-roundup-calling-commercial-secret/">commercial secret</a>’ even when they knowingly promote GMOs while they causes harm.</span></p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">The pesticides and herbicides marketed to go hand-in-hand with GM
crop sales are subject to the same ‘scrutiny’ as GMO crops themselves. A
2014 study in the journal <em>BioScience </em>found that the pesticide-approval process has been very similar.</span></p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span><blockquote><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><em>“<a href="http://biology.usf.edu/ib/news/">Risk assessment is compromised when</a>
relatively few studies are used to determine impacts, particularly if
most of the data used in an assessment are produced by a pesticide’s
manufacturer, which constitutes a conflict of interest. Although <strong>manufacturers who directly profit from chemical sales should continue to bear the costs of testing</strong></em><em>,
this can be accomplished without [conflicts of interest] by an
independent party with no potential for financial gain from the outcome
and with no direct ties to the manufacturer.”</em></span></p></blockquote><br><br clear="all"></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><font size="1"><b><span style="color:rgb(116,27,71)"><i>CHUCK SEARCY<br></i></span></b></font></div><font size="1"><b><span style="color:rgb(116,27,71)"><i></i></span></b></font></div><font size="1"><b><span style="color:rgb(116,27,71)"><i><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;display:inline">Co-Chair, Agent Orange Working Goup</div><br>M +8 490 342 0769<br></i></span></b></font></div><font size="1"><b><span style="color:rgb(116,27,71)"><i>E <a href="mailto:chuckusvn@gmail.com" target="_blank">chuckusvn@gmail.com</a><br></i></span></b></font></div><i><font size="1"><b><span style="color:rgb(116,27,71)">Sk chucksearcy</span></b><br></font></i></div></div></div>
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