Photo: Curt Lamb
By: Alexandra Reissig and The Organic Consumer's Association
We received an e-mail last week from the Organic Consumers Association. In the e-mail, the OCA warned us against two atrocities that the USDA may soon allow in agricultural production. We would like to share them with you today and encourage you to take action with us!
Action #1: Stop the USDA from approving of a new wave of genetically altered mutant crops!
Text from OCA e-mail: Monsanto's RoundUp Ready genetically engineered crops (soy, corn, cotton, sugarbeets and canola) are a failure, responsible for new breeds of super-weeds, millions of gallons of toxic pesticides sprayed on farm crops, and the propagation of a deadly new micro-monster that attacks plants, animals, and humans alike.Monsanto's Roundup, even in the wake of this trail of destruction, is still the most widely used herbicide on the planet.
Now, rather than moving away from chemical and energy-intensive GMO crops and deadly pesticides, the USDA is preparing to escalate, letting chemical/biotech companies force a new wave of genetically engineered herbicide-tolerant crops, mutants that can survive being sprayed with the infamous herbicide 2,4-D, an Agent Orange ingredient with documented, uncontested major health problems that include cancer, reproductive problems, neurotoxicity, and immunosuppression.
We have until February 27, 2012 to try to convince the USDA not to approve Dow Chemical's new 2,4-D-tolerant corn.
TAKE ACTION
Action #2: Stop the USDA from approving Monsanto’s ‘Drought-Tolerant’ Genetically Mutated Corn!
Text from OCA e-mail: Genetic diversity and organic soil management - not genetic engineering - is the key to growing crops in the current era of global warming. Only traditional cross-breeding methods, coupled with ecological or organic farm practices that promote soil health, have proven capable of producing normal crop yields under drought or near-drought conditions.
The USDA's review of Monsanto's own data shows that years of investment into so-called "drought-resistant" biotech crops have been nothing more than a risky and very expensive failure.
Monsanto and the USDA have both admitted that MON 87460, the so-called "drought-tolerant" GMO corn, will fare only modestly better than current conventional varieties under low-and moderate-level drought conditions. Of course, corn grown organically not only retains significant more moisture in the soil than GMO or chemically-raised crops, but eliminates completely the use of toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
Data from U.S. researchers indicates that conventional breeding is producing drought tolerance two to three times faster than genetic engineering.
The danger is, now that MON 87460 has been fully deregulated, it will inevitably contaminate truly drought-tolerant varieties of organic and conventional corn, destroying the rich genetic diversity that the world's farmers have cultivated in the planet's infinitely varied micro-climates.
The USDA decision is final. All we can do now is complain to Congress and President Obama - who promised during the 2008 campaign that he would respect consumers' right to know and label GMOs! Of course, just like the other new GMOs approved by Obama's USDA (alfalfa, sugar beets, etc.), MON 87460 was approved without a labeling requirement.
Photos from TheBittenWord.com, Clagett Farm CSA, 2008 on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/galant/
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