{"article":{"id":172791,"heading":"GMO Disease Epidemics: Maize (Corn)","author":"Myron (Mike) Stagman, PhD","created":"2006-08-06 00:47:44","modified":"2006-08-06 00:47:44","last_modified":"Sun, 06 Aug 2006 07:47:44","article":"
\r\nMyron (Mike) Stagman, PhD
\r\nConcerned Citizens Information Network
\r\nwww.ccin.info  (environmental website)
\r\nwww.MyronStagman.com
\r\nemail: artemesium@gmail.com
\r\n
\r\n
\r\nGMO\r\nDISEASE EPIDEMICS:
\r\n <\/span><\/span>
\r\nMaize (StarLink corn]<\/span>
\r\n
\r\n
\r\nI.  The Face of Frankenstein's Monster<\/span>
\r\n
\r\nGenetic\r\nEngineering Biotechnology (GE, GM, GMOs) evades Evolution's safeguards\r\nby injecting genes of one species into a totally unrelated species,\r\nsomething impossible in Nature.
\r\n
\r\nGM evades Evolution's safeguards, and may therefore give rise to PATHOGENS<\/span> that can\r\n-- and HAVE, many times --  caused crippling and deadly\r\nDISEASE EPIDEMICS <\/span>-- documented but unpublicised.
\r\n
\r\nGenetic Engineering is also ideal for developing horrific biological\r\nand other military weapons --- sufficient cause to OUTLAW GM<\/span>.
\r\n
\r\nThe Greatest Racket in History (Listen to this !): ---
\r\n
\r\nGM contamination is virulent, spread by wind, bird, insect, animals and\r\ntravelling  human beings.  Co-Existence with GM is\r\ncompletely impossible, only fools or liars would say differently.<\/span>
\r\n
\r\nGM\r\nhas contaminated  crops in areas of North America which dwarf\r\nthe UK\r\nand even Western Europe.   Planetary contamination is\r\ninevitable, if We\r\ndon't stop it.
\r\n
\r\nThe Biotechnology corporations know oh-so-well how contamination\r\nspreads and spreads and spreads.
\r\n
\r\nNow\r\nget this:   Through their political influence, these\r\nCorporations have\r\nbeen able to acquire the obscene, sacrilegious, and indeed revolutionary \r\nPATENTS on LIFE-FORMS<\/span>.
\r\n
\r\nBefore\r\nthese revolutionary Patents on Life,  a farmer could have sued\r\n--\r\nsuccessfully without any doubt -- the Biotechnology corporation for\r\nhaving contaminated, poisoned his crops.
\r\n
\r\nHowever, given these Patents on Life (here, on the seeds<\/span>), the\r\nCorporation can -- and DOES, successfully -- sue the\r\nvictimised farmer for (Hold your nose) \"infringement of patent\".<\/span>
\r\n
\r\n[Our tainted, corrupted\r\npolitical systems allow this monstrosity.]<\/span>
\r\n
\r\nThus the formula the reader might keep in mind:
\r\nGM Contamination + Patents on Life-Forms  equals Corporate\r\nOwnership Rights in the crops of victimised farmers.
\r\n
\r\nThis formula spells the\r\nserfdom and ruin of all small family farmers on this planet.<\/span> \r\n(They are the majority of the population in Asia, Africa, and Latin\r\nAmerica).
\r\n
\r\nThe\r\nChemical-Drug-Biotechnology syndicate and its Enforcers <\/span>(corrupted\r\ngovernments in the West and Third World, corporation-dominated\r\norganisations like the WTO, World Bank, IMF) have started a WORLDWIDE\r\nAGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION.<\/span> <\/span>
\r\n
\r\nThey want to destroy small family farming, and have only gigantic\r\nCorporate GM Plantations with farmers working as serfs.
\r\n 
\r\n[This\r\nprocess is underway, especially in South America where the U.S.\r\nMilitary has begun to intervene on behalf of GM Plantations to crush\r\nfarmer opposition.]
\r\n
\r\nAlready, according to the Research Foundation for Science, Technology\r\nand Ecology (RFSTE) in New Delhi,  40,000\r\nfarmers in India have committed suicide<\/span>\r\nprimarily as a result of the Corporate Enforcers' so-called \"free\r\ntrade\" policies --- dumping heavily-subsidised Western farm produce\r\nonto glutted Indian markets, pushing GM crops, insisting that Patents\r\non Life-Forms be accepted so farmers must sign contracts with GM\r\nCorporations and can no longer save seeds, etc.
\r\n
\r\nThe Greatest\r\nRacket in History --- GM Contamination + Patents on Life-Forms equals\r\nCorporate Proprietary Rights in the crops of victimised farmers, and\r\nspells the serdom and ruin of small family farmers everywhere on this\r\nplanet.
\r\n
\r\nWe\r\nMUST OUTLAW GM and PATENTS on LIFE-FORMS -- or else !! <\/span>\r\n
\r\n(e.g. No more organic, healthy food --- you and your children will only\r\nbe able to eat unsafe GM) 
\r\n
\r\nSee the Action Plan in Part III designed to OUTLAW GM and PATENTS on\r\nLIFE-FORMS. 
\r\nBut beforehand, read the next in our series of \"GMO Disease\r\nEpidemics\". 
\r\n
\r\n- - - - - - - - - - - - -\r\n- -<\/span>
\r\n
\r\n<\/span>
\r\nII.  GM\r\nMaize (StarLink corn) Disease Epidemic<\/span><\/span>
\r\n
              \r\n
\r\n<\/div>\r\n
                  \r\n
\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Genetically engineered organisms are a dire threat\r\nnot only to human health but to farm animals and\r\nNature.  The\r\nhistory of GM maize<\/span> (corn)<\/span>\r\nillustrates the unpredictable, random, and hazardous process of\r\ngene-splicing.<\/div>\r\n
 
\r\nNote: \r\nIt should be kept in mind that government is morally and legally\r\nobligated to prove GM safe before allowing it on the market. \r\nThis has\r\nnot been done. 
\r\n
\r\nMoreover, one should  bear in mind that GM food and crops hold\r\nno benefits whatever for consumers<\/span>,\r\nonly risks.  And the same is true for Nature.<\/span>
\r\n<\/div>\r\n

\r\n- - - - - - - - - -
\r\n
\r\n
\"Cows\r\nate GM Maize and Died\" <\/span>(Institute of Science in\r\nSociety, London)
\r\n
\r\nIn Hesse, Germany, twelve dairy cows on a farm in Woelfersheim died<\/span>\r\nafter being fed GM maize and silage. In 2002,\r\n Syngenta, the\r\nBritish-Swiss biotech giant that manufactured the GM maize, paid farmer\r\nGottfried Gloeckner 40,000 Euros in compensation.
\r\n
\r\n[Syngenta, the\r\n2nd biggest biotechology corporation, after Monsanto (USA), is\r\ncomprised of the British drug giant AstraZenca and the Swiss drug giant\r\nNovartis.]
\r\n
\r\nWhy is genetically\r\nengineered fodder given to animals? <\/span> Have we\r\nlearned nothing from Mad Cow Disease?
\r\n
\r\nGM\r\nanimal feed not only endangers the animal, but endangers human beings\r\nwho eat animal products.
\r\n
\r\n- - - - - - - - - -
\r\n<\/span><\/span><\/div>\r\n
\r\nMass\r\nDeaths<\/span> <\/span>of\r\nMonarch Butterflies <\/span>
\r\n
\r\n \"An example of what can happen when genetically modified\r\ncrops are introduced was reported in May [1999] in the United\r\nStates.  Pollen\r\nfrom corn into which a toxin called Bt had been genetically engineered,\r\nkilled nearly half the monarch butterfly caterpillars [that] fed on it\r\nin a test at Cornell University.<\/span><\/span>\"
\r\n
\r\n       [International Herald Tribune<\/span>,\r\n5 August 1999, \"Genetically Modified Food Alarm<\/span><\/span>ingly Out of Control\"]<\/span>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n - - - - - - - - - - -
\r\n

\r\n Mass Deaths of Bees<\/span>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n<\/span>Regarding\r\nthe Bt toxin spliced into GM maize,  Genetically-engineered\r\nBt-cotton\r\nkilled 30% of the bees in the fields when field-tested in\r\nThailand.  
\r\n
\r\n[Institute for Science in Society, London]
\r\n
\r\n- - - - - - - - - - - -
\r\n
\r\nMass<\/span> <\/span>Infertility<\/span>\r\nof\r\nSows<\/span>
\r\n
\r\nPig farmers in Iowa grew GM maize and fed it to their pigs. \r\n80% of them became infertile.
\r\n
\r\n[Bt\r\nCorn Linked to Hog Breeding Problems\", Jim Riddle, May 20, 2002, In:\r\n\"GM Crops: What you should know\", GM Free Cymru, 2nd ed., July 2003,\r\npp.21-22] <\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n 
\r\n- - - - - - - - -
\r\n
\r\nAnimal\r\nantipathy to GM feed<\/span>\r\n---  There have been many reports that livestock and\r\nlaboratory animals\r\navoid genetically engineered feed  when given a choice.
\r\nThe previous items in this Fact-Sheet demonstrate that they have\r\nexcellent reasons for doing so.
\r\n
\r\nDomestic cows and pigs, wild geese, laboratory rats and mice --- they\r\nall avoid GM food when given a choice.
\r\n          \r\n[Institute of Science in Society;  Seeds of Deception <\/span>pp.\r\n47, 73, 138, 199]<\/span> \r\n
<\/span>
\r\n- - - - - - - - - - -
\r\n
\r\nGM\r\nMaize Disease Epidemic (StarLink)
\r\n
\r\n<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
 Washington\r\nPost<\/span>,  19 March  2001 (International Herald Tribune<\/span>\r\non 20 March 2001) printed an article\r\nentitled  \"Allergic Reactions\r\nTrigger a Sober Look at Biotech Foods\". Quotations from that\r\narticle:    <\/div>\r\n
 
\r\n \"Taco shells and other corn products\r\nhad been recalled nationwide because they were found to contain a\r\ngenetically modified type of corn [maize] called\r\nStarLink.  The corn\r\nhad been approved for only animal consumption because of concern it\r\nmight trigger dangerous allergic reactions in people. . . .<\/div>\r\n
   
\r\n\"Grace\r\nBooth had just finished a chicken enchilada lunch with co-workers when\r\nshe began to feel hot and itchy.  Her lips began to swell, she\r\ndeveloped severe diarrhea and soon she was having trouble\r\nbreathing. \r\nHer colleagues called an ambulance.  Ms. Booth, 35, [was]\r\napparently\r\nsuffering from\r\nanaphylactic shock<\/span>.\"<\/div>\r\n
 
\r\n
Hundreds\r\nof Americans have contacted the FDA, and thousands\r\ncalled food companies<\/span>, about suffering allergic\r\n(i.e. toxic) reactions<\/strong>, including cases of anaphylactic\r\n(life-threatening) shock<\/strong>, after\r\neating maize products almost\r\ncertainly containing the Bt genetically-engineered\r\ntoxin. 
\r\n(This may represent a fraction of those nationwide who\r\nsuffered toxic reactions.)
\r\nOne victim\r\ndied.     
\r\nAnd we are exposed to this after thousands of years of growing healthy\r\nmaize.
\r\n
\r\n[Jeffrey\r\nM. Smith, Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies\r\nAbout the Genetically Engineered Food You are Eating, 146-155; <\/em>
\r\nAndrew Rowell, Don't Worry, It's Safe To Eat<\/em>,\r\n2003, 131ff <\/em>
\r\n[www.foe.org\/camps\/comm\/safefood\/gefood\/starlink.pdf) \r\nwww.exnet.iastate.edu\/Pages\/grain\/publications\/buspub\/0010star.PDF<\/div>\r\n
<\/em>
\r\n<\/em><\/div>\r\n
\r\n- - - - - - - - - - -
\r\n <\/div>\r\n
The Phillipines<\/span>.\r\n \r\n\"Scientists Suspect Health Threat From GM Corn\"<\/span> (The Guardian<\/span>, 28\r\nFebruary 2004):
\r\n
\r\n \"Scientists investigating a\r\nspate of illnesses among people living close to GM maize fields in the\r\nPhilippines believe that the crop may have triggered fevers,\r\nrespiratory illnesses and skin reactions<\/span>. . . . The\r\nconcern\r\nsurrounds an unnamed village in northern Mindanao, where 39 people\r\nliving near a field of Bt maize -- which contains a pesticide in the\r\ngene -- started suffering last autumn when the crop was producing\r\npollen.<\/div>\r\n
  
\r\n\"Terje Traavik, scientific director of the\r\nNorwegian Institute of Gene ecology, was asked to investigate. . . .\r\nHis studies suggest that a virus promoter -- which is like a motor\r\ndriving the production of the genetic message -- was unexpectedly found\r\nintact in human cells. 
\r\n
\r\n\"His team also said it had found\r\ngenetically engineered viruses used in the GM process recombined with\r\nnatural viruses to create new hybrid viruses with unpredictable\r\ncharacteristics.<\/span>  If\r\nconfirmed, this could suggest that they could cause new diseases.<\/span><\/span>
\r\n<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
- - - - - - - - - - - <\/span>
\r\n
\r\n<\/span>Soil\r\ndegradation <\/span>is\r\nanother result of the Bt toxin, since it commonly leaches out of the\r\nplant and into the soil.  The poison causes the death of\r\nworms,\r\naccording to a study published in Nature<\/span>\r\n(UK).
\r\n<\/div>\r\n
 
\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Another\r\nstudy indicates that the mortality rate of lacewings, a beneificial\r\ninsect that feeds on caterpillars and aphids,  increased after\r\neating GM maize.  (New Scientist<\/span> 27,\r\nFebruary 1999, \"Dispatches from the killing fields\")
\r\n
\r\n<\/div>\r\n
 - - - - - - - - - -
\r\n
\r\n<\/div>\r\n
GM\r\nmaize plantings increase the use of herbicides and pesticides <\/span>
\r\n
\r\n \"Herbicide\r\nuse on GM maize and soya has increased dramatically in the US in recent\r\nyears. This completely undermines the recent claims the biotechnology\r\ncompanies have been making about reduced herbicide use on GM crops and\r\nthe positive findings of the Farm Scale Evaluations (FSEs) about GM HT\r\n[herbicide tolerant] maize. <\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
\"In the US,\r\nreductions in agrochemical use on GM crops were only\r\ntemporary.  After\r\na few years GM crops have led to a substantially greater use of\r\nherbicides than non-GM crops with significant year on year increases\r\nparticularly for GM soya and maize.<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
 \"Herbicide tolerant crops have increased pesticide\r\nuse an estimated 70\r\nmillion pounds<\/span> [lbs] over the last eight years.\"
\r\n
\r\n [Soil\r\nAssociation briefing, based on Dr. Charles Benbrook's paper \"Impacts of\r\nGenetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use in the United States: The\r\nFirst Eight Years, Biotech InfoNet, Technical Paper No. 6, Nov 2003,\r\nhttp:\/\/www.biotech-info.net\/technicalpaper6.html)<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
- - - - - - -\r\n- -
\r\n
\r\nGM maize\r\ncontamination<\/span>
\r\n
\r\n<\/span>Gene\r\nflow from GM crops is typically virulent.  Wind, birds,\r\ninsects,\r\nmachinery, transportaion vehicles, and the unintentional and\r\nintentional mixing of seeds can carry GM seeds and pollen\r\nthroughout\r\nthe world.  <\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
Dust from the Sahara Desert has fallen on Great Britain,\r\n1,800 kilometres away, and pollen has one-half the density of\r\ndust. 
\r\n<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
     \r\nEvidently Canada can no longer guarantee any of its maize to be GM\r\nfree.  The situation by now is probably not much better in the\r\nUnited\r\nStates.<\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
Tragically, the government and scientific community\r\nof Mexico announced (November 2003) that Mexico's\r\ntraditional maize crop is contaminated with DNA from GM maize.<\/span><\/div>\r\n
 <\/div>\r\n
In Europe, GM maize contamination has already been detected\r\nin conventional seeds in Austria, France, and Switzerland.<\/div>\r\n
\r\n- - - - - - - - - - -
\r\n
\r\n
\r\nIII.  Conclusion\r\nand What To Do<\/span>
\r\n
\r\n<\/span>Human beings and Nature, as we have known them, cannot\r\nsurvive in a GMO-Frankenstein world.  
\r\n
\r\nThe nightmare technology of Genetic Engineering Biotechnology, and its\r\nincestuous Patents on Life-Forms, must be OUTLAWED.
\r\n
\r\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\r\nHow To Do It<\/span>?
\r\n
\r\nThere is only one way to overcome this extremely powerful, \r\nruthless Corporation-Government-corporate Mass Media axis.
\r\n<\/span>
\r\nIt\r\nis to conduct grassroots Public Education Campaigns to educate and\r\npolitically activate the General Public, university \/ college students\r\nin particular.<\/span>
\r\n
\r\nThe General\r\nPublic<\/span>\r\n!!   Stop forever talking to the Converted. \r\nTo get around the\r\ncorporate media's suppression and distortion of truth,  one\r\nmust talk<\/span>\r\nto people and go\r\ndoor-to-door with leaflets and vocal messages. <\/span>
\r\nAnd major efforts must be made to inform and activate <\/span>university students.<\/span><\/span>
\r\n
\r\nImportant Hints: 
\r\n
\r\n(1)   Concentrate on  university students<\/span>. \r\n
\r\n
\r\n And  senior\r\ncitizens.<\/span>
\r\n   
\r\nI\r\nspeak to you now, elder citizens like\r\nmyself.    Put moral purpose into\r\nyour lives and help rescue this planet and your grandchildren.
\r\n
\r\n(2)   AVOID\r\nNGOs and all established organisations, especially large ones.<\/span> \r\nThey are not what they seem.
\r\n
\r\nTheir hierarchies and decision-making are corporation-influenced if not\r\noutright purchased.
\r\n
\r\nNever ever join\r\nthem.  Never ever give them Money. <\/span> \r\n
\r\n
\r\n  [see George Monbiot's very important article in The Guardian,  <\/span>4\r\nSeptember 2001, \"Sleeping\r\nwith the Enemy:  Consumer and Environmental Groups are Getting\r\ninto Bed with Big Corporations<\/span>]
\r\n<\/span>
\r\n[Note: In\r\ndeveloping countries there are some exceptions, but very very very few\r\nin the West. If by a miracle one of them ever conducts a genuine and\r\nsensible public education campaign, then you can help ou<\/span>t. \r\nBut NEVER<\/span>\r\njoin or give money to them.]
\r\n
\r\nThe environmental field especially is riddled with<\/span><\/span> wealthy, prestigious, deceptive<\/span>\r\norganisations adept at dilutng and derailing environmental\r\ncauses,  GM in particular. 
\r\n<\/span>
\r\n[I am thinking at this moment of one such organisation I have observed\r\nover a long period of time, in my view a very slick and dangerous FOE<\/span>\r\nof environmentalism, originally created by polluting Corporations to\r\ndeal with the growing environmental movement.
\r\nDon't go anywhere\r\nnear this one.]<\/span>
\r\n
\r\nWhen they talk about being 'practical' and seeking 'Coexistence'<\/span>\r\nwith GM,  let a red\r\nflag<\/span> go up.
\r\n
\r\nNothing short of OUTLAWING GENETIC ENGINEERING and PATENTS ON\r\nLIFE-FORMS will save us and our planet.
\r\n
\r\nDo your educational work\r\nas individuals or in small groups of people you know.<\/span>
\r\n
\r\nIn a little of your\r\nSPARETIME (perhaps 3 or 4 hours a week, but regularly, as part of an\r\nethical life-style):<\/span>
\r\n
\r\nEducate and activate\r\nthe Public by writing and telephoning and just talking to your family\r\nmembers, friends and acquantances; 
\r\n
\r\nWrite letters and make telephone calls to local, regional and national\r\nmedia<\/span>; 
\r\n
\r\nWrite, call and especially visit your legislative representatives and\r\nother government personnel,  and
\r\n
\r\nTake appropriate Direct\r\nAction<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>
\r\n<\/span>
\r\n
\r\nGood Luck to You.
\r\n
\r\nP.S. \r\nFor a detailed Action Plan on conducting education\/activation campaigns\r\n(e.g. composing A4 leaflets for distribution, lobbying your legislative\r\nrepresentative) see \"Creating a Grassroots Democracy While Outlawing\r\nGenetic Engineering\"currently on the Indymedia Biotech\r\nwebsite.  Or\r\nemail me and request it.<\/span>
\r\n 
\r\nFor extensive information on\r\nthe casualties and unprecedented dangers of Genetic Engineering, see\r\n\"Genetic Engineering Fact-Sheet\" on the website of the Concerned\r\nCitizens Information Network,  www.ccin.info
\r\n<\/span><\/span>\r\n\n","contact":"artemesium@gmail.com","link":"www.MyronStagman.com","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"Genetic Engineering (GE,GM,GMOs) is a nightmare technology that has already caused MANY disease epidemics -- documented but unpublicized. This is the 5th in the series, dealing here with CORN (maize). That genetic engineering has been allowed to contaminate this wonderful food, originated by native Americans 2,000 years ago, is vile beyond description.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2006\/08\/172791.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}