Rebel With a Fork

 OK, maybe you don’t eat alfalfa. But the animals you eat do.

And Maybe we’re all just alarmists and GMO foods won’t hurt our health. Maybe. But by the time we determine that – Monsanto will have claim to every crop on earth.

 Imagine for a moment that you’re a struggling farmer. You don’t buy seeds from Monsanto. You want nothing to do with Monsanto seeds. You diligently save your seeds to plant next year.

Suddenly thugs show up at your door claiming that you have Monsanto crops that you have planted illegally.

You can spend millions and try to fight this corporate Mafia. But for most – you’ll end up paying them royalties, and having to buy their seeds and fertilizers every year forever more.

The practice of saving seeds will soon be a moot point. Most plants are being bred to not produce seeds. That solves that problem, doesn’t it?

Slowly and surely, all crops will be contaminated by GMO pollen as it drifts in the wind – or otherwise mysteriously appears in your crops. The way the law is currently set up – Monsanto owns the patent, and therefore you owe them for these crops growing on YOUR land, even thought you want nothing to do with them. This is worldwide – not just USA.

As a consumer, all of the food you eat will contain GMOs. Once we reach the point of no return, it will be impossible to avoid. If any of you are trying to avoid the GMO products for Lent, you have found out just how difficult it is. GMO crops are in every commercially produced food, with the exception of organics – so far. Soon there will not be a vegetable, or grain, or fruit that is not genetically modified.

How comfortable do you feel with a giant chemical corporation controlling the world’s food?

If any of this bothers you, I urge you to file your comments if you have not already done so – and let your voice be heard.

Here is the most recent release about the Comment Deadline –

Keep organics safe from GMOs!

Tell the USDA that you care
about about organic contamination, reject Monsanto’s GMO alfalfa!

Dear Carole,

Everything you thought you knew about organics is about to change. If the USDA and Monsanto get their way, organic integrity is about to go the way of the dinosaur.

Once again, the organic industry is under assault. This time the USDA is determined to let Monsanto ride roughshod over common sense environmental rules that would protect organic farmers from having their crops contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds.

Tell Secretary Vilsack that Monsanto’s GMO alfalfa cannot be allowed to undermine the organic industry. Comments are due by close of business on Wednesday, March 3rd. So please ACT TODAY:

http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/111?akid=88.97349.R8eBNU&t=6

During the Bush administration, Monsanto illegally won USDA approval for its GMO alfalfa by convincing USDA regulators to bypass a mandatory environmental review.¹ In 2007, a court reversed this decision, ordering the USDA to complete the legally required environmental impact statement (EIS).

Shockingly, the Obama Administration’s recent review would approve Monsanto’s GMO alfalfa.

The draft USDA EIS was issued in December 2009 and is poised to allow Monsanto’s GMO alfalfa on the market, despite the fact that the USDA admits that these seeds will contaminate organic feed that organic dairy farmers rely on to produce organic milk.²

According to the CEO of the largest farmer-owned organic dairy coop in the U.S., GMO alfalfa “threatens the very fabric of the organic industry.”³ We can’t allow this to happen.

Despite massive public outcry in the past, the USDA’s environmental review went so far as to say that U.S. organic consumers don’t care about GMO contamination.

Tell Secretary Vilsack that you care about organic contamination and that you want him to stand up for the organic industry and organic consumers.

http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/111?akid=88.97349.R8eBNU&t=8

Thanks for all you do,

Dave, Lisa and the Food Democracy Now! Team

Help support our work: If you’d like to see Food Democracy Now!’s grassroots work continue, please consider donating what you can, whether it’s $5 or $50. Every bit helps!. We appreciate your support!

Sources:

1. Farmers Sue USDA Over Modified Alfalfa Crop, The New Standard, March 3, 2006
http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/108?akid=88.97349.R8eBNU&t=11

2. Roundup Ready® Alfalfa Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) website
http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/109?akid=88.97349.R8eBNU&t=13

3. USDA stance on GM alfalfa threatens “fabric of organic industry”, The Organic & Non-GMO Report, February, 2010
http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/110?akid=88.97349.R8eBNU&t=15

Take a stand for organics, tell the USDA to reject Monsanto’s GMO alfalfa

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Please spread the word!

That’s right. The USDA concluded that the possibility of contamination of organic fields is of no concern, since consumers won’t care if their organic food or milk contains genetically engineered components.

In other parts of the world, there has been public outcry, revolts, and boycotts. But in the US, barely a whimper.

Maybe its true. Maybe you don’t care.

Or maybe you don’t realize the full impact of what’s going on. If you’re not informed – go ahead and scroll down to read the recent posts here, and watch the videos I’ve provided for you – while you still can.

If you do care, your voice needs to be heard, and it needs to be heard NOW!

There is a ready made letter that you can click and send by clicking here –

I’ve doctored up my response. Here a copy of my doctored up letter. Feel free to use it if you like.

———————————————————————-

I am writing in regard to Docket APHIS-2007-0044, and I demand that the USDA reject Monsanto’s application to market genetically engineered alfalfa. The USDA may not believe it matters if GE alfalfa contaminates organic and other non-GE crops, but I certainly do. I just threw out a bag of sugar when I found out it was from genetically modified sugar beets – not sugar cane.

Consumers must be able to avoid genetically engineered products. Farmers must be free of the threat of contamination and the USDA must not put organic farmers’ livelihoods at risk. The USDA admits that approval of GE alfalfa will make transgenic contamination inevitable. This is already happening around the world with corn and soybean crops. Once the crops are contaminated, the farmers owe royalties to Monsanto. This is unacceptable. With your help, soon Monsanto will own rights to every crop in the world.

We have no way of measuring the long term health effects of ingesting inbred pesticides, and by the time we do – there will be no crop on earth that is safe to eat.

Therefore, I urge you to reject not only Monsanto’s application to sell genetically engineered alfalfa, but all genetically engineered foods.

I leave you with one last thought – how will this affect your grandchildren? I would think long and hard about that.

Respectfully submitted,

————————————-

You vote everyday – whether it’s by silence, or by the products you buy to feed yourself and your family. What will your vote be today?

Members – Login and pick some delicious non-gmo dinner ideas for tonight!

With spring around the corner, I’ve been thinking about planting my garden. But the research I’ve been doing has woken me up to a scary reality. It’s nearly impossible to get a seed that has not been genetically modified. As I read through the gardening catalogs, I realize that practically every description contains something that the plant is resistant to. That may seem like a good thing on the surface, but think about the fact that the seed has pesticides and herbicides built right in.

You can’t wash it off. It lives inside your body.

Is it too late to have access to truly healthy food? When you can’t get a seed that is not genetically modified, your entire food supply is contaminated.

There was a good reason in the beginning – to make more food. It is not possible to produce enough food to feed everyone. But it’s gone too far, wouldn’t you say?

When it becomes impossible for the people who are motivated to eat real foods to obtain those foods, we have a problem. If the herd chooses to eat whatever is put in front of them without question, so be it. But those of us who are trying to maintain our health, and the health of our families by making smarter choices are finding it increasingly diffiuclt.

If, as this video claims – Monsanto owns most seeds – we are doomed. And if the control of our food supply is now a legal issue – where are the anti-trust laws? Who is monitoring Monsanto? Seems like they’ve been given a blank ticket to do whatever they want, doesn’t it?

Don’t give up the fight!

If you know of a company that sells heritage seeds – please post it here in the comments. We need to show our full support for the companies that provide the foods we need to stay healthy.

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