watching what you eat?

Gmo’s In The News Again

       Gmo’s or genetic modified organisms now considered to be a staple of our food supply has been in the news again. An article in Yahoo on the news wire AP told that the state of Hawaii has now become Gmo free and has passed legislation to that effect forbidding Gmo giants Monsanto and Syngenta from developing their strains of Gmo seed there for distribution throughout the USA and world markets. This is seen as a blow to the Gmo producers who own thousands of acres in Hawaii specifically for that purpose. Monsanto and Syngenta claim to have protection under U.S.  Patent laws as evidenced by recent decisions from the Supreme Court, and have vowed to take it their again to assure their ability to continue research and development of their seed in the state of Hawaii.

    Hawaii is seen as a test case in which states who desire to remain organic or who wish to avoid certain agricultural practices in favor of public health and safety, will have to prove that it is the state’s rights to govern themselves before the Supreme Court and that Gmo’s are not a national issue that requires decisions on the availability of Gmo or similar products to be allowed in that state.

      Hawaii contends that Gmo’s have the ability to cross breed with other non- super strains of corn and require high herbicide usage to eliminate super weeds that have developed due to long term usage of chemicals. It seems as if the weeds have built up a resistance to glyphosate based weed killers and since Hawaii is the research center for these seed varieties, Hawaii has little or no interest in the large seed companies playing Russian roulette with a variety of weed killers including the return of 2-4 d to the agrichemical line of herbicides. 2-4 d was used as one the ag herbicides in Agent Orange during the Vietnam war to defoliate trees to expose snipers and ruin the food supply of the Viet Cong.

      Apparently the Gmo giants are looking at using these herbicides there in Hawaii and in the rest of the U.S. and wherever they sell their seed as a means to fight the super weeds they have developed consequentially along with their Gmo corn. The increased use of herbicides in agricultural production could lead to water well contamination if it hasn’t already. Also no research has been done to see the effects of herbicide runoff to sea life populations. The end result of continued residual usage of herbicides and pesticides will result in a  growing medium devoid of beneficial bacteria and microscopic organisms to aid in growing, basically leaving the soil void of all life and sterile.

    Here in Ohio I have read where Syngenta is looking for contract growers of corn in our area to grow and produce, I assume Gmo corn as they are looking to expand production of ethanol here in Ohio for sale to China and Brazil, where the market for ethanol has increased substantially. China’s thirst for ethanol grows out of its manufacturing needs as their foot print on world markets increase their demand for energy in the line of fuels and additives to run generators to produce electricity to produce goods for a world market. Brazil is energy strapped and has been using ethanol for quite a while and has problems keeping enough of it. Also the side use of brewer’s grains is quite profitable allowing profits to be gained in 2 areas of revenue for the manufacturers of distillable products. Recent U.S.  decisions to lower the amount of ethanol in our fuel sources had very little effect on our corn markets as we have already developed a world market for our ethanol fuels.

       Needless to say the Gmo issues are by no means over with and Ohio will have to wrestle with this issue soon as our well water and runoff water into our lakes and streams are threatened on two fronts. One by the use of fracking and second on the use of herbicides and Gmo’s in our agricultural usage. Let alone what the commercial ag producers are putting into our food supply we eat daily. 80 percent of the corn produced in the U.S. is currently of the Gmo variety as well as 95 percent of the soybeans , with the giant seed companies continually taking organic and regular farmers to court to protect their patent rights. What kind of an impact and how safe is our food supply when we let a few agri-giants predict our future food supply as well as the prices we pay for it? Let alone the impact of environmental damage as they strive to sterilize our fields and affect our water supply by increased use of fertilizer and herbicide usage. To say the least this is all food for thought.