Last month a reader sent me a link to a report on how exposure to PBDEs (flame retardants) diminishes a woman’s fertility. Another reader alerted me to a NPR piece on GMO corn and farmers, forced to use GMO seed. If you read this blog January 15th or watched Food Inc., you already know farmers have no choice and risk a lawsuit if they SAVE SEED – what sensible farmers used to do in the past, before huge corporations like Monsanto took over. The Huffington Post brought news of a study published by the International Journal of Biological Sciences. This study found liver, kidney and heart damage in rats that were fed GMO corn. (Read the following excerpt, or skip to next paragraph: "Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity....These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods, are currently unknown.")
We have all become guinea pigs as we use products that contain synthetic chemicals, presumed non-toxic, or eat foods with GMO content, unlisted on labels. From the movie Food Inc., I learned even farmers who manage to grow GMO-free crops risk cross contamination of those crops. Here is yet another issue that needs grass roots support to change the frightening status quo.
Above, a photo of Dyer Pond, frozen and serene. Today it is snowing again here in Wellfleet, tiny flakes of acid-rain snow. How tragic we humans have managed to corrupt our precious environment this way! You can protest Monsanto’s monopoly and their dangerous Round-Up Ready seeds by contacting the FDA, a branch of government that should be protecting us.
No, wait. Here's another means of protest. Into my in-box popped an email from Food & Water Watch. Please take a minute to respond to their request for support against Monsanto's plans for alfalfa and suggest similar action on corn.
