A one-hour documentary about scientists whose research raised concerns about genetically engineered food and, as a result, they were fired, denied tenure, and/or silenced.
One of the scientists featured, Dr. Ignacio Chapela, a UC Berkeley microbiologist, will answer questions following the film.
Hosted by: Napa Valley College Campus Greens
Date/Time: Tuesday October 9th from 7:00-9:00 PM
Location: Napa Valley College Community Room next to the McCarthy Library (Parking will be waived)
Cost: Free (Donations to support the “Yes” on Proposition 37 campaign to label genetically engineered food will be accepted)
Co-sponsored by: Napa County Green Party, Preserving the Integrity of Napa’s Agriculture, Carolyn Parr Nature Center, Slow Food Napa Valley, Napa-Sonoma Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and the Napa County Democratic Party
Any questions? Please email preservenapasag@sbcglobal.net
2012-09-19 "Study Finds Tumors in Rats Fed Monsanto GM Corn; Controversial data prompt's EU agricultural vice-chairman Bove to call for Euro wide suspension of GMOs" from Common Dreams"[http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/09/19-4]
A new study released Wednesday by a team of scientists in France claims to have discovered a noticeable increase in tumors and kidney disease in lab rats that have been fed GMO foods produced by big ag corporation Monsanto [http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/gmcrops-safety-idUSL5E8KJC1220120919].
The controversial study, which quickly came under fire from several GMO experts around the world, prompted France's Jose Bove, vice-chairman of the European Parliament's commission for agriculture and GMO opponent, to claim [http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/gmcrops-safety-idUSL5E8KJC1220120919] "the study finally shows we are right and that it is urgent to quickly review all GMO evaluation processes."
The study, published by the peer-reviewed journal Food and Chemical Toxicology and conducted by scientists at the University of Caen, said rats fed on a diet containing NK603, a seed variety made tolerant to Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller, or given water with Roundup at levels permitted in the United States, died earlier than those on a standard diet.
According to the data, rats on the GM diet developed mammary tumors, as well as severe liver and kidney damage.
A scientific community has come out fighting against the study in defense of GMO products, saying the data is not trustworthy, and the scientists who conducted the study went on a "statistical fishing trip," to prove their case.
However, those already skeptical of the safety of genetically modified products, took the data as one more reason to be weary of GMO's.
California Right to Know, the group fighting for California’s Prop. 37 to require labeling of GMO foods, immediately released a statement [http://www.carighttoknow.org/new_study]:
[begin excerpt]
The results of this study are worrying. They underscore the importance of giving California families the right to know whether our food is genetically engineered, and to decide for ourselves whether we want to gamble with our health by eating GMO foods that have not been adequately studied and have not been proven safe.
[end excerpt]
Genetically modified food production, a process which has been around for 15 years, has not been extensively tested for long term effects on consumer health, as well as for effects on top soil and overall effects on the environment.
On Sunday, France's Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault had announced that France will continue its ban on Monsanto's corn, the only GMO currently allowed in Europe [https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/09/16].
Following the release of the study on Wednesday, France's agricultural vice-chairman Bove called for an immediate suspension of all EU cultivation and import authorizations of GM crops. "National and European food security agencies must carry out new studies financed by public funding to guarantee healthy food for European consumers," he said in his statement.
2012-09-19 "Long Term study links GMOs to Tumors" press release from "GMO Free Marin":BREAKING NEWS: Massive Tumors in Rats Fed GMO Corn in First Ever Long-Term Study - Genetically engineered corn was linked mammary tumors, kidney and liver damage and other serious illnesses in the first ever peer-reviewed, long-term animal study of these foods. The findings were published today in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology. Press statement: [http://www.carighttoknow.org/new_study]
Biotech companies have controlled and suppressed research (because of patent
restrictions on GMOs): [http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-seed-companies-control-gm-crop-research]
Numerous peer-reviewed short-term animal studies (90 days) have found adverse impacts in animals including allergies, liver and kidney problems and other health problems.
[https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/prop37/pages/67/attachments/original/1348032282/Peer_reviewed_studies_on_GM_food_health_risks.pdf?1348032282]
Visit "LabelGMOs" at: [http://labelgmos.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network]
Just Label It GMO ! - Pt. 2 - Pamm Larry [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Lm21C1Yeg]:
Pamm Larry, Founder and Director of "LabelGMOs.org", talks about California's ground-breaking Prop. 37 Initiative on the CA. NOV. 6 BALLOT at Marin County's Label GMO Symposium, July 25, 2012. Sponsors included Good Earth Natural Foods, GMO Free Marin, Community Media Center of Marin.
Posted by "Ecological Options Network" [http://www.youtube.com/user/eon3]
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) are a disaster of ecological pollution.
Many
people dread the idea of artificial evolution directed by the profit
motive of the Plutocracy, with life itself subject to copyright
infringement.
The information
companies of the Plutocrats creates propaganda which neither mentions
GMOs or the risks to Natural Law, Civil Law & the Common Law of the
People, as shown in the following article produced by a information
company co-owned by companies producing GMO lifeforms...2012-06-28 "Tomato breakthrough at UC Davis could aid industry" by Stacy Finz from "Hearst Communications Inc."
[http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Gene-discovery-could-lead-to-better-tomatoes-3671094.php]
A new finding by scientists could make more tomatoes taste like heirlooms, varieties that have been passed down through multiple generations because their flavor and texture is seen by many consumers as unequaled.
The discovery, made by an international research team headed by UC Davis, could have broad benefits to California's tomato industry - a $1.3 billion business. California is the leading producer of all tomatoes in the nation, accounting for 96 percent of the processing tomato output and one-third of the fresh market, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Ann Powell, a biochemist at UC Davis' department of plant sciences and one of the lead authors of the study, said they made the find by accident. The scientists started studying the ripening process and how tomatoes get their color 10 years ago. After working on it for three or four years they quit because they didn't have any money to continue the research.
But with some funding from the UC's Discovery program, the USDA, the National Science Foundation and a few other groups, the team started up again about 18 months ago. This time the university partnered with researchers from Cornell University who were mapping regions of the tomato genome in Spain.
That's when it happened.
By looking at a collection of mutant and wild tomatoes at UC Davis collected in the 1950s by the late Professor Charles Rick, the researchers learned that dark green wild and traditional varieties that naturally held the gene GLK2 produced fruit with higher levels of sugars, otherwise known as soluble solids.
"Sugars and lycopenes contribute to tomatoes tasting better," Powell said, but warned, "This is not the full picture."
There are a lot of factors that contribute to making a tomato taste good, she said.
"This won't solve the problems of why supermarket tomatoes taste the way they do," Powell said, adding that growing fruit on a large scale can contribute to bland flavor. "And taste is also subjective."
But this discovery may go a long way to giving consumers more choices at the cash register, she said.
"Now that we know that some of the qualities that people value in heirloom tomatoes can be made available in other types of tomatoes, farmers can have access to more varieties of tomatoes that produce well and also have desirable color and flavor traits."
Michael Jarvis, an Agricultural Market Service spokesman for the USDA, said the discovery is certainly a boon to shoppers.
"There has been a big resurgence in all heirloom fruits and vegetables over the years," he said. "Now you can find them in conventional stores as well as farmers' markets. Consumers are clamoring for variety. The U.S. produces a slew of different fruits and vegetables and consumers keep demanding more."
But it may be even more advantageous to farmers, especially those who grow tomatoes to be processed into such products as tomato paste and canned tomatoes.
"The higher the solids (sugar levels) the more tomato paste," said Don Cameron, who on his Terranova Ranch in Helm (Fresno County) grows 1,700 acres of both organic and conventional processing tomatoes.
"Some canneries even provide contracts that will pay growers more for tomatoes with higher sugar levels."
But Cameron, who will begin harvesting in about two weeks, said the discovery is not something that will change the industry overnight.
"It will probably take years to get that gene into a commercial variety," he said. "It's a slow process. There are other things that go into the breeding of processing tomatoes besides solids, including disease and pest resistance."
But there's no question, he said, that the discovery could prove to be extremely important to growers throughout the country.
"Any time we can improve quality it's not only beneficial to the grower but to the processor and consumer," he said.
But for some, including Peggy Kass of Kassenhoff Growers, a plant nursery in Oakland, the scientists' finding seems anticlimactic.
"I don't think it's really necessary," she said. "We grow about 90 varieties. There are so many different, good flavors we grow, I'm worried that by making all the tomatoes sweet, you're going to lose a lot of the subtlety in the flavors that already exist."
Knowledge of Cross-Over Diseases from Plants, Soils and Insects by Agraquest, Universities, Federal and State Agencies is found below.
On 12/11/2009, ten years after David Bell had to have the first of his four major sinus surgeries because of infections from his exposure to fungi and bacteria at Agraquest; and over 2 years after his workers' compensation ‘trial', what had been discovered was the website for the University of California - Riverside's November 2006 workshop titled, "Microbial Biopesticides and Transgenic Insecticides - Enhancing Regulatory Communication". This workshop was held in Washington DC, at the University of California Center on Regulatory Communication and was sponsored by the University of California-Riverside, the USDA and the EPA.
Federal Agencies and their representatives, as well as universities from around the country, moderated the three day workshop and/or gave presentations over a period of three days. [ALL VIDEO PRESENTATIONS]
Who Attended the November 2006 workshop titled, "Microbial Biopesticides and Transgenic Insecticides - Enhancing Regulatory Communication" workshop?
There was only one ‘private biotech company' who gave a presentation at this workshop; Pam Marrone of Marrone Organic Innovations - Davis, CA. Pam Marrone is the founder of Agraquest, her 2nd research and development biotech company, which she also started in Davis, CA. The first location of Agraquest, where David Bell became so ill, was located at 1105 Kennedy Place, Suite B, in an Office Park.
No Excuse for Government (State and Federal) Agencies, Universities and Agraquest to not know there are some plant diseases which can also infect humans & some of these are being used for biological control on crops and used for insect control.
During this workshop, it was made clear to everyone the fact there are some plant diseases which can also infect humans, when Doctor Anne K. Vidaver gave her presentation on "Cross-infective microbes: from plants to humans". Therefore, IF Pam Marrone and the federal and state agencies who were also at the workshop, didn't know of this prior to that time, they had no excuse not to have learned if then.
After watching Doctor Vidaver's presentation on the internet, "Cross-infective microbes: from plants to humans" [http://biopesticide.ucr.edu/video/assets/MOV00F_Vidaver.wmv] and viewing her credentials, Doctor Vidaver was contacted via email on December 12, 2009 at 09:25 p.m-PST. Doctor Vidaver replied; by email on December 15, 2009 [BELOW]
Shortly thereafter; what was received (via US mail) was a complimentary copy, "With Dr. Vadaver's Compliments" the "more detailed book chapter" (which Professor Vidaver spoke of in her e-mail); BIOLOGICAL SAFETY - Principles and Practices; LABORATORY, GROWTH CHAMBER AND GREENHOUSE MICROBIAL SAFETY: PLANT PATHOGENS AND PLANT-ASSOCIATED MICROORGANISMS OF SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMAN HEALTH by ANNE K VIDAVER, SUE A. TOLIN, AND PATRICIA LAMBRECHT - 4th ed. editors D. O. Fleming and D. L. Hunt, eds.) ASM Press, Washington, D.C. (Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data).
[http://biotechawareness.com/images/VIDAVER.pdf]
Received from Doctor Vidaver on December 23, 2009 was an email suggestioning the reading of Molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity: how do Pathogenic microorganisms develop cross-kingdom host jumps? FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 32:239-277. [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1574-6976.2007.00065.x/full]
Doctor Vidaver additionally wrote, "as a reference (heavy reading) for your doctors. This is not a journal they would ordinarily read, but it is a very reputable one. Table 1 is reasonably accessible." and "These goes beyond my chapter."
In watching and transcribing Doctor Vidaver's 2006 presentation of Cross-Infective Microorganisms during the Microbial Biopesticides and Transgenic Insecticides - Enhancing Regulatory Communication workshop [http://biotechawareness.com/images/VIDAVER.2006presentationPARTIAL.pdf]; as well as reading the her third chapter in the 2006 Biological Safety - Principals and Practices, LABORATORY, GROWTH CHAMBER AND GREENHOUSE MICROBIAL SAFETY: PLANT PATHOGENS AND PLANT-ASSOCIATED MICROORGANISMS OF SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMAN HEALTH; coupled with reading "Molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity: how do Pathogenic microorganisms develop cross-kingdom host jumps?" [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1574-6976.2007.00065.x/full] it is very clear indeed to understand the exposure David Bell had to the many bacteria and fungus in a research and development biotechnology company, Agraquest Inc.; not only because these microorganisms were no doubt in their culture collection, but the microorganisms were used in the many experiments which would have had to be conducted at the company to 'test' their product candidates before submission/s to the EPA.
The fungi, bacteria, insect's etc. that cause human health problems; as is found in Doctor Vidaver's 2006 presentation; the 2006 Biological Safety - Principals and Practices, LABORATORY, GROWTH CHAMBER AND GREENHOUSE MICROBIAL SAFETY: PLANT PATHOGENS AND PLANT-ASSOCIATED MICROORGANISMS OF SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMAN HEALTH; and Molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity: how do Pathogenic microorganisms develop cross-kingdom host jumps? are (but not limited to) species of the following microbials,
MANY of these microorganisms are the "active ingredient" in bio-control products; These are indicated by a √ and listed below.
BIO-CONTROL aka MICROBIAL PRODUCTS INCLUDING - BUT NOT LIMITED TO
Pesticides, Fungicides, Insecticides, Insecticides, Nematicides, Miticides
ADDITIONAL USES
Formulations, Manufacturing, Biological Fertilizers, Treatment of soils, Plant Growth Regulators, Fumigant
READ PLANT / INSECT / SOIL PATHOGENS CROSSING OVER TO HUMANS [http://biotechawareness.com/index~option~com_content~view~article~id~227~Itemid~1.php]
[Showing the diseases and illnesses caused by the above pathogenic microoganisms, the host for these microorganisms with links to biocontrol products. [this is being updated regularly] Additionally shown is the links to David Bell and his medical conditions as a result of working for Agraquest, Inc. in Davis, California
2012-08-23 "PLANT / INSECT / SOIL PATHOGENS CROSS-OVER TO HUMANS; MANY USED IN BIO-CONTROL PRODUCTS" [http://biotechawareness.com/index~option~com_content~view~article~id~231~Itemid~1.php]:
The administrator of this website is currently compiling the needed information to complete this article. Microorganisms, which are NATURALLY found, in plant disease, insect diseases and soils CROSS-OVER to humans. Many are being (or have been) used in bio-control products on agricultural crops, ornamentals and used for insect control. Some are also being as plant growth stimulators and seed treatments.
Dr. Anne K. Vidaver gave a presentation; "Cross-infective microbes: from plants to humans" during the 2006 "Microbial Biopesticides and Transgenic Insecticides - Enhancing Regulatory Communication" workshop in Washington DC at the University of California Center on Regulatory Communication in 2006, before representatives from numerous Federal and State agencies and Universities. It is more than evident she was desperately trying to get everyone to pay attention to the human health hazards of exposure to plant pathogens but also that many of these plant pathogens are being used as biocontrol products. Her talk SEEMS TO HAVE FALLEN ON DEAF EARS. Some of what she had to say is listed below:
* "So, you might want to know why do we have this topic for this workshop. Well, because there are some organisms that are used as microbial pesticides or prospective microbial pesticides, and in my experience, plant pathologist don't know about some of these microbes and the medical community conversely does not. And it's unfortunate that with all the people ... regulatory agencies, we're missing a few internationally; hopefully learn from what I plan to say, mainly the Food and Drug Administration nationally needs help."
* "I'm going to talk about some illustrations of plants; plant/human cross infections and use those as examples, and then I'll talk about what this actually could mean, both to the scientific community and to the regulated community and challenges for regulators as well ... so."
* "More and more bacteria by the way are being reported to be the cause of some chronic diseases."
* "The prospective virtue of fungi; which I'll talk more about later, is that in some ways they are more desirable as microbial control agents; but I'll say more about why that is."
* "Now, the majority of the diseases that I'm going to talk about in humans are rare; but, there will be a few that are not so rare; and I'll try to point those out when we come to those. And obviously, for anybody in the regulatory arena, this causes at least a plausible thought, but I'll indicate what some of the challenges are with this."
* "OK, so first of all, what am I talking about? The terms are not yet agreed upon what this means. You can talk about organisms that are cross infected; mainly go to from plants to humans. You can also call them cross-over pathogens and you can also call them Cross, or inter-kingdom pathogens, and Dr. Tauxe from the CDC invented the term as far as I know. Phytoses to force on with zoo-onoces, that is organisms that go from animals to people. What they are not; is they're not overlapped pathogens in the select agent list with the FDA and AMA."
* "One of the important questions for people in ... the more we know in the way; the less we know is actually do we classify organisms? I mean this is a human endeavor but we have to do this in order to communicate."
* "One place I think that there's something missing, and it is not perhaps straight forward to talk about, is that we could have an interdisciplinary program across agencies, there's certainly interagency programs already in many areas, but we do not have any, as far as I know, that incorporate USDA and NIH [inaudible], certainly in this area of cross-infective microorganisms."
* " I dare say the medical community has no idea that some of these are really a problem in plants and the plant community has no idea that these are problems in medicine."
* " Actually, the question really for the medical community and even for the plant community is, are we talking about the same organism? In many cases, that's still very much the question."
* "And so, then how we do this is still a very fluid field, and this is good; but it's a very challenging area then for anyone who is in the regulatory arena. "
* " This is also then true in terms of nanoclature. What are you going to name an organism? How are you going to identify it, and then how are you going to characterize any group of individuals [inaudible] by rank?"
* " And then for species; at least for the present time, for bacteria you have a species being defined with at least 70% related misbind DNA."
"Homology: Well, some microbial geneticists believe that this is, in again, inappropriate maybe with what we know, but no one has yet come up with something that is actually being received well as an alternative, so this is still a challenge."
* "What is the species? And I'm not sure even for the fungi that there is agreement on what is the species; and I don't know about some of the other organisms as well."
* "And then for defining a strain that you would actually use and that you would worry about stability, we're talking about the descendants of a single isolation, your culture."
* "Then there's the question of what do you do about the host responses. How do you measure the population; even of plants or people or animals as the case may be, because we are not in a scattered population in any of those categories."
* " We need to know a lot more about induced and innate immunity; simply to be able to combat all these challenging organisms that are multiplying and changing at a faster rate than we are. "
* "A DNA shuffling is going on often ; that is the rearrangement of genomes and how will this be actually seen by regulatory agencies is not clear. It could be [inaudible] that may come out in this workshop."
* "Our model system analysis appropriate; it can all be complex depending on what you're looking at it and many people that are on both sides of the fence, but in any case this is a challenge; both for the regulated community and the regulatory system."
Although NUMEROUS biocontrol agents are on the market presently (or were on the market and have since been cancelled) there remains the question as to how many agricultural workers and those employed in biotechnology research and development laboratories around the world have no idea just what they have been exposed to that have made them ill and/or sustained terrible diseases because of occupational exposure/s to the bacteria and fungi on the following list? This does not take into account the question as well as to how many family members have medical problems because their loved one carried home microscopic bacteria and fungi on their clothes, their shoes and anything that was brought home from the workplace environment?
NOTE: Following you will find a list of the bacteria and/or fungi that Dr. Anne K. Vidaver was speaking of when she was giving her above mentioned presentation in 2006 - as well as bacteria and fungi that is listed in the scientific publication, "Molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity: "How do Pathogenic microorganisms develop cross-kingdom host jumps?" which was suggested by Dr. Vidaver that the administrator of this website read.
Additionally found below are the bacteria and fungi that are listed in Dr. Anne K. Vidaver's chapter in the 4th edition of BIOLOGICAL SAFETY - Principles and Practices titled, "LABORATORY, GROWTH CHAMBER AND GREENHOUSE MICROBIAL SAFETY: PLANT PATHOGENS AND PLANT-ASSOCIATED MICROORGANISMS OF SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMAN HEALTH" which was sent via United States mail to the administrator of this website.
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