Monsanto big wig may become US food safety czar

[Peter Presland]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8174482.stm

Just found this on the BBC, reminded me of this thread

Organic food is no healthier than ordinary food, a large independent review has concluded.

To the extent that there is confusion in public perceptions of the precise meanings of 'Organic' and 'Genetically modified' when applied to food, this sort of study is manna from heaven for the likes of Monsanto - which makes a grizzly old cynic like me just an itsy-bit suspicious that industry funding is probably responsible for it in some measure too.

Using the present definition of 'organic' (ie the growing practices and standards required to gain certification) the difference in nutritional values is debatable and may indeed be marginal. That however is a whole separate issue from the SAFETY of genetically modifying foods.

Arnad Puztai's career was abruptly terminated for demonstrating that tumour and development deformity incidence in rats fed on a diet of GM potatoes (modified to be insect attack resistant - ie producing their own 'insecticide') was vastly greater than those fed none GM. That study has NEVER been rebutted - just obfuscated by people and organisations that the public are conditioned to trust, then quietly swept under the carpet.

Today, Monsanto GM seed supply contracts stipulate that they cannot be used in any scientific experiments whatsoever without the express approval of Monsanto. That is one serious barrier to genuinely disinterested and independent scientific research. In the US the net effect of Monsanto's Congressional approved doctrine of 'substantial equivalence' is that there are no requirents for safety testing of new GM strains at all. Also, their power is such that it is also forbidden by law to label milk (for example) as being GM growth hormone free)

We are already well into a nightmare world of supplier controlled food safety - or rather its opposite - with the EU trying to 'hold the pass' but running out of ammo with no reinforcements in sight.

[URL="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=ENG20090729&articleId=14570"]William Engdahl's latest piece on Global Research is worth reading.
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