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</em></strong><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><strong><em>Spilling
the Beans</em>, November 2008</strong> <br>
(This newsletter is reprinted from </font><a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/obamas-team-includes-dang_b_147188.html"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Jeffrey
Smith's new blog on Huffington Post</font></a><font
face="Arial, Helvetica">.)</font></font></p>
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<p><font size="2"><b><a
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to e-newsletter</font></a><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> <em><font
face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Spilling the Beans</font></em></font></b></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><font size="2"><b><font
face="Arial, Helvetica" size="3">Obama’s team includes dangerous
biotech “Yes Men”</font></b></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Biotech
“Yes Men” on Obama’s team threaten to expand the use of dangerous
genetically modified (GM) foods in our diets. Instead of giving us
change and hope, they may prolong the hypnotic “group think” that has
been institutionalized over three previous administrations—where
critical analysis was abandoned in favor of irrational devotion to this
risky new technology.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Clinton’s
agriculture secretary </font><a
href="http://books.google.com/books?id=kqjaCIT3A2IC&pg=PA139&lpg=PA139&dq=If+you%E2%80%99re+against+it,+you%E2%80%99re+Luddites,+you%E2%80%99re+stupid.&source=web&ots=ce5uwFODXq&sig=PA5SdPHDdmS_mxQCpPam2tcBF6c&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Dan
Glickman</font></a><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> saw it first hand:</font></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">“It
was almost immoral to say that [biotechnology] wasn’t good, because it
was going to solve the problems of the human race and feed the hungry
and clothe the naked. . . . If you’re against it, you’re Luddites,
you’re stupid. That, frankly, was the side our government was on. . . .
You felt like you were almost an alien, disloyal, by trying to present
an open-minded view”</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">When
Glickman dared to question the lax regulations on GM food, he said he “</font><a
href="http://www.responsibletechnology.org/utility/showArticle/?objectID=2308"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">got
slapped around</font></a><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> a little bit by
not only the industry, but also some of the people even in the
administration.”</font></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">By
shutting open-minds and slapping dissent, deceptive myths about
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) persist.</font></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">The industry
boasts that GMOs reduce herbicide use; </font><a
href="http://www.seedsofdeception.com/GMFree/EducationalMaterials/January2008/index.cfm"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">USDA
data</font></a><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> show that the opposite is
true.</font></font></li>
<li><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">We hear that GMOs
increase yield and farmer profit; but USDA and independent studies show
an average <i>reduction</i> in yield and no improved bottom line for
farmers.</font></li>
<li><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">George H. W. Bush
fast-tracked GMOs to increase US exports; now the government spends an
additional $3-$5 billion per year to prop up prices of the GM crops no
one wants.</font></li>
<li><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Advocates
continue to repeat that GMOs are needed to feed the world; now the
prestigious </font><a href="http://www.agassessment.org/"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">International
Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for
Development</font></a><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> has joined a long
list of experts who flatly reject GMOs as the answer to hunger.</font></font></li>
</ul>
<p><font size="2"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Food
Safety Lies</font></b></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Of all the myths about
GMOs, the most dangerous is that they are safe. This formed the hollow
basis of the FDA’s 1992 GMO policy, which stated:</font></p>
<p><font size="2"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">“The
agency is not aware of any information showing that foods derived by
these new methods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform
way.”</font></b></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">The sentence is
complete fiction. At the time it was written, there was overwhelming
consensus among the FDA’s own scientists that GM foods were <i>substantially
different</i>, and could create unpredictable, unsafe, and
hard-to-detect allergens, toxins, diseases, and nutritional problems.
They had urged the political appointees in charge to require long-term
safety studies, including human studies, to protect the public.</font></p>
<p><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Their </font><a
href="http://www.responsibletechnology.org/DocumentFiles/145.pdf"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">concerns</font></a><font
face="Arial, Helvetica"> stayed hidden until 1999, when 44,000 pages
of internal FDA memos and reports were made public due to a lawsuit.
According to public interest attorney Steven Druker, the documents
showed how their warnings and “references to the unintended negative
effects” of genetic engineering “were progressively deleted from drafts
of the policy statement,” in spite of scientists’ protests.</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">“What has happened to
the scientific elements of this document?” wrote FDA microbiologist
Louis Pribyl, after reviewing the latest rewrite of the policy. “It
will look like and probably be just a political document. . . . It
reads very pro-industry, especially in the area of unintended effects.”</font></p>
<p><font size="2"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Who
flooded the market with dangerous GMOs</font></b></font></p>
<p><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Thanks to the
FDA’s “promote biotech” policy, perilously few safety studies and
investigations have been conducted on GMOs. Those that have, including </font><a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/will-genetically-modified_b_145320.html"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">two
government studies</font></a><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> from
Austria and Italy published just last month, demonstrate that the
concerns by FDA scientists should have been heeded. GMOs have been <u>linked</u> to
toxic and allergic reactions in humans, sick, sterile, and dead
livestock, and damage to virtually every organ studied in lab animals.
GMOs are unsafe.</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">At the highest level,
the responsibility for this disregard of science and consumer safety
lies with the first Bush White House, which had ordered the FDA to
promote the biotechnology industry and get GM foods on the market
quickly. To accomplish this White House directive, the FDA created a
position for Michael Taylor. As the FDA’s new Deputy Commissioner of
Policy, he oversaw the creation of GMO policy.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Taylor was formerly the
outside attorney for the biotech giant Monsanto, and later became their
vice president. He had also been the counsel for the International Food
Biotechnology Council (IFBC), for whom he drafted a model of government
policy designed to rush GMOs onto the market with no significant
regulations. The final FDA policy that he oversaw, which did not
require any safety tests or labeling, closely resembled the model he
had drafted for the IFBC.</font></p>
<p><font size="2"><u><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Michael
Taylor is on the Obama transition team.</font></u></font></p>
<p><font size="2"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Genetically
engineered bovine growth hormone and unhealthy milk</font></b></font></p>
<p><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Taylor was also
in charge when the FDA approved Monsanto’s genetically engineered
bovine growth hormone (rbGH or rbST). Dairy products from treated cows
contain more pus, more antibiotics, more growth hormone, and more
IGF-1—a powerful hormone linked to cancer and increased incidence of
fraternal twins (see </font><a href="http://www.yourmilkondrugs.com/"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">www.YourMilkonDrugs.com</font></a><font
face="Arial, Helvetica">.) The growth hormone is banned in most
industrialized nations, including Canada, the EU, Japan, Australia, and
New Zealand. But under Michael Taylor, it was approved in the US,
without labeling.</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">As more and more
consumers here learn about the health risks of the drug, they shift
their purchases to brands that voluntarily label their products as <i>not</i> using
rbGH. Consumer rejection of rbGH hit a tipping point a couple of years
ago, and since then it has been kicked out of milk from Wal-Mart,
Starbucks, Kroger, Subway, and at least 40 of the top 100 dairies. In
2007, Monsanto desperately tried to reverse the trend by asking the FDA
and FTC to make it illegal for dairies to label their products as free
from rbGH. Both agencies flatly refused the company’s request.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">But Monsanto turned to
an ally, Dennis Wolff, the Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture. Wolff
used his position to single-handedly declare rbGH-free labels illegal
in his state. Such a policy would make it impossible for national dairy
brands to declare their products rbGH-free, since they couldn’t change
packaging just for Pennsylvania. Wolff’s audacious move so infuriated
citizens around the nation, the outpouring caused the governor to step
in and stop the prohibition before it took effect.</font></p>
<p><font size="2"><u><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Dennis Wolff,
according to </font><a
href="http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=2409" target="_blank"><font
color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">unbossed.com</font></a><font
face="Arial, Helvetica">, is being considered for Obama’s USDA
Secretary.</font></u></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Although Pennsylvania
did not ultimately ban rbGH-free labels, they did decide to require
companies who use the labels to also include a disclaimer sentence on
the package, stating that the according to the FDA there is no
difference between milk from cows treated with rbGH and those not
treated. In reality, this sentence contradicts the FDA’s own
scientists. (Is this sounding all too familiar?) Even according to
Monsanto’s own studies, milk from treated cows has more pus,
antibiotics, bovine growth hormone, and IGF-1. Blatantly ignoring the
data, a top FDA bureaucrat wrote a “white paper” urging companies that
labeled products as rbGH-free to also use that disclaimer on their
packaging. The bureaucrat was Michael Taylor.</font></p>
<p class="ww-default"><font size="2"><b><font
face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Betting on biotech is “Bad-idea virus”</font></b></font></p>
<p class="ww-default"><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">For
several years, politicians around the US were offering money and
tax-breaks to bring biotech companies into their city or state. But
according to </font><a
href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Asian_Economy/FG31Dk01.html"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Joseph
Cortright</font></a><font face="Arial, Helvetica">, an Oregon economist
who co-wrote a 2004 report on this trend, “This notion that you lure
biotech to your community to save its economy is laughable. This is a
bad-idea virus that has swept through governors, mayors and economic
development officials.” </font><a
href="http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-08-18-biotech-grant_x.htm"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">He
said</font></a><font face="Arial, Helvetica"> it “remains a
money-losing, niche industry.” </font></font></p>
<p class="ww-default"><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">One
politician who caught a bad case of the bad-idea virus was Tom Vilsack,
Iowa’s governor from 1998-2006. He was co-creator and chair of the
Governors’ Biotechnology Partnership in 2000 and in 2001 the Biotech
Industry Organization named him BIO Governor of the Year.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Tom Vilsack was
considered a front runner for Obama’s USDA secretary. Perhaps the
outcry prompted by Vilsack’s biotech connections was the reason for his
name being withdrawn.</font></p>
<p><font size="2"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Change,
Truth, Hope</font></b></font></p>
<p><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">I don’t know
Barack Obama’s position on GMOs. According to a November 23rd Des
Moines Register article, </font><a
href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20081123/BUSINESS01/811230309/1029/BUSINESS"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Obama,
like Bush, may be Ag biotech ally</font></a><font
face="Arial, Helvetica">, there are clues that he has not been able
to see past the biotech lobbyist’s full court spin.</font></font></p>
<blockquote dir="ltr" style="margin-right: 0px;">
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">- His top scientific
advisers during the campaign included Sharon Long, a former board
member of the biotech giant Monsanto Co., and Harold Varmus, a Nobel
laureate who co-chaired a key study of genetically engineered crops by
the National Academy of Sciences back in 2000.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">- [Obama] said
biotech crops “have provided enormous benefits” to farmers and
expressed confidence “that we can continue to modify plants safely.”</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">On the other hand,
Obama may have a sense how pathetic US GMO regulations are, since he
indicated that he wants “stringent tests for environmental and health
effects” and “stronger regulatory oversight guided by the best
available scientific advice.”</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">There is, however, one
unambiguous and clear promise that separates Obama from his Bush and
Clinton predecessors.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2"><b>President</b> <b>Obama
will require mandatory labeling of GMOs.</b></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Favored by 9 out of 10
Americans, labeling is long overdue and is certainly cause for
celebration.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">(I am told that now
Michael Taylor also favors both mandatory labeling and testing of GMOs.
Good going Michael; but your timing is a bit off.)</font></p>
<p><font size="2"><font size="3"><font face="Arial, Helvetica"
size="2">To sign a petition asking President Obama to make his GMO
labeling plan comprehensive and meaningful, </font><a
href="http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/TakeAction/MandatoryLabelingPetitiontoObama/index.cfm"
target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">click
here</font></a><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><font size="2">.</font> </font></font><font
face="Arial, Helvetica"> <font size="3"> </font></font></font></p>
<hr>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">©
copyright Institute For Responsible Technology 2008</font></p>
<p><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Jeffrey M. Smith
is the author of publication <em>Genetic Roulette: The Documented
Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods</em>, which presents 65
risks in easy-to-read two-page spreads. His first book, <em>Seeds of
Deception</em>, is the top rated and #1 selling book on GM foods in the
world. He is the Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible
Technology.</font> <a href="http://www.responsibletechnology.org/"><font
color="#000ff0" face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">www.responsibletechnology.org</font></a><font
face="Arial, Helvetica">, which is spearheading the Campaign for
Healthier Eating in America. Go to </font><a
href="http://www.seedsofdeception.com/"><font color="#000ff0"
face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">www.seedsofdeception.com</font></a><font
face="Arial, Helvetica"> to learn more about how to avoid GM foods.</font></font></p>
<hr color="#000080">
<p><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica"><strong><em>Spilling
the Beans</em></strong> is a monthly column available at </font><a
href="http://www.responsibletechnology.org/"><font color="#000ff0"
face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">www.responsibletechnology.org</font></a><font
face="Arial, Helvetica">. <font color="black">The website also offers
eater-friendly tips for avoiding GMOs at home and in restaurants.</font></font></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Permission
is granted to publishers and webmasters to reproduce issues of Spilling
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2">The
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
"I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." – Che Guevara</pre>
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